کتاب الفتن · نُعیم بن حماد

Abdullah bin Marwan told us, on the authority of Al-Haytham bin Abdul Rahman, he said: Someone who heard Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) told me: “If Al-Sufyani sends an army to the Mahdi and he overwhelms them in Al-Bayda, and this reaches the people of the Levant, they say to their caliph: The Mahdi has left, so pledge allegiance to him and enter into obedience to him, otherwise we will kill you. Then he will be sent to him with the pledge of allegiance, and the Mahdi will march until he descends on Jerusalem, and the treasuries will be transferred to him, and the Arabs, Persians, and people of war will enter.” And the Romans and others obeyed him without fighting, until mosques were built in Constantinople and below it, and a man from his household in the East would emerge before him, carrying the sword on his shoulder for eight months, killing and mutilating, and heading to Jerusalem, and not reaching it until he died.”

The Romans will enter the Holy House with seventy crosses until they demolish it, and obedience will continue to be practiced as long as the caliphate is in the land of Jerusalem and the Levant. The first coast that Allah will be angry with will be eclipsed by Al-Sarfiyya, Caesarea, and Beirut. The Romans and the Levant will rule for forty days from the seashore to the Jordan and Beit Shean. Then the Muslims will gain victory over them. They will reconcile it until their authority over them runs out, and the entire earth will be secure for seven-nine days.