کتاب الفتن · نُعیم بن حماد

A black flag of Banu Abbas will emerge, then another black flag will emerge from Khorasan. Their hoods are black and their clothes are white. At the front of them is a man called Shuaib bin Saleh bin Shuaib from Tamim. They will defeat the companions of the Sufyani until he descends on Jerusalem. The Mahdi will establish his authority and extend to him three hundred men from the Levant. There will be seventy-two months between his emergence and the handing over of authority to the Mahdi.

Al-Sufyani sends his horses and his soldiers, and he reaches the entire east from the land of Khorasan and the land of Persia, and the people of the east revolt against them and fight them, and there will be conflicts between them in different places. If their fight against him lasts for a long time, they pledge allegiance to a man from Banu Hashim, and he is at the end of the east that day. Then he goes out with the people of Khurasan, with a yellow-bearded man from Banu Tamim, a servant of theirs, going out to him with five thousand. The mountains of Rawasi welcomed him to their destination, and he and the horses of the Sufyani met and defeated them and killed many of them, then the Sufyani would gain the upper hand and the Hashemi would flee, and Shuaib bin Saleh would go out in hiding to Bayt al-Maqdis, to provide his home for the Mahdi when he was informed of his departure to the Levant.

Al-Walid and Rushdin told us, on the authority of Ibn Lahi’ah, he said: Abu Zur’ah told me, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Ali, he said: “When the seeker in Mecca hears of the eclipse, he will go out with twelve thousand, including Al-Abdal, until they come down to Ilya. Then the one who sent the army when he hears the news of Ilya’ says: By Amr, Allah has made this man an example. I have sent to him what I have sent, so they will disperse in the land. This is a lesson and an insight, and the Sufyani will lead him to him.” Then he goes out until he meets a dog, and they are his uncles, and they reproach him for what he has done and say: “May Allah cover you with a shirt, but you took it off?” He says: “What do you think? Should I give him the pledge of allegiance?” They say: “Yes.” Then he comes to Ilya and says: “I will not do it.” He says: “Yes.” He says: “Do you like me to remove you?” He says: “Yes.” Then he says: “This is a man who has taken off my obedience.” Then he orders him to be slaughtered on a slab Ilya, then he walks to Kalb, and he who is disappointed is the one who is disappointed on the day Kalb is looted.”

Al-Mahdi, Al-Sufyani, and Kalba fight in Bayt Al-Maqdis when the pledge of allegiance resigns, and Al-Sufyani is brought captive, ordered to be slaughtered at the Gate of Mercy, then their women and spoils are sold on the steps of Damascus.

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.”

He pledges allegiance to him, then the Mahdi returns to Mecca for three years, then a man emerges from a dog, and those who were in the land of Aram are forced out, so he marches to the Mahdi to Jerusalem with twelve thousand, and he takes Sufyani and kills him at the Gate of Jiron.