Battles (Kitab Al-Malahim)

Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Mahri narrated to us: Ibn Wahb informed us: Said ibn Abi Ayyub informed me, from Sharahil ibn Yazid al-Maafiri, from Abu Alqamah, from Abu Hurayrah, as far as I know, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: “At the head of every hundred years, God will raise for this community someone who renews its religion for it.” Abu Dawud said: Abd al-Rahman ibn Shurayh al-Iskandarani also narrated it, but his chain did not go beyond Sharahil.

Al-Nufayli narrated to us: Isa ibn Yunus narrated to us: al-Awzai narrated to us, from Hassan ibn Atiyyah, who said: Makhul and Ibn Abi Zakariyya went to Khalid ibn Madan, and I went with them. He related to us from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, concerning the truce. Jubayr said: We should go to Dhu Mikhbar, a man among the Prophet ﷺ Companions. We went to him, and Jubayr asked him about the truce. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “You will make a secure peace with the Romans. Then you and they will campaign against an enemy behind you; you will be victorious, take spoils, and return safely. Then you will return and camp in a meadow with hillocks. A man from among the Christians will raise the cross and proclaim that the cross has triumphed. A Muslim will become angry and smash it. At that point the Romans will betray you and gather for the Great Battle.”

Muammal ibn al-Fadl al-Harrani narrated to us: al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us: Abu Amr narrated to us, from Hassan ibn Atiyyah, with this report. He adds: “The Muslims will rush to their weapons and fight, and God will honor that group with martyrdom.” Abu Dawud said: al-Walid narrated the report through Jubayr, from Dhu Mikhbar, from the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Dawud said: Rawh, Yahya ibn Hamzah, and Bishr ibn Bakr also narrated it from al-Awzai, as Isa did.

Abbas al-Anbari narrated to us: Hashim ibn al-Qasim narrated to us: Abd al-Rahman ibn Thabit ibn Thawban narrated to us, from his father, from Makhul, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from Malik ibn Yukhamir, from Muadh ibn Jabal, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The flourishing of Jerusalem will be followed by the ruin of Yathrib; the ruin of Yathrib will be followed by the Great Battle; the Great Battle will be followed by the conquest of Constantinople; and the conquest of Constantinople will be followed by the emergence of the Antichrist.” Then he struck the thigh—or shoulder—of the person he was addressing and said, “This is as true as you are sitting here”—meaning Muadh ibn Jabal.

Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Nufayli narrated to us: Isa ibn Yunus narrated to us, from Abu Bakr ibn Abi Maryam, from al-Walid ibn Sufyan al-Ghassani, from Yazid ibn Qutayb al-Sakuni, from Abu Bahriah, from Muadh ibn Jabal, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Great Battle, the conquest of Constantinople, and the emergence of the Antichrist will all take place within seven months.”

Haywah ibn Shurayh al-Himsi narrated to us: Baqiyyah narrated to us, from Bahir, from Khalid, from Ibn Abi Bilal, from Abd Allah ibn Busr: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “There will be six years between the Great Battle and the conquest of the city, and the Antichrist will emerge in the seventh.” Abu Dawud said: This is more sound than the report of Isa.

Abd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim al-Dimashqi narrated to us: Bishr ibn Bakr narrated to us: Ibn Jabir narrated to us: Abu Abd al-Salam narrated to me, from Thawban, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Soon nations will summon one another against you, as diners invite others to their dish.” Someone asked, “Will we be few then?” He replied, “No, you will be numerous then, but like scum carried by a flood. God will remove your enemies fear of you from their hearts, and cast wahn into your hearts.” Someone asked, “Messenger of Allah, what is wahn?” He replied, “Love of this world and dislike of death.”

Hisham ibn Ammar narrated to us: Yahya ibn Hamzah narrated to us: Ibn Jabir narrated to us: Zayd ibn Arta narrated to me, saying: I heard Jubayr ibn Nufayr relate from Abu al-Darda that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Muslims camp on the day of the Great Battle will be in al-Ghutah, beside a city called Damascus, one of the best cities of Syria.”

Abu Dawud said: I was informed from Ibn Wahb, who said: Jarir ibn Hazim narrated to me, from Ubayd Allah ibn Umar, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Muslims will soon be besieged as far as Medina, so that their farthest military outpost will be Salah.”

Ahmad ibn Salih narrated from Anbasah, from Yunus, from al-Zuhri, who said: Salah is near Khaybar.

Abd al-Wahhab ibn Najdah narrated to us: Ismail narrated to us. Another chain: Harun ibn Abd Allah narrated to us: al-Hasan ibn Sawwar narrated to us: Ismail narrated to us: Sulayman ibn Sulaym narrated to us, from Yahya ibn Jabir al-Ta i—Harun version adds: from Awf ibn Malik, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “God will not bring two swords against this community: a sword from among themselves and a sword from their enemy.”

Isa ibn Muhammad al-Ramli narrated to us: Damrah narrated to us, from al-Saybani, from Abu Sukaynah, a man of the Muharrarin, from a man among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “Leave the Abyssinians in peace so long as they leave you in peace, and leave the Turks in peace so long as they leave you in peace.”

Qutaybah narrated to us: Yaqub, meaning al-Iskandarani, narrated to us, from Suhayl, meaning Ibn Abi Salih, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Hour will not come until the Muslims fight the Turks, a people whose faces are like hammered shields and who wear footwear made of hair.”

Qutaybah, Ibn al-Sarh, and others narrated to us; they said: Sufyan narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from Said ibn al-Musayyab, from Abu Hurayrah, attributing it to the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn al-Sarh said: The Prophet ﷺ said, “The Hour will not come until you fight a people whose sandals are made of hair; and the Hour will not come until you fight a people with small eyes, short noses, and faces like hammered shields.”

Jaafar ibn Musafir al-Tinnisi narrated to us: Khallad ibn Yahya narrated to us: Bashir ibn al-Muhajir narrated to us: Abdullah ibn Buraydah narrated to us, from his father, from the Prophet ﷺ, in the report about “a people with small eyes”—meaning the Turks. He said: “You will drive them back three times, until you bring them to the Arabian Peninsula. On the first drive, whoever among them flees will escape. On the second, some will escape and some will perish. On the third, they will be utterly destroyed”—or words to that effect.

Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Faris narrated to us: Abd al-Samad ibn Abd al-Warith narrated to us: my father narrated to me: Said ibn Jumhan narrated to us: Muslim ibn Abi Bakrah narrated to us, saying: I heard my father relate that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Some people of my community will settle in a low-lying area that they call al-Basrah, beside a river called the Tigris, over which there is a bridge. Its population will grow, and it will be one of the cities of the emigrants.” Ibn Yahya said that Abu Ma mar said: “It will be one of the cities of the Muslims.” Then, at the end of time, the descendants of Qantura will come, broad-faced and small-eyed, until they camp on the bank of the river. Its people will split into three groups: one group will take to the cattle and the wilderness and perish; another will look after their own interests and disbelieve; and a third will put their children behind their backs and fight them, and they will be the martyrs.

Abdullah ibn al-Sabbah narrated to us: Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Samad narrated to us: Musa al-Hannat narrated to us—I only know that he mentioned him—from Musa ibn Anas, from Anas ibn Malik, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him: “O Anas, people will establish cities, and one of them will be called al-Basrah or al-Busayrah. If you pass by it or enter it, beware of its salt flats, its grazing land, its market, and the gate of its rulers; keep to its outskirts. For there will be an earth-sinking, a pelting, and an earthquake there, and people who spend the night there will wake as apes and pigs.”

Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to us: Ibrahim ibn Salih ibn Dirham narrated to me. He said: I heard my father say: “We set out on pilgrimage, and a man approached us and asked whether there was a village near us called al-Ubullah. We said yes. He asked who among us would undertake to pray two or four rakahs for him in the Mosque of al-Ashshar and say that it was for Abu Hurayrah, who had heard his beloved Abu al-Qasim ﷺ say: On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will raise martyrs from the Mosque of al-Ashshar; none will stand alongside the martyrs of Badr except them.” Abu Dawud said: “This mosque is by the river.”

Al-Qasim ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi narrated to us: Abu Amir narrated to us, from Zuhayr ibn Muhammad, from Musa ibn Jubayr, from Abu Umamah ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf, from Abdullah ibn Amr, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “Leave the Abyssinians alone so long as they leave you alone, for none will bring out the treasure of the Kaaba except the Abyssinian man with the two thin lower legs.”