FIFTH SIGN
We will cite in this Sign a few examples of Hadiths concerning the matters of the Unseen.
It has come down to us through a chain of transmission the authenticity of which is agreed upon (tevatür) that the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) declared from the pulpit in the presence of his Companions: “This my grandson Hasan is a master of men by means of whom God will reconcile two great groups.”1 Forty years later, when the two largest armies of Islam met each other, Hasan made peace with Mu‘awiya, and thus fulfilled the prophecy of his noble grandfather (UWBP).
According to another authentic narration, the Messenger (UWBP) said to ‘Ali: “You will fight the perfidious, the just, and the deviator,”2 thus predicting the battles of the Camel and Siffin, and that fought against the Kharijites.
He again said to ‘Ali, when he was displaying love for Zubayr: “He will fight against you, but will be in the wrong.”3
He also said to his wives: “One among you will take charge of a rebellion; many around her will be killed;”4 “and the dogs will bark all around her.”5
All these certain and authentic traditions are the proven predictions of the struggles of ‘Ali against ‘A’isha, Zubayr and Talha during the Battle of the Camel, against Mu‘awiya at Siffin, and against the Kharijites at Harawra’ and Nahrawan.
The Messenger (UWBP) also informed ‘Ali about a man who would stain ‘Ali’s beard with the blood of his own head.6 ‘Ali knew the man; it was ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Muljam the Kharijite.
He also mentioned a man marked with a peculiar sign, Dhu’l-Thudia. When the man was found among the dead of the Kharijites, ‘Ali showed him as a proof of the rightness of his cause, announcing at the same time the miracle of the Prophet (UWBP).7
Bukhari, Fitan, 20; Sulh, 9; Fada’il Ashab al-Nabi, 22; Manaqib, 25; Darimi, Sunna, 12; Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 25; Nasa’i, Jum’a, 27; Musnad, v, 38, 44, 49, 51.
al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iii, 139, 140; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, vii, 138; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, vi, 414.
Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, vi, 213; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iii, 366, 367; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 686, 687.
al-‘Asqalani, Fath al-Bari, xiii, 45.
Musnad vi, 52, 97; Ibn Hibban, Sahih, viii, 258 no: 6697; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iii, 120.
al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iii, 113; Musnad, i, 102, 103, 148, 156.
Bukhari, Manaqib, 25; Adab, 95; Istitaba, 7; Muslim, Zakat, 148, 156, 157; Abu Da’ud, Sunna, 28; Musnad, iii, 56, 65.