Al-Jawāb as-Sahīh li-man baddala dīn al-Masīh - Ibn Taimiya - (6/133)

to Iraq, for if you go to them you will be caught in the sweep of the sword.’

ʿAlī then said, ‘By Allah, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said those very words.’

Abū al-Aswad added, ‘So I said to myself, “Never have I seen a man engaged in battle who tells the people something like this!”’

This report and others like it belong to the Prophet’s foretellings of future events that unfolded after his death exactly as he had described, and people witnessed them with their own eyes. As for the matters he foretold that have not yet occurred, they are many. He also informed of unseen things that took place during his own lifetime, and they happened just as he had said—such as the narration found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from Sahl ibn Saʿd, who related that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said on the Day of Khaybar:

الْعِرَاقَ فَإِنَّكَ إِنْ تَأْتِهِمْ أَصَابَكَ ذَنَبُ السَّيْفِ. قَالَ عَلِيٌّ: وَايْمُ اللَّهِ لَقَدْ قَالَهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. قَالَ أَبُو الْأَسْوَدِ: فَقُلْتُ فِي نَفْسِي: مَا رَأَيْتُ كَالْيَوْمِ رَجُلًا مُحَارِبًا يُحَدِّثُ النَّاسَ بِمِثْلِ هَذَا» . وَهَذَا وَأَمْثَالُهُ مِمَّا أَخْبَرَ بِهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مِنَ الْمُسْتَقْبَلَاتِ فَوَقَعَ بَعْدَهُ كَمَا أَخْبَرَ، وَرَأَى النَّاسُ ذَلِكَ. وَأَمَّا مَا أَخْبَرَ بِهِ مِمَّا لَمْ يَقَعْ إِلَى الْآنَ فَكَثِيرٌ، وَقَدْ أَخْبَرَ بِأَشْيَاءَ مِنَ الْمُغَيَّبَاتِ، وَوَقَعَتْ فِي زَمَانِهِ، وَوُجِدَتْ كَمَا أَخْبَرَ، كَمَا فِي الصَّحِيحَيْنِ عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ سَعْدٍ، عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ «قَالَ يَوْمَ خَيْبَرَ: