and where qaysūm grows” (1). That is why I am reluctant to fight them (2).
Abd Allah ibn Burayda reported from his father (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I was sitting with the Prophet (may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) when we heard him say: “Indeed, my nation will be driven by a people with broad faces and small eyes, whose faces are like shields (3) (three times), until they force them back to the Arabian Peninsula. During the first advance, whoever flees from them will escape. During the second, some will perish and others will escape. During the third, all who remain will be cut down (4).” They asked, “O Prophet of Allah, who are they?” He replied, “They are the Turks.” He then said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, they will surely tether their horses to the pillars of the Muslims’ mosques.”
Thereafter, Burayda always kept two or three camels with him, along with travel provisions and water skins, so that he could flee because of what he had heard from the Prophet (may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) concerning the calamity that would come at the hands of the Turkish commanders (5).
= is known as *al-turuqiyya al-wakhshīrak*. Dhāt al-Shīh is in al-Hazn, within the territory of Banū Yarbū‘. Dhū al-Shīh is a place in al-Yamāma, and another place in al-Jazīra. See *Mu‘jam al-Buldān*, vol. 3, p. 379.
(1) *Al-qaysūm* is a fragrant plant found in the desert; an individual plant is called *qaysūma*. Al-Qaysūma is also a watering place opposite al-Shīha, with a mountain pass between them east of Fayd (a small town halfway between Mecca and Kufa through which pilgrims pass, near Ajā and Salmā, the two mountains of Tayy).
See *Mu‘jam al-Buldān*, vol. 4, pp. 282 and 422.
(2) *Fath al-Bārī*, vol. 6, p. 609.
Al-Haythamī said: “Abū Ya‘lā narrated it, and among its narrators are some whom I do not know.” *Majma‘ al-Zawā’id*, vol. 7, p. 312.
(3) *Al-hajaf*: Ibn al-Athīr said: “A *hajafa* is a shield.” *Al-Nihāya fī Gharīb al-Hadīth*, vol. 1, p. 345.
(4) *Yastalimūn*: *istilām* is the *ifti‘āl* form of *salm*, meaning “cutting”; that is, they will be mown down.
See *al-Nihāya fī Gharīb al-Hadīth*, vol. 3, p. 49; and *Awn al-Ma‘būd*, vol. 11, p. 413.
(5) *Musnad Ahmad*, vol. 5, pp. 348–349, with *Muntakhab al-Kanz* in the margin. =