the hadith) that, as far as he knew, the Prophet specified the side facing the sea—then they will say a second time, ‘There is no deity but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest,’ whereupon its other side will fall. They will then say, ‘There is no deity but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest,’ and a way will be opened for them. They will enter the city and seize its spoils. While they are dividing the spoils, a crier will come to them and announce, ‘The Dajjāl has emerged!’ They will abandon everything and return.” (1)

There is, however, an apparent difficulty in the statement in this hadith, “Seventy thousand descendants of Isaac will march against it,” since the Romans themselves are descendants of Isaac, being descended from Esau, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, the intimate friend of Allah, peace be upon him. (2) How, then, could Constantinople be conquered at their hands?!

Qādī Iyād said, “This is how it appears in every manuscript of Sahīh Muslim: ‘from the descendants of Isaac.’”

He then said, “Some have stated that the well-known and reliably transmitted wording is ‘from the descendants of Ishmael.’ This is what the hadith and its context indicate, for it is the Arabs who are meant.” (3)

The hadith master Ibn Kathīr held that this hadith “indicates that the Romans will embrace Islam at the end of time. Perhaps Constantinople will be conquered at the hands of a group among them, just as the preceding hadith expressly states that seventy thousand descendants of