So Abu Bakr conveyed the matter to the Prophet ﷺ, who said,
“Why did you not set the term”—the narrator added, “I think he said”—“at less than ten (years)?”
After that, the Romans did indeed prevail.
We have already presented the various chains for this ḥadith in the Tafsīr and noted that the one who wagered with Abu Bakr was Umayyah ibn Khalaf, that the stake was five she-camels, and that a fixed period had been agreed upon. Acting on the Prophet’s ﷺ instruction, the Truthful One (al-Ṣiddīq) later extended both the deadline and the stake. As for the Roman victory over the Persians, it occurred either on the day of Badr or on the day of al-Ḥudaybiyah—Allah knows best.
Al-Bayhaqī also transmitted—through Walīd ibn Muslim—that Usayd al-Kilābī narrated to us that he heard al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Zubayr al-Kilābī relate from his father, who said: “I witnessed the Persians defeat the Romans, then I witnessed the Romans defeat the Persians, and afterward I witnessed the Muslims defeat both the Persians and the Romans and gain mastery over Syria and Iraq—all within fifteen years.”
Section: The Night Journey (Isrāʾ) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from Mecca to Jerusalem, followed by his Ascension (Miʿrāj) to the heavens and the signs he beheld there.
Ibn ʿAsākir places the reports of the Night Journey at the very beginning of the prophetic mission, whereas Ibn Isḥāq situates it here, roughly ten years after the mission began.
Al-Bayhaqī, transmitting through Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah from al-Zuhrī, said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was taken on the Night Journey one year before his migration to Medina.” Ibn Luhayʿah reported the same from Abū al-Aswad, from ʿUrwah.
He likewise transmitted—from al-Ḥākim, via al-Aṣamm, from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr, from Ismāʿīl al-Suddī—who said: “The five daily prayers were made obligatory upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in Bayt al-Maqdis on the night he was taken on the Night Journey, sixteen months before his migration.”
According to al-Suddī, then, the Night Journey occurred in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿdah, whereas according to al-Zuhrī and ʿUrwah it took place in Rabīʿ al-Awwal.