And in both collections as well (1) there is the narration of Shuʿbah, from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from Khaythamah, from ʿAdiyy, with the same wording.

All of these reports serve as corroborating witnesses for the principal ḥadīth we have cited.

Earlier, in the chapter on the Battle of the Trench, we noted the Prophet’s foretelling of the conquest of the Persian capitals and palaces, the fortresses of Syria, and other lands besides.

Imām Aḥmad (2) said: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us, Ismāʿīl narrated to us, from Qays, from Khabbāb who said:
“We came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was lying on his cloak in the shade of the Kaʿbah. We said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, pray to Allah on our behalf and seek His victory for us.’ His face flushed—or changed—and he said:

‘Among the peoples before you, a pit would be dug for a man, a saw would be brought and set upon his head, and he would be sawn in two, yet that would not turn him from his religion. He would be raked with iron combs that tore through flesh and bone and nerve, yet that would not turn him from his religion. By Allah, Allah will assuredly complete this affair until a rider may travel from Ṣanʿāʾ to Ḥaḍramawt fearing none but Allah—and the wolf for his sheep. But you are being hasty.’”

Al-Bukhārī likewise reported it (3) through Musaddad and Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, with the same wording.

Al-Bukhārī then says, in the “Book of the Signs of Prophethood”: Saʿīd ibn Shuraḥbīl narrated to us, Layth narrated to us, from Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, from Abū al-Khayr, from ʿUqbah, from the Prophet ﷺ:
He once went out (4) and performed the funeral prayer over the martyrs of Uḥud as one prays over the deceased; then he turned to the pulpit and said:

“I am (5) your forerunner at the Cistern, and I am a witness over you. By Allah, I can see my Cistern right now. Indeed, I have been given the keys to the treasuries of the earth. By Allah, I do not fear that you will associate partners with Allah after I am gone, but I fear that you will compete with one another over it.” (6)

Al-Bukhārī also recorded it through Ḥaywah ibn Shurayḥ, and Muslim through Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb; both transmit from Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, in the same manner related by Layth from us (7).

From this ḥadīth, which concerns us here, several points emerge. Among them is that he informed those present that he would be their forerunner—that is, the one who goes ahead of them.