so he stood up among us and said:
“O Allah, do not leave them dependent on me, for then I would grow too weak for them; do not leave them to themselves, for they would prove unequal to the task; and do not hand them over to other people, who would then withhold from them.”
He went on to say:
“Most certainly Syria, the Romans and Persia—yes, the Romans and Persia—will be opened up for you. A time will come when each of you will own such-and-such numbers of camels, and such-and-such numbers of cattle, and such-and-such numbers of sheep; indeed, one of you will be given a hundred gold dinars and still find it unsatisfactory.”
He then placed his hand on my head—or on the crown of my head—and said:
“O Ibn Ḥawālah, when you see the Caliphate settling in the Holy Land, know that earthquakes, tribulations (1) and momentous events have drawn near; on that day the Hour will be closer to people than this hand of mine is to your head.”
Abū Dāwūd likewise related this ḥadīth (2) through the chain of Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ (3).
Aḥmad (4) said: Ḥaywah ibn Sharīḥ—and likewise Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Rabbih—reported to us: Baqiyyah narrated to us, saying: Baḥīr ibn Saʿd told me, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from Abū Qutaylah, from Ibn Ḥawālah, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
“The matter will reach the point where troops will be deployed: a detachment in Syria, a detachment in Yemen, and a detachment in Iraq.”
Ibn Ḥawālah asked, “Advise me, O Messenger of Allah, if I live to see that.”
He replied, “Go to Syria, for it is Allah’s chosen land; He gathers to it the choicest of His servants. If you must refuse, then turn to your Yemen and drink from its wells, for Allah has guaranteed Syria and its people for me.”
Abū Dāwūd (5) transmitted the same report through Ḥaywah ibn Sharīḥ.
Aḥmad (6) also recorded it from ʿIṣām ibn Khālid and ʿAlī ibn ʿAyyāsh, both narrating from Ḥarīz ibn ʿUthmān, from Sulaymān ibn Shumayr, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥawālah, with similar wording.
It was likewise transmitted by al-Walīd ibn Muslim of Damascus, from Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from Makḥūl and Rabīʿah ibn Yazīd, from Abū Idrīs, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥawālah, to the same effect (7).