…al-Ṣanʿānī reported: “Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah sent us against Ibn al-Zubayr. When I reached Madinah I entered upon a certain man—Ziyād could not recall his name—who said to me, ‘People have already done what they have done; what is your view?’ I replied, ‘My intimate friend Abū al-Qāsim ﷺ advised me that if I should live to see any of these tribulations, I should make my way to Mount Uḥud and blunt the edge of my sword against it. Then I am to sit in my house. If someone pushes his way into the house, withdraw to the inner chamber; and if he follows you into the inner chamber, kneel on your knees and say: “Take upon yourself my sin and your own,(1) and you will be one of the people of the Fire—for such is the recompense of the wrongdoers.” I have already broken my sword and confined myself to my home.’”

This is how the ḥadīth is cited in the section devoted to Muḥammad ibn Maslamah in Imām Aḥmad’s Musnad, but the Companion’s name is left vague. In fact, the report is not from Muḥammad ibn Maslamah; it is from another Companion. The historians unanimously agree that Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, may Allah be pleased with him, died sometime between 40 and 50 AH—some say 42, others 43, and others 47—and thus he certainly did not witness the days of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr. It must therefore pertain to a different Companion whose story resembles that of Muḥammad ibn Maslamah.

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād relates in al-Fitan wa’l-Malāḥim: “ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us; Abū ʿAmr al-Qasamallī narrated to us, from the daughter of Ahibān(2) al-Ghifārī, that ʿAlī came to Ahibān and asked, ‘What keeps you from joining us?’ He replied, ‘My close friend—and your cousin—ﷺ told me: “Dissension, tribulation, and division will surely occur. When that happens, break your sword, stay in your house, and keep a sword made of wood.”’(3)”

This narration was also transmitted by Aḥmad ibn ʿAffān, Aswad ibn ʿĀmir, and Muʾammil, all through Ḥammād ibn Salamah. Muʾammil added, after the words “and keep a sword made of wood,” the phrase: “and remain in your house until a mistaken blow reaches you or an appointed death overtakes you.”(4)

Imām Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Mājah likewise recorded it through the chain of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd ad-Dīlī, from ʿUdaysah bint Ahibān ibn Ṣayfī, from her father.(5) Al-Tirmidhī commented, “It is ḥasan gharīb; we do not know it except through the narration of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd.” Such were his words, although we have quoted the report through a different route earlier.

Al-Bukhārī said: “ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Awīsī narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd narrated to us, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, from Ibn Shihāb, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib and Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said—”(6)