—meaning his beard—with the blood of this,” that is, the crown of his head; and so he was slain, and Abū Faḍālah was killed alongside ʿAlī on the day of Ṣiffīn.¹

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī said:
“Shurayk narrated to us, from ʿUthmān ibn al-Mughīrah, from Zayd ibn Wahb, who said:
‘The leader of the Khārijites came to ʿAlī and said, “Fear Allah, for you are a dead man.” ʿAlī replied, “No—by Him who splits the grain and creates the soul—but I shall be killed by a single blow here that will make this drip,” and he pointed to his beard. “It is a pledged covenant and a decreed judgment, and ruined is the one who fabricates lies.”’²

Al-Bayhaqī has likewise transmitted—with a sound chain—from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Abū Sinān al-Duʾalī, from ʿAlī, concerning the Prophet’s ﷺ foretelling of his death.³

He also narrated—through Hushaym, from Ismāʿīl ibn Sālim, from Abū Idrīs al-Azdī, from ʿAlī—who said:
“Among the matters the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entrusted to me was that the ummah would betray you after me.”⁴

He then cited it through another route, from Fiṭr ibn Khalīfah and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Siyāh, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Thaʿlabah ibn Yazīd al-Ḥimmanī, who said:
“I heard ʿAlī say, ‘It is part of the covenant of the Unlettered Prophet to me that the ummah will betray you after me.’”
Al-Bukhārī commented: “There is some doubt regarding this Thaʿlabah, and no one corroborates him in this ḥadīth.”⁵

Al-Bayhaqī also reported—through al-Ḥākim, al-Aṣamm, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Ṣaghghānī, Abū al-Jawāb al-Aḥwaṣ ibn Jawāb, ʿAmmār ibn Zurayq, al-Aʿmash, and Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Thaʿlabah ibn Yazīd—that ʿAlī said:
“By Him who splits the grain and creates the soul, this will surely be drenched with this—my beard with blood from my head—so what is holding back the most wretched of men?”⁶

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sabuʿ said, “By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, were a man to do that we would wipe out his entire clan.”⁷ ʿAlī replied, “I adjure you by Allah: let no one be killed on my account except my killer.”

They asked, “O Commander of the Faithful, will you not appoint a successor?”
He said, “No. I shall leave you as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ left you.”

They said, “What will you say to your Lord when you leave us unattended?”
He said, “I will say: ‘O Allah, You placed me over them for as long as You willed; then You took me and left them with You. If You will, You will set them aright, and if You will, You will let them stray.’”⁸