…justice, yet it will not be granted to them; then they will rise up, and when justice is sought from them, they will still withhold it.” (1)

This isnād is ḥasan. (2)

Imām Aḥmad said (3): “Yaḥyā ibn Ghaylān and Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd both related to us, saying, ‘Rashdīn ibn Saʿd narrated to us.’ Yaḥyā ibn Ghaylān, in his version, added: ‘Yūnus ibn Yazīd narrated to me, from Ibn Shihāb, from Qabīṣah—that is, Ibn Dhūʾayb al-Khuzāʿī—from Abū Hurayrah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said:

‘Black banners will emerge from Khurāsān; nothing will turn them back until they are planted in Iliyaʾ (Jerusalem).’ ”

Al-Tirmidhī likewise recorded it through Qutaybah (4) and remarked that it is gharīb (solitary).

Al-Bayhaqī and al-Ḥākim also transmitted it—through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd—by way of Rashdīn ibn Saʿd. Al-Bayhaqī commented: “Rashdīn ibn Saʿd is alone in reporting it. A similar narration is found from Kaʿb al-Aḥbār, and that version is probably closer to the truth; Allah knows best.” (5)

It was further reported by way of Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān: “Muḥammad narrated to us, from Abū al-Mughīrah ʿAbd al-Quddūs, from Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, from someone who related it to him, from Kaʿb al-Aḥbār, who said:

‘Black banners will appear on behalf of the Banū al-ʿAbbās until they reach al-Shām; through them Allah will destroy every tyrant and every enemy of theirs.’ ” (6)

Imām Aḥmad also said (7): “ʿUthmān—that is, Ibn Abī Shaybah—narrated to us; Jarīr narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from ʿAṭiyyah al-ʿAwfī, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:

‘At the waning of time and the proliferation of trials, a man called al-Saffāḥ will emerge, and he will distribute wealth by the handful.’ ”

Al-Bayhaqī (8) transmitted it as well, through al-Ḥākim, from al-Aṣamm, from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Abū ʿAwānah, from al-Aʿmash, adding the wording: “A man from my Household will emerge whose name is al-Saffāḥ …” and he mentioned the rest. This isnād satisfies the criteria of the compilers of the Sunan, yet they did not include it.

These reports, therefore, concern the appearance of the black banners from Khurāsān and the rise of al-Saffāḥ—ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—whose caliphate began around 132 AH. He emerged with his supporters bearing the black banners, their emblem being the wearing of black, just as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered Mecca on the Day of