Ayyūb narrated to us, from Abū Qilābah, from Abū al-Ashʿath al-Ṣanʿānī, that some preachers once spoke in Syria. Among them were men who had been Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, and one of them was a man called Murrah ibn Kaʿb. He said, “Had I not heard a report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, I would not speak.” He then spoke of the tribulations, bringing them close at hand. A man whose face was veiled (1) in a garment passed by, and he said,

“This man will be upon guidance that day.”

I went over to him, and it was ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. I turned his face toward me and asked, “This man?” He replied,

“Yes!”

al-Tirmidhī commented: “This ḥadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. Other narrations on this topic come from Ibn ʿUmar, ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥawālah, and Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah (2).”

I add: It was also transmitted by Asad ibn Mūsā, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, who said: Salīm ibn ʿĀmir related to me, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from Murrah ibn Kaʿb al-Bahzī, in similar terms.

Imam Aḥmad (3) likewise recorded it from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, from Salīm ibn ʿĀmir, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from Kaʿb ibn Murrah al-Bahzī—the correct name is Murrah ibn Kaʿb, as noted earlier (4).

As for the ḥadith of Ibn Ḥawālah, Ḥammād ibn Salamah reported it from Saʿīd al-Jurayrī, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Shaqīq (5), from ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥawālah. He said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “How will you be when a tribulation spreads to every corner of the earth?” I replied, “Whatever Allah and His Messenger choose for me.” He said, “Follow this man, for on that day he and those who follow him will be upon the truth.” I therefore followed him, seized him by the shoulder, twisted it, and said, “This man, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Yes!”—and it was ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.

Ḥarmalah also reported—from Ibn Wahb, from Ibn Luhayʿah, from Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, from Rabīʿah ibn Laqīṭ, from Ibn Ḥawālah—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever is delivered from three things has indeed found deliverance: my death, the appearance of the Dajjāl, and the murder of a steadfast caliph (6) who upholds the truth and dispenses it.”

As for the ḥadith of Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah, Imam Aḥmad (7) said: Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān al-Rāzī narrated to us; Mughīrah ibn Muslim (8) informed me, from Maṭar al-Warrāq, from Ibn Sīrīn, that Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah reported:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned a tribulation, portraying it as near and of great seriousness. Then a man, his face veiled in a cloak, passed by, and he said, “On that day this man will be upon the truth.” I hurried off—he said, or I rushed