when she passed away, he married her sister Umm Kulthūm. After she too died, he married Fakhtah bint Ghazwān ibn Jābir, from whom he had ʿUbayd-Allāh the younger. He next married Umm ʿAmr bint Jundub ibn ʿAmr al-Azdiyyah, who bore him ʿAmr, Khālid, Abān, ʿUmar, and Maryam. He then married Fāṭimah bint al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd Shams al-Makhzūmiyyah, who bore him al-Walīd and Saʿīd. He married Umm al-Banīn bint ʿUyaynah ibn Ḥiṣn al-Fazāriyyah, who bore him ʿAbd al-Malik—and it is also said: and ʿUtbah. He married Ramlah bint Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah ibn ʿAbd Shams ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Quṣayy, who bore him ʿĀʾishah, Umm Abān, and Umm ʿAmr, the daughters of ʿUthmān. He married Nāʾilah bint al-Farāfiṣah ibn al-Aḥwaṣ ibn ʿAmr ibn Thaʿlabah ibn Ḥiṣn ibn Ḍamḍam ibn ʿAdī ibn Ḥayyān ibn Kulayb ⦗1⦘, who bore him Maryam—and it is also said: ʿAnbasah. He was killed—may Allah be pleased with him—while four wives were still with him: Nāʾilah, Ramlah, Umm al-Banīn, and Fakhtah. It is also said that he divorced Umm al-Banīn during the siege.

[Section]

In Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah there occurs the ḥadīth related by Imām Aḥmad ⦗2⦘ and Abū Dāwūd ⦗3⦘, transmitted through Sufyān al-Thawrī from Manṣūr, from Ribʿī ibn Ḥirāsh al-Kāhilī, from ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“The mill of Islam will turn for thirty-five, or thirty-six, or thirty-seven years. If it collapses, that will be the way of those who have collapsed before; but if their religion endures, it will endure for seventy years.” ʿUmar asked, “O Messenger of Allah, is that counting what has already passed or what remains?” He replied, “Rather, what remains.”

In another wording recorded by both of them: “The mill of Islam will turn for thirty-five, or thirty-six…,” and so forth. This uncertainty stems from the narrator. What is actually sound is thirty-five, for in that year the Commander of the Believers ʿUthmān was killed according to the correct view—though some say thirty-six, the first view is stronger. Heinous events did occur, yet Allah protected and safeguarded by His might and power, so that as soon as the people pledged allegiance to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah be pleased with him—order was restored and unity re-established. Nevertheless, other matters followed at the Day of the Camel and during the days of Ṣiffīn, as we shall explain, Allah willing, Most High. ⦗4⦘ ⦗5⦘