Ibn Dīzayl also said:

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Khurāsh al-Shaybānī narrated to us; from al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab; from Ibrāhīm al-Taymī (1). He related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“The mill-stone of Islam will begin to turn when a man from the Banū Umayyah is killed”—meaning ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him).

He also said:

Al-Ḥakam narrated to us, from Nāfiʿ, from Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr, from a group of elders: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was invited to the funeral of a man from the Anṣār. While he was seated awaiting it, he remarked, “How will you be when you see two caliphs (2) in Islam?”

Abū Bakr (3) asked, “Will that happen in a community whose God is One and whose Prophet is One?”

He replied, “Yes.”

Abū Bakr then said, “Will I live to witness it, O Messenger of Allah?”

He answered, “No.”

ʿUmar said, “Will I live to witness it, O Messenger of Allah?”

He answered, “No.”

ʿUthmān said, “Will I live to witness it, O Messenger of Allah?”

He answered, “Yes; because of you the war will flare up.” (4)

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb likewise asked Ibn ʿAbbās, “How can they differ when their God is One, their Book is One, and their religion (5) is one?”

He replied, “A people will arise who do not understand the Quran as we understand it (6); they will differ over it, and when they differ they will fight.” ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb acknowledged this.

He further said:

Abū Nuʿaym narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān—the brother of Abū Ḥamzah—narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn narrated to us:

When ʿUthmān was killed, ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim said, “Not even two goats would lock horns over his murder.” (7) Later, on the day of Ṣiffīn, his eye was struck out, and someone said to him, “Not even two goats would lock horns over his murder.” (8) He replied, “Indeed—and many eyes will be struck out.”

It is also reported that Kaʿb al-Aḥbār passed by Ṣiffīn and, seeing its stones, said, “The Children of Israel fought on this spot nine times, and the Arabs will fight here the tenth, until they hurl at one another the very stones that the Children of Israel once hurled (9), and they will annihilate one another just as they did.”