He ﷺ also said—according to the report rigorously authenticated in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: “When Caesar perishes, there will be no Caesar after him; and when Chosroes perishes, there will be no Chosroes after him. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, the treasures of both of them will most surely be spent in the way of Allah.” (1)

Events unfolded exactly as he foretold, word for word, during the caliphates of Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān. In that period Caesar—whose personal name was Heraclius—lost his hold over Syria and al-Jazīrah, and his rule was confined to the lands of Byzantium alone. The Arabs used the title “Caesar” for anyone who ruled the Roman domains together with Syria and al-Jazīrah. This ḥadīth therefore contains tremendous glad tidings for the people of Syria: the Roman hand will never regain control of those lands—ever, for all time, until the Day of Judgment. We shall soon cite this ḥadīth with its full chain of transmission and wording, if Allah Most High wills.

As for Chosroes, the bulk of his realm was stripped from him during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, the remainder was eradicated under ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, and he himself was killed in the year 32 AH. All praise and grace belong to Allah. We have already discussed this matter at length. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ learned that Chosroes had torn up his letter, he supplicated that Chosroes’ kingdom be similarly torn to shreds—and so it happened. (2)

It is likewise established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, in the narration of al-Aʿmash and Jāmiʿ ibn Abī Rāshid from Shaqīq ibn Salamah, from Ḥudhayfah, who said:

“We were sitting with ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb when he asked, ‘Which of you remembers the ḥadīth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about tribulation?’ I replied, ‘I do.’ He said, ‘Speak up— you are indeed bold.’ I said, ‘He mentioned the tribulation that befalls a person in regard to his family, wealth, neighbor, and children; prayer, charity, enjoining right, and forbidding wrong atone for it.’ He said, ‘That is not what I mean. I mean the tribulation that surges like the waves of the sea.’ I said, ‘Commander of the Believers, between you and it there is a closed door.’ He said, ‘Woe to you! Will the door be opened or broken?’ I said, ‘Rather, it will be broken.’ He said, ‘Then it will never be closed again.’ I said, ‘Indeed.’

“We later asked Ḥudhayfah, ‘Did ʿUmar know who the door was?’ He said, ‘Yes. I told him a narration that contained no errors.’ We were too afraid to ask Ḥudhayfah who the door was, so we said to Masrūq, ‘Ask him.’ Masrūq asked, and Ḥudhayfah replied, ‘It is ʿUmar.’ (3)

And that is exactly what occurred: after ʿUmar was killed in 23 AH, tribulations broke out among the people and spread widely.

The Prophet ﷺ also informed us that ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān would be among the people of Paradise, yet a severe ordeal would befall him. (4) And so it came to pass: he was besieged in his own house—as we have detailed elsewhere—and was killed while patient, seeking his reward with Allah, and thus attained martyrdom. May Allah be pleased with him. We have set forth, in the section on his death, the aḥādīth that forewarned and announced this event before it occurred, all of which came to pass exactly as foretold. We likewise cited the reports concerning the Day of the Camel and Ṣiffīn—texts that predicted those events, the strife that accompanied them, and the tests they posed. Allah alone is the One whose help is sought.