are likewise the best of them in Islam, and a time will surely come upon one of you when seeing me will be dearer to him than possessing his own family and wealth.” Bukhari alone relates this. (1)

He then said: “Yahya narrated to us; ‘Abd al-Razzaq reported to us from Maʿmar, from Hammam ibn Munabbih, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘The Hour will not be established until you fight Khuz and Kirman, two non-Arab peoples—red-faced, flat-nosed, small-eyed, as though their faces were hammered shields; their sandals are of hair.’ (2) Ahmad also transmitted it through ‘Abd al-Razzaq. (3)

Ahmad further said: “Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from Sa‘id, from Abu Hurayrah—linking it to the Prophet ﷺ—who said, ‘The Hour will not arise until you fight a people whose faces are like hammered shields and whose sandals are of hair.’ All the major compilers except al-Nasa’i recorded it from Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah. (4) Al-Bukhari reported it through ‘Ali ibn al-Madini from Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, and Muslim likewise through Isma‘il ibn Abi Khalid; both chains go back to Qays ibn Abi Hazim, from Abu Hurayrah, with similar wording. (5) Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah remarked, ‘They are the people of al-Baraz’—so he said; perhaps he meant al-Bazar, the marketplace of depravity that belongs to them.

[The ḥadith of ‘Amr ibn Taghlib]

Ahmad said: ‘Affan related to us; Jarir ibn Hazim related to us; I heard al-Hasan say: ‘Amr ibn Taghlib told us that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Among the portents of the Hour is that you will fight a people whose sandals are of hair’—or he said, ‘who wear footwear of hair’—‘and among the portents of the Hour is that you will fight a people broad of face, as though their faces were hammered shields.’ Al-Bukhari recorded it through Jarir ibn Hazim. (6)

It has also been transmitted from Buraydah ibn al-Huṣayb al-Aslami. Ahmad said: ‘Abu Nu‘aym related to us; Bashir ibn al-Muhajir related to us; ‘Abd Allah ibn Buraydah told me, on the authority of his father, who said: I was sitting with the Prophet ﷺ when I heard him say, ‘My community will be driven by people small of eye, as though their faces were shields—three times—until they herd them into the Arabian Peninsula. During the first driving, whoever escapes them is saved; during the second, some survive and some perish; during the third, they will utterly destroy all who remain.’ (7)

They asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, who are they?’ He replied, ‘The Turks. By Him in whose hand is my soul, they will surely tether their horses to the columns of the Muslims’ mosque.’ From that day on, Buraydah would keep two or three camels and some provisions close at hand, ready to flee