Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Nasāʾī narrated—from Qutaybah, from Yaʿqūb al-Iskandarānī, from Suhayl ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“The Hour will not come until the Muslims fight the Turks: a people whose faces are like hammered shields, who wear garments of hair.” This is the wording preserved by Abū Dāwūd. (1)
It is also transmitted on the authority of Abū Saʿīd. Aḥmad said: ʿAmmār (2) ibn Muḥammad, the nephew of Sufyān al-Thawrī, narrated to us; from al-Aʿmash; from Abū Ṣāliḥ; from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘The Hour will not arrive until you fight a people with small eyes and broad faces—so small that their eyes look like the pupils of locusts and their faces like hammered shields. They wear sandals made of hair and carry hide shields (3) until they tether their horses to the date-palms.’ ” Aḥmad alone related this narration. (4)
The ḥadīth of Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān concerning fighting the Turks:
Abū Yaʿlā said: Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā (5) al-Baṣrī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us; Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ghamr (6), the client of Samūk, narrated to me; he said: My father narrated to me, from my grandfather: I heard Muʿāwiyah ibn Ḥudayj say:
“I was with Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān when a letter arrived from his governor reporting that he had struck the Turks, routed them, killed many of them, and taken abundant booty. Muʿāwiyah became angry at this and ordered the following reply to be written:
‘I have understood what you mentioned of those you killed and what you captured (7); but let me not learn that you repeat such an action. Do not fight them until an order reaches you from me.’
I said to him, ‘Why is that, O Commander of the Believers?’ He replied, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “The Turks will fight the Arabs until they drive them back to the regions where wormwood (shīḥ) and qayṣūm grow.” For that reason I dislike fighting them.’ (8)
Another chain on the authority of Muʿāwiyah:
Al-Ṭabarānī said: Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb al-ʿAllāf narrated to us; Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Ḥarrānī narrated to us; Ibn Lahiʿah narrated to us; from Kaʿb ibn ʿAlqamah al-Tanūkhī; from Ḥassān (9) ibn Kurayb al-Ḥimyarī, who said: I heard Ibn Dhī al-Kalāʿ (10) say: