Muslim also narrated: Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd told us, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—meaning Ibn Muḥammad—told us, from Thawr ibn Zayd al-Dīlī, from Abū al-Ghayth, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Have you heard of a city whose one side is on land and the other on the sea?” They replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “The Hour will not come until it is attacked by seventy thousand men from among the descendants of Isaac. When they reach it they will encamp, neither fighting with weapons nor shooting an arrow. They will simply say, ‘Lā ilāha illā Allah, Allahu akbar (There is no deity but Allah; Allah is Most Great),’ and one of its two sides will collapse”—Thawr said, “I think he said: the side that is on the sea”—“Then they will say a second time, ‘Lā ilāha illā Allah, Allahu akbar,’ and its other side will collapse. Then they will say a third time, ‘Lā ilāha illā Allah, Allahu akbar,’ and it will be opened for them; they will enter it and seize the spoils. While they are dividing the booty a crier will come to them, saying, ‘The Antichrist has emerged!’ So they will abandon everything and return.” (1)

Ibn Mājah likewise reported: ʿAlī ibn Maymūn al-Raqī told us, Abū Yaʿqūb al-Hunaynī told us, from Kathīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“The Hour will not be established until the nearest frontier posts (2) of the Muslims are at Bawlâʾ (3).”

He ﷺ then said, “O ʿAlī, O ʿAlī, O ʿAlī.” ʿAlī responded, “May my father and mother be ransomed for you.” He ﷺ continued,

“You will fight Banū al-Aṣfar (the Byzantines), and those who come after you will fight them, until the ruwqah (4) of Islam—the people of the Ḥijāz who fear no reproach for the sake of Allah—go out against them. They will conquer Constantinople with tasbīḥ and takbīr, and will obtain spoils the like of which they had never seen before, to the extent that they will divide them with shields. Then a caller will come, saying, ‘The Messiah has appeared in your lands’—yet it is a lie. The one who takes (the spoils) will regret, and the one who leaves them will regret.” (5)

Muslim further narrated: Qutaybah told us, Jarīr told us, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from Jābir ibn Samurah, from Nāfiʿ, from ʿUtbah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“You will campaign against the Arabian Peninsula, and Allah will grant you victory; then against Persia, and Allah will grant you victory; then you will campaign against the Romans, and Allah will grant you victory; then you will campaign against the Antichrist and Allah will grant you victory.” (6)

Muslim also transmitted on the authority of al-Layth ibn Saʿd: Mūsā ibn ʿUlayy narrated to me from his father, who said: Al-Mustawrid al-Qurashī said in the presence of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘The Hour will come while the Romans are the most numerous of people.’” ʿAmr said to him, “Be careful about what you are saying!” He replied, “I repeat only what I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” ʿAmr said, “If you have said it …”