Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, who said:

When Tubbaʿ arrived in Medina and encamped at Qubāʾ, he summoned the Jewish rabbis and said, “I intend to lay this town waste so that no trace of Judaism remains here and the authority reverts to the Arabs (1).”

Shamwāʾil the Jew—who was then the most learned among them—replied, “O King, this is the land to which a prophet from the descendants of Ishmael will emigrate. He will be born in Mecca, and his name is Aḥmad. This town will be his place of migration, and in this very residence of yours much blood will be shed: many of his Companions and many of their enemies will be wounded or killed.”

Tubbaʿ asked, “Who will fight him, if he is indeed a prophet as you claim?”

He answered, “His own people will march against him and the fighting will occur right here.”

Tubbaʿ said, “Where will he be buried?”

He replied, “In this very town.”

Tubbaʿ then asked, “When he is attacked, who will gain the upper hand?”

He said, “At times he will triumph and at times he will be set back. In this very spot where you stand, the setback will be his, and his Companions will be slain here in numbers unmatched in any other encounter. Yet in the end the victory will be his; he will prevail, and no one will dispute his authority.”

Tubbaʿ said, “What does he look like?”

He replied, “He is a man neither tall nor short, with a slight redness in his eyes. He rides a camel, wears a coarse mantle, and carries his sword over his shoulder. He cares not whom he confronts—brother, cousin, or uncle—until his mission is made manifest.”

(1) I.e., political and religious authority would return to the Arabs.
(2) One battle would favor him and another would favor his opponents.