“…and at Dhu Balyan.” Yet this is not free of a problem. Perhaps the correct wording is that found in al-Nihāyah: “...at Dhu Bali and Dhu Bala.” In one version: “at Dhu Balyan”; that is, when they have become factions and groups with no leader. Whatever has gone so far from you that you do not know where it is, is said to be at Dhu Bali. It derives from bali in the sense of disappearing into the land. What was meant was the disarray of people’s affairs after him.”

1683 — “Before the Hour there will be thirty lying impostors.”

Ahmad (2/117–118) narrated it from ‘Ali ibn Zayd, from Yusuf ibn Mihran, from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, who had a man from the people of Kufah with him. The man began speaking to him about al-Mukhtar, whereupon Ibn ‘Umar said: “If it is as you say, then I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say...” and he mentioned the hadith.

I say: This is a weak chain of transmission. This Yusuf ibn Mihran was weak in hadith, and no one other than ‘Ali ibn Zayd narrated from him. The latter was Ibn Jud‘an, and he too was weak.

However, it has another route with Ahmad as well (2/104), through ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Nu‘aym al-A‘raji, who said: “A man asked Ibn ‘Umar—while I was with him—about mut‘at al-nisā’, temporary marriage. He became angry and said: ‘By Allah, in the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, we were neither fornicators nor licentious.’ Then he said: ‘By Allah, I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: Before the False Messiah there will surely be thirty liars, or more.’”

Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from this ‘Abd al-Rahman. Ibn Abi Hatim (2/2/293) reported from Abu Zur‘ah: “I know him only through the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: ‘There will surely be...’” and he mentioned the hadith. For this reason, al-Husayni said: “He is unknown.” Al-Hafiz concurred with him in al-Ta‘jil.