In another version recorded by him (3/37), through al-Muʿallā ibn Ziyād: al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Bashīr narrated to us from Abū al-Ṣiddīq al-Nājī, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Glad tidings of the Mahdi! He will be sent forth amid people’s discord and earthquakes, and he will fill the earth with equity and justice just as it has been filled with tyranny and oppression. The inhabitants of heaven and earth will be pleased with him, and he will distribute wealth equally.”

A man asked him, “What does that mean?” He replied, “Equally among the people.” He said:

“Allah will fill the hearts of Muhammad’s community with contentment and freedom from need, and his justice will encompass them, until he orders a caller to announce: ‘Who has a need for wealth?’ Only one man among the people will rise and say, ‘Go to the treasurer and tell him: The Mahdi commands you to give me some wealth.’ The treasurer will say to him, ‘Scoop it up!’ But once he has placed it in his lap and carried it away, he will regret it and say, ‘Was I the greediest person in Muhammad’s community, or was what sufficed them insufficient for me?!’ So he will return it, but it will not be accepted from him. He will be told, ‘We do not take back anything that we have given.’

“This will continue for seven, eight, or nine years. Then there will be no good in living after him”—or he said—“Then there will be no good in life after him.”

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, being narrators used by Muslim, except for al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Bashīr, who is unknown, as stated in al-Taqrīb. Nevertheless, part of his report is corroborated in al-Ḥākim (4/558).

ʿAṭiyyah al-ʿAwfī also narrated it from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī as a report traced back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with the wording:

“At a time of disruption and the emergence of tribulations, a man called al-Saffāḥ will emerge, and he will give out wealth by the handful.”

Aḥmad recorded it (3/80).*