Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

It is narrated from Abdur Rahman, who says: I think it is narrated from Qais bin Sakan, who says: Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said from the pulpit: I have overcome the tribulation. If I were not among you, so-and-so and so-and-so would not have been killed. By Allah, if you had not abandoned action out of reliance, I would have told you what glad tidings the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave regarding you, because of fighting those people who, while seeing their misguidance, also knew that we are upon guidance. Then he said: Ask me questions. Then he said: Beware, ask me questions, for whatever you ask me about the Day of Judgment and what is related to it among you, or about that army of which a hundred people attained guidance and a hundred went astray, I will inform you of its details.

Then a man stood up and said: O Commander of the Faithful, tell us about the trial (fitnah). The Commander of the Faithful said: When the questioner asks, he should do so with understanding, and when the one questioned is asked, he should remain steadfast. After you, great matters will arise and such tribulations will occur that will make a person defective and will make a person's color pale. By the One Who split the seed and sent the winds! If you lose me and then disliked matters descend and great trials descend, then many questioners will slip and many questioned will stand with bowed necks. This will happen when your war breaks out and the fighting flares up, and it becomes a trial for the people of the world until Allah grants victory to His remaining righteous servants.

Then a man stood up and said: O Commander of the Faithful, tell us some news about the tribulations. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When the tribulation comes, it comes in a doubtful form, and when it goes, it returns clear and evident. Indeed, tribulations circulate like winds; they surround one city and leave another. So help those people who held the banners on the days of Badr and Hunayn, so that you may be helped and rewarded. Beware, listen carefully! Indeed, the most fearful tribulation in my view is the one that will be blind and dark. Its turmoil will be specific, but its trial will be a general calamity. That tribulation will reach the one who sees it, and will miss the one who closes his eyes to it. In that tribulation, those on falsehood will prevail over the people of truth until the earth is filled with oppression and injustice. Then the first to break the sheath of that tribulation, to subdue its power, and to uproot its pegs will be Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

Listen, soon after me you will encounter evil people who will be like a furious she-camel that bites with its mouth, kicks with its feet, strikes with its forelegs, and does not allow its milk to be taken. Listen, this tribulation will continue upon you until there is no supporter for you in your city except one who benefits the people of falsehood or is harmless to them. Until none of you will be helped by them except as much as a master helps his slave (i.e., very little help). By Allah, if they gather you under every star, Allah will gather you on a day in which they will have no share.

Then a man stood up and said: O Commander of the Faithful! Will there be any group after this? He replied: No, then there will be various groups, but your grants, your Hajj, and your journeys will be the same, and your words will be different. Saying this, he interlaced his fingers. A man asked: How will this be, O Commander of the Faithful? He replied: People will kill each other; this will be a great and ignorant tribulation. In this tribulation, there will be no Imam of guidance, nor any banner to be seen. We, the Ahl al-Bayt, will be the saviors from it, and we will not be its instigators. Then he said: O Commander of the Faithful, what will happen after this? Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: Allah will separate this tribulation through a man from the Ahl al-Bayt, just as skin is separated from meat. Then he will make them taste the cup of torment. At that time, the Quraysh will become victims of the love of the world.