Full Arabic Quote from Fath al Bari In Reference to:
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2271. Book 37, Hadith 11. Vol. 3, Book 36, Hadith 471.
The Varying Views Regarding The Qahtani
Regarding his Identity; Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The Last Hour would not come before a person of Qahtan comes forth driving people with his stick. (Muslim, Book 41, Hadith 6954)
Abu Huraira narrated that Allah’s Messenger said: ” The Hour (of Resurrection) will not come till a man from Qahtan appears, driving the people with his stick.” (Bukhari)
“And after the tyrants a man from My House will fill the earth with justice and after him is al-Qahtani, By the One who sent me with the Truth! Not a word less.”(Tabarani, Ibn Mandah, Ibn Asakir and Na‘īm bin Hammād (who was the teacher of Imam Bukhari and narrates from him in his Sahih) in his work “Fitan” from ‘Abd ar-Rahmān bin Qays bin Jābir al-Sadafī. Kanz al-Ummāl, hadith #38704.)
Here we see the prophet (saws) mention him directly after the Mahdi, which is when Isa (a.s) will rule for 40 Years. This suggests he may be a governor under Isa (as) since Isa (as) can’t govern an entire world alone. In one Hadith it says about his character “he is not less than the Mahdi”.
Ka’b said: “After the Mahdi, there will be a Khalifa (Caliph) from the people of the Yemen, from Qahtan, the brother of the Mahdi in his religion, who will act like the Mahdi did…(Jalal-uddine AsSuyuti’s Al-Urf Al-Wardi fi Akhbar Al-Mahdi, a part of Al-Hawi li Al-Fatawa)
Ibn Kathir in his Bidaya Wa Nihaya says: “The man referred to in the Hadeeth might be Dhu As-Suwaiqatain, but he might be someone else, for the one mentioned here is from Qahtaan, whereas Dhu As-Suwaiqatain is from Habasha. And Allah knows best.” Dhu As-Suwaiqatain is the one who Destroys the Kaaba.
The Mujtahid Imam’s are in agreement that a weak Hadith is preferred over opinion.
A Hadith Referring To The Iran and Iraq War That Ended In 1988
The Prophet (pbuh) said: A people will come from the Direction of Faris (Persia or Iran today), and will say : ‘O Arabians! You have become to fanatical!, If you do not recognize their rights properly, nobody will be with you…One day let it be given to you, and one day to them, and let these mutual promises be kept…’they will go to Mutik (the name of a mountain in the region), and Muslims will descend from there to yazi (the Iranian Plain)…The Polytheists will stand on the other side by the banks of the pitch black river known as the Rakabe (an area rich in oil wells)…there will be war between them: Allah will withhold the victory from both armies. (Portents of Doomsday, Imam Barzanji, p 179)
The Iran and Iraq war as the hadith says Allah withheld victory from both sides, a portion of the war took place in the exact area our prophet (pbuh) mentioned. Iran and Iraq fought for control over the Arvand Rout or Shatt al Arab waterway (an important shipping lane for oil exports), in 1969 Iran Abrogated it’s 1937 pact with Iraq over the waterway due to change in leadership in both countries, this increased hostility between them as Iran ceased paying tolls to Iraq (by claiming international standards), since almost all the ships that used the waterway where Iranian the old treaty was not fair. This caused the major tensions between the countries in modern times. Ayatollah Khomeni and the people of Iran after the Iran revolution said to the Iraqi leadership exactly what our Prophet (pbuh) said, You have become fanatical or oppressors, they believed that Iraqi’s should have followed Iran’s example and rose up against the dictatorship and established an Islamic government. Iraq finally invaded Iran in 1980 only to have a neither side win the war by 1988.