Sulayman ibn ‘Isa that he said: “It has reached me that at the hands of the Mahdi, the Tabut as-Sakinah [the Ark of the Covenant] will appear from the lake of Tabariyyah (sea Of Galilee in Israel), until it is carried and placed before him in Bayt al-Maqdis. When the Jews look at it, they will all become Muslims except for a small number of them. Then the Mahdi will die (some time after).” (Imam Suyutyi)
The Ark wont come out of the lake itself like the hadith is translated, but most likely it will be made public when it is taken to Israel from Antioch in southern Turkey on the border with Syria.
Ka’b that he said: “The Mahdi will be sent to fight the Romans. He will be given the fiqh [understanding] of ten men. He will bring out the Tabut as-Sakinah [the Ark of the Covenant] from a cave at Antioch, which contains the Tawrah that Allah [ta’ala] revealed to Musa [‘alayhis-salam] and the Injil that Allah [‘azza wa-jall] revealed to ‘Isa [‘alayhis-salam]. He will judge between the people of the Tawrah by their Tawrah, and between the people of the Injil by their Injil.” (Imam Suyutyi)
This is very significant not just because the Jews will convert to Islam but because it answers the question who are the Jews that imam Mahdi will send to conquer Constantinople, are they Jews already converted to Islam or Jews from among the wider Jewish community.
All of this is in line with Jewish prophecy itself, among their prophecies is that a group of them will remain victorious at the end of time and never see hardship or illness, we don’t recall the exact wording of their prophecy but it is very similar to how Rasul Allah (saws) described the Army of Jews that will conquer Constantinople who will never face hardship and take it without battle, with Just dhikr.
Another one of their prophecies is that they are waiting for the return of Elijah (as) before Isa (as) exactly as we are waiting for the Mahdi (as) before Isa (as), but 3000 years ago people named people according to the meaning of words so the name is a description and not a label, the name Elijah means “The one who affirms God”, literally the Shahada, Ashhadu ana La Ilaha Ila Llah, Imam Mahdi (as) will have written on His (as) war banner “The Baya (Allegiance) is only for Allah” (he is only a means to Allah).
The Prophet, Allah bless and greet him and his Family, said:
“Lataftahanna al-Qustantiniyya wa lani`ma al-amiru amiruha wa lani`ma
al-jayshu dhalika al-jaysh.”
“Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will her
leader be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!”
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: The Last Hour would not come until the Romans would land at al-A’maq or in Dabiq. An army consisting of the best (soldiers) of the people of the earth at that time will come from Medina (to counteract them). When they will arrange themselves in ranks, the Romans would say: Do not stand between us and those (Muslims) who took prisoners from amongst us. Let us fight with them; and the Muslims would say: Nay, by Allah, we would never get aside from you and from our brethren that you may fight them. They will then fight and a third (part) of the army would run away, whom Allah will never forgive. A third (part of the army) which would be constituted of excellent martyrs in Allah’s eye, would be killed and the third who would never be put to trial would win and they would be conquerors of Constantinople. And as they would be busy in distributing the spoils of war (amongst themselves) after hanging their swords by the olive trees, the Satan would cry: The Dajjal has taken your place among your family. They would then come out, but it would be of no avail. And when they would come to Syria, he would come out while they would be still preparing themselves for battle drawing up the ranks. Certainly, the time of prayer shall come and then Jesus (peace be upon him) son of Mary would descend and would lead them. When the enemy of Allah would see him, it would (disappear) just as the salt dissolves itself in water and if he (Jesus) were not to confront them at all, even then it would dissolve completely, but Allah would kill them by his hand and he would show them their blood on his lance (the lance of Jesus Christ).
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Apostle (may peace he upon him) saying: You have heard about a city the one side of which is in the land and the other is in the sea (Constantinople). They said: Allall’s Messenger, yes. Thererupon he said: The Last Hour would not come unless seventy thousand persons from Bani lsra’il (Jews) would attack it. When they would land there, they will neither fight with weapons nor would shower arrows but would only say:” There is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest,” that one side of it would fall. Thaur (one of the narrators) said: I think that he said: The part by the side of the ocean. Then they would say for the second time:” There is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest” that the second side would also fall, and they would say:” There is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest,” that the gates would be opened for them and they would enter therein and, they would be collecting spoils of war and distributing them amongst themselves that a noise would be heard and It would be said: Verily, Dajjal has come. And thus they would leave everything there and would turn to him.
The description of this Jewish Army means they are saintly men not just Muslims.
From Ka’b that he said: “The Mahdi’s commanders are the best of people, the people of his support and his bay’ah, coming from the people of al-Kufah (Iraq), Yemen, and al-Abdal of ash-Sham (Syria). In front of him is Jibril and behind him is Mika’il. He will be loved by all creation. Allah will extinguish al-Fitnah al-‘Amya’ [the blind trial, started on September the 11th which split the world into two groups those following religion and those following sihr], and the earth will be so safe that a woman will be able to perform the Hajj in a group of five women, unaccompanied by a man, fearing nothing but Allah. The earth will bring forth its goodness, and the sky its blessing.”
Imam Mahdi (as) takes his name from what He (as) will do for the Jews and so it is right that Allah would inform their prophets about Him (as) and they have prophecies regarding him (as), moreover ahadith say He (as) will resemble them.
From Ka’b that he said: “He is called the Mahdi because he will be guided to something that is hidden, and bring out the Tawrah and the Injil from a land called Antioch.” (Imam Suyuti)
Ad-Dani narrated from Ibn Shawdhab: “He is called the Mahdi because he will be guided to one of the mountains of ash-Sham, from which he will bring out some of the scrolls of the Tawrah, with which he will debate with the Jews. So a group of the Jews on that day will become Muslims at his hands.”
“He (Imam Mahdi) would be wearing two Qutwani (Jewish) Cloaks. He will appear exactly as a person from Bani Israeel (A Jewish man).” (Kanz-ul-Aamal, Page 268, Hadith No 3868).
“The blessed Mahdi’s stature and posture resemble those of the People of Israel.” (Al-Qawl Al-Mukhtasar Fi alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, pp. 36-29.)
From Ka’b that he said: “I have found the Mahdi referred to in the Books of the Prophets, that there will be in his deeds no injustice or deficiency.”
Abu Bakr al-Kulabadhi narrated in Fawa’id al-Akhbar from Jabir ibn ‘Abdillah [radhiyallahu ‘anhuma] that he said: “The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Whoever denies the coming of the Dajjal, then he has disbelieved. And whoever denies the coming of the Mahdi, then he has disbelieved.”
“And there is none from the People of the Scripture but that he will surely believe in Jesus before his death.” (4:159) The Jews will believe in Allah, it will be at the hands of Imam Mahdi (as).