Sixth sign:

The Messenger told his daughter Fatima: "You will be the first Family member to join me (after my death)."[1] When she died 6 months later, his words proved true. He also said to Abu Dharr: "You will be expelled from here (Madina), will live alone and die alone."[2] What he said happened years later.

Once he woke up in Umm Haram's house (Anas ibn Malik's aunt) and said with a smile: "I dreamed that my community was fighting in the sea like kings sitting on thrones." Umm Haram asked: "Pray that I may be with them." He replied firmly: "You shall be."[3] Forty years later she accompanied her husband 'Ubada ibn Samit during the conquest of Cyprus. She died there, and her tomb remains a visited place.

"The Thaqif tribe will produce a liar who claims Prophethood, as well as a bloodthirsty tyrant."[4] In other words, the notorious Mukhtar (who claimed Prophethood) and the criminal Hajjaj (who killed 100,000 people).

"Constantinople (Istanbul) will be conquered (by my community). How blessed is the commander who conquers it, and how blessed his army."[5] Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who thereby attained a high spiritual rank, in 1453.

"If religion were hung on the Pleiades, descendants of the Persians would reach it and get ahold of it,"[6] indicating Persia's matchless scholars and saints.

"A scholar from the Quraysh will fill the parts of Earth with knowledge."[7] This refers to Imam Shafi'i, who founded one of Islam's four legal schools.

"My community will be divided into sects, and only one of them will be saved." When asked who they were, he replied: "Those who follow me and my Companions," by which he meant the people of the Sunna and Community (Ahl al‑Sunna wa al‑Jama'a).[8]

"The Qadariya are the Magians of this community,"[9] thereby predicting the Qadariya sect,[10] which would split into several branches and reject Destiny.

He predicted several groups that would split into many factions, when he told 'Ali: "On account of you, as with Jesus, two groups will perish: One because of excessive love (for you), and the other because of excessive enmity (for you)."[11] Christians, due to their excessive love for Jesus, transgressed the limits and regarded him as God's "son," while Jews went so far in their enmity as to deny his Prophethood and perfections. This refers to the Rafidites,[12] the Kharijites, and the Nasiba, extremist partisans of the Umayyads, respectively.

[1] Bukhari, 4:248; Muslim, 4:1904; Ibn Hanbal, 6:77, Bayhaqi, 7:164.

[2] Shifa' al-Sharif, 1:343, related by Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Hibban, and Ibn Kathir.

[3] Al-Jami' al-Saghir, 6:24, related by Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, among others.

[4] Hakim, 3:453, also related by Muslim, Ibn Hanbal, and Tirmidhi.

[5] Bukhari, Tarikh al-Saghir, 139; Hakim, 4: 422, also Ibn Hanbal and Haythami.

[6] Al-Lu'lu' wa al-Marjan, 3:183, related by Bukhari, Muslim, and Tirmidhi.

[7] Kashf al-Khafa', 2:53, related by Ibn Hanbal, Tayalisi, Ibn Hajar, and Bayhaqi.

[8] Ibn Hanbal, 2:332; also related by Abu Dawud, Ibn Maja, and Tirmidhi.

[9] Al-Jami' al-Saghir, 4:l50, related by Abu Dawud, Hakim, and Ibn Maja.

[10] This sect, appearing during the second Islamic century, advocated free will, argued that people can create their own conduct (both good and evil), and accepted causality as a necessary part of human conduct, thus rejecting Divine Destiny.

[11] Hakim, 3:123; also related by Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Hibban, and Bazzar.

[12] Majma' al-Zawa'id, 10:22; Fath al-Rabbani, 24:20; Nasa'i, al-Khasa'is, 3:19.