The fire of the Hijaz, four centuries after the collection
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The Hour will not come until a fire comes out of the land of the Hijaz that lights up the necks of the camels at Bosra” (Bukhari 7118).
The collection of al-Bukhari was completed before 870. The fire appeared on Friday 5 Jumada II 654 AH (30 June 1256), east of Medina, facing Uhud: the text comes before the event by nearly four centuries. Here the objection “written after the facts” has no hold.
Ibn Kathir draws on the historian Abu Shama, who quotes letters from Medina: the city has been shaking since the Monday; the rock melts like lead, then turns black like charcoal; people write at night by the light of the fire, which can be seen from Mecca; it lasts “a month and more” (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 372-373; al-Nihaya, I, 26-27). For Ibn Kathir, the occurrence of the fire in 654 is known through mass transmission (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 372).
The glow seen at Bosra, for its part, is a matter of testimony. Ibn Kathir had it from the chief judge Sadr al-Din Ali, who had it from his father, a teacher at Bosra, to whom unnamed Bedouins had said that they saw, that night, the necks of their camels by the light of the fire; Ibn Kathir’s two books say “several Bedouins” or “a Bedouin” (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 372-373; al-Nihaya, I, 27). The fire is established; the glow at Bosra is reported, and we give it as such.
Constantinople, the city taken first
The Prophet ﷺ was asked which would be taken first, Constantinople or Rome. He answered: “the city of Heraclius will be taken first”, that is, Constantinople (Ibn Kathir, al-Nihaya, I, 79-80). Al-Salihi gives it from Ibn Abi Shayba, Ibn Mani’, Ahmad and al-Hakim, who declares it authentic (al-Salihi, X, 130).
The city was taken by force on Tuesday 20 Jumada I 857 AH (29 May 1453) by the Ottoman sultan Muhammad ibn Murad, Mehmed II, “after a great battle”, at the end of a siege begun on Friday 26 Rabi’ I. A contemporary reports it: Ibn Taghribirdi, then in Cairo, records the arrival of the sultan’s envoy on Saturday 23 Shawwal; Cairo was decked out for several days, and the historian writes: “praise and thanks be to God for this great conquest” (Ibn Taghribirdi, XVI, 70-71).
The Musnad of Ahmad, which carries the prophecy, dates from the ninth century: the city was taken some six centuries after the collection was written down. Rome, the second city, is still to come.
The commander praised. A second hadith praises the one who will take it: “you will conquer Constantinople; how excellent a commander its commander, how excellent an army that army”. Al-Salihi cites it from Ibn Abi Shayba, “with trustworthy narrators”, and from Ahmad, from al-Bukhari in his Tarikh, and from others (al-Salihi, X, 129-130). To apply this praise to Sultan Mehmed II is an interpretation: neither Ibn Taghribirdi, who reports the conquest, nor al-Salihi, who writes after it, links this hadith to the conquest.
“Ibn Kathir expected this conquest at the end of time.” That is true. Writing before 1453, he places the taking of the city at the close of the great battle against the Romans, just before the Dajjal (Ibn Kathir, al-Nihaya, I, 86). But the accounts he follows describe another scene. In the hadith of Ibn Maja cited by al-Salihi, the city of the end of time is taken “by tasbih and takbir”, by glorifying God and proclaiming His greatness (al-Salihi, X, 130); in 1453, it was taken by force, “after a great battle” (Ibn Taghribirdi, XVI, 70). Expecting a conquest at the end of time does not erase the one that history has seen.
The caliphs and the strife
Umar and Uthman. In the hadith of Hudhayfa, a closed door stands between Umar and the trials: it will be broken, not opened; Hudhayfa makes clear that the door was Umar (Bukhari 525; Ibn Kathir, al-Nihaya, I, 14-15). On Uhud as it trembled, with Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman, the Prophet ﷺ said: “on you there is only a prophet, a man of truth and two martyrs” (Bukhari 3675). Umar was killed in 23 AH (643-644), and the trials spread; Uthman was killed in 35 AH (655-656), besieged in his house (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 280).
Thirty years of caliphate. The Prophet ﷺ said: “The caliphate in my community will last thirty years, then there will be kingship” (Tirmidhi 2226); “the caliphate of prophethood, thirty years” (Abu Dawud 4646). Ibn Kathir does the count: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, then the six months of al-Hasan, who stood down in favor of Mu’awiya in Rabi’ I 41 AH (661) according to al-Bidaya, in 40 AH according to another passage of Ibn Kathir, thirty years after the death of the Prophet ﷺ in Rabi’ I 11 AH. He sees in it “one of the greatest proofs of prophethood” (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 264-265; al-Bidaya, XI, 134). This abdication fulfilled another prophecy: through al-Hasan, two great parties of Muslims would be reconciled (Bukhari 2704).
Ammar. Ammar ibn Yasir, the Prophet ﷺ foretold, would be killed by the rebel party (Muslim 2916; Bukhari 447). He was killed at Siffin in 657, in the camp of Ali. The prophecy embarrassed the Umayyads; it was handed down all the same (research file v1, part 4).
The Kharijites. The Prophet ﷺ described a group that would pass out of the religion “as the arrow passes through the game”, and gave a sign: a black man one of whose arms is like a woman’s breast (Bukhari 3610; Muslim 1066). Abu Sa’id al-Khudri testifies: “I bear witness that Ali fought them, and I was with him; the man was searched for and brought, and I saw him just as the Prophet ﷺ had described him”. Several Companions report it, Ali swore that he had heard it, and its fulfillment in the time of Ali is known as a certainty to all the scholars (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 298-301).
Thaqif. The Prophet ﷺ said: “In Thaqif there will be a liar and a destroyer” (Muslim 2545). In 73 AH (692-693), al-Hajjaj had just killed and crucified Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. His mother, Asma’ daughter of Abu Bakr, told al-Hajjaj to his face: “the liar we have seen; as for the destroyer, I do not think he is anyone but you”. The liar is al-Mukhtar, who claimed that Gabriel came to him (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 332 and 336-337). The identification was made by a woman Companion, in front of the man concerned.
The conquests named in advance
Chosroes and Caesar. The Prophet ﷺ foretold the end of Chosroes and of Caesar, and their treasures spent in the way of God (Bukhari 3618). Chosroes II was killed in 628, and Persia was conquered under Umar and Uthman (Ibn Kathir, al-Nihaya, I, 14; Mu’jizat, I, 245, 258). Byzantium, for its part, survived until 1453; but al-Bayhaqi understands the prophecy of Syria, and Ibn Kathir of Syria and the Jazira, which the emperor lost under the first three caliphs (al-Nihaya, I, 14).
Egypt and the brick. The Prophet ﷺ said: “You will conquer a land where the qirat is spoken of; treat its people well”; the Prophet ﷺ told Abu Dharr to leave it when he saw two men quarreling there over the space of a brick (Muslim 2543). Amr ibn al-As conquered Egypt in 20 AH (640-641); Abu Dharr saw the quarrel, and left (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 256).
The sea, then the city of Caesar. The Prophet ﷺ foretold that Umm Haram would be among the first to fight at sea (Bukhari 2788). She died on the expedition to Cyprus, under Mu’awiya, in 28 AH (648-649) according to al-Waqidi, whom Ibn Jarir al-Tabari follows; Ibn Kathir also reports 27 AH and 33 AH (Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, X, 227-228). Another version foretells “the first army that will attack the city of Caesar”, of which she would not be part: that of 52 AH (672), in which Abu Ayyub al-Ansari died (Bukhari 2924; Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 309-310).
His family, and his generation ﷺ
Fatima. He ﷺ told her in secret that she would be the first of his family to join him; she died about six months after him (Bukhari 3624).
A hundred years. A month before his death ﷺ, according to Jabir, the Prophet ﷺ said: “there is no living soul on the earth over which a hundred years will pass” (Bukhari 116; Muslim 2538). Ibn Umar explains that he meant the end of his generation, not the end of the world. Ibn Kathir: “we know of no Companion who lived beyond that term” (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 344-345).
Half a day. The Prophet ﷺ said: “I hope that my community will obtain from its Lord a reprieve of half a day”; half a day, says Sa’d, is five hundred years (Abu Dawud 4350). Ibn Kathir writes: “Abu Dawud alone reports it and its chain is good; this is one of the proofs of prophethood”, the span not ruling out more (Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat, I, 371). The collection of Abu Dawud dates from the ninth century; the term was reached in 500 AH (1106-1107), after it was written down. It is a hope, and the figure comes from Sa’d: we give it as such.
With their limits, and what we set aside
Other prophecies are general, or applied by the commentators to particular events: the twelve rulers (Bukhari 7222), the Turks (Bukhari 2928), India (Nasa’i 3173). For the wife “with the longest hand”, the first to join him ﷺ, Muslim names Zaynab, the text of al-Bukhari Sawda (Muslim 2452; Bukhari 1420; al-Salihi, X, 100).
Ibn Kathir himself sets aside some widespread accounts, and we with him: such as “he will not remain a thousand years in his grave”, which “has no basis” and no mention “in the reliable books of hadith” (Ibn Kathir, al-Nihaya, I, 25-26).
How this page connects to the others
- The date of the collections and the test of Deuteronomy: The test of a true prophet.
- The treasures of Chosroes seen by Adi ibn Hatim: page 2, Fulfilled in his lifetime.
- The signs of the Hour, after the time of Ibn Kathir: page 4.
- The objection: written after the events.
Sources for this page
- Al-Bukhari: 7118; 525; 3675; 2704; 447; 3610; 3618; 2788; 2924; 3624; 116; 7222; 2928; 1420.
- Muslim: 2916; 1066; 2545; 2543; 2538; 2452.
- Other collections: Tirmidhi 2226; Abu Dawud 4646; Abu Dawud 4350; Nasa’i 3173.
- Ibn Kathir, Mu’jizat al-Nabi ﷺ (extract from al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya), ed. al-Sayyid Ibrahim Amin Muhammad, al-Maktaba al-Tawfiqiyya, Cairo, I, 245-373 (Shamela 23678).
- Ibn Kathir, al-Nihaya fi l-fitan wa-l-malahim, ed. Muhammad Ahmad Abd al-Aziz, Dar al-Jil, Beirut, 1988, I, 14-15, 25-27, 79-80 and 86 (Shamela 11818).
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, ed. Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Turki, Dar Hajr, 1997-2003, X, 227-228; XI, 134 (Shamela 4445).
- Al-Salihi al-Shami, Subul al-huda wa-l-rashad, ed. Adil Abd al-Mawjud and Ali Mu’awwad, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1993, X, 100 and 129-130 (Shamela 1693).
- Ibn Taghribirdi (d. 874 AH / 1469-1470), al-Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa-l-Qahira, Wizarat al-Thaqafa wa-l-Irshad al-Qawmi, Cairo, XVI, 70-71.
- Research file “The Prophet ﷺ Foretold”, v1.0, 14 October 2026, part 4 (revised 3 November 2026).
- Research file “His prophecies, from his lifetime to our day”, v1.0, 2 November 2026: supplements to part 4; second period; sections on the fire of the Hijaz, Thaqif, the Kharijites and Constantinople.