Al-Kāfi - Volume 8


Book 1, Chapter 198

Hadith Al-Zawra’ and that which is killed there
1 Ḥadīth

سَهْلُ بْنُ زِيَادٍ عَنْ بَكْرِ بْنِ صَالِحٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سِنَانٍ عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ وَهْبٍ قَالَ تَمَثَّلَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ (عليه السلام) بِبَيْتِ شِعْرٍ لِابْنِ أَبِي عَقِبٍ وَ يُنْحَرُ بِالزَّوْرَاءِ مِنْهُمْ لَدَى الضُّحَى ثَمَانُونَ أَلْفاً مِثْلُ مَا تُنْحَرُ الْبُدْنُ [وَ رَوَى غَيْرُهُ الْبُزَّلُ] ثُمَّ قَالَ لِي تَعْرِفُ الزَّوْرَاءَ قَالَ قُلْتُ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّهَا بَغْدَادُ قَالَ لَا ثُمَّ قَالَ (عليه السلام) دَخَلْتَ الرَّيَّ قُلْتُ نَعَمْ قَالَ أَتَيْتَ سُوقَ الدَّوَابِّ قُلْتُ نَعَمْ قَالَ رَأَيْتَ الْجَبَلَ الْأَسْوَدَ عَنْ يَمِينِ الطَّرِيقِ تِلْكَ الزَّوْرَاءُ يُقْتَلُ فِيهَا ثَمَانُونَ أَلْفاً مِنْهُمْ ثَمَانُونَ رَجُلًا مِنْ وُلْدِ فُلَانٍ كُلُّهُمْ يَصْلُحُ لِلْخِلَافَةِ قُلْتُ وَ مَنْ يَقْتُلُهُمْ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ قَالَ يَقْتُلُهُمْ أَوْلَادُ الْعَجَمِ.


198. Sahl Bin Ziyad, from Bakr Bin Saleh, from Muhammad Bin Sinan, from Muawiya Bin Wahab who said: ‘Abu Abdullah (a.s) quoted a verse from the poem of Ibn Abu Aqab as an example, ‘And there shall be slaughtered at Al-Zawra eighty thousand from among them, in the forenoon like the slaughtering of sacrificial animals’ (and others have reported it as ‘in the drain’). Then he (a.s) said to me: ‘Do you know of Al-Zawra?’ I said, ‘May I be sacrificed for you (a.s), they are saying that it is Baghdad’. He (a.s) said: ‘No’. Then he (a.s) said: ‘Have you been to Al-Rayy?’ I said, ‘Yes’. He (a.s) said: ‘Did you come across the animal market?’ I said, ‘Yes’. He (a.s) said: ‘Have you seen the black mountain on the right? Well, that is Al-Zawra, in which eighty thousand would be killed, including eighty men from among them from the children of so and so, all of them being suitable for the ‘لِلْخِلَافَةِ’ succession’. I said, ‘May I be sacrificed for you (a.s), and who would be killing them?’ He (a.s) said: ‘They would be killed by the ‘أَوْلَادُ الْعَجَمِ’ children of non-Arabs.’