(14) Ali bin Ahmad narrated from Obaydillah bin Musa al-Alawi from Abdullah bin Muhammad from Muhammad bin Khalid from al-Hasan bin al-Mubarak from Abu Iss’haq al-Hamadani from al-Harith al-Hamadani that Amirul Mo’mineen had said:

“Al-Mahdi (aj) will come from the east but before that as-Sufyani will rise in Sham. He (as-Sufyani) will rule for nine months only. All the people of Sham will submit to him except a very few believers, who will still keep to the truth and whom Allah preserves from following him. He will move towards Medina with a great army but when they reach the desert of Medina, Allah will make the desert sink with them. It is the saying of Allah in His holy Book, ‘And could you see when they shall become terrified, but (then) there shall be no escape and they shall be seized upon from a near place.’”