The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "How will you be when the son of Maryam descends and your imam is from among yourselves?"
قال رسول الله ﷺ: كيف أنتم إذا نزل ابن مريم، وإمامكم منكم؟
Bukhari narrated it in the book of the prophets (3449), and Muslim in the book of faith (155/244), both from the hadith of Yunus, from Ibn Shihab, from Nafi, the freed slave of Abu Qatada Ansari, who said that Abu Hurairah said, and then he related it. Bukhari then said after it, "Aqeel and Uzai followed him in narrating it."Muslim also narrated it in the book of faith (.../245) through the route of the nephew of Ibn Shihab, from his uncle Ibn Shihab, with the wording, "How will you be when the son of Maryam descends among you and leads you in prayer?"Muslim also narrated it in the book of faith (.../246) through the route of Walid bin Muslim, who said, "Ibn Abu Dhib narrated to us, from Ibn Shihab," with his chain, and in it, "How will you be when the son of Maryam descends among you, and your leader in prayer is one of you?"I said to Ibn Abu Dhib, "Uzai narrated to us from Zuhri, from Nafi, from Abu Hurairah, 'and your leader in prayer is one of you?'" Ibn Abu Dhib said, "Do you know what 'your leader in prayer is one of you' means?" I said, "Tell me." He said, "He will lead you in prayer according to the Book of your Lord and the sunnah of your Prophet
."It has been narrated from Abu Hurairah, with a daif chain, as a raised report, "Black banners will come out of Khurasan, and nothing will turn them back until they are erected at Ilya." Tirmidhi (2269) and Ahmad (8775) narrated it, both from Qutayba bin Saeed, who said, "Rushdin bin Saad narrated to us, from Yunus bin Yazid, from Ibn Shihab Zuhri, from Qabisa bin Zuayb, from Abu Hurairah," who said, and then he related it. Tirmidhi said, "This is an isolated hadith," meaning that it is daif, for Rushdin bin Saad is daif.It was narrated from Thawban that the Messenger of Allah
said, "Three men, each of them a son of a caliph, will fight over your treasure, yet it will not go to any of them. Then the black banners will rise from the direction of the east, and they will kill you in a manner no people has ever been killed." Then he mentioned something I do not remember, and he said, "So when you see him, pledge allegiance to him, even if you have to crawl over snow, for he is the Mahdi, the caliph of Allah."Ibn Majah (4084), Bazzar (4163), and Hakim (4/463–464) all narrated it through the route of Sufyan Thawri, from Khalid Haddan, from Abu Qilaba, from Abu Asma Rahbi, from Thawban, and then he related it. Bazzar said, "This hadith has been narrated with similar wording through other routes, but we do not know this particular wording except in this hadith. Even though most of the meaning of this hadith has been narrated elsewhere, we have chosen this hadith for its authenticity and the eminence of Thawban, and its chain is a sahih chain."Hakim said, "This is a sahih hadith according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs." Ibn Kathir said in Nihaya, "This is a strong, sahih chain." Busiri said, "This is a sahih chain."I say, but Abdullah bin Ahmad said in Ilal (2443), "My father narrated to me, saying, 'It was mentioned to Ibn Ulaya concerning this hadith, and he said, "Khalid used to narrate it, but no attention was paid to him." Ibn Ulaya considered the matter daif' " meaning the hadith of Khalid, from Abu Qilaba, from Abu Asma, from Thawban, from the Prophet
, concerning the banners.Dhahabi said in Mizan, "I regard it as rejected." I say, meaning the hadith, for he cited two chains for it, one of which does not mention Abu Asma, and the other of which does mention Abu Asma, because the wording of the hadith contains an objectionable element that does not appear in the established hadiths concerning the Mahdi. And Allah knows best.