"before the Dajjāl, there will be deceptive years..." The ḥadīth is similar to the ḥadīth of the chapter, except that it says: "he said: the little wicked one will speak in the affairs of the public." Then it was narrated after him by him and his son ʿAbd Allāh and Abū Yaʿlá (1/378/3715) through the first route of Ibn Isḥāq from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār with it. The commentator on "Abū Yaʿlá" made an error by considering the route of Ibn Isḥāq from Ibn al-Munkadir with Aḥmad and this route as one. We return to the ḥadīth of ʿAwf, for Ibn Isḥāq was followed up on it by two: the first: Maslamah ibn ʿAlī: Ibrāhīm ibn Abī ʿAblah narrated to us from his father with it. It was recorded by al-Ṭabarānī (18/67/number 123) and Ibn ʿAsākir in "Tārīkh Dimashq" (16/226/2). And this Maslamah is abandoned. The other: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh from Ibrāhīm ibn Abī ʿAblah from ʿAwf ibn Mālik with a similar elevated chain. It was recorded by al-Ṭabarānī (number 124), and the commentator on it, our companion Ḥamdī al-Salafī, said: "Its isnād is good"! And I say: it would be so if not for the discontinuity between Ibrāhīm ibn Abī ʿAblah and ʿAwf, for there are seventy-nine years between their deaths, and therefore they did not mention any narration from him from any of the Companions, except Anas ibn Mālik ﵁ and the like. They did not mention any narration from ʿAwf, and the previous narrations indicate that between them was his father Abū ʿAblah. Moreover, what strengthens the ḥadīth is that it has supporting evidence from more than one of the Companions, including from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar with a similar elevated chain up to the saying: "and the trustworthy will be betrayed," and he added: