he took the Torah and read until he reached the description of the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) and his nation. He said, "This is your description and the description of your nation. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allāh, and that you are the Messenger of Allāh," and then he died. The Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said to his Companions, "Bury your brother." Reported by Aḥmad (1/416) and al-Ṭabarānī in "al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr" (10/190/10295). Al-Haythamī said (8/231) - after attributing it to them - "In it is ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, and he had become confused." Shaykh Aḥmad Shākir - may Allāh have mercy on him - commented on this in his notes on "al-Musnad" (6/23): "He left out its defect; the disconnection, and attributed it to what is not valid; because Ḥammād ibn Salamah heard from ʿAṭāʾ before his confusion, according to the most likely opinion!" I say: the most likely opinion is that he also heard from him after the confusion, as al-Ḥāfiẓ clarified in "al-Tahdhīb," so what al-Haythamī attributed to it is correct. And Allāh knows best. *

- (The beginning of this matter is prophethood and mercy, then it will be caliphate and mercy, then it will be kingship and mercy, then they will bite each other over it like donkeys bite each other. So engage in jihād, and the best of your jihād is ribāṭ, and the best of your ribāṭ is ʿAsqalān.) Reported by al-Ṭabarānī in "al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr" (11/88/11138): narrated to us by Aḥmad ibn al-Naḍr al-ʿAskarī: narrated to us by Saʿīd ibn Ḥafṣ al-Nufaylī: narrated to us by Mūsá ibn Aʿyan from Abū Shihāb from Fiṭr ibn Khalīfah from Mujāhid from Ibn ʿAbbās who said: The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said... and he mentioned it