Glimpses of Shi'ism in the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal

Chapter 16 : Prophecy of the Martyrdom of Imam Husayn (‘a)

Ibn Hanbal says:

Muhammad bin ‘Ubayd has related to us from Sharhabi-l bin Madrak from ‘Abdulla-h bin Nujayy from his father who narrates that he was marching with (Imam) ‘Ali- [(‘a)] towards Siffi-n and when we reached Ninevah, (Imam) ‘Ali- [(‘a)] cried in a loud voice:

“O Aba- ‘Abdilla-h! Be patient. O Aba- ‘Abdilla-h! Be patient beside the River Euphrates.”

I asked him:

For what?

He said:

“Once when I went to the Prophet I saw tears in his eyes and asked him:

O Messenger of Allah (S) who has made you upset? Why are your eyes moist with tears?

He said:

Bal qa-ma min ‘indi- Jibra’i-lu qabl, fahaddathani- anna al-Husayn yuqtulu bishatt al-Fura-t. Qa-la: Hal laka an ushimaka min turbatih? Qa-la: Qultu: Na‘am. Famadda yadahu faqabaza qabzatan min tura-bin fa a‘ta-ni-ha-. falam amliku ‘ayni- an fa-zata- (A while ago [the Archangel] Gabriel left. He has informed me that indeed Husayn will be killed beside the River Euphrates.

Then he [the Prophet] said:

Do you like to smell part of his soil [where Imam Husayn (‘a) will be killed].

I said:

Yes.

He stretched his hand and taking a fistful of soil gave it to me. As a result, tears started rolling down uncontrollably from my eyes.)”[^61]

The annotator of the Musnad regards the isna-d of this hadith as sahi-h and writes that Nujayy is not the only one to narrate this from Imam ‘Ali- (‘a).

Notes:

[^61] Ibid, hadith no. 6480 (Ahmad Sha-kir).