It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The rulers will be from Quraysh, the rulers will be from Quraysh, as long as they do three things among you: when they are asked for mercy, they show mercy; when they distribute, they act with fairness; and when they judge, they act with justice." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), but they did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him); Masruq says: One night we were sitting with him while he was teaching us the Qur'an, when a man asked him: O Abu Abd al-Rahman! Did you ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) how many caliphs this Ummah will have? Sayyiduna Abdullah said: Since I came to Iraq, no one besides you has asked me this question. Then he said: Yes, we asked him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There will be twelve, equal to the number of the leaders (nuqaba') of the Children of Israel." In this book, one cannot dispense with the narrations of Mujalid and other narrators like him.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Sufyani will prevail over Syria. Then there will be a battle between them at Qarqisiya, such that the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth will eat their fill of their corpses. Then a breach will open up behind them, and a group of them will advance until they enter the land of Khurasan (and the Sufyani's cavalry will set out in pursuit of the people of Khurasan), and they will kill the followers of the family of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in Kufah. Then the people of Khurasan will set out in search of the Mahdi.