Sulayman bin Rabi'ah al-Ghubari narrates that he once performed Hajj during the caliphate of Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), and with him were al-Muntasir bin al-Harith al-Dabbi and a group of Qur'an reciters from the people of Basrah. He said: When the people had completed their rites, they said: "By Allah! We will not return to Basrah until we meet a Companion of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) who is well regarded (and trustworthy), who will narrate to us some remarkable hadith that we can narrate to our companions when we go back." He says: We kept asking until we were told that Abdullah bin Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with them both) was staying in the lower part of Makkah. We went to him, and there we saw a very large caravan (of baggage), in which three hundred mounts were ready to set off; of them, one hundred were riding mounts and two hundred were baggage camels. We asked: "Whose baggage is this?" The people said: "Abdullah bin Amr's." We said: "Is all of this his, although we were told that he is the most humble of people?" The people asked: "Who are you?" We said: "From the people of Iraq." They said: "O people of Iraq! Finding fault is truly your way. (The fact is that) these hundred riding mounts are for his brothers, whom he gives to ride on them, and the two hundred baggage camels are for the people who stay with him as guests." We said: "Take us to him." They said: "He is in the Sacred Mosque." So we went looking for him until we found him sitting at the back of the Ka'bah. He was short, his eyes were watering and he had no hair on his head; he was dressed in two sheets and a turban and was not wearing a shirt, and he had hung his sandals in his left hand. We said: "O Abdullah! You are a Companion of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), so narrate to us a hadith by which Allah Almighty will benefit us after today." He asked us: "And who are you?" We said: "Do not ask who we are; may Allah forgive you, narrate a hadith to us." He said: "I will not narrate anything to you until you tell me who you are." We said: "We would have liked you not to criticise us, to excuse us, and to narrate to us some of what we asked you about." He said: "By Allah! I will certainly not narrate to you until you tell me which cities you are from." When we saw that he had sworn an oath and was insisting, we said: "We are people from Iraq." He said: "Shame on all of you, O people of Iraq! You lie, you deny the truth and you mock." When he mentioned mockery, it grieved us greatly. We said: "Allah forbid that we should mock a person like you. As for your saying about lying, by Allah, lying has spread among the people and among us. As for denying, by Allah, we hear a hadith that we have not heard from anyone we trust, and we come close to denying it. And as for your saying about mockery, no one among the Muslims mocks a person like you, for by Allah, as far as we know, you are today the leader of the Muslims. You are among the first Muhajirun, and it has reached us that you read the Qur'an to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) (that is, learned it from him), that there is no Qurayshi on the face of the earth more dutiful to his parents than you, and that you had the most beautiful eyes of all people but weeping ruined your eyes. Then after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) you read all the (revealed) books, so in our view there is no one superior to you in knowledge. And we do not know of any man remaining among the Arabs for whom people leave the jurists of their own city and go to another city seeking knowledge from him, other than you. So, may Allah forgive you, narrate a hadith to us." He said: "I will not narrate a hadith to you until you give me a firm covenant that you will not deny me, will not lie against me, and will not mock." We said: "Take from us whatever covenant you wish." He said: "Upon you is the covenant of Allah and His pledges that you will not deny me in what I narrate to you, will not lie against me and will not mock." We said: "That is binding upon us." He asked: "Is Allah Almighty a guarantor and trustee over you in this?" We said: "Yes." He said: "O Allah, be a witness over them." Then at that point he said: "Listen! By the Lord of this Mosque, this sacred city, this sacred day and this sacred month! (And I have made the oath very firm, have I not? We said: Yes, you have made every effort.) He said: Soon the Banu Qantura bin Karkara, a people with flat noses and small eyes, whose faces are as if they were layered shields, as is in the revealed Book of Allah, will drive you out of Khurasan and Sijistan with great violence. They are a people who will wear their hair down to their earlobes, wear sandals of hair and tie their swords around their waists, until they come and settle at al-Ubullah (a place near Basrah)." Then he asked: "How far is al-Ubullah from Basrah?" We said: "Four farsakhs." He said: "Then they will tie the head of a horse to every palm tree of the Tigris, then they will send word to the people of Basrah: Leave it before they fall upon you. So the people of Basrah will leave Basrah; some of them will reach Bayt al-Maqdis, some will reach Madinah, some will go to Makkah, and some will join the Bedouins (A'rab). Then none of those who pray will remain except that he will be either killed or a captive, about whose blood they will decide as they please." The narrator says: We returned from him, and this hadith grieved us greatly. We had gone only a short distance from him when al-Muntasir bin al-Harith al-Dabbi turned back and said: "O Abdullah bin Amr! You have narrated to us a hadith that has terrified us, and we do not know which of us will live to see it. So tell us, will there be any sign before this event?" Abdullah bin Amr said: "Do not lose your mind. Yes! Before it there will be an amarah." Al-Muntasir bin al-Harith asked: "What is the amarah?" He said: "Amarah means a sign." He asked: "What is that sign?" He said: "It is the rule (leadership) of boys. So when you see that the rule of boys has covered the earth, then know that what I have told you has arrived." He says: Al-Muntasir came away from him and walked about the distance of an arrow's flight, then went back to him again. We said to him: "Why are you troubling this old man, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?" He said: "By Allah! I will not desist until he makes it clear to me." So when he went back to him, he made it clear to him. This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration on the condition of Imam Muslim, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.