Who Was The Sufyani? A tyrant of the last days, in weak reports in Islamic History

Before the worldBefore Adam

The first nationsAdam to Shuayb

Egypt and Bani Israilc. 1300–1000 BCE

Bani Israil and Romec. 1000 BCE – 250 CE

Arabia before IslamUp to 570 CE

Enemies of the Prophet ﷺ610–632 CE

After the Prophet ﷺ632–1000 CE

Crusades and conquests1090–1502 CE

The end of timeStill to come

Ten signs before the Hour

Isa ibn Maryam descends
A landslide in the east
A landslide in the west
A landslide in Arabia
The smoke
The sun rises from the west
The Beast of the earth
A fire from Yemen drives people to their gathering

Sahih Muslim lists ten major signs before the Hour without fixing their order. This follows a common order given by the scholars. Sahih Muslim 2901a ↗

Villains of history75 / 76

السفياني

The Sufyani

A tyrant of the last days, in weak reportsBefore the Hour, in some reports

Relied onAn army from Syria

Undone byThe earth that swallows his army, in the reports

Some narrations speak of a tyrant descended from Abu Sufyan who will rise in Syria, spill much blood, and send an army against a man who takes refuge at the Kaaba.

How it ended

Authentic hadith say an army marching on the Kaaba will be swallowed by the earth in the desert. Some later reports name its sender the Sufyani.

And if you could see when they are terrified but there is no escape, and they will be seized from a place nearby.
Quran 34:51

The lessonThe scholars kept weak reports apart from sound ones, even about the end of time.

In the Quran

34:51

Stood against: the one who takes refuge at the Kaaba
Source: Authentic hadithThe narrations that name the Sufyani, in al-Hakim's Mustadrak and Nu'aym ibn Hammad's al-Fitan, are weak by the hadith scholars' standards. The swallowed army is authentic (Sahih al-Bukhari 2118). Some commentators connect 34:51 to it.Sahih al-Bukhari 2118 ↗

Every villain in Islamic history, from Iblis to the Dajjal

Each entry is drawn from the Quran, authentic hadith (with links to sunnah.com), the classical commentators and the historians. Companions who fought Islam and later became Muslim are not included, nor are figures Muslims disagree about.