Dhu’th-Thudayyah

Dhuth-Thudayyah’s full name was Hurqoos ibn Zuhayr al-Bajali. He was one
of the Khawaarij (Khaarijites) who rebelled against Ameer al-Mu’mineen
‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), spread mischief in the land and shed
blood that it was forbidden to shed. ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him)
fought them at the battle of an-Nahrawand and killed them; none of them
escaped except a few. 

The
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) urged the
believers to fight them. The first of them was Dhu’l-Khuwaysirah at-Tameemi,
who told the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him):
Be fair! And Dhu’th-Thudayyah was the last of them.

 He was a
very dark black man, who had a foul odour and a deformed arm; there was only
an upper arm, with no forearm, and at the end of his upper arm there was
something like a nipple on which there were some white hairs. 

They (the
Khawaarij) are the ones concerning whom the Messenger of Allah (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“Among the progeny of this man will be people who will recite
the Qur’an, but it will not go any further than their throats. They will
pass through Islam as an arrow passes through the prey. They will kill the
people of Islam and leave the idol-worshippers alone. If I live to see them,
then I will certainly kill them like ‘Aad (i.e., as ‘Aad were destroyed).”. 

Dhu’th-Thudayyah was the sign of these people; he was the sign of fitnah
(turmoil) and a symbol of mischief and evil. 

When ‘Ali
(may Allah be pleased with him) and the believers who were with him fought
them, he asked them to look for this man among the slain, and they found
him. ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and those who were with him
rejoiced greatly at that, and ‘Ali prostrated to Allah in gratitude. 

al-Bukhaari
(3610) and Muslim (1064) narrated that Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allah be
pleased with him) said: Whilst we were with the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and he was sharing out some
wealth, Dhu’l-Khuwaysirah, a man from Banu Tameem, came to him and said: O
Messenger of Allah, be fair! The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: “Woe to you! Who will be fair if I am not fair? You
will be doomed and lost if I am not fair.” ‘Umar said: O Messenger of Allah,
give me permission to strike his neck. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Let him be, for he has companions, in
comparison to whose prayer one of you would regard his prayer as
insignificant, and he would regard his fasting as insignificant in
comparison to their fasting. They recite the Qur’an but it does not go any
further than their collarbones. They will pass out of the faith as an arrow
passes out of the prey. Their sign will be a black man, one of whose upper
arms will be like a woman’s breast, or like a piece of quivering flesh. They
will emerge when there is division among the people.” 

Abu Sa’eed
said: I bear witness that I heard this hadeeth from the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and I bear witness that ‘Ali ibn
Abi Taalib fought them when I was with him. He ordered that that man be
sought, and he was found and brought; I looked at him and saw that he was
just as the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
had described him. 

According to
another report narrated by them (al-Bukhaari and Muslim):
“Among the progeny of this man will be
people who will recite the Qur’an, but it will not go any further than their
throats. They will pass through Islam as an arrow passes
through the prey. They will kill the people of Islam and
leave the idol-worshippers alone. If I live to see them, then I will
certainly kill them like ‘Aad (i.e., as ‘Aad were destroyed).” 

It was
narrated that Naafi‘ ibn Maslamah al-Akhnasi said: Dhu’th-Thudayyah was a
man
from (the clan of) ‘Arnah from (the tribe of) Bajeelah. He was a very dark
black man who had a foul odour. He was well-known among the troops, and
before that he used to accompany us. 

Al-Bidaayah
wa’n-Nihaayah, 7/289 

Ibn al-Atheer
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

Dhu’th-Thudayyah – thudayyah
is the diminutive of thadiy (breast nipple) And may be taken as meaning a
piece of a breast. 

An-Nihaayah,
1/592 

Muslim
(1066) narrated from ‘Ubaydah as-Salmaani, from ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased
with him) that he mentioned the Khawaarij and said: and said: Among them is
a man with a defective arm, or a small arm. I would tell you what Allah
promised on the lips of Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
to those who kill them. I said: Did you hear that from Muhammad (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him)? He said: Yes, by the Lord of the Ka‘bah;
yes, by the Lord of the Ka‘bah; yes, by the Lord of the Ka‘bah.

Muslim
(1066) and Abu Dawood (4768) narrated that Salamah ibn Kuhayl said: Zayd ibn
Wahb al-Juhani told me that he was 

He was in
the army that was with ‘Ali and went out to fight the Khawaarij. ‘Ali said:
O people, I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) say: “There will appear some people among my ummah who will recite
the Qur’an and your recitation will not compare to theirs, and your prayer
will not compare to theirs, and your fasting will not compare to theirs.
They will recite the Qur’an and you will think that it is to their credit
but in fact it will count against them. Their prayer will not go any deeper
than their collar bones and they will pass out of Islam as an arrow passes
out of the prey. If the army that attacks them knew what has been decreed
for them on the lips of their Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him), they would have relied on their deeds. The sign of that is that among
them there is a man who has an upper arm but no forearm, and on his upper
arm there is something like a nipple with white hairs on it. Would you go to
Mu’aawiyah and the people of Syria, and leave these people in charge of your
families and wealth in your absence?  By Allah, I hope that they are the
same people, for they have shed blood unlawfully and attacked the people’s
cattle. March in the name of Allah. 

Salamah ibn
Kuhayl said: Zayd ibn Wahb described to me the stops (made by the army)
until he said: then we crossed a bridge, and when we met (the Khawaarij),
who were being led that day by ‘Abd-Allah ibn Wahb al-Raasibi, he (‘Abd-Allah)
said to (his men): Throw your spears and draw your swords from their
sheaths, for I am afraid that they may urge you to negotiate as they did on
the day of Haroora’. So they threw their spears and unsheathed their swords,
and (the companions of ‘Ali) fought back with their spears, and they (the
Khawaarij) were killed and piled up one on top of another, but only two of
the people (i.e., the companions of ‘Ali) were killed that day. ‘Ali said:
Search among them for the one with the deformed hand. But they did not find
him. Then ‘Ali himself went to some people who had been killed and were
lying on top of one another. They took them out and found him among those
who were closest to the ground (at the bottom of the pile). He said takbeer
and said: Allah spoke the truth and His Messenger conveyed it. ‘Ubaydah al-Salmaani
stood up and said: O Ameer al-Mu’mineen, by Allah besides Whom there is no
other god, did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him)? He said: Yes, by Allah besides Whom there is no
other god – until he asked him to swear three times and he did so. 

Then Abu
Dawood narrated that Abu’l-Wadee’ said: It is as if I can see him, an
Abyssinian wearing a shirt, one of his hands like a woman’s nipple with
hairs on it like the hairs on the tail of a jerboa. 

Classed as
saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

Ahmad (850)
narrated that Taariq ibn Ziyaad said: We went out with ‘Ali to fight the
Khawaarij, and he killed them then he said: Look, for the Prophet of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said that there would emerge
people who would speak of the truth but it would not go past their throats;
they will pass out of the truth as the arrow passes out of the prey. The
sign is that one of them will be a black man with a deformed arm, with some
black hairs on his arm. If it is him, then you have killed the worst of
people, and if it is not him, then you have killed the best of people. And
we wept, then he said: Look. So we looked and we found the deformed man, and
we fell down in prostration and ‘Ali fell down in prostration with us. 

This hadeeth
has several isnaads; see al-Irwa’, 2/231 

Al-Haafiz
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

It was
narrated that Abu Maryam said: Indeed that deformed man was with us in the
mosque, and he was a poor man. I gave him a burnous of mine to wear and I
saw him attending meals with ‘Ali. He had on his arm something like the
breast of a woman, with a nipple on its end like the nipple of a breast,
with something on it like the whiskers of a cat. Both reports were narrated
by Abu Dawood. 

At-Tabari
narrated it at length via Abu Maryam. In it, it says: Before that, ‘Ali used
to tell us that some people would appear and the sign would be a man with a
deformed arm. I heard that from him many times until I saw him – meaning the
deformed man – not wanting to eat with ‘Ali because he often heard that from
him. And in it, it says: Then he instructed his companions to look for the
deformed man, so they looked for him but they could not find him until a man
came and told him: We have found him beneath two slain men in a ditch. 

According to
the report of Aflah: ‘Ali said: Which of you recognises this man? One of the
people said: We recognise him; this is Hurqoos. 

According to
the report of ‘Aasim ibn Shamkh, Abu Sa‘eed said: Ten of the Companions of
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) told me that ‘Ali
said: Look for the sign that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) spoke of, for I have never told lies and I will never
tell lies. He (that man) was brought, and ‘Ali praised and thanked Allah
when he recognised the sign. In the report of Abu Bakr, the freed slave of
the Ansaar, from ‘Ali, there were seven nipples around it. In that report it
states that the people were upset after the killing of the people of the
river, but ‘Ali said: I do not think but he was one of them. They found him
on the bank of the river, beneath the slain. ‘Ali said: Allah and His
Messenger spoke the truth. The people rejoiced when they saw his body, and
what they had been feeling disappeared. 

End quote
from Fath al-Baari, 12/298 

For more
information on the sect of the Khawaarij (Kharijites), please see the answer
to question no. 182237. 

And Allah
knows best.