مسند أحمد

Yazeed bin Abi Salih narrated that Abul-Wadi’ ‘Abbad told him: We were heading for Koofah with `Ali bin Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه) and when we were two of three days away from Haroora`, many people drifted away from us. We mentioned that to `Ali (رضي الله عنه) and he said: Do not worry about them, for they will come back.... And he narrated the Hadeeth at length. He said: ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه) praised Allah and said: My close friend told me that the leader of these people would be a man with a deformed arm like a breast on which would be some hairs like the tail of a jerboa. They looked for him but they did not find him. We came to him and said: We did not find him. He said: Look for him, for by Allah I did not lie and I was not told a lie - three times, We said: We did not find him. Then `Ali came himself and started saying: Turn this one over, turn this one over, until a man of Koofah came and said: Here he is. ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه) said: Allahu Akbar! Is there anyone who could tell you who his father was? The people started saying: This is Malik, this is Malik. And ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه) said: Whose son is he?