Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 37:626

Abu Bakr narrated to us, he said: Malik ibn Isma'il narrated to us, he said: 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Humayd al-Ru'asi narrated to us, he said: 'Amr ibn Qays narrated to us, from al-Minhal ibn 'Amr—'Abd al-Rahman said: I think it is from Qays ibn al-Sakan—he said: Ali said upon his pulpit: "I am the one who gouged out the eye of the fitna (strife). Had I not been among you, such-and-such, and such-and-such, and such-and-such, and the people of the river (al-Nahrawan) would not have been fought. By Allah, were it not that you would rely [on this] and abandon action, I would tell you what has preceded for you upon the tongue of your Prophet regarding whoever fights them, while being insightful of their misguidance and knowledgeable of that which we are upon." He said: Then he said: "Ask me, for you will not ask me about anything between you and the Hour, nor about a faction that guides a hundred and misguides a hundred, but that I will inform you of its caller and its follower." A man stood up and said: "O Commander of the Faithful, tell us about the trial (bala')." The Commander of the Faithful said: "If a questioner asks, let him be intelligent, and if a respondent is asked, let him be firm. Indeed, behind you are momentous matters and a trial that is exhausting and grim. By Him who split the seed and created the soul, if you were to lose me, and the gravity of matters and the realities of the trial were to descend, many of the questioners would fail, and many of the respondents would be perplexed. That is when your war is separated and reveals its leg, and the world becomes a trial for its people, until Allah opens [the way] for the remainder of the righteous." A man stood up and said: "O Commander of the Faithful, tell us about the fitna." He said: "Indeed, when the fitna approaches, it resembles [the truth], and when it departs, it becomes clear. Trials are like the winds; they strike one land and miss another. So support the people who were the standard-bearers on the day of Badr and the day of Hunayn; you will be supported and rewarded. Beware, for the most fearful fitna to me regarding you is a blind, dark fitna; its trial is specific, yet its calamity is general. The trial strikes those who see in it, and the trial misses those who are blind to it. The people of its falsehood will prevail over the people of its truth until the earth is filled with aggression and injustice. The first to break its pillars, bring down its tyranny, and remove its stakes is Allah, Lord of the worlds." "Beware, you will find evil masters over you after me, like a biting camel that bites with its mouth, kicks with its leg, strikes with its hand, and withholds its milk. Beware, their trial will continue upon you until there remains in your cities no one except one who is beneficial to them or one who is not harmful, and until the support of one of you for them is like the support of a slave for his master. By Allah, even if they scattered you under every star, Allah would gather you on the easiest day for them." A man stood up and said: "Will there be unity after that, O Commander of the Faithful?" He said: "It will be a divided unity, except that your stipends, your Hajj, and your travels will be one, while the hearts are different like this," and he interlaced his fingers. He said: "Why is that, O Commander of the Faithful?" He said: "This one kills that one. It is a horrific, Jahili (pre-Islamic) fitna in which there is no guiding Imam, only a banner. We, the People of the House, see salvation from it, and we are not callers [to it]." He said: "And what is after that, O Commander of the Faithful?" He said: "Allah will relieve the trial through a man from the People of the House, a relief like the stretching of a hide. He will bring them news, except that he will subject them to humiliation and give them to drink from a cup of bitterness. Quraysh will wish, for the world and all that is in it, if they could attain a position [equal to the slaughter of] a camel or a young camel, to accept some of what is offered to them today, but they will reject it, and it will refuse [anything] except killing."