Prophecy of his Martyrdom
Hazrat Ali (ra) took part in this expedition, regarding which it is narrated in Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal – Hazrat Ammar bin Yasir (ra) stated:
“Hazrat Ali (ra) and I were together in the journey during the expedition of Zatul Ushairah. When the Holy Prophet (sa) reached there and settled, we saw the people of Banu Mudlij who were working in one of the springs of their date-orchard. Hazrat Ali (ra) asked me, ‘O Abu Yaqzaan, what do you think, shall we go closer and see what they are doing?’
“Thus we went towards them and watched them work for some time. Then we began to feel tired, so Hazrat Ali (ra) and I left from there and rested on the ground between two date palms and fell asleep. By God, it was the Holy Prophet (sa) who woke us up. He prodded us with his foot to wake us up, as we were covered in dust [from the ground beneath]. On that day, upon seeing the dust on Hazrat Ali’s (ra) body, the Holy Prophet (sa) said, ‘O Abu Turab [father of dust]!’ Then he said, ‘Shall I not tell you about two of the most wretched men?’”
I spoke in the previous sermon about the title of “Abu Turab”, that once the Holy Prophet (sa) saw Hazrat Ali (ra) sleeping in the mosque and he was covered in dust, so he said, “O Abu Turab!” He called him Abu Turab and from then on he was also known by this title. It is possible that he was given this title during this particular incident or in a later incident; or he may have called him by this title on both occasions. But in any case, it seems that this particular incident [of the mosque] took place first.
“[The Holy Prophet (sa) said,] ‘Shall I inform you regarding two of the most wretched men?’ We submitted, ‘Yes, O Messenger (sa) of Allah.’ The Holy Prophet (sa) said, ‘The first was a man named Uhaimir from the people of Thamud who cut the legs of the camel of Prophet Salih (as). The second person, O Ali, is he who shall strike your head as a result of which your beard will drip with blood.’”
(Ahmad (rh) bin Hanbal, Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol. 6, Musnad Ammar (ra) bin Yasir, Hadith 18511 [Beirut, Lebanon: Alam al-Kutub, 1998], 261)