Sufyani

The Sufyani (Arabic: السفياني) is an apocryphal character of Islamic eschatology. The term Sufyani refers to his descent from the progeny of Abu Sufyan. According to hadiths, he will be the rival and opponent of Mahdi. Reports about Sufyani are available in both Sunni and Shia Hadith collections. The Sufyani is not the Dajjal. The hadith regarding the Sufyani specify that he is a tyrant who will spread corruption and mischief on the earth before the Mahdi. He will be such a tyrant that he will kill the children and rip out the bellies of women. The Sufyani will murder those from the household of the prophet and will rule over Syria. When he hears about the Mahdi, he will send an army to seize and kill him. However the earth will swallow this army before it even reaches the Mahdi.

The name of Sufyani shows his ancestor; he is a descendant of Abu Sufyan, father of the first Umayyad caliph.

Before the rise of the Sufyani, there will be a sedition in the Maghreb, which will spread in every direction that no party or group could protect itself from it.

Disorder, strife, and fear will emerge in the Magrib (west)... Strife will proliferate. (Ash-Sharani, Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 440)

A kind of corruption will surface from which no party will be able to protect itself, and spread immediately in every direction. This situation will persist until one comes and says: “O people, from now on your leader is Imam Mahdi(as).” (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, p. 23)

Later the sedition which started in the west will arrive to Al-Sham, Syria, thus two banners will fight for control over the Syrian region; they will fight until their armies are exhausted.

Following these events the Sufyani will start an uprising in the dry valley of Transjordan and moves to seize Damascus, he will gain much support and he will advance to capture the rest of Syria, defeating the two other competing forces. Once he captures the 5 districts of Al-Sham, he will send armies to Iraq.

...
Wikipedia