Trials and tribulations

Zaynab bint Jahsh said, The Prophet (sallallah alayhe wa sallam) got up

from his sleep; his face was flushed and he said, There is no god but

Allah. Woe to the Arabs, for a great evil which is nearly approaching

them. Today a gap has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this

(Sufyan illustrated this by forming the number of 90 or 100 with his

fingers). Someone asked, Shall we be destroyed even though there are

righteous people among us? The Prophet said, Yes, if evil increases.

(Bukhari).

Umm Salamah, the wife of the Prophet said, One night the Prophet got up

and said, Subhan Allah! How many tribulations have come down tonight, and

how many treasures have been disclosed! Go and wake the dwellers of these

apartments (i e his wives) for prayer. A well-dressed soul in this world

may be naked in the Hereafter. (Bukhari.)

Usamah ibn Zayd said, Once the Prophet stood over one of the battlements

of al-Madinah and asked the people, Do you see what I see? They said, No.

He said, I see afflictions falling upon your houses as raindrops fall.

(Bukhari, Muslim.)

Abu Hurairah (radiallahu anhu) said, The Prophet said, Time will pass

rapidly, knowledge will decrease, miserliness will become widespread in

peoples hearts, afflictions will appear, and there will be much Harj. The

people asked, O Messenger of Allah, what is Harj? He said, Killing,

killing! (Bukhari)

Al-Zubayr ibn Adi narrated, We went to Anas ibn Malik and complained about

the wrong we were suffering at the hands of al-Hajjaj. Anas ibn Malik

said, Be patient, For no time will come but that the time following it

will be worse, until you meet your Lord. I heard the Prophet say that.

(Bukhari.)

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, There will come a time of afflictions

when one who sits will be better than one who stands; one who stands will

be better than one who walks; and one who walks will be better than one

who runs. Whoever exposes himself to these afflictions, they will destroy

him. So whoever can find a place of protection or refuge from them, should

take shelter in it. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Hudhayfah said, The Prophet told us two Hadith, one of which I have seen

fulfilled, and I am waiting for the fulfilment of the other. The Prophet

told us that honesty came down into mens hearts (from Allah); then they

learnt it from the Quran, and then from the Sunnah. The Prophet told us

that honesty would be taken away. He said, Man will be overtaken by sleep,

during which honesty will be taken away from his heart, and only its trace

will remain, like traces of a dark spot. Then man will be overtaken by

slumber again, during which honesty will decrease still further, until its

trace will resemble a blister such as is caused when an ember is dropped

onto ones foot: it swells, but there is nothing inside. People will be

carrying on with their trade, but there will hardly be any trustworthy

persons. People will say, There is an honest man in such-and-such a tribe.

Later they will say about some man, What a wise, polite and strong man he

is! - although he will not have faith even the size of a mustard-seed in

his heart. Indeed, there came a time when I did not mind dealing with any

one of you, for if he were a Muslim his Islam would compel him to pay

whatever he owed me, and if he were a Christian, the Muslim official would

compel him to pay it. But now I do not deal with anyone except so-and-so

and so-and-so. (Bukhari.)

Ibn Umar said, The Prophet stood beside the pulpit, facing the east, and

said, Afflictions will verily emerge from here, where the top of Satans

head will appear. (Bukhari.)

Abu Hurairah said that he had heard the Prophet say, The Hour will not

come until a man passes by someones grave and says, Would that I were in

his place! (Bukhari.)

Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet say, The Hour will not come until

the buttocks of the women of Daws* move whist going around Dhu l-Khalasah.

Dhu l-Khalasah was an idol worshipped by the tribe of Daws during the

Jahiliyyah. (Hadith from Bukhari.)

Abu Hurairah also said, The Prophet said, The Euphrates will disclose a

golden treasure. Whoever is present at that time should not take anything

of it.

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, The Hour will not come before the

Euphrates uncovers a mountain of gold, for which people will fight.

Ninety-nine out of every hundred will die, but every one among them will

say that perhaps he will be the one who will survive (and thus possess the

gold). (Muslim.)

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, The Hour will not come until the

following events have come to pass: two large groups will fight the

another, and there will be many casualties; they will both be following

the same religious teaching. Nearly thirty Dajjals will appear, each of

them falsely claiming to be a Messenger from Allah. Knowledge will

disappear, earthquakes will increase, time will pass quickly, afflictions

will appear, and Harj (ie killing) will increase. Wealth will increase, so

that a wealthy man will worry lest no-one accept his Zakat, and when he

offers it to anyone, that person will say, I am not in need of it. People

will compete in constructing high buildings. When a man passes by someones

grave, he will say, Would that I were in his place! The sun will rise from

the west; when it rises and the people see it, they will believe, but,

No good will it do to a soul to believe in them then, if it believed not

before nor earned righteousness through its faith ... (Al-Anam 6:158)

The Hour will come suddenly: when a man has milked his she-camel and taken

away the milk, but he will not have time to drink it; before a man

repairing a tank for his livestock will be able to put water in it for his

animals; and before a man who has raised a morsel of food to his mouth

will be able to eat it. (Bukhari.)

Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman said, Of all the people, I know most about every

tribulation which is going to happen between now and the Hour. This is not

because the Prophet told me something in confidence which he did not tell

anyone else; it is because I was present among a group of people to whom

he spoke about the tribulations (al-Fitan). The Prophet mentioned three

tribulations which would hardly spare anybody, and some which would be

like storms in summer; some would be great and some would be small.

Everyone who was present at that gathering has passed away, except me.

(Muslim.)

Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet say, If you live for a while, you

will see people go out under the wrath of Allah and come back under His

curse, and they will have in their hands whips like the tail of an ox.

(Ahmad, Muslim.)

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, There are two types among the people

of Hell whom I have not yet seen. The first are people who have whips like

the tails of oxen, with which they beat people, and the second are women

who are naked in spite of being dressed; they will be led astray and will

lead others astray, and their heads will look like camels humps. These

women will not enter Paradise; they will not even experience the faintest

scent of it, even though the fragrance of Paradise can be perceived from

such a great distance.

Anas ibn Malik said, The Prophet was asked, O Messenger of Allah, (what

will happen) when we stop enjoining good and forbidding evil? He said,

When what happened to the Israelites happens among you: when fornication

becomes widespread among your leaders, knowledge is in the hands of the

lowest of you, and power passes into the hands of the least of you. (Ibn

Majah.)

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet said, Woe to the Arabs from the great evil

which is nearly approaching them: it will be like patches of dark night. A

man will wake up as a believer, and be a kafir (unbeliever) by nightfall.

People will sell their religion for a small amount of worldly goods. The

one who clings to his religion on that day will be as one who is grasping

an ember - or thorns. (Ahmad.)

Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet saying to Thawban, O Thawban, what

will you do when the nations call one another to invade you as people call

one another to come and eat from one bowl? Thawban said, May my father and

my mother be sacrificed for you. O Messenger of Allah! Is it because we

are so few The Prophet said, No, on that day you (Muslims) will be many,

but Allah will put weakness (wahn) in your hearts. The people asked, What

is that weakness, O Messenger of Allah? He said, It is love for this world

and dislike of fighting. (Ahmad.)

The Prophet said, There will be a tribulation in which one who is sleeping

will be better than one who is lying down, one who is lying will be better

than one who is sitting, one who is sitting will be better than on who is

standing, one who is standing will be better than one who is walking, one

who is walking will be better than one who is riding, and one who is

riding will be better than one who is running; all of their dead will be

in Hell. The Companion of the Prophet who narrated this Hadith said, O

Messenger of Allah, when will that be? He said, That will be the days of

Harj. He asked, When will the days of Harj be?

The Prophet said, When a man will not trust the person to whom he is

speaking. The Companion asked, What do you advise me to do if I live to

see that? He said, Restrain yourself, and go back to your place of

residence. The Companion then asked, O Messenger of Allah, what should I

do if someone enters my neighbourhood to attack me? He said, Go into your

house. The Companion asked, What if he enters my house? He said, Go into

the place where you pray and do this - and he folded his arms, - and say

My Lord is Allah, until you die.

Abu Bakrah said, The Prophet said, There will be a tribulation during

which one who is lying down will be better than one who is sitting, one

who is sitting will be better than one who is standing, one who is

standing will be better than one who is walking, and one who is walking

will be better than one who is running. Someone asked, O Messenger of

Allah, what do you advise me to do? He said, Whoever has camels, let him

stay with them, and whoever has land, let him stay in his land. Someone

asked, What about someone who does not have anything like that? He said,

Then let him take his sword and strike its edge against a stone, then go

as far away as possible. (Abu Dawud; similar Hadith in Muslim.)

At the time of the Fitnah of Uthman ibn Affans Khilafah (Caliphate), Sad

ibn Abi Waqqas said, I bear witness that the Prophet said, There will come

a tribulation during which one who sits will be better than one who

stands, one who stands will be better than one who walks, and one who

walks will be better than one who runs. Someone asked, What do you advise

if someone enters my house to kill me? He said, Be like the son of Adam

(ie resign yourself). (Muslim, Tirmidhi.)

Abu Musa al-Ashari said, The Prophet said, Before the Hour comes, there

will be a tribulation like patches of dark night. A man will get up a

believer and go to sleep a kafir, or will go to sleep a believer and get

up a kafir. The one who sits will be better than one who stands, and one

who walks will be better than one who runs. Break your bows, cut their

strings, and strike your swords against stones. If someone comes to kill

any of you, then be like the better of the two sons of Adam. (Abu Dawud.)

Abu Dharr said, The Prophet was riding a donkey and sat me behind him. He

said, O Abu Dharr, if the people were suffering from such severe hunger

that you could not even get up from your bed to go to the mosque, what

would you do? I said, Allah and His Messenger know best. He said, Be

decent and restrain yourself. Then he said, O Abu Dharr, if the people

were suffering from severe death (i e if a man were worth no more than a

grave), what would you do? If the people were killing one another, until

Hajarat al-Zayt (an area of Madinah) were submerged in blood, what would

you do? I said, Allah and His Messenger know best. He said, Stay in your

house and lock the door. I asked, What if I am not left alone? He said,

Then be one of them. I said, Should I take up my sword? He said, If you

did that, you would be joining them in their activities. No - if you fear

that the brightness of the shining sword will disturb you, then cover your

face with part of your clothing, and let him carry his own sin and your

sin. (Ahmad.)

Abd Allah ibn Amr said, We were on a journey with the Prophet ... When the

Prophets caller called for prayer, I went there. The Prophet was

addressing the people, saying: O people, it has been the duty of every

Prophet before me to guide his people to whatever he knew was good for

them, and to warn them against whatever he knew was bad for them, but this

Ummah has its time of peace and security at the beginning; at the end of

its existence it will suffer trials and tribulations, one after the other.

Tribulation will come, and the believer will say, This will finish me, but

it will pass. Another tribulation will come, and he will say, This is it,

but it will pass, and a third will come and go likewise. Whoever wishes to

be rescued from Hell, and enter Paradise, let him die believing in Allah

and the Last Day, and treat the people as he himself wishes to be treated.

If anyone gives allegiance to an Imam, then let him obey him if he can (or

on one occasion he said: as much as you can).

Abd al-Rahman (one of the narrators of this Hadith) said, When I heard

that, I put my head between my knees and said, But your cousin Muawiyah is

ordering us to squander our wealth among ourselves in vanity, and to kill

each other, although Allah has said, O ye who believe! Squander not your

wealth among yourselves in vanity ... (Al-Nisa 4:29)

Abd Allah (another narrator) put his head in his hands and paused awhile,

then he raised his head and said, Obey him in that which is obedience to

Allah and disobey that which is disobedience to Allah. I asked him, Did

you hear that from the Prophet? He said, Yes, I heard it with my ears and

understood it in my heart. (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Nasai, Ibn Majah.)

Abd Allah ibn Amr said, I heard the Prophet say, If you see my Ummah

fearing a tyrant so much that they dare not tell him that he is a tyrant,

then there will be no hope for them. The Prophet said, Among my Ummah,

some will be swallowed up by the earth, some bombarded with stones, and

some transformed into animals. (Ahmad).

FOOTNOTE:

*Daws: a tribe in Yemen, Dhul-Khalasah: a house full of idols - it is so

called because they believed that whoever worshipped it or went around it

would be purified (khallasa).

This Hadith means that the tribe of Daws will become apostates from Islam

and will go back to idol worshipping; even their women will exert

themselves in worshipping the idol and running around it, so that their

flesh will quiver.