Trials and Fierce Battles (Kitab Al-Fitan Wa Al-Malahim)
كتاب الفتن والملاحم
Chapter 1: Mention Of Tribulations And Their Signs
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stood among us (to give us an address) and he left out nothing that would happen up to the last hour without telling of it. Some remembered it and some forgot, and these Companions of his have known it. When something of it which I have forgotten happens, I remembered it, just as a man remembers another's face when he is a away and recognizes him when he sees him.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: four (majestic) trials (fitnahs) will take place among this community, and in their end there will be destruction.
When we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he talked about periods of trial (fitnahs), mentioning many of them.
When he mentioned the one when people should stay in their houses, some asked him: Messenger of Allah, what is the trial (fitnah) of staying at home?
He replied: It will be flight and plunder. Then will come a test which is pleasant. Its murkiness is due to the fact that it is produced by a man from the people of my house, who will assert that he belongs to me, whereas he does not, for my friends are only the God-fearing. Then the people will unite under a man who will be like a hip-bone on a rib. Then there will be the little black trial which will leave none of this community without giving him a slap, and when people say that it is finished, it will be extended. During it a man will be a believer in the morning and an infidel in the evening, so that the people will be in two camps: the camp of faith which will contain no hypocrisy, and the camp of hypocrisy which will contain no faith. When that happens, expect the Antichrist (Dajjal) that day or the next.
I swear by Allah, I do not know whether my companions have forgotten or have pretended to forgot. I swear by Allah that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not omit a leader of a wrong belief (fitnah)--up to the end of the world--whose followers reach the number of three hundred and upwards but he mentioned to us his name, his father's name and the name of his tribe.
Subay' ibn Khalid said: I came to Kufah at the time when Tustar was conquered. I took some mules from it. When I entered the mosque (of Kufah), I found there some people of moderate stature, and among them was a man whom you could recognize when you saw him that he was from the people of Hijaz.
I asked: Who is he? The people frowned at me and said: Do you not recognize him? This is Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, the companion of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).
Then Hudhayfah said: People used to ask the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about good, and I used to ask him about evil. Then the people stared hard at him.
He said: I know the reason why you dislike it. I then asked: Messenger of Allah, will there be evil as there was before, after this good which Allah has bestowed on us?
He replied: Yes. I asked: Wherein does the protection from it lie? He replied: In the sword. I asked: Messenger of Allah, what will then happen?
He replied: If Allah has on Earth a caliph who flays your back and takes your property, obey him, otherwise die holding onto the stump of a tree.
I asked: What will come next? He replied: Then the Antichrist (Dajjal) will come forth accompanied by a river and fire. He who falls into his fire will certainly receive his reward, and have his load taken off him, but he who falls into his river will have his load retained and his reward taken off him.
I then asked: What will come next? He said: The Last Hour will come.
The word aqdha' (sing. qadhan) means specks, hudnah means truce and dakhan means malice.
The tradition mentioned above (No. 4232) has also been transmitted through a different chain of narrators by Nasr ibn Asim al-Laythi who said: We came to al-Yashkuri with a group of the people of Banu Layth.
He asked: Who are these people? We replied: Banu Layth. We have come to you to ask you about the tradition of Hudhayfah. He then mentioned the tradition and said: I asked: Messenger of Allah, will there be evil after this good?
He replied: There will be trial (fitnah) and evil. I asked: Messenger of Allah, will there be good after this evil? He replied: Learn the Book of Allah, Hudhayfah, and adhere to its contents. He said it three times.
I asked: Messenger of Allah, will there be good after this evil? He replied: An illusory truce and a community with specks in its eye. I asked: Messenger of Allah, what do you mean by an illusory community?
He replied: The hearts of the people will not return to their former condition. I asked: Messenger of Allah, will there be evil after this good? He replied: There will be wrong belief which will blind and deafen men to the truth in which there will be summoners at the gates of Hell. If you, Hudhayfah, die adhering to a stump, it will be better for you than following any of them.
He said: If you do not find a caliph in those days, then flee away until you die, even of you die holding on (to a stump of a tree). I asked: What will come next ? He replied: If a man wants the mare to bring forth a foal, it will not deliver in till the Last Hour comes.
The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: If a man takes an oath of allegiance to a leader, and puts his hand on his hand and does it with the sincerity of his heart, he should obey him as much as possible. If another man comes and contests him, then behead the other one. The narrator 'Abd al-Rahman said: I asked: Have you heard this from the Messenger of Allah ? He said: My ears heard it and my heart retained it. I said: Your cousin Mu'awiyah orders us that we should do this and do that. He replied: Obey him in the acts of obedience to Allah, and disobey him in the acts of disobedience to Allah.
The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: Woe to Arabs because of evil which has drawn near! He will escape who restrains his hand.
Ibn 'Umar reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: The Muslims will soon be besieged up to Medina, so that their most distant frontier outpost will be Salah.
Salah is near Khaibar.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Allah, the Exalted, folded for me the earth, or he said (the narrator is doubtful): My Lord folded for me the earth, so much so that I saw its easts and wests (i.e. the extremities). The kingdom of my community will reach as far as the earth was floded for me. The two treasures, the red and the white, were bestowed on me. I prayed to my Lord that He may not destroy my community by prevailing famine, and not give their control to an enemy who annihilates then en masse except from among themselves. My Lord said to me: Muhammad, If I make a decision, it is not withdrawn ; and I shall not destroy them by prevailing famine, and I shall not give their control to an enemy, except from among themselves, who exterminates them en masse, even if they are stormed from all sides of the earth ; only a section of them will destroy another section, and a section will captive another section. I am afraid about my community of those leaders who will lead astray. When the sword is used among my people, it will not be withdrawn from them till the Day of Resurrection, and the Last Hour will not come before the tribes of my people attach themselves to the polytheists and tribes of my people worship idols. There will be among my people thirty great liars each of them asserting that he is (Allah's) prophet, where as I am the seal of the Prophet s after whom (me) there will be no prophet ; and a section of my people will continue to hold to the truth - (according to the Ibn Isa's version: (will continue to dominate) - the agreed version goes: "and will not be injured by those who oppose them, till Allah's command comes."
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah has protected you from three things: that your Prophet should not invoke a curse on you and should all perish, that those who follow what is false should not prevail over those who follow the truth, and that you should not all agree in an error.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The mill of Islam will go round till the year thirty-five, or thirty-six, or thirty-seven; then if they perish, they will have followed the path of those who perished before them, but if their religion is maintained, it will be maintained for seventy years. I asked: Does it mean seventy years which remain or seventy years which are gone by? He replied: It means (seventy years) that are gone by.
Abu Dawud said: Those who recorded Khirash, the name of a narrator, are wrong. (The correct name is Hirash)
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: The time will become short, knowledge will be decreased, civil strife (fitan) will appear, niggardliness will be case into people's heart, and harj will be prevalent. He was asked: Messenger of Allah! what is it: He replied: Slaughter, slaughter.
Chapter 2: The Prohibition Of Participating In The Tribulation
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: There will be a period of commotion in which the one who lies down will be better than the one who sits, and the one who sits is better than the one who stands, and the one who stands is better than the one who walks, and the one who walks is better than the one who runs (to it).
He asked: What do you command me to do, Messenger of Allah? He replied: He who has camels should remain with his camels, he who has sheep should remain with his sheep, and he who has land should remain with his land.
He asked: If anyone has more of these, (what should he do)?
He replied: He should take his sword, strike its edge on a stone, and then escape if he can.
I asked: Messenger of Allah! tell me if someone enters my house and extends his hands to kill me (what should I do?) The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) replied: Be like the two sons of Adam. The narrator Yazid (ibn Khalid) then recited the verse: "If thou dost stretch they hand against me to slay me." [5:28]
The tradition mentioned above (No. 4243) has also been transmitted by Ibn Mas'ud through a different chain of narrators.
Ibn Mas'ud said: I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say: He then mentioned a portion of the tradition narrated by AbuBakrah (No. 4243).
This version adds: He (the Prophet) said: All their slain will go to Hell. I (Wabisah) asked: When will this happen Ibn Mas'ud?
He replied: This is the period of turmoil (harj) when a man will not be safe from his associates.
I asked: What do you command me (to do) if I happen to live during that period? He replied: You should restrain your tongue and hand and stay at home.
When Uthman was slain, I recollected this tradition. I then rode (on a camel) and came to Damascus. There I met Khuraym ibn Fatik and mentioned this tradition to him. He swore by Allah, there was no god but He, he had heard it from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), as Ibn Mas'ud transmitted it to me (Wabisah).