Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 168
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَعَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَامِرِ بْنِ زُرَارَةَ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ عَيَّاشٍ، عَنْ عَاصِمٍ، عَنْ زِرٍّ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ مَسْعُودٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " يَخْرُجُ فِي آخِرِ الزَّمَانِ قَوْمٌ أَحْدَاثُ الأَسْنَانِ سُفَهَاءُ الأَحْلاَمِ يَقُولُونَ مِنْ خَيْرِ قَوْلِ النَّاسِ يَقْرَءُونَ الْقُرْآنَ لاَ يُجَاوِزُ تَرَاقِيَهُمْ يَمْرُقُونَ مِنَ الإِسْلاَمِ كَمَا يَمْرُقُ السَّهْمُ مِنَ الرَّمِيَّةِ فَمَنْ لَقِيَهُمْ فَلْيَقْتُلْهُمْ فَإِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ لِمَنْ قَتَلَهُمْ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah and Abdullah ibn Amir ibn Zurarah reported to us; they said: Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash reported to us, from Asim, from Zirr, from Abdullah ibn Masud, who said: The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, ‘At the end of time, a people will emerge who are young in age and foolish in judgment. They will speak some of the finest words people have spoken and recite the Quran, but it will not pass beyond their collarbones. They will exit Islam as an arrow exits its prey. Whoever encounters them, let him fight them, for fighting them is a reward with Allah for whoever does so.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic term ahdath al-asnan means young in age; the English witness gives a literal parenthetical rendering about new teeth. The account’s instruction to fight is translated as historical source text.