Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2206
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ الثَّوْرِيِّ، عَنِ الزُّبَيْرِ بْنِ عَدِيٍّ، قَالَ دَخَلْنَا عَلَى أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ قَالَ فَشَكَوْنَا إِلَيْهِ مَا نَلْقَى مِنَ الْحَجَّاجِ فَقَالَ " مَا مِنْ عَامٍ إِلاَّ الَّذِي بَعْدَهُ شَرٌّ مِنْهُ حَتَّى تَلْقَوْا رَبَّكُمْ " . سَمِعْتُ هَذَا مِنْ نَبِيِّكُمْ صلى الله عليه وسلم . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us: Yahya ibn Sa‘id narrated to us, from Sufyan al-Thawri, from al-Zubayr ibn ‘Adi, who said: We entered upon Anas ibn Malik and complained to him about what we were suffering from al-Hajjaj. He said, ‘There is no year but the one after it is worse, until you meet your Lord.’ I heard this from your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Abu ‘Isa said: This is a hasan sahih hadith.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The relative statement compares each year with the following year, in the worsening direction stated in the source.