Tribulations

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The greater the tribulation, the greater the reward. When Allah loves people, He tests them. So whoever is content, for him is pleasure; and whoever is discontent, for him is displeasure.”

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The believer who mixes with people and patiently bears their annoyance is better than the believer who does not mix with people or patiently bear their annoyance.”

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By the One in whose Hand my soul is, this world will not come to an end until a man passes by a grave, rolls over it and says: I wish I were in the place of the dweller of this grave, not due to religious reasons but due to (worldly) affliction.”

Sahl ibn Sa‘d (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "My advent and the Hour are like these," pointing with his two fingers.

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will narrate to you a Hadīth I heard from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) and none will narrate it to you other than me. I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Among the portents of the Hour is that knowledge will be taken away, ignorance will prevail, adultery will spread, drinking alcohol will be common, and men will decrease in number while women will increase so much that for fifty women there will only be one man to look after them."

Ziyād ibn Labīd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned something and said: "That will be at the time when knowledge disappears." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, how will knowledge disappear when we recite the Qur’an and teach it to our children, and they teach it to their children (and so on) until the Day of Judgment?" He said: "May your mother be bereaved of you, O Ziyād! I thought you were the most knowledgeable man in Madīnah. Is it not the case with these Jews and Christians who read the Torah and the Gospel, yet they do not act upon anything therein?!"

Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) told us two Hadīths. I have seen one fulfilled, and I am waiting for the other. He told us: "A man will go to sleep and honesty will be taken out of his heart and only a trace of it will remain, like the trace of a dark spot. And a man will go to sleep again and the honesty will decrease further still, so its trace will resemble that of a blister, as when an ember is dropped on one's foot and makes it swell. One would see it swollen but there would be nothing inside it." He took a small stone and rolled it on his leg. He then continued: "People will be carrying out their trades, but there will hardly be a trustworthy person. It will be said: 'In such-and-such tribe there is an honest man.' And later it will be said about some man: 'What a wise, polite, and strong man he is,' even though he will not even have faith equal to a mustard seed in his heart." No doubt, there was a time when I did not mind dealing with any of you, because if he was a Muslim, his Islam would compel him to pay me what is due to me, and if he was a Christian, the Muslim official would compel him to pay me what is due to me, but today I will only deal with this person and that person from you.

As he visited ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), Sa‘d ibn Hishām ibn ‘Āmir said: "O mother of the believers, tell me about the character of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him)." She said: "Do you not recite the Qur’an?" He said: 'Yes.' She said: "Indeed, the Prophet's character was the Qur’an."

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By the One in Whose Hand my soul is, the son of Mary will soon descend among you as a just judge. He will break the cross, kill the pig, and abolish Jizyah (protection tax imposed on non-Muslims living under Muslim rule), and the wealth will be abundant to such an extent that no one will accept it."

Nāfi‘ ibn ‘Utbah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: We were with the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) in a battle. Some people came to him from the direction of the west. They were dressed in woolen clothes and they met him on a hillock. They stood while the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting. I said to myself: "Go and stand between them and him, lest they should assassinate him." Then I said [to myself] that he was probably having a private conversation with them. However, I went to them and stood between them and him. I kept to my memory four words that he (the Prophet) said: which I count on my fingers: "You will invade the Arabian Peninsula and Allah will conquer it; then Persia and Allah will conquer it; then you will attack the Byzantines and Allah will conquer them; then you will attack the Anti-Christ and Allah will conquer him." Nāfi' said: ''O Jābir, we think the Anti-Christ will not appear until the Byzantines are conquered."

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The Hour will not be established until you fight the Turks, who have small eyes, red faces, and flat noses. Their faces look like hammered shields. Again, the Hour will not be established until you fight people wearing shoes made of hair."

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The Hour will not appear until you fight the non-Arab Khudh and Kirman. They are red faced, flat nosed, and small eyed. Their faces are like shields coated with leather and their shoes are made of hair."