Abu Dharr said: One day I was riding behind God's messenger on a donkey, and when we had got beyond the houses of Medina he asked, "How will you do, Abu Dharr, when there is famine in Medina and you get up from your bed but do not reach your mosque before being overcome by hunger?" When I replied that God and His messenger knew best, he said, "Restrain yourself, Abu Dharr." He then asked, "How will you do, Abu Dharr, when there will be death in Medina and a house[1] will reach the value of a slave so that a grave will be sold for a slave?" When I replied that God and His messenger knew best he said, "You must show endurance, Abu Dharr." He then asked, "How will you do, Abu Dharr, when there is slaughter in Medina and. Ahjar az Zait[2] will be covered with blood?" When I replied that God and His messenger knew best he said, "You must go to those who are like-minded with you." I asked whether I should arm myself and replied, "You would then associate yourself with the people." So I asked God's messenger how I should act and he replied, "If you are afraid the gleam of the sword may dazzle you put the end of your garment over your face in order that [the one who kills you may bear the punishment of your sin and his." Used figuratively for a grave, the meaning being made more explicit in the words which follow. Ahjar Az-Zait, an area outside of Al Madinah. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Abu Musa reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, "Before the last hour there will be commotions like pieces of a dark night in which a man will be a believer in the morning and an infidel in the evening, or a believer in the evening and an infidel in the morning. He who sits during them will be better than he who gets up and he who walks during them will be better than he who runs. So, break your bows during them, cut your bowstrings during them, and strike your swords on stones. If people then come in to one of you, let him be like the better of Adam's sons[*]." A version by him has the same up to "better than he who runs." It then says the people asked what he ordered them to do and he replied, "Keep to your houses". *The reference is to Abel who was killed by his brother Cain. Abu Dawud transmitted it. Tirmidhi's version states that God's messenger said about the commotion, "Break your bows during it, cut your bowstrings during it, keep to the inside of your houses during it, and be like Adam's son." Tirmidhi transmitted it. He said this is a sahih gharib tradition.

Abu Waqid al-Laithi told that when God's messenger went out to the battle of Hunain, he passed a tree called Dhat Anwat[*] belonging to the polytheists on which they hung their weapons. The people asked him to appoint a Dhat Anwat for them just as those people had one, to which God's messenger replied, "Glory be to God! This is like what the people of Moses said when they asked him to appoint them a god just as other peoples had gods. By Him in whose hand my soul is, you will certainly follow the practices of your predecessors." *The tree was an object of pagan worship. Its name means that it had things hung on it. Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "The last hour will not come before two parties which make the same profession fight together and a great slaughter results, before about thirty lying dajjals are sent forth each of them asserting that he is God's messenger, before knowledge is withheld, earthquakes are abundant, the time becomes short, dissensions appear, and there is much harj, which means slaughter, before wealth is abundant and overflowing among you, before one who possesses property is anxious to find someone who will accept his sadaqa, before he offers it and the one to whom it is offered says he has no need of it, before people try to outstrip one another in building, before a man passes another's grave and expresses the desire that he were in his place, and before the sun rises in its place of setting. Then when it rises and people see it, they will all believe, but that is a time when a soul will not be benefited by faith it did not have before, or acquire any good from its faith. The last hour will certainly come when two men have spread out their garment between them, but they will not complete the transaction or fold up the garment; the last hour will certainly come when a man has gone off with the milk of his milch camel, but he will not taste it; the last hour will certainly come when a man is repairing his tank, but he will not water his camels from it; and the last hour will certainly come when one has raised his food to his mouth, but he will not taste it." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He reported God's messenger as saying, "The last hour will not come before you fight with a people whose sandals are of hair, and before you fight with the Turks who have small eyes, red faces, short noses, whose faces look as if they were shields covered with skin." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He reported God's messenger as saying, "The last hour will not come before a man of Qahtan comes forth driving people with his stick." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "Kisra will perish and there will be no Kisra after him, Qaisar will certainly perish and there will be no Qaisar after him, and their treasures will certainly be divided in God's path." He also called war a method of deceit. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "The last hour will not come before the Byzantines alight in al-A`maq or in Dabiq[1], and an army consisting of the best people in the earth at that time will come forth from Medina against them. When the lines are drawn up the Byzantines will say, `Let us get at those who took captives from us and fight them,' but the Muslims will reply, `We swear by God that we will not let you get at our brethren.' They will then fight and a third whom God will never forgive will be routed, a third who will be the most excellent martyrs in God's sight will be killed, and a third who will never be subjected to trials will be victorious. They will then conquer Constantinople, but while they are dividing the spoils, having hung their swords on olive-trees, the devil will cry among them, `The dajjal has taken your place among your families;' so they will go out, but that will prove to be false. Then when they come to Syria he will come forth, and while they are preparing for battle and arranging the ranks the time for prayer will come and Jesus, son of Mary will descend and lead them in prayer. When God's enemy sees him, he will dissolve like salt in water, and if he[2] were to leave him he would dissolve completely; but God will kill him by his hand and he will show them his blood on his spear." Mirqat, 5:159. quotes the view that al-A'maq is on the outskirts of Medina and that L'abiq (or Dabaq) is a market-place in Medina. Yaqut, iii, 513. says Dabiq is a village near Aleppo, and (1:316) al-A'maq is a district near Dabiq between Aleppo and Antioch. i.e., Jesus. Muslim transmitted it.

Abdallah b. Mas'ud said: The last hour will not come before an inheritance cannot be divided and people do not rejoice over spoil. Then an enemy will equip itself against the people of Syria and the Islamic people will equip themselves against them, meaning the Byzantines. The Muslims will then prepare a suicide squad which will return only if victorious and they will fight till the night intervenes. Both sides will return not having gained the victory, but the squad will be wiped out. The Muslims will again prepare a suicide squad which will return only if victorious and they will fight till the night intervenes. Both sides will return not having gained the victory, but the squad will be wiped out. The Muslims will again prepare a suicide squad which will return only if victorious and they will fight till the evening. Both sides will return not having gained the victory, but the squad will be wiped out. On the fourth day the remainder of the people of Islam will arise against them and God will decree that the enemy should be routed. They will then fight such a battle as has never been seen before, so that if a bird were to pass their flanks it would fall down dead before reaching the end of them. When count is taken of a hundred men who were related it will be found that only one has survived; so over what spoil can there be rejoicing, and what inheritance can be divided? Then when things are so they will hear of a war greater than that and a cry will reach them, "The dajjal has taken your place among your offspring." They will therefore cast away what is in their hands and go forward sending ten horsemen as a scouting party. God's messenger said, "I know their names, their fathers' names, and the colour of their horses. They will be the best horsemen (or, among the best horsemen) on the face of the earth at that time." Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, "Have you heard of a city part of which is on the land and part in the sea?" On receiving the reply, "Yes, messenger of God," he said, "The last hour will not come before seventy thousand of the descendants of Isaac attack it. When they come to it, they will dismount and will not fight with weapons or shoot arrows, but will say, `There is no god but God' and `God is most great,' whereupon one of its sides will fall down. (Thaur b. Yazid the transmitter remarked that he thought he said the part which was in the sea.) Then they will say a second time, `There is no god but God' and `God is most great,' whereupon the other side will fall down. A third time they will say, `There is no god but God' and `God is most great,' whereupon a breach will be made for them and they will enter it and take booty; but while they are dividing the spoils a cry will reach them to the effect that the dajjal has come forth, and they will abandon everything and go back." Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Bakra reported God's messenger as saying, "Some of my people will alight in low-lying ground which they will call al-Basra beside a river called the Tigris over which there is a bridge. Its people will be numerous and it will be one of the capital cities of the Muslims. At the end of time the descendants of Qantura'[*] will come with broad faces and small eyes and alight on the bank of the river. The town's inhabitants will then separate into three sections, one of which will follow cattle into the desert and perish, another of which will seek security for themselves and perish, but a third will put their children behind their backs and fight with the invaders, and they will be the martyrs." Abu Dawud transmitted it. * The common explanation by Arabic writers is that Qantura' was a slave girl of Abraham from whom the Turks were descended. (Cf. Genesis, 25:1, which says that Abraham took a wife named Keturah -- in Hebrew Qeturah.) Ibn al-Athir, an-Nihaya fi gharib al-hadith, 3:314, says the Turks and Chinese were descended from the offspring of Qanturs'. Lisan al-'Arab, 6:432, says her offspring were the Turks, and some say the negroes. Mirqat, 5:166 f., finds a difficulty because Abraham was a descendant of Shem and the Turks were descended from Japheth. It suggests that Qantura' was a descendant of Abraham who married a descendant of Japheth. Dr. J.A. Boyle of Manchester University has drawn my attention to an article in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 12:287, which quotes an Armenian historian, Grigor of Akner (1250-1335 A.D.), as saying that Kendura, a handmaiden of Abraham, bore Imran who became the ancestor of the Parthians.

Anas reported God's messenger as saying, "The people will establish cities, Anas, and one of them will be called al-Basra. If you should pass by it or enter it, avoid its salt-marshes, its river front, its palm trees, its market, and the gate of its commanders, and keep to its environs, for the earth will swallow some people up, pelting rain will fall and earthquakes will take place in it, and there will be people who will spend the night in it and become apes and swine in the morning." . . . transmitted it. (The name of the source is omitted in the text. The tradition is in Abu Dawud, Malahim, 10).

Shaqiq quoted Hudhaifa as saying: When we were with `Umar he asked which of us remembered the tradition of God's messenger about the fitna, and I replied that I remembered it just as he had uttered it. Telling me to relate it, and remarking that I was daring, he asked how he had spoken and I replied that I had heard God's messenger say, "A man's fitna concerns his family, his property, his person, his children and his neighbour for any shortcoming in which atonement made by fasting, prayer, sadaqah recommending what is reputable and reproving what is disreputable.[1] `Umar said that this was not what he meant, for he was thinking of the fitna which swells like the waves of the sea.[2] I asked the commander of the faithful what he had to do with it, for between him and it there was a closed door. He asked whether the door would be broken down or opened, and when I replied that it would be broken down, he said it would never likely be closed. Hudhaifa was asked if `Umar knew who the door was and he replied that he knew it as well as he knew that a night comes before tomorrow, adding that he had told him a tradition which included no misleading language. They were afraid to ask Hudhaifa who the door was, so they asked Masruq to ask him, and when he did so he replied that it was `Umar.3 A man who has these responsibilities may fall short of what is due from him, but can make atonement for his shortcoming. Contention which leads to strife and warfare. The point of the tradition is that the fitna would not occur in `Umar's lifetime, but that as he was to be assassinated there was no hope of peaceful conditions ever returning. The opening of the door indicates a natural death and the breaking down of the door a violent death. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Anas told that he heard God's messenger say, "Among the signs of the last hour will be the removal of knowledge, the abundance of ignorance, the prevalence of fornication, the prevalence of wine-drinking, the small number of men and the large number of women, so that fifty women will have one man to look after them." A version has "the small amount of knowledge and the presence of ignorance." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "The Euphrates is soon to uncover a treasure of gold, but those who are present must not take any of it." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He reported God's messenger as saying, "The last hour will not come before there issues from the land of the Hijaz a fire which will illuminate the necks of the camels in Busra." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

`Abdallah b. Hawala said: God's messenger sent us on foot to get spoil, but we returned without getting any. When he saw the signs of distress on our faces, he stood up among us and said, "0 God, do not put them under my care, for I would be too weak to care for them; do not put them in care of themselves, for they would be incapable of that; and do not put them in the care of men, for they would choose the best things for themselves." He then placed his hand on my head and said, "Ibn Hawala, when you see the Caliphate has settled in the holy land, earthquakes, sorrows and serious matters will have drawn near, and on that day the last hour will be nearer to mankind than this hand of mine is to your head." . . .transmitted it[*]. *The name of the source is omitted in the text. The tradition is in Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad (Cairo, 1313), vol. 5 p. 288, and Abu Dawud, Jihad, 35.

`Abdallah b. Mas'ud reported God's messenger as saying, "The world will not pass away before the Arabs are ruled by a man of my family whose name will be the same as mine.' Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it. In a version by the latter he said, "If only one day of this world remained God would lengthen that day till He raised up in it a man who belongs to me (or, to my family) whose name is the same as mine and whose fathers name is the same as my father's, who will fill the earth with equity and justice as it has been filled with oppression and tyranny." Aba Dawud transmitted it.

`Ali reported God's messenger as saying, "A man called al-Harith, a farmer, will come forth from Ma Wara' an-Nahr whose army will be led by a man called Mansur who will establish (or, consolidate) things for Muhammad's family as Quraish consolidated them for God's messenger. Every believer must help him." Or he said, "respond to his summons." Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "When three things appear faith will not benefit anyone who has not previously believed or acquired any good from his faith: the rising of the sun in its place of setting, the dajjal, and the beast of the earth." Muslim transmitted it.