Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 11836

Amr bin Shu'ayb narrates: I was sitting with Sa'id bin al-Musayyab when he heard a man saying that Allah Almighty has decreed everything except deeds. The narrator says: By Allah! I never saw Sa'id bin al-Musayyab more intensely angry than this, to the extent that he intended to get up (and beat that man). Then his anger subsided a little and he said: These people talk about this! By Allah, I have heard a hadith about these people which is enough to show their evil. Woe to them! If only they knew. The narrator says: I said: May Allah Almighty have mercy on you, O Abu Muhammad! What is that hadith? The narrator says: He looked at me, and by then some of his anger had subsided, and then he said: Sayyiduna Rafi' bin Khadij (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated this hadith to me, that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "There will be a people in my Ummah who will disbelieve in Allah Almighty and in the Qur'an without even realising it, and they will do so just as the Jews and the Christians disbelieved." Sayyiduna Rafi' (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I said: O Messenger of Allah! May Allah Almighty make me a ransom for you, how will that be? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: They will affirm part of the decree and deny part of the decree. The narrator says: Then I asked: What will those people say? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Those people will say that good is from Allah Almighty and evil is from Iblis, and then they will attribute this to the Book of Allah Almighty, so they will become deniers of the Qur'an after having believed and after having known. Then my Ummah will face enmity, hatred and quarrelling from these people. These people will be the zindiqs (heretics) of this Ummah. In their time there will be the oppression of rulers, and what oppression, injustice and favouritism it will be! Then Allah Almighty will send a plague upon these people which will destroy most of them, then they will be swallowed up by the earth, and only a few of them will escape it. In that time the believer's joy will be little and his grief will be great. Then there will be the punishment of transformation: Allah Almighty will transform most of them, and they will become swine and apes, and shortly after that the Dajjal will emerge. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) began to weep, and because of his weeping we too began to weep. We said: What makes you weep? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Out of mercy for them, those wretched people, because among them will be devout worshippers and among them will be those who pray at night (tahajjud). Moreover, they are not the first to adopt this position and to find themselves unable to bear it; most of the Children of Israel were destroyed because of denying the decree. I said: O Messenger of Allah! May I be ransomed for you, tell me how belief in the decree should be. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Believe in the Oneness of Allah Almighty, and believe that apart from Him no one has power to cause any harm or bring any benefit; believe in Paradise and Hell; and know that Allah Almighty created the two of them (that is, Paradise and Hell) before creating the creation. Then He created His creation (that is, mankind), and whomever of them He willed He made for Paradise and whomever of them He willed He made for Hell, and this is from Allah Almighty as justice. Each one will act according to what has been settled for him, and each person will go towards that which has been settled." So I said: Allah Almighty and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) have spoken the truth.
Al-Tabarani recorded it with various chains; the best of them contains Ibn Lahi'ah, who is layyin (soft) in hadith.