Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 3876

It is reported about Sayyiduna Abis al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) that he was with these people on a raised place. Some people passed by who were loaded up on their mounts. He asked: "Who are these people?" He was told: "These people are going away to escape the plague." Sayyiduna Abis al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O plague, seize me! O plague, seize me! O plague, seize me!" A nephew of his, who had the honour of being a Companion, said to him: "Are you wishing for death? Yet I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'None of you should wish for death, for death is the reward of the believer's deeds; he will not be sent back (to the world) to be given another chance.'" Sayyiduna Abis al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O my nephew, I want to depart (from the world) before certain things come, things which I heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) will appear at the end of time, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) feared them for his Ummah. (Those things are:) the rule of fools, an abundance of police, regarding bloodshed as a light matter, violating the rights of kinship, and young people taking the Qur'an as musical pipes: people will not put forward a man who has more knowledge of the religion or more understanding of the religion; among them there will be someone with more understanding and more knowledge, but they will put forward (to lead them) someone who will sing the Qur'an to them."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Kabir, and Ahmad recorded something similar.