Rulers of oppression and tyranny and rulers of misguidance

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There will come over you rulers who will be worse than the Magians."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Saghir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih except Mu'ammal bin Ihab, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Two kinds of people from my Ummah will not attain my intercession: an oppressive, tyrannical ruler, and the one who goes to extremes (in religion) and then exits (from the religion)" (the word "mariq" also means a heretic and disbeliever).
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and the narrators of al-Kabir are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Ma'qil bin Yasar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Two kinds of people from my Ummah will not attain my intercession: an oppressive, tyrannical ruler, and another who goes to extremes in religion and exits from it."

In one narration the words are: "Two kinds of people from my Ummah will not attain my intercession: an oppressive, tyrannical ruler, and one who goes to extremes in religion, who testifies against them (that is, the Muslims) and disowns them."
Al-Tabarani recorded it with two chains; one of them contains Mani', about whom Ibn Adi said: "He has solitary narrations, though I hope there is no harm in him." The rest of the narrators of the first chain are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "On the Day of Resurrection, the most severely punished of the people of Hell will be the one who killed a Prophet, or whom a Prophet killed, or one who was an unjust ruler (in the world)."
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Part of it is in the Sahih.
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Layth bin Abi Sulaym, who is a mudallis, and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).
Al-Bazzar recorded it, except that he reported the words: "a ruler of misguidance," and his narrators are also thiqat (trustworthy). Ahmad recorded it similarly.

Abu Qabil narrates: Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) ascended the pulpit on Friday and said during his sermon: "This (public) wealth is our wealth, and the fay' is our fay'; we will give it to whomever we wish and withhold it from whomever we wish." No one answered him. When the next Friday came, he said something similar, but again no one answered him. When the third Friday came, he said the same thing, and a man from among those present in the mosque stood up before him and said: "Never! This (public) wealth is our wealth, and the spoils are our spoils; whoever tries to stand between us and it, we will take our case against him to Allah Almighty with our swords." When Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) came down from the pulpit (and went home after the prayer), he sent for that man, and he was brought in to him. The people said: "This man is finished." When the people went in to him, they found the man sitting with Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) on the couch. Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to the people: "This man has given me life; may Allah Almighty give him life! I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: 'Soon after me there will be rulers who will speak (wrongly) and no one will answer them back; they will plunge headlong into Hell just as monkeys leap about.' I spoke on the first Friday and no one answered me, so I feared that I might be one of them. Then I spoke on the second Friday and no one answered me, so I said to myself that I am one of those people. Then I spoke on the third Friday, and this man stood up and answered me (or rejected what I said), so he has given me life; may Allah Almighty give him life!"
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and Abu Ya'la recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "On the Day of Resurrection, the most severely punished of people will be an unjust ruler."
Abu Ya'la recorded it, and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains Atiyyah, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed us and said in his sermon: "Behold! Soon I will be called and I will respond. After me, people will become your rulers who will act in ways that you know and do things that you recognise as right; obedience to them is true obedience. Things will remain like this for some time. Then after them, people will become your rulers who will act in ways that you do not know (to be right) and do things that you do not recognise as right (that is, as good). Whoever goes along with them and gives them sincere counsel, such people are ruined themselves and bring ruin upon others. Mix with them in body, but separate from them in your deeds, and bear witness about the one who does good that he is a doer of good, and about the one who does evil that he is a doer of evil."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat from his teacher Muhammad bin Ali al-Marwazi, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "There are three things I fear for my Ummah: seeking healing through the stars, the injustice of the ruler, and denying divine decree."
Abu Ya'la, Ahmad and al-Bazzar recorded it, and al-Tabarani recorded it in all three of his books; its chain contains Muhammad bin al-Qasim, whom Yahya bin Ma'in declared thiqah (trustworthy) while Ahmad and others declared him weak, and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy). This hadith has various chains, which are mentioned in the chapter on divine decree.

Umar bin Bilal narrates: I saw Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Busr (may Allah be pleased with him), the Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), sitting in the mosque; he was a very old, aged man. His slave came to him and said: "O my master! These camels of yours have been seized for forced labour at al-Rilah" (meaning the house of al-Abbas bin al-Walid which is near the door of the mosque of Hims). He had two men with him, and they took him by his upper arms until he stood up. Umar bin Bilal said: I walked with him until he came to al-Rilah, and there were his camels made to kneel, and the people were loading earth into sacks. He took hold of a sack and began holding it open for them. Some Christians said: "This is a Companion of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and you treat him like this? If we had found one of the companions of Sayyiduna Isa (peace be upon him), we would have carried him on our heads." Then the people moved forward to take it from him, but he said: "Leave me! I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: 'How will you be when the rulers oppress you?'"
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; Ibn Adi declared the narrator Umar bin Bilal majhul (unknown).

Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "O Allah! I seek refuge in You from rulers of haraj (that is, of killing and plunder), who will lead my Ummah towards oppression."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its chain is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There are three kinds of people at whom Allah Almighty will not look with mercy on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them, and for them is a painful punishment: (the first) a man who comes to a people who are steadfast upon Islam, and then he breaks their unity, until they make the forbidden things lawful and shed blood; and (the second) an unjust ruler who says: 'Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah, and whoever disobeys me has disobeyed Allah.'" The narrator Sufyan did not mention the third.
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains Ibrahim bin Bashshar al-Ramadi, who is saduq (truthful) but makes many errors, and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Soon after me there will be rulers who will speak words of wisdom on their pulpits, and when they come down (from the pulpits), the wisdom will be taken away from them; their bodies will be worse than carrion."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains Sa'd bin Maslamah, whom the majority declared weak, while Ibn Hibban declared him thiqah (trustworthy) and said: "He makes mistakes." And the narrator Layth is a mudallis.

Sayyiduna Abu Barzah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "After me there will be rulers who, if you obey them, will lead you into disbelief, and if you disobey them, will have you killed; they will be the leaders of disbelief and the heads of misguidance."
Abu Ya'la and al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Ziyad bin al-Mundhir, who is a liar and matruk (abandoned).

Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "Accept the state stipends as long as they remain stipends. When they become a bribe against the religion, do not take them; but you will not give them up, for poverty and need will prevent you. Behold! The mill of Banu Marah kept turning, and then Banu Marah were killed. And the mill of Islam will keep turning, so turn with the command of the Book wherever it turns. Behold! The Book and the ruler will soon part ways, so do not part from the Book. Behold! Soon there will come over you rulers who will issue judgments for themselves that they will not issue in your favour. If you disobey them, they will have you killed, and if you obey them, they will lead you astray." The people said: "O Messenger of Allah! What then should we do?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "(You should do) as the companions of Sayyiduna Isa bin Maryam (peace be upon him) did: they were sawn apart with saws and hung upon the gallows (they embraced death, but did not abandon the religion). To die in obedience to Allah Almighty is better than to live in disobedience to Allah Almighty."
Al-Tabarani recorded it; the narrator Yazid bin Marthad did not hear from Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him), and the narrator al-Wadin bin Ata was declared thiqah (trustworthy) by Ibn Hibban and others while a group declared him weak, and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Ubadah bin al-Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the rulers and said: "There will come over you rulers who, if you obey them, will cause you to enter Hell, and if you disobey them, will have you killed." One of those present said: "O Messenger of Allah! Describe their appearance (or qualities) to us so that we may throw dust in their faces." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Perhaps they will throw dust in your face and gouge out your eye."
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Sunayd bin Dawud, whom Ahmad declared weak while Ibn Hibban and Abu Hatim declared him thiqah (trustworthy), and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Ujrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: (Once) the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came out to us and said: "After me there will come over you rulers who will preach with wisdom on the pulpits, and when they come down (from the pulpits), the wisdom will be snatched from their hearts; their hearts will be more foul-smelling than carrion." After this the narrator mentioned the full hadith.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A man from Qahtan will surely drive the people with his staff."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains Muhammad bin Ishaq, who is a mudallis, and al-Husayn bin Isa bin Maysarah, whom I do not know.

Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I was walking with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "For my Ummah, I fear something other than the Dajjal more." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said this three times. The narrator said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah! What is that, other than the Dajjal, which you fear more for your Ummah?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Misleading rulers."
Ahmad recorded it; its chain contains Ibn Lahi'ah, whose hadith is hasan (good) though there is weakness in him, and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while he (peace and blessings be upon him) was asleep, and we mentioned the Dajjal. When he (peace and blessings be upon him) woke up, his face was red, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Regarding you, what I fear more for my Ummah than the Dajjal is misleading rulers."
Abu Ya'la recorded it; its chain contains Jabir al-Ju'fi, who is da'if (weak), though he has been declared trustworthy.

Umayr bin Sa'd, whom Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) had appointed governor of Hims, narrates: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Ka'b (al-Ahbar): "I am going to ask you about something, and you must not hide it from me." He said: "By Allah! I will not hide from you anything that I know." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What do you fear most for the Ummah of Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)?" Ka'b (al-Ahbar) replied: "Misleading rulers." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You have spoken the truth. The Prophet told me about this, and he told it to me in confidence."
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What I fear for my Ummah is misleading rulers."
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told us: "What I fear most for my Ummah is misleading rulers."
Ahmad and al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains two narrators who have not been named.

Sayyiduna Shaddad bin Aws (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I fear for my Ummah only misleading rulers. When the sword is placed among my Ummah, it will not be lifted from them until the Day of Resurrection."
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "I do not fear for my Ummah that hunger will kill them, or that an enemy will wipe them out; rather, what I fear for my Ummah is misleading rulers: if the people obey those rulers, they (the rulers) will put them to trial, and if they (the people) disobey them (the rulers), those rulers will have them killed."
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains a narrator whom I do not know.

Sayyiduna Abu al-A'war al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "What I fear most for my Ummah is that miserliness will be obeyed, desire will be followed, and there will be misleading rulers."
Al-Tabarani and al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains a narrator whom I do not know.

Sayyiduna Amr bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "After me, I fear for my Ummah with regard to three kinds of deeds." The people asked: "O Messenger of Allah! What are they?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The slip of a scholar, the rule of an oppressor, and following one's desires."
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Kathir bin Abdullah al-Muzani, who is da'if (weak), and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The worst of rulers are those who are never satisfied (even after plundering and devouring)."
Al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Karim bin Abi Umayyah, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You will find yourselves before a rider who will come to you, camp among you, and then say: 'This land is our land, this city is our city, and you are only our slaves and our hired labourers.' Then that man will stand as a barrier between the widows and orphans and the wealth that Allah Almighty had granted to their ruler as spoils (fay')."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Anbasah bin Abi Saghirah, who is da'if (weak).

Mahdi narrates: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Mahdi! What will become of you when your best people are overpowered, the young and the wicked among you are made rulers over you, and the prayer is performed outside its appointed time?" I replied: "I do not know!" He said: "Do not become a tax collector (jabi), a headman ('arif), a policeman, or a courier (barid) (that is, a government official), and perform the prayer at its appointed time." I do not know the narrator named Mahdi; the rest of the narrators of this report are the narrators of the Sahih.

In a narration reported from Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, the narrator states: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) would perform the prayer with those (rulers) when they delayed it a little, and Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) held that the sin of it would be upon them. The narrators of this report are the narrators of the Sahih, except that the narrator Ibrahim did not reach the time of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him).

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrate: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A time will surely come upon the people when their rulers will be foolish people. They will put the wicked forward and push the good back, and they will delay the prayer beyond its appointed time. Whoever among you lives to see their time should not become a headman ('arif), a policeman, a tax collector (jabi), or a treasurer (that is, a state official)."
Abu Ya'la recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Abd al-Rahman bin Mas'ud, who is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: A boy was born to the brother of Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and they named him "al-Walid". The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You have named him after the names of your Pharaohs. Soon there will be a man in this Ummah called 'al-Walid', and he will be worse for this Ummah than Pharaoh was for his people."
Ahmad recorded it, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Upon this pulpit of mine, a tyrant from among the tyrants of Banu Umayyah will surely have a nosebleed, and his blood will flow." The narrator states: Someone who saw it told me that Amr bin Sa'id bin al-As had a nosebleed on the pulpit of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and it flowed.
Ahmad recorded it; its chain contains a narrator who is not named.

Abu Yahya narrates: I was with Sayyiduna Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) and Marwan. Sayyiduna Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) and Marwan began exchanging harsh words, and Sayyiduna Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) began to restrain Sayyiduna Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him). Marwan said: "The Ahl al-Bayt are accursed." At this Sayyiduna Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) became angry and said: "Are you saying that the Ahl al-Bayt are accursed? By Allah! Allah Almighty cursed you on the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while you were still in your father's loins."

In one narration the wording is: Sayyiduna Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By Allah! And again by Allah! Allah Almighty has cursed you." The rest of the narration is as before.
Abu Ya'la recorded it, and the wording is his; its chain contains a narrator, Ata bin al-Sa'ib, whose memory had deteriorated.

Imam al-Sha'bi narrates: I heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was leaning against the Ka'bah, and he was saying: "By the Lord of the Ka'bah! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed so-and-so and whoever is born from his loins."
Ahmad and al-Bazzar recorded it, except that his wording is: "Allah Almighty cursed al-Hakam, and whoever is born of him, on the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." Al-Tabarani recorded something similar, and he also has a narration like Ahmad's narration. The narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When Banu Abi so-and-so reach thirty men, they will make the wealth of Allah Almighty their personal property, they will meddle in the religion of Allah Almighty, and they will make the servants of Allah Almighty their slaves."
Ahmad and al-Bazzar recorded it, except that his wording is: "When the children of Abu al-As reach thirty."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and Abu Ya'la also recorded it; there is weakness in it, and the rest of its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When the children of Abu al-As reach thirty, the religion of Allah Almighty will be meddled with, the wealth of Allah Almighty will become personal property, and the servants of Allah Almighty will become slaves."
Abu Ya'la recorded it as a narration of Isma'il, which he narrated from Ibn Ajlan; he did not give Isma'il's lineage, and I do not know Isma'il. The rest of the narrators of this report are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) had gone to put on (that is, change) his clothes, intending to come and join us. While we were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A cursed man is about to come in before you." Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) says: By Allah! In my anxiety I kept looking closely at everyone coming and going, until so-and-so came in; he meant al-Hakam.
Ahmad and al-Bazzar recorded it, except that his wording is: "until al-Hakam bin Abi al-As came in."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; the narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih.