Those who disliked going out during tribulation and sought refuge from it

Abd al-Rahman bin Abd Rabb al-Ka'bah said: I went to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both), who was sitting in the shade of the Ka'bah with the people gathered around him. I heard him say: We were on a journey with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and when we made camp, some of us began pitching tents, some began competing in archery, and some were (occupied) with (tending) their livestock. Suddenly the caller of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called out: "Al-Salatu Jami'ah (the prayer is gathering)." So we gathered. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood and delivered a sermon to us, saying: "Indeed, no prophet before me passed but it was a duty owed to Allah upon him to guide his Ummah to what was best for them and to warn them of what he knew to be evil for them. As for this Ummah of yours, its well-being lies in its first part, and its last part will be struck by afflictions and matters that you will dislike. At that time a tribulation will come, and the believer will say: 'This will destroy me.' Then it will pass away. Then a tribulation will come and the believer will say: 'This will destroy me.' Then it will pass away. So whoever among you loves to be saved from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, let death come to him while he believes in Allah and the Last Day, and let him treat the people as he would love the people to treat him. And whoever gives allegiance to an imam and gives him the clasp of his hand and the fruit of his heart, let him obey him as far as he can. Then if anyone disputes with him, strike the neck of that other one." The narrator said: I pushed my head in among the people and said: "I adjure you by Allah, did you hear this hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?" The narrator said: He pointed with both his hands to his ears (saying) that my ears heard it and my heart preserved it. The narrator said: I said: "This cousin of yours orders us to consume our wealth wrongfully and to kill ourselves, while Allah Almighty has said: 'Do not consume one another's wealth among yourselves wrongfully, and do not take (false cases concerning) it to the rulers with this aim' [Al-Baqarah: 188], to the end of the verse." The narrator said: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr joined his two hands and placed them on his forehead, then lowered his head for a while, then said: "Obey him in obedience to Allah Almighty and disobey him in disobedience to Allah Almighty."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates something similar to the above report from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), except that Waki' narrated it this way: "And soon afflictions and tribulations will befall the last part of this Ummah, some of them coinciding with others." And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever would love to be saved from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, let death come to him." Then Waki' narrated the rest of the report like the one above.

Sayyiduna Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, there will soon be a tribulation. The one lying down in it will be better than the one sitting, the one sitting better than the one standing, the one standing better than the one walking, and the one walking in it better than the one striving in it." A man said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), what do you command us?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever has camels, let him go to his camels; whoever has goats, let him go to his goats; whoever has land, let him go to his land; and whoever has none of these things, let him take his sword, strike its edge on a rock, and then let him escape if he is able to escape."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There will be a tribulation in which the one sitting will be better than the one standing, the one standing better than the one striving in it, and the one striving better than the one hurrying in it."

Khalid bin Subay' or Subay' bin Khalid said: I came to Kufah and drove some livestock from there. While I was in its mosque, a man suddenly came and people gathered around him. I said: "Who is this?" The people said: "This is Sayyiduna Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him)." The narrator said: I sat with him, and he said: "People used to ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about good, and I used to ask him about evil." Sayyiduna Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, tell me: this good that we are in, was there evil before it, and will there be evil after it?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), what is the way to be protected from this evil?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The sword." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), will anything remain after the sword?" He said: "Yes, a truce." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), what will come after the truce?" He said: "Callers to misguidance. If you see a caliph, stay with him, even if he severely beats your back and takes your wealth. And if there is no caliph, then flee, until death comes to you while you are biting on a tree." The narrator said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), what will come after that?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The emergence of the Dajjal." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), what will the Dajjal bring?" He said: "He will bring a fire and a river. Whoever falls into his fire, his reward is assured and his sin is removed; and whoever falls into his river, his reward is lost and his sin is assured." I said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), what will come after the Dajjal?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If the mare of one of you were to foal, he would not ride its colt before the Hour is established."

Al-Yashkuri said: I heard Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) say: People used to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about good, and I used to ask him about evil, and I knew that good would never outpace me. The narrator said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, will there be evil after this good?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him), learn the Book of Allah and follow what is in it," three times. The narrator said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, will there be evil after this good?" He said: "Tribulation and evil." The narrator said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, will there be good after this evil?" He said: "O Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him), learn the Book of Allah and follow what is in it," three times. I said: "O Messenger of Allah, will there be evil after this good?" He said: "A blind and deaf tribulation, over which will stand callers to the gates of Hell. O Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him), that death should come to you while you are biting on the trunk of a tree is better than that you should follow any one of them."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were around the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) when he mentioned the tribulation, or it was mentioned in his presence. He said: He said: "When you see people whose covenants have become corrupted and whose trusts have become light, and they have become like this," and he interlaced his fingers. The narrator said: I stood up towards him and said: "What should I do at that time, may Allah make me a ransom for you?" He said: He said to me: "Keep to your home, restrain your tongue, take what you recognize as good and leave what you reject, and it is binding on you to look especially to your own self and to leave the affair of the general public."

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The time is near when the best wealth of a Muslim will be goats, which he will take to the mountain peaks and the places where rain falls, fleeing from there to save his religion from tribulations."

Hujayr bin al-Rabi' said: Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me: "Go to your people and forbid them from hurrying in this matter." I said: "I am obscure among them, and I am not one who is obeyed among them." Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Convey this message to them from me: That I should be an Abyssinian slave among a few she-goats of Hadan, which I graze on a mountain top until death comes to me, is dearer to me than that I should shoot an arrow in either of the two ranks, whether I am right or wrong."

Zayd bin Wahb said: Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed, in tribulation swords are drawn and are also returned to their sheaths." Or: "Indeed, tribulation both halts and rises up. So if you are able to have death come to you at the time of its halting, then do so."

Ziyad Simin Kush al-Yamani narrates from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "There will be a tribulation, or tribulations, that will destroy all the Arabs. Those killed in those tribulations will be in the Fire. In them, the tongue (speaking) will be more severe than the striking of the sword."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered a sermon and said: "Beware! Indeed, ahead of you are tribulations like pieces of the dark night. In them a man will be a believer in the morning and a disbeliever in the evening, and a disbeliever in the morning and a believer in the evening. In them the one sitting will be better than the one standing, the one standing better than the one walking, and the one walking on foot better than the rider." The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said: "What do you command us?" He said: "Be the floor-mats of your homes."

Mujahid said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Before the Hour there will be tribulations like pieces of the dark night. In them a man will be a believer in the morning and will become a disbeliever in the evening, and will be a believer in the evening and will become a disbeliever in the morning, and people will sell their religion in exchange for worldly goods."

Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: "Break your bows" (he was speaking about the tribulation) "and cut the bowstrings, keep to the innermost parts of your homes, and in them be like the better of the two sons of Adam."

Abdullah bin al-Samit narrates from Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: "O Abu Dharr, tell me: if people fight until (the place) Hijarat al-Zayt is drowned in blood, what will you do?" Sayyiduna Abu Dharr said: I said: "Allah and His Messenger know best." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Enter your home." Sayyiduna Abu Dharr said: I said: "Should I carry arms?" He said: "Then that is your own affair." Sayyiduna Abu Dharr said: I said: "What should I do, O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If you fear that the rays of the sun will overpower you, then throw your cloak over your face. He will return carrying your sin and his own sin." (The meaning is that if someone attacks even after coming into the home, do not respond; the attacker himself will return with the burden.)

Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, ahead of you are days in which ignorance will descend, knowledge will be taken away, and harj will become abundant." The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), what is meant by harj?" He said: "Killing."

Yazid bin al-Asamm said: Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Tribulations will come upon you like pieces of the dark night. In them every bold and brave man will perish, and every swift rider, and every eloquent, loud-voiced orator."

Sayyiduna Kurz bin Alqamah al-Khuza'i (may Allah be pleased with him) said: A man said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), does Islam have an end?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes. Any household, whether of the Arabs or non-Arabs, for whom Allah Almighty intends good, He will bring Islam in upon them." He said: "Then what will happen?" He said: "Then there will be tribulations that will occur like clouds. In them you will return as biting serpents, striking one another's necks." The black snake raises its head and then falls upon (its prey) to bite.

Urwah narrates from Sayyiduna Usamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) looked down from one of the fortresses of Madinah and then said: "Do you see what I see? I see tribulations descending in your homes like drops of rain."

Abu al-Minhal Sayyar bin Salamah narrated: In the time when Ibn Ziyad was expelled, Marwan attacked in Syria, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) in Makkah, and the Qur'an reciters in Basrah. Awf said: Abu al-Minhal said: My father became extremely grieved. The narrator said: Abu al-Minhal used to praise his father well. Abu al-Minhal said: My father said to me: "O my son, take us to this man from among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." So we set out to Sayyiduna Abu Barzah al-Aslami (may Allah be pleased with him) on an extremely hot day. He was sitting in a high shade that had been made for him from reeds. My father began, wanting to draw him into conversation, and said: "O Abu Barzah, do you not see? Do you not see?" The first thing he said was: "I am displeased with the tribes of Quraysh. Indeed, O tribes of the Arabs, you were in that state of small numbers and ignorance which you know. And indeed Allah Almighty raised you up through Islam and through Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), until you have reached the state you see. And it is this world that has spread corruption among you. Indeed, that one in Syria (he meant Marwan), by Allah, he is fighting only for this world. And indeed, that one in Makkah (he meant Ibn al-Zubayr), by Allah, he is fighting only for this world. And indeed, these around you, whom you call your reciters, by Allah, they too are fighting only for this world." The narrator Abu al-Minhal said: When he had not left out anyone, my father said to him: "What is your opinion?" He said: "Today I consider no one better than a group that clings to the ground, whose bellies are empty of people's wealth and whose backs are free of responsibility for people's blood."

Shaqiq narrates from Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: We were sitting with Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) when he said: "Which of you has memorized the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about the tribulation exactly as he said it?" I said: "I have." Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna Umar said: "You are indeed bold. And how did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say it?" I said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'The tribulation of a man concerning his household, his wealth, his own self and his neighbor is expiated by fasting, charity, enjoining good and forbidding evil.'" Sayyiduna Umar said: "This is not what I mean. I mean only the tribulation that will surge like the wave of the sea." The narrator said: I said: "What concern do you have with it, O Commander of the Believers? Indeed, between you and it there is a closed door." Sayyiduna Umar said: "Will the door be broken or will it be opened?" The narrator, Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him), said: I said: "No, rather it will be broken." He said: "Then it (the door) is more likely never to be closed." The narrator Shaqiq said: We asked Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him): "Did Sayyiduna Umar know who the door is?" He said: "Yes, just as I know that tomorrow comes after tonight. I narrated a hadith to him, not misleading statements." The narrator Shaqiq said: We were afraid to ask Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) who the door is. We said to Masruq: "You ask him." He asked him, and he said: "Sayyiduna Umar."

Shaqiq narrates from Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "The tribulation of the whip is more severe than the tribulation of the sword." His companions said: "How can this be?" He said: "Indeed, a man is whipped until he mounts the wood."

Sayyiduna Sa'id bin Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when he mentioned a tribulation and regarded its matter as grave. The narrator said: We said, or they said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), if we were to encounter it, we would perish." He said: "Certainly not. Being killed will be sufficient for you." Sayyiduna Sa'id said: I saw that my brothers were all killed.

Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Three tribulations will occur, and the fourth tribulation will lead people to the Dajjal. For them, the first tribulation will hurl stones that dry up water, the second will throw hot stones, and the third will spread the darkness that surges like the wave of the sea."

Al-Yashkuri said: I heard Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) say: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There will be a blind and deaf tribulation, whose callers will be calling to the gates of Hell. O Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him), that death should come to you while you are biting on the root of a tree is better than that you should follow any one of them."

Rib'i said: A man asked Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him): "When those who pray fight one another, what should I do?" Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Take refuge in your home." That man said: "If they enter even my home, what course should I take?" Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Say: I will never kill you, for I fear the Lord of all the worlds."

Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Tribulation has been set upon three men: first, the diligent man of insight, who, whenever anything rises before him, finishes it off with the sword; and the orator to whom all matters call; and the renowned noble. As for that diligent man of insight, the tribulation throws him down; and as for these two, the tribulation seeks them out and tests what they have."

Khurashah bin al-Hurr said: Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What will your condition be at the time when it (the tribulation) comes towards you dragging its rein, and it comes to you from this side and from that side?" The people said: "By Allah, we do not know." Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "But by Allah, I know. On that day you will be like a slave and his master: if the master insults him, the slave cannot insult him back, and if he strikes him, the slave cannot strike him back."

Khurashah narrates from Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "What will your condition be at the time when you cheapen your religion just as that woman who prevents no one from coming to her cheapens her private part?" The people said: "We do not know." Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "But by Allah, I know. On that day you will be between the helpless and the wicked." A man from among the people said: "May the one who is incapable of that be kept far from good." The narrator said: Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) struck him on his back several times, and then said: "May you be kept far from good! May you be kept far from good!"

It is narrated from Khurashah that Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the mosque and passed by some people, some of whom were teaching the Qur'an to others. Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If you are firm on the right way, you have gone far ahead, and if you have abandoned it, you have gone astray." The narrator said: Then he sat in a circle and said: "Indeed, we were people who believed before reciting the Qur'an, and in the future there will be people who recite the Qur'an before believing." A man from among the people said: "This will be the tribulation." He said: "Yes. It will come from in front of you, from where you are grieved, and then it will keep coming like steady rain (slowly and continually). Indeed, a man will return from it and deliberate over two courses, one of them helplessness and the other wickedness and sin." Khurashah said: Only a short time after (this statement), I saw a man come out with his sword, killing people indiscriminately.

It is narrated from Zayd bin Wahb that he said: Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked: "What is meant by the waqafat and the ba'athat of the tribulation?" Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By the ba'athat of the tribulation is meant the drawing of swords, and by its waqafat is meant the returning of swords to their sheaths."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Tufayl Amir bin Wathilah (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "What will your condition be when there is a tribulation in which the best of people will be the rich man who stays hidden?" Sayyiduna Amir bin Wathilah said: I said: "How will this be, when it is only the stipend of one of us, which he puts in every place of putting and throws in every place of throwing?" He said: "At that time, be like the one-year-old young of a she-camel, which is neither a mount that can be ridden nor a milker that can be milked."

Abdullah bin al-Rawwa' narrates from Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "There will be a tribulation that will come casting doubts and will go back having become clear. If this happens, cling to the ground as a shepherd clings to his staff behind his goats, so that the flood does not sweep you away."

It is narrated from Maymun bin Abi Shabib that Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked: "Did the Children of Israel disbelieve in one day?" He said: "No. Rather, the tribulation used to be presented to them and they would refuse to adopt it, so they would be compelled to it. Then the tribulation was presented to them and they refused to adopt it, until they were beaten with whips and swords to make them adopt it, until they plunged into that tribulation as one plunges into water (matters reached such a point) until they neither recognized any good nor rejected any evil."

It is narrated from Rib'i bin Hirash that he said: I heard a man say at the funeral of Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the one on this bier say: "I have no concern since I heard the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): If you fight one another, I will enter my home, and if anyone enters my home, I will say: Take it, return with the burden of my sin and your own sin."

It is narrated from Sa'd that Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whoever moves away even a handspan from the community (of the Muslims) has separated from Islam."

It is narrated from Hammam that Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "A time will most certainly come upon people in which no one will be saved except the one who supplicates like a drowning man."

It is narrated from Abu Ammar that Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "A time will most certainly come upon people in which no one will be saved except the one who supplicates like a drowning man."

Abu Ammar narrates from Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "By Allah, a man will be able to see in the morning, and then by evening will not have the power to see even the edge of anything."

Zayd said that Sayyiduna Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) recited this verse: "Fight the leaders of disbelief" [Al-Tawbah: 12], then said: "The people to whom this verse applies have not been fought since then."