Chapter 7: Different Kinds of Tribulation
Zaynab bint Jahsh, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: The Prophet got up from his sleep and his face was flushed. He said: There is no god but Allah. Woe to the Arabs, for a great evil which is nearly approaching them. Today a gap has been made in the wall of Ya’juj and Ma’juj. (Bukhari)
Umm Salamah, the wife of the Prophet said: One night, the Prophet got up and said: Subhan Allah! How many tribulations have come down tonight, and how many treasures have been disclosed! Go and wake the dwellers of these apartments (his wives) for prayer. A well-dressed soul in this world may be naked in the Hereafter. (Bukhari)
Usamah ibn Zayd said; Once the Prophet stood over one of the battlements of Madinah and asked the people: Do you see what I see? They replied: No.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then said: I see afflictions falling upon your houses as raindrops fall. (Bukhari, Muslim)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: Time will pass rapidly, knowledge will decrease, miserliness will become widespread in people’s hearts, afflictions will appear, and there will be much Harj. The people asked: O Messenger of Allah, what is Harj? The Prophet replied: Killing, killing. (Bukhari)
Al-Zubayr ibn Adi narrated: We went to Anas ibn Malik and complained about the wrong we were suffering at the hands of Al-Hajjaj. Anas ibn Malik said: Be patient, for no time will come but that the time following it will be worse, until you meet your Lord. I heard the Prophet say that. (Bukhari)
Abu Hurayrah also reported that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: There will come a time of afflictions when one who sits will be better than one who stands, one who stands will be better than one who walks and one who walks will be better than one who runs. Whoever exposes himself to these afflictions, they will destroy him. So whoever can find a place of protection or refuge from them, should take shelter in it. (Bukhari, Muslim)
Abdullah ibn Umar said: The Prophet stood beside the pulpit, facing the east and he said: Afflictions will verily emerge from here, where the top of Shaytan’s head will appear. (Bukhari)
Abu Hurayrah reported that he heard the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ say: The Hour will not come until a man passes by someone’s grave and says: Would that I were in his place! (Bukhari)
Abu Hurayrah also reported that the Prophet said: The Euphrates will disclose a golden treasure. Whoever is present at that time should not take anything of it. (Bukhari)
Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: The Hour will not come before the Euphrates uncovers a mountain of gold, for which people will fight. Ninety-nine out of every hundred will die but every one among them will say that perhaps he will be the one who will survive. (Muslim)
In a Hadith collected in Sahih Bukhari, Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: The Hour will not come until the following events have come to pass: Two large groups will fight one another and there will be many casualties, they will both be following the same religions teaching, nearly thirty Dajjals will appear, each of them falsely claiming to be a Messenger from Allah, knowledge will disappear, earthquakes will increase, time will pass quickly and afflictions will appear. Harj (killing) will increase, wealth will increase so that a wealthy man will worry lest no-one accept his Zakat, and when he offers it to anyone, that person will say: I am not in need of it, people will compete in constructing high buildings. When a man passes by someone’s grave, he will say: Would that I were in his place! The sun will rise from the West and when it rises and people see it, they will believe. However, it will be too late at this point as mentioned in the Quran: ‘no good will it do to a soul to believe in them then, if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its faith.’ (Quran, 6:158)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: Woe to the Arabs from the great evil which is nearly approaching them: it will be like patches of dark night. A man will wake up as a believer and be a kafir by nightfall. People will sell their religion for a small amount of worldly goods. The one who clings onto his religion on that day will be as one who is grasping thorns. (Ahmad)
Abu Musa al-Ash’ari stated that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: Before the Hour comes, there will be a tribulation like patches of dark night. A man will get up a believer and go to sleep a Kafir, or will go to sleep a believer and get up a Kafir. The one who sits will be better than one who stands and the one who walks will be better than the one who runs. (Ibn Majah)
Abdullah ibn Amr said: We were on a journey with the Prophet and when his caller called for prayer, I went there.
The Messenger of Allah addressed the people saying: O people, it has been the duty of every Prophet before me to guide his people to whatever he knew was good for them, and to warn them against whatever he knew was bad for them, but this Ummah has its time of peace and security at the beginning. At the end of its existence, it will suffer trials and tribulations one after the other. Tribulations will come and the people will say: This will finish me, but it will pass. Another tribulation will come and he will say: This is it, but it will pass. A third will come and the same will be said. Whoever wishes to be rescued from Hell and enter Paradise, let him die believing in Allah and the Last Day, and treat the people as he himself wishes to be treated. (Muslim)