Abu al-Husayn Yahya ibn Ahmad al-Judhami (1), ʿAli ibn Ahmad al-Husayni, and Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Qurashi—during my recitation—reported to us, saying:
“Muhammad ibn ʿImad informed us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Rifaʿah informed us; Abu al-Hasan al-Khilaʿi informed us; ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿUmar al-Maliki informed us; Abu al-Taḥir Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Madini informed us; Yunus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿla narrated to us, from al-Shafiʿi, from Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Jundi, from Aban ibn Salih, from al-Hasan, from Anas:
From the Prophet ﷺ who said: ‘The affair will grow only more severe, the world only more fleeting, people only more grasping; the Hour will not be established except over the worst of humankind, and there is no Mahdi other than Jesus son of Mary.’
Ibn Majah also recorded it (2) through Yunus, and our chain coincides with his. It is, however, a denounced (munkar) report in which Yunus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿla al-Ṣadafi—though reliable—stands alone. I do not think he actually heard it from al-Shafiʿi; rather, some unknown and untrusted informant conveyed it to him. Indeed, in one of the established routes coming from Yunus he says, ‘I was told on the authority of al-Shafiʿi,’ and then he mentioned it. (3)
(1) The nisba refers to Jutham, a tribe originating from Yemen.
(2) Hadith no. 4039; its isnad (chain of transmission) is weak because Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Jundi is unknown, and al-Hasan was a mudallis who uses an ‘an‘ana. Its matn (text) is also rejected, as the author notes. The report is found in Hilyat al-Awliya 9/161; Tarikh Baghdad 4/221; and al-Mustadrak 4/441. Al-Shawkani quotes al-Sanani in Fawaid al-Majmu‘a, p. 195, declaring it fabricated. By contrast, the phrase “The Hour will not be established except upon the worst of people” is authentically reported from the Prophet ﷺ through Ibn Mas‘ud and is recorded by Muslim in his Sahih (no. 2949).
(3) His pupil al-Subki quotes the passage at greater length in Tabaqat 2/171, in the biography of Yunus ibn Abd al-Ala: “Our teacher al-Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, pointed out that in this narration Yunus only says, ‘I was told from al-Shafi‘i,’ and not, ‘al-Shafi‘i told me.’ That is how it appears in Yunus’s book as transmitted by Abu al-Tahir Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Madini, and several others relay it from him ‘from al-Shafi‘i,’ which suggests he practiced tadlis by using the word ‘from’ and omitting the intermediary who narrated it to him from al-Shafi‘i.” These are our shaykh’s words. I reply: transmitters from Yunus explicitly state that he said, “Haddathana al-Shafi‘i” (“al-Shafi‘i narrated to us”); two distinct isnads declare the direct transmission. He then rejects the claim that Yunus alone conveyed the report, noting that Zayd ibn …