208 – Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Hour will not arrive until people boast to one another about their mosques.” It was narrated by the Five except al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Khuzaymah declared it authentic (1).
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Hadith grading:
The report is ṣaḥīḥ (authentic). Al-Suyūṭī judged it sound in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, and al-Munāwī raised no objection. In Bulūgh al-Amānī he noted that it was transmitted by the Four, that al-Bukhārī cited it in a suspended form from Anas, and that Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Ḥibbān authenticated it. Abū Dāwūd also recorded it through the route of Abū Qilābah with a sound chain.
Vocabulary:
• yutabāhā: to vaunt or boast, i.e. to compete in ornate construction so that one says, “My mosque surpasses yours in height, adornment, and decoration.”
Lessons derived from the ḥadith:
1 – Boasting over mosques means vying in the elegance of their construction, ornamentation, embellishment, height, and lofty ceilings, such that a person says to another, “My mosque is finer than yours; my workmanship outshines yours.” The rivalry may also occur through deeds rather than words, each party striving to outdo the other in embellishing his mosque and raising its structure so that it appears more splendid. Consequently, one is required to desist—