would not remain in his grave for a thousand years?

He said, “My answer is that it is false and has no basis.”

He also stated that he had written a work on the subject entitled Unveiling That This Community Will Surpass One Thousand Years, in which he wrote:

“First: The reports indicate that the duration of this community will exceed one thousand years, but not by as many as five hundred years. This is because reports transmitted through several routes state that the duration of this world is seven thousand years and that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was sent toward the end of the sixth millennium (1).”

He then presented calculations from which he concluded that the duration could not possibly be fifteen hundred years. Thereafter, he cited the hadiths and reports upon which he relied in this regard.

Among them was the report narrated by al-Tabarānī in al-Kabīr from al-Dahhāk ibn Zaml al-Juhanī, who said: “I had a dream and related it to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” He then related the hadith, which included: “I saw you, O Messenger of Allah, upon a pulpit with seven steps, standing upon its highest step.” The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “As for the pulpit you saw, with its seven steps and me upon its highest step: the duration of the world is seven thousand years, and I am in its final millennium” (2).

He stated that al-Bayhaqī had included it in al-Dalā’il, and that al-Suhaylī had said that the hadith’s chain of transmission was weak (3), although it was also narrated as a statement of Ibn Abbās—may Allah be pleased with