When Gabriel—peace be upon him—came in the form of a Bedouin and asked about Islam, then about faith, and then about excellence, the Prophet ﷺ answered him. When he asked about the Hour, he ﷺ replied,

“The one who is being questioned knows no more about it than the questioner.”

He said, “Then tell me about its portents,” so the Prophet informed him of them, as will be cited later with its chain of transmission and full wording (1), together with similar reports.

Chapter: A general account of the tribulations, to be followed—Allah Most High willing—by a detailed discussion

Al-Bukhari said: Yahya ibn Musa narrated to us; al-Walid narrated to us; Ibn Jabir narrated to me; Busr ibn ʿUbayd Allah al-Hadrami narrated to me; Abu Idris al-Khawlani narrated that he heard Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman say:

“People used to ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about good, whereas I would ask him about evil for fear that it might overtake me. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, we were in jāhiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance) and evil, and Allah has brought us this good; will there be evil after this good?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’

“I asked, ‘And will there be good after that evil?’ He said, ‘Yes, but it will contain dakhan (2) — a blemish.’

“I said, ‘What is its dakhan?’ He said, ‘People who guide by something other than my guidance; you will approve of some of what they do and disapprove of some.’

“I asked, ‘Will there be evil after that good?’ He said, ‘Yes: callers at the gates of Hell; whoever responds to them they will cast him into it.’

“I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, describe them to us.’ He said, ‘They are of our own stock and speak our language.’

“I said, ‘What do you command me to do if that should befall me?’ He said, ‘Adhere to the community of the Muslims and their imam.’

“I said, ‘And if they have neither imam nor united community?’ He said, ‘Then keep away from all those factions, even if you must cling to the root of a tree until death overtakes you while you are in that state.’”

Al-Bukhari also narrated this report, and Muslim likewise, through Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna, from al-Walid ibn Muslim, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jabir, with similar wording. This ḥadith has reached us through many chains from Hudhayfa: Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and al-Nasa’i relate it via Nasr ibn ʿAsim, from Khalid ibn Khalid al-Yashkuri al-Kufi, in an extended version that explains any ambiguous points; al-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah also record it through ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Qurt.

In Sahih al-Bukhari, through the isnād of Ismaʿil ibn Abi Khalid, from Qays ibn Abi Hazim, from Hudhayfa, it is reported that he said, “My companions learned about good, whereas I learned about evil” (3).

And it is authentically recorded in the Sahih, through al-Aʿmash, from Abu Ishaq, from Abu al-Ahwas, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange just as it began, so glad tidings…"