even by His very name—and the believers will surely smite them until they cannot bar anyone from so much as the tail-end of a mountain pass. (1)

Ahmad alone transmitted this report through this chain. (2)

Ahmad also said: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad narrated to us; Ḥammād—meaning Ibn Salamah—narrated to us; from Ayyūb, from Abū Qilābah, from Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The Hour will not be established until people boast about their mosques.” Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah likewise recorded it from Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from Ayyūb, from Abū Qilābah, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd al-Jarmī. Abū Dāwūd added: and from Qatādah—both chains from Anas—on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ with this wording. (3)

In the chapter on the portents of the Hour the ḥadith of Ibn Masʿūd will appear, containing the words: “The prayer-niches will be richly decorated while the hearts are in ruin.”

Imam Ahmad further said: Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated to us; Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us, from ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmayr, from Zādhān Abū ʿAmr, from ʿUlaym, who related:

“We were sitting on a rooftop in the company of a man from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ”—Yazīd remarked, “I know of no one he meant except ʿAbs al-Ghifārī”—“while people were coming out during the plague. ʿAbs kept saying, ‘O plague, take me!’—he repeated it three times. ʿUlaym said to him, ‘Why do you say that? Did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ not say: “None of you should wish for death, for when it comes his deeds are cut off and he will not be sent back to make amends”?’ (4) He replied, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “Hasten to die before six things occur: the rule of fools, the proliferation of police, the selling of judgments, the belittling of bloodshed, the severing of family ties, and a youth who will take the Quran as flutes, putting forward the one who can sing it for them even though he is the least of them in understanding.”’ Ahmad alone reported this narration. (5)

In the version transmitted by Abū Muʿallā (6) from al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAmr the wording is the same, or close to it, as we have cited in the supplements to the Musnad of Ahmad. (7) And to Allah—glorified be He—I render thanks.

Al-Ṭabarānī said: Ibn Isḥāq al-Tustarī narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muʿāwiyah al-Jumaḥī narrated to us; Jamīl (8) ibn ʿUbayd al-Ṭāʾī narrated to us; Abū Muʿallā (6) narrated to us, who said:

“Al-Ḥakam al-Ghifārī said, ‘O plague, take me to yourself.’ A man from the gathering said to him, ‘Why do you say that, when you heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “None of you should ever wish for death”?’ He replied, ‘I have heard what you heard, but I am seeking to get ahead of six things: the selling of judgments, the spread of…’”