the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“A tribulation is coming. During it, the one who is seated will be better than the one who is standing, the one standing will be better than the one walking, and the one walking will be better than the one running.”

I asked, “What do you command if someone breaks into my house and stretches out his hand to kill me?” He answered, “Be like the son of Adam.”

Al-Tirmidhī recorded this narration from Qutaybah, from Layth, from ʿIyāsh ibn ʿAbbās al-Qitbānī, from Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ashajj, from Busr ibn Saʿīd al-Ḥaḍramī, from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, and he cited it, saying, “This ḥadīth is ḥasan.” (1) Some transmitters related it from Layth with an additional narrator—namely al-Ḥusayn; it has also been said al-Ḥusayl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and it is said ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥusayn—from Saʿd, just as Abū Dāwūd has already reported.

Abū Dāwūd then said: Musaddad narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Juḥādah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Tharwān, from Huzayl, from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Before the Hour there will be tribulations as dark as pieces of night: a man will awaken as a believer and end the day an unbeliever, or end the day a believer and awaken an unbeliever. The one sitting in them is better than the one standing, and the one walking is better than the one running. Break your bows, cut your bow-strings, and strike your swords against stones. If anyone is attacked [in his home], let him be like the better of Adam’s two sons.” (2)

Imām Aḥmad said: Marḥūm narrated to us; Abū ʿImrān al-Jawni related to me, from ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ṣāmit, from Abū Dharr, who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once rode a donkey and seated me behind him. He said, “O Abū Dharr, what will you do if people are struck by severe hunger such that you cannot rise from your bed to your mosque?” I replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Maintain chastity (taʿaffaf).”

He then said, “O Abū Dharr, what will you do if people are stricken with a severe death so that a grave becomes a man’s only house—what will you do?” I answered, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Be patient.”

He said, “O Abū Dharr, what will you do when people begin killing one another”—meaning until the stones of the oil-press are drenched with blood—“what will you do?” I said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Stay in your house and lock your door.”

I asked, “What if I am not left alone?” He said, “Then go to the group you belong to and stay with them.” I said, “Shall I take my weapon?” He replied, “If you do, you will be sharing with them in what they are doing. But if you fear that the flash of the sword will terrify you, cast the edge of your cloak over your face so that he bears the sin of killing you as well as his own.” Aḥmad narrated it in this form. Abū Dāwūd transmitted it from Musaddad, and Ibn Mājah from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdah, both through Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from Abū ʿImrān al-Jawni, from al-Mushʿath ibn Ṭarīf, from ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ṣāmit, from Abū Dharr in similar words. Abū Dāwūd added: Nobody mentioned al-Mushʿath in this ḥadīth except Ḥammād ibn Zayd. (3)

Abū Dāwūd also said: Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Fāris narrated to us; ʿAffān ibn Muslim narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn