—someone asked, “Messenger of Allah, what is the Ahlas tribulation?” He replied:

“It is fighting and flight. (1)

After that comes the Sarraʾ tribulation, whose smoke will rise from beneath the feet of a man from my household who claims to belong to me, yet he is not of me; my true allies are only the God-fearing. Then the people will come to terms with a man who is like a hip bone on top of a rib. (2)

Next will be the Duhaimāʾ tribulation, which will leave no one in this ummah without striking him. Whenever it is said, ‘It is over,’ it flares up again. During it a man will awaken a believer and reach evening a disbeliever, until the people divide into two camps: a camp of faith with no hypocrisy in it, and a camp of hypocrisy with no faith in it. When that occurs, await the Dajjal that very day or the next.”

Abū Dāwūd transmitted this narration on his own; Imām Aḥmad also recorded it in his Musnad from Abū al-Mughīrah with the same wording. (3)

Abū Dāwūd further said: al-Qaʿnabī narrated to us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—that is, Ibn Abī Ḥāzim—narrated to us, from his father, from ʿUmārah ibn ʿAmr, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“How will you be when a time— or: ‘A time is about to come’—arrives in which the people are sifted like grain in a sieve? Only the dregs of mankind will remain, men whose covenants and trusts have become confused, who differ with one another, until they are like this,” and he interlaced his fingers.

They asked, “What shall we do, Messenger of Allah?”

He answered, “Hold fast to what you recognize as right and leave what you deem reprehensible. Attend to the affairs of your own circle and leave the matter of the common people.”

Abū Dāwūd said: This has been narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, from the Prophet ﷺ, through several routes. Ibn Mājah likewise transmitted it from Hishām ibn ʿAmmār and Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣabāḥ, from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Ḥāzim with this chain. Aḥmad recorded it in his Musnad from Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, from Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Ḥāzim with the same content; Imām Aḥmad also related it from Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad, from [Muḥammad ibn] Muṭarrif, from Abū Ḥāzim, from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather … with similar wording. (4)

Abū Dāwūd then said: Hārūn ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn narrated to us; Yūnus—that is, Ibn Abī Isḥāq—narrated to us, from Hilāl ibn Khabbāb Abū al-ʿAlāʾ; ʿIkrimah narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ narrated to me:

While we were gathered around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he spoke of the tribulation—or it was mentioned in his presence—and he said:

“When you see the people whose covenants are in disorder, whose trusts are light, and they have become like this,” and he interlaced his fingers,

I stood up and asked, “How should I act then? May Allah ransom me for you.”

He replied, “Stay in your house, keep a tight rein on your tongue, hold fast to what you know, leave what you deny, concern yourself with your own private affair, and leave the matter of the general public.”

Aḥmad transmitted it likewise from Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn, and al-Nasāʾī included it in ‘Al-Yawm wa al-Laylah’ from Aḥmad ibn