I say: At the opening of this book we already devoted a section to the evils that will occur in the latter days, and it contains many reports corroborating the present ḥadīth.

In al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ, in the narration of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār from Abū Hurayrah, it is related that a Bedouin asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, “When is the Hour?” He replied, “When the trust (amānah) is lost, then await the Hour.” The man said, “O Messenger of Allah, how will it be lost?” He answered, “When authority is handed to those who are unfit, then await the Hour.” (1)

Imām Aḥmad recorded—through the chain Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar → Shuʿbah → Wāṣil → Abū Wāʾil → ʿAbd Allah, who, as he thought, attributed it to the Prophet ﷺ—that he said: “Ahead of the Hour are the Days of al-Harj: days in which knowledge disappears and ignorance prevails.” Abū Mūsā added: “Al-Harj, in the Abyssinian tongue, means killing.” (2)

Imām Aḥmad also transmitted—through Abū al-Yamān → Shuʿayb → ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Ḥusayn → Shahr → Abū Saʿīd—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The Hour will not come until a man leaves his family and his sandal, or his whip, or his staff tells him what his family did after him.” (3)

He likewise narrated—through Yazīd ibn Hārūn → al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḍl al-Hudhānī → Abū Naḍrah → Abū Saʿīd—from the Prophet ﷺ: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, the Hour will not be established until the wild beasts speak to people, a man’s whip-cord and the strap of his sandal speak to him, and his own thigh informs him of what his family did after him.” (4)

Imām Aḥmad further said: ʿAffān related to us; Ḥammād—that is, Ibn Salamah—related to us from Thābit, from Anas, who said: “We used to discuss that the Hour would not be established until the sky rained yet the earth produced no vegetation, until one guardian sufficed for fifty women, and until a woman passed by a man who would look at her and say, ‘That woman once had a husband.’” Aḥmad commented: Ḥammād once reported it in this form; he also narrated it from Thābit, from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ without any doubt, and he likewise said: from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ, as he deemed. Its chain is sound, and the two Ṣaḥīḥ compilers did not transmit it through this route. (5)

Imām Aḥmad also said: Hushaym related to us; Shuʿbah related to us from Qatādah, from Anas ibn Mālik—attributing it to the Prophet ﷺ—that he said: “The Hour will not be established until knowledge is removed, ignorance becomes manifest, men grow few and women become many, so that one man will act as guardian for fifty women.” (6) A corroborating report for this has already appeared in the Ṣaḥīḥ.