He said, “The prayer has been announced,” so he rose and we rose with him. When we entered the mosque we found the people already bowing in the front rows. He pronounced the takbīr and bowed, and we bowed with him; then we stepped forward, doing exactly as he had done. A man hurried past and said, “Peace be upon you, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.” He replied, “Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth.”

When we had completed the prayer and returned, he went into his house while we remained seated. Some of us said to the others, “Did you not hear his reply to the man: ‘Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth,’ or perhaps he said, ‘and His messengers conveyed the message’? Which of us will ask him about that?” Ṭāriq said, “I will ask him,” and he questioned him when he came out. Ibn Masʿūd then related from the Prophet ﷺ:

“Before the Hour there will be greeting limited to one’s own circle (taslīm al-khāṣṣah); the spread of trade, to the point that a woman assists her husband in his business; the severing of kinship bonds; false testimony; the concealment of truthful testimony; and the prominence of the pen (i.e., widespread writing).”

Aḥmad also transmitted this ḥadīth through ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Sufyān, from Bashīr, from Sayyār Abū Ḥamzah. Aḥmad said, “This is the sound chain; Sayyār Abū al-Ḥakam did not narrate anything from Ṭāriq.” (1)

Characteristics of the People at the End of Time

Imam Aḥmad said: “ʿAbd al-Ṣamad narrated to us; Hammām narrated to us; Qatādah narrated to us, from al-Ḥasan, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

‘The Hour will not come until Allah takes His chosen band (sharīṭa) (2) from the inhabitants of the earth, and only a rabble will remain—people who recognize no good and forbid no evil.’”

We were also told the same by ʿAffān: Hammām narrated to us, from Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr, but he did not raise it to the Prophet; he said, “Until Allah—exalted is He—takes His chosen band from among the people.” (3)

Imam Aḥmad said: “ʿAffān narrated to us; Qays narrated to us; al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿUbaydah al-Salmānī, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say,

‘Indeed, some eloquence is sorcery. The vilest of mankind are those upon whom the Hour descends while they are alive, and those who turn their graves into places of worship.’”

This chain is authentic, and the compilers did not record it through this route (4).

Imam Aḥmad further said: “Bahz narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Aqmar narrated to us—he said: I heard Abū al-Aḥwaṣ relate from ʿAbd Allah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

‘The Hour will only be established over the worst of people.’”

Muslim transmitted it from Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, from Shuʿbah (5), from ʿAlī ibn al-Aqmar with the same wording (6).