It has already been related in the preceding ḥadiths that men will become few and women many, so that a single guardian will be in charge of fifty women who cling to him, and that people will copulate in the streets as livestock do. We have cited those reports with their full chains and wording, so there is no need to repeat them here; praise be to Allah.

Imām Aḥmad said: “ʿAffān narrated to us; Ḥammād narrated to us; Thābit informed us, from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:

‘The Hour will not be established until it is no longer said on earth: Lā ilāha illā Allāh (There is no god but Allah).’

Muslim also transmitted it from Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb, from ʿAffān, with the wording:

‘The Hour will not be established until it is no longer said on earth: Allah, Allah.’ (1)

Imām Aḥmad likewise said: “ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Maʿmar informed us, from Thābit, from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

‘The Hour will not befall anyone who is saying: Allah, Allah.’

Muslim narrated it from ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, from ʿAbd al-Razzāq through the same chain. (2)

Aḥmad further said: “Ibn Abī ʿAdī narrated to us, from Ḥumayd, from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

‘The Hour will not come until it is no longer said on earth: Allah, Allah.’

This three-linked chain fulfills the conditions of the two Ṣaḥīḥs. Al-Tirmidhī alone recorded it from Bundār, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī ʿAdī, from Ḥumayd, from Anas as a marfūʿ report and judged it “ḥasan.” He then narrated it from Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, from Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith, from Ḥumayd, from Anas as a mawqūf report, and said, “This version is more sound than the first.” (3)

With regard to his ﷺ statement, ‘until it is no longer said on earth: Allah, Allah,’ there are two explanations:

1. No one will any longer denounce wrongdoing; no one will rebuke another when he sees him engaged in something blameworthy. This condition is expressed by the phrase, ‘until it is no longer said: Allah, Allah,’ as occurs in the narration of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr: ‘Only a rabble will remain who recognize no good and forbid no evil.’ (4)

2. The name of Allah will no longer be mentioned on earth nor known among its people. This will occur when the era is utterly corrupt, mankind ruined, and disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience widespread. People will neglect encouraging one another to good, so that no one will say to another, ‘Fear Allah, be mindful of Allah.’ This corresponds to the other ḥadith: ‘The Hour will not be established until it is no longer said on earth: There is no god but Allah,’ and to the earlier report that the very old man and the very old woman will say, ‘We met people while they were saying: There is no god but Allah.’ (5) Matters will then worsen and evil will increase until the remembrance of Allah is abandoned altogether.