Enumeration of the various chains for the ḥadith that has reached us—time and again—from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in which he said:

“I and the Hour have been sent like these two.”

Narration of Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him)

Imām Aḥmad said: “Abū al-Mughīrah narrated to us; al-Awzāʿī narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUbayd Allah—meaning Ibn Abī al-Muhājir al-Dimashqī—narrated to us. Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) came to al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, who asked him, ‘What have you heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning the Hour?’ He replied, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say,

“You and the Hour are like these two,” (1)

and only Aḥmad transmits it through this particular route. (2)”

Another chain from him

Imām Aḥmad said: “Hāshim narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Abū al-Tayyāḥ, Qatādah, and Ḥamzah—who is Ibn ʿAmr al-Ḍabbī—that they all heard Anas ibn Mālik relate from the Prophet ﷺ:

‘I and the Hour have been sent like this,’

and he pointed with his index and middle fingers. Qatādah would comment, ‘with the superiority of one over the other.’ Muslim also recorded it, through Shuʿbah, from this Ḥamzah al-Ḍabbī and from Abū al-Tayyāḥ, both from Anas, with the same wording. (3)

Yet another chain from him

Imām Aḥmad said: “Yazīd narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Anas ibn Mālik, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:

‘I and the Hour have been sent like these two,’

and he gestured with his index and middle fingers. Al-Bukhārī, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhī all transmitted it through Shuʿbah. Muslim also has a wording from Shuʿbah, by way of Qatādah and Abū al-Tayyāḥ, both from Anas. Al-Tirmidhī said: ‘It is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.’ (4)

A further chain from him

Imām Aḥmad related through Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, from his father, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Ziyād ibn Abī Ziyād al-Madani, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “I was sent…”’