of anything, people say, ‘You have abandoned the Sunnah.’”

He was asked, “When will that be, Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān?”

He replied, “When your scholars have gone, your jurists have become few, worldly gain is sought through deeds meant for the Hereafter, and religious learning is pursued for purposes other than religion.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd also used to say:

“I fear for you something other than the Dajjāl more than I fear the Dajjāl: things that will come from your leaders. Any man or woman who lives to see that time must hold fast to the original way—hold fast to the original way.”

Another example concerns ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. When he became governor of Medina during the caliphate of his cousin al-Walīd—this ʿUmar was the one who built the Prophet’s chamber at that time—Anas ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with him, prayed behind him. He then said, as narrated by Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī from Anas ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with him:

“After the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, I have never prayed behind anyone whose prayer more closely resembled that of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, than this young man”—meaning ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.

He said, “We estimated that his bowing lasted long enough to glorify Allah ten times, and his prostration long enough to glorify Him ten times.”

This was in Medina, even though its governors adhered more closely to the Sunnah than the governors of the other cities. The other cities were governed according to the judgment of kings, whereas Medina was governed only according to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—or something to that effect. Nevertheless, they too had altered some aspects of the Sunnah.

Anyone who believes that this occurred during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz is mistaken, for Anas ibn Mālik, may