Commentary
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—cited, under the chapter “Warning against Innovations,” the report narrated by Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, may Allah be pleased with him, in which he said: The Prophet ﷺ, whenever he delivered the Friday sermon, his eyes would turn red, his voice would grow loud, and his anger would intensify. He ﷺ adopted this manner because it has a stronger impact on the listener; he assumed that stance for the sake of benefit. Otherwise, it is well known that he ﷺ was the kindest of people and the gentlest in disposition. Yet every occasion calls for its appropriate style. A sermon is meant to stir the hearts and leave its mark upon the souls—both by its subject matter and by the manner in which it is delivered.

He ﷺ would also say, “I and the Hour have been sent like these two,” and he would join his index and middle fingers together. In other words, he brought the two fingers—the sabbābah (index finger), which lies between the thumb and the middle finger, and the middle finger—side by side. When you place them together you see that they are immediately adjacent, separated only by a very slight gap, no wider than a fingernail or half of one. The index finger is called sabbābah because a person points with it when insulting someone, and it is likewise called sabbābah because, when proclaiming the greatness of Allah, one raises it and points it toward the sky.

The purport of the Prophet’s gesture is that the end of the world is near; it is not far off. This resembles what he ﷺ once did when he addressed the people late in the afternoon while the sun was still above the tops of the palm-trees. He said, “Nothing remains of your worldly life except what remains of this day.”