“Men will take charge of your affairs after me; they will extinguish the sunnah, introduce blameworthy innovations, and delay the prayer beyond its appointed times.” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, if I live to see them, what should I do?” He replied, “Are you asking me, O Ibn Umm ‘Abd, what you should do? There is no obedience to one who disobeys Allah.”
It was recorded by Ahmad and his son (1/339–400), Ibn Majah (2865)—whose wording this is—and al-Tabarani in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (3/74/2), through several routes from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Uthman ibn Khuthaym, from al-Qasim ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, from his father, from his grandfather, ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, with this wording. Al-Tabarani’s wording is: “There will be rulers over you who delay the prayer beyond its appointed times and introduce blameworthy innovations …” the hadith.
I say: Its chain of transmission is sound according to Muslim’s criteria.
- “The first cause of the ruin of the Children of Israel was that the wife of a poor man would demand of him, in clothing or ornaments—or, he said, in an ornament—what the wife of a wealthy man demanded. He then mentioned a short woman among the Children of Israel who made herself two wooden legs and a ring with a fastening and a lid, which she filled with musk. She went out between two tall—or large-built—women. They sent someone to follow them; he recognized the two tall women but did not recognize the woman with the wooden legs.”
Ibn Khuzaymah recorded it in al-Tawhid (p. 208): Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-A‘la al-San‘ani narrated to us; he said: al-Mu‘tamir narrated to us, from his father; he said: Abu Nadrah narrated to us, from Abu Sa‘id or Jabir, that the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, delivered a lengthy sermon in which he mentioned the affairs of this world and the Hereafter, and mentioned that the first cause of their ruin was … the hadith.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission according to Muslim’s criteria. Muslim recorded in his Sahih (7/47–48), through several routes from Abu Nadrah, from Abu Sa‘id, in a report attributed to the Prophet, only the story of the short woman; that is why I have included it.