- “The Hour will not come until tribulations become manifest, lying becomes widespread, markets draw near one another, time draws near, and harj becomes widespread.” It was asked, “What is harj?” He said, “Killing.”
Ahmad recorded it (2/519) from Saʿid ibn Simʿan, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said this. I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, apart from this Saʿid ibn Simʿan; he is trustworthy, as al-Haythami stated in al-Majmaʿ (7/327), and al-Hafiz stated in al-Taqrib.
- “The people will be rained upon with a widespread rain, yet the earth will produce nothing.”
Ahmad recorded it (3/140), as did Abu Yaʿla (3/1072), and al-Bukhari in al-Tarikh (4/1/362), in a suspended citation, through the route of Husayn ibn Waqid: Muʿadh ibn Harmalah al-Azdi narrated to me, saying: I heard Anas say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said this. I say: Its chain of transmission is good for purposes of corroboration and supporting evidence. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, apart from this Muʿadh. Ibn Hibban listed him in al-Thiqat (5/423), and neither he nor anyone else mentioned anyone reporting from him other than Husayn ibn Waqid. However, he was corroborated: Hammad narrated it from Thabit, from Anas, who said: “We used to say that the Hour will not come until rain falls from the sky and the earth produces nothing…”