Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it (13085) with a weak chain of transmission. It is supported by Ibn Masʿūd’s statement in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2/124):

“Indeed, I remember a time when none of us would stay away from it except a hypocrite whose hypocrisy was known.”

That is, the congregational prayer. *

3078 — “You will soon search in these towns of yours for a basin of water and not find one. Every body of water will retreat to its source, and in al-Shām there will remain a remnant of the believers and water.”

Al-Ḥākim recorded it in al-Mustadrak (4/504) through Sufyān, who said: “Al-Masʿūdī narrated to me from al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from his father, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said…” He then cited it as a report attributed to the Companion, and said:

“Its chain of transmission is authentic.”

Al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

I say: It is as they both said. For this al-Masʿūdī—whose name was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah—though he suffered from memory deterioration, they have stated that Sufyān’s—meaning al-Thawrī’s—narration from him was before that deterioration. They also stated that his hadiths from al-Qāsim are authentic, and this is one of his narrations from him, as you can see. If you wish, consult his biographical entry in al-Tahdhīb and al-Kawākib al-Nayyirāt (pp. 282–298).

Although this hadith is attributed to the Companion, it has the ruling of a report attributed to the Prophet, since such a matter cannot be stated on the basis of personal opinion, as is evident.

This hadith was interpreted by the author of the book The False Messiah: A Political Reading of the Foundations of