Ahmad 5987

Its chain of transmission is sahih. Bukhari related it, 13:39, from Ali bin Madini, from Azhar Samman, with this chain, and likewise Tirmidhi related it, 4:381, from Bishr bin Adam, the son of the daughter of Azhar Samman, from his grandfather Azhar. Tirmidhi said, this is a hasan sahih hadith, unusual from this angle, from the hadith of Ibn Awn. This hadith has also been related from Salim bin Abdullah bin Umar, from his father, from the Prophet ﷺ.Bukhari also related it, 2:422-423, through Husayn bin Hasan, from Ibn Awn, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, in similar wording, without mentioning that it traces back to the Messenger of Allah. Al-Hafiz said, this is how it appears in these narrations that have reached us (meaning the narrations of Bukhari), in the form of a stopped report, "from Ibn Umar, he said, O Allah, bless," without mentioning the Prophet ﷺ. Al-Qabisi said, the mention of the Prophet ﷺ fell out of the copy, and it must be there, because something like this could not be said based on personal opinion. End of quote.Al-Hafiz then said, Azhar Samman related it from Ibn Awn explicitly mentioning the Prophet ﷺ, as will come later in the Book of Tribulations. In my view, this is not a real difference among the narrators over whether it is traced back to the Prophet or stopped at the companion. Rather, it is either an oversight by one of the narrators of the Sahih or its copyists, who dropped the attribution of the hadith, as Al-Qabisi held, or it is an abbreviation by one of the narrators, who was content to say "he said" without naming the speaker, since the speaker was obviously understood. This is because the wording of this narration, which outwardly appears stopped, cannot possibly actually be a stopped report at all, quite apart from the fact that it concerns unseen matters that a companion would not say based on his own opinion.The wording of this narration is, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, he said, he said, "O Allah, bless us in our Sham and in our Yemen." He said, they said, "And in our Najd." He said, he said, "O Allah, bless us in our Sham and in our Yemen." He said, they said, "And in our Najd." He said, "There lie earthquakes and tribulations, and from there rises the horn of Satan." This makes it plainly clear that it is from Ibn Umar, "he said" meaning Ibn Umar said, "he said" meaning the Prophet ﷺ said, and then the wording proceeds with the question and answer format that confirms this, leaving no doubt about it.Al-Hafiz then mentioned in Fath al-Bari, 13:39, regarding the version traced to the Prophet, the narration of Azhar Samman and what Tirmidhi related, then said, and something similar is found in Ismaili's version, through Ahmad bin Ibrahim Dawraqi, from Azhar. He also extracted it through Ubaydullah bin Abdullah bin Awn, from his father, likewise. This hadith has already come in similar wording through another route, 5642, and see also 5428 and 5905.Regarding the phrase "and in our Najd" and so on, Al-Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari, 13:39, Khattabi said, the "horn" refers to a group of people who come after the passing of others, and the "horn of the serpent" is an expression used as a metaphor for something not praiseworthy. Someone else said, the people of the East at that time were people of disbelief, so the Prophet ﷺ informed that tribulation would come from that direction, and it turned out just as he had foretold, the first tribulations arose from the direction of the East, and this became a cause of division among the Muslims, which is something Satan loves and rejoices in, and likewise, innovations arose from that same direction.Khattabi also said, Najd lies in the direction of the East, and for those who were in Madinah, their Najd was the desert of Iraq and its surrounding areas, which lies to the east of the people of Madinah. The basic meaning of "najd" is elevated land, as opposed to "ghawr," which is low-lying land, and all of Tihamah is part of the ghawr, and Makkah is part of Tihamah. End of quote.This makes clear the weakness of what Dawudi said, that Najd refers specifically to the direction of Iraq, for he mistakenly imagined that Najd is a specific fixed place, but this is not so. Rather, anything that is elevated relative to what surrounds it is called "najd," elevated land, while what is low-lying is called "ghawr."