Utba bin Ghazwan delivered a sermon to us. He praised Allah and extolled Him, then said,To proceed. This world has announced its departure and is swiftly turning away. Nothing remains of it except the last drops, like the dregs in a vessel which its owner sips up. You are moving from it to an abode that knows no decline, so move on with the best of what is at hand, for we have been told that a stone is cast from the edge of Hell and falls through it for seventy years without reaching its bottom. By Allah, it shall be filled. Does that astonish you?We have also been told that the distance between two of the gateposts of Paradise is a journey of forty years, and a day will come when it will be packed with the throng entering through it.I have seen myself as one of seven men with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when we had no food except the leaves of trees, until our jaws became sore. I picked up a cloak and tore it in two between myself and Saad bin Malik. I wrapped half of it around me as a lower garment, and Saad wrapped the other half around himself. Yet today there is not one of us who has not become governor over some province.I seek refuge in Allah from being great in my own eyes while small in the sight of Allah. There has never been a prophethood except that it passed through stages until its final outcome became a kingdom. You will come to know and experience the rulers who come after us.
خطبنا عتبة بن غزوان، فحمد الله وأثنى عليه، ثم قال: أما بعد! فإن الدنيا قد آذنت بصرم، وولت حذاء، ولم يبق منها إلا صبابة كصبابة الإناء يتصابها صاحبها، وإنكم منتقلون منها إلى دار لا زوال لها، فانتقلوا بخير ما بحضرتكم، فإنه قد ذكر لنا أن الحجر يلقى من شفة جهنم، فيهوى فيها سبعين عاما لا يدرك لها قعرا، ووالله لتملأن، أفعجبتم؟ ولقد ذكر لنا أن ما بين مصراعين من مصاريع الجنة مسيرة أربعين سنة، وليأتين عليها يوم وهو كظيظ من الزحام، ولقد رأيتني سابع سبعة مع رسول الله ﷺ، ما لنا طعام إلا ورق الشجر، حتى قرحت أشداقنا، فالتقطت بردة، فشققتها بيني وبين سعد بن مالك، فاتزرت بنصفها، واتزر سعد بنصفها، فما أصبح اليوم منا أحد إلا أصبح أميرا على مصر من الأمصار، وإني أعوذ بالله أن أكون في نفسي عظيما وعند الله صغيرا، وإنها لم تكن نبوة قط إلا تناسخت حتى يكون آخر عاقبتها ملكا، فستخبرون وتجربون الأمراء بعدنا.
Muslim narrated it in "Zuhd" (2967) from Shayban bin Farroukh, Sulayman bin Mughira narrated to us, Humayd bin Hilal narrated to us, from Khalid bin Umayr Adawi, and he related it as a stopped narration.Ahmad narrated it (17575) from Bahz bin Assad, Sulayman bin Mughira narrated to us, Humayd narrated to us, from Khalid bin Umayr, who said, "Utbah bin Ghazwan delivered a sermon to us." Bahz said, and before this occasion he had said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ delivered a sermon to us," and he related it.The ruling belongs to whoever transmits it as raised to the Prophet.The saying of Allah Most High, "The Hour has drawn near" [Qamar 54:1], and the saying of the Prophet ﷺ, "I have been sent, and the Hour is like this in relation to this," along with the other hadiths mentioned previously, contain an indication that what has passed of the age of this world is greater than what remains of it. This past has spanned millions of years, and no one knows its exact number except Allah . As for what is said about new discoveries concerning the age of the world and of life on the surface of the earth, these are conjecture and estimation, which may be correct or may not be.As for His saying, "And the moon split" [Qamar 54:1], this took place during the time of the Prophet ﷺ in Makkah, when the polytheists asked him to show them a sign of the truth of what he had brought and was calling them to. So the Prophet ﷺ pointed to the moon, and by the permission of Allah Most High it became two halves. Several hadiths indicate this, among them.