Azami 15778

Reported by Abu Dawud (4254), Ahmad (3730-3731), and Hakim (4/521, and 3/114), all through the route of Mansur bin Mutamir, from Rubai bin Harrash, from Bara bin Najiyah, from Abdullah bin Masud, who related it. Hakim said, "sahih in isnad." But Bara bin Najiyah is a figure of unknown status, Rubai bin Harrash alone transmitted from him, and no one other than Ajli and Ibn Hibban vouched for his reliability. That is why Dhahabi said in al-Mizan, "He is of unknown status, known only through the hadith, 'The mill of Islam will turn for thirty-five years.'" As for Ibn Hajar's statement in al-Taqrib that he is "reliable," this is questionable.There are two other routes that strengthen it. The first is what Ahmad (3707) reported, and Ibn Hibban (6664) graded sahih, both through the hadith of Yazid bin Harun, who said, Awwam bin Hawshab informed us, Abu Ishaq Shaybani, Sulayman bin Abu Sulayman, told me, from Qasim bin Abdul-Rahman (that is, the son of Abdullah bin Masud), from his father, from his grandfather. However, Abdul-Rahman bin Abdullah bin Masud heard only a very small amount from his father directly, and this hadith is not among what he heard directly.The second is what Bazzar (1942) and Tahawi in Sharh Mushkil (1612) reported, both through the route of Sharik Nakhai, from Mujalid bin Saeed, from Amir Shaybi, from Masruq, from Abdullah bin Masud, who related it, and it contains, "If they reconcile among themselves without fighting, they will enjoy the world in comfort for seventy years, but if they fight each other, they will follow the paths of those who came before them." Sharik has a poor memory, and likewise his teacher. But taking all these routes together, the hadith becomes hasan.The meaning of the hadith is that the great trial will occur after thirty-five years, or after thirty-six, or after thirty-seven, not as an expression of doubt, but rather that it will occur whenever Allah wills. And indeed He willed that it occur thirty-five years after the killing of the rightly guided caliph Uthman bin Affan , which became the cause of disagreement arising and the unity of the Muslims splitting apart.His statement, "If they reconcile among themselves..." means that they did not in fact reconcile among themselves, and so Allah's universal decree concerning them came to pass, in the form of bloodshed and fighting among themselves. But Allah, by His grace and mercy, protected this nation from apostasy and destruction, and it will remain so for as long as Allah wills, until the Day of Judgment.