While we were sitting around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he mentioned tribulation and said, "When you see people whose covenants have become tangled, whose trusts have grown light, and who have become like this," and he interlaced his fingers.I stood up and asked him, "What should I do when that happens, may Allah make me your ransom?"He replied, "Stay in your home, hold your tongue, take what you recognize as good, leave what you find objectionable, attend to your own private affairs, and leave aside the affairs of the masses."
بينا نحن حول رسول الله ﷺ إذ ذكر الفتنة، فقال: إذا رأيتم الناس قد مرجت عهودهم، وخفت أماناتهم، وكانوا هكذا وشبك بين أصابعه، قال: فقمت إليه فقلت: كيف أفعل عند ذلك، جعلني الله فداك؟ قال: الزم بيتك، واملك عليك لسانك، وخذ بما تعرف، ودع ما تنكر، وعليك بأمر خاصة نفسك، ودع عنك أمر العامة.
Abu Dawud (4343) narrated it from Harun bin Abdullah, who said, Fadl bin Dukayn narrated to us, who said, Yunus bin Abu Ishaq narrated to us, from Hilal bin Khabab Abu Ala, who said, Ikrima narrated to me, who said, Abdullah bin Amr narrated to me, and he mentioned it. Imam Ahmad (1987) also narrated it from Abu Naeem (who is Fadl bin Dukayn) through the same chain, with the same wording.Its chain is hasan because of Hilal bin Khabab, concerning whom there is disagreement, though his hadith is hasan. It has also been corroborated. Abu Dawud (4342), Ibn Majah (3957), and Imam Ahmad (7063) all narrated it through the route of Abu Hazim, from Amara bin Hazm, from Abdullah bin Amr, mentioning the same thing.Hakim (2/159) graded it sahih after narrating it through the route of Amara bin Hazm, saying, "Sahih according to the criterion of the two Shaykhs, though they did not record it with this wording." I say, it is not according to the criterion of either of them, for Amara bin Amr bin Hazm is not among the narrators of the Sahih collections, though he is trustworthy.Bukhari mentioned it in the Book of Prayer as a suspended narration (480), saying, Asim bin Ali said, Asim bin Muhammad narrated to us, who said, I heard this hadith from my father but did not memorize it well, so Waqid corrected it for me, from his father, who said, I heard my father saying, Abdullah said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "O Abdullah bin Amr, how will it be with you when you remain among the dregs of the people, with such..." Ibn Hajar connected this chain in Taghliq(2/245).Ahmad (6508) narrated it from Ismail, from Yunus, from Hasan Basri, that Abdullah bin Amr said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, "How will you be when you remain among the dregs of the people?" I said, "O Messenger of Allah, how is that?" He said, "When their covenants and trusts become confused, and they become like this" and Yunus interlaced his fingers to illustrate that. I said, "What should I do at that point, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "Fear Allah , take what you recognize, leave what you do not recognize, hold to your own close circle, and beware of their common masses."However, Hasan Basri did not hear from Abdullah bin Amr bin As, according to the correct view.His saying, "the dregs of the people," means their lowest and most worthless sort. Al-huthala refers to the inferior part of anything, as in the husks and refuse of barley, rice, dates, and everything that has a shell or covering. From Nihaya.