Azami 707

Abu Dawud narrated it (4324), and Ibn Hibban graded it sahih (6821), as did Hakim (595/2), all of them through the route of Hammam bin Yahya, from Qatada, from Abdul-Rahman bin Adam, from Abu Hurairah, and he related the hadith, and the wording given is that of Abu Dawud. Imam Ahmad also narrated it (9270) through this same route, and all of these narrators except Hakim mentioned at the beginning of the hadith, "The prophets are all brothers through their fathers, their mothers are different, but their religion is one, and I am the closest of people to Isa bin Maryam." Then he related the rest of the hadith in the same way. Hakim added at the end of the hadith, "Security will settle over the people of the earth, until lions graze together with camels, leopards with cattle, and wolves with sheep, and children will play with snakes without being harmed, and he will remain on earth forty years, then he will die and the Muslims will pray over him." And Hakim said, "Its isnad is sahih." Hafiz also graded it sahih in Fath al-Bari (493/6).I say, the apparent isnad seems sound, but it contains Qatada, who was a mudallis and narrated using the ambiguous "an" formula, and he did not actually hear from Abdul-Rahman bin Adam. Ibn Main was asked about Qatada narrating from Abdul-Rahman bin Adam, the freed slave of Umm Burthun (with the ba carrying damma, the ra carrying sukoon, followed by a tha carrying damma, then a nun), and he said, "He did not hear from him."See Maraseel by Ibn Abu Hatim (633), Jami Tahsil by Alai (633), and Tuhfat Tahsil by Iraqi (p. 264). Perhaps whoever graded this hadith sahih overlooked this hidden defect.However, the hadith has also been narrated through another route. Imam Ahmad narrated it (10261) from Siraj, who said, Fulayh narrated to us, from Harith bin Fudayl Ansari, from Ziyad bin Saad, from Abu Hurairah, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Ibn Maryam will descend as a just leader and a fair judge, he will break the cross, kill the pig, peace will return, swords will be turned into sickles, the venom of every venomous creature will be removed, the sky will send down its provision, and the earth will bring forth its blessing, until a child plays with a snake without being harmed, a wolf tends sheep without harming them, and a lion tends cattle without harming them."The isnad contains someone who was not deemed trustworthy. Fulayh is Ibn Sulayman Khuzai, Abu Yahya Madani, and he is disputed. Ibn Main, Abu Hatim, Nasai, and others graded him daif, while others considered him acceptable. That is why Hafiz said of him, "Truthful but frequently mistaken."I say, he is acceptable in corroborating narrations, and this isnad and the one before it strengthen one another.As for his saying, "swords will be turned into sickles," this means that people will abandon jihad and busy themselves with plowing and farming.As for his word "hamah," pronounced with damma on the ha, it means poison, and this is illustrated by his statement, "until a child plays with a snake without being harmed."It has also been narrated from Abu Hurairah that he said, "The Hour will not come until Isa bin Maryam descends as a fair leader... (illegible) ...and kills the pig, breaks the cross, jizya is abolished, the sajdah becomes exclusively for the Lord of the worlds, war lays down its burdens, the earth is filled with Islam as wells are filled with water, and the earth becomes like a round piece of silver, meaning a table spread, enmity and hostility are lifted, the wolf will be among the sheep as if it were their sheepdog, and the lion will be among the camels as if it were their herder." Abdul-Razzaq narrated it (20844) from Mamar, from Zayd bin Aslam, from a man, from Abu Hurairah, and he related it. It contains an unnamed man, and it is also only traced back to Abu Hurairah himself, not to the Prophet.Abdul-Malik bin Habib Andalusi narrated it in Ashrat Sa'ah (35) from Mutarrif bin Malik, from Zayd bin Aslam, with a similar isnad, with some additional passages, including his saying, "Enmity, hostility, hatred, and envy will be lifted, until a man steps on the head of a snake without being harmed." And among them his saying, "The earth will be as it was in the time of Adam ." And among them his saying, "A horse will sell for twenty dirhams, so that a man will not accept any wealth at all from another."