It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) - and I consider it to be attributed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) himself - that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah Almighty will send for this Ummah, at the end of every hundred years, a person who will renew its religion for it."

I heard Ustadh Abu al-Walid (may Allah have mercy on him) saying: I was present in the gathering of Abu al-Abbas bin Surayj when an elderly man stood up to praise him. I heard him saying: Abu al-Tahir al-Khawlani narrated to us that Ibn Wahb informed (us), from Sa'id bin Abi Ayyub, from Shurahbil bin Yazid, from Abu Alqamah, from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah Almighty will send, at the head of every hundred years, a person who will renew its religion for this Ummah." Then the elderly man said: O Qadi, rejoice at the glad tidings, for Allah Almighty sent Umar bin Abd al-Aziz at the end of the first century, and Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafi'i at the end of the second century, and at the end of the third century there is you (Abu al-Abbas bin Surayj). Then he recited these verses: "Two have passed away in whom blessing was placed: one the Caliph Umar (bin Abd al-Aziz), and the other the embodiment of nobility, the most brilliant and sagacious Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafi'i, the bearer of the inheritance of prophethood and the cousin of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). O Abu al-Abbas, rejoice, for you are the third after them; may Allah water the soil of the grave of Ahmad (that is, you)." The narrator says: Hearing this, Qadi Abu al-Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) began to weep bitterly and said: This elderly man has announced to me my own death. Some of my companions told me that they were present in the gathering of Shaykh Imam Abu al-Tayyib Sahl bin Muhammad bin Sulayman, where this story was mentioned; in my absence they related this incident before him. The jurist Abu Amr al-Bistami was also present in that gathering, and he extemporised these verses: "And the fourth, the renowned (renewer), is Sahl bin Muhammad, who has become an Imam in the eyes of every believer in Tawhid. All the Muslims turn to him for knowledge when they are troubled by some grave matter. May he always remain among us the Shaykh of creation and the best renewer of the chosen school." Then I asked the jurist Abu Amr about these verses in my own gathering, and he recited them to me.

It is narrated from a female servant of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) - or to one of the honoured wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) - while I was present there, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When evil becomes manifest (in society) and people do not forbid it, Allah sends down His punishment upon them." Someone said: O Prophet of Allah, (will the punishment come) even if there are righteous people among them? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes, the same affliction that befalls the others will befall them too; then they will return to the forgiveness and mercy of Allah" - or he said: "to the mercy and forgiveness of Allah."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that whenever the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the Hour, his (peace and blessings be upon him) blessed cheeks would turn red, his anger would intensify and his voice would rise, as though he (peace and blessings be upon him) were warning of an army, saying that it "will attack you in the morning, or will attack you in the evening." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it.

It is narrated from Abd al-Rahman bin Ghanm al-Ash'ari; he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) asked me: How do you find the people? I said: They are well; their call is one, their Imam is one, their enemy is wretched, and their stipends and provisions flow in abundance. He said: (That is how it is now,) but what will their state be when their hearts are filled with hatred against one another, their tongues curse one another, their enmity becomes openly manifest, their mutual relations are corrupted, and they begin striking one another's necks?! This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "My Ummah will not perish until tamayuz (factionalism), tamayul (aggression) and ma'ami' (warfare and strife) appear among them." I said: O Messenger of Allah, what is tamayuz? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is the partisanship ('asabiyyah) that people will introduce into Islam after me." I said: What is tamayul? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is one tribe attacking another tribe and regarding its sanctity as lawful." I said: What is ma'ami'? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is the great cities sending armies against one another, with their necks facing one another in war." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

It is narrated from Kharijah bin al-Salt al-Burjumi: I entered the mosque with Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), and the people were in the state of bowing (ruku'). So he (Abdullah) also bowed. Meanwhile a man passed by and greeted him, and Abdullah said: "Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth." Then he reached the row. When he had finished (the prayer), I asked him about his saying "Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth," and he said: It used to be said (on behalf of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)): "The Hour will not be established until the mosques are taken as roads (thoroughfares), until a man greets only those he knows, until a woman engages in trade together with her husband, and until horses and women become expensive and then (so) cheap that they will not become expensive again until the Day of Resurrection." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: When the Battle of the Camel took place, I intended to go to them and fight alongside them, until I remembered a hadith that I had heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): (namely that) when the news reached him (peace and blessings be upon him) that Kisra - or one of the kings of the non-Arabs - had died and they had made a woman their ruler, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A people whose reins (of rule) are in the hands of a woman will never succeed." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: I was sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when he (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the tribulation (fitnah), or the tribulation was mentioned in his presence, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When you see that people's covenants have become corrupted, that regard for their trusts has vanished, and that they have become like this (intermingled)," and he (peace and blessings be upon him) interlaced his fingers to show it. (Abdullah says:) I rose and went to him (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, may Allah make me your ransom, what should I do at that time (to protect myself)? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Keep control of your tongue, stay firmly in your house, adopt what you know to be right (according to the Shari'ah) and leave what you find to be wrong (objectionable), concern yourself only with reforming your own self, and leave aside the affairs of the common people." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

It is narrated from Muslim bin Abi Hurrah that he said: When (Sayyiduna) Ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) was besieged and the people of Syria had posted guards at the gates of the Mosque, he heard two of his freed slaves behind him saying something. He turned towards them and said: "No one has searched through the books as much as I have. I have read the books and heard the hadiths, and I found everything to be false except what is in the Book of Allah." The narrator says: Then he went out and kissed the Black Stone, then he went in to his mother, Sayyidah Asma' (may Allah be pleased with her), and kissed her on the forehead. She asked: What is this noise that I hear? She was told that it was the people of Syria (their army). She asked: Are they all Muslims? It was said: Yes, that is what they claim. She said: I have seen Islam (at a time) when, if they had all gathered over a single goat, they would not have been able to eat it (in such a crowd). Then she said: "O my son! Die with honour, but never surrender." Sayyiduna Abdullah asked: Where are the people of Egypt? He was told that they were at the gate of Banu Jumah, and that was the gate where the fighting was fiercest. He charged at them and they fell back as far as the market. The narrator says: Khubayb was striking them with his sword from behind and saying: "Charge!", and no one would come forward to face him. Then he charged again and they fell back. When they saw this, they sent forward a black man so that he could strike him by deception. That man entered between the curtains of the Ka'bah. When Sayyiduna Abdullah came near him, he came out, and he (Ibn al-Zubayr) struck him such a blow that it cut off both his legs. The man kept trying to raise himself with support, then he fell. He paid no attention to him, until a stone came and struck him near his ear, so that he fell, and the people martyred him. This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.