حَدَّثَنَا عَبَّاسُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الدُّورِيُّ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عُمَرَ الْعُمَرِيُّ، عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ سَعِيدٍ الْأَنْصَارِيِّ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: لَا تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يَتَقَارَبَ الزَّمَانُ، فَتَكُونُ السَّنَةُ كَالشَّهْرِ، وَالشَّهْرُ كَالْجُمُعَةِ، وَتَكُونُ الْجُمُعَةُ كَالْيَوْمِ، وَيَكُونُ الْيَوْمُ كَالسَّاعَةِ، وَتَكُونُ السَّاعَةُ كَالضَّرَمَةِ بِالنَّارِ

قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى: هَذَا حَدِيثٌ غَرِيبٌ مِنْ هَذَا الْوَجْهِ، وَسَعْدُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ هُوَ: أَخُو يَحْيَى بْنِ سَعِيدٍ الْأَنْصَارِيِّ

Book [36]: Chapters on zuhd [Asceticism]
Chapter [24]: What has been related about the constriction of time and the curtailment of hope

Ḥadīth [2332]: It is narrated on the authority of Anas bin Mālik (may Allāh be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: “The hour shall not be established until time is constricted, and the year is like a month, a month is like the week, and the week is like the day, and the day is like the hour, and the hour is like the flare of the fire.”

[Abū ‘Īsā said:] This ḥadīth is gharīb from this route. Sa’d bin Sa’īd (a narrator in the chain) is the brother of Yaḥyā bin Sa’īd al-Anṣārī.

Various interpretations have been given to the expression “constriction of time”. They are as follows:

a) Those will be the joyful days of merry-making and prosperity. Hence the time shall pass unnoticed.
b) The world shall be devoid of heavenly bliss. As such time shall pass without anybody noticing it.
c) Governments shall come and go in quick succession, and it would seem as if they lasted but a few days.
d) People will be battling with calamities, disturbances and dissensions so that they shall lose the sense of the passage of time.

The core of the matter in fact is that the age will bereft of heavenly bliss. As such the time shall pass at an awfully quick pace. The year, the month, and the week shall pass without anyone knowing how they flew away.

• Reference: [2332 (4/364-365), Sunan at-Tirmidhī, Dārussalām (Eng)]

• Musnad Aḥmad (10943 (16/550)) [Shu’ayb al-Arna’ūṭ] – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Musnad Aḥmad (10885 (9/611)) [Aḥmad Shākir] – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Musnad al-Bazzār (6216 (12/338))
• Musnad Abī Ya’lā (6680 (1/1800)) – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (6842 (15/256-257)) – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Mawārid aẓ-Ẓamān (1887 (6/140-141)) – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Al-Mu’jam al-‘Awsaṭ (8904 (8/370-371))
• Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār (2986 (7/436)) – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Ḥilyatul Awliyā’ (9/59) – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Kanzul ‘Ummāl (38395 (14/202-203))
• Kanzul ‘Ummāl (38503-38504 (14/227-228)) – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Majma’ al-Zawā’id (12511 (15/457)) – on the authority of Abī Hurayrah
• Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ (5448)
• Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmi’ (7422 (2/1237)) – on the authority of Anas bin Mālik & Abī Hurayrah

Grade:

• Ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh al-Albānī (Sunan at-Tirmidhī & Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmi’)
• Ṣaḥīḥ by Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr ʿAlī Za’ī (Sunan at-Tirmidhī & Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ)
• Ṣaḥīḥ isnād by Shaykh Aḥmad Shākir (Musnad Aḥmad)
• Ṣaḥīḥ isnād by Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna’ūṭ (Musnad Aḥmad, Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān and Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār)
• Gharīb by Imām at-Tirmidhī