A query about a hadith which mentions several signs of the approach of the Hour
Question

How authentic is the following hadith? The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There will come a time for my ummah when humility will disappear. There will come a time when sudden death becomes widespread. There will come a time when there will be many earthquakes. There will come a time when the Muslim will only greet those whom he knows. There will come a time when there will be a great deal of killing. And there will come a time when everyone will boast of his sins.” It was said: When will that be, O Messenger of Allah? He said: “That will happen at the end of time, so when it happens, expect the onset of the Hour.”
Praise be to Allah.We could not find any hadith which referred to all of that with this exact wording.
But with regard to what is mentioned in it, there are numerous narrations of various hadiths.
Firstly:
With regard to the disappearance of humility
This is what was narrated by Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from `Awf ibn Malik, that he said: Whilst we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah one day, he looked at the sky, then he said: “This is the time when knowledge will be taken up and will disappear.”
An Ansari man who was called Ziyad ibn Labid said: Will knowledge be taken up, O Messenger of Allah, when the Book of Allah is among us and we have taught it to our children and womenfolk?
The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “I always thought that you were one of the most knowledgeable of the people of Madinah.” Then he mentioned how the People of the Book had gone astray despite what they had of the Book of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.
Jubayr ibn Nufayr met Shaddad ibn Aws in the prayer place and told him about this hadith from `Awf ibn Malik, and he said: `Awf spoke the truth. Then he said: Do you know what it means for knowledge to be taken up?
He said: I said: I do not know. He said: It means the loss of its vessels [that is, the scholars]. He said: Do you know what type of knowledge will be taken up first? He said: I said: I do not know. He said: Humility, to the extent that you will hardly ever see anyone who is humble.
(Narrated by Imam Ahmad in al-Musnad, 39/417-418, and al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak, 1/98-99. Al-Hakim classed it as authentic and adh-Dhahabi agreed with him)
Secondly: With regard to the appearance of sudden death
This was narrated by at-Tabarani in al-Mu`jam as-Saghir, 1132 and al-Mu`jam al-Awsat, 9/147. He said: al-Haytham ibn Khalid al-Missisi told us, ‘Abd al-Kabir ibn al-Mu`afa ibn `Imran told us, Sharik told us, on the authority of al-`Abbas ibn Dhurayh, on the authority of ash-Sha`bi, from Anas ibn Malik, who attributed it to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), who said: “When the Hour is nigh, the new moon will be seen easily as soon as it appears, so it will be said that it is two nights old. Mosques will be treated as thoroughfares and sudden death will become widespread.”
Al-Haytham ibn Khalid al-Missisi is unreliable.
Adh-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
al-Haytham ibn Khalid al-Missisi, on the authority of ‘Abd al-Karim ibn al-Mu`afa. Ad-Daraqutni said: He is unreliable. (End quote from al-Mughni fi’d-Du`afa’, 2/716).
Yusuf ibn Sa`id ibn Muslim followed him in that, as ad-Diya’ al-Maqdisi stated in al-Mukhtarah, 2325, when he said:
Shihab ibn Mahmud al-Hatimi told us in Herat that `Abd as-Salam ibn Ahmad ibn Isma`il informed them: Muhammad ibn Abi Mas`ud al-Farisi informed us: `Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Shurayh stated that it was said to him: Yahya ibn Muhammad ibn Sa`id told us, Yusuf ibn Sa`id ibn Muslim told us, ‘Abd al-Kabir ibn al-Mu`afa told us, Sharik told us, on the authority of al-`Abbas ibn Dhurayh, on the authority of ash-Sha`bi, on the authority of Anas, that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “When the Hour is nigh, the new moon will be seen when it is one night old, but it will be said that it is two nights old. Sudden death will become widespread, and mosques will be taken as thoroughfares.”
But this isnad centres around Sharik, and Sharik is not a reliable narrator when he is the only narrator and there are no corroborating reports. Ibn al-Ja`d narrated this report from him with a mursal isnad. al-Baghawi narrated in Musnad Ibn al-Ja`d, 2489: `Ali told us, Sharik told us, on the authority of al-`Abbas ibn Dhurayh, on the authority of `Amir – ash-Sha`bi – attributing it to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he said: “When the Hour is nigh, the new moon will be seen easily as soon as it appears, so it will be said that it is two nights old. A man will pass through the mosque without praying two rak`ahs in it, and sudden death [will become widespread].”
Hammad ibn Salamah narrated a mursal report which was similar to that of Sharik on the authority of `Asim ibn Bahdalah, as ad-Dani narrated in as-Sunan al-Waridah fi’l-Fitan, 4/789.
Ad-Dani said: `Ali ibn Muhammad ibn `Abdillah told us, `Abdullah ibn Masrur told us, `Abdullah ibn Sahl al-Andalusi told us, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Yahya, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Hammad ibn Salamah, on the authority of `Asim ibn Bahdalah, on the authority of ash-Sha`bi, that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “One of the portents of the Hour will be sudden death.”
He also narrated it via another isnad.
Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
This isnad is mursal (meaning that the name of the Sahabi is omitted) and sound. Muhammad ibn Yahya is Ibn Sa`id ibn Farrukh al-Qattan, who is trustworthy.
Regarding his father, he was a trustworthy, leading scholar of hadith, and the narrators after them are well known. (End quote from as-Silsilah as-Sahihah, 5/370).
It says in `Ilal ad-Daraqutni, 12/163:
He was asked about the hadith of `Amir ash-Sha`bi, on the authority of Anas, according to which the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “When the Hour is nigh, the new moon will be seen easily as soon as it appears, so it will be said that it is two nights old. Mosques will be taken as thoroughfares, and sudden death will become widespread.”
He said: It was narrated by `Abd al-Kabir ibn al-Mu`afa, on the authority of Sharik, on the authority of al-`Abbas ibn Dhurayh, on the authority of ash-Sha`bi, on the authority of Anas, on the authority of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
Others narrated it on the authority of ash-Sha`bi, as a mursal report (meaning that the name of the Sahabi is omitted from the isnad). End quote.
It was narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf, 7/199, from ash-Sha`bi, but without attributing it to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
Ibn Abi Shaybah said: `Abd ar-Rahim ibn Sulayman told us, on the authority of Mujalid, on the authority of ash-Sha`bi, who said: It was said that when the Hour draws nigh, sudden death [will become widespread].
But its isnad includes Mujalid, who is somewhat unreliable.
Adh-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Mujalid ibn Sa`id al-Hamdani al-Akhbari, on the authority of ash-Sha`bi and Qays ibn Abi Hazim, and his son Isma`il, narrated on the authority of him, Shu`bah and al-Qattan. Ibn Ma`in classed him as unreliable. An-Nasa’i said: He is not reliable, and on one occasion he said: He is trustworthy. (End quote from al-Kashif, 2/239)
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Mujalid ibn Sa`id ibn `Umayr al-Hamdani, Abu `Amr al-Kufi, is not reliable. He changed at the end of his life. (End quote from Taqrib al-Tahdhib, p. 520).
It was narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf, 7/200, from Mujahid.
He said: Muhammad ibn Bishr told us: I heard Mujahid ibn Abi Rashid say: Mujahid said: One of the portents of the Hour will be sudden death.
Its isnad includes Mujahid ibn Abi Rashid.
Yahya ibn Ma`in classed him as trustworthy in Riwayat Ibn Tahman, p. 82.
In Tarikh Ibn Ma`in – Riwayat ad-Duri, 3/494, it says:
Al-`Abbas told us, `Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah told me, Muhammad ibn Bishr al-`Abdi told me, on the authority of Mujahid ibn Rumi, on the authority of Mujahid, who said: The Hour will not begin until there is a great deal of tiraz. It was said: What is tiraz? He said: Sudden death.
I narrated it to Yahya ibn Ma`in and told him that `Uthman had narrated it to me, and Yahya said: No, by Allah! Muhammad ibn Bishr did not hear anything at all from Mujahid ibn Rumi. This is a man from whom Sufyan and others like him narrated, but perhaps Ibn Bishr narrated it to them as a mursal report (meaning that the name of the Sahabi is omitted from the isnad). (End quote).
To sum up, this report does not have a unbroken chain of narration going all the way back to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), but its meaning is applicable to the situation at the end of time, when there will be many sins and punishments. Perhaps what we see happening nowadays, when there is a great deal of sudden death due to traffic accidents and the like comes under this heading.
Thirdly:
With regard to there being many earthquakes and a great deal of killing, it is soundly narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The Hour will not begin until knowledge is taken away, earthquakes increase, time passes quickly, tribulations appear, and there is a lot of haraj – which is killing, killing – and until there will be a lot of wealth among you and it will become abundant.” (Narrated by al-Bukhari, 1036, and Muslim, 157)
Fourthly:
With regard to the Muslim only greeting those whom he knows
It was narrated from `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that ahead of the Hour, people will only greet those whom they know and trade will become widespread, to the extent that a woman will help her husband in trade. There will be severing of ties of kinship, false testimony and concealment of true testimony, and literacy will become prevalent. (Narrated by Imam Ahmad in al-Musnad, 6/415-416. The commentators on al-Musnad classed it as sound)
Fifthly:
With regard to boasting of sins, we have not come across any hadith which mentions that. But it was narrated that `Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ghanm al-Ash`ari said: Abu `Amir or Abu Malik al-Ash`ari told me, and by Allah he did not lie to me, that he heard the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: “There will surely be people among my ummah who will regard as permissible fornication, silk, alcohol and musical instruments. Some of them will surely stay near the side of a mountain, with their sheep grazing nearby, and a poor man will come and ask them for help, but they will say: Come back to us tomorrow. Then during the night Allah will destroy them and cause the mountain to fall on them, and he will transform others into monkeys and pigs [and they will remain like that] until the Day of Resurrection.” (Narrated by al-Bukhari, 5590).
What appears to be the case is that such boasting usually does not happen except when people regard the action as permissible and think that it is something good.
And Allah knows best.