English Translation

Abu Kamil told us, Zuhayr told us, al-Aswad ibn Qays told us, Tha'labah ibn Abbad al-Abdi, of the people of Basra, told us, who said: I witnessed a sermon of Samurah ibn Jundub one day, in which he mentioned a hadith from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. He said: While I and a young man from the Ansar were shooting arrows at two targets of ours in the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, the sun, when it was the height of two or three spear-lengths in the eye of the observer, turned black until it became like a tanumah plant (dark shrub). One of us said to his companion, 'Let us go to the mosque, for by Allah this matter of the sun will surely bring about some event concerning the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, in his community.' We hurried to the mosque, and there he was, out in the open. We arrived just as the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came out to the people. He stepped forward and led us in a prayer longer than any he had ever led us in, in which we could not hear his voice, then he bowed for longer than he had ever bowed with us in a prayer, in which we could not hear his voice, then he did the same in the second rak'ah. His sitting in the second rak'ah coincided with the clearing of the sun — Zuhayr said: I think he said — then he gave the salam, praised Allah and extolled Him, and testified that he was the servant and messenger of Allah. Then he said: 'O people, I adjure you by Allah, if you know that I have fallen short in conveying any of the messages of my Lord, Mighty and Majestic, do not tell me that; but I have conveyed the messages of my Lord as they ought to be conveyed. And if you know that I have conveyed the messages of my Lord, then tell me that.' Some men stood and said, 'We testify that you have conveyed the messages of your Lord, given sincere counsel to your community, and fulfilled what was upon you.' Then they fell silent. Then he said: 'To proceed: some men claim that the eclipse of this sun, the eclipse of this moon, and the shifting of these stars from their positions are because of the death of great men of the earth, but they have lied. Rather, they are signs among the signs of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, by which He makes His servants take heed, so that He may see who among them will renew repentance. By Allah, since I have stood praying I have seen what you will encounter in the affairs of your world and your Hereafter. And by Allah, the Hour will not come until thirty liars appear, the last of them being the one-eyed Dajjal, blind in the left eye as though it were the eye of Abu Yahya' — referring to an elder of the Ansar at that time, whose dwelling was between him and the chamber of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her — 'and whenever he appears — or he said, whenever he does appear — he will claim to be Allah. Whoever believes in him, affirms him, and follows him, none of his prior good deeds will benefit him; and whoever disbelieves in him and denies him will not be punished for any of his (prior) deeds' — and Hasan al-Ashyab said: 'for any of his evil deeds that have passed' — 'and he will appear — or he said, will come to appear — over the whole earth except the Sacred Precinct and Jerusalem, and he will besiege the believers in Jerusalem, and they will be shaken with a violent shaking; then Allah, Blessed and Exalted, will destroy him and his armies, until even the base of the wall' — or he said, the root of the wall, and Hasan al-Ashyab said, and the root of the tree — 'will call out — or he said, will say — "O believer" — or he said, "O Muslim" — "this is a Jew" — or he said, "this is a disbeliever" — "come and kill him." And that will not happen until you see matters whose gravity increases within yourselves, and you ask one another, "Did your Prophet mention any of this to you?" and until mountains move from their places; then, following that, the (mass) seizing (of souls will occur).' He said: Then I witnessed another sermon of Samurah's in which he mentioned this hadith, and he did not put forward a single word nor delay it from its place.