Question:
Salam alaykum:
I once read about a hadith which says that one day Allah will withdraw 1/3 of the water the first year, then 2/3 the second year and 3/3 the third year. I can’t remember where I read this hadith nor which one it is. I can’t remember if it says in the last day. I was wondering if there are any information that specify if this will happen before the coming of Hazrat Isa or after. Shukran and May Allah bless you and your family.
May Allah Most High bless you and yours here and hereafter.
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam,
Ibn Majah narrates it toward the end of a very long hadith in the book of Fitan (end of time strifes) in his Sunan with a weak chain:
“There will be three hard years before the Dajjal appears. During them, people will be stricken by a great famine. In the first year, Allah will command the sky to withhold a third of its rain, and the earth to withhold a third a third of its produce. In the second year, Allah will command the sky to withhold two thirds of its rain, and the earth to withhold two thirds of its produce. In the third year, Allah will command the sky to withhold all of its rain, and it will not rain a single drop of rain. He will command the earth to withhold all of its produce, and no plant will grow. All hoofed animals will perish, except that which Allah wills.” He (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) was asked, “What sustains people during that time?” He said, “Tahlil, takbir and tahmid (Saying, la ilaha ill Allah, Allahu Akbar and al-hamdulillah). This will sustain them just as food does.”
It is confirmed by a slightly weak-chained similar report in short form in `Abd al-Razzaq’s Musannaf (11:391 no. 20821)
It is further supported by the hadith from Asma’ bint Yazid (Allah be well-pleased with her) saying she heard the Messenger of Allah (upon him blessings and peace) say:
“I warn you of the false Messiah [the Dajjal] and every Prophet warned his people of him, and he is among you O my Community! And I shall describe something of him for you which they did not mention before to their own communities: There shall be before he comes out five years of drought in which every hooved animal will perish.” A man called out: “Messenger of Allah! How will the believers survive?” He replied: “With that by which the angels survive! Then he will come out, and he is one-eyed – and Allah is never one-eyed! – with ‘KAFIR’ inscribed on his forehead, which every believer will be able to read, whether literate or illiterate! Most of his followers will be the Yahud, women, and bedouins (al-a`raab). They will see the sky rain but in reality it will not be raining; they will see the earth sprout but in reality it will not be sprouting. He will say to the bedouins: ‘What more would you like me to give you? Did I not send down the sky’s rains on you in torrents, and revive your livestock so their udders burst with milk?’ Devils will be sent with him in the image of people who passed away – parents, brethren, acquaintances – and who will go up to their parents or brothers or relatives and say: ‘Are you not So and so? Do you not recognize me? He is your Lord so follow him!’ He will live 40 years, the first year like a month, the month like a week, the week like one day, the day like an hour, and the hour like the woodworm’s scorching in the fire. He will appear everywhere except in the Two Mosques.” Then the Messenger of Allah (upon him blessings and peace) got up to make ablution and he heard the weeping of the people and their sobbing so he returned to them and said: “Receive the glad tidings! For if he comes out while I am still with you then Allah Most High and His Messenger are enough [protection] for you; and if he comes out after me then Allah is my Khalifa over every Muslim!”
Narrated by al-Tabarani in his Mu`jam al-Kabir (24:169 no. 430). Al-Haythami in Majma` al-Zawa’id said: “Its chain contains Shahr b. Hawshab and it is highly unlikely that his narration would supersede the sound (sahih) hadiths that he [the Dajjal] would linger in the earth forty days rather than forty years as in this report; the rest of the narrators are trustworthy.”
It is supported by the following report from Ka`b:
“A bedouin came asking about Abu al-Darda’ (Allah be well-pleased with him) and finally sat at a gathering where the latter was present among others. He said: ‘Which one of you is Abu al-Darda’?’ They pointed to him. He asked: ‘When will the Dajjal come out?’ Abu al-Darda’ said: ‘O Allah, Your forgiveneness! Leave us alone.’ But he kept asking the same question. When he realized how much Abu al-Darda’ disliked this questioning he said: ‘I swear by Allah that I did not come, Abu al-Darda’, to ask you from your property; but I came to ask you about your knowledge.’ Ka`b tapped him [either the Bedouin or Abu al-Darda’] on the shoulder. Abu al-Darda’ then said: ‘You who is asking about the Dajjal! When you notice the sky stays dry and no rain comes down, and the earth is in a drought and does not sprout anything, and the rivers and springs return to their sources, and all vegetation turns yellow: expect the Dajjal by morning or by evening.'”
Narrated by Nu`aym b. Hammad in his Fitan (2:528 no. 1487) with a weak chain because of the probable tadlis of Baqiyya b. Makhlad; otherwise the chain would have met the criteria of the Sunan and Allah knows best.
May Allah Most High protect us from the fitna of the Dajjal and the fitna of living and dying. May Allah make the best day in our lives the day we meet Him!
Was-Salam,
Hajj GF Haddad
