al-Nihaya fi al-Fitan wa al-Malahim

al-Nihaya fi al-Fitan wa al-Malahim (The End: On Tribulations and Epic Battles) is an eschatological work by the Damascene historian and Shafi'i scholar Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE) detailing the portents of the Hour, apocalyptic tribulations, and the Day of Resurrection al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1.

Context and Purpose

The work was composed as the concluding section (al-Nihaya) of Ibn Kathir's universal history, al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya (The Beginning and the End) al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1. In his introduction, Ibn Kathir explains that while the preceding volumes addressed past unseen affairs from the origin of creation, the stories of the prophets, the biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and subsequent historical chronicles year by year up to his own era, this final section is devoted to future events foretold by the Prophet ﷺ al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya. These encompass trials (fitan), apocalyptic warfare (malahim), and the great portents preceding the Day of Judgment, which he identifies as obligatory matters of belief based on prophetic revelation al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1.

Contents and Structure

The book traces the sequence of eschatological events from the tribulations of the final era to the eternal abode al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya:

• Tribulations and Impostors: Narrative accounts of civil strife and warnings of false claimants to prophethood (dajjalun) who emerge ahead of the Hour as precursors to the Antichrist al-Nihaya fi al-Fitan wa …+1.
• The Mahdi and the Great Battles: The appearance of the righteous leader, the Mahdi, who will fill the earth with justice—distinct from the hidden figure claimed by the Rafida in the cellar of Samarra—alongside the apocalyptic Roman conflict (al-malhama al-rumiyya) and the conquest of Constantinople al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1.
• Major Portents of the Hour: The emergence of the False Messiah (al-Masih al-Dajjal), the descent of Jesus (Isa ibn Maryam) to kill him, the release of Gog and Magog (Yajuj and Majuj), the Beast of the Earth, the rising of the sun from the west, and the fire that drives people to the place of assembly Qissat al-Masih al-Dajjal+1.
• The Afterlife and Eschatological Realities: The two soundings of the Trumpet (the blast of destruction and the blast of resurrection), the gathering (hashr), the reckoning (hisab), the balances (mizan), the distribution of records, the Bridge (sirat), and extensive descriptions of the eternal reward in Paradise and punishment in Hellfire al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya.

Method

In this concluding portion of his chronicle, Ibn Kathir's method is heavily steered by hadith criticism al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya. He marshals traditions from major compendia such as the Sahihayn of al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Sunan, and the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, frequently assessing the chains of transmission (asānīd) and noting weak or isolated narrations al-Nihaya fi al-Fitan wa …+1.

Ibn Kathir couples hadith texts with relevant Quranic verses to elucidate eschatological themes al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1. He explicitly refutes attempts by commentators or chronologists to calculate a specific calendar date or fixed lifespan for the world, maintaining that no sound hadith fixes the exact time of the Hour and that specific millennial estimates stem from erroneous Biblical/Israelite reports al-Difa an Allah wa Rasul….

Reception and Editions

al-Nihaya became one of the most widely circulated references on Islamic eschatology al-Qanaa fi ma yahsun al-…+1. Beyond its placement as the closing volumes of al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya—which was first published in Cairo at Matba'at al-Sa'ada under the patronage of King Abdulaziz and later edited across twenty-one volumes by Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Turki at Dar Hajar, occupying volumes 19 and 20—the text has also been printed independently under various editions bearing the title al-Nihaya fi al-Fitan wa al-Malahim Manhajiyyat al-Talif fi a…+1.