Sahih Ashrat al-Saa
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- al-Dār al-‘Uthmānīyah
Sahih Ashrat al-Saa (The Authentic Portents of the Hour) is a hadith compendium on Islamic eschatology compiled by the scholar Issam Musa Hadi . The work gathers prophetic traditions concerning the signs and portents of the Day of Judgment that meet rigorous standards of authenticity, drawing extensively on the hadith authentications of Hadi's teacher, Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani .
Background and Purpose
In his introduction, Hadi explains that contemporary tribulations and crises facing Muslims led to widespread discussions about the end of time, which in turn caused unscrupulous individuals to fabricate ungrounded hadiths . Furthermore, many turned to classical compilations containing mixed material, most notably Kitab al-Fitan by Nu'aym ibn Hammad, which Hadi characterizes as being filled with repudiated (munkar) reports, fabrications, and spurious narrations in both chain (sanad) and text (matn) . In response, Hadi composed the book to present exclusively authenticated traditions regarding the portents of the Hour, simplified for general readers without cumbersome discussions of chain criticism (takhrij) .
Structure and Classification
Hadi divides the portents into three distinct categories, noting in a footnote that this tripartite division is a conventional scholarly classification rather than a division directly stated by the Prophet ﷺ :
- Minor Portents (al-ashrat al-sughra): Signs foretold by the Prophet ﷺ that have already occurred and concluded . These include the prophetic mission and death of Muhammad ﷺ, the conquest of Jerusalem, the spread of early civil strife following the death of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the assassination of Uthman ibn Affan, the Battle of the Camel, the Battle of Siffin, and the emergence of the Kharijites and false claimants to prophethood .
- Intermediate Portents (al-ashrat al-wusta): Signs that have appeared and continue to intensify over the course of time .
- Major Portents (al-ashrat al-kubra): The monumental apocalyptic events preceding the Hour, such as the emergence of the Mahdi and the Dajjal (Antichrist) .
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