The fitan of al-Ahlas, as-Sarra' and ad-Duhayma'
Abu Dawud narrated from Ibn 'Umar [radhiyallahu 'anhuma] that he said: "We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah [sallallahu 'alayhi wa-sallam], and he mentioned the fitan, going into much detail in mentioning them, until he mentioned the fitnah of al-Ahlas. So a person said: "O Messenger of Allah, and what is the fitnah of al-Ahlas?" He said:
"It is fleeing and plunder. Then the fitnah of as-Sarra'; whose smoke will be under the feet of a man from my household who claims to be from me, but who is not from me; my allies are only the pious. Then the people will unite on a man like a hip-bone on a rib. Then the fitnah of ad-Duhayma'; it will not leave a single one of this Ummah without giving him a slap. When it is said that it has finished, it will be prolonged. During it, a man will be a mu'min in the morning and become a kafir in the evening, until the people have become two camps, a camp of iman [faith] without any nifaq [hypocrisy], and a camp of nifaq without any iman. When that has occurred, then await the Dajjal on that day or the next."
fitnah of al-Ahlas
"Al-ahlas" is the plural of "al-hils", which is the blanket that is laid under the saddle. It is called the fitnah of al-Ahlas either because it will remain for a long time, or because of its darkness and blackness.
"It is fleeing and plunder." That is, people will flee from an enemy or a danger, and they will be stripped of all of their wealth and possessions until they have nothing left.
fitnah of as-Sarra'
The fitnah of as-Sarra' implies one that will be related to ease and luxury. And there are other views regarding the meaning of the word.
"whose smoke will be under the feet of a man from my household who claims to be from me, but who is not from me; my allies are only the pious." This is a reference to a person from the Ahl al-Bayt who will be responsible for the fitnah of as-Sarra', and whom the Prophet [sallallahu 'alayhi wa-sallam] himself has disowned and disassociated himself from, due to his deviance or tyranny.
"Then the people will unite on a man like a hip-bone on a rib." This is a metaphor for a weak rule without organization or firmness, as a hip-bone does not fit in place on a rib.
fitnah of ad-Duhayma'The fitnah of ad-Duhayma' implies one that is dark and ominous.
"it will not leave a single one of this Ummah without giving him a slap. When it is said that it has finished, it will be prolonged." That is, it will affect the entire Ummah, and it will continue for such a long time that the people will eventually no longer realise it for what it is.
"During it, a man will be a mu'min in the morning and become a kafir in the evening, until the people have become two camps, a camp of iman [faith] without any nifaq [hypocrisy], and a camp of nifaq without any iman." That is, great numbers of people will fall into kufr due to the confusion and deviance that will abound during the fitnah of ad-Duhayma'. The trials and tribulations will be the means by which the true mu'minun will be sorted out from the munafiqun and kafirun.
await the Dajjal on that day or the next
"When that has occurred, then await the Dajjal on that day or the next." This is an indication of how close, relatively speaking, that time will be to the time of the Dajjal. It does not necessarily mean that the Dajjal will come out immediately at the end of the fitnah of ad-Duhayma', as the other ahadith clarify that the Mahdi will come before the Dajjal to fill the earth with justice and put an end to the trials.
Explanation#1:
The fitnah of al-Ahlas may be and Allah knows better the fitnah of Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah, and the "fleeing and plunder" may refer to his invasion of al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, in which the city was plundered for days. It was a terrible time during which many of the Companions and the righteous Tabi'un were either killed or had to flee with their religion from the oppression of Yazid and his governors.
If so, then the fitnah of as-Sarra' would then most likely refer to the fitnah of Banul-'Abbas, whose leaders were from the Ahl al-Bayt, from the descendents of al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib [radhiyallahu 'anhu], yet whose actions were the actions of evildoers. They misled the people through their propaganda of calling to the Family of the Prophet [sallallahu 'alayhi wa-sallam], and many false ahadith were fabricated in order to deceive the people into supporting them. The description "as-Sarra'" is appropriate to the time of Banul-'Abbas, during which the Ummah reached a high level of material ease and luxury, and much evil came about as a result of that. Examples are the widespread civil wars that occurred, the halting of jihad as a means to expand the Muslim territories, the flourishing of the Mu'tazilah and other deviated sects, and the Mihnah [Inquistion] regarding the question of the creation of the Qur'an, during which many scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah underwent severe persecution, most notably the great Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal [rahimahullah].
As for the fitnah of ad-Duhayma', its description very closely resembles our situation for the last hundred years until the present, and Allah knows better. The entire Ummah has been affected to some degree by it, and jahiliyyah, deviation and kufr have become the order of the day.
Explanation#2:
The fitnah of al-Ahlas may be and Allah knows better the fitnah of the brutal Mongol invasion of Central Asia under Genghis Khan, and after the sack of Baghdad, the Mongol Empire's rule extended across most Muslim lands in Asia. The Abbasid caliphate was destroyed and the Islamic civilization, especially Mesopotamia, suffered much devastation and was replaced by Tengriism and Buddhism as the official religion of the empire. However, the Mongols attacked people for goods and riches and not because of their religion. Many later Mongol khans and rulers became Muslims themselves like Oljeitu and other Ilkhanid and Golden Horde rulers and inhabitants. There was no real effort to replace Islam with any other religion, but to plunder goods from anyone that didn't submit, which was characteristic to Mongol warfare...."
The Grand Library of Baghdad, containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river.
Citizens attempted to flee, but were intercepted by Mongol soldiers who killed with abandon. Martin Sicker writes that close to 90,000 people may have died (Sicker 2000, p. 111). Other estimates go much higher. Wassaf claims the loss of life was several hundred thousand. Ian Frazier of The New Yorker says estimates of the death toll have ranged from 200,000 to a million.[18]
The Mongols looted and then destroyed mosques, palaces, libraries, and hospitals. Grand buildings that had been the work of generations were burned to the ground.
The caliph was captured and forced to watch as his citizens were murdered and his treasury plundered. According to most accounts, the caliph was killed by trampling. The Mongols rolled the caliph up in a rug, and rode their horses over him, as they believed that the earth was offended if touched by royal blood. All but one of his sons were killed, and the sole surviving son was sent to Mongolia.
Hulagu had to move his camp upwind of the city, due to the stench of decay from the ruined city.
The second period of fitnah, As-Sarra According to Sh. Jibril Haddad, it refers to Saddam Hussain.
"In the summer of 1990, at the time the words ALLAHU AKBAR first appeared on the flag of Iraq, Saddam Hussain declared he was a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him peace, and produced a family chart to prove it. This chart hangs in one of the heavily frequented Shi`i mosques in Iraq, next to the presumed grave of one of Ahl al-Bayt. Saddam also began to address King Hussayn of Jordan, a real 27-generation descendent, as "cousin.""
This part Then the people will unite on the leadership of a man like a hip-bone on a rib...
I don't know if it's already happened but it means people will choose a ruler who's not fit to rule.
The third part, Ad-Duhayma means pitch-dark. May be we are in it...but I don't see two apparent groups yet. I see a lot of confused people...still trying to work out if they belong to Islam or the modern world, but I think we're not very far from seeing the sifting process.
