Kitab al-Fitan and Kitab al-Jannah

The final major sections of Sahih Muslim gather hadiths on the trials that will precede the Last Hour and the descriptions of the afterlife — Paradise and Hellfire. Together they form one of the most extensive collections of eschatological material in any hadith compilation and have been the primary reference for Islamic scholars writing about end times and the afterlife for over a thousand years.

Kitab al-Fitan opens with hadiths on the great civil conflicts (fitan) that will afflict the Muslim community. The Prophet warned that there would come a time of great confusion in which it would be difficult to distinguish right from wrong, a time when the one sitting would be better off than the one standing, the one standing better than the one walking, and the one walking better than the one hurrying forward. These hadiths conveyed that in certain crises, disengagement and caution were forms of wisdom rather than cowardice.

The hadiths on the Dajjal — the false messiah — occupy a substantial portion of this section. Muslim collects the descriptions in remarkable detail: the Dajjal will be a man with one eye, the word 'kafir' (disbeliever) written between his eyes visible to every believer, able to be read even by the illiterate. He will travel the earth rapidly, claiming divinity, performing apparent miracles, and causing enormous numbers to follow him. The believers who resist will be those who hold firm to the authentic knowledge they possess, and the key protection is the memorization of the opening verses of Surah al-Kahf.

The hadiths on the descent of Isa ibn Maryam follow the accounts of the Dajjal. Jesus will descend near the white minaret in Damascus, wearing garments tinged with saffron, his hands resting on the wings of two angels. He will find the Muslim community led by the Imam al-Mahdi preparing for prayer, and the Imam will step back to let Isa lead. Isa will then hunt down the Dajjal and kill him, and an era of justice and peace will follow — a period in which wolves lie with sheep and the earth yields its produce abundantly.

Kitab al-Jannah wal-Nar — the Book of Paradise and Hellfire — begins with hadiths on the creation of Paradise and the Fire before humanity existed, and the stocking of each with its inhabitants. The Prophet described Paradise in terms that combine the concretely beautiful with the spiritually profound: rivers of water, milk, honey, and wine that does not intoxicate; food and drink of every kind without satiation; the company of the righteous; and above all else, the vision of Allah Himself, described as the greatest joy the inhabitants of Paradise will experience, making every other blessing seem small by comparison.

The descriptions of Hellfire are correspondingly vivid: its tremendous heat, the various forms of punishment corresponding to various types of wrongdoing, and the hadiths on the intercession that will eventually empty it of believers. Muslim records the hadith that the last person to leave Hellfire will crawl out and be given ten times the world in Paradise, and in his disbelief at his good fortune will ask Allah: 'Are you mocking me, and You are the King?' — to which Allah will say: 'I do not mock you, but I have the power to do whatever I will.'

These sections of Sahih Muslim have shaped Islamic eschatological understanding for centuries and continue to be the first reference for scholars addressing questions about the signs of the Last Hour, the trials of the grave, and the nature of the life to come.