Tribulation of the Saddle -Cloth It is narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar said: ﾕWe were with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings be upon him) and we started to talk about tribulations. We spoke of that a great deal, until the tribulation of the saddle-cloth was mentioned. Someone said What is me tribulation of the saddle-cloths? He[(the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)] said, It is the tribulation of the fleeing and plunder, then the tribulation of ease, which will be started by a man from among my household, who will claim to belong to me but he will not belong to me, for my friends are the pious.
Then the people will unite under a man who will be like a hip-bone on a rib (i.e. unstable). Then there will come the little black tribulation, which will not leave anyone among this Ummah untouched. When it will be said that it has stopped, it will continue At that time a man will be a believer in the morning but a kaafir by evening, until the people form two camps, the camp of faith in which there will be no hypocrisy and the camp of hypocrisy in which there will be no faith. When that happens, then look for the Dajjaal (pseudo-Christ) on that day or the next," (Abu Dawood)
Saddle Cloth "Saddle cloth" refers to the blanket which is placed on the camels back beneath the saddle. It is used as a metaphor for this fitnah (tribulation because it will adhere to the people when it befalls them, as the saddle cloth adheres to the back of the camel What this means is that the tribulation will be with the people for a long time and because of its severity, it will make people to become disbelievers after they have believed
Trial Of Ease: The tribulation of ease refers to the things that people enjoy such as having plenty money and easy life. Tribulation is mentioned in conjunction with it because ease is the cause of tribulation in the sense that man may commit sin because of the good things that he has "Like a hip-bone on a rib" is a metaphor for something that is not stable because the hip-bone does not fit with the rib. The "little black tribulation" refers to a disaster that comes upon the people suddenly without prior warming. Appearance of the Mahdi It is narrated in a saheeh ahaadeeth (authentic narrations) that at the end of time, Allaah will send a khaleefah who will be wise and just, and will control the affairs of this ummah. He will be of the family of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) descending from Faatimah.
His name will be the same as that of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings be upon him), and his fathers name will be the same as the name of the father of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings be upon him). When he comes, he will fill the Earth with justice after it has been filled with injustice and oppression. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "If even there were only one day left of time, Allaah would send a man from among my family to fill it with justice as it had been filled with injustice." (Mishkaat at- Masaabeeh) He also said, The Mahdi is one of us, from the ahl al-bayt (members of the Prophets lineage).
Allaah will prepare him in one night (Mishkaat al- Masabeeh). In other narrations, he was described as a leader who will be wealthy and his leadership will bring about increase in wealth for the people. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "The Mahdi will emerge among my ummah, and Allaah will grant him rain which will cause the earth to produce vegetation. He will be given wealth in abundance, livestock will increase and the ummah will become great. He will live for seven or eight i.e., Years" (AI-Haakim)
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited