36/9. Chapter:
Sunan Ibn Majah 3955 — Fitnah of Family, Wealth, and Wider Trials
Tribulations that will appear
Hadith About Fitnah Like Waves of the Sea
Sunan Ibn Majah : 3955
Sunan Ibn MajahHadith Number 3955
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ نُمَيْرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ، وَأَبِي، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ شَقِيقٍ، عَنْ حُذَيْفَةَ، قَالَ كُنَّا جُلُوسًا عِنْدَ عُمَرَ فَقَالَ أَيُّكُمْ يَحْفَظُ حَدِيثَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فِي الْفِتْنَةِ قَالَ حُذَيْفَةُ فَقُلْتُ أَنَا . قَالَ إِنَّكَ لَجَرِيءٌ قَالَ كَيْفَ قَالَ سَمِعْتُهُ يَقُولُ " فِتْنَةُ الرَّجُلِ فِي أَهْلِهِ وَوَلَدِهِ وَجَارِهِ تُكَفِّرُهَا الصَّلاَةُ وَالصِّيَامُ وَالصَّدَقَةُ وَالأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْىُ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ " . فَقَالَ عُمَرُ لَيْسَ هَذَا أُرِيدُ إِنَّمَا أُرِيدُ الَّتِي تَمُوجُ كَمَوْجِ الْبَحْرِ . فَقَالَ مَالَكَ وَلَهَا يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِنَّ بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهَا بَابًا مُغْلَقًا . قَالَ فَيُكْسَرُ الْبَابُ أَوْ يُفْتَحُ قَالَ لاَ بَلْ يُكْسَرُ . قَالَ ذَاكَ أَجْدَرُ أَنْ لاَ يُغْلَقَ . قُلْنَا لِحُذَيْفَةَ أَكَانَ عُمَرُ يَعْلَمُ مَنِ الْبَابُ قَالَ نَعَمْ كَمَا يَعْلَمُ أَنَّ دُونَ غَدٍ اللَّيْلَةَ إِنِّي حَدَّثْتُهُ حَدِيثًا لَيْسَ بِالأَغَالِيطِ . فَهِبْنَا أَنْ نَسْأَلَهُ مَنِ الْبَابُ فَقُلْنَا لِمَسْرُوقٍ سَلْهُ فَسَأَلَهُ فَقَالَ عُمَرُ .
Hudhaifa Narrated from:
We were sitting with ‘Umar and he said: ‘Which of you has remembered a Hadith from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) concerning Fitnah?’” Hudhaifah said: “I said: ‘I have.’ He said: ‘You are very bold.’ He said: ‘How?’ He said: ‘I heard him say: “The fitnah of a man with regard to his family, his children and his neighbors are expiated by his prayers, fasts, charity and enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil.” ‘Umar said: ‘This is not what I meant, rather I meant that which moves like the waves of the sea.’”Hudhaifah said: “Don’t worry about it, O Commander of the Believers! For there is a closed door between you and them.” ‘Umar said: “Will that door be broken or opened?” I said: “No, it will be broken.” ‘Umar said: “Then it will never be closed.’” We asked Hudhaifah: “Did ‘Umar know what that door meant?” He said: "Yes, just as he knows that there will be night before morning, because I narrated to him a Hadith in which there are no errors.” We were afraid to ask him who the door was, so we said to Masruq: “Ask him." He said: “‘Umar.”
Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 3955In-book reference : Book 36, Hadith 30English translation : Vol. 5, Book 36, Hadith 3955
Summary of Sunan Ibn Majah Hadith 3955
This Hadith is often searched as fitnah like waves of the sea hadith. Hudhaifah mentioned the Prophet’s words that a man’s fitnah regarding his family, children, and neighbors is expiated by prayer, fasting, charity, enjoining good, and forbidding evil. Umar then asked about a different fitnah, one that moves like waves of the sea. Hudhaifah said there was a closed door between Umar and that fitnah, and later explained that the door was Umar. The text separates two kinds of trial: personal daily tests and a wider public fitnah. It also names acts of worship and moral duty as expiation for the first type. The narration should be explained without turning the broken door into extra details not stated here.
What we learn from this hadith
- Family, children, and neighbors can be areas of personal trial.
- Prayer, fasting, charity, enjoining good, and forbidding evil are named as expiation.
- The Hadith also speaks about a larger fitnah like sea waves.
- Hudhaifah identified Umar as the closed door mentioned in the narration.
