"Allah's Apostle said, 'Between the two sounds of the trumpet, there will be forty." Somebody asked Abu Huraira, "Forty days?" But he refused to reply.
Then he asked, "Forty months?" He refused to reply. Then he asked, "Forty years?" Again, he refused to reply.
Abu Huraira added. "Then (after this period) Allah will send water from the sky and then the dead bodies will grow like vegetation grows, There is nothing of the human body that does not decay except one bone; that is the little bone at the end of the coccyx of which the human body will be recreated on the Day of Resurrection."
Hmmm....what happens if you're cremated?
Narrated Ali:
Allah's Apostle sent me along with AzZubair and Al-Miqdad and said, "Proceed till you reach a place called Raudat-Khakh where there is a lady travelling in a howda on a camel. She has a letter. Take the letter from her."
So we set out, and our horses ran at full pace till we reached Raudat Khakh, and behold, we saw the lady and said (to her), "Take out the letter!" She said, "I have no letter with me." We said, "Either you take out the letter or we will strip you of your clothes." So she took the letter out of her hair braid.
We brought the letter to the Prophet and behold, it was addressed by Hatib bin Abi Balta'a to some pagans at Mecca, informing them of some of the affairs of the Prophet. The Prophet said, "What is this, O Hatib?" Hatib replied, "Do not be hasty with me, O Allah's Apostle! I am an Ansari man and do not belong to them (Quraish infidels) while the emigrants who were with you had their relatives who used to protect their families and properties at Mecca.
So, to compensate for not having blood relation with them.' I intended to do them some favor so that they might protect my relatives (at Mecca), and I did not do this out of disbelief or an inclination to desert my religion." The Prophet then said (to his companions), "He (Hatib) has told you the truth."
Umar said, "O Allah's Apostle! Allow me to chop his head off?" The Apostle said, "He is one of those who witnessed (fought in) the Battle of Badr, and what do you know, perhaps Allah looked upon the people of Badr (Badr warriors) and said, 'Do what you want as I have forgiven you.' " Amr, a sub-narrator, said,: This Verse was revealed about him (Hatib):
'O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your enemies as friends or protectors.' (60.1)
Surprised? Bet you are!
Narrated Abu Huraira:
I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I hear many Hadith (stories of Muhammad) from you but I forget them." He said, "Spread your covering sheet." I spread my sheet and he moved both his hands as if scooping something and emptied them in the sheet and said, "Wrap it." I wrapped it round my body, and since then I have never forgotten a single Hadith’
From this point on, anything that Muhammad said or did was memorized or written down…or wrapped up in a sheet.
Abu Huraira narrated;
And no doubt our emigrant brothers used to be busy in the market with their business, and our Ansari brothers used to be busy with their agriculture. But I (Abu Huraira) used to stick to Allah's Apostle contented with what will fill my stomach and I used to attend that which they used not to attend and I used to memorize that which they used not to memorize.
He must have had a big appetite, he memorized a lot of Hadith.
Ibn Asakir;
Caliph Umar rebuked and then lashed Abu Huraira, and forbade him to narrate Hadith from the Holy Prophet. Umar said: "Because you narrate Hadith in large numbers from the Holy Prophet, you are fit only for attributing lies to him. That is what one expects a wicked man like you to utter only lies about the Holy Prophet. So you must stop narrating Hadith from the Prophet; otherwise, I will send you to the land of Dus." (A clan in Yemen, to which Abu Huraira belonged).
Abu Huraira defended himself saying that, I was a poor man serving Allah’s Prophet, just to be fed in return.
Food for hadith?
Imam Abu Hanifa said;
The companions of the Prophet were generally pious and just. I accept every Hadith with evidence narrated by them, but I do not accept the Hadith whose source is Abu Huraira, Anas Ibn Malik, or Samra Bin Jundab."
Hanifa was born 67 years after Muhammad was killed. Hanifa was born in Iraq. Muhammad was not fond of Iraq.
Narrated Yusair bin 'Amr;
I asked Sahl bin Hunaif, "Did you hear the Prophet saying anything about Al-Khawarij?" He said, "I heard him saying while pointing his hand towards Iraq. "There will appear in it some people who will recite the Quran but it will not go beyond their throats, and they will leave Islam as an arrow darts through the game's body.
Interesting statement for these times, too.
The Quran says. “We did not leave anything out of this book." (6:38), the Quran is complete and for all time”.
31: 6: But, there are among men those who patronize ridiculous Hadith without knowledge thereby misleading men from the Path of Allah and throwing a butt of mockery on the Path: for such there will be a humiliating Penalty."
60:7 It may be that Allah will grant love (and friendship) between you and those whom ye (now) hold as enemies. For Allah has power (over all things); And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful
if not...
56:52 Ye will surely taste of the Tree of Zaqqum