- "The Hour will not be established until a man passes by the grave of another man and says: 'I wish I were in his place,' not because of love for meeting Allāh." Narrated by Aḥmad (2/530): ʿAlī narrated to us, Waraqāʾ informed us from Abū al-Zinād from al-Aʿraj from Abū Hurayrah who said: The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: and he mentioned it. I said: This isnād is authentic according to the conditions of Muslim, and he has also narrated it as will be mentioned. This ʿAlī is Ibn Ḥafṣ al-Madāʾinī Abū al-Ḥasan al-Baghdādī, and he is trustworthy. The ḥadīth was also narrated by Mālik in "al-Muwaṭṭaʾ" (1/239) and from him by al-Bukhārī (13/63), Muslim (8/182), and Aḥmad (2/236) from Abū al-Zinād with it, without the phrase: "not because of love for meeting Allāh." Because of this addition, I have included it here. It is supported by what Abū Ḥāzim narrated from Abū Hurayrah who said: The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: and he mentioned something similar with the wording: "I wish I were in the place of the occupant of this grave, and it is not due to religion, but because of affliction." Narrated by Muslim and Ibn Mājah (2/494). The meaning of the ḥadīth is that one does not wish for death out of religious devotion and nearness to Allāh and love for meeting Him, but rather because of the afflictions and trials in worldly matters. Thus, it indicates the permissibility of wishing for death out of religious devotion. It does not contradict his (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) saying: "None of you should wish for death due to harm that has befallen him..." because it is specific to when the wish is for worldly reasons, as is apparent. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: "It is supported by the fact that wishing for death when the matter of religion is corrupted was established from a group of the predecessors. Al-Nawawī said: There is no dislike in that, rather many of the predecessors did it, among them ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and ..."