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The Hadith of Najd is a famous hadith about three geographical locations.

Naration

According to two narrations in Sahih Bukhari:

Ibn Umar reported the Prophet as saying: "Oh Allah! Bless our Sham and our Yemen."

The people said: "Our Najd as well."

The Prophet again said, "O Allah! Bless us our Sham and our Yemen."

They said again, "Our Najd as well."

On that the Prophet said, "There will appear earthquakes and afflictions, and from there will come out the side of the head of Satan."

A similar set of narrations say:

"O Allah bestow your blessings on our Medina, and bestow your blessings on our Mecca, and bestow your blessings on our Sham, and bestow your blessings on our Yemen, and bestow your blessings in our measuring (fee saa`inaa wa muddinaa)." A person said, " O Messenger of Allah and in our Iraq" and so he turned away from him and said, "there will occur earthquakes, trials and tribulations and there will appear the horn of Satan.

And:

O Allah bestow your blessings on our Medina, O Allah bestow your blessings in our measuring, O Allah bestow your blessings in our Sham and our Yemen." A person said, "And Iraq O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "from there arises the horn of Satan and the trials and tribulations would come like mounting waves."

A hadith related to the three above narrations may also be found in Sahih Muslim:

Ibn Fudail reported on the authority of his father that he heard Salim b. 'Abdullah b. 'Umar as saying: O people of Iraq, how strange it is that you ask about the minor sins but commit major sins? I heard from my father 'Abdullah b. 'Umar, narrating that he heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying while pointing his hand towards the east: Verily. the turmoil would come from this side, from where appear the horns of Satan and you would strike the necks of one another; and Moses killed a person from among the people of Pharaoh unintentionally and Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said:" You killed a person but We relieved you from the grief and tried you with (many a) trial" (xx. 40). Ahmad b. Umar reported this hadith from Salim, but he did not make a mention of the words:" I heard".

Views

Shi'a and some Sunnis hold the position that this refers to the area in Saudia Arabia known as Najd. Many people cite modern Saudi Arabia, and of the House of Saud's interpretation of Islam, as evidence of this.

Other Sunnis, including the Salafis, have pointed out that this idea of Najd is incorrect and that Najd was known by al-Yamama and the word "najd" means a place that lies to the east, and that the Southern region of Iraq (being east and north of Medina) is the correct area. Many people cite the above narrations referring specifically to Iraq as evidence of this.

Najd is in Hijaz view

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Some Sunnis take the view that the "Najd is in Hijaz view" specifically is the more correct .

Najd is in Iraq view

Many others yet have said that the hadith isn't meant as prophetic to this time:

Ibn Hajar Asqalani said after quoting the words of al-Khattabi explaining the meaning of Qarn (horn):

"and others have said that the People of the East were disbelievers at that time and the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, informed us that the trials and tribulations would arise from that direction and it was as he said. And the first of the trials that arose, arose from the direction of the east and they were the reason for the splitting of the Muslim ranks, and this is what Satan loves and delights in. Likewise the innovations appeared from that direction."

Imam Nawawi makes a claim against the idea that the hadith is relating to Wahabis or the House of Saud. In his Sharh Saheeh Muslim 2/29 he said that it had to with Dajjal coming from the East. Furthermore, it is shown in Najd Qarnu ash-Shaytaan that there are thirteen places that have been labeled as najd depending a lot on one's own location, and from Madina, najd would be Iraq.

Ibn Hajr quoted al-Khattabi as saying:

"the najd in the direction of the east, and for the one who is in Madeenah then his Najd would be the desert of Iraaq and it's regions for this is to the east of the People of Madeenah. The basic meaning of Najd is that which is raised/elevated from the earth in contravention to al-Gawr for that is what is lower than it. Tihaamah is entirely al-Gawr and Mecca is in Tihaamah.' by this the weakness of the saying of ad-Daawodee is understood that 'Najd is in the direction of Iraaq' for he suggests that Najd is a specific place. This is not the case, rather everything that is elevated with respect to what adjoins it is called Najd and the lower area called Gawr."

Other people have appealed to the definition of Najd, which is "elevated place", argueing that the the others are merely interpreting it out of hatred to the Salafi movement.

Furthermore, the interpretation of Najd favored by many individuals following the "Najd is in Saudi" view is in rejection to a number of hadeeth which praise the inhabitants of Arabia as a beneficial people, is found in Sahih Bukhari:

"I have loved the people of the tribe of Banu Tamim, ever since I heard three things the Messenger of Allaah , sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said about them. I heard him saying, 'these people (of the tribe of Banu Tamim) would stand firm against the Dajjaal.' When the Saddaqat from that tribe came, the Messenger of Allaah , sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said, "these are the Saddaqat (charitable gifts) of our folk." Aa'ishah had a slave girl from that tribe, and the Prophet , sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said to Aa'ishah, 'manumit her as she is a descendant of Ismaa'eel, alayhis salaam.'"

Also from Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal:

"do not say of Bani Tameem anything but good, for indeed they are the severest of people in attacking the Dajjaal."

Banu Tamim are the majority of people in modern day Saudi Arabia. To label Najd as that area of Saudi Arabia is felt by some to be in contradiction of the many hadith relating to Bani Tameem especially those in which they fight the Dajjal, who comes from the Najd that is to the east.

See also

• List of hadith

References

1. Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 17, Number 147
2. Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 214
3. Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut: Sharh as-Sunnah’ (14/206-207 fn. 2)
4. al-Awsat by at-Tabaraanee from Hadith of Ibn Umar and authenticated by Ibn Hajar al-Haythamee in ‘Mujma az-Zawaa`id’ (3/305)
5. Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6943
6. http://www.geocities.com/~abdulwahid/muslimarticles/dogs.html
8. Fath al-Baaree 13/58-59
9. (ahadith 2543 and 4366 of al-Fath)

External links

Najd is in Iraq view

• Misunderstanding the Hadeeth of Najd
• Najd is in Iraq

Najd is in Saudi Arabia view

• Najd is not in Iraq

• Hadith