How to reconcile the hadith: "The best of people are my generation" with the hadith: "My Ummah is like rain; it is not known whether the good is in its beginning or its end"?

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

The questioner : How do we understand these two hadiths? The first is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)

My Ummah is like rain; it is not known whether the good is in its beginning or its end.

مثل أمتي كالمطر لا يُدرى أوله الخير أم أخره

and his saying

The best of people is my generation

خير الناس قرني

?

The Shaykh : The first hadith does not contradict the other hadith,

The best of people is my generation

خير الناس قرني

to its end. This hadith prefers the first generation over the second, and the second over the third. But the second hadith, which is his saying (peace be upon him)

My Ummah is like rain; it is not known whether the good is in its beginning or its end.

أمتي كالمطر لا يدرى الخير في أوله أم في أخره

As for the Salaf, the good was known in them; indeed, it was known that they were the best good found on the face of the earth, in the order mentioned in "The best of people."
As for the other hadith,

My Ummah is like rain; it is not known whether the good is in its beginning or its end.

أمتي كالمطر لا يدرى الخير في أوله أم في أخره

, it is only a glad tidings from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that there may be good in the end of the Ummah. It does not negate that there is good in the beginning of the Ummah. He affirmed that with the mass-transmitted hadith I referred to earlier. He only intends to instill hope in the Ummah and to cut off their despair of mercy. He says that the good may be in the end of this Ummah as it was in its beginning. The hadiths that explicitly state his saying, or similar to his saying (peace be upon him)

A group of people from my Umma will always remain triumphant on the right path and continue to be triumphant (against their opponents). He who deserts them shall not be able to do them any harm. They will remain in this position until Allah's Command is executed

لا تزال طائفة من أمتي ظاهرين على الحق لا يضرهم من خالفهم حتى يأتي أمر الله

Sahih Muslim 1920

or in a narration

Until the Hour is established

حتى تقوم الساعة

, are evidence that the good continues in the Ummah and does not cease. However, it is not like the good that was in the beginning of the Ummah, in the three generations.
Similarly, his glad tidings (peace and blessings be upon him) to this Ummah with the emergence of the Mahdi and the descent of 'Isa (peace be upon them both) at the end of time, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him)

The world will not end

لا تنقضي الدنيا

and in a narration

The world will not end until a man emerges whose name matches my name and whose father's name matches my father's name, who will fill the earth with justice and equity as it was filled with oppression and injustice.

لا تذهب الدنيا حتى يخرج رجل يُوافق اسمه اسمي واسم أبيه اسم أبي يملأ الأرض قسطا وعدلا كما ملئت جورا وظلما

, and his saying (peace be upon him) regarding the descent of 'Isa

How will it be with you when 'Isa ibn Maryam descends among you and leads you in prayer?

كيف بكم إذا نزل عيسى ابن مريم فيكم وأمَّكم منكم

. Also, the hadiths that came specifically about 'Isa (peace be upon him), some of which state that the prostration in those days will be better than the world and what is in it. Therefore, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him)

My Ummah is like rain; it is not known whether the good is in its beginning or its end.

أمتي كالمطر لا يدرى الخير في أوله أم في أخره

only means that the good does not cease from this Ummah, even if it is more abundant in the earlier generations.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

Similar fatwas