(My Ummah is like the rain): Some attribute it to the followers of 'Isa. Is this correct, and what is its interpretation?

The questioner : Our Shaykh, the hadith ?

The Shaykh : Like the rain, yes.

The questioner : ... Al-Nawawi attributes it to the followers of 'Isa in the end times. What do you say about its interpretation?

The Shaykh : I say it is a restriction of the vastness of Allah's mercy. It is clear. What I quoted from Al-Nawawi, the responsibility lies with the one who quoted from Al-Nawawi.

The questioner : Al-Nawawi's fatwas.

The Shaykh : Yes, so this is a restriction, because the goodness in the Ummah, as you see in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So this excellence is not specific to the time of 'Isa (peace be upon him). Rather, it is continuous, but with varying degrees. And with this hadith and that, we must understand that the hadith narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih from the hadith of Anas ibn Malik is from the general that is specified, or from the general that is predominant . But it is not always so. First, because of the hadiths we mentioned and others we did not mention. Second, history testifies that this rule is not absolute in its generality and comprehensiveness. For example, when 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz took over the caliphate, there is no doubt that the state of affairs in his era was much better than the eras that came before him. So this time was better than what preceded it. Therefore, the student of knowledge must always not take the ruling from a single hadith, but rather gather the ends of the hadiths and take a summary from them, so that he is then correct in what he has taken.