Enforcers with Whips Like the Tails of Oxen
In brief
Among the signs is the appearance of people carrying whips like the tails of oxen, with which they beat others unjustly.
Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Two are the types of the people of the Fire I have not yet seen: people with whips like the tails of oxen, with which they beat the people, and women clothed yet naked...' (Sahih Muslim 2128).
A moral and social sign that spreads over time; it fixes no date.
Al-Nawawi explains these as agents of injustice who strike people wrongfully under colour of authority. The hadith names a practice - oppression - and warns of its end, not any particular state, office or people; it is no basis for accusing a named party.
Never lend your hand to wronging people, and fear the end the hadith warns of for those who beat and humiliate the weak.
Draft brief, not yet checked by the scholar board. The full texts are in the Sources tab and the scholars' views in their own tab.
Where it sits in the sequence
The narrations do not put these in order, and many of them overlap. Sahih al-Bukhari 7121 lists several together.
Strongest narrations
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حَدَّثَنِي زُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، حَدَّثَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنْ سُهَيْلٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " صِنْفَانِ مِنْ أَهْلِ النَّارِ لَمْ أَرَهُمَا قَوْمٌ مَعَهُمْ سِيَاطٌ كَأَذْنَابِ الْبَقَرِ يَضْرِبُونَ بِهَا النَّاسَ وَنِسَاءٌ كَاسِيَاتٌ عَارِيَاتٌ مُمِيلاَتٌ مَائِلاَتٌ رُءُوسُهُنَّ كَأَسْنِمَةِ الْبُخْتِ الْمَائِلَةِ لاَ يَدْخُلْنَ الْجَنَّةَ وَلاَ يَجِدْنَ رِيحَهَا وَإِنَّ رِيحَهَا لَتُوجَدُ مِنْ مَسِيرَةِ كَذَا وَكَذَا " .
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:Two are the types amongst the denizens of Hell, the one possessing whips like the tail of an ox and they flog people with their help. (The second one) the women who would be naked in spite of their being dressed, who are seduced (to wrong paths) and seduce others with their hair high like humps. These women would not get into Paradise and they would not perceive the odour of Paradise, although its frag- rance can be perceived from such and such distance (from great distance)
What scholars have said
Scholars cite it as having appeared
Draft attributions: each must be checked against the named book before publication.
al-Nawawid. 676 AH
Identifies 'people with whips like the tails of oxen' as agents of injustice who beat others wrongfully; he counts it a sign the Prophet ﷺ foretold, a type the Companions had not yet seen. The description is of a practice - oppression under colour of authority - not of any named nation or office.
Sharh Sahih Muslim, on Hadith 2128
Meaning and context
The Prophet ﷺ named 'people with whips like the tails of oxen, beating the people' among two types of Hellfire he had not yet seen. Scholars read it as a warning against oppression under colour of authority; there is nothing to count.
Narrations behind this panel: Sahih Muslim 2128b
What the commentators said it means
- Agents of injustice who strike people wrongfully under colour of authority: al-Nawawi; a practice is named, not any nation or office.
Read with care
- No basis for accusing a named party; the hadith warns of a practice and its end, not a person.
Draft: figures and wording await a researcher's check and the scholar board.