Hadith Text
وَعَنْ أُمِّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أُمِّ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «يَغْزُو جَيْشٌ الْكَعْبَةَ، فَإِذَا كَانُوا بِبَيْدَاءَ مِنَ الأَرْضِ يُخْسَفُ بِأَوَّلِهِمْ وَآخِرِهِمْ». قَالَتْ: قُلْتُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، كَيْفَ يُخْسَفُ بِأَوَّلِهِمْ وَآخِرِهِمْ وَفِيهِمْ أَسْوَاقُهُمْ وَمَنْ لَيْسَ مِنْهُمْ؟ قَالَ: «يُخْسَفُ بِأَوَّلِهِمْ وَآخِرِهِمْ، ثُمَّ يُبْعَثُونَ عَلَى نِيَّاتِهِمْ». مُتَّفَقٌ عَلَيْهِ، هَذَا لَفْظُ الْبُخَارِيِّ.
Full Translation
On the authority of the Mother of the Believers, Umm Abdullah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “An army will attack the Ka’bah. When they reach a desert plain of land, the first of them and the last of them will be swallowed by the earth.”
She said: I said: “O Messenger of Allah — how will the first and last of them be swallowed when among them are their market people and those who are not of them?”
He said: “The first and last of them will be swallowed — then they will be resurrected according to their intentions.”
Agreed upon. This is the wording of al-Bukhari.
Meanings of Key Words
- Yaghdoo jaysh (يَغْزُو جَيْشٌ) — an army will attack; a prophetic description of an event near the end of times
- Baydaa’ (بَيْدَاءَ) — a barren, open desert plain; a place of no shelter, no cover, no escape
- Yukhsafu (يُخْسَفُ) — swallowed by the earth; the ground opens and takes them — a divine punishment from below
- Bi-awwalihim wa-akhirihim (بِأَوَّلِهِمْ وَآخِرِهِمْ) — the first and last of them; every single person in the army, from front to back, without exception
- Aswaquhum (أَسْوَاقُهُمْ) — their market people; the traders, merchants, and camp followers who travelled with the army for commerce, not fighting
- Man laysa minhum (مَنْ لَيْسَ مِنْهُمْ) — those who are not of them; people who happened to be present without belonging to the army or sharing its purpose
- Yub’athoon (يُبْعَثُونَ) — they will be resurrected; raised on the Day of Judgement
- ‘Ala niyyatihim (عَلَى نِيَّاتِهِمْ) — according to their intentions; each person judged by what they intended, not by what happened to them outwardly
Hadith Lessons
Imam al-Nawawi placed this hadith immediately after the hadith of intentions — and the reason becomes clear the moment you read it. Hadith 1 established the principle: deeds are by intentions. Hadith 2 demonstrates it in the most dramatic, undeniable way possible. It takes you to the end of times, drops an entire army into the earth, and then answers the most human question imaginable: but what about the innocent ones who were just there?
Aishah’s Question — The Most Important Question in the Hadith
The Prophet ﷺ describes a terrifying scene: an army marching to attack the Ka’bah — the most sacred place on earth — is swallowed entirely by the ground. First and last. No survivor.
And Aishah — the most intellectually sharp of the companions, the one who questioned and probed in ways others did not — immediately asks the question that every reader is thinking: what about the people who were just there? The traders. The bystanders. The ones who had nothing to do with the attack?
This is not just a theological question. It is a deeply human one. It is the question we ask about every collective disaster: what about the innocent? What about the person who was simply in the wrong place? What about the one who had no intention of harm?
The Prophet ﷺ does not dismiss her question. He does not say “do not ask.” He answers it directly — and his answer is the entire lesson of this hadith.
“They Will Be Resurrected According to Their Intentions”
The ground swallows them all equally. The punishment is collective and total. Outwardly, there is no difference between the soldier who came to destroy the Ka’bah and the merchant who came to sell food.
But on the Day of Judgement — they are not judged equally. Each person is raised and judged according to their intention (niyyah / نِيَّة). The soldier who came with evil purpose carries that purpose into his resurrection. The trader who came only for commerce carries that. The bystander who had no connection to the army carries that.
The earth treated them the same. Allah does not.
This is one of the most profound reassurances in the entire Quran and Sunnah about divine justice. Collective worldly events — disasters, wars, famines, pandemics — can strike believers and non-believers alike. The righteous and the wicked can stand in the same place when the calamity arrives. But the worldly outcome is not the final word. The resurrection individualises what the disaster collectivised. Every soul is raised alone, judged alone, by what it carried inside — not by where it happened to be standing when the ground opened.
What This Means for Us Today
We live in a world of collective experiences — wars that displace the innocent alongside the guilty, economic collapses that punish the honest alongside the corrupt, pandemics that take the young and the old, the faithful and the faithless. People look at these events and ask Aishah’s question in modern language: how is this just? How can everyone be treated the same?
The Prophet’s answer reaches across fourteen centuries and says: the worldly event is not the judgement. The judgement comes later — and it is perfectly precise, perfectly individual, and perfectly tied to what each heart intended.
This does not make disaster painless. But it makes it bearable. The believer who is caught in a collective calamity — through no fault of their own, with a heart directed toward Allah — is not a victim of divine injustice. They are a person whose true account has not yet been opened. And when it is opened, it will reflect exactly who they were, not where they stood when the earth moved.
The Chapter’s Architecture — Two Hadiths, One Truth
Read together, Hadiths 1 and 2 form a complete picture:
- Hadith 1 says: your deed is defined by your intention
- Hadith 2 says: even your fate — on the Day of Judgement — is defined by your intention
The first hadith speaks about acts of worship. The second speaks about the ultimate moment of accountability. Together they close every gap: from the smallest daily deed to the final resurrection, intention is the thread that runs through everything.
Imam al-Nawawi understood this. That is why he placed them together at the very opening of a book about righteous living. Before you read a single story of generosity, patience, or worship — he wants you to understand the only currency that makes any of it real.
Three Questions to Close With
- When I am part of a group — at work, in my community, in my family — and we do something together, do I think about what my personal intention is within that shared act?
- If I were “resurrected according to my intentions” from the last week of my life — what would those intentions reveal about where my heart has actually been?
- Does knowing that Allah judges individually — even within collective events — give me peace about the injustices I see in the world, or do I still find this difficult to accept?