Enforcers with Whips Like the Tails of Oxen
Appeared
In brief
Among the signs is the appearance of people who carry whips like the tails of oxen and beat others with them unjustly.
In Sahih Muslim the Prophet ﷺ said there are two kinds of the people of the Fire he had not yet seen: people with whips like the tails of oxen, with which they beat people, and women who are clothed yet naked.
Al-Nawawi explains these as agents of injustice who strike people wrongly in the name of authority. The hadith names a practice, oppression, and warns of where it ends. It does not name any state, office or people, and it is no basis for accusing anyone by name.
Never lend your hand to wronging people, and fear the end the hadith warns of for those who beat and humiliate the weak.
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
Imam Yahya An-Nawawid. 676 AH (631-676 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.