I Asked About Evil

Hudhayfah said that people used to ask the Prophet ﷺ about good, but he used to ask him about evil, fearing it would overtake him. He asked whether there would be evil after the good that Allah had brought, and the Prophet ﷺ said there would be, and then good again with some taint, and callers at the gates of Hell.

He asked what to do if he lived to see it. The Prophet ﷺ told him to keep to the main body of the Muslims and their leader. And if there was no such body or leader, he should withdraw from all the factions, even if he had to bite on the root of a tree until death reached him.

From the Prophet ﷺ he also learned the names of some hypocrites. In a hadith in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ told him that there were twelve among his Companions who were hypocrites, and he was the keeper of that knowledge. 'Umar, the reports say, would ask whether he was among them, and would not pray over a man's funeral if Hudhayfah stayed away. Hudhayfah never revealed the names.