Question Summary:
Explanation of two hadith in Muslim in regards to the people of ‘Iraq and Syria

Question Detail:

 
My question regards the following hadiths (the second is very similar). I wanted to know if they are reliable, the meaning of the hadith, and if it regards events that have occured in the past, present, or have yet to occur. 
Abu Nadra reported:

"We were in the company of Jabir b. 'Abdullah that he said it may happen that the people of Iraq may not send their qafiz and dirhams (their measures of food stuff and their money). We said: Who would be responsible for it? He said: The non-Arabs would prevent them. He again said: There is the possibility that the people of Syria may not send their dinars and mudds. We said: Who would be responsible for it? He said this prevention would be made by the Romans. He (Jabir b. Abdullah) kept quiet for a while and then reported Allah's Messenger (PBU) having said there would be a caliph in the last (period) of my Ummah who would freely give handfuls of wealth to the people without counting it. I said to Abu Nadra and Abu al-'Ala: Do you mean 'Umar b. 'Abd al-Aziz? They said: No (he would be Imam Mahdi). (The source was listed as 

Sahih Muslim 2913 a

In-book reference
 : Book 54, Hadith 81)

Here is the second hadith:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (PBU) as saying:

Iraq would withhold its dirhams and qafiz; Syria would withhold its mudd and dinar and Egypt would withhold its irdab and dinar and you would recoil to that position from where you started and you would recoil to that position from where you started and you would recoil to that position from where you started, the bones and the flesh of Abu Huraira would bear testimony to it. (Source listed as 

Sahih Muslim 2896

In-book reference
 : Book 54, Hadith 43)

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
For the sake of sequence, we shall explain hadith 2896 before explaining hadith 2913.
Hadith 2896
Original Text:
عن أبي هريرة، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «منعت العراق درهمها وقفيزها، ومنعت الشأم مديها ودينارها، ومنعت مصر إردبها ودينارها، وعدتم من حيث بدأتم، وعدتم من حيث بدأتم، وعدتم من حيث بدأتم» شهد على ذلك لحم أبي هريرة ودمه (صحيح مسلم، ٢٨٩٦، كتاب الفتن و أشراط الساعة، باب لا تقوم الساعة حتي يحسر الفرات عن جبل من ذهب)[1]
It is first important to understand that these "food measures and money" refer to a tax called jizyah imposed on adult men in non-Muslim areas based on their financial capacity who live in a Muslim state. This tax is not levied on women, children, or the old.[2]
 
The first portion of this hadith, "the people of 'Iraq and others will not send their measures of food stuff and money" has three interpretations:
 
(1) The people of these lands will become Muslims; therefore, they will be absolved of having to pay jizyah (and will not send anymore of their food measures or money). This explanation does not fit well as the people of this city never used to pay jizyah before the Muslims conquered their lands. Furthermore, after they conquered these lands, the Muslims themselves became the rulers of these lands and had no need to pay jizyah.[3]
 
(2) The non-Muslims of these lands will gain power towards the end of times and because of this, they will stop paying this tax.
 
(3) The more well-known view: Towards the end of times, the non-Arabs and Romans will take over majority of the lands and will stop the Muslims in these areas from receiving money and other necessities.[4] This meaning is supported by the next hadith.[5]
 
The second portion of this hadith, "You would recoil to that position from where you started" means that Islam originally started low in numbers and supplies and towards the end of times it will return to such a state.[6]
 
 
Hadith 2913
Original Text:
عن أبي نضرة، قال: كنا عند جابر بن عبد الله فقال: يوشك أهل العراق أن لا يجبى إليهم قفيز ولا درهم، قلنا: من أين ذاك؟ قال: من قبل العجم، يمنعون ذاك، ثم قال: يوشك أهل الشأم أن لا يجبى إليهم دينار ولا مدي، قلنا: من أين ذاك؟ قال: من قبل الروم، ثم سكت هنية، ثم قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «يكون في آخر أمتي خليفة يحثي المال حثيا، لا يعده عددا» قال قلت لأبي نضرة وأبي العلاء: أتريان أنه عمر بن عبد العزيز فقالا: لا.[7]
 
The interpretation of the first portion of this hadith is in correspondence to the third interpretation of the first hadith.[8]
 
In regards to the second portion of this hadith, "there would be a caliph in the last (period) of my Ummah who would freely give handfuls of wealth to the people without counting it", the caliph refers to Imam al-Mahdi who will come towards the end of times.[9]
The giving of handfuls of wealth means that this caliph will conquer many lands and gain much wealth, but he will remain very generous and will not hoard this wealth.[10]
 
In conclusion, both these ahadith are authentic and refer to events that have not taken place as of yet.
 
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Bilal Mohammad
Student Darul Iftaa
New Jersey, USA 
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
www.daruliftaa.net