Abu Dawud said: "The shortening of time" means: when the night and the day draw closer together and become equal.

5020 - Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal narrated to us, Hushaym narrated to us, Ya'la ibn 'Ata' informed us, from Waki' ibn 'Udus
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= We said: It is found in Muslim (2263), Ahmad (7642), al-Khatib 1/171, and al-Baghawi in "Sharh al-Sunnah" (3279), and al-Tirmidhi (2444). It was also narrated by Ibn Hibban in his "Sahih" (6040) via the chain of Sufyan, from Ayyub, from him. It occurs in Muslim (2263) after he cited the narration of 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Thaqafi, where he said: I do not know whether it is part of the hadith or whether Ibn Sirin said it.

See also "Fath al-Bari" 12/410.

As for the statement stopped at Abu Hurayrah, Ibn Majah narrated it as raised to the Prophet (3926) via the chain of Abu Bakr al-Hudhali, from Ibn Sirin, from him. And Abu Bakr is abandoned in hadith. See the complete commentary on it and its citation therein.

It is also in "Musnad Ahmad" (7642), (9129), and (10590), and in "Sahih Ibn Hibban" (6040). See it in both.

(1) Imam al-Khattabi said regarding the interpretation of the shortening of time in "Gharib al-Hadith" 1/94: It has reached me that Abu Dawud used to say: The shortening of time is the equality of night and day, and this is, God willing, a sound meaning. The interpreters of dreams claim that the truest times for the occurrence of visions is at the time of the breaking forth of lights, and at the time of the ripening of fruits and their maturation, and these are the two times in which time draws closer and night and day become equal.

There is another aspect to it, namely that by the shortening of time is meant the nearness of the end of its affair. This has come as a raised hadith: Isma'il ibn Muhammad Abu 'Ali al-Saffar narrated it to us, al-Ramadi narrated to us, 'Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us, Ma'mar narrated to us, from Ayyub, from Ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace be upon him, who said: "In the last of time, the vision of the believer will hardly ever lie, and the truest of them in vision are the truest of them in speech." We said: This chain is sound, and it is in the "Musannaf of 'Abd al-Razzaq" (20352), and from his path al-Tirmidhi narrated it (2444).