Verse 155
وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوفْ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ
مِّنَ الأَمَوَالِ وَالأنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ
“And We will most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give good news to the patient”
Abu Baseer narrates from Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) regarding this verse of Quran, Imam (as) said, “The year before Imam Mahdi (as) reappears the following will occur; people will experience hunger; people will live in extreme fear of being killed; and people will suffer loss of wealth, life and livelihood. This saying of Allah clearly explains this.” (Al Ghaybah by Nomani page 132)
Abu Hamza Thumali narrates, “I asked Imam Mohammed Baqir (as) regarding this verse of Allah, “We shall surely try you with something of fear and hunger”. Imam (as) said, “There will be a general hunger and there will be a specific hunger. The general hunger will take place in Shaam, and the specific hunger will be in Kufa. The hunger in Kufa will be only for the enemies of the Family of Holy Prophet (sawa) and Allah will destroy them with starvation. As for fear, it will be only general. It will be in Shaam where the people will fear the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (as). ” (Tafseer Ayyashi volume 1 page 67)
(The above tafseer is taken from the book Al Muhajjah)