Signs of the Last Hour
Though Allah only knows when the Last Hour before the Day of
Resurrection will come, He has given us 'clues' about its
approach through information in the Qur'an and the hadith of the
Prophet. The signs can be separated into two categories: minor
and major. This article does not cover all the signs, but most
of the important ones are here. All these signs are, of course,
based on hadith and/or Qur'an, mainly the former.
Minor Signs (in no particular order)
- "The coming of the Last Prophet, Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah
(SAW)." [This has already happened, of course.]
- "The slave will become the master."
- "Shepherds will compete in the construction of tall
buildings." [The modern ex-nomads of Saudi Arabia are an
excellent example of this.]
- "Knowledge of Islam will be taken away while ignorance
will increase. This removal of knowledge will be because old
scholars will die and fewer and fewer new scholars will
replace them. The leaders of the Muslims will be chosen from
ignorant people, and they will rule according to their whims."
[Today, studying Islam formally is considered to be an
inferior career in most of the Muslim world. The leaders of
the Muslim world are more known for their political or
military prowess (oppressive ability?) than Islamic
knowledge.]
- "Drinking and fornication will increase heavily."
- "The population of men will decrease, and women increase
till fifty women shall be for every man."
- "Thirty people will claim to be prophets, followed by Al-Dajjal
(the anti-Christ roughly)."
- "There will be such an abundance of wealth that people
will not be able to find recipients for zakat."
- "Killing will increase."
- "Time will be shortened so that a year will be like a
month, a month like a day, a day like an hour." [This
perception of the seemingly dwindling amount of time is very
apparent, especially in First World countries.]
- "Two great countries will fight and kill each other, both
claiming the same thing."
- "Earthquakes will increase in number." [Welcome to
California. :-]
- "A person will pass by the grave, and wish to trade places
out of despair."
Major Signs (in rough chronological order)
- "Al-Dajjal will come, claiming to be God holding Heaven
and Hell. His purpose is to deceive, and unbelievers will
follow him. He is short, red-faced, blind in the right eye,
and has hair which sticks up. He will go around the world, but
will be unable to enter Madinah or Makkah." [There are
numerous detailed ahadith on this man.]
- "Al-Mahdi will come at the time of Al-Dajjal. He will call
to the true Islam, and will be a military leader. His name
will be exactly like that of the Prophet: Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah,
and his father's name will match the Prophet's father's name
also. He will be descended from Fatima, the daughter of the
Prophet."
- "Isa (Jesus) will come at the time of Al-Dajjal and al-Mahdi
as well. He will descend at the time of Fajr prayer on a
masjid in Damascus, the capital of Syria. He is of medium
height, red-faced, and his hair is as if he just took a
shower. He will call people back to Islam, but he will also be
a military leader. The People of the Book will revert to
Islam, and wealth will be super-abundant. Isa will break the
cross, kill the swine, and personally slay Al-Dajjal. He will
stay on Earth for a long time thereafter, and then die."
- "An animal will come and call people back to Islam." [A
partial description of this animal is that it is very hairy,
so much so that one will not be able to tell its front from
its rear (Arabic: 'Dab-ba'). Reference to this animal is
mentioned in the Qur'an.]
- "Gog and Magog (two hidden tribes of people) will break
free of the dam that holds them back, and ravage the earth.
They will drink all the water, and kill people until Allah
sends against them a worm which will wipe them out." [This is
roughly before/during the time of Isa, although it is not
entirely clear.]
- "Three places in the world will sink and be swallowed up
by the earth. One in the west, one in the east, and one in the
Saudi Arabian peninsula." [This may refer to a series of
giant, epic earthquakes.]
- "Fire will come from the area of Aden in Yemen, and sweep
northwards." [There are claims that this already happened in
some medevial event.]
- "The sun will rise from the west." [This
description is not meant to be a symbolic
one...but it is known that it is one of the last, if not the
very last one before the following.]
- "Smoke will appear all over the earth which will cause
believers to catch something similar to a slight cold, whereas
the unbelievers will be hit harder by it. Finally, a cold wind
will come and kill all believers, leaving only unbelievers on
the earth who will then witness the LAST HOUR.
The angel Israfil will blow a trumpet, and the resurrection of
all human beings will begin." [At this point, the Day of
Resurrection commences in which the skies and earth are
destroyed by Allah.]
This list is far from complete; there are many other signs. A
couple more of interest are: Constantinople (Istanbul) will fall
before Rome to Islam (note that this means Rome will indeed
fall), and the Muslim political system will go from Prophetic
leadership to a just Khilafah to a 'biting' authority to an
oppressive authority and finally back to a just Khilafah. It
seems that today we are in the next to last stage of this chain;
now is a good time to actively work for the reestablishment of
the Muslim state and Khilafah.
Finally, the Prophet has said that when the Signs start to
come, they will come FAST - like a string of beads falling one
after the other.
And Allah Knows Best.
The above information is a summary of a lecture given by
a scholar of Riverside, Gharm-Allah El-Ghamdy, around the fall
of 1991. Editor's notes are in brackets []. It is hard to tell
whether certain of these events have already occurred, or when
they will precisely occur. Allah knows best.
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