Categories of the Signs of the Hour
There are many
hadiths in which the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him,
mentioned a number of the signs of the Hour. Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in
their authentic collections, from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him,
that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The last hour
will not come before two parties which make the same profession fight together
and a great slaughter results, before about thirty lying dajjals are sent forth
each of them asserting that he is God's messenger, before knowledge is
withheld, earthquakes are abundant, the time becomes short, dissensions appear,
and there is much harj, which means slaughter, before wealth is abundant and
overflowing among you, before one who possesses property is anxious to find
someone who will accept his sadaqa, before he offers it and the one to whom it
is offered says he has no need of it, before people try to outstrip one another
in building, before a man passes another's grave and expresses the desire that
he were in his place, and before the sun rises in its place of setting. Then
when it rises and people see it, they will all believe, but that is a time when
{no soul will profit from faith if it had
none before, or has not already earned some good through its faith} [Al-An`am
6:158].” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
In Sahih Al-Bukhari,
Awf ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
“I came to the
Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, during the expedition of Tabuk while
he was in a leather tent, and he said: ‘Count six signs before the last
hour comes: my death, then the conquest of Jerusalem, then a mortal disease
which will affect you like qu'as[*] in sheep, then a superabundance of wealth
so that when a man is given a hundred dinars he will remain displeased, then a
civil strife which will leave no house of the Arabs without entering it, then a
truce between you and the Greeks who will act treacherously and come to you
under eighty banners with twelve thousand under each.’”
Anas, may Allah
be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings
be upon him, said:
“Among the signs of the Hour are
obscenity, indecency, severing the ties of kinship, accusing the trustworthy of
betrayal, and entrusting the treacherous.” (Al-Bazzar; also narrated by Al-Tabarani in Al-Awsat
from Anas)
Abdullah ibn
Masud reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
said: “One
of the signs of the Hour is that a person will pass by the mosque without
praying two rak'ahs in it, and that a person will only greet those he knows.” (At-Tabarani)
Anas reported
that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“One of the signs of the last hour
will be that people will vie with one another about mosques.” (Abu Dawud, Ahmad in his Musnad, Ad-Darimi, and
Ibn Khuzaymah)
The signs
mentioned by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in these hadiths, as
well as in many others, have been divided by scholars into two categories: minor
signs and major signs.
The minor signs
can themselves be divided into two categories: those that have already occurred
and those that have not yet occurred.
Among the signs
that have already occurred, some have appeared and passed, while others do not
occur only once. Rather, they emerge gradually, may recur repeatedly, and may
occur to a greater extent in the future than they did in the past.
Summary
of the Categories of the Signs of the Hour
First: Minor signs that have occurred and passed.
Second: Minor signs that have appeared and continue to occur,
and may recur.
Third: Minor signs that have not yet occurred.
Fourth: The major signs.
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