Signs of the Hour by Yusuf Al-Wabil

The Sheikh Yusuf Abdullah Yusuf Al-Wabel [Introduction] All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, ask for His forgiveness, and seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the bad of our deeds. Whom Allah guides; there is no misleader for him, and whom He misguides; there is no guide for him. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. {O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims} [Al-Imran: 102]. {O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever over you an Observer} [An-Nisa: 1]. {O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will then amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great victory} [Al-Ahzab: 70]. As for what follows: Allah, the Most High, sent Muhammad - peace be upon him - with the truth as a bearer of good news and a warner before the Hour. He did not leave any good except that he pointed his nation to it, nor any evil except that he warned them against it. And since this nation is the last of nations, and Muhammad - peace be upon him - is the Seal of the Prophets, Allah the Almighty has distinguished his nation with the appearance of signs of the Hour within it, and explained them to them through His Prophet - peace be upon him - in the most complete and perfect manner. He also informed that the signs of the Hour will inevitably appear among them, so there will be no prophet after Muhammad - peace be upon him - to clarify these signs to people, nor to inform about the great matters at the end of time indicating the destruction of this world and the beginning of a new life, in which everyone will be rewarded according to what their hands have earned: {So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it} [Az-Zalzalah: 7-8]. And since one of the core beliefs that must be believed in is the belief in the Last Day and what is in it of reward and punishment, and because human sight may be limited to this life and its pleasures, and thus forget about the Hereafter and not work for it; Allah has set signs before the Hour that indicate its imminent arrival, and that it will certainly occur, so that people are not in doubt about it, nor are they deceived by anything about it. It is known that the truthful, trustworthy - peace be upon him - when he mentions some of its signs, and people see those signs happening, they will be certain that the Hour is coming without doubt. They will work for it, prepare for that day, and gather good deeds before it is too late and the appointed time passes: {And each soul will come, regretting, when it sees what it has put forth, and the disbeliever will say, "Oh, I wish I were dust"} [An-Naba: 40], and {When some of the signs of your Lord come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it did not believe before or earned good through its faith} [Al-An'am: 158]. The Prophet - peace be upon him - used to say in his khutbah: "I and the Hour have been sent like these two," and he pointed with his fingers. When he mentioned the Hour, his cheeks would turn red, his voice would rise, and his anger would intensify, as if he were a warner announcing: Good morning or good evening. The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were deeply concerned about the coming of the Hour upon them, and this was clearly shown when the Prophet - peace be upon him - described the Dajjal, as narrated in the hadith of An-Nawwas ibn Sam'an, may Allah be pleased with him. He said: The Messenger of Allah - peace be upon him - mentioned the Dajjal one morning, lowering and raising his voice until we thought he was among the palm trees. When we went to him, he recognized that in us and said: "What is your situation?" We said: O Messenger of Allah! You mentioned the Dajjal one morning, and your voice lowered and raised until we thought he was among the palm trees. He said: "The thing I fear most for you is not the Dajjal, but that he will come out while I am among you; I will be his intercessor for you, and if he comes out and I am not among you, then every person is responsible for himself. Allah is the Trustee over every Muslim." Many signs of the Hour have appeared, and what the Prophet - peace be upon him - foretold has been fulfilled. Every day, the faith of believers in him and their trust in him increases, as the signs of his Prophethood and the clear proofs of his truth appear, which compel Muslims to cling to this noble religion. How could they not increase in faith while they see these unseen matters, which the Messenger of Allah - peace be upon him - foretold happening exactly as he said? Each of these signs, which occur, is a clear miracle from the Prophet of this nation - peace be upon him. Woe, then, to those who deny his message, turn away from it, or doubt it. The importance of this research at this time is heightened because some contemporary writers have begun to doubt the occurrence of what the truthful, trustworthy - peace be upon him - foretold about the unseen, which Muslims must believe in, including the signs of the Hour. Some deny some of them, and others interpret them with false allegories! Therefore, I have decided to compile a research that includes the minor and major signs of the Hour, with their authentic evidence from the Qur'an and the purified Sunnah. This topic is not easy; it requires research into the authenticity of the hadiths and reconciliation among different narrations. Some scholars have written books about the signs of the Hour, but they did not strictly adhere to what is authentic from the hadiths; rather, they often list many narrations without regard to the level of authenticity or weakness of the hadith, except rarely. This causes confusion for the reader, making it difficult to distinguish between authentic and weak narrations, and they did not explain what needs clarification in these hadiths. However, may Allah have mercy on them, they gathered many hadiths for us, saving us much effort. Among these books are: 1 - "Al-Fitan" by Hafiz Na'im ibn Hamad Al-Khuzai, who died in 228 AH. 2 - "Al-Nihaya" or "Al-Fitan and Al-Malahim" by Hafiz Ibn Kathir, who died in 774 AH. 3 - "Al-Ishaa'a li Ashraat as-Sa'ah" by Sharif Muhammad ibn Rasul Al-Husseini Al-Barzanjī, who died in 1103 AH. 4 - "Al-Idha'a lima kana wa ma yakoonu bayna yaday as-Sa'ah" by Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Hassan Al-Qanouji, who died in 1307 AH. 5 - "Itihaf al-Jama'a bima ja'a fi al-Fitan wa al-Malahim wa Ashraat as-Sa'ah" by Sheikh Hamoud ibn Abdullah Al-Tuwaijri Al-Najdi. The sheikh is still alive, may Allah preserve him... among other writings that discuss the signs of the Hour. I benefited from those who preceded me, and I saw that I should follow a path I have committed myself to, which is that I only mention a sign if the Prophet - peace be upon him - explicitly or implicitly indicated that it is one of the signs of the Hour. I also committed not to mention anything unless it is authentic or good from the hadiths, guided by the sayings of scholars of hadith regarding the authentication or weakness of the hadith. For the sake of brevity, I did not include all authentic hadiths for each sign but only some that prove that this sign is one of the signs of the Hour. I also included what each sign needs in terms of explaining the meaning of strange words or clarifying the places mentioned in the hadiths. I also added a brief explanation for each sign, quoting the words of scholars or related hadiths, and I responded to some who denied some signs or interpreted them contrary to what the hadiths indicate. I clarified that the signs of the Hour are matters of the unseen that must be believed in as they come, and it is not permissible to reject them or turn them into symbols of good or evil or to promote superstitions. Since many of the signs of the Hour are mentioned in isolated reports, I have included at the beginning of this research a section explaining the authority of the report of the single hadith, to counter those who deny its authority and claim that it does not form part of the creed. This research is also a call to believe in Allah the Almighty and in the Last Day, and to trust what the truthful, trustworthy - peace be upon him - has informed us, for he does not speak from his own desire; it is only revelation revealed. Peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions in abundance. It is also a call to prepare for what comes after death, for the Hour has drawn near, and many signs of it have appeared. When the major signs appear, they will follow one another like beads on a string when the thread breaks. When the sun rises from the west, the door of repentance will be closed, and deeds will be sealed. After that, faith and repentance will no longer benefit anyone except those who were believers or repentant before that: {When some of the signs of your Lord come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it did not believe before or earn good through its faith} [Al-An'am: 158]. The Day mankind will remember what they strived for, and Hell will be displayed for those who see it: {On the Day when man will remember what he strove for, and Hellfire will be exposed for those who see} [An-Nazi'at: 35-36], and {As for the one who transgressed and preferred the life of this world, then indeed Hell is the refuge} [An-Nazi'at: 37-39], and {But those who feared their Lord unseen and were of those who believed in the Last Day, for them will be their reward} [Al-Mu'minun: 99-100]. We ask Allah, the Great, Lord of the Great Throne, to make us among those who are safe on the Day of the Greatest Fear, and among those who are shaded by His shade on a day when there is no shade but His.