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The signs and portents of the Day of Resurrection can be divided into lesser and greater signs. The lesser signs, for the most part, will occur a long time before the Resurrection begins. Some of them have happened and ended – although they may be repeated – and some of them have appeared and are ongoing. Some have not yet happened, but they will happen as the truthful one (the Prophet) (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has told us.
The lesser and major signs of the Hour are many, and are mentioned in many saheeh ahaadeeth. Following is a brief summary of the signs are:
Past Signs
1) Splitting of the Moon.
2) Death of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
3) A form of death which will kill thousands of Muslims. (Understood to refer to the plague of Amwas during the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab.)
4) A major fighting in Madinah (understood to refer to the battle of al-Harrah during the caliphate of Yazid, 63 AH).
5) The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.
6) The Muslim conquest of Constantinople.
7) Two large groups of Muslims will fight in war.
8) A war between the Muslims and a reddish people with small eyes, wearing sandals made of hair (understood to refer to the Mongol Tatar invasion of the Islamic lands.)
9) A peace agreement between the Muslims and non-Muslims from the yellow race (Chinese, Mongols, etc.)
10) Thirty impostors (dajjal) will appear, each thinking he is a prophet.
Present Signs
11. Naked, destitute, barefoot shepherds will compete in building tall buildings.
12. The slave-woman will give birth to her master or mistress.
13. A trial (fitnah) which will enter every Arab household.
14. Knowledge will be taken away (by the death of people of knowledge), and ignorance will prevail.
15. Widespread drinking of alcohol. The prevalence of musical instruments. Tribulations (fitnahs) will prevail.
16. Illegal sexual intercourse will become widespread.
17. Appearance of women who are clothed yet naked.
18. Earthquakes will increase.
19. Time will pass more quickly.
20. The spread of riba (usury, interest)
21. Bloodshed will increase. (Widespread killing)
22. Trustworthiness will be lost, i.e. People will distrust one who is trustworthy, and trust one who is treacherous.
23. When any gain is shared out only among the rich, with no benefit to the poor; when a trust becomes a means of making a profit.
24. When the leader of a people is the worst of them.
25. When people treat a man with respect because they fear some evil he may do.
26. Knowledge will be in the hands of the lowest of you, and power passes into the hands of the least of you. Authority will be given to those who do not deserve it.
27. Trade will become so widespread that a woman will help her husband in business.
28. Family ties will be cut; the giving of false witness will be common, while truthful witness will be rare.
Future Signs
29. People will gather for prayer, but will be unable to find an imam to lead them.
30. The number of men will decrease, whilst the number of women will increase, until for every man there are 50 women.
31. The buttocks of the women of the tribe of Daws will again sway in circumambulation (tawaf) around the idol Dhul-Khulsah.
32. The Euphrates will reveal a treasure of gold, and many will die fighting over it, each one hoping to be the one who gains
the treasure.
33. The Romans (Europeans) will come to a place called A’maq or Wabiq, and an army of the best people will go forth from Madinah to face them.
34. A major war between the Muslims (including Jews and Christians who truly believe in Jesus after his return) led by the Imam Mahdi, and the Jews plus other non-Muslims led by the Antichrist.
35. The Muslim conquest of Rome.
36. Only the worst people will be left; they will not know any good or forbid any evil. The worst of the people are those upon whom the Hour will come while they are still alive, and those who turn graves into mosques.
37. When paying Zakaat becomes a burden; when a man obeys his wife and disobeys his mother; and treats his friend kindly whilst shunning his father.
38. Wealth will increase, so that a wealthy man will worry lest no-one accept his Zakaat, and when he offers it to anyone, that person will say, “I am not in need of it.”
39. Arabia will become a land of gardens and rivers.
40. There will be no-one who knows what fasting, prayer, charity and rituals are. The Quran will disappear in one night, and no Ayah will be left on earth.
41. The Mahdi (guided one) will appear, and be the Imam of the Muslims.
42. Jesus Christ will descend in Damascus, and pray behind the Mahdi.
43. Jesus will break the cross and kill the swine, i.e. destroy the false Christianity.
44. The Antichrist (al-masih al-dajjal, the false Christ) will appear, with all his tools of deception, and be an immense trial. He will be followed by 70,000 Jews from Isfahan (present-day Iran).
45. The Dajjaal will appear at the end of time, when religion is taken lightly. He will have forty days in which to travel throughout the earth. One of these days will be like a year, another will be like a month, a third will be like a week, and the rest will be like normal days.
46. Jesus will kill the Antichrist at the gate of Ludd (Lod in present-day Israel, site of an airport and a major Israeli military base).
47. A time of great peace and serenity during and after the remaining lifetime of Jesus.
46. Peace will prevail and people will use their swords as sickles. Every harmful beast will be made harmless; the sky will send down rain in abundance, and the earth will bring forth its blessings. A child will play with a fox and not come to any harm; a wolf will graze with sheep and a lion with cattle, without harming them.
47. Gog and Magog will appear from all directions, eating and drinking everything they find.
48. The emergence of the Beast from the Earth, carrying the Staff of Moses and the Seal of Solomon, who will speak to the people, telling them they did not believe with certainty in the Divine Signs.
49. Three major armies will sink into the earth: one in the east, one in the west, one in Arabia.
50. There is no-one left on the earth saying, “Allah, Allah” or “There is no god except Allah.”
51. A man will wake up as a believer, and be a kafir (unbeliever) by nightfall. People will sell their religion for a small amount of worldly goods.
52. There will come a tribulation during which one who sits will be better than one who stands, one who stands will be better than one who walks, and one who walks will be better than one who runs.
53. Among my Ummah, some will be swallowed up by the earth, some bombarded with stones, and some transformed into animals.
54. Three land-slides – one in the East, one in the West, and one in Arabia.
55. An Abyssinian leader with thin shins will destroy the Ka’bah.
56. The Hour will not come until a man passes by someone’s grave and says, ‘Would that I were in his place!
57. Hour will not come until wild animals talk to men, and a man speaks to his whip or his shoe, and his thigh will tell him about what happened to his family after he left.”
58. The Hour will not come until time passes so quickly that a year will be like a month, a month like a week, a week like a day, a day like an hour, and an hour like the time it takes for a palm-leaf to burn.’
59. The Hour will not come until Allah takes away the best people on earth; only the worst people will be left; they will not know any good or forbid any evil.
60. The Hour will not come until the following events have come to pass: two large groups will fight the another, and there will be many casualties; they will both be following the same religious teaching.
61. The Hour will come suddenly: when a man has milked his she-camel and taken away the milk, but he will not have time to drink it; before a man repairing a tank for his livestock will be able to put water in it for his animals; and before a man who has raised a morsel of food to his mouth will be able to eat it.
Last Signs
62. A gentle wind which will take the souls of the believers.
63. Eventually the Day of Judgment is established upon the worst of the people, who copulate like donkeys in public.
64. The first of the signs (of the Hour) to appear will be the rising of the sun from the West and the appearance of the Beast before the people in the forenoon. Whichever of these two events happens first, the other will follow immediately.
65. The huge cloud of smoke.
66. A fire which will emerge from Yemen and drive the people to their place of gathering
67. The blowing in the Trumpet by the Angel Israfil, upon which everyone will faint except as Allah wills.
68. The second blowing in the Trumpet, upon which everyone will be resurrected.
There is no saheeh text which states the order in which these signs will occur, rather the order of some of them is to be understood from the context of the texts.
And Allah knows the best.
