The belief in the Day of Judgement is part of our Aqeedah (creed) and is something which will definitely happen. Allah (swt) has warned us about it many times in the Qur’an, He says,

“Verily, the Hour (Day of Judgement) is surely coming, there is no doubt about it, yet most men believe not. [Qur’an 40:59].

There are many signs Allah (swt) and His Messenger have told us about which will occur before the Hour. Some people might be wondering, when will the Hour be. This is something the Prophet was asked by the angel Jibreel and he replied, “The one asked about it knows no more than the one asking.” [Muslim]. So no one, including the Prophets (as) and the Angels know about the Hour. It is only known by Allah (swt) as He says, “People ask you concerning the Hour, say: The knowledge of it is with Allah only.” [Qur’an 33:63]. Allah (swt) has hid from His creation the time of the Hour, but has provided us with signs indicating that the Hour is near. Some signs have happened already, some are even happening now, and other signs are yet to happen. We will try to mention some of them, Inshallah.

SIGNS WHICH HAVE HAPPENED OR ARE CURRENTLY HAPPENING

Sending of the Prophet

The Prophet said, “I and the Hour have been sent like these two, like the difference between the one and the other” and he held his forefinger and middle finger up together. [Bukhari].

Splitting of the moon

Allah (swt) says, “The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah requested Prophet to show them a miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon). And if they see a sign, they turn away, and say: This is continuous magic.” [Qur’an 54:1-2].

Emergence of imposters (Dajjals) who would claim Prophethood

The Prophet warned us that some people would claim to be Prophets. They would deceive many people and create Fitnah but the majority of people would ignore them. The Prophet said, “There will be thirty Dajjals among my Ummah, each of whom will claim that he is a Prophet, but I am the Seal of the Prophets, there will be no Prophet after me.” [Muslim]. There have been many “Dajjals” in the past; some emerged during the time of the Companions (ra) and others in the time of the Taabi’een. The most recent “Dajjal” is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of India, and his followers are known as Ahmadis or Qadiyanis.

Trials and tribulations

The Muslim Ummah will be severely tested using many trials and tribulations. This will divide the Ummah and create disputes. Some Muslims will even leave their religion for worldly gain. [Muslim]. The calamity will be so severe on a Muslim that he would want to escape it, and will wish for his death. The Prophet said, “The Hour will not come until a man passes by a man’s grave and says: Would that I were in his place.” [Bukhari]. “Among the signs of the Hour are that knowledge will be taken away, ignorance will be widespread, Zina and wine-drinking will be widespread.” [Bukhari]. This knowledge will be taken away through the deaths of the scholars, so the common people will lack knowledge and become ignorant.

The Prophet said that the ratio of men and women would differ so much that “for fifty women there will be only one man”. [Bukhari]. The explanation for this is the amount of killing which would take place at that time. The killing will not occur because of the disbelievers, rather Muslims would be killing each other. Reason will be taken away from the people as the Prophet said, “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, there will come a time when the killer will not know why he killed, and his victim will not know why he was killed.” [Muslim]. At the end of time there will be landslides, stones from heaven and people will be transformed into animals. When asked when this will be, the Prophet replied, “When female singers and musical instruments become widespread, and much wine is drunk.” [Tirmidhi].

Appointment of unqualified people to positions of authority

The Four Rightly Guided Caliphs were both knowledgeable and pious therefore they were just in their ruling. The Prophet has said that (trust and) honesty would be lost. When asked how they would be lost, he answered, “When unqualified people are appointed (to the positions of authority and leadership), watch for the Hour.” [Bukhari]. The matters of the Muslim Ummah are run by tyrants who do things as they please and are distracted by the pleasures of this world.

Muslims will become corrupt

Allah (swt) says, “Truly, We did offer Al-Amaanah (the trust or moral responsibility or honesty and all the duties which Allah has ordained) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it (i.e. afraid of Allah’s Torment). But man bore it. Verily, he was unjust (to himself) and ignorant (of its results). [Qur’an 33:72]. The Prophet warned us that this Amaanah would be slowly taken away, and this is evident in this present time. He also said, “The people will enter into transactions with one another, and there would hardly be anyone who will return things that had been entrusted to him.” [Muslim]. The word of a liar will be accepted whilst the word of an honest man will be rejected. [Ahmad].

Exclusive greetings and severance of family ties

The Prophet said, “Just before the Hour there will be exclusive greetings and… severance of family ties.” What is meant by exclusive greetings is that a Muslim will only give Salaam to the people he knows [Ahmad].

Abundance of wealth

If a poor man is given some money, he will think that it is not enough. As the Prophet said, “Count six things just before the Hour,” and he listed them, one of which was, “wealth will be abundant, such that a man will be given hundred dinars and will remain discontent.” [Bukhari].

SIGNS YET TO HAPPEN

Almost all the minor signs of the end of time have arrived according to the majority of scholars. We are now waiting for the major signs:

Hudhayfah ibn 'Ubayd said, "The Prophet came upon us whilst, we were busy in discussion He asked us, 'What are you talking about?' We said, 'We are discussing the Hour.' He said, 'It will not come until you see ten signs: the smoke, the Dajjal, the beast, the sun rising from the West, the descent of Jesus son of Mary, Gog and Magog, and three land-slides – one in the East, one in the West, and one in Arabia, at the end of which fire will burst forth from the direction of Aden (Yemen) and drive people to the place of their final assembly.' " [Ahmad].
Some of these and other signs will now be discussed in detail:

Coming of the Mahdi

The Prophet said, “This world will not pass away until the Arabs are ruled by a man from among my family, whose name will be the same as mine.” [Tirmidhi]. The Mahdi will be the Khalifah and will come from the same lineage as the Prophet (saw). He will have the same name as Muhammad (saw), and his fathers name will also be the same as the name of the father of the Messenger (saw). The Mahdi “will have a wide forehead and a hooked nose. He will fill the earth with fairness and justice, as it had been filled with injustice and oppression, and he will rule for seven years.” [Abu Dawud]. He will rule as a just leader “and Allah will grant him rain which will cause the earth to produce vegetation. He will be given wealth in abundance, livestock will increase and the Ummah will become great.” [Al-Haakim]. Some rulers in the past have even claimed to be the Mahdi.

The Dajjal

The greatest tribulation mankind will face will be the Dajjal. The Prophet said, “I warn you about him. There is no Prophet who did not warn his people about him, but I will tell you something about him which no Prophet has ever told his people: he is one-eyed and Allah is not one-eyed.” [Bukhari]. The Prophet in a dream saw the Dajjal and said him to be “a well-built man, with a reddish complexion and curly hair, and one-eyed, as if his eye is a floating grape.” [Bukhari].

The Dajjal will also have the word ‘kaafir’ written between his eyes. [Bukhari]. This is a way of Allah (swt) making him recognisable to the believers, and they would be able to read it regardless of whether they are literate or illiterate. The Dajjal will be sterile and no children will be born to him. [Muslim]. He will claim to be God but how do we know this is false, other than what is stated above? The Prophet said, “Know that no one among you will see his Lord until he dies.” [Muslim].

The Dajjal will be given ‘powers’ by Allah (swt), which will be a great trial for the people. He will have the ability to travel around the world “like the clouds driven by the wind” and will enter every city except Makkah and Madinah. [Muslim]. He will try and deceive people using two rivers, one which looks like Paradise and the other like Hell, when infact the river of Paradise will be fire and the river of Hell will be cool water. [Muslim]. He will be able to command the sky to rain and the earth to bring forth its vegetation. [Muslim]. He will be able to bring the dead to life. [Bukhari]. The Dajjal will remain on earth for forty days. [Muslim].

Gog and Magog (Ya’juj and Ma’juj)

The emergence of the mighty tribes of Ya'juj and Ma'juj is also a major sign of Qiyamah. Gog and Magog are two tribes which will appear at the time of Jesus son of Mary, after the Dajjal. Allah will destroy them all in one night, in response to the supplication of Jesus.

Gog and Magog are two groups of Turks, descended from Yafith (Japheth), the father of the Turks, one of the sons of Noah. At the time of Abraham (as) there was a king called Dhu'l-Qarnayn. He performed Tawaf around the Ka'bah with Abraham (as) when he first built it; he believed and followed him. Dhu'l-Qarnayn was a good man and a great king; Allah (swt) gave him great power and he ruled the east and west. He held sway over all kings and countries, and travelled far and wide in both east and west. He travelled eastwards until he reached a pass between two mountains, through which people were coming out. They did not understand anything, because they were so isolated; they were Gog and Magog. They were spreading corruption through the earth, and harming the people, so the people sought help from Dhu'l-Qarnayn. They asked him to build a barrier between them and Gog and Magog. He asked them to help him to build it, so together they built a barrier by mixing iron, copper and tar.

Thus Dhu'l-Qarnayn restrained Gog and Magog behind the barrier. They tried to penetrate the barrier, or to climb over it, but to no avail. They could not succeed because the barrier is so huge and smooth. They began to dig, and they have been digging for centuries; they will continue to do so until the time when Allah (swt) decrees that they come out. At that time the barrier will collapse, and Gog and Magog will rush out in all directions, spreading corruption, uprooting plants, killing people. When Jesus (as) prays against them, Allah will send a kind of worm in the napes of their necks, and they will be killed by it.

Isa (as) will descend

Allah (swt) says, “And he [Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)] shall be a known sign for (the coming of) the Hour.” [Qur’an 43:61]. He will come down at the white minaret in the east of Damascus. [At-Tabaraani]. “He will be a man of average build, with a reddish, whitish complexion. He will come down wearing two garments dyed with saffron, with his head looking as if it is wet although it will be not.” [Abu Dawud]. He will descend when the Muslim army are preparing for battle and the time of prayer has come. Isa (as) will refuse and tell someone else to lead the prayer and they shall pray. [Muslim]. After they have prayed Isa (as) and Dajjal will meet. This will make Dajjal melt away like salt in water and will run away. But Isa (as) shall catch up and kill Dajjal. [Muslim]. Isa (as) will remain on this earth for forty years [Abu Dawud], and in his time he will rule according to the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Messenger (saw). [Muslim]. It would be a time with lots of blessings, where a seed would even grow if it were to be placed on a rock, and a snake or a lion would not harm a man.

The Beast

Baridah said: "The Prophet took me to a place in the desert, near Makkah. It was a dry piece of land surrounded by sand. The Prophet said, 'The Beast will emerge from this place. It was a very small area." (Ibn Majah.)

Ibn Kathir has said that the beast will appear very near the end of time. When disintegration, corruption, Kufr and evil prevail, commands of Allah are ignored, the Deen changed and made a mockery of, it is then Allah will take out the Beast from the earth. The task of the Beast will be to distinguish the believers from the non-believers, with Prophet Moosa's (as) staff it will draw a line on the forehead of every believer whereby his face will become bright and luminous and with the ring of Sulaman (as) it will destroy the nose of every non-believer where by his whole face will become black. Thus there will be complete distinction between the Muslim and non-Muslim, so that if many parties sit at a dinner table, the Muslim and non-Muslim will be distinguished. (Tirmidhi)

The smoke

Allah (swt) says, “Then wait you for the Day when the sky will bring forth a visible smoke, covering the people, this is a painful torment. (They will say): ‘Our Lord! Remove the torment from us, really we shall become believers!’ How can there be for them an admonition (at the time when the torment has reached them), when a Messenger explaining things clearly has already come to them. Then they had turned away from him (Messenger Muhammad) and said: ‘(He is) one taught (by a human being), a mad man!’ Verily, We shall remove the torment for a while. Verily, you will revert (to disbelief).” [Qur’an 44:10-15].

Sun will rise from the west

The sun now rises from the east and sets in the west, but this will change. The Prophet said, “The Hour will not come until the sun rises from the west. When it rises and the people see it they will all believe, but that will be the time when faith will not benefit a person if he did not believe before, or did not derive any good from his faith.” [Bukhari].

Removal of the Qur’an and end of Islam

The Prophet said, “Islam will wear out like the adornment of a garment wears out, until no one will know what fasting, prayer, sacrifice or charity are. The Book of Allah will be taken away in one night, and not one Ayah will be left on earth.” [Ibn Majah]. Allah (swt) will take away from this world all the people who had faith, and this will leave “the most evil of people who will fornicate like donkeys, and upon them the Hour will come.” [Muslim].

Return of the days of ignorance

After the people who had faith pass away and the Qur’an is removed, the people who are left will start worshiping idols. The Prophet said, “Night and day will not cease until Al-Laat and Al-‘Uzza are worshipped.” [Muslim].

The Ka’bah will be destroyed

The Prophet said, “The Ka’bah will be destroyed by Dhul-Suwayqatayn from Abyssinia. He will rob it of its adornments and take away its covering.” [Ahmad].

New moon will increase in size

The Prophet said, “Among the signs that the Hour is nigh will be that the new moon will appear bigger.” [At-Tabaraani].

Arabian Peninsula will become gardens and rivers once more

The land will become fertile with vegetation and rivers and springs will flow. As the Prophet said, “The Hour will not come until… the land of the Arabs becomes gardens and rivers once more.” [Muslim].

Animals and inanimate objects will speak to people

The Prophet said, “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, the Hour will not come until wild animals speak to people, and the end of a man’s whip speaks to him, and his shoelace, and a man’s thigh tells him of what his family did after he left.” [Al-Hakim].

Euphrates will uncover a mountain of gold

The Prophet said, “The Hour will not come until the Euphrates uncovers a mountain of gold over which the people will fight, and ninety-nine out of every hundred will be killed. Each man among them will say, perhaps I will be the one who will survive”. [Muslim].

Jahjaah will be the ruler

Jahjaah means one who shouts. He will be become the ruler and people will follow and obey him. As the Prophet said, “The Hour will not come until there emerges a man from Qahtaan who will rule the people with a rod of iron.” [Muslim].

So, after all that what have YOU prepared for the end of time?

The Prophet was asked regarding the Hour. He said, "It will surely come to pass. What have you prepared for it?" [Bukhari]. So now that you know the signs... the sixty million dollar question is: what have YOU prepared for it? You can't do much about the major signs but you can definitely do something about the minor signs which are occurring right in front of your very eyes. Was the Prophet referring to you when he said a time will come when Muslims will be corrupt? Are you one of those the Prophet was referring to as people who will be involved in widespread fornication and drinking? Are you the person the Prophet was referring to when he mentioned Muslims will be killing Muslims? Are you sure it's not you the Prophet was referring to when he said the sign of the Hour is when family ties will be cut?

Now if any of the signs of the Hour refer to YOUR actions in any way, shape or form, then make a change today and take the first step to better yourself before your time is up.