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Signs of the Last Hour
The following 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.
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.
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