[the introduction]

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and the wickedness of our deeds. He whom Allah guides, none can misguide, and he whom Allah misguides, none can guide.

I bear witness that there is no god but God alone, without 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 of them 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 amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly achieved a great attainment.}

Now then:

God Almighty sent Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - with the truth, as a bearer of good tidings and a warner before the Hour. He left no good without guiding his nation to it, nor any evil without warning them against it.

Since this nation is the last of the nations, and Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - is the Seal of the Prophets, God Almighty has singled out His nation for the appearance of the signs of the Hour, and He explained them to them through His Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - in the most perfect and complete manner, and He informed them that the signs of the Hour will inevitably appear among them. After Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - there is no other prophet who will explain to the people these signs, and what will happen at the end of time of great matters that herald the destruction of this world and the beginning of a new life, in which everyone will be rewarded according to what his hands have put forth. {So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it.} [Al-Zalzalah: 7-8].

Since one of the beliefs that must be believed in is belief in the Last Day and the reward and punishment it contains, and since a person’s vision may not extend beyond this life and the pleasures it contains, and he may forget the Last Day and not work for it, God has placed signs before the Hour indicating its occurrence and that it will inevitably occur, so that people will not have the slightest doubt about it, nor will anything about it tempt them.

It is known that if the Truthful and Trusted One - may God bless him and grant him peace - mentions one of its signs, and people see that thing happening, They knew for certain that the Hour would come, without a doubt, so they worked for it, prepared for that day, and stocked up on good deeds before it was too late and the appointed time expired: {That a soul should say, “Oh, how I wish I had been more mindful of my duty to Allah! And if I had been among the mockers!” Or it should say, “If only Allah had guided me, I would have been among the righteous!” Or it should say, when it sees the punishment, “If only I had another chance so I could be among the doers of good!”} [Az-Zumar: 56-58].

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, used to say in his sermon: “I and the Hour were sent like these two.”

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 of an army saying: Good morning and good evening to you.

The Companions, may God be pleased with them, were afraid that the Hour would come upon them. This was clearly demonstrated when the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, described the Antichrist to them, as stated in the hadith of al-Nawwas ibn Sam’an, may God be pleased with him, who said: “The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, mentioned the Antichrist one morning, speaking in a low and high tone, until we thought he was among a group of palm trees. When we went to him, he recognized that in us and said: ‘What is the matter with you?’ We said: ‘O Messenger of God! You mentioned the Antichrist one morning, speaking in a low and high tone, until we thought he was among a group of palm trees.’ He said: ‘I fear nothing for you except the Antichrist. If he emerges while I am among you, then I will be his opponent on your behalf. But if he emerges while I am not among you, then every man is his own opponent, and God is my successor over every Muslim.’” (1)

Many of the signs of the Hour have appeared, and what the Chosen One - may God bless him and grant him peace - foretold has come true. Every day, the believers' faith in him increases and their belief in him increases, as evidence of his prophethood and signs of his truthfulness become evident, requiring Muslims to adhere to this true religion.

How could their faith not increase when they see these unseen events that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) foretold happen as he foretold? Each of these signs that occur is a clear miracle for the Prophet of this nation (peace and blessings be upon him). So woe, then woe, to those who deny his message, turn it away, or doubt it.

The importance of this research comes at a time when some contemporary writers have begun to question the appearance of what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us about regarding the unseen matters that must be believed in, including the signs of the Hour. Some of them have denied some of them, and some have interpreted them with false interpretations!

For this and that, I wanted to compile a study that included the minor and major signs of the Hour, with their proven evidence from the Holy Qur’an and the pure Sunnah. Researching this topic was not easy, as it required research into the authenticity of the hadiths and combining the various narrations.

Some scholars have written books on the signs of the Hour, but they did not limit themselves to the authentic hadiths. Rather, you will find them listing many narrations without addressing the degree of the hadith in terms of its authenticity or weakness, except in rare cases. This confuses the reader, and he cannot distinguish between the authentic and the non-authentic. Likewise, they did not address the explanation of what was mentioned in these hadiths that needed clarification. However, they - may God have mercy on them - collected many hadiths for us and saved us a lot of effort.

Among these books:

1 - “Al-Fitan” : by Al-Hafiz Nu’aym bin Hammad Al-Khuza’i, who died in the year 228 AH, may God have mercy on him.

2 - “Al-Nihaya” or “Al-Fitan wal-Malahim” : by Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir, who died in the year (774 AH), may God have mercy on him.

3 - “The Rumor of the Signs of the Hour” : by Sharif Muhammad bin Rasool al-Husayni al-Barzanji, who died in the year 1103 AH, may God have mercy on him.

4 - “Broadcasting of What Was and Will Be Before the Hour” : by Sheikh Muhammad Siddiq Hasan al-Qanuji, who died in the year (1307 AH), may God have mercy on him.

5 - “A Gift to the Community of What Came Concerning Tribulations, Tribulations, and Signs of the Last Hour” : by Sheikh Hamoud bin Abdullah Al-Tuwaijri Al-Najdi. The Sheikh is still alive, may God protect him.

...and other books that dealt with the signs of the Hour.

I have benefited from those who came before me, and I decided to follow a path in this research that I have committed myself to, which is that I will not mention any condition in it except what the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - explicitly stated as being among the signs of the Hour - explicitly or by implication - and I have also committed myself to not mention in it anything except what is authentic or good from the hadiths, guided in that by the statements of the hadith scholars regarding the authenticity or weakness of the hadith.

For the sake of brevity, I did not mention all the authentic hadiths on each condition, but rather I limited myself to some hadiths that prove that this sign is one of the signs of the Hour.

I also mentioned what each condition requires, such as explaining the meaning of a strange word, or explaining the places mentioned in the hadiths. I also followed each sign with a brief explanation taken from the words of scholars, or from what came from the hadiths that are related to the sign being explained. I responded to some of those who denied any of the signs of the Hour, or interpreted them in a way other than what the hadiths indicate. I explained that the signs of the Hour are among the unseen matters that must be believed in as they came, and it is not permissible to reject them or make them symbols of good or evil or the emergence of superstitions.

Since many of the signs of the Hour were mentioned in individual reports, I devoted a chapter at the beginning of this research to explaining the validity of individual reports, in order to respond to those who denied the validity of individual reports and claimed that no belief could be based on them.

Likewise, this research is a call to believe in God Almighty and in the Last Day, and a confirmation of what was reported by the Truthful and Trusted One who does not speak from his own desires, it is only a revelation revealed, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, his family, and his companions.

It is also a call to prepare for what comes after death, for the Hour has drawn near, and many of its signs have appeared. When the major signs appear, they will follow one another like beads in a string when its string is untied. When the sun rises from the west, the door of repentance will be closed, and deeds will be sealed. After that, neither faith nor repentance will be of any benefit, except for one who was a believer or repentant before that: “ The Day some of the signs of your Lord come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it did not believe before or earned any good through its faith.” (Al-An’am: 158 )

{On the Day when man will remember what he strove for , and Hellfire will be presented to whoever sees . Then as for he who transgressed and preferred the life of this world, Hellfire will be the refuge. But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [his own] inclination , then Paradise will be the refuge.} [An-Nazi’at: 35-41]

We ask God Almighty, Lord of the Mighty Throne, to make us among those who are safe on the Day of Great Terror, and among those whom He will shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade but His.