سورة محمد

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was asked: "When will the Hour be?" He said: "When people come to believe in the stars and deny the divine decree."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): As for the first sign of the Hour, it is a fire that will drive people together from the east to the west.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Among the signs and tokens of the Hour is that knowledge will disappear and ignorance will become manifest. Wine-drinking and fornication will spread, the number of men will decrease and the number of women will increase, to the point that for every fifty women there will be one man.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Among the signs of the establishment of the Hour are the spread of paralysis and sudden death.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mufaddal ibn Umar said: "I asked my master, Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): 'Does the mission of the awaited Mahdi (may Allah hasten his noble relief) have a fixed time that the people should know when it will be?'" He said: "Far be it from Allah that He should fix the time of his appearance in such a way that our Shia would know it." I said: "My master, why is that?" He said: "Because the time of his appearance is that very Hour of which Allah says: They ask you about the Hour, when will it come? Say: 'Its knowledge is only with my Lord, and none but He [can] disclose its time. [But the coming of the Hour, even] in the heavens and the earth, is heavy [and of the greatest moment], and it will not come upon you except suddenly!' [Again] they ask you as though you were well informed of the time of its coming! Say: 'Its knowledge is only with Allah, but most people do not know.' (al-A'raf/187) … and this is also the very Hour of which Allah has said: They ask you about the Hour, when will it come? (al-A'raf/187) And He said: The time of the establishment of the Hour belongs to Allah alone (Luqman/34), meaning: the knowledge of its time is only with Allah. And in another verse He said: فَهَلْ یَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا السَّاعَةَ أَنْ تَأْتِیَهُمْ بَغْتَةً فَقَدْ جاءَ أَشْراطُها فَأَنَّی لَهُمْ إِذا جاءَتْهُمْ ذِکْراهُم [Do they then wait for aught but the hour that it should come to them all of a sudden? Now indeed the tokens of it have (already) come, but how shall they have their reminder when it comes on them?]."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): فَهَلْ یَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا السَّاعَةَ أَنْ تَأْتِیَهُمْ بَغْتَةً فَقَدْ جاءَ أَشْراطُها [Do they then wait for aught but the Hour that it should come to them all of a sudden? Now indeed the tokens of it have (already) come]. And Allah said: السَّاعَةُ مَوْعِدُهُمْ وَ السَّاعَةُ أَدْهی وَ أَمَرُّ [The Hour is their appointed time, and the Hour is more grievous and more bitter!]. (al-Qamar/46) And He said: أَنَّ السَّاعَةَ آتِیَةٌ لا رَیْبَ فِیها [And that the Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it]. (al-Hajj/7) The noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) delivered a sermon and said: 'Indeed the truest speech is the Book of Allah, the best guidance is the guidance of Allah, the worst of matters are the newly invented ones, and every innovation is misguidance.' Then a man stood up and said: 'O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), when is the Hour?' He said: 'The one asked is no more knowing of it than the one asking. It will not come to you except suddenly.' The man then said: 'O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), inform us of its signs and tokens.' He said: 'The Hour will not be established until knowledge is taken away, earthquakes multiply, tribulations become many, chaos and disorder appear, desires and whims among you increase, that which is built up will be ruined and that which is ruined will be built up, the east, the west and the Arabian peninsula will sink into the earth, the Dabbat al-Ard (Beast of the Earth) will come out, the Dajjal will appear, Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog) will spread throughout the earth, and Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) will descend from the sky.'

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): فَقَدْ جاءَ أَشْراطُها [Now indeed the tokens of it have (already) come], meaning: the signs of the Resurrection have indeed come. The signs of the Resurrection have appeared, and the mission of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) is one of those signs, for he (peace be upon him and his family) said: 'My mission and the establishment of the Resurrection are like these two fingers of the hand.' [And he pointed to the index and middle fingers.]

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): فَهَل یَنظُرُونَ إِلا السَّاعَةَ [Do they then wait for aught but the hour]; what is meant by it is the Resurrection, أَن تَأْتِیَهُم بَغْتَةً فَقَدْ جَاء أَشْرَاطُهَا [that it should come to them all of a sudden? Now indeed the tokens of it have (already) come].

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) — Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: On the Farewell Pilgrimage we performed the obligation of Hajj together with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). He took hold of the ring of the door of the Ka'bah, then turned his face toward us and said: "Do you wish me to tell you the signs of the establishment of the Resurrection?" On that day Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) was closer to him than all the people. The people answered: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)!" He said: "Among the signs of the Resurrection are the abandonment of prayer, following of desires, inclination to [deviant] ideas, honouring and respecting the wealthy, and selling religion in exchange for the world. In such a situation the heart of the believer, on account of seeing evils (munkarat) that he is unable to change, will melt within his chest as salt melts in water." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will such a thing really come to pass?" The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! By the One in whose hand is my soul, this will come to pass. In that period there will be tyrannical rulers, corrupt (fasiq) ministers, oppressive religious leaders, and treacherous trustees." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked again: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will such a matter come to pass?" The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! By the One in whose hand is my soul, on that day the evil and ugly deed will be turned into a good deed, and the people will consider good deeds ugly. The treacherous one will be counted as trustworthy, and the trustworthy one as treacherous. The liar will be counted truthful, and the truthful one a liar!" Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked yet again: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will such matters truly be realised?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes, by the One in whose hand is my soul! In that period, women will reach the station of ruling and slave-girls the station of counsel. Children will sit upon the pulpits. Lying will be turned into cleverness, zakat into a penalty (gharamah), and fay' [the spoils returned without fighting] into ghanimah [war booty]. A person will wrong his father and mother and be good to his friend. Comets will also appear." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked once more: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will these matters be realised?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes, O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that time women too, like their husbands, will engage in trade, and untimely rains will fall. Noble people will be objects of wrath and anger. The needy will be humiliated. Markets will be near and accessible. In that time, whenever a person says: 'I have sold nothing' or 'I have made no profit,' it will amount to censure and criticism of Allah. [They will hold Allah responsible.]" With great astonishment Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked once again: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will this matter come to pass?" The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! By the One in whose hand is my soul, it will be so. O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that time a group will rule over them such that if their subjects utter a word they will kill them, and if they remain silent they will violate their property and their honour so as to bring them into their own possession and stain their honour. Yes, the oppressive rulers will shed their blood, and fear and rancour will fill the hearts of the people, and dread, fear, alarm and anxiety will overcome them." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked once more: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will this matter come to pass?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) again swore that all of the above matters would come to pass. Then he said: "O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that time something will be brought from the East and something from the West, and it will make my ummah of many colours and hues. Woe to the weak of my ummah at their hands, and woe to them from Allah. They will not have mercy on children, nor honour the elderly, nor pardon sinners. Their bodies will be like those of human beings and their hearts will be satanic." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked again: "Will such matters truly be realised?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! By the One in whose hand is my soul. O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that time same-sex relations among women and among men will become widespread, and just as sexual relations are had with slave-girls in the houses of their masters, so too young boys will be violated. Men will make themselves resemble women, and women will make themselves resemble men. In that period women will ride upon mounts. May the curse of Allah be upon them." With astonishment Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked again: "Will these matters come to pass?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! By the One in whose hand is my soul. O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that period, mosques will be adorned like churches and synagogues, copies of the Qur'an will be decorated, and tall minarets will be built. Long rows of prayer will be formed while the people carry rancour toward one another in their hearts and practise hypocrisy (riya')." With astonishment Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked again: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will these matters come to pass?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! By the Allah in whose hand is my soul! O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that time the men of my ummah will use gold to adorn themselves and will wear garments of silk and garments of leopard skin." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will these matters come to pass?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! By the One in whose hand is my soul. In that time, usury (riba) will spread, and people will deal on the basis of salaf (advance sale) and bribes. Religion will become worthless and the world will become valued." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Will this matter come to pass?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! By the One in whose hand is my soul! In that period divorce will become widespread, and the divine limits (hudud) will not be enforced. Yet this matter will bring no harm to Allah." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked once again: "Will this matter come to pass?" The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes! O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! By the One in whose hand is my soul, indeed such matters will come to pass. O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that period female singers and musical instruments will appear, and the worst people of my ummah will come to rule over the people." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked again: "Will this matter come to pass?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) replied: "Yes! O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! By the One in whose hand is my soul! Such matters will come to pass. In that period the wealthy of my ummah will go to Hajj for sightseeing, the middle class of my ummah for trade, and the needy of my ummah for hypocrisy (riya') and to gain fame. Groups will learn the Qur'an for a purpose other than Allah and will make it a means of singing. Others too will study the rulings of religion with an aim other than the pleasure of the Lord. Children of adultery will become numerous. People will turn the Qur'an into song, and will crowd together upon worldliness." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) once again about the occurrence of such matters in the end times. He replied: "Yes! By the One in whose hand is my soul! O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! Sanctities will be violated and sins will become abundant. The wicked will rule over the good-natured. Lying will become widespread. Obstinacy and poverty will overcome society. People will boast over one another by means of clothing and dress. In that period untimely rains will fall. People will become fond of the kubah [a kind of drum] and other musical instruments, and will detest enjoining good and forbidding evil, to the point that in the end times the believer will be lower in worth than slave-girls. And this while the reciters and the worshippers among them will reproach one another. In the kingdom of the heavens and the earth such people will be addressed as filthy (najis) and impure." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) again about the occurrence of such matters. He again swore that such matters would come to pass. Then he said: "O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that period the wealthy person will fear only the needy, to the point that a beggar will stretch out the hand of need to the people throughout a whole week, but no one will help him." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) asked the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) yet again about the occurrence of such matters. He again swore that such matters would come to pass. Then he said: "O Salman (may Allah have mercy on him)! In that time the ruwaybidah (the incapable and powerless persons) will speak out." Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Who is the ruwaybidah?" He replied: "Those who could not speak will give their opinion on matters that concern the common people. After a while a sound will rise up from the earth. The people of every region will suppose that the sound has risen up only in their own land. Then a time will pass, until the earth casts up for them the pieces of its liver." Then he said: "Gold and silver." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) pointed to the pillars and continued: "In this manner gold and silver of this volume will come out of the earth. But on that day gold and silver will bring no benefit at all. So this is the meaning of this noble verse in which Allah the Exalted said: فَقَدْ جَاء أَشْرَاطُهَا [Indeed the tokens of it have come]."