Signs of the Hour: Islam's End Times Prophecies
Islamic eschatology—the doctrine of end times—presents a detailed scenario of events leading to the Day of Judgment (Yawm al-Qiyamah). These "Signs of the Hour" are divided into minor and major signs, drawn primarily from hadith attributed to Muhammad. While some overlap with Biblical end times teaching, Islamic eschatology contains numerous unique elements that range from the bizarre to the troubling. Examining these prophecies reveals significant problems with Islam's claim to divine revelation, as many signs appear to reflect 7th-century Arabian cultural concerns rather than timeless divine truth.
The Framework: Minor and Major Signs
Islamic tradition divides the Signs of the Hour into two categories:
Minor Signs: These are general moral and social deteriorations that have occurred or are occurring. Their vagueness allows Muslims to claim they are being fulfilled in every generation.
Major Signs: These are specific, dramatic events that will occur in rapid succession immediately before the Day of Judgment. Islamic scholars generally list ten major signs, though sources vary on exact details.
The Quran provides relatively little detail about end times signs. The extensive eschatological system in Islam comes primarily from hadith, raising questions about whether these teachings truly represent divine revelation or Muhammad's and later Muslims' speculations.
The Minor Signs: Vague and Self-Fulfilling
The minor signs of the Hour include dozens of predictions that are intentionally vague enough to seem fulfilled in any era. Common examples include:
"Among the signs of the Hour: knowledge will decrease, ignorance will prevail, wine will be drunk, illegal sexual intercourse will be common, men will decrease and women will increase until there will be fifty women to be looked after by one man." (Sahih Bukhari 81)
This hadith predicts moral decline—something every generation throughout history has claimed about their own time. Claims that "knowledge decreases" and "ignorance prevails" are subjective judgments that can be applied to any period depending on one's perspective.
The prediction about gender ratios (50 women to 1 man) has never occurred and seems unlikely given natural birth ratios. Either this prediction will fail, or Muslims will need to interpret it metaphorically, undermining claims that these are literal prophecies.
Other minor signs include:
- "Time will pass quickly" - subjective experience every generation reports
- "Religious knowledge will be taken away" - depends entirely on one's assessment
- "Earthquakes will increase" - earthquake frequency is actually relatively constant, but recording has improved
- "Wealth will increase" - sometimes true, sometimes false, depending on time and place
- "People will compete in constructing tall buildings" - the existence of skyscrapers seems to fulfill this, though competition in building impressive structures is ancient
- "A slave woman will give birth to her master" - various interpretations, none clearly verified
- "Shepherds will compete in building tall structures" - again referencing construction of impressive buildings
These predictions are either too vague to verify, subject to interpretation, or simply observable patterns in any complex society. They don't demonstrate supernatural foreknowledge.
The Specific Failed Predictions
Some hadith contain specific predictions that have demonstrably failed or seem highly unlikely:
"The Hour will not be established until the land of the Arabs returns to being meadows and rivers." (Sahih Muslim 157)
Arabia's deserts have not become meadows and rivers, despite nearly 1,400 years since this prediction. Muslims now interpret this as referring to climate change or point to minor greening projects, but the plain meaning has not been fulfilled.
"The Hour will not be established until you fight against the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.'" (Sahih Bukhari 2926)
This deeply troubling hadith predicts a future genocide of Jews aided by miraculous speaking stones. Hamas and other terrorist groups have cited this hadith as justification for violence against Jews. Rather than prophesying divine judgment, this prediction encourages human violence based on religious identity.
The fact that stones will supposedly speak to help Muslims kill Jews should raise serious questions. Does God truly reveal such teachings, or does this reflect 7th-century Arabian conflicts with Jewish tribes?
The Ten Major Signs
Islamic tradition identifies ten major signs that will occur near the end of time. While sources vary slightly, they typically include:
1. The Smoke (Al-Dukhan): A mysterious smoke will cover the earth for forty days, causing suffering to unbelievers.
2. The Dajjal (Antichrist): A false messiah who will deceive people, perform false miracles, and claim divinity. He is described as blind in one eye with "kafir" (disbeliever) written on his forehead in letters that only believers can read.
3. The Beast (Dabbat al-Ard): A creature will emerge from the earth and mark people on their faces, identifying who is truly a believer and who is a disbeliever.
4-5-6. Three Landslides: Major landslides will occur in the east, west, and Arabian Peninsula.
7. The Sun Rising from the West: The sun will rise from the west instead of the east, at which point repentance will no longer be accepted.
8. The Return of Jesus (Isa): Jesus will descend from heaven, break crosses, kill pigs, abolish the jizya tax, and establish Islamic law.
9. The Appearance of Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog): Barbaric peoples who have been trapped behind a wall will break through and cause destruction until Jesus prays for their defeat.
10. A Fire from Yemen: A fire will emerge from the depths of Aden and drive people to their place of final assembly.
Let's examine several of these major signs in detail.
The Dajjal: Islamic Antichrist
The Dajjal is one of Islam's most developed eschatological figures, yet appears nowhere in the Quran. All details come from hadith. He is described as:
- Blind in the right eye, which appears like a floating grape
- Having "kafir" (disbeliever) written on his forehead in Arabic letters
- Performing false miracles including raising the dead
- Claiming to be God
- Being followed primarily by Jews and women
- Traveling the entire earth in forty days except unable to enter Mecca and Medina
- Being killed by Jesus when Jesus returns
"The Dajjal will appear, and with him will be water and fire. What people see as water will be burning fire, and what they see as fire will be cool water." (Sahih Muslim 2934)
The physical description of the Dajjal—particularly the claim that "kafir" will be written on his forehead in Arabic letters visible only to believers—raises obvious questions. Why would an end-times deceiver have the Arabic word for "disbeliever" written on his face? Would this mark only be visible in Arabic, or would it appear in whatever language believers read?
The claim that Jews and women will be the Dajjal's primary followers reflects Islamic prejudices more than divine prophecy. Islamic tradition often associates women with lesser intelligence and religious commitment, and Islam's historical conflicts with Jewish communities color this prediction.
The Return of Jesus
Islam teaches that Jesus will return to earth before the Day of Judgment, but as a Muslim who will establish Islamic law. According to Islamic eschatology:
"By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, surely the son of Mary will soon descend amongst you and will judge mankind justly as a Just Ruler; he will break the Cross and kill the pigs and there will be no Jizya." (Sahih Bukhari 3448)
This hadith claims Jesus will:
- Establish Islamic law ("judge justly as a Just Ruler" means ruling by Shariah)
- "Break the Cross" - symbolically abolish Christianity by proving it false
- "Kill the pigs" - enforce Islamic dietary laws
- "Abolish the jizya" - end the tax on non-Muslims because Islam will be universally established
This portrayal fundamentally contradicts Jesus' actual mission and teaching. The Biblical Jesus came to save sinners through His sacrificial death on the cross, rose from the dead, and will return to judge the living and the dead. He did not come to establish Islamic law or prove Christianity false—He founded Christianity.
The Islamic Jesus serves primarily as a polemical figure used to undermine Christianity and validate Islam. By claiming Jesus will return as a Muslim who abolishes Christianity, Islam attempts to appropriate Christianity's central figure while rejecting Christianity's central message.
Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog)
Islamic tradition describes Ya'juj and Ma'juj as barbaric peoples that have been imprisoned behind a wall since ancient times. Based loosely on Biblical references to Gog and Magog, the Islamic version contains fantastic details:
"Every day Ya'juj and Ma'juj are breaking through the barrier, until they can almost see sunlight. Then their leader says, 'Go back, we will break through tomorrow.' Then Allah makes it stronger than it was. When their appointed time comes and Allah wishes to send them against people, they will break through the barrier, and their leader will say, 'Go back, we will break through tomorrow,' and when they come back they will find it as they left it, and they will break through it." (Sunan Ibn Majah 4080)
According to Islamic eschatology, after Jesus kills the Dajjal, Ya'juj and Ma'juj will break through their barrier and cause massive destruction. They will be so numerous that "the first of them will pass by Lake Tiberias and drink all its water, and the last of them will pass by it and say, 'There used to be water here.'"
Jesus and the believers will take refuge on a mountain while Ya'juj and Ma'juj rampage. Eventually, Jesus will pray to Allah, who will send parasitic worms to kill all of Ya'juj and Ma'juj overnight.
This narrative reads like ancient mythology rather than divine prophecy. The image of peoples so numerous they drink an entire lake, killed by miraculous worms, strains credulity. The question arises: where is this wall mentioned in Islamic prophecy? No archaeological or geographical evidence supports the existence of a massive wall imprisoning numerous peoples.
The Sun Rising from the West
One of the most dramatic major signs is the reversal of the sun's rising:
"The Hour will not be established until the sun rises from the west; and when it rises from the west, all people will believe, but that will be the time when 'No good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before.'" (Sahih Bukhari 4636)
This sign presents astronomical impossibilities. For the sun to rise from the west, either:
- Earth's rotation would need to reverse—a catastrophic event that would destroy all life
- Earth would need to flip on its axis—equally catastrophic
- Some localized illusion would make the sun appear to rise from the west
If this prediction is meant literally, it describes an extinction-level event that contradicts Islamic teaching that life will continue after this sign. If it's metaphorical, then its specificity as a "major sign" loses meaning.
The theological claim that belief will no longer be accepted after this sign raises questions about Allah's mercy and justice. Why would an all-merciful God create a cosmic sign so dramatic that everyone believes, but then refuse to accept that belief?
The Beast
Islamic eschatology predicts that a beast (Dabbat al-Ard) will emerge from the earth and mark people's faces to indicate whether they are true believers:
"When the Word is fulfilled against them, We will bring forth for them a creature from the earth speaking to them, [saying] that the people were, of Our verses, not certain [in faith]." (Quran 27:82)
Hadith elaborate that this beast will mark believers and disbelievers on their faces, making their status publicly visible. The purpose appears to be public identification and humiliation of non-believers before final judgment.
This raises ethical questions about a God who would create a creature to publicly mark and shame people. The image of forced identification based on belief echoes totalitarian regimes that marked religious or ethnic minorities for persecution.
Biblical Contrast: The Return of Christ
The Bible provides substantial end times prophecy, particularly in Daniel, Ezekiel, the Synoptic Gospels' Olivet Discourse, and Revelation. While there are similarities with Islamic eschatology (an antichrist figure, a final battle, divine judgment), the theological framework differs fundamentally.
Biblical eschatology centers on Christ's return in glory to judge the living and the dead:
"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Christ returns not to abolish Christianity and establish Islam, but to complete the salvation He began at His first coming. The Biblical Jesus is consistent across both comings—the same person with the same mission: saving sinners.
The Bible does describe tribulation, an antichrist figure, and God's judgment on evil. However, it emphasizes:
- Salvation through faith in Christ alone
- God's sovereignty over human history
- The certainty of Christ's victory over evil
- The hope of resurrection and eternal life for believers
- The establishment of a new heaven and new earth
Biblical eschatology offers hope: despite current suffering, God will ultimately make all things right. Islamic eschatology, by contrast, emphasizes punishment, violence, and the vindication of Islam over other religions.
The Problem of Unfulfilled Prophecy
Some early Islamic sources contain predictions that have clearly failed. For example, hadith suggest Muhammad expected the Day of Judgment soon:
"I have been sent when the Hour is like these two fingers." (Sahih Bukhari 6503)
Nearly 1,400 years later, the Hour has not come. Muslims explain this by noting that Allah's timing is different from human perception, but the impression of imminence in early Islamic sources remains problematic.
The failure of specific predictions (Arabia becoming meadows, the Euphrates uncovering a mountain of gold, specific conflicts) forces Muslims to continuously reinterpret prophecies metaphorically or claim they remain future—a pattern that undermines confidence in Islamic prophecy generally.
Questions to Consider
- If the minor signs of the Hour can be applied to every generation, do they truly demonstrate prophetic foreknowledge?
- Why would a merciful God reveal prophecy about stones helping Muslims kill Jews, encouraging religious violence?
- If Jesus returns to abolish Christianity and establish Islam, why did He never teach Islamic doctrines during His earthly ministry?
- Where is the wall imprisoning Ya'juj and Ma'juj, and why has no evidence of it been discovered?
- How could the sun rise from the west without astronomical changes that would destroy all life on Earth?
- Why would Allah create dramatic signs that make everyone believe, then refuse to accept that belief?
- Do Islamic end times prophecies reflect divine revelation or 7th-century Arabian cultural concerns and conflicts?
- Why does the Quran provide so little detail about the end times while hadith provide extensive descriptions—which represents true Islamic teaching?