Signs and portents

"Abd Allah ibn 'Amr said, "I went to the Prophet (peace be upon him) one

day whilst he was performing Wudu' (ablution) slowly and carefully. He

raised his head, looked at me and said, 'Six things will happen to this

Ummah: the death of your Prophet - 'and when I heard that I was aghast,' -

this is the first. The second is that your wealth will increase so much

that if a man were given ten thousand, he would still not be content with

it. The third is that tribulation will enter the house of every one of

you. The fourth is that sudden death will be widespread. The fifth is a

peace-treaty between you and the Romans: they will gather troops against

you for nine months - like a woman's period of childbearing - then they

will be the first to break the treaty. The sixth is the conquest of a

city.' I asked, 'O Messenger of Allah, which city?' He said,

'Constantinople." (Ahmad.)

Abu Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said, 'Hasten to do good deeds before six

things happen: the rising of the sun from the West, the smoke, the Dajjal,

the beast, the (death) of one of you, or general tribulation." (Ahmad,

Muslim.)

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.)

THE BATTLE WITH THE ROMANS: After the battle with the Romans, which ended

with the conquest of Constantinople, the Dajjal will appear, and Jesus son

of Mary will descend from Heaven to the earth, to the white minaret in the

east of Damascus, at the time of Salat al-Fajr (the morning prayer), as we

shall see in the Sahih Traditions.

Dhu Mukhammar said, "The Prophet (pbuh) said, 'You will make a

peace-treaty with the Romans, and together you will invade an enemy beyond

Rome. You will be victorious and take much booty. Then you will camp in a

hilly pasture; one of the Roman men will come and raise a cross and say

"Victory to the Cross", so one of the Muslims will come and kill him. Then

the Romans will break the treaty, and there will be a battle. They will

gather an army against you and come against you with eighty banners, each

banner followed by 10,000 men.' " (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah.)

Yusayr ibn Jabir said, "Once there was a red storm in Kufah. A man came

who had nothing to say except, 'O 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, has the Hour

come?" 'Abd Allah was sitting reclining against something, and said, 'The

Hour will not come until people will not divide inheritance, nor rejoice

over booty.' Pointing towards Syria, he said. 'An enemy will gather forces

against the Muslims and the Muslims will gather forces against them.' I

asked, 'Do you mean the Romans?' He said, 'Yes. At that time there will be

very heavy fighting. The Muslims will prepare a detachment to fight to the

death; they will not return unless they are victorious. They will fight

until night intervenes. Both sides will return without being victorious;

then many will be killed on both sides. On the fourth day, the Muslims who

are left will return to the fight, and Allah will cause the enemy to be

routed. There will be a battle the like of which has never been seen, so

that even if a bird were to pass their ranks, it would fall down dead

before it reached the end of them. Out of a family of one hundred, only

one man will survive, so how could he enjoy the booty or divide any

inheritance? While they are in this state, they will hear of an even worse

calamity. A cry will reach them: "The Dajjal has taken your place among

your offspring." So they will throw away whatever is in their hands and go

forward, sending 10 horsemen as a scouting party. The Prophet said, 'I

know their names, and the names of their fathers, and the colours of their

horses. They will be the best horsemen on the face of the earth on that

day.' " (Ahmad, Muslim).

Abu Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said, 'The Hour will not come until the

Romans camp at al-A'mash or Dabiq. An army, composed of the best people on

earth at that time, will come out from

Madinah to meet them. When they have arranged themselves in ranks, the

Romans will say, 'Do not stand between us and those who took prisoners

from amongst us. Let us fight with them.' One-third will run away, and

Allah will never forgive them. One-third will be killed, and they will be

the best of martyrs in Allah's sight. One-third, who will never be

subjected to trials or tribulations, will win, and will conquer

Constantinople.

Whilst they are sharing out the booty, after hanging their swords on the

olive-trees, Satan will shout to them that the Dajjal has taken their

place among their families. When they come to Syria, the Dajjal will

appear, while they are preparing for battle and drawing up the ranks. When

the time for prayer comes, Jesus the son of Mary will descend and lead

them in prayer. When the enemy of Allah (i.e. the Dajjal) sees him, he

will start to dissolve like salt in water, but Allah will kill him.' "

(Muslim.)

The Prophet said, "The Hour will not come until the furthest border of the

Muslims will be in Bula." Then he said, "O 'Ali!" 'Ali said, "May my

father and mother be sacrificed for you!" The Prophet said, "You will

fight the Romans, and those who come after you will fight them, until the

best people among the Muslims, the people of al-Hijaz, will go out to

fight them, fearing nothing but Allah. They will conquer Constantinople

with Tasbih and Takbir (saying "Subhan Allah" and "Allahu Akbar"), and

they will obtain booty the like of which has never been seen - they will

share it out by scooping it up with their sheilds. Someone will come and

say, 'The Dajjal has appeared in your land', but he will be lying. Anyone

who takes notice of him will regret it, and anyone who ignores him will

regret it." (Ibn Majah.)

Nafi' ibn 'Utbah said, "The Prophet said, 'You will attack Arabia, and

Allah will enable you to conquer it. Then you will attack Persia, and

Allah will enable you to conquer it. Then you will attack Rome, and Allah

will enable you to conquer it. Then you will attack the Dajjal, and Allah

will enable you to conquer him.' " (Muslim)

When Mustawrid al-Qurashi was sitting with 'Amr ibn al-'As, he said, "I

heard the Prophet say, 'The Hour will come when the Romans will be in the

majority.' 'Amr asked him, "What are you saying?" He said, "I am repeating

that which I heard from the Prophet." 'Amr said, "If you say this, it is

true, because they have four good characteristics: they are the most able

to cope with tribulation, the quickest to recover after disaster and to

return to the fight after disaster, and are the best as far as treating

the poor, weak and orphans is concerned. They have a fifth characteristic

which is very good; they do not allow themselves to be oppressed by their

kings."

The Prophet said, "You will fight the Romans, and Believers from the Hijaz

will fight them after you, until Allah enables them to conquer

Constantinople and Rome with Tasbih and Takbir ("Subhan Allah" and "Allahu

Akbar"). Its fortifications will collapse, and they will obtain booty the

like of which has never been seen, so that they will share it out by

scooping it up with their shields. Then someone will cry, 'O Muslims! the

Dajjal is in your country, with your families', and the people will leave

the wealth. Anyone who takes notice will regret it and anyone who ignores

it will regret it. They will ask, 'Who shouted?' but they will not know

who he is. They will say, you will hear about his deeds.' So they will go

and see, and if they see that everything is normal, they will say, 'No-one

would give a shout like that for no reason, so let us go together to

Ilya'.' If we find the Dajjal there we will fight him together, until

Allah decides between us and him. If we do not find the Dajjal, we will go

back to our country and our families.' "

Mu'adh ibn Jabal said, "The Prophet said, 'The building of Bayt al-Maqdis

(in Jerusalem) will be followed by the destruction of Yathrib (Madinah),

which will be followed by the conquest of Constantinople, which will be

followed by the appearance of the Dajjal.' Then he put his hand on the

thigh or the shoulder of the one with whom he was speaking (i.e. Mu'adh),

and said, 'This is as true as the fact that you are here (or as true as

you are sitting here).' "

This does not mean that Madinah will be destroyed completely before the

appearance ofthe Daj, but that will happen at the end of time, as we shall

see in some authentic Ahadith. But the building of Bayt al-Maqdis will be

the cause of the destruction of Madinah, as it was proven in the Hadith

that the Dajjal will not be able to enter Madinah. He will be prevented

from doing so because it is surrounded by angles bearing unsheathed

swords.

Abu Hurayrah said, "The Prophet said about Madinah: 'Neither plague nor

the Dajjal can enter it.' " (Bukhari.)