When will the Day of Judgment come, and what are its signs? The second half of that question is the one the books answer in detail. Belief in the Last Day is the fifth of the six pillars of Iman [faith], and it is covered on the Belief in the Last Day page. This page gathers what the books in my library say about the signs of that Day: the three kinds the scholars name, the signs the Qur’an itself names and the commentators explain, and the one sign after which faith will no longer benefit anyone. One thing runs through all of it, and it comes first: the books give the signs, and they do not give the time. No date is set anywhere in them, and no event of our own days is named as one of the signs.
No One Knows When the Hour Is, Except Allah
The Qur’an calls the Day the Hour, and the first thing it teaches about the Hour is that its time is hidden. People asked the Prophet ﷺ about it in his lifetime, and the answer that came down took the knowledge of it away from every created being:
“They ask you about the Hour: When will it come to pass? Say: The knowledge thereof is with my Lord [alone]. None but He can disclose when its time will come. It will weigh heavily on the heavens and the earth; it will not come upon you but suddenly. They ask you as if you were well-informed of it. Say: The knowledge thereof is with Allah [alone], but most people do not realise.”
Allah’s words in Surah al-A’raf (7), verse 187, Tafsir as-Sa’di (Vol. 3, printed p. 334). Shaykh as-Sa’di explains who is included in that hiding:
“For no Prophet who was sent, and no angel who is close to Allah, knows about it; it is one of the matters that Allah has concealed from His creation in accordance with His perfect wisdom and abundant knowledge.”
The same answer stands at the end of Surah Luqman, where the Hour is placed at the head of five things that belong to the unseen:
“Verily Allah alone has knowledge of the Hour; it is He Who sends down rain and He knows what every womb contains. No soul knows what it will do on the morrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die. Verily Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.”
Allah’s words in Surah Luqman (31), verse 34, Tafsir as-Sa’di (Vol. 7, printed p. 361). Five things: the Hour, the sending down of rain, what the wombs contain, what a soul will do tomorrow, and the land in which a soul will die. Of these five the Shaykh says:
“These five things are things of which knowledge is withheld from all creatures, and they are not known to any Prophet who was sent or any angel who is close to Allah, let alone other creatures.”
And the hiding itself is deliberate, not an oversight. The Shaykh ends the passage: “By His perfect wisdom, He has withheld knowledge of these five things from His slaves, because that serves some interests, as is clear to anyone who reflects and ponders the matter” (Vol. 7, printed p. 362). A Muslim therefore does not ask the books for a year or a date. He asks what the signs are, and what he should be doing.
The Prophet ﷺ Was Asked About Its Signs
That is the pattern the Prophet ﷺ himself set. When the angel Jibril [Gabriel] came to him in the form of a man and asked him about the Hour, he answered that the one who is asked about it knows no more than the one asking. Then Jibril asked about its signs, and that question he answered. The hadith stands in full on the Hadith 2 page in the Forty Hadith series, and it is not repeated here. The two signs he named in it are these: that a slave woman will give birth to her mistress, and that barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds will be seen competing with one another in building tall buildings.
Shaykh al-Fawzan, explaining that hadith, draws out the lesson of the two questions:
“Also, it is not from wisdom that you ask when the Hour will be established; the wise thing is to ask about what you should do, how to get prepared for this Day. This is what contains benefit for you.”
And he explains the first of the two signs with two reported meanings, one of them that disobedience toward parents will spread in the last days, until a daughter treats her mother the way a mistress treats her slave: commanding her, forbidding her, and mistreating her.
The Signs Fall Into Three Kinds
In his explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles, Shaykh al-Fawzan sets out the frame the scholars use:
“Yes, the Hour has signs. Allah has clarified them, and there are minor signs and major signs. There are those which are intermediate; and there are signs of the approaching of the Hour, which come with the establishment of the Hour and are near to its establishment. As for the other signs, they are introductory signs.”
He says the scholars place them in three categories: minor and introductory signs, intermediate signs, and major signs. Of where the three kinds stand, he says:
“The minor signs and the intermediate signs have already occurred, or most of them have occurred. As for the major signs, the appearance of the Dajjal, the descent of ‘Isa, the emergence of the Beast, and the emergence of Ya’juj and Ma’juj, these occur with the establishment of the Hour and come along with it.”
The Dajjal is the great deceiver who will appear at the end of time, and ‘Isa is Jesus, the son of Maryam [Mary]. The Beast and Gog and Magog are each taken up below, from the verses that name them.
A Sign Already Seen, and Portents That Have Already Appeared
Some signs belong to the past. At the head of Surah al-Qamar, Allah joins the nearness of the Hour to something that happened in the Prophet’s ﷺ lifetime: “The Hour has drawn nigh and the moon has split” (54:1). Shaykh as-Sa’di explains:
“Here Allah tells us that the Hour, which is the resurrection, has drawn nigh and its time is at hand, yet despite that these disbelievers still deny it and are making no preparations for its arrival, although Allah is showing them great signs of its approach, that should make people believe.”
He records that the Prophet ﷺ pointed to the moon and, by Allah’s leave, it split in two, one half over one mountain of Makkah and the other half over another, and that the people who saw it still turned away and called it magic. The same point is made in Surah Muhammad, in words that speak to every generation after him:
“What are they waiting for, but for the Hour to come upon them suddenly? Its portents have already appeared, so what good will it do them to pay heed when it has actually come upon them?”
Allah’s words in Surah Muhammad (47), verse 18, Tafsir as-Sa’di (Vol. 9, printed p. 190). The Shaykh explains the word himself: “Its portents, that is, its signs which indicate that it is at hand, have already appeared” (Vol. 9, printed p. 191).
Signs Named in the Qur’an: Gog and Magog, and the Beast
Two of the major signs are named in the Qur’an itself. Of the first, Allah says, in the words of Surah al-Anbiya: “until, when Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj have been let loose and come rushing from all directions” (21:96). Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj [Gog and Magog] are, as the Shaykh explains, two great tribes of the sons of Adam, held back by the barrier that Dhul-Qarnayn [the righteous ruler who built the barrier against them] raised to contain them. Of their release he says:
“At the end of time, the barrier will be breached and they will emerge against people in the manner described by Allah, rushing from all directions.”
He adds that they will subdue the people and behave arrogantly toward them in this world, and that no one will be able to fight them (Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 6, printed p. 242). Of the second sign, Allah says in Surah an-Naml: “When the time for the fulfilment of the warning comes, We will bring forth to them out of the earth a Beast that will tell them that humankind did not believe in Our signs” (27:82). Shaykh as-Sa’di’s explanation holds to what the verse itself gives:
“This Beast is the famous Beast that will emerge at the end of time, and will be one of the portents of the Hour, as is mentioned in many hadiths. There is no sound evidence to describe it or say what kind of animal it will be.”
That restraint is worth noticing. Where the books have no sound evidence, they say so, and they do not fill the gap with description (Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 7, printed p. 167).
The Sign After Which Faith Will Not Benefit
There is also a point after which the door closes. Allah says in Surah al-An’am:
“Are they waiting for the angels to come to them, or for your Lord to come, or for some of the signs of your Lord to come? On the day when some of the signs of your Lord come, no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it did not believe before or earn some good through its faith. Say: Wait then; we too are waiting.”
Allah’s words in Surah al-An’am (6), verse 158, Tafsir as-Sa’di (Vol. 3, printed p. 193). Shaykh as-Sa’di explains that these are extraordinary signs, from which it will be known that the Hour is at hand, and he names the one the hadiths point to:
“Many saheeh hadiths from the Prophet (ﷺ) indicate that what is meant by ‘some of the signs of Allah’ here is the rising of the sun from its place of setting; when the people see that, they will believe, but their faith will be of no benefit and at that time the gate of repentance will be closed.”
Saheeh means authentic. The reason faith will not benefit then, the Shaykh explains in the same passage, is that faith is only of benefit while it is faith in the unseen, chosen freely. Once the sign is seen, believing is no longer a choice a person makes (Vol. 3, printed p. 194). This is why the signs are given as a warning to believe before them, and not as a puzzle to solve about them.
Preparing for a Day That Comes Suddenly
Every passage above carries the same direction. The Hour comes suddenly, so Shaykh as-Sa’di, on the verse of Surah Muhammad, says:
“This verse urges people to be prepared before death comes suddenly, for a person’s death is the beginning of the Hour for him.”
And at the end of Surah an-Nazi’at, where the questioners ask once more when it will arrive, Allah tells His Prophet ﷺ that he is a warner for those who fear it. Shaykh as-Sa’di explains who benefits from that warning:
“You are but a warner for those who fear it, that is, the benefit of your warning is only for those who fear the coming of the Hour and who fear the standing before Allah. They are the ones who do not care about anything except preparing for it and striving for it.”
On the day people see it, this world will look short: “it will be as if they had remained [in this world] no more than an afternoon [of a day] or the morning thereof” (79:46, Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 10, printed p. 324).
So, What Are the Signs of the Day of Judgment?
- The time of the Hour is known to Allah alone. It is one of the five unseen things of Surah Luqman, and no prophet and no angel knows it.
- The signs fall into three kinds in the scholars’ frame: minor and introductory signs, intermediate signs, and major signs. The minor and intermediate signs have already occurred, or most of them.
- A sign already seen is the splitting of the moon in the Prophet’s ﷺ lifetime, and Allah says the portents of the Hour have already appeared.
- The Prophet ﷺ named, among the signs, a slave woman giving birth to her mistress, and barefoot, destitute shepherds competing in building tall buildings.
- Among the major signs the books name are the Dajjal, the descent of ‘Isa (Jesus), the emergence of the Beast from the earth, and the release of Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj (Gog and Magog).
- One of the signs is the rising of the sun from its place of setting. When some of the signs of Allah come, faith begun then will not benefit a soul that did not believe before.
- The answer the books give to all of it is preparation, for a person’s death is the beginning of the Hour for him.
The signs are not given so that we can set dates or name the events of our own time. They are given so that we prepare, while faith is still faith in the unseen and the door of repentance is still open. May Allah make us among those who fear the coming of the Hour and prepare for it, and may He keep us firm until we meet Him.
References
Tafsir as-Sa’di: Shaykh ‘Abdur-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa’di. International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH). English Edition 1, 2018. Translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab. Vols. 3, 6, 7, 9 and 10.
Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles: Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan. Authentic Statements Publications. First Edition, Sha’ban 1440 AH/April 2019. Translated by Raha Batts.
Explanation of Imam an-Nawawi’s 40 Hadith: Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan. Dar Makkah International. The copy in my library has no title or copyright page, so no edition or translator is named for it.
Further Reading
Belief in the Last Day: the fifth pillar of Iman and everything it gathers.
Hadith 2, The Hadith of Jibril (The Levels of the Religion): the hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ was asked about the Hour and about its signs, in full.
What Is the Punishment of the Grave?: the first stage after death, in the stage between this world and the Resurrection.
Pillars of Faith (Iman): the six pillars every Muslim believes in, explained from the books.
The Hereafter: the wider life after death and its stages.
Paradise and The Hereafter: the final home of the believers, as the books describe it.
Verified on 2026-10-24 against the books listed above.