The major portents of the Hour are those which were mentioned by the Prophet صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ in the hadith of Hudhayfah ibn Asid, and there are ten signs:
- the Dajjal ;
- the descent of ‘Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus son of Mary);
- Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog);
- three landslides, one in the east,
- one in the west
- and one in the Arabian Peninsula;
- the smoke;
- the rising of the sun from its place of setting;
- the Beast;
- and the fire which will drive the people to their place of gathering.
Hudhaifa b. Usaid al-Ghifari reported:
Allah’s Messenger صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He said: What do you discuss about? They (the Companions) said. We are discussing about the Last Hour. Thereupon he said: It will not come until you see ten signs before and (in this connection) he made a mention of the smoke, Dajjal, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus son of Mary (Allah be pleased with him), the Gog and Magog, and land-slides in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia at the end of which fire would burn forth from the Yemen, and would drive people to the place of their assembly. (Sahih Muslim – 2901a)
According to a hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet صَلىَّ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ said: “The signs will come one after another, like beads falling from a string”. Narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Mu’jam al-Awsat; classed as Sahih by al-Albani in Sahih al-Jami’. Then the sun will rise from the west, the Beast will emerge, and there will be landslides and other major signs. We ask Allah to make us steadfast unto death.
Order of the signs of the Day of Judgement
There is no sahih text which states the order in which these signs will occur, rather the order of some of them is to be understood from the context of the texts.
Shaykh Muhammad al-Salih al-‘Uthaymin رَحِمَهُ الله was asked:
Will the major portents of the Hour occur in a certain order?
He replied:
“The order of some of the major portents is known , and in the case of others the order is not known. Among those whose order is known are the descent of ‘Isa ibn Maryam, the emergence of Yajuj and Majuj, and the Dajjal, for the Dajjal will be sent, then ‘Isa ibn Maryam will come down and kill him, then Yajuj and Majuj will emerge.
