What are the major signs of the Day of Judgement?

What makes a sign "major"

The signs of the Hour fall into two categories, and the difference between them is not simply size but proximity. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen explained that the major signs are those that indicate the Hour is near, and that they have not yet come; the earlier signs, by contrast, have been unfolding for a long time. He noted that the sending of the Prophet ﷺ is itself a sign of the Hour, because he is the last of the prophets, and the sealing of prophethood announces that the end of this world has drawn close.

Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Barrak makes the same point: the signs of the Hour are many, and the first of them is the sending of Muhammad ﷺ. Everything the Prophet ﷺ informed us would happen after him, the scholars count among the signs of the Hour.

The major signs are called major because, as Nasir al-Aql explains, they are either breaches of the ordinary laws of the universe or immense, overwhelming events.

The ten signs

The clearest listing comes from the hadith of Hudhayfah ibn Usayd رضي الله عنه, in which the Prophet ﷺ said:

"It will not come until you see before it ten signs: the smoke, the Dajjal, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus son of Mary, Ya'juj and Ma'juj, and three eclipses — one in the east, one in the west, and one in the Arabian Peninsula, and the last of that: a fire that comes out of Yemen driving the people to their gathering place."— Sahih Muslim 2901, from Hudhayfah ibn Usayd

Shaykh Ibn Baz listed the ten as: the Mahdi, the Dajjal, the descent of Jesus son of Mary, Ya'juj and Ma'juj, the demolition of the Ka'bah, the lifting of the Qur'an, the sign of the smoke, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, and the last of the signs, a fire that gathers people to their gathering place.

The order in which the scholars set them out is approximate, not fixed. Nasir al-Aql states plainly that the arrangement he gives is a rough ordering, and that the three eclipses may occur among the earlier events or before them.

The first signs in sequence

The Mahdi comes first in the lists given by Shaykh Ibn Baz. He described him as a man from the household of prophethood who emerges at the end of time, filling the earth with justice and fairness after it has been filled with oppression, ruling by the law of Allah. This occurs at the time of the descent of Jesus عليه السلام.

The Dajjal follows. Shaykh Ibn Baz described him as emerging from the east, from the direction of Khurasan and China, roaming the earth and calling people to follow him. He first claims to be a prophet, then claims to be the Lord of the worlds, and he comes with satanic marvels that confuse people about his affair. But the people of faith and insight recognise him: "kafir" is written between his eyes, and every believer whom Allah has protected sees it. His affair ends in Palestine, where Jesus عليه السلام descends, besieges him, and kills him.

The third sign is the descent of Jesus عليه السلام. Shaykh Ibn Baz explained that Allah will destroy all religions in his time, and nothing will remain but Islam. He will abolish the jizyah and accept nothing but Islam, break the cross and kill the pig, because the crucifixion was false — Jesus was neither crucified nor killed. He will rule by the law of Muhammad ﷺ, and people will enter the religion of Allah in crowds.

The signs that follow

After these, the remaining signs come. Shaykh Ibn Baz mentioned the smoke, the demolition of the Ka'bah, and the removal of the Qur'an from hearts and from the pages of the copies. Then the rising of the sun from the west, then the beast, and then the last of the signs: a fire that comes out and drives people to their gathering place.

On the rising of the sun from the west, al-Barrak cites the verse:

"On the Day when some of the signs of your Lord come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it had not believed before, or had not earned some good through its faith."— Qur'an 6:158

And the Prophet ﷺ explained exactly which sign this verse refers to:

"The Hour will not come until the sun rises from the west. When it rises from the west, all people will believe — but at that time no soul will benefit from its faith if it had not believed before, or had not earned some good through its faith."— Sahih al-Bukhari 4635 and Sahih Muslim 157, from Abu Hurayrah

Shaykh Ibn Baz drew the consequence: after the sun rises from the west, a new faith is not accepted. This is the point at which the door of repentance closes.

The last sign

The final major sign is a fire. IslamWeb, citing Usul al-Iman, states that the tenth sign is a great fire emerging from Aden that drives people to their gathering place, and that it is the last of the great signs. The same source records that these signs follow one another like beads on a string — when one appears, the next follows closely.

What is not known

No one knows when these signs will appear. IslamWeb states that the major signs are close to appearing, but without any fixed timing, and that no one knows when that will be specifically. The verse is decisive:

"They ask you about the Hour, when will be its arrival? Say: knowledge of it is only with my Lord. None will reveal its time except He. It weighs heavily upon the heavens and the earth. It will not come upon you except suddenly."— Qur'an 7:187

Al-Barrak notes that the nearness of the Hour which Allah mentioned is not measured by any set time, and no one can imagine its extent. People in the Prophet's ﷺ lifetime or after might have thought the Hour was a hundred or two hundred or three hundred years away, yet fourteen centuries have now passed and we do not know what remains. The timing of the Hour is among the five things Allah has kept to Himself; no angel brought near and no prophet sent knows it.

A common confusion

Some people believe the rising of the sun from the west is the first of the major signs. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen was asked directly about this and answered that it is not correct. The rising of the sun from the west is late, because the Dajjal, Ya'juj and Ma'juj, and the descent of Jesus all come before it.

There is also a hadith that appears to say the opposite:

"The first of the signs to appear will be the rising of the sun from the west, and the emergence of the beast against the people in the morning. Whichever of the two comes before the other, the other will follow it closely."— Sahih Muslim 2941, from Abdullah ibn Amr

Ibn Hajar reconciles the two in Fath al-Bari: the Dajjal is the first of the great signs that change conditions across the earth, while the rising of the sun from the west is the first of those that overturn the order of the heavens. What is clear from the hadith of Hudhayfah is that the smoke, the Dajjal, the beast, the rising of the sun, the descent of Jesus, Ya'juj and Ma'juj, and the three eclipses are all among the ten, and the fire is the last.

Key takeaways

• The major signs are ten, listed by the scholars from the hadith of Hudhayfah ibn Usayd in Sahih Muslim 2901.
• They come in succession, one closely following another, like beads on a string.
• The rising of the sun from the west is not the first of the major signs; the Dajjal, Ya'juj and Ma'juj, and the descent of Jesus all precede it.
• After the sun rises from the west, faith is no longer accepted from one who had not believed before.
• No one knows when these signs will appear — the timing of the Hour is known only to Allah.

Further reading

• Usul al-Iman fi Daw' al-Kitab wa al-Sunnah, cited by IslamWeb
• Sharh al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah by Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Barrak
• Fatawa Nur 'ala al-Darb by Shaykh Ibn Baz

And Allah knows best.