The major signs are those signs that will occur relatively close to the Day of Judgment and involve matters that can be considered, in general, “out of the ordinary” or which are sensational.
There are a number of hadeeth in which the Prophet solla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned the greater signs of the Day of Judgment together.
These hadeeth include the following: Imam Muslim recorded in his Saheeh: Hudhaifa bn Usaid Ghifari narrated, “Allah’s Messenger came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He said, ‘What are you discussing?’ They (the Companions) said, ‘We are discussing the Last Hour.’ Thereupon he said, ‘It will not come until you see ten signs before it.’ And (in this connection) he made a mention of the smoke, Dajjaal, the beast, the rising of the sun from the West, the descent OF Isa(Jesus) son of Maryam (alayhimu salaam), Gog and Magog, and landslides in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia, at the end of which a fire would burn forth from the Yemen and drive people to the place of their assembly.’”
Imam Muslim also writes in his Saheeh: The Messenger of Allah said, “The Last Hour would not come until the ten signs appear: a landslide in the east, and a landslide in the west, and a landslide in the peninsula of Arabia, the smoke, the Dajjaal, the beast of the earth, Gog and Magog, the rising of the sun from the west and the fire which would emit from the lower part of Aden.”
Shu’ba said that ‘Abdul Azeez bn Rufai’ reported on the authority of Abu Tufail who reported on the authority of Abu Sariha a hadeeth that the Prophet did not make a mention of (the tenth sign) but he said that out of the ten, one was the descent of Isa and in another version it is the blowing of the violent gale which would drive the people to the ocean.
There are a couple of other ahaadeeth in which the Prophet mentioned some of the same events as above.
In these ahadeeth, he did not mention them as explicitly being signs of the Hour. Instead, the Prophet gave a very strong admonition and warning that people must perform their good deeds before these events occur, as these events directly herald the ending of the time for deeds and the beginning of the time of reckoning.
Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet said: “Hasten to do good deeds before six things happen: the rising of the sun from the west, the smoke, the Dajjaal, the beast and (the death) of one of you or the general turmoil.” reported by Imam Muslim.
Note that in this hadeeth the Prophet mentioned, “the death of one of you.” This is also a type of “hour.”
Although, it is interesting and important to learn and know the major signs of the Hour, for those who will not witness the events of the Last Days, it is their hour—their death—that they must prepare for and concerning which many are negligent.
Thus, when a Bedouin came to the Prophet and asked him, “When is the Hour?” the Prophet pointed to a young boy and said, “If this boy lives, by the time he is old and decrepit, your hour would have already taken place.” Saheeh Al-Bukhari
To be continued…