The words of Jibril, peace be upon him, "Tell me about the Hour," so that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The one asked about it knows no more about it than the one who asks," meaning that created beings' knowledge of the moment of the Hour are all equal. This indicates that Allah, exalted is He, has exclusive knowledge of it. For this reason it is usual that when the person of knowledge is asked about something which he doesn't know that he should say, "I do not know," and that does not diminish him at all. On the contrary it is from his scrupulousness and from his deen, since above every possessor of knowledge there is an All-Knowing One. In the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, there is that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, spoke about, "Five [things] which only Allah, exalted is He, knows, and then he recited, 'Truly Allah has knowledge of the Hour and sends down abundant rain and knows what is in the womb. And no self knows what it will earn tomorrow and no self knows in what land it will die. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.'" (Surah Luqman: 33)

Allah, mighty is He and majestic, says, "They will ask you about the Hour: when is it due? Say: 'Knowledge of it rests with my Lord alone. He alone will reveal it at its proper time. It hangs heavy in the heavens and the earth. It will not come upon you except suddenly.'" (Surat al-A'raf: 187)

In Sahih al-Bukhari there is from Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There are five keys of the Unseen which no one knows but Allah," then he recited this ayah: "Truly Allah has knowledge of the Hour..."

Imam Ahmad also narrated it and his wording is: "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'I have been given the keys of everything except for five: "Truly Allah has knowledge of the Hour..."'" He also narrated with its chain of transmission from Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, "Your Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was given the keys of everything except for five: 'Truly Allah has knowledge of the Hour...'"

His words, "Then tell me about its tokens (amarat)," meaning its signs ('alamat) which indicate that it has drawn close. In the hadith of Abu Hurairah there is that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I will tell you about its portents (ashrat)," which are also its signs.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, mentioned two signs of the Hour. First, "That the female slave should give birth to her mistress." What is meant by mistress is her lady and her female owner. In the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, there is, "her lord". This is an indication of the conquest of the lands and the great number of slaves gained so that female slaves and their children are in great numbers. The female slave is owned by her master, but his children by her are of his status, for the child of a master has the status of the master, and thus the female slave's child's status is that of her [his mother's] lord and master.

Al-Khattabi mentioned that some find a proof for the position they take that the slave-mother of the master's child is only set free at the expense of her child out of his portion from the inheritance of his father, and that her ownership is transferred to her children by inheritance and she is freed by them, and that she may be sold before the death of her owner, but he said, "There are views on this proof."

I say that some of them try to prove the opposite, that the slave-mother of the child is not sold and that she is freed on the death of her owner in every case, because he made the child of the slave-woman her owner, so that it is as if her child is the one who frees her and her becoming free is ascribed to him, because it is as if he were the cause of her being set free and so becomes as if he were her mawla [the master who had set her free]. This is like what is related of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that he said about Mariyah, the mother of his child, when she gave birth to Ibrahim, peace be upon him, "Her son set her free."

Imam Ahmad sought a proof in this, for he said in the narration of Muhammad ibn al-Hakam from him, "That the slave woman gives birth to her mistress: i.e. there will be a great number of slave-mothers of children by their masters," saying, "When she gives birth she is freed because of her child," and he said, "In it there is a proof that the slave-mothers of children by their masters may not be sold."

His words, "The slave-woman gives birth to her mistress" has been explained as meaning that trade in slaves will increase so much that a daughter will be transported for the sake of trade and later freed, and then later her mother will be transported for the sake of trade and the daughter will buy her and make use of her services unaware that she is her own mother, and this has indeed happened in Islam.

It has also been said that it means that slave-women will give birth to kings. Waki' said that it means that non-Arabs will give birth to Arabs, and the Arabs are the kings over the non-Arabs and their lords.

The second sign:

In "that you see poor, naked, barefoot..." what is meant by the poor ('aalah) is needy people as in His words, exalted is He, "Did He not find you impoverished ('aa'ilan) and enrich you?." (Surat ad-Duha: 8).

His words, "...shepherds of sheep and goats competing in raising tall buildings" are thus narrated in the hadith of 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him. What is meant is that the least of the people will become their leaders with a great deal of wealth, to such an extent that they will boastfully compete in a great deal of building, and in decorating and bringing it to perfection.

In the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, there is mention of three signs, of which there is that naked barefoot people will be the top people, and of which there is that the shepherds of sheep will compete in building.

'Abdullah ibn 'Ata narrated this hadith from 'Abdullah ibn Buraydah and he said in it, "And that you see deaf, dumb, blind, barefoot shepherds of sheep competing with each other in building as if the kings of people." He said, "So the man [Jibril] stood up and left, and we asked, 'Messenger of Allah, who are these you describe?" He answered, "They are the Arabs." This is how this hadith is narrated with these last words by 'Ali ibn Zayd from Yahya ibn Ya'mar from Ibn 'Umar. As for the first wording it is in the Sahih from the hadith of Abu Hurairah.

His words, "Deaf, dumb, blind" indicate their ignorance and lack of knowledge and understanding. There are many ahadith with this sense. Imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi narrated from a hadith of Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The Hour will not arise until the most fortunate man in the world will be Fool son of Fool (Luka' ibn Luka')." In the Sahih of Ibn Hibban there is from Anas that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The world will not end until it belongs to Fool son of Fool."

At-Tabarani narrated a hadith of Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The Hour will not arise until Fool son of Fool overcomes the world."

Imam Ahmad and at-Tabarani narrated a hadith of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Just before the Hour there will be treacherous years in which the trustworthy one will be suspect and the suspect one will be trusted and in which ar-Ruwaybidah will speak." They asked, "Who is ar-Ruwaybidah?" He said, "The foolish person who talks about the community's business." In another narration there is, "The corrupt person who talks about the community's business." In a version of Imam Ahmad there is, "that just before the Dajjal there will be treacherous years in which the liar will be believed and the truthful person disbelieved, and the trustworthy person will be regarded as unreliable and the unreliable person will be trusted..."

The general nature of what is mentioned in this hadith of the signs of the Hour is that affairs will be entrusted to the wrong people, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to the one who asked him about the Hour, "When the affair is entrusted to the wrong people, then expect the Hour," because when the barefoot naked shepherds of sheep Ð and they are useless ignorant people Ð become the top people and owners of wealth and property to such an extent that they compete with each other in building, then because of that the organisation of the world and of the deen become corrupted. If one who was impoverished and needy is one of the top people he has become a king over people, whether his kingship is universal or only in some particular things, and then he will hardly be able to give people their due rights. On the contrary, he will prefer himself over them because of the wealth he owns. One of the right-acting first generations said, "That you should stretch out your hands to the mouth of the serpent for him to gnaw it is better for you than for you to stretch it out to the hand of a wealthy man who had undergone poverty." If, along with that, he is useless and ignorant then the deen will become corrupted by that, because he has no desire to put people's deen right nor to teach them, on the contrary he desires to collect wealth and store it as treasure and is totally unconcerned whether people's deen becomes corrupt, nor [does he care about] whoever of his family squanders basic necessities.

He said in another hadith, "The Hour will not arise until every tribe is led by its hypocrites." When the kings and leaders of people are in this circumstance every other circumstance will be reversed: the liar will be believed and the truthful person disbelieved, the unreliable person will be trusted and the trustworthy person distrusted, the ignorant person will speak and the knowledgeable person will be silent or totally non-existent, as is authentically narrated that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Some of the signs of the Hour are that knowledge will be removed and ignorance will dominate," and he advised, "that knowledge will be removed with the death of people of knowledge so that when not one person of knowledge remains, people will take ignorant leaders who will be asked and thus give judgement without knowledge and will go astray and lead others astray." Ash-Sha'bi said, "The Hour will not arise until knowledge becomes ignorance and ignorance becomes knowledge." All of this is a part of the reversal of realities and the inversion of affairs at the end of time.

In the Sahih of al-Hakim there is that 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ascribed [to the Prophet], "Truly of the signs of the Hour there is that the best will be disparaged and the worst will be honoured."

In his words, "...competing with each other in making tall buildings" there is proof that it is blameworthy to compete boastfully, particularly in making tall buildings. Building tall structures was not known in the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his companions, may Allah be pleased with them. On the contrary, their buildings were small according to necessity. Abu'z-Zinad narrated from al-A'raj that Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'The Hour will not arise until people compete with each in making tall buildings.'" Al-Bukhari narrated it.

Abu Dawud narrated a hadith of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, that, "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out and saw an elevated dome and asked, 'What is this?' They said, 'This is so and so's,' naming one of the Ansar men. Its owner came and greeted the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, but he turned away from him repeatedly, and so the man demolished it." At-Tabarani narrated through another route also from Anas, and his version has, "So the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Every building,' and he gestured with his hand like this above his head, 'which is more than this is unwholesome.'" Hareeth ibn as-Sa'ib said from al-Hasan, "I used to enter the houses of the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, during the khalifate of 'Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, and I could reach the ceiling with my hand."

It is narrated from 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he wrote, "Do not make your buildings tall, because it is the worst of your days."

Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad said, "Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, asked Salman, 'Should we not build you a house, Abu 'Abdullah?' He asked, 'You are not making me a king?' He replied, 'No. We will build you a house of cane, which we will roof with reeds that will almost touch your head when you stand, and will almost touch both of your extremities when you sleep.' He said, 'It is almost as if you had been within my self [and seen what I desired].'"

'Ammar ibn Abi 'Ammar said, "If a man erects a house taller than seven cubits, he is called, 'O most deviant of the deviant, where are you going?'" Ibn Abi'd-Dunya narrated all of it.

Ya'qub ibn Abi Shaybah said in his Musnad , "It has reached me from Ibn 'Aishah that he said, 'Ibn Abi Shumaylah told us, "The Muslims resided around the mosque,"ÐÊmeaning in Basrah ÐÊ"in hair tents and then theft spread among them. So they wrote to 'Umar and he gave them permission to use cane. They built with cane and then fire spread among them. So he gave them permission to use clay bricks but he forbade anyone to lift the roof above seven cubits, saying, 'If you build your houses with it, then build the mosque with it.'"' Ibn 'Aishah said, 'Utbah ibn Ghazwan built the mosque of Basrah from cane and he said, "Whoever prays in it when it is made of cane is better than whoever prays in it when it is made of adobe. Whoever prays in it when it is made of adobe is better than whoever prays in it when it is made of baked brick."'"

Ibn Majah narrated the hadith of Anas that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The Hour will not arise until people boastfully compete with other [in building] mosques," and a hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I see that you will exalt your mosques after me just as the Jews exalted their synagogues and the Christians their churches."

Ibn Abi'd-Dunya narrated from Isma'il ibn Muslim that al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, built the mosque he said, 'Build it as a shelter made of palm-sticks covered with panic grass like the shelter of Musa, peace be upon him.'" Someone asked Hasan, "What was the shelter of Musa?" He said, "When he raised his hand he could reach the shelter," meaning "the ceiling."