Signs of the End Times

Natural disasters, which cannot be prevented even with technological means or precautionary measures, show just how helpless mankind truly is.

From the 20th century, characterised as the “century of disasters,” up to the present, there have been catastrophes such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornados, storms, typhoons, whirlwinds and floods, in addition to tsunamis, and these have inflicted terrible damage and cost the lives of millions of people. When one thinks about these extraordinary phenomena, it can clearly be seen that they bear a close similarity to the natural phenomena revealed as indicating the first period of the End Times.

According to what is revealed in the hadiths, the End Times is a period that will come about close to doomsday, and when the moral values of the Qur’an will be widespread among people. The first period of the End Times will be one when people will draw away from religious moral values, when wars will increase, and extraordinary natural phenomena will be experienced.
Indeed, in the hadiths eradicated cities and peoples wiped from the pages of history are reported as signs of the End Times. In those hadiths dealing with the matter, our Prophet states:

“The Hour (Last Day) will not be established until ... earthquakes will be very frequent.” (Bukhari)

"Big phenomena will happen in his time." (Ibn Hajar Haytahami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi'alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 27)

There are two great hadiths before the day of Judgment ... and then years of earthquakes. (Narrated by Umm Salama (r.a.))

"So many appalling incidents will occur in his time." (Imam Rabbani, Letters of Rabbani, 2/258)

In the second period of the End Times, God will free people from degeneration and war by means of the Mahdi. At this time, known as the Golden Age, war and conflict will come to an end, the world will be filled with plenty, abundance and justice, and Islamic moral values will prevail on Earth and will be widely practiced. No such period has ever taken place before but, by God’s leave, one will be experienced before doomsday. It is now awaiting the time appointed by God.

Everything is under the control of God. Believers who know this truth and who have sincere faith in God submit to our Lord in the knowledge that they are following their destiny. God has flawlessly arranged everything, down to the very finest detail, from the creation of the Earth up to the Day of Judgment. Everything is recorded in the book “Lawh-i Mahfuz.” Everything has already taken place in a single instant in the sight of God, Who is not bound by time or space, and the time and place of every event has been determined. This fact is expressed thus in a verse:

“Every communication has its time, and you will certainly come to know.” (Qur’an, 6:67)