The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible, Part 2a: Minor Signs

The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible, Part 2a: Minor Signs
Monday, June 2, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

According to Islam, what do the “end times” look like? What does Islam teach about how Muslims will know that the end is drawing near, that the awaited Mahdi is about to return?

Numerous Islamic prophecies exist that describe these times. As mentioned in the previous post, the prophecies are typically not found in the Qur’an, but in the hadiths (sayings and recorded actions of the Prophet). In fact, the Dajjal (the Islamic version of the biblical Antichrist), and his actions, are not even mentioned in the Qur’an.

Perhaps one of the best Sunni sources (in English) is “The Book of the End,” a collection of over 700 pages of hadiths about the end times, the Day of Judgment, Hell, and Paradise, gathered by the historic Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir (Katheer). Unfortunately, one of the difficulties within the hadith is the discrepancies and contradictions they contain.

When it comes to the end times, there are two types of signs. First, there are minor signs indicating that the “end times” are drawing near. Second, there are ten major signs, a sequence of events that must take place before the Day of Judgment. The major signs start with the arrival of the Dajjal, the coming of the Mahdi, and the return of Eesa (the Islamic version of Jesus. The precise order of some of the ten major signs is uncertain.

What are the minor signs? How does Islam describe life on earth before the major signs begin? How will Muslims know that “the end” is approaching?

There will be much tribulation, trials of increasing severity. According to some hadiths, the Jews, Christians, and Muslims will divide into many different sects, with only one of each ending up in Paradise. The safe course for Muslims is to follow the Prophet and not deviate, as his nation will not fall into misguidance, thus escaping hellfire.

Each year will be worse than the previous one. Eventually things will get so difficult and the trials so bad that someone who was a Muslim in the morning will not be one in the evening, and someone who was a Muslim in the evening will not be one the next morning. The living will envy the dead. There will be so much killing and slaughter that as many as one-third of all the people on earth will die.

The killing and trials will become so bad that the only way to avoid hellfire will be to withdraw from society and try to avoid being killed. If one is attacked and about to be killed, one must make sure not to retaliate, but rather to draw other persons’ sins back on themselves.

About 30 lying Dajjals will appear, each claiming to be Allah’s Messenger until knowledge is taken away.

The Furaat (Euphrates), either by drying up or some other means, will reveal a hidden mountain of gold. Muslims are admonished to stay away from it. For those who go after it, ninety-nine out of every one hundred people will be killed. Given the way the Euphrates has been drying up in recent years, there has been considerable speculation on the internet wondering about what secrets might be revealed.

At this point, we have just started to scratch the surface of Islam’s predicted minor signs. We will continue with more of them in the next post.

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