The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible, Part 5e: The Last Major Signs

The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible, Part 5e: The Last Major Signs
Thursday, June 19, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

Thought for Today, June 19, 2025

The sun rises in the West, and the beast comes.

The order of the appearance of these two signs is uncertain. Both the beast and the sun rising in the West are mentioned in the Qur’an: the beast in passing, the sun’s rising in the West in more detail (27:82; 6:158). At this point, signs are happening in rapid succession.

The beast will come out and either speak to the people, write on their foreheads “disbeliever,” or do both. The beast also marks the faces of believers with light, but darkens the faces of unbelievers. According to some hadiths the beast may appear twice, possibly due to its different functions, as at this point it seems that all the righteous may have departed. However, one can argue that some of the wicked may have reverted back to being Muslim. The beast’s coming will be the first of the extraordinary signs of the earth.

Side note: when going through the hadiths one often sees the phrase, “and Allah knows best,” meaning that given the conflicts between the contents of the related hadiths, with all of them often having authentic reference chains, the truly correct answer is not known to humans. Thus, the phrase is used, and no resolution of the differences is possible.

Also around this time, the first extraordinary sign in the sky will take place: the sun will rise in the West and then set in the East. The night before it rises in the West will be prolonged, double in length. Once the sun rises in the West, repentance will no longer be possible, one can no longer confess Islam. One will be stamped with what one is at that point. While one can later claim to repent, that change will not be seen as valid. The sign of the sun rising in the West is so obvious, and so unmistakable regarding Allah and Islam, that all aspects of faith have been removed. One’s status as either a Muslim or a nonbeliever will be permanent.

The tribulation of smoke comes next. The Qur’an discusses that trial in detail: 44:10–16. It will cause great suffering for 40 days. Unbelievers will behave as drunk, blowing smoke out of their mouths and nostrils. For Muslims, the smoke will be more like a mild cold, an irritant, but not a severe one.

Some versions say that more time passes, allowing for the return of evil people, given the freshly cleansed earth with Eesa ruling a world filled only with believers. Another option would be for Eesa’s reign to be forty years instead of seven, allowing for people to be born who will reject Islam.

It is also possible that the righteous might be swept up at this time. Regardless of the timing of that event, what can be said is that from here on out, only evil people are left on the earth. As every year throughout history is prophesied to get worse, the people left will be the most evil people that have ever lived.

What will the most evil people do? We will turn to that question in the next post.

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