Short answer
Many of them. The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) named signs that would come before the Last Day, and several are plain to see today. He said barefoot, destitute herdsmen would compete in building tall towers. He said people would boast about their mosques. He said about thirty liars would each claim to be a messenger of Allah (﷾). Musaylima, who asked the Prophet (ﷺ) for the rule after him, was among the first. The Prophet (ﷺ) also said some of his own community would drink wine under another name. He said the land of the Arabs would one day return to meadows and rivers. That sign, Muslim scholars hold, is still to come. But scientists have since found that Arabia was green many times before, so "return" fits. These are signs that he spoke by revelation from Allah (﷾).
Full explanation
The time is hidden, the signs are not
The Qur'an says that only God (﷾) knows when the Hour (the Last Day) will come. It also says that some of its signs have already come. The angel Gabriel once asked the Prophet (ﷺ) when the Hour would be. The Prophet (ﷺ) answered that the one asked knew no more than the one asking. Then he gave its signs. So Islam sets no date for the end of the world. What it gives are signs, which people can check.
“They ask thee about the (final) Hour - when will be its appointed time? Say: "The knowledge thereof is with my Lord (alone): None but He can reveal as to when it will occur. Heavy were its burden through the heavens and the earth. Only, all of a sudden will it come to you." They ask thee as if thou Wert eager in search thereof: Say: "The knowledge thereof is with Allah (alone), but most men know not."”
“Do they then only wait for the Hour,- that it should come on them of a sudden? But already have come some tokens thereof, and when it (actually) is on them, how can they benefit then by their admonition?”
Abu Hurayra reports that the angel Gabriel came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in the form of a man and asked him about faith, Islam and excellence in worship, and then when the Hour would come. The Prophet answered that the one being asked knew no more about it than the one asking. He described some of its signs, said the Hour is one of five things that no one knows except Allah, and recited Qur'an 31:34.
| What the Prophet (ﷺ) said | What has happened |
|---|---|
| Barefoot herdsmen will compete in tall buildings | Towers rise across the Gulf; the Burj Khalifa, 828 metres, is the tallest on earth |
| About thirty liars will claim to be messengers | Musaylima and al-Ansi, whom he named, and others since |
| The land of the Arabs will return to meadows and rivers | Still to come; scientists found Arabia was green many times before |
Herdsmen and towers
A hadith is a report of what the Prophet (ﷺ) said or did. In the hadith of Gabriel he said that barefoot, destitute herdsmen would compete in raising tall buildings. In another report he counted people competing in high buildings among the signs. He named the poorest people of Arabia, who lived in tents. For thirteen centuries nothing made it likely. Today the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, at 828 metres, is the tallest building on earth. Towers rise across the Gulf and in Mecca itself.
Umar ibn al-Khattab reports that a stranger in very white clothes came and questioned the Prophet (ﷺ) about Islam, faith and excellence in worship, and then about the Hour. The Prophet said the one asked knew no more than the one asking, and gave two of its signs: a slave woman will give birth to her mistress, and you will see barefoot, poorly clothed, destitute shepherds competing with one another in raising tall buildings. Afterwards the Prophet told Umar the stranger was the angel Gabriel, who had come to teach them their religion.
Abu Hurayra reports that the angel Gabriel came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in the form of a man and asked him about faith, Islam and excellence in worship, and then when the Hour would come. The Prophet answered that the one being asked knew no more about it than the one asking. He described some of its signs, said the Hour is one of five things that no one knows except Allah, and recited Qur'an 31:34.
Abu Hurayra reports the Prophet's (ﷺ) list of what must happen before the Hour: two great groups with the same claim will fight with heavy losses; about thirty liars will appear, each claiming to be the Messenger of Allah; religious knowledge will be taken away; earthquakes will increase; time will pass quickly; trials will appear; killing will increase; wealth will be so plentiful that the rich worry no one will accept their zakah; people will compete in raising high buildings; a man passing a grave will wish he were in it; and the sun will rise from the west.
The Council's database, the standard record of the world's tallest buildings, lists the Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 828 metres, completed in 2010, as the tallest building in the world.
Mosques, trust and authority
The Prophet (ﷺ) said the Hour would not come until people compete with one another in boasting about mosques. His own mosque in Medina was mud brick, palm leaves and palm trunks. Today mosques compete in golden domes, marble and chandeliers. He also said honesty would drain from people's hearts. Then people would say there is one honest man in such-and-such a tribe. He said that trust is lost when authority is given to those unfit for it.
Anas ibn Malik reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said the Last Hour will not come until people vie with one another in boasting about mosques.
Ibn Umar reports that in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime his mosque was built of mud brick, roofed with palm leaves and held up by palm trunks. Abu Bakr left it as it was, Umar enlarged it in the same style, and Uthman rebuilt it on a larger scale in carved stone with a teak roof.
Hudhayfa reports the Prophet's (ﷺ) description of honesty being taken from people's hearts little by little, until people trade with one another and hardly one of them can be trusted, so that it is said: in such-and-such a tribe there is an honest man. A man will be admired for his cleverness and manners while having no faith in his heart.
Abu Hurayra reports that a desert Arab asked the Prophet (ﷺ) when the Hour would come. The Prophet answered: when trust is lost, wait for the Hour. Asked how it would be lost, he said: when authority is given to those unfit for it, wait for the Hour.
Knowledge taken away
The Prophet (ﷺ) said religious knowledge would decrease and ignorance spread. He explained how. Allah (﷾) does not snatch knowledge out of people's hearts. He takes away the scholars, until none is left. Then people take ignorant men as leaders, who give rulings without knowledge. He also named the spread of open sexual immorality among the signs.
Abdullah ibn Amr reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said Allah does not take knowledge away by snatching it from people's hearts, but by taking the scholars, until none is left. Then people take ignorant men as leaders, who give rulings without knowledge, going astray and leading others astray.
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) named among the signs of the Hour that religious knowledge will decrease, ignorance will spread, unlawful sexual relations will become open and common, and women will greatly outnumber men.
Killing without reason
The Prophet (ﷺ) said killing would increase. A time would come when the killer would not know why he killed, and the one killed would not know why he died. He also warned of trials in which a man would be a believer in the morning and an unbeliever by evening. That man would sell his religion for some gain of this world.
Abu Hurayra reports the Prophet's (ﷺ) list of what must happen before the Hour: two great groups with the same claim will fight with heavy losses; about thirty liars will appear, each claiming to be the Messenger of Allah; religious knowledge will be taken away; earthquakes will increase; time will pass quickly; trials will appear; killing will increase; wealth will be so plentiful that the rich worry no one will accept their zakah; people will compete in raising high buildings; a man passing a grave will wish he were in it; and the sun will rise from the west.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) swore that a time would come when the killer would not know why he killed, and the one killed would not know why he was killed.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) told believers to hurry to good deeds before trials like pieces of a dark night, when a man will be a believer in the morning and an unbeliever by evening, or the reverse, selling his religion for some worldly gain.
Liars claiming to be prophets
The Prophet (ﷺ) said about thirty liars would appear, every one claiming to be a messenger of Allah (﷾), although he was the last. Musaylima, known as the Liar, came to Medina in the lifetime of the Prophet (ﷺ). He said he would follow the Prophet (ﷺ) if he were given the rule after him. The Prophet (ﷺ) refused him and said he thought Musaylima was the man shown to him in a dream. In that dream, two gold bracelets stood for two liars who would claim prophethood after him. The report names them: al-Ansi and Musaylima. Others have made the same claim since.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said the Hour will not come until two groups with the same claim fight each other with great losses, and until about thirty liars appear, every one of them claiming to be a messenger of Allah.
Abu Hurayra reports the Prophet's (ﷺ) list of what must happen before the Hour: two great groups with the same claim will fight with heavy losses; about thirty liars will appear, each claiming to be the Messenger of Allah; religious knowledge will be taken away; earthquakes will increase; time will pass quickly; trials will appear; killing will increase; wealth will be so plentiful that the rich worry no one will accept their zakah; people will compete in raising high buildings; a man passing a grave will wish he were in it; and the sun will rise from the west.
Ibn Abbas reports that Musaylima, known as the Liar, came to Medina in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime with many of his tribe, saying he would follow the Prophet if he were given the rule after him. The Prophet refused him and said he thought Musaylima was the man shown to him in a dream. Through Abu Hurayra the report adds the Prophet's dream of two gold bracelets, which he took to mean that two liars claiming prophethood would appear after him; they proved to be al-Ansi and Musaylima.
Wine by another name, and clothing that does not cover
The Prophet (ﷺ) said some of his own community would drink wine and call it by another name. He also said some would treat intoxicating drink as lawful. He said this to a community in which wine was forbidden. He also described people he had not yet seen, among them women who are clothed yet appear naked. Both are widely seen today.
A Companion of the Prophet (ﷺ) reports that the Prophet said people of his community would drink wine, calling it by another name.
Abu Amir or Abu Malik al-Ash'ari reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said there would be people among his followers who treat as lawful unlawful sexual relations, silk for men, intoxicating drink and musical instruments.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) described two kinds of people of the Fire whom he had not yet seen: men with whips like the tails of cattle who beat people, and women who are clothed yet appear naked, leaning toward wrong and leading others to it.
Arabia will return to meadows and rivers
The Prophet (ﷺ) said the Hour would not come until wealth overflowed and the land of the Arabs returned to meadows and rivers. The verb he used, ta'uda, most naturally means "return". The land would go back to what it had once been. Earth scientists have since shown that Arabia's deserts were green again and again in the distant past. This fits his words closely. That sign, Muslim scholars hold, is still to come.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said the Hour will not come until wealth becomes so plentiful that a man takes out the zakah on his wealth and finds no one to accept it, and until the land of the Arabs returns to meadows and rivers.
What earth scientists found
In the last few decades researchers have mapped ancient rivers and lakes beneath Arabia's deserts from satellite images. They have also drilled the beds of dried-up lakes. They found that Arabia was green again and again in the wet phases of the last several hundred thousand years. It had lakes, rivers and grassland, and people lived there. A study in the journal Nature in 2021 traced these wet phases in the Nefud desert back 400,000 years. It was led from the Max Planck Institute, a German research centre.
Reports the sediments of Khall Amayshan 4, a dry lake basin in the Nefud desert of northern Saudi Arabia. They record repeated wet phases over the last 400,000 years, when lakes filled and grassland spread across what is now sand desert, and stone tools show that humans lived there in several of those phases.
Maps ancient rivers, lakes and wetlands from satellite data and models, and shows that in past wet periods, especially the last interglacial, a chain of rivers and lakes linked the Levant with the now-desert interior of northern Arabia.
Why these signs matter
Some of the signs are general. Any age has its killings and its dishonest men. Others are far more specific than a guess about the future. They named the poorest people of Arabia as the builders of its towers, wine drunk under a new name, and a desert returning to green. These words were spoken in seventh-century Arabia. They were recorded in the books of hadith more than a thousand years before the towers of the Gulf rose. They were recorded long before science uncovered the green past of Arabia.
Umar ibn al-Khattab reports that a stranger in very white clothes came and questioned the Prophet (ﷺ) about Islam, faith and excellence in worship, and then about the Hour. The Prophet said the one asked knew no more than the one asking, and gave two of its signs: a slave woman will give birth to her mistress, and you will see barefoot, poorly clothed, destitute shepherds competing with one another in raising tall buildings. Afterwards the Prophet told Umar the stranger was the angel Gabriel, who had come to teach them their religion.
A Companion of the Prophet (ﷺ) reports that the Prophet said people of his community would drink wine, calling it by another name.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said the Hour will not come until wealth becomes so plentiful that a man takes out the zakah on his wealth and finds no one to accept it, and until the land of the Arabs returns to meadows and rivers.
Perspectives
The Islamic perspective
The Prophet (ﷺ) foretold signs of the Last Day that no one in his time could have predicted, and many have come to pass. They are part of the evidence that he spoke from revelation.
The Qur'an says the time of the Hour is known to God (﷾) alone. Some of its signs, it says, have already come.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said barefoot, destitute herdsmen would compete in raising tall buildings.
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, at 828 metres, has been the tallest building in the world since 2010.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said people would boast about their mosques. His own mosque was built of mud brick and palm trunks.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said about thirty liars would each claim to be a messenger of Allah (﷾). Musaylima came to Medina in his lifetime asking to rule after him. The Prophet (ﷺ) said he thought Musaylima was the man shown to him in a dream of two liars.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said some of his community would drink wine under another name.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said the land of the Arabs would return to meadows and rivers.
Research on dry lake beds and buried river channels shows that Arabia was repeatedly green. It had lakes and grassland, over hundreds of thousands of years.
The fulfilment of these signs is evidence that the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent by Allah (﷾).