Knowledge of the hour is
a matter of the unseen which belongs to Allaah and which He has kept to
Himself. He has not told any of His creation of that, including the
Prophets, Messengers and the angels who are close to Him. Even the best of
the Messengers, our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), did not know when the hour will begin.
The texts of the Qur’aan
and Sunnah clearly indicate that the knowledge of the Hour is something
unseen which no created being knows.
The evidence from the
Qur’aan includes the following:
1 – Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“They ask you about
the Hour (Day of Resurrection): ‘When will be its appointed time?’ Say: ‘The
knowledge thereof is with my Lord (Alone). None can reveal its time but He.
Heavy is its burden through the heavens and the earth. It shall not come
upon you except all of a sudden.’ They ask you as if you have a good
knowledge of it. Say: ‘The knowledge thereof is with Allaah (Alone), but
most of mankind know not.’”
[al-‘Araaf 7:187]
2 – Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“People ask you
concerning the Hour, say: ‘The knowledge of it is with Allaah only. What do
you know? It may be that the Hour is near!’”
[al-Ahzaab 33:63]
The people used to ask
the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about the
time that the hour would begin, so Allaah commanded him to refer the matter
to Him: “The knowledge of it is with Allaah only”.
Ibn Katheer (3/527)
said:
Allaah tells His
Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that he has no
knowledge of the Hour and that when the people ask him about that, he should
refer the matter to Allaah.
Al-Shanqeeti said
(6/604):
It is known that the word
innama (translated here as “only”) has the effect of limiting or
restricting the meaning, so what the verse means is: No one knows when the
Hour will come except Allaah alone.
3 – Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“They ask you (O
Muhammad) about the Hour — when will be its appointed time?
You have no knowledge
to say anything about it.
To your Lord belongs
(the knowledge of) the term thereof?
You (O Muhammad) are
only a warner for those who fear it”
[al-Naaz’iaat
79:42-45]
al-Sa’di said:
Because knowing the time
of the Hour serves no spiritual or worldly purpose for people, rather their
interests lie in it being concealed from them, the knowledge of that has
been kept from all of creation and Allaah has kept it to Himself. “To
your Lord belongs (the knowledge of) the term thereof.”
4 – Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily, Allaah, with
Him (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain, and knows
that which is in the wombs”
[Luqmaan 31:34]
It was narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be
pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “The keys of the unknown are five: Allaah has
knowledge of the Hour, and He sends down rain, and He knows what is in the
wombs, and no person knows what he will earn tomorrow, and no person knows
in what land he will die. Verily, Allaah is All-Knower, All-Aware (of
things).”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4627.
And it was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased
with him) said: These five things are known to no one except Allaah; no
angel who is close to Allaah and no Messenger who was sent has any knowledge
of them. Whoever claims that he has any knowledge of them has disbelieved in
the Qur’aan, because he has gone against it. Tafseer al-Qurtubi,
14/82.
Ibn Katheer said (3/462):
These are the keys of the unseen, knowledge of which Allaah
has kept to Himself. So no one knows them until after Allaah has informed
him of them. And no angel who is close to Allaah and no Messenger who was
sent has any knowledge of the Hour.
End quote.
The ahaadeeth which indicate that no one knows when the Hour
will begin except Allaah include the following:
1 – The famous hadeeth of Jibreel, in which the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to Jibreel, when he asked
him when the Hour would begin: “The one who is asked about it does not know
more than the one who is asking.” Narrated by Muslim, 8.
2 – It was narrated that Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allaah (may Allaah
be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) say, one month before he died: “You ask me about the
Hour, but the knowledge thereof is only with Allaah. I swear by Allaah that
there is no soul on earth that will live for more than one hundred years.”
Narrated by Muslim, 2538.
What this hadeeth means is: every soul that was on the face
of the earth when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said these words would not live for more than one hundred years. The
hadeeth does not means that the Resurrection would happen within one hundred
years.
And Muslim narrated (2537) that Ibn ‘Umar said: What he meant
was that that generation would come to an end.
This hadeeth shows that there is no possibility that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) could have come to
know it after Jibreel asked about it, because that was one month before he
died.
Whoever claims after this
that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) knew when
the Hour would begin is ignorant, because the verses of the Qur’aan and the
ahaadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
quoted above clearly refute that.
Ibn al-Qayyim said in al-Manaar al-Muneef:
One of those in our own time who claim to have knowledge
clearly told lies when he said that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) knew when the Hour would begin. It was said
to him that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said in the hadeeth of Jibreel: “The one who is asked about it does not know
more than the one who is asking,” but he misinterpreted that and said that
it means, you and I know it. This is one of the worst kinds of ignorance and
distortion. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
could not have said to one whom he thought was a Bedouin, you and I know
when the Hour will be. But this ignorant man may say that he knew that this
was Jibreel, and the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, he never came to me
in any form but I recognized him, except in this case.” Narrated by Ahmad,
374. Ahmad Shaakir said: Its isnaad is saheeh. Rather the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) realized that this was Jibreel
after a while, as Umar said: A short while passed, then the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O ‘Umar, do you know who that questioner was?” Narrated by Muslim, 8. This liar says that he knew at the time of questioning that this was Jibreel but he did not tell his companions about that until a while afterwards. Moreover the words “The one who is asked about it does not know more than the one who is asking” are general and include both the one who asked and the one who was asked, regardless of who they may be, so every one who asks and everyone who is asked about the Hour are all the same.
And Allaah knows best.
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