After the second blowing of the Trumpet, the Hour will be established (Surah Al-Zumar, 39:68), and the Righteous Judgment will begin.  No one, not even the Messenger, has any knowledge of the Hour, except Allah^SWT:

Verily Allah, with Him (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour… [Sûrah Al-Luqman, 31:34]

Allah^SWT, however,  has bestowed knowledge upon His Messenger^SAW to inform people of the signs of the Hour.  First are minor signs that eventually will lead to the Major signs.

The Minor Signs Leading to the Major Signs

These signs occur during our daily worldly events, pass unnoticed and may occur repeatedly. That is, time will pass rapidly, good deeds will decrease, miserliness will capture the hearts of people. There will be a disappearance of knowledge and an appearance of ignorance. There will be an abundance of food and wealth; paying Zakah will become a burden. Prominent vices will be drinking alcohol, giving false testimony, eating unlawful things, using intoxicants, committing evil wicked deeds like illegal sexual acts, murdering (Al-Ḥarj), taking other’s rights unlawfully, robbing, stealing, betraying, backbiting, slandering, and telling lies. People will compete in building tall buildings. People will establish ties with strangers and avoid their own blood relations; men will obey their wives and disobey their mothers. Female singers and their musical instruments will become popular and so on, and the slave girl will give birth to her master.

The Major Signs Leading to the Hour:

Those still alive —not yet in their graves— will see indications of the approaching Hour —heralding the onset of the Day of Judgment.

The Prophet^SAW said: “…The Hour) will never begin until you see ten signs before it.” He mentioned the smoke, the Dajjâl, the Beast, the rising of the sun from its place of setting, the descent of ‘Isa ibn Maryam (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj, and three landslides, one in the east, one in the west and one in the Arabian Peninsula, and the last of that is a fire which will emerge from Yemen and drive the people to their place of gathering. (Jami’ Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2183)

The following are the details of the Major Signs:

1. Rising of the sun from the west (from the place where it normally sets): This would be the result of the earth returning to rotation in a clockwise direction, the very direction it had when our solar system and its star (our Sun) were born from a rotating clump of gas. This reverse rotation would be an indication of the future loss of the present order of counter-clockwise rotation (when viewed from the North Pole of the earth):

So, when the sight shall be dazed, and the moon will be eclipsed, and the sun and the moon will be joined together [caused by the loss of respective orbital trajectory].  [Sûrah Al-Qiyamah, 75:7-9]

Narrated Abu Hurairah^RA:

The Hour will not be established until the sun rises from the west: and when the people see it, then whosoever will be living on the surface of the earth will have faith, and that is (the time), when “…no good it will do to a soul to believe then, if it not believed not before (Surah Al-An’âm, 6:158).” (Sahih Al-Bukhari 4635)

2. Appearance of Fire from the plain of Aden: Driving the people to their gathering places; stopping with them when they stop at night and when they stop to rest at midday.

This can happen naturally only when there is extreme climate change resulting in wildfire.  The prediction is that it will appear in Aden and it will drive people to their place of assembly.

Hudhaifah b. Asid al-Ansari^RA said :

We were sitting in the shade of the chamber of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) discussing (something) and when we mentioned the last hour, our voices rose high. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The last hour will not come until there first appear ten signs: the rising of the sun in its place of setting, the coming forth of the beast, the coming forth of Gog and Magog, the Dajjal (Antichrist), (the descent of) Jesus son of Mary, the smoke, and three collapses of the earth: one in the west, one in the east, and one in the Arabian Peninsula. The last of that will be the emergence of a fire from Yemen, from the lowest part of Aden, and drive mankind to their place of assembly.(Sunan Abi Dawud 4311)

Aden is a city in Yemen, along the north coast of the Gulf of Aden.  It is at the foothill of the Sarawat Mountain, also called Jabal Al-Nabi Shu‘ayb.

Rising temperature, drought and extreme heat will cause wildfire; that will drive the people away from their homes to an unknown place, the place of Gathering.

Scientifically, severe climate change can cause severe wildfires, and severe wildfires can generate massive “fire clouds” marked by intracloud and cloud-to-ground flashes of lightening, setting a vicious cycle of wildfires and fire clouds.  Wildfire will generate a massive cloud of smoke that can travel and cover a part of the globe; examples in recent days are the history of a yellow dust cloud of the Sahara traveling up to Europe (Greece), and the smoke of a California fire traveling to the North East United States.

3. The Smoke: Smoke is the result of wildfire: It is real, and it is not the pseudocloud that is seen by a person with impaired vision because of physical weakness caused by hunger:

Then wait you for the Day when the sky will bring forth a visible smoke, covering the people: this is a painful torment.  [Sûrah Al-Dukhan, 44:10-11]

4. Appearance of the Dajjal (the Antichrist):

Narrated Anas^RA: The Prophet^SAW said:

“No Prophet was sent but that he warned his followers against the one-eyed liar (Al-Masih Al-Dajjal).  Be aware that he is blind in one eye, while your Lord is not so! And there will be written between his eyes (Al-Masih-Al-Dajjal’s eyes) [the word] Kafir (i. e. the disbeliever).”  (Ṣaḥîḥ Al-Bukhârî  7131)

5. Appearance of the Gog and Magog people:

On that Day [when Ya’juj and Ma’juj (“Gog and Magog”) will come out], We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another; and the Trumpet will be blown, and We shall collect them [the creatures] all together.  [Sûrah Al- Kahf, 18:99]

6. Appearance of ‘Isa bin Maryam^AS:

And [remember] when Allah said: “O Isa! I will take you and raise you to Myself and clear you [of the forged statement that Isa is Allah’s son] of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection.  Then [all of] you will return to Me and I will judge among you in the matters in which you used to dispute.”  [Sûrah Âl-‘Imrân, 3:55]

And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour.  Therefore, have no doubt about the Hour…  [Sûrah Al-Zukhraf, 43:61]

7. Three collapses (sliding) of the earth: one from the east, one from the west and one from the Arabian Peninsula:

This can result from an earthquake that causes movements of the tectonic plates resulting in continental divides on land and in tsunamis under the ocean.

There are several tectonic plates that hold the continental crusts.  The major ones are the Eurasian plate, the Australian plate, the Arabian and African plate, the North American plate and the South American plate.  The Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf countries are frequently shaken by earthquakes, and research has confirmed that their epicenters are in the floor of the Red Sea;  their magnitudes are usually in the range of 4-5 on the Reichter Scale:

On Feb 6, 2020 a 3.8 magnitude quake hit off the coast of Haifa (Israel)

(https://www.timesofisrael.com/small-earthquake-shakes-northern-israel-no-reports-of-injuries-or-damage/#)

On April 5, 2020 there was a 4.3 magnitude epicenter in the Red Sea about 60 miles south of Eilat (Israel) with over 30 aftershocks. (https://www.jpost.com/Breaking News//43-magnitude-earthquate-felt-in-Eilat-623618)

On April 11, 2020, Anak Krakatau Volcano (Indonesia) not alone as three more erupted (https://aseandigest.net/2020/04/11/anak-krakataku-not-alone-as-three-more-indonesian-volcanes-erupt)

So, the prediction of three collapses (slidings) of the earth’s crust can happen depending on the algebraic sum of the movements of these plates.

8. Appearance of the Beast:

And when the Word (of torment) is fulfilled against them, We shall bring out against them a beast to speak to them because mankind believed not with certainty in our Signs (Ayat).  [Sûrah Al-Naml, 27:82]

It was narrated on the authority of Hudhaifah ibn Usayd Al-Ghifâri^ra  that the Prophet^SAW said:  “One of the Signs of the Hour is the appearance of Al-Dâbbah.”  (Sunan Ibn Majah 4055)

Commentary:

This is the beast that will emerge at the end of time when mankind will become corrupt, disobedient and move away from true Religion (Islam).  It will bring with it the staff of Musa^AS, and the ring of Solomon^AS.  It will strike the nose of the disbelievers with the staff and make their face black, and it will make the face of the Believers bright with the ring…  (Musnad Abu Dawud Al-Tayalisi, 334)

These signs will be followed by convulsive physical changes in the universe. The changes start with the Sun, when it will be “folded up”; the folding will result in loss of light, leading to loss of life-sustaining energy of light and heat, loss of the electro-magnetic and gravitational force necessary for the steady operation of the orbital planetary system.

Then the change will affect the stars in the galaxy: they will move away from the central attraction of the galaxy and get lost in space, or they will convolute under their own gravity and turn into a black hole. The mountains will crumble down under the effects of earthquake, and the sea may overflow the land because of a Tsunami.

Men in that situation will be overwhelmed and will lose the sense of love for their cherished belongings, even something like a pregnant she-camel in the time of Prophet Muhammad ^PBUH.  In the loss of the normal order, the animals, both domestic and wild, will be gathered together:

“When the sun (with its specious light) is folded up; and when the stars fall, losing their lustre; and when the mountains vanish (like a mirage); and when the ten-month pregnant she-camels are neglected; and when the wild beasts are gathered together, and when the seas become as blazing Fire or overflow…” [Sûrah Al-Takwîr, 81:1-6]

The loss of the present universal order will affect the present state of the heavens, the earth, and the interstellar materials, leading to the creation of a new world:

“[It will be] on [that] Day when the earth will be replaced by another earth, and the heavens [as well], and all creatures will come out before Allah, the One, the Prevailing.” [Sûrah Al-Ibrâhîm, 14:4]

To be continued in Part 8…