Page 125: Part 2: Intermediate Signs that Have Appeared and Continue to Unfold

And among them: "Men marrying men; and that is among what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and for which Allah and His Messenger feel detestation."

And among them: "Women marrying women; and that is among what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and for which Allah and His Messenger feel detestation. There is no prayer accepted for them as long as they persist in that, until they repent sincerely unto Allah." Narrated by al-Daraqutni, al-Bayhaqi, and Ibn al-Najjar on the authority of the Companion (may Allah be pleased with him).

And among them: "There will surely come upon people a time wherein slave-girls will be consulted, women will hold authority, and foolish people will rule." Narrated by Ibn al-Munadi on the authority of 'Ali (may Allah ennoble his face).

And among them: "The Hour shall not be established until greetings are exchanged only between acquaintances, mosques are taken as mere pathways wherein no prostration is made to Allah, a youth sends an elder as an errand-runner between distant horizons, and a merchant travels between distant horizons yet finds no profit." Narrated by al-Tabarani on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him).

This is a metaphor for the lack of desire for prayer, the lack of reverence by the young toward the old, and the absence of blessing in commerce due to the prevalence of lying and fraud among merchants.

And among them: "The Hour shall not be established until the evil people of al-Sham move to Iraq, and the righteous people of Iraq move to al-Sham." Narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah on the authority of Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him).

And among them: "A time will come upon people when no person of religious conviction will be safe in his religion except one who flees from mountain peak to mountain peak, or from cavern to cavern, like a fox fleeing with its cubs. That will be in the end of times, when livelihood cannot be attained except through disobedience to Allah. When that occurs, estrangement becomes permissible; and at that time, a man's destruction will come at the hands of his parents if he has parents; otherwise at the hands of his wife and child; otherwise at the hands of relatives and neighbors, who will reproach him for his constrained livelihood and burden him with what he cannot bear, until he casts himself into perilous paths wherein he is ruined." Narrated by Abu Nu'aym, al-Bayhaqi, al-Khalili, and al-Rafi'i on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him).

And among them: "A time will come upon people when a man will sit among a group of people, and nothing prevents him from getting up and leaving except the fear that they will backbite him." Narrated by al-Daylami on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him).

And among them: "Severe calamity will strike my nation in the end of times, from which none will be saved except a man who recognized..."