The Signs Before Judgement Day

البداية والنهاية

by Ibn Kathir, ابن كثير

A brief but immensely popular work on the end of time and the day of judgement by one of the foremost scholars of Tafsir. This, a selection from the Arabic work al-Bidayah wa'l-nihayah.

Genres: Islam, Religion, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

About the author

ابن كثير
Abu Al-Fida' Isma'il Ibn Kathir Al-Dimashqi

Reviews

[Ginger Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book out of curiosity. I am very familiar with the Book of Revelation and Christian prophecies about the Day of Judgement. I would recommend this book to Christians who are curious about other religions views about the End of Days. I think most will be surprised at how very similar the Muslim beliefs are to those of Christians. The biggest surprise for most Christians is the identity of the Messiah, who will arrive to defeat the Dajjal (the Antichrist). His name is Isa son of Maryam, better known to Christians as Jesus of Nazareth.

There are some differences between the Christian and Islamic views of Judgement Day, but there are far more similarities and the differences are mostly things like location of the final battle. The book is simple and based on the Hadith regarding Judgement Day. If you are a Christian, I would recommend reading the Book of Revelation and then read this.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this many years ago, not long after converting. Very easy to read.

[Hajra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, but the selected texts could have been organized more coherently.

[dee (zuko’s girlfriend) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very comprehensive and accurately described through interactive citations from Quran and Hadith. Some of the signs are described very elaborately, while balancing the element of curiosity with facts.
My suggestion to the future readers will be to read it slowly and absorb the deeper meaning behind the signs because you cannot read it in a flow just for the sake of narrative; but reading it deeply for the sake of guidance is going to clear a lot of misconceptions about the day of judgement. Translation was at par. Kudos to the translator who kept the true element of mystery there and brought the research of Ibn Kathir with the same vigour as one can find in the Arabic manuscript.

[Opu Hossain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is our world, our home with 8 billion inhabitants roughly. No doubt this world won't be last long. The end of the human history will draw its curtain with the destruction of the whole universe. But how do we know how close are we of that gigantic event? Will our lovable planet earth have a sudden disappearance or its signs will approach us one after another with the passage of time was spoken by the last prophet (peace be upon him) centuries ago? This book has to speak a lot about the unsolved mystery of many regarding the signs of the day of judgement Islamically.

"The Signs Before The Day Of Judgement" authored by the world renown Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir reflects upon some of the significant signs that will come in to existence til the end of the universe. The book based on the hadith of the final prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), presents not only the minor and major events including the miraculous nature of the reality of time but at the end of each chapter the authenticity of the hadith are brought in to discussion to let the readers have solid information. Some pars of the book for better understanding needs slight Islamic knowledge but overall a good one for the one indeed seeks to introduce with the signs of the end of the world.

[Filu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book mentioned about Dajjal.

[Imla · Rating 1 out of 5]

they make fool to us

[She Reads Sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, not a long read however packed with authentic hadith from cover to cover.

[Usman Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a huge respect for Ibn Katheer, his tafseer of the Qur'an is absolutely brilliant. I read this book back in secondary school, and even though it has good information, the individuals who produced the book didn't do a very good job of organising it, and that left me confused in a lot of places. It would've got more than 3 stars, if not for the poor organisation of the information within the book.

[Rabia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book always puts me in check.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a concise, short summary of different ahadeeth about signs of the end time. Some I was familiar with and others I was not. This is a good reference book to have in any Islamic library.