What is the meaning of the statement of Allah the Exalted: "And what makes you know that it [the Hour] will not be near?"
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The questioner : The questioner, Aa Aa H al-Ahmadi from al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, says in the first question: What is the meaning of the statement of Allah the Exalted [Al-Ahzab 33:63]?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Pious, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. This is the answer to the question of the people who asked the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, when the Hour would be. So Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said:[Al-Ahzab 33:63], meaning: What informs you, O human being, or what informs you, O Prophet, that the Hour will be near? And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has spoken the truth. Indeed, every event is near. Look at yourself: you look forward to something as if it were far away, and then it arrives. People break their fast from Ramadan and say, "When will the second Ramadan come?" And then the second Ramadan arrives upon them, and its days seem like minutes or moments. So the Hour is near, no matter how long the time lasts. In the verse, there is clear evidence that no one knows when the Hour will be. So whoever claims to know when the Hour will be has lied about the Qur'an, and he is a disbeliever who has apostatized from the religion of Islam. In the famous hadith of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), when Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, and asked him about Islam, faith, and excellence in worship, he said to him, "When is the Hour?" The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: Mishkat al-Masabih 741, meaning: If you do not know, then I do not know. And if these two noble messengers, the best of messengers, do not know when the Hour is—Jibril being the best of the angels and Muhammad the best of humans—then those below them are even less likely to know.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So whoever claims to know the Hour is a liar who denies Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and His Messenger. Indeed, the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah the Exalted, but it is not far; it is near, because every event is near. The past is what is far. Yesterday is farther from you than a thousand days that will come to you, if Allah decrees for you survival.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
And what may make you perceive? Perhaps the Hour is near."
وَما يُدريكَ لَعَلَّ السّاعَةَ تَكونُ قَريبًاThe Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Pious, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. This is the answer to the question of the people who asked the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, when the Hour would be. So Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said:
Say," Knowledge of it is only with Allah. And what may make you perceive? Perhaps the Hour is near."
قُل إِنَّما عِلمُها عِندَ اللَّهِ وَما يُدريكَ لَعَلَّ السّاعَةَ تَكونُ قَريبًاThe one who is asked knows no more than the one who asks
ما المسؤول عنها بأعلم من السائلThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So whoever claims to know the Hour is a liar who denies Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and His Messenger. Indeed, the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah the Exalted, but it is not far; it is near, because every event is near. The past is what is far. Yesterday is farther from you than a thousand days that will come to you, if Allah decrees for you survival.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.