And from him (may Allah be pleased with him) he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The Hour will not stand until people compete with one another in their mosques.”
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The Shaykh : He said: “And from him (may Allah be pleased with him)—meaning from Anas—he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: Sunan Abi Dawud 449Sahih (Al-Albani) .”
“The Hour will not stand” means the Hour of Resurrection. The Hour stands when Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) ends this world, when the Trumpet is blown and people are struck dead, and then it is blown again, and they rise up looking around. The Hour will not stand until matters reach this point: people competing with one another in their mosques. They compete, meaning they boast, about whose mosque is the most beautiful. One says, “Our mosque is the most beautiful because we built it with magnificent construction, because it has decorations, because it has plaster, or something similar.” They boast. And among that, they boast about the mosque’s carpeting, saying, “Our mosque has been carpeted with luxurious, expensive carpeting, or something similar.” So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) informed us of a matter that will occur before the standing of the Hour. Does this mean that it is one of the signs of the Hour?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : This may suggest that it is one of the signs of the Hour, but it is not explicit. Therefore, we cannot say that since people have started competing in their mosques, this is evidence of the nearness of the Hour and that it is one of its signs. This happens often, such as this kind of expression, like the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Does that mean it is a sign of the signs of the Hour? No, but the Hour will not stand until this occurs.
The Last Hour will not come until people vie with one another about mosques.
لا تقوم الساعة حتى يتباهى الناس في المساجد“The Hour will not stand” means the Hour of Resurrection. The Hour stands when Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) ends this world, when the Trumpet is blown and people are struck dead, and then it is blown again, and they rise up looking around. The Hour will not stand until matters reach this point: people competing with one another in their mosques. They compete, meaning they boast, about whose mosque is the most beautiful. One says, “Our mosque is the most beautiful because we built it with magnificent construction, because it has decorations, because it has plaster, or something similar.” They boast. And among that, they boast about the mosque’s carpeting, saying, “Our mosque has been carpeted with luxurious, expensive carpeting, or something similar.” So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) informed us of a matter that will occur before the standing of the Hour. Does this mean that it is one of the signs of the Hour?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : This may suggest that it is one of the signs of the Hour, but it is not explicit. Therefore, we cannot say that since people have started competing in their mosques, this is evidence of the nearness of the Hour and that it is one of its signs. This happens often, such as this kind of expression, like the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):