Ashrat al-Saa wa Dhahab al-Akhyar wa Baqa al-Ashrar li Abd al-Malik ibn Habib
- Author died
- 238 AH
- Editions
- Aḍwāʾ al-Salaf
Ashrat al-Saa wa Dhahab al-Akhyar wa Baqa al-Ashrar (The Signs of the Hour, the Departure of the Righteous, and the Remaining of the Wicked) is an early eschatological treatise by the Andalusian Maliki jurist and scholar Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik ibn Habib (184–238 AH / 800–853 CE) . The work compiles prophetic traditions and early narrations (athar) detailing the portents of the Day of Judgment, societal corruption, and the tribulations preceding the end of time .
Content and Structure
The treatise is organized around chains of transmission (asānīd) reported by Ibn Habib from scholars such as Mutarrif ibn Abd Allah, Asad ibn Musa, and Asbagh ibn al-Faraj . Its material addresses two main categories of apocalyptic events:
- Minor Signs and Societal Decline: The initial part records narrations on the rapid succession of portents, described as beads slipping off a severed string . These reports recount the spread of greed, usury, and indecency; the elevation of unqualified public speakers (al-ruwaybiḍah); the inversion of trust where the truthful is disbelieved and the dishonest is trusted; the loss of modesty; and the departure of the righteous leaving only the wicked behind for a span reported as one hundred and twenty years .
- Major Portents and Eschatological Catastrophes: The work includes a designated section on the major signs upon which the Hour will be established, discussing the order of events including the rising of the sun from the west, the emergence of the Beast (al-Dābbah), the Antichrist (al-Dajjal), Gog and Magog (Yajuj and Majuj), and the Smoke (al-Dukhān) . It highlights that the rising of the sun from the west marks the closing of repentance and the invalidation of newly declared faith .
Publication
The work was edited and studied by Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Mu'min al-Ghumari al-Hasani and published in a single volume by Dar Adwa' al-Salaf in Riyadh in 1425 AH / 2005 CE .
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