When will the Day of Judgement happen?
No one knows when the Day of Judgement will happen except Allah, not even the Prophet ﷺ or the angel Gabriel. Islam teaches that it will come suddenly, on a Friday, after a series of signs. Any person or video giving you a date is guessing.
Only Allah knows the time
People asked the Prophet ﷺ this exact question many times, and the Quran answered it directly:
The same verse adds that it will come "only unexpectedly". When the angel Gabriel, in human form, asked the Prophet ﷺ about the Hour, he replied, "The one being asked knows no more about it than the one asking" (Sahih Muslim 8). If the best of creation didn't know the date, nobody alive today does.
What we do know
- It's on a Friday. The Prophet ﷺ said the Last Hour will take place on no day other than Friday (Sahih Muslim 854). Which Friday, no one knows.
- Signs come first. There are minor signs, many of which scholars say have already appeared, and ten major signs, such as the Dajjal, the return of Jesus and the sun rising from the west. See What are the signs of the Day of Judgement?
- It comes when faith has faded. The Hour will not come while there is still someone on earth saying "Allah, Allah" (Sahih Muslim 148). In other words, the believers will have passed away before it begins.
What about the predictions?
Over the centuries, people have calculated dates from numbers in the Quran, from world events or from "secret" hadith. Every one of them has failed. Scholars treat such predictions as speculation about the unseen, which Islam warns against. A YouTube countdown is entertainment, not knowledge.
The better question
A man once asked the Prophet ﷺ, "When will the Hour be?" He replied, "What have you prepared for it?" The man said he hadn't prepared much prayer or fasting, but he loved Allah and His Messenger. The Prophet ﷺ said, "You will be with those you love" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6171).
That shifts the focus. Your own "hour" comes at death, and that could be any day. Getting ready means praying, repenting, being kind and paying back what you owe, not tracking headlines. See What do Muslims believe happens after death?
If thinking about the end makes you anxious, that's normal. Talk to Allah about it and focus on hope as well as fear. See How do I deal with fear of death as a Muslim?
- Only Allah knows when the Day of Judgement will happen.
- It will come suddenly, on a Friday, after major signs.
- All date predictions are guesses and have always failed.
- The real question is how you are preparing for it.
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