Is the end of the world near?

Not in the sense that the world will end tomorrow. Scripture calls our age the Last Days, but a day of God can be very long, and only God knows when the Hour will come.

Many people today see signs of decline. Ignorance is spreading, intoxicants are everywhere, families are breaking apart. Some conclude that the end of the world is just around the corner. Islam takes a calmer view.

Scripture describes our era as the Last Days. But this does not mean a date on which everything suddenly stops. It means an age that can last a long time, perhaps centuries.

The Holy Qur’an makes clear that God’s measure of time is not ours. A day with God can span a thousand years of our reckoning, and elsewhere there is even mention of fifty thousand years, as the verses above show. So when people speak of the end of time, a very long era may be meant.

Only God knows the exact time of the Hour. No one needs to live in fear or make calculations. The signs are a warning, not a timetable.

The more important question is how we live ourselves. Whoever seeks knowledge instead of remaining in ignorance, keeps away from intoxicants and stays faithful in their relationships is living as is right in every age, no matter when the end comes.