Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Ḥasan, and Qatādah said that the word tukallimuhum (it will speak to them) means that it will address them with actual speech.

Ibn Jarīr preferred the view that it will address them and say, “Indeed (1) mankind were never certain of Our signs” (al-Naml 27:82). He also related this opinion from ʿAlī and ʿAṭāʾ, though this requires further scrutiny.

Another report from Ibn ʿAbbās states that tukallimuhum means “it will mark them,” that is, it will write on the forehead of the disbeliever “Kāfir” (disbeliever) and on the forehead of the believer “Muʾmin” (believer). A separate narration from him combines the two ideas: it will both address them and mark them. This view unites the two approaches; it is strong, commendable, and all-inclusive, and Allah knows best.

We have already cited the hadith narrated by Aḥmad, Muslim, and the compilers of the Sunan collections on the authority of Abū Sarīḥah Ḥudhayfah ibn Asīd, in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“The Hour will not be established until you see ten signs: the rising of the sun from the west, the smoke, the Beast, the emergence of Gog and Magog, the appearance of the Dajjāl, the descent of Jesus son of Mary, three earth-sinkings—one in the west, one in the east, and one in the Arabian Peninsula—and a fire that will come forth from the depths of ʿAdan, driving or gathering the people; it will spend the night with them wherever they spend the night and rest with them wherever they rest.” (2)

Muslim also transmitted, through al-ʿAlāʾ from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Hasten to perform good deeds before six appear: the rising of the sun from the west, the smoke, the Dajjāl, the Beast, the personal death of any one of you, or the general upheaval.” (3)

He likewise reported, through Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan, from Ziyād ibn Riyāḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Hasten to perform good deeds before six: the Dajjāl, the smoke, the Beast of the earth, the rising of the sun from the west, the general turmoil, and the particular calamity of any one of you.” (4)

Ibn Mājah recorded—through Ḥarmalah, from Ibn Wahb, from ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, and Ibn Luhayʿah, from Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, from Sinān ibn Saʿd, from Anas—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Hasten to perform good deeds before six: the rising of the sun from the west, the smoke, the Beast of the earth, the Dajjāl, the personal affliction of one of you, and the public ordeal.” (5) Ibn Mājah alone preserved it through this chain.