as believers and disbelievers is an event that departs from the ordinary course of things. It is therefore the first of the earthly portents, just as the sun’s rising from the west—contrary to its familiar pattern—is the first of the celestial portents, for it will rise in a manner to which people are unaccustomed. Allah, exalted is He, knows best.

A ḥadīth on the authority of Abū Umāmah
Imām Aḥmad said: Ḥujayn ibn al-Muthannā narrated to us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—meaning Ibn Abī Salamah al-Mājishūn—narrated to us, from ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAṭiyyah ibn Dilāf ⦗1⦘ al-Muzanī—I know of it only that he related it from Abū Umāmah, attributing it to the Prophet ﷺ—who said:

“The Beast will emerge and will mark the people on their snouts; then they will become so intermingled among you ⦗2⦘ that when a man buys a camel and is asked ⦗3⦘, ‘From whom did you buy it?’ he will reply, ‘From one of those who have been branded.’”

Yūnus—meaning Ibn Muḥammad—said: “Then they will become intermingled among you,” and he expressed no doubt about it. He added: concerning its being a musnad report. Aḥmad alone transmitted it. ⦗4⦘

The Rising of the Sun from the West
Allah the Exalted says: “Are they waiting for anything other than that the angels should come to them, or that your Lord should come, or that some of your Lord’s signs should come? On the Day that some of your Lord’s signs do come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it had not believed before, nor by earning good through its faith. Say, ‘Wait; indeed, we too are waiting.’” ⦗158⦘ (Sūrah al-Anʿām).

Imām Aḥmad said: Wakīʿ narrated to us; Ibn Abī Laylā narrated to us, from ʿAṭiyyah al-ʿAwfī, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, from the Prophet ﷺ concerning the verse, “On the Day that some of your Lord’s signs do come, no soul will benefit from its faith,” he said: “It is the sun’s rising from the west.” Al-Tirmidhī narrated it from Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ, from his father, and said: [ḥasan] ⦗5⦘, gharīb. Some narrated it without attributing it to the Prophet. ⦗6⦘

Al-Bukhārī, in his commentary on this verse, said: Mūsā ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid narrated to us; ʿUmārah narrated to us; Abū Zurʿah narrated to us; Abū Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The Hour will not be established until the sun rises from the west; when the people see it, everyone on earth will believe, and that will be the time when no soul will benefit from its faith if it had not believed before.” The rest of the compilers, except al-Tirmidhī, have also recorded it through various chains from ʿUmārah ibn al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn