Abu Zar’ah bin Amr says: In Madinah Munawwarah, three Muslims were sitting with Marwan. They heard Marwan describing the signs of the Hour. He said that the first sign of the Hour is the emergence of Dajjal. Then these people went to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) and mentioned to him the signs of the Hour they had heard from Marwan. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Marwan did not say anything based on knowledge. Regarding this, I remember a hadith of Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) which I have not forgotten till now. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The very first signs that will appear are the rising of the sun from the west and the emergence of the beast at forenoon. Whichever of these signs appears first, the other will soon follow after it. Since Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to read the heavenly books, he said: I think the very first sign will be the rising of the sun from the west. The reason is that when the sun sets, it goes and prostrates under the Throne of Allah Almighty, then seeks permission to return, and it is granted permission to return. When Allah Almighty wills that it should rise from the west, it will perform all its usual tasks, and after prostrating under the Throne as usual, it will seek permission to return, but Allah Almighty will not give it any answer. It will ask for permission again, but still will not be given any answer. It will ask for permission a third time, but still will not be given any answer, until a part of the night passes and the sun becomes certain that even if it is granted permission to return, it will not be able to reach the east at its appointed time. Then it will say: O my Lord! How far the east is! Now what will become of me and the people? Until the horizon becomes like a round circle, then it will once again seek permission to return. This time it will be said: Rise from here today. Thus, it will rise upon the people from the west. After this, Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) recited this verse: {یَوْمَ یَاْتِیْ بَعْضُ آیَاتِ رَبِّکَ لَا یَنْفَعُ نَفْسًا اِیْمَانُہَا لَمْ تَکُنْ آمَنَتْ مِنْ قَبْلُ اَوْ کَسَبَتْ فِیْ اِیْمَانِہَا خَیْرًا۔} (Surah Al-An’am: 158) (On the day when some of the signs of your Lord come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it had not believed before or had not earned some good through its faith.)