When does belief not benefit man?

- Belief does not benefit man after these three things occur:
1. When the sun rises in the west,
2. When the Antichrist (Dajjal) emerges,
3. When Dabbatul-ard emerges. (Muslim, Tirmidhi)

How should we understand this hadith? Is the sun rising in the west not the only situation in which belief will not be enough? How should we understand the other 2 items?

Dear Brother / Sister,

For the source of the hadith in question, see Muslim, Iman, 249; Tirmidhi, Tafsiru suratil-Anam; 158.

The sun rising in the west is very popular; so, we may have had that impression. However, our duty is to arrange our creed according to the verses of the Quran and sound hadiths. Those two hadith are sound; they are also a kind of explanation for the following verse (al-Anam 158): “The day that certain of the signs of thy Lord do come, no good will it do to a soul to believe in them then if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its faith.”

According to Qadi Iyad, the decree of this hadith, which is said to prevent the acceptance of belief, is unanimously accepted by the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah, hadith scholars, fiqh scholars and kalam scholars (see Nawawi, Sharhu Muslim, 2/195).

In Bukhari, only the rising of the sun from the west is mentioned as one of the signs of the Day of Judgment related to belief not benefitting a person.

Abu Hurayra narrates: The Prophet (pbuh) said:

“Doomsday will not strike until the sun rises from the west. When the sun rises in the west, all the people who see it will believe. However, this moment (mentioned in the Quran) is the following moment:

The day that certain of the signs of thy Lord do come, no good will it do to a soul to believe in them then if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its faith.’ (al-Anam, 6/158)” (Bukhari, Tafsir, 9, Riqaq, 40)

It seems that since Bukhari only mentions the time when belief is not acceptable as “the sun rises in the west”, this has become more famous.

However, “the sun rising in the west” is mentioned as a reason for repentance not being accepted in many hadith sources such as Ahmad b. Hanbal, Tabarani, Muslim, Nasai, Tirmidhi, Darimi, etc. (see Ibn Hajar, 11/354-355)

Since it is mentioned in many sources as a reason why repentance is not accepted, and in Bukhari as a reason why belief is not accepted, it is natural that it should come to the fore. In fact, repentance means turning away from sins, and belief is a kind of repentance of unbelief.

Finally, it is important to note that there is an important difference between the rising of the sun from the west and the appearance of Yajuj (Gog) and Majuj (Magog) and the Dajjal (Antichrist):

The signs of the Antichrist and Gog-Magog are not known by everyone because they are not clearly known to everyone. Therefore, the reason why those two signs are the reason why belief and repentance are not accepted is only for those who know them.

However, there is nothing hidden about the sun rising in the west. Therefore, everyone sees it and understands what it is; thus, the door to belief and repentance becomes closed for everyone.

Accordingly, it is possible to understand the hadith in question to mean that belief does not benefit man after all those three things have happened.

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