158. Do they then wait for anything other than that the angels should come to them, or that your Lord should come, or that some of the Signs of your Lord should come! The day that some of the signs of your Lord do come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good with his faith. Say: "Wait you! We (too) are waiting."

Allah sternly threatens the disbelievers, those who defy His Messengers, deny His Ayat and hinder from His path,

Do they then wait for anything other than that the angels should come to them, or that your Lord (Allah) should come...}

on the Day of Resurrection,

or that some of the signs of your Lord should come! The day that some of the signs of your Lord do come no good will it do to a person to believe then.}

Before the commencement of the Day of Resurrection, there will come signs and portents of the Last Hour that will be witnessed by the people living at that time. In a section explaining this Ayah, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah said,

«The Last Hour will not commence until the sun rises from the west. When the people witness that, they will all believe. This is when .

no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before.»

Ibn Jarir recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah said,

‘Three, if they appear, then a soul will not benefit from its faith, if it had not believed before or earned good in its faith : when the sun rises from the ivest, Ad-Dajjdl and the Beast of the earth. »

Ahmad also recorded this Hadith, and in his narration, the Prophet mentioned the Smoke.

Imam Ahmad recorded that ‘Amr bin Jarir said, “Three Muslim men sat with Marwan in Al-Madlnah and they heard him talking about the signs (of the Last Hour). He said that the first sign will be the appearance of Ad-Dajjal. So these men went to ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr and told him what they heard from Marwan about the signs. Ibn ‘Amr said, Marwan said nothing. I remember that I heard the Messenger of Allah saying,

«The first of the signs to appear are the sun rising from the west and the Beast that appears in the early morning. Whichever comes before the other, then the second sign will appear soon after jf."»

Then ‘Abdullah said - and he used to read the Scriptures - “And I think the first of them is the sun rising from the west. That is because when it sets it comes under the Throne, prostrates and seeks permission to return.

So it is permitted to return until Allah wants it to rise from the west. So it does as it normally would, it comes beneath the Throne, it prostrates and seeks permission to return. But it will get no response. Then it will seek permission to return [again], but it will get no response, until what Allah wills of the night to pass goes by, and it realizes that if it is permitted to return it would not [be able to] reach the east.

It says; *My Lord! The east is so far, what good would I be to them? Then it is told: ‘Rise from where you are.’ So it rises from the west.” Then ‘Abdullah recited the Ayah,

no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good with his faith.}

Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi recorded that Talhah bin ‘Umar said that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah said,

“When the sun rises from the west, the believing servant will be too joyful for his good deeds, while the disbeliever’s faith will not be accepted from him.»

Al-Hakim recorded this Hadith, and said, “It is Sahih according to the criteria of Muslim, and they did not record it.”

Allah said,

or earned good with his faith.}

meaning, one’s good deeds will not be accepted of him unless he performs them before the signs of the Resurrection.

Say : "Wait you! We (too) are waiting.”}

This is a stern threat to the disbelievers and a sure promise for those who delay embracing the faith and repenting until a time when faith or repentance shall not avail. This will occur when the sun rises from the west, because the Last Hour will then be imminent and its major signs will have begun to appear. Allah said in other Ayat,

Do they then await (anything) other than the Hour, that it should come upon them suddenly? But some of its portents have already come; and when it is upon them, how can they benefit then by their reminder ?} [47:18],

and,

So a?/ien they saw Our punishment, they said : "We believe in Allah alone and reject (all) that we used to associate with Him as partners." Then their faith could not avail them when they saw Our punishment .} [40:84-85]