Is there any indication/sign that the end of time is approaching?

Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) told us that towards the end of time, there would appear amongst the Muslims an individual who he referred to as Al-Mahdi, the Rightly Guided One. And towards the end of his stay, `Isa عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ would return. This is a part of the future that the Prophet (ﷺ) prophesized for us in quite clear terms.

There is a hadeeth [1] in which Hudhayfah ibn Al-Yaman asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about what was to come and the Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) replied saying:

“Prophethood will remain with you for as long as Allah willed it to remain. Then Allah will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Afterwards there will be caliphates that follow the guidance of Prophethood that remains with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then He will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Afterwards, there will be a reign of violently oppressive rule, and it will remain with you as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then there will be a reign of tyrannical rule and it will remain for as long as Allah wills it to remain, and then Allah will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Then there will be a caliphate that follows the guidance of Prophethood.”

Then Hudhayfah said that the Prophet (ﷺ) stopped speaking.

So he identified the period of the future with regards to the Muslim Ummah and what changes would take place. He first identified the period of himself, i.e, the reign of Prophethood, then the caliphate which is according to the guidance which as we know as the righteous caliphates, the four righteous caliphates, and included along with that is `Umar ibn `Abdul-`Aziz, and after that he spoke of a reign that would be unjust, that is the period of the Umayyad, the Abbasid, the Mamluks and the Ottoman states. This is the caliphate, but caliphate with distortion in it, some oppression and injustice, and then there would be the period of tyrannical rule, which is after the period of the Ottomans, the period when the Muslim world was completely colonized and the period which follows that, the period of neo-colonization where Muslims now govern themselves in many of the countries, but they continue to govern themselves according to the laws and the systems that were left by the colonial masters. Then there would be a return of the caliphate which rules according to the guidance of the Prophet (ﷺ), that period refers to the period of the Mahdi who would come.

The Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) said that:

“The Mahdi would come from my family, a descendant of Fatimah.” [2]

And he said further that:

“Even if one day remains in this life, then Allah would lengthen that day until a man from among my family is raised up, his name will be like my name and his father’s name will be like my father’s name, and he will rule the earth with justice and fairness as it was filled with injustice and inequity.” [3]

He further said in description of the Mahdi that:

“He will come from my lineage, his forehead will be broad, his nose will be long and thin, and he will fill the earth with justice and equity as it was filled with injustice and inequity, and he will rule for seven years.” [4]

This is a part of the future to come. He will be involved in leading the Muslims in their struggle against what was identified then as in Rome, in Western civilization. And towards the end of those struggles, the word that Al Messiah Ad-Dajjal had appeared would come. And at that time `Isa ibn Maryam would descend and the time for prayer will come and Al-Mahdi will lead the prayer. They will ask Prophet `Isa عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ to lead the prayer, but he will refuse and instead the Mahdi will lead. And following that, Dajjal will come in contact with `Isa عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ leading the armies of Muslims. He will be killed and Prophet `Isa will rule the earth. He will marry, he will have children and he will die on the earth. And following that, the major signs of the last hour will come one after the other.

That is what Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) has told us about the future.

References:

[1] Musnad Imam Ahmad, Hadeeth: 18406

[2] Abu Dawud, The Book of the Mahdi, Hadeeth: 4271

[3] Abu Dawud, The Book of the Mahdi, Hadeeth: 4269

[4] Abu Dawud, The Book of the Mahdi, Hadeeth: 4272