Abundant Rain While the Earth Grows Nothing
In brief
One sign before the Hour is that the sky sends down plenty of rain, but the earth grows nothing from it and there is no blessing (barakah) in it.
In Sahih Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Famine is not that you get no rain. Famine is that you get rain, and more rain, and the earth grows nothing.' Anas narrated that the Hour will not come until the sky rains and the earth does not grow anything. Scholars place it among the late signs, before the three hard years of drought just before the Dajjal.
Al-Nawawi explains that this changes how we think about plenty and want: even heavy rain is useless when Allah's blessing is taken away because of widespread injustice.
Seek barakah through taqwa (God-consciousness), istighfar (seeking forgiveness), and gratitude for sustenance.
Where it sits in the sequence
The narrations do not put these in order, and many of them overlap. Sahih al-Bukhari 7121 lists several together.
Strongest narrations
Read all in the archive →Tags are automatic and unreviewed.
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا يَعْقُوبُ، - يَعْنِي ابْنَ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ - عَنْ سُهَيْلٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " لَيْسَتِ السَّنَةُ بِأَنْ لاَ تُمْطَرُوا وَلَكِنِ السَّنَةُ أَنْ تُمْطَرُوا وَتُمْطَرُوا وَلاَ تُنْبِتُ الأَرْضُ شَيْئًا " .
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:The famine would not break out because of drought, but there would be famine despite heavy rainfall as nothing would grow from the earth
Weak and ungraded reports on this sign
2
Shown for study, not as established. Includes Kitab al-Fitan of Nu'aym ibn Hammad, which is ungraded and weak overall.
Not graded under this archive's policy. The verdicts recorded are listed.
حدثنا علي بن حمشاذ العدل، ثنا إبراهيم بن الحسين بن ديزيل، ثنا علي بن عثمان اللاحقي، ثنا حماد بن سلمة، ثنا ثابت، عن أنس رضي الله عنه، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: " لا تقوم الساعة حتى لا يقال في الأرض الله الله، وحتى تمر المرأة بقطعة النعل، فتقول: قد كان لهذه رجل مرة، وحتى يكون الرجل قيم خمسين امرأة، وحتى تمطر السماء ولا تنبت الأرض «هذا حديث على شرط مسلم، ولم يخرجاه»
No translation yet. Arabic only.
AI draft, not reviewed by an editor. Read the Arabic for the meaning.
Not graded under this archive's policy. The verdicts recorded are listed.
حدثنا أبو محمد أحمد بن عبد الله المزني ببخارى، أنبأ عبد الله بن ناجية، حدثنا عبد الوارث بن عبد الصمد بن عبد الوارث، حدثني أبي، ثنا حماد بن سلمة، عن ثابت، عن أنس رضي الله عنه، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: " لا تقوم الساعة حتى لا يقال في الأرض الله الله، وحتى إن المرأة لتمر بالنعل فترفعها وتقول: قد كانت هذه لرجل، وحتى يكون في خمسين امرأة القيم الواحد، وحتى تمطر السماء ولا تنبت الأرض «هذا حديث صحيح على شرط مسلم، ولم يخرجاه»
No translation yet. Arabic only.
AI draft, not reviewed by an editor. Read the Arabic for the meaning.
Comparative Traditions
Please note: these Bible passages are here for comparison and history only. In Islam, proof comes from the Quran and sahih hadith. Reports taken from earlier scriptures (Isra'iliyyat) are not treated as proof.
The Twelve Parts of the End-Time Tribulation and the Revelation of the Anointed One
Baruch asks God when the end will come, and is shown the division of the last tribulation into twelve epochs: commencement of commotions, slaughter of great ones, death of multitudes, the sending of the sword, famine and withholding of rain, earthquakes and terrors, falling of fire, rapine and oppression, wickedness and unchastity, confusion and mingling of all things, and devastating storms. When these reach their climax, the Anointed One (Messiah) will be revealed, the earth will yield fruit ten-thousandfold, and wild beasts will become peaceful.
ܘܗܟܢܐ ܢܗܘܘܢ ܙܒܢܐ ܕܫܒܛܐ ܗܢܘܢ: ܒܩܕܡܝܐ ܫܘܪܝܐ ܕܕܠܘܚܝܐ... ܒܚܡܝܫܝܐ ܟܦܢܐ ܘܡܬܬܟܠܝܢܘܬܐ ܕܡܛܪܐ... ܒܫܒܝܥܝܐ ܢܦܠܬܐ ܕܢܘܪܐ... ܘܡܐ ܕܫܠܡܘ ܟܠܗܘܢ ܗܠܝܢ: ܢܬܓܠܐ ܡܫܝܚܐ.
And in this manner will the periods of that time be: In the first, the beginning of commotions... in the fifth, famine and the withholding of rain... in the seventh, the falling of fire... and when all these are accomplished, the Anointed One will be revealed.
Signs of the End of the Millennium: Moral Reversal, Dishonesty, and the Fading of Rain
King Vishtasp asks the wise seer Jamasp about the signs when the final millennium of Zoroaster draws to a close. Jamasp replies that in that dark age, people will turn away from righteousness; the lower and unfit will dominate the noble, contracts will be broken, truth will be despised, and lying praised. Clouds will cover the sky yet yield little rain, and the seasons will lose their regular order, until Ushidar and the final Saoshyant emerge to renovate creation.
u-šan mihr ud paymān ud rāstīh nēst, ud harw kas pad drōg ud frēb rāyīnēd... ud abr pad asmān paydāg bawēd ud wārān nē wārēd...
They will have no love, no covenant, and no truth; and everyone will manage their affairs through falsehood and deceit... and clouds will appear in the sky, yet they will not rain fruitful rain...
Cosmic Dissolution (Mahapralaya): The Seven Scorching Suns, the Samvartaka Fire, and the Void
At the conclusion of the Kalpa, severe drought strikes the earth for a hundred years, drying up all surface waters. Then the solar rays expand into seven distinct radiant suns that drink up the oceans and rivers until not a drop remains. The subterranean regions and mountains ignite, and the cosmic fire (Samvartaka) sweeps the three worlds, consuming the physical universe in a roaring blaze before torrential clouds submerge the cosmos into cosmic rest.
ततः सप्तविधा भूत्वा सूर्यरश्मयो दिवाकराः। पिबन्त्यशेषं तोयं च समुद्रांश्चापि सर्वशः॥ तेनैव चाग्निनोदीर्णाः समस्ताः पर्वतादयः। दह्यन्ते युगपद् राजन् समन्तात् संप्रदीपिताः॥
Then the solar rays, becoming seven distinct suns, drink up all the waters and the oceans entirely. Stirred by that very heat, all the mountains burst into flames and burn together simultaneously on every side.
What scholars have said
No scholar here cites it as having appeared
Imam Yahya An-Nawawid. 676 AH (631-676 AH)
Explains that true drought (al-sanah) in the end times is not the absence of rainfall, but the removal of barakah (divine blessing) so that the sky rains repeatedly yet the earth yields no beneficial harvest.
Sharh Sahih Muslim, on Hadith 2904
Present-day data
These numbers show the world today beside the narration. They do not decide whether the sign has appeared; that is shown only through named scholars, in the Scholars' views tab.
'Famine is not that you have no rain, but that it rains and rains and the earth grows nothing' (Sahih Muslim 2904). The scholars read it as rain without blessing (barakah). Present-day figures on hunger and degraded land are shown as context only.
Narrations behind this panel: Sahih Muslim 2904 · al-Mustadrak (al-Hakim) 8513 · al-Mustadrak (al-Hakim) 8515
Read with care
- Hunger fell from 8.7% in 2022 to 8.2% in 2024, and its causes today are mostly war and poverty, not failed rain; the figures show the world's need, not the fulfilment of the narration.
Draft: figures and wording await a researcher's check and the scholar board.