Islamic tradition contains two related sets of statements about tall buildings as signs of the approaching Hour. The first appears in well-known hadiths that list multiple end-time signs, one of which is competition in constructing high buildings. The second set, often cited by modern apologists, is presented as a prediction that buildings in Mecca will rise higher than the mountain peaks. Both claims face significant difficulties when examined against the texts themselves, historical context, and the accompanying predictions.
The First Set of Hadiths
Sahih al-Bukhari 7121 lists eleven signs, including: two large groups fighting with heavy casualties while following the same religion, the appearance of about thirty false prophets, the removal of religious knowledge, an increase in earthquakes, time passing quickly, the spread of afflictions, an increase in killing, an abundance of wealth so that people refuse zakat, competition in constructing high buildings, a man wishing he were in a grave he passes, and the sun rising from the west.
Sunan Ibn Majah and parallel reports add the detail that barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds (or shepherds of black camels) will compete in building tall structures, and that a slave woman will give birth to her mistress.
Problems with Precision and Fulfilment
The description of who will compete is inconsistent across reports: sometimes “people,” sometimes “shepherds,” sometimes “barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds,” and sometimes “shepherds of black camels.” Modern skyscrapers in the Gulf are financed and directed by wealthy rulers and businessmen, not by destitute shepherds. Interpreting Gulf sheikhs as the “naked shepherds” of the hadith strains the language.
What counted as a “tall building” in seventh-century Arabia was modest by later standards. Multi-storey houses, palaces, and large mosques already existed or appeared soon after. Ibn Hajar notes in Fath al-Bari that competition in building had already occurred near the time of the Prophet. Impressive architecture also predated Islam in the region (Nabataean Petra, Sabaean Shibam, the structures attributed to ‘Ad and Thamud in the Quran itself).
Most of the other signs listed in the same hadiths remain unfulfilled or are too vague to evaluate: the sun has not risen from the west; wealth has not reached a point at which zakat is universally refused; the predicted scale of false prophets, knowledge loss, and specific forms of conflict does not match a clear, unique future event. Several of the social signs (internal fighting, afflictions, the rise of non-Arab offspring from slave women) had already begun during the early caliphates, before the major hadith collections were compiled.
The Second Set: Buildings Higher than Mountains?
A report attributed to Abdullah ibn Amr is frequently quoted as predicting that when tunnels or canals are dug in Mecca and buildings rise higher than the mountain peaks, the Hour is near. Parallel narrations in Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, Kitab al-Fitan, Tafsir Abd al-Razzaq, Akhbar Makkah, and other early sources consistently speak of houses or construction appearing on the mountains or rising on the mountain tops, together with water flowing in the valleys or streets. The language points to ordinary building on elevated terrain and improved water management, not to skyscrapers surpassing the summits.
Historical records show that dykes, embankments, and later the Canal of Zubaydah were already constructed in Mecca under the early caliphs to control flooding. The Kaaba itself was damaged by catapult from Mount Abu Qubays during the siege of 691 CE. These developments occurred well before the hadith literature reached its final form.
Conclusion
The statements about tall buildings lack the precision required of a genuine predictive miracle. The identity of the builders is ambiguous, the standard of “tall” is historically relative, many accompanying predictions have not materialised in any clear sense, and the mountain-related reports more naturally describe construction on high ground rather than structures taller than the peaks. Earlier architecture in Arabia and the early Islamic period already exhibited competitive building. When the full textual and historical context is considered, the claims do not constitute verified prophecy.
