(a companion of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)) Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), holding out his middle and index fingers, said, "My advent and the Hour's are like this (or like these)," namely, the period between his era and the Hour is like the distance between those two fingers, i.e., very short.
Hadith Text
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), holding out his middle and index fingers, said, "My advent and the Hour's are like this (or like these)," namely, the period between his era and the Hour is like the distance between those two fingers, i.e., very short.
Scholarly Commentary
This profound hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari (5301) contains essential eschatological wisdom. The Prophet's gesture with his index and middle fingers demonstrates the proximity of the Final Hour in the divine timeline, not necessarily in human chronological reckoning.
Classical scholars explain that this proximity refers to the absence of another prophet between Muhammad (ﷺ) and the Hour, making him the final messenger and his era the last period before resurrection. The two fingers symbolize the direct connection between his prophethood and the end times.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani comments in Fath al-Bari that this illustrates how the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent when the time between his advent and the Hour was minimal compared to previous prophetic eras, emphasizing the urgency of preparation for the Hereafter.
This teaching serves as a constant reminder of life's transitory nature and the importance of righteous deeds, for the believer lives between the fingers of the Prophet's hand - close to both his guidance and the inevitable accountability before Allah.