By H M Iffat Abdullah

I used to think that missing a prayer was just a bad habit, something I could fix later. I had enough on my plate. After seven months of unemployment, I finally landed a shipbroking job. The pressure was intense. KPIs, targets, and long hours. Every day felt like a sprint. I told myself I’d get back to the Qur’an when things settled down.

The next day, I woke up feeling oddly rested. It was a good feeling, something I hadn’t experienced in a long time. But when I checked my phone, it said 10:00 a.m. I overslept. Panic hit me immediately. I rushed out of bed, brushed my teeth quickly, grabbed the first clothes I found. I didn’t even check outside. I didn’t pray. I just grabbed my bag and left the house. I was late. The only thing on my mind was work.

When I stepped outside, I stopped. The sky was pitch black. It wasn’t night, but it felt like it was. The air was unusually cold, and the wind tossed the trees around. Above me, birds were flying in strange, erratic patterns, more than usual. It was unsettling, but I told myself I was just imagining things. I had no time to think
about it.

On the train, the atmosphere was tense. People were talking more than usual. Voices were hushed, but there was a sense of panic in the air. It wasn’t the normal quiet morning commute. I opened my phone to distract myself. I scrolled through TikTok, trying to focus on something else. But what I saw made my blood run cold. Videos talking about how the earth’s poles were shifting. How the planet was spinning in the wrong direction. The sun rising from the west.

The words hit me like a punch to the stomach. I froze. I remembered the hadith I had heard so many times:

When the sun rises from the west, the doors of forgiveness will be closed.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had shifted. By the time I got to the office, everything was falling apart. Phones ringing non-stop. Screens flashing red with alerts. Ships stuck, markets collapsing. People running around in chaos. I sat at my desk, but I couldn’t focus on the work in front of me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the Qur’an.
I pulled the Qur’an out of my drawer. Ustaz Sameer had given it to me years ago. I wiped the dust off and opened it. I flipped through the pages.

Blank.

The next page. Blank.

And the next. Blank.
All of it. Gone.

A cold shiver ran through me. My heart dropped.

I looked up from the page and turned towards the window. That’s when I saw it, the sun, glaring brightly from the west. It wasn’t just any sunrise; it was wrong. The sun had risen from the west. The Fajr adhan never came that morning. The doors of forgiveness were closed. I sat there, frozen, the blank pages still open in front of me. And then, as if a curtain had been pulled back, I started to see it all clearly. The world around me, the chaos, the markets crashing, the strange sky, the birds migrating, it all lined up with everything I had heard about since childhood. The minor signs had been happening for years. And now, one by one, the major signs were beginning.

There was no denying it anymore. Qiyamah wasn’t something distant, something for another time. It was here. And I was not ready. I could not breathe. My heart broke open. When was the last time I prayed with my heart? When was the last time I sincerely did dhikr? When was the last time I recited a surah without rushing?

All these years I have run to meet the KPIs of this dunya. When did I run to meet the KPIs of Allah ﷻ?

And now who do I turn to? How do I stand before Him with all these sins when the door has already closed?
The verse echoed in my head like a final reminder:

“And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, so that you may succeed.”

Quran 24:31

If you are reading this while the sun still rises in the east for you, while the adhan still wakes you up, do not wait. Open His Book. Even if it is just one page. Turn back to Him before the signs arrive and the morning that never comes.

Do You Believe in One God
& Ready to [Re]start your Journey of Faith & Gratitude as a Muslim?