Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
Allah تعالى concealed the time of the Hour from all His creation and did not inform anyone of it. Rather, He revealed to His Prophet ﷺ its signs and portents.
Allah تعالى says:
﴿They ask you about the Hour: “When will it come to pass?” Say: “Its knowledge is only with my Lord. None can reveal its time except Him... It will not come upon you except suddenly.”﴾
[Al-A‘raf: 187].
When Jibril عليه السلام asked the Prophet ﷺ about the Hour, he said:
“The one who is asked about it knows no more about it than the one who asks.”
Narrated by Al-Bukhari (50) and Muslim (9).
Thus, the Prophet ﷺ did not know when the Hour would occur. Rather, he knew about it only what Allah تعالى had revealed to him concerning its signs and portents.
Al-Bukhari (1059) and Muslim (921) narrated from Abu Musa رضي الله عنه that he said:
“The sun was eclipsed, so the Prophet ﷺ rose in alarm, fearing that the Hour might be taking place...”
He then performed the eclipse prayer and said ﷺ:
“These are signs which Allah sends. They do not occur because of the death or life of anyone. Rather, Allah frightens His servants through them. So when you see anything of that, hasten to the remembrance of Him, supplication, and seeking His forgiveness.”
The scholars have mentioned several ways of reconciling this hadith with the fact that the Hour has signs that had not yet occurred at that time.
It is possible that the statement of Abu Musa رضي الله عنه, “fearing that the Hour might be taking place,” was based on what he understood from the Prophet’s ﷺ alarm. It does not necessarily mean that the Prophet ﷺ explicitly told him that he thought the Hour would begin at that very moment.
Imam Al-Nawawi رحمه الله stated that a narrator may think that the Prophet ﷺ feared the occurrence of the Hour, but his assumption does not necessarily mean that this was actually the case.
It is possible that the eclipse occurred before Allah تعالى informed His Prophet ﷺ of all the signs that would occur before the Hour.
Then, after Allah revealed to him the remaining signs of the Hour, he ﷺ informed people about the signs that must occur before it begins.
Among these is his ﷺ statement:
“By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, the son of Maryam is about to descend among you as a just ruler...”
Narrated by Al-Bukhari (2222) and Muslim (155).
Likewise, there is the hadith of Hudhayfah رضي الله عنه, in which the Prophet ﷺ mentioned six signs before the Hour. He said:
“Count six signs before the Hour: my death, then the conquest of Bayt al-Maqdis...”
Narrated by Al-Bukhari (3176).
It may be that what was meant is that he ﷺ feared that the eclipse might be a precursor to the beginning of the Hour, rather than that the Hour would begin immediately at that very moment.
This is one of the explanations mentioned by the scholars. One of the preliminary signs of the Hour may occur, followed by the other signs that Allah and His Messenger ﷺ informed us would occur.
Al-Nawawi رحمه الله, while explaining the hadith, mentioned that the difficulty is that the Hour has many preliminary signs and portents that had not yet occurred. He then mentioned several possible explanations, including:
The possibility that the eclipse occurred before the Prophet ﷺ was informed of all these matters.
The possibility that he ﷺ feared that the eclipse might be one of its precursors.
The possibility that the narrator thought that the Prophet ﷺ feared the occurrence of the Hour, without this necessarily meaning that the Prophet ﷺ actually feared it in that sense.
These explanations remove the apparent difficulty and do not make the hadith contradictory to the other hadiths that informed us of specific signs that would occur before the Hour.
Al-Sindi رحمه الله said something similar in his explanation of the hadith. He mentioned that the intensity of the alarm and the gravity of the event could have been the reason for this reaction. He also mentioned the possibility that this occurred before the Prophet ﷺ was informed of all the signs, or that this was the narrator’s understanding.
There is nothing in the hadith indicating that the Prophet ﷺ knew that the Hour would begin at that particular time, nor that its occurrence was possible without the fulfillment of what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ had informed us would occur beforehand.
Rather, the hadith states that he ﷺ was alarmed during the eclipse and feared that it might be related to the Hour or one of its precursors. The scholars have interpreted this in several ways, the most important of which are that this may have occurred before he ﷺ was informed of all the signs, that he feared the eclipse might be one of its precursors, or that this was the narrator’s understanding.
Therefore, there is no contradiction between this hadith and the hadiths that informed us of the signs of the Hour that will occur before it begins.
And Allah تعالى knows best.