Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
It is authentically reported from Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“The Hour will not be established until the buttocks of the women of Daws move around Dhul-Khalasah.”
He ﷺ then explained that Dhul-Khalasah was an idol and a false deity of the tribe of Daws, which they used to worship during the pre-Islamic period.
Narrated by Al-Bukhari (7116) and Muslim (2906).
The hadith informs us of an event that will occur at the end of time, namely apostasy and a return to the worship of idols after Islam had appeared and spread.
As for his ﷺ saying: “until the buttocks of the women of Daws move”, what is meant is that the women of Daws will engage in a great deal of movement and circumambulation around Dhul-Khalasah because of their worship of it.
The word “al-yāt” (أليات) is the plural of aliyah (أَلْيَة), meaning the buttocks, i.e. the rear parts of women. Imam An-Nawawi رحمه الله mentioned that their movement would occur because of their circumambulation around the idol, and that this is an indication of their disbelief and their return to the worship of idols.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar رحمه الله stated that the meaning could also be understood as referring to the crowding of women while circumambulating the idol, to the extent that one woman’s buttocks would strike another’s because of the intensity of the crowding.
Other narrations have also been reported with this meaning. Among them is one indicating that the Hour will not be established until the worship of some idols returns, such as the saying of the Prophet ﷺ in another narration:
“The Hour will not be established until Al-Lat and Al-Uzza are worshipped.”
Therefore, the mention of the women’s buttocks in the hadith is not intended as a description of women for its own sake. Rather, it depicts what will happen in terms of frequent movement, circumambulation, and crowding around the idol, and this is one of the signs that a group of people will return to polytheism and the worship of idols.
In conclusion, the hadith contains a warning that polytheism may return at the end of time and that some people may apostatize from monotheism, until manifestations of idol worship return as they were in the pre-Islamic period.
And Allah knows best.