No contradiction between the Signs of the Hour
12-11-2007 | IslamWeb
Question:
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, mentioned that the Hour would not come until the Muslims would fight the Jews... However, in another narration he, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, mentioned that the Hour would be witnessed only by the most wicked people. How can we understand both narrations together when the first states that only believers will witness the advent of the Hour and the second mentions that only the evil will see it?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.
There is no doubt that the Hour will not come until after the Muslims fight the Jews and attain victory over them, as clarified in the narration which reads: “The Last Hour will not come until the Muslims fight against the Jews, until a Jew will hide himself behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me come and kill him, ’but Al-Gharqad tree will not say so, for it is the tree of the Jews.”
Moreover, there is no doubt that the Hour will be witnessed only by the most wicked people. This is supported by a narration on the authority of Ibn Mas’ood 
where the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, mentioned that the Hour will be witnessed only by the most wicked people. [Muslim]
However, there is no contradiction between the two Prophetic narrations because the first states that the Hour will not come until the Muslims have already fought the Jews, and this does not mean that the conflict will occur when the Hour comes. On the other hand, the second narration mentions that the Hour will only be witnessed by evil people. This is further clarified by a narration on the authority of Ibn Mas’ood where it was mentioned that he heard from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, that the most wicked people are those who will still be alive at the time when the Hour comes. [Al-Bukhari]
As for believers, they will not witness the coming of the Hour. This is supported by the narration on the Antichrist on the authority of ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr where the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, mentioned that Allaah will send a cold wind from the direction of the Levant (ancient Syria) and no person, in whose heart there is the smallest amount of virtue or faith, except that it will take his soul. He added that this cold wind will even follow people in order to take their soul even if they were inside a cave in a mountain. Then ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr mentioned that only the most wicked people will be left alive. [Muslim]
Allaah Knows best.