Among the many signs of the truth of Islam are the prophecies made by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that Muslims have seen correspond to later events in striking ways. One such prophecy, found in the well-known "Hadith of Jibril," says that people described as barefoot, destitute shepherds would compete in constructing tall buildings. Later readers have often connected this to the rapid development of certain Gulf states. That connection is worth considering, but it should be presented with balance: the hadith itself does not name a country, a tower, or a date.
The Hadith of Jibril
The "Hadith of Jibril" is one of the most significant hadiths in Islamic tradition. It is narrated in both Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Bukhari, two of the most authentic collections of hadith. In this narration, the angel Jibril (Gabriel) visits the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the form of a man and asks him about Islam, Iman (faith), Ihsan (excellence), and the signs of the Hour (the Day of Judgment).
In the wording narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattab in Sahih Muslim, one of the signs mentioned by the Prophet (PBUH) is: "that you see barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds competing in constructing tall buildings." Sahih al-Bukhari also narrates the Hadith of Jibril with a related wording about shepherds competing in the height of buildings. (Sahih Muslim 8; Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith of Jibril)
Both reports are in the two Sahih collections, so the hadith is authentic. The phrase "barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds" should not be expanded beyond the wording: it describes poor people of the desert and those of similar condition, with little or no proper clothing, not necessarily "uneducated" people in a technical sense. Classical commentators such as al-Nawawi understood it as a sign that people who had once been poor Bedouins or herdsmen would later gain wealth and compete in lofty construction.
Transformation of the Arabian Peninsula
In recent decades, the Arabian Peninsula, particularly the Gulf region, has witnessed a remarkable transformation. Countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have experienced rapid economic growth, largely due to the discovery and exploitation of oil reserves. This economic boom has led to the construction of some of the world's tallest and most luxurious buildings.
Dubai, for instance, is home to the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest completed skyscraper at the time of writing. The modern Gulf building boom has been directed by ruling families, states, developers, and investors from societies that, within living memory or a few generations, included Bedouin herding, oasis agriculture, pearling, fishing, and trade. At the same time, the towers themselves were usually designed and built with extensive foreign expertise and migrant labor, so the point should not be stated as if former shepherds personally engineered the skyscrapers.
Interpreting the Prophecy
While the modern correspondence is striking, it must be interpreted with care. The hadith does not provide a date, name a city, mention oil, or define what height counts as "tall." It presents a sign among the signs of the Hour, not a technical forecast of modern engineering. Therefore, the strongest way to state the argument is that recent Gulf development fits the wording remarkably well, not that the hadith gives a detailed blueprint of twentieth- and twenty-first-century urbanization.
Classical scholars did not need the concept of a modern skyscraper for this hadith to have meaning. They commonly read it as the rise of poor Bedouin or herding people into wealth and status, shown by rivalry in high or impressive buildings. In that sense, the wording is literal about building, while also carrying a wider lesson about social reversal, sudden wealth, and pride in worldly display.
Addressing Counter-Arguments
Critics might argue that skyscrapers are a global phenomenon and that Gulf towers are the result of oil and gas wealth, international capital, foreign architects, and migrant workers, not a miracle unique to Arabia. This is a fair point and should be acknowledged. The hadith's force is not that tall buildings exist nowhere else, nor that every developer was personally a shepherd. Rather, it is the combination of features: people associated with a poor desert-herding background, a dramatic reversal into wealth and power, and rivalry in conspicuous high construction. That combination is much more specific than a generic statement that "cities will have tall buildings," while still needing to be presented as a sign for reflection rather than a mathematical proof.
Another counter-argument might be that economic development naturally leads to urbanization and tall buildings. This is true, and Arabia itself has not been architecturally uniform: parts of Yemen, for example, have long had multi-storey buildings. The striking point is narrower: the hadith speaks about poor herdsmen and their rivals in lofty construction, which corresponds especially to the modern Gulf experience of rapid wealth, status competition, and vertical urban display after a historically modest desert and coastal economy.
Conclusion
The prophecy of "barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds competing in constructing tall buildings" is a compelling prophetic sign when read carefully and honestly. It should not be inflated into a detailed prediction of named skyscrapers, nor reduced to a vague statement about ordinary urban growth. Its strength lies in the close correspondence between the hadith's wording and the modern rise of Gulf societies from modest desert and coastal economies into intense competition over monumental buildings. As with all signs in Islam, it reminds us of the transient nature of worldly achievement and the approach of the Day of Judgment, inviting reflection and a deeper exploration of the Islamic faith.