One of the signs of the Hour is that time will pass more quickly
Question

                Is it one of the signs of the hour that days will pass quickly and will become short?.
Praise be to Allah.
    Perhaps the questioner is referring to the hadeeth narrated 
    by al-Bukhaari (1036) from Abu Hurayrah who said: The Prophet  (peace 
    and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The Hour will not begin until 
    knowledge is taken away, earthquakes increase, time passes quickly, 
    tribulations appear, and there is a lot of haraj, which is killing, 
    killing, and until there will be a lot of wealth among you and it will 
    become abundant.” 

    And Ahmad narrated (10560) that Abu Hurayrah said: The 
    Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 
    “The Hour will not begin until time passes quickly, so a year will be like a 
    month, and a month will be like a week, and a week will be like a day, and a 
    day will be like an hour, and an hour will be like the burning of a braid of 
    palm leaves.”  

    Ibn Katheer said: Its isnaad is (saheeh) according to the 
    conditions of Muslim. And it was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in 
    Saheeh al-Jaami’, 7422. 

    These two ahaadeeth indicate that one of the signs of the 
    Hour is that time will pass more quickly. 

    The scholars differed concerning the meaning of the phrase 
    taqaarub al-zamaan (time passing more quickly). There are many views, the 
    strongest of which is:  

    That the phrase taqaarub al-zamaan (time passing quickly) may 
    be interpreted literally or metaphorically. 

    The metaphorical meaning is that barakah (blessing) will 
    disappear from time, which is something that started a long time ago. 

    This was the view favoured by al-Qaadi ‘Iyaad, al-Nawawi and 
    al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on them). 

    Al-Nawawi said: what is meant by its becoming short is that 
    there will be no barakah in it, and that the benefit that a person gets from 
    one day, for example, will be the equivalent of the benefit that he used to 
    get in a single hour. 

    Al-Haafiz said: The fact of the matter is that what it means 
    is that barakah will disappear from everything, even from time. That is one 
    of the signs that the Hour is at hand. 
The metaphorical meaning 
    also includes ease and speed of travel between distant places, so that it 
    may be regarded as time passing more quickly. Distances that took months to 
    cross in the past do not take more than a number of hours nowadays. 

    Shaykh Ibn Baaz said, in his commentary on Fath al-Baari, 
    2/522: the time passing quickly mentioned in the hadeeth may be interpreted 
    in the sense of what has happened nowadays, where the distances between 
    cities and regions have grown shorter and it takes less time to travel 
    between them, because of the invention of planes, cars, broadcasting, etc. 
    And Allaah knows best. 

    With regard to the literal meaning, that days will become 
    shorter in a real sense, so that the hours of night and day pass quickly, 
    this has not happened yet, but it is not something impossible. This is 
    supported by the fact that the days of the Dajjaal will become longer so 
    that a day will be like a year or a month or a week in length. Just as days 
    may become longer, they may also become shorter. That will be because of the 
    world system going out of control and the approach of the end of the world. 

    In al-Fath, al-Haafiz quoted Ibn Abi Jamrah as 
    saying: 
It may be that what is 
    meant by time passing quickly is that time will literally become shorter, 
    based on what is said in the hadeeth: “The Hour will not begin until a year 
    is like a month.” Based on this, then the shortening of time may be 
    understood in a literal sense, or it may be metaphorical. In the real sense 
    it has not started yet, but it may be one of the things that will happen 
    when the Hour is at hand. With regard to the metaphorical sense, it appeared 
    some time ago. This is known to the religious scholars and also to those who 
    are smart and involved in worldly affairs, for they find that none of them 
    can do as much work as they used to do before, and they complain about that 
    and do not know the reason for it. Perhaps that is because of the weakness 
    of faith and the emergence of things that go against Islam in many ways. The 
    worst of that lack of barakah is mostly manifested in provision, because the 
    sources of provision are either completely haraam or are dubious, as is 
    obvious to everyone, to such an extent that many people do not care where 
    their provision comes from; wherever they can get they take it and they do 
    not care.  In fact the barakah in time, provision and agriculture can only 
    be obtained by means of strength of faith, following Allaah’s commands and 
    heeding His prohibitions. The proof of that is the words of Allaah 
    (interpretation of the meaning): 

    “And if the people of the towns had believed and had the 
    Taqwa (piety), certainly, We should have opened for them blessings from the 
    heaven and the earth”

    [al-A’raaf 7:96]

    Al-Suyooti said something similar in al-Haawi li’l-Fataawi 
    (1/44), where he said concerning the meaning of this hadeeth: 

    It was said that this is in fact literal, and that the hours 
    of day and night will grow shorter when the onset of the Hour is at hand. 
    And it was said that it is metaphorical, and that what is meant is that days 
    will pass quickly and the barakah will be removed from all things, even from 
    time…. And there are other opinions as well. And Allaah knows best. 

    There is no contradiction between these three views, that it 
    means the removal of blessing, ease of transportation and time passing more 
    quickly in a literal sense. There is no reason why the hadeeth should not be 
    interpreted as meaning all of them. And Allaah knows best. 

    There are other opinions concerning the meaning of “time 
    passing quickly,” but they are not as strong as the opinions quoted above. 
    For example there is the view of al-Khattaabi, which is that life will 
    become enjoyable. Al-Haafiz said: It means – and Allaah knows best – that 
    this will happen at the time of the Mahdi, when security and justice prevail 
    throughout the earth, and life will become enjoyable at that time, and 
    people will feel that time is shorter; because people feel that times of 
    ease are short even when they are long, and they feel that times of hardship 
    last long, even if they are short. Then al-Haafiz said: Rather al-Khattaabi 
    interpreted it in this manner because that this shortness of time had not 
    yet happened in his era. But what the hadeeth refers to is happening in our 
    time, for we see that days are passing quickly in a way that did not happen 
    during previous times, even though there is no easy life. In fact the 
    meaning is metaphorical and refers to the removal of barakah. 

    Another opinion was that of Ibn Battaal, which is that what 
    is meant is that people will become similar to one another in their lack of 
    religious commitment, so that there will not be anyone among them who 
    enjoins what is good and forbids what is evil, because of the prevalence of 
    evil and its people. 

    This interpretation goes against the apparent meaning of the 
    hadeeth and is refuted by what the Prophet  (peace and blessings of 
    Allaah be upon him) said in another hadeeth: “The Hour will not begin until 
    time passes more quickly so that a year will be like a month…” It is obvious 
    that what is meant is that time itself will pass more quickly, not that 
    people will start to resemble one another in their lack of religious 
    commitment. 

    And Allaah knows best. 

    See Fath al-Baari, 13/21, commentary on hadeeth no. 
    7061. 

    Ittihaaf al-Jamaa’ah by 
    al-Tuwayjri, 1/497 

    Al-Sunan al-Waaridah fi’l-Fitan wa Ghawaa’iliha 
    wa’l-Saa’ah wa Ashraatiha by Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthmaan 
    al-Daani, ed. By Dr. Rida’-Allaah al-Mubaarakfoori 

    Ashraat al-Saa’ah by al-Waabil, 
    p. 120.