Tuesday, November 2, 2021

The Signs of 'Saa'at'- 5

 

Allah (swt) is Most Subtle, All Aware. He knows what lies in the breasts of humans in all that they say and do, whether they disclose their purpose publicly, or keep the intention, in  all secret. Allah (swt) rejects vain-glorious or vanity projects where boasting and earthly glory drive people into action, whereas Allah (swt) rewards pious works, those deeds executed solely for the purpose of seeking the approval and pleasure of Allah by respecting His Law as taught by the Prophet (sa) and following His deputies/Caliphs of Allah in every era.  

Along with showing the true Path of Life, profound Islamic teachings warn humanity against the tentacles of evil in all its manifestations in religious and secular life, especially in turbulent times when fluid conditions prevail in society, and blurring of lines are easier than ever before. That is why in seeking material riches, professional glory, societal eminence; man needs to keep in mind the true values of life as taught through Divine commandments. In the wider pursuit of pleasure and ecstacy in this world and the world to come,  he needs to be mindful of the Shariah, and discriminate between what is lawful and forbidden; while embracing what is Halal, keeping distance from the Haram. Indeed, Divine Law expects, man needs to keep all his deeds- as well as the intentions behind them- pure and lawful at all times.  

In this fascinating and perceptive discourse, delivered as the Friday Sermon of 22 October 2021~15 Rabi’ul Awwal 1443 AH, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius continues his eloquent exposition on the Signs of the End Times- explaining sacred Qur'anic teachings and Prophetic traditions that caution and warn believers about the different types of tests and trials of Faith that they will face in the End Times. 

Read the Friday Sermon Below: 


The Signs of the End Times 

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, I continue today the 5th part of my sermon on “The Signs of the End of Times”. 

So when the end of the world is near, Muslims will build big and beautiful mosques like Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has himself said and he (pbuh) made it clear that people will be arrogant about their mosques. In a Hadith narrated by Hazrat Anas (ra), the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “One of the signs of the Hour is that people will boast among themselves concerning mosques.” (Mishkat, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud). 

You see, even today, in this century, there is competition among Muslims over the grandeur of their mosques and everyone flatters and brags about them saying that their mosque is much bigger, pretty, tall, and nicely decorated than others, and they will say, “The Minaret of my mosque is higher than yours”, and that will happen when their faith – so as not to say it will be reduced to zero, but rather - will be much lower than the Minaret they flatter! 


Pious Deeds, or Vanity Projects? 

On the Day of Judgement, Allah (swt) will not look at the decoration of your mosque, or even its size or the height of your mosque’s minaret; He will look at your faith, how many times you did ablution and walked to the mosque for prayer. If you build a mosque with the intention that worshipers of Allah will come and perform the prayer, and you make it big and pretty and clean too, and when people enter this mosque, they don’t talk about unnecessary things - whether it is about their businesses or worldly things - only with the intention of glorifying Islam and making Allah (twt) and His Messenger (pbuh) happy, despite the fact that the mosque itself is in concrete, or in wood with the roof consolidated in sheet metal, or even - in very poor countries where there are no means of construction, then a mosque can also be - in straw and it is certainly a work that brings many blessings. 

In a Hadith Hazrat Uthman (ra) related that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever builds a mosque for Allah (twt), then Allah The Exalted will build a house for him in Paradise.” (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah). 

Allah says in the Holy Quran: “And those who spend of their wealth to be seen by the people and believe not in Allah nor in the Last Day. And he to whom Satan is a companion - then evil is he as a companion… Indeed, Allah does not do injustice, [even] as much as an atom’s weight; while if there is a good deed, He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward.” (An-Nisa 4: 39 & 41)


It is very important to mention situations where someone gives land to build a mosque, or he builds it on his land, and he becomes arrogant and flatters himself [to have given a mosque or land or both in the path of Allah], then this [act] was certainly not for Allah’s sake and neither done with the intention of making Allah and His Messenger happy. But if he does so with a very good intention to make Allah and His Messenger happy, and for that land or mosque or both to come at the disposal of believers to perform their prayers [acts of devotion], then that person receives blessings in abundance, not only on earth, but also in heaven. And also, when he does so with the intention that Muslims - in great numbers - come there to perform their acts of devotion, and so that he receives even more blessings. So, this person should keep in mind that as soon as he gives his land or builds a House for Allah, then nothing in what he has given belongs to him, and everything now belongs to Allah. Otherwise, this kind of action [if the person still takes himself as the owner of the land or the mosque in question] will be completely detestable in the sight of Allah and Allah will not accept this kind of sacrifice in His path, such a sacrifice which is done only ostentatiously so that the person receives fine praise [from the people], but only never from Allah (twt)!

 

‘Umar bin Al-Khattab (ra) reported that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “The deeds are considered by the intentions, and a person will get the reward according to his intention. So whoever emigrated for Allah and His Messenger, his emigration will be for Allah and His Messenger; and whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration would be for what he emigrated for”. (Bukhari, Muslim) 

Another Hadith narrated by Jundub (ra): The Prophet (pbuh) said, “He who lets the people hear of his good deeds intentionally, to win their praise, Allah will let the people know his real intention (on the Day of Resurrection), and he who does good things in public to show off and win the praise of the people, Allah will disclose his real intention (and humiliate him).” (Bukhari)

 

So, all that you do, like Allah says in the Holy Quran and Hadiths, is based on your intentions. If your intention is pure and clear, and done only for the pleasure of Allah and His Messenger, therefore all your paths will be enlightened till the Day of Judgement, as well as in the hereafter. But if your intention was only to act with vanity and arrogance on earth, only for ostentation, Allah (swt) will crush that deed and intention and reduce it to dust, and thus you will lose all the rewards connected with that deed; especially such a reward which comes from Allah and which you would be deprived of and your way to the hereafter shall not be illuminated at all. It will be a dark path till Qiyamah, as well as in the hereafter and this is also a sign of Qiyamah which have already been manifested where people come to the mosque only for a few minutes to supposedly pray, remember Allah, read the Holy Quran and listen to good words on Deen but without really taking all these into account, and they start to gossip/ talk about worldly things.

 

In a Hadith reported by Hazrat Hasan Basri (ra), the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has said that a time will come when people will talk about worldly things in the mosques [and there shall be backbiting as well, and people will look at what others are doing and gossip about these in the mosque] and Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has commanded his Ummah to not sit with these kinds of people, to maintain distance from them – like one now keep social distance with other people in the wake of the covid-19 so as not to contract the invisible and mortal virus. So, do not sit with these kinds of people who have contracted those visible viruses which are before your eyes; that is, the viruses of gossiping, spying other or criticizing and having hatred for them. This kind of virus which is visible is more dangerous in the eyes of Allah, and is a sin and the punishment for it is very serious/ painful. 

So, remain far away from the divine punishment. Allah (swt) and His Messenger as well as the angels hate those kinds of people, such people who do not come to the mosque to pray but who come only to gossip and create disorder, and when they are asked about what they are doing, they say: “We are only putting things right!” as if they (are) telling other(s) to do the vaccines Astra Zeneca and Johnson to counteract the virus! What word and language should I use to make the Muslims understand my message – for their own wellbeing before their Creator?


How Time Flies

Another sign of the end of the world: time will fly swiftly. In a Hadith, Hazrat Anas (ra) narrated that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Qiyamah will not begin until time passes quickly. A year will be like a month, a month will be like a week, a week will be like a day, and a day will be like an hour, and an hour will be like the flare of the fire.” (Tirmidhi & Mishkat) 

This is a very clear and important Hadith on the subject and which we are all living everyday of our lives. Each of us should have reflected on this that the Qiyamah is not far away [indeed very near]. When one analyses how many days are left before the end of the year – and [it seemed that] we all just said that the year had just begun, and now we have come nearly at the end of the year 2021 where months and days are passing very quickly.


Faith in Testing Times 

Another sign of the end of times [end of the world] is when it would be difficult to implement/ practice the Deen. Don’t you see this happening now? If you are not seeing anything, then you have become really blind. The mosques are closed, there is no prayer in congregation, Jumu’ah in the mosques during Ramadan was nil. Everyone was at home. The congregational prayers in the mosque and which reap many blessings have been stopped; the mosques were locked and closed. Only few people realise the importance of prayer in congregation and few accomplish it in family, even at home. Few make their home become a mosque. 

But if we look from the perspective of the mosque itself; it is sad that for Jumu’ah, and the two Eids [Eid-ul-Fitr & Eid-ul-Adha], and even for the daily obligatory prayers, the mosques were closed. The Eid Gah and especially Mecca was desert of pilgrims for the Hajj. Very few people obtained permission to perform the Hajj. Thus, the list [of signs and occurrences in our era] is long. 

This Quranic verse comes on the spot to my mind: “Beware of a trial that will not only affect the wrongdoers among you. And know that Allah is severe in punishment.” (Al-Anfal 8: 26) 

And Allah puts another verse in my mind - so that you may reflect on this – and the verse being revealed is: “Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and with good as trial; and to Us you will be returned.” (Al-Anbiya 21: 36) 

In the light of these two divinely-revealed verses, this makes me recall a Hadith where Hazrat Anas (ra) narrated that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has said that There shall come upon the people a time in which the one who is patient upon his religion will be like the one holding onto a burning ember.” (Tirmidhi) 

This means that it would be very difficult for one to implement or put into practice his Deen, like it is difficult to hold a burning ember in one’s hand. 

In another Hadith, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has said: “Hasten to perform good deeds before a tribulation which will be like the dark part of the night, in which a man will be a believer in the morning and an unbeliever in the evening, or he will be a believer in the evening and an unbeliever in the morning. He would sell his faith for some goods in the world.” (Muslim) 


In these two Hadiths, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has informed his Ummah that there would be a lot of fitna [tribulations/ chaos] before Qiyamah. Those tribulations would be like a blackout whereby the believers would not see any way out. Like a dark night which is most frightening and worrisome, those tribulations shall also be frightening and dangerous. That is why the believers shall quickly lose their Deen. Faith [Iman] would disappear. In the morning someone would have faith but due to his personal gains [power thirst, thirst for money and wealth], he would do everything to acquire all that which he desires. He would not hesitate to do “Tauba” [seek forgiveness] for having believed in the messengers of Allah and reject those messengers. He would indulge in Shirk [associating others in the worship of Allah], go on Darga [mausoleums of dead people] and he would do everything in his power to acquire that which he would be seeking – and in doing, he could lose his faith under the domination of the tyrants [wrongdoers], or under the influence of an infidel [disbeliever].

 

So, that believer can display belief on one hand, and on the other, when night falls, he loses his faith under the influence of the Satan. He does not hesitate to sell his faith, His Deen to reap a personal gain; for example, under the influence of money. In that era [of ignorance], he would be attracted with money whereby he would go on to indulge in all sorts of wrong [despicable] transactions. He would begin by selling drugs to enrich himself, or annihilating himself in all kinds of gambling [playing for money] and all these are totally condemnable in the sight of Allah (twt), and thus, it would become difficult for him to remain firm in his Deen and to consolidate his faith.

 

You know, because of the need to acquire money, there are many thefts with violence being committed, as well as frauds, corruption, and thus, all those ill-gotten money will end badly. What is the use of having lots of money, but one does not have good health, and he cannot benefit from that ill-gotten money which is not acceptable in the path of Allah – to spend in the path of Allah? This kind of money is indeed illicit. One should work hard in a licit way and let him reap the fruits of his labour [sweat], and even if the money is little, there is no big salary, but it should suffice that one is eating licit food, and is spending licit money in the path of Allah, whereby Allah puts therein lots of blessings. Nowadays, businesses are fraudulent, seeking to fool and rob people of their money. They make the people pay a hefty amount for an article, and they blame the sudden rise in prices on covid-19. There are lots of lies being said. Their words hold three-quarter lies, and one-quarter falsehood. At the end of the day, everything that they say is a lie. Now, we are living in a world of lies. This is also a sign of the end of the world whereby people are not taking righteous decisions in the matter of the permissible and the forbidden.

 

The Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has said – and this is narrated by Hazrat Abu Huraira (ra) that “There will surely come a time upon people in which a man will not care from where he gets his wealth, lawfully or unlawfully.” (Bukhari) 


That is why Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has said that after every all Farz [obligatory ordinance], it is also necessary that all Muslims seek Halal (licit) food. (Mishkat) 

And Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has also said that if in the space of forty days someone consumes Halal (that which is licit) without adding anything Haram (illicit) in it, Allah (twt) will therefore fill his heart with light and that heart will become a source of blessings and intelligence. And when one reads the Quran, Allah (twt) says: “O humanity! Eat from what is lawful and good on the earth and do not follow Satan’s footsteps. He is truly your sworn enemy. He only orders you to evil and immorality and to say about Allah what you do not know.” (Al-Baqara 2: 169-170).

 

Insha-Allah, may Allah give me the Tawfeeq to continue to expound on the same subject next Friday. May Allah maintain firm the faith of my sincere disciples throughout the world and that they remain firm in their faith so that they may lead the deviating hearts back to the path of Allah, to Allah. Insha-Allah, Ameen.