Sunday, October 27, 2024

‘Ummah’: The Signs of Decline

  

Religious communities emerged in history against the backdrop of the advent of Divinely-raised messengers and prophets. These elects of God invariably stood for true values of life; with ethically-sound teachings and wisdom of pure conduct, they guided their peoples to the light of Divine guidance. Indeed, the good example of the holy men remains among the people for a period of time. Then, in the ebb and flow of time and history, we see that as the memory of the Prophet recedes and become distant from the generations born later, the teachings of the Faith will be obscured, misunderstood, or distorted by lesser men either out of personal desires, or otherwise corrupted through encounter with other nations and their idolatrous ways.  
 



Based on the spiritual history of the rise and fall of nations, Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) indicated to his companions and followers the Clear Signs that characterized the nations that were in terminal illness before their Final Fall: the spread of immorality, unjust enrichment, the breaking of Covenants and agreements, tyranny and persecution, sectarianism and strife, etc. According to several traditions emanating from the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa), Muslim Ummah will also undergo profound changes in the course of time and encounter different challenges and trials as the world approaches the End Times. Reproduced below are a number of Prophetic Traditions [Ahadith] that foretells about the decline in Faith and loss of morality and ethics in the End Times:

 

‘When is the Hour’?

Someone asked the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa), and he responded: 

‘When trustworthiness is allowed to perish, expect the Hour...when authority rests on unsuitable people, expect the Hour.’ 

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‘The Hour will not take place until two parties fight each other with one and the same aim.’

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‘Among the portends of the Hour are the ending of knowledge and the prevalence of ignorance; the prevalence of adultery and the prevalence of drinking; and the decrease in men and increase in women to the point where there is but one supporter for fifty women.’

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‘A time is coming to humankind when the individual does not care whether his gains are ethical or ill-gotten.’

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The Signs of Evil in the End Times

 

In a recent Question and Answer session with Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius, someone asked about the Evils that will engulf the Muslim Ummah in the End Times. Hazrat Saheb (aba) called attention to a Prophetic Tradition reported in Ibnu Majah:


1.       ‘If fornication should become widespread, you should realize that this has never happened without new diseases befalling the people which their forebears never suffered.

 

2. If people should begin to cheat his brother, taking money and not return back the borrowing money, if people cheat his brother a plot of land, if the people begin to cheat in weighing out goods, you should realize that this has never happened without drought and famine befalling the people.


3) If people should withhold Zakat, or any financial sacrifice in the divine path, you should realize that this has never happened without the rain being stopped from falling; and were it not for the animals sake, it would never rain again.

 

4) If people break their covenant with Allah and His Messenger, you should realize that this has never happened without Allah sending an enemy against them to take some of their possession by force.

 

5) If the Leaders do not govern according to the Book of Allah, you should realize that this has never happened without Allah making them into groups and making them fight one another.’ 

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In relation to a similar question on the tribulations and conditions of the Ummah in the Days of Decline, Hazrat Saheb (aba) called attention to the prophecies of the Holy Prophet (sa), as recorded in the Books of Ahadith:

 

‘Some people of the Ummah will be swallowed up by the earth,

Some will be transformed into animals,

And some will be bombarded with stones.


When paying Zakat becomes a burden;

When people treat a man with respect because they fear some evil he may do;

When much wine is drunk; when man wears silk; when voices are raised in the mosques;

When the leader of the people is the worst of them;

When female singers/ male singers and musical instruments become popular

And when the last ones of the Ummah curse the first ones-

then expect a red wind, or the earth to swallow them, or to transform into animals.'

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