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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