[47:19]: “They wait not but for the Hour that it
should come upon them suddenly. The signs thereof have already come…”
Several verses in the Qur’an and the sacred
traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) indicate, in subtle language and in
different ways, the signs of the Later Days. Among these Signs, is the unmistakeable sign of
mass killings that are to take place in the
world. This sign has been mentioned in almost all authentic Ahadith
collections, including Sahih al Bukhari
and Sahih al Muslim, and one can thus
read:
Abdullah said, “The Prophet said,
‘Just before the Hour, there will be days in which knowledge
will disappear and ignorance will appear, and there will be
much killing.’”
- - [Ibn Majah; also narrated by al-Bukhari and
Muslim, from the Hadith of
al-A’mash]
According
to the Qur’an, unity and peace in society are among the Divine blessings,
whereas dissension, discord, internal strife and civil war are among the ways
in which nations come under a trial. The Holy Prophet of Islam (a) described
many of these signs of the Later Days in a context indicating the times of a
Massih raised by Allah.
Warnings by Divine Messengers
In
the previous era, the Promised Massih Hadhrat Ahmad (as) through his writings,
including in Tajalliyat-e-Illahiya (Divine Manifestations), repeatedly warned
the world about the horrendous events waiting to unfold on the human condition
as a consequence of its lack of appreciation for the Divine guidance for
ethical and sustainable living. In our own times, the Muhyi-ud-Din Hadhrat
Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius repeatedly warns us that humanity is
on the brink of disaster.
Reflecting on the ongoing situation in Central African Republic and also in Myanmar and elsehwere, where the Muslim minorities are living under severe threats to their fundamental rights and freedoms of life and libaerty, in a recent series of Friday Sermons, Hadhrat Sahib (atba) had called the attention of the world to pure Islamic teachings that recognize the diversity of races, religions and languages and the need to respect and accord these rights to all groups in every humane society. In a world driven by the powerful vested interests of the developed world, principles of absolute justice and equal application of the laws in all circumstances that protect the integrity of the international system and human rights cannot be ensured. The Divine Messenger of our times has clearly identified the faultlines of diverging interests and the consequent absence of strong enforcement mechansims at the inter-State level as the apparent weaknesses of the existing world system, leading to the present crisis in world governance.
It
is not unknown to the Muslims that natural and man-made disasters strike the
world when Divine sayings are ignored and reformers are insulted and humiliated,
rather than respected and listened to. Instead of showing attention and concern
for what the Divine message contain, the ungrateful and the rebellious seek to
shoot the Messenger, leading invariably to various modes of Divine wrath and
punishment. Believers who reflect would invariably be struck by the remarkable
similarity of the Divinely-inspired sermons and sayings with the course of events
in our times. Those who free themselves from the sins of hubris and prejudice
can easily discern the proliferation of a series of events that point to the
fulfilment of the grand Divine prophecies in the world affairs.