The Rejection of the True Religion and
the Moral Values of the Qur'n
The hadiths that deal with the signs
of the Last Day provide us with a
detailed description of the period in
which these signs will appear. We can
understand from the hadiths of the
Prophet (saas) that the first stage of
the End Times is a period that seems
to be religious, but one that almost
completely rejects Allah's religion
and the moral values of the Qur'n. It
is a period in which that which has
been clearly indicated in the verses
of the Qur'n are overlooked,
non-Islamic judgments are given by
using the name of Allah, religion
falls into discord, worship is
performed for show, and religion is
used as a means for profit and gain.
It is a characteristic of this time
that faith does not depend on
knowledge and study but on imitation.
In this time, so-called Muslims are in
the majority, while real scholars and
sincere Muslims are in the minority.
The following are the signs reveled by
the Prophet (saas) 14 centuries ago,
and which are coming true in the age
in which we live:
AAccording to the Qur'n, on the Last
Day the Prophet (saas) will say that
his own people will have abandoned the
Qur'n: "My
Lord, my people treat this Qur'n as
something to be ignored..." (Surat al-Furqan:
30) It is also revealed in the
hadiths that, during the End Times,
the Qur'n's guidance will be
disregarded and people will stray from
it.
Near the establishment of the Hour
there will be days during which
(religious) knowledge will be taken
away (vanish) and general ignorance
will spread... (Bukhari)
There will come a time for my
people when there will remain nothing
of the Qur'n except its outward form
and nothing of Islam except its name
and they will call themselves by this
name even though they are the people
furthest from it. (Ibn Babuya, Thawab
ul-A'mal)
A comparison is made in Surah Jumuah,
verse 5: "The
metaphor of those who were charged
with the Torah but then have not
upheld it, is that of a donkey
carrying books..." There is no
doubt that this verse applies as a
warning to Muslims, reminding them
that they must be careful not to fall
into the same grave error. The Qur'n
was sent down as a book of guidance
for people to observe.
The Prophet (saas) said that, despite
the fact that the Qur'n will be read,
the knowledge and wisdom it contains
will not be considered. This is
another sign of the time of the End
Times.
There will come a time upon the
Ummat when people will recite the
Qur'n, but it will not go further
than their throats, (into their
hearts). (Bukhari)
Allah's Messenger (saas) spoke of
something and said: "It will happen
when knowledge will be no more. " (Ziyad)
said: "Allah's Messenger, how will
knowledge vanish despite the fact that
we will be reciting the Qur'n and
teaching its recitation to our
children and our children will teach
its recitation to their children up to
the Day of Resurrection?" Thereupon he
(the Prophet (saas)) said: "Ziyad, do
these Jews and Christians not recite
the Torah and the Bible but not act
according to what is contained in
them?" (Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi)
It is a sign of the End Times that
some Muslims will follow the example
of heretical Jews and Christians and
imitate them blindly.
The Prophet (saas) said, "Surely
you will follow the ways, of those
nations who were before you, span by
span and cubit by cubit (i.e. inch by
inch) so much so that even if they
entered a hole of a lizard, you too
would follow them," We said, "O
Allah's Messenger! Do you mean the
Jews and the Christians?" He replied,
"Whom else?" (Bukhari)
Surat al-An'm, verse 26 speaks of
those who keep others away from the
Qur'n. We can understand from the
hadiths that there will be corrupt
manners of thought prevalent before
the Doomsday comes, and that systems
will come into being that are far from
truth and justice, that only cause
great discord and draw people away
from the ways of Allah.
The Apostle of Allah (saas)
said:Before the Last Hour there will
be commotions like pieces of a dark
night (Abu Dawood)
Before the Last Hour there will be
commotions like pieces of a dark night
in which a man will be a believer in
the morning and an infidel in the
evening, or a believer in the evening
and infidel in the morning. (Abu
Dawood)
It will be a sign of the Last Day that
after Allah has completely revealed in
the Qur'n what is lawful and what is
forbidden, laws and commands will be
given that are not essential to
religion:
A time will come when a man will
not care about how he gets things,
whether lawful or unlawful. (Bukhari)
Allah's Messenger (saas), revealed to
us that, in the End Times, some people
acknowledged as scholars will actually
be two-faced impostors:
Wolves will give readings in the
End Times. Let those who come to see
those times seek shelter from their
evil in Allah. They will be very
corrupt people. Hypocrisy will
prevail, and nobody will be ashamed of
it and its manifestations. (Tirmidhi,
Nawadir al-'usul)
There will appear in latter times a
people who will gain this world with
the help of religion. (Tirmidhi)
Allah's Messenger (saas) said, "In
the End Times men will come forth who
will fraudulently use religion for
worldly ends and wear sheepskins in
public to display meekness. Their
tongues will be sweeter than sugar,
but their hearts will be the hearts of
wolves." (Tirmidhi)
Those people are described who show no
respect for the laws of Islam and who
do not hesitate to use religion as a
means for their own profit:
1400 years
ago, it was mentioned in the
hadiths that people around the
world would be killed just for
practicing their faith.
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In the End Times of the community
of the faithful, people, those who
adorn the mosques but leave their own
hearts in ruins, who fail to look
after their religion as much as they
do their clothes, who forsake their
religious obligations for the sake of
their activities in this world, will
increase in number. (Agreed upon)
It is a sign that the Doomsday is
approaching when people know that
Allah has commanded them to prefer
goodness and shun evil, but do not
observe it:
The Last Hour will not be
established until there will remain
those people who will neither be aware
of the virtures and never prevent the
vices. (Ahmad)
Near the establishment of the Hour,
good deeds will decrease. (Bukhari)
In one hadith it is revealed as a sign
of the Last Day that faithful Muslims
will become weakened under pressure
from sinners:
The Hour will come when voices are
raised in the mosques. (Tirmidhi)
The Hour will come when leaders are
oppressors. (Al-Haythami, Kitab al-Fitan)
The Prophet (saas) says that, in the
End Times, there will be very few
people who can be called true
believers:
There will come a time for my
people when... the mosques will be full
of people but they will be empty of
right guidance.(Ibn Babuya, Thawab
ul-A'mal)
One hadith says that sincere Muslims
will have to hide their faith and
perform their worship in secret:
A time will come when the
hypocrites will live secretly among
you, and the faithful will try to live
their religion in secret among others.
(Agreed upon)
In the hadith quoted below, it is
revealed as a sign of the End that
mosques and Islamic schools will be
made into places used only as social
gatherings:
A time will come upon people in
which they will use the Masjid as a
pavilion (a meeting place). (Narrated
by Hasan (r.a.))
In the End Times, people will appear
who read the Qur'n for profit rather
than to gain Allah's approval:
Let him who reads the Qur'n ask
(his reward) from Allah. Because in
the final times there will be many
people who read the Qur'n and seek
their reward from other people. (Tirmidhi)
In the
Qur'n, Allah has clearly
forbidden the taking of
interest, though it has become a
fact of life.
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It is also a sign that the Qur'n will
be read only for pleasure, just like a
song:
When the Qur'n is read as if
singing a song, and when a person is
esteemed for reading in that way, even
though he is not knowledged ...(Al-Tabarani,
Al-Kabir)
Some people who will be recognized as
Muslims will have a warped
understanding of fate, while some will
believe that the stars can grant
knowledge of the future. This is
another indication of the End Times:
'The Hour will come, when people
believe in the stars and reject al-Qadar
(the Divine Decree of destiny) (Al-Haythami,
Kitab al-Fitan)
Despite the fact that Allah has
forbidden the taking of interest, it
is practiced openly. In one hadith,
this is revealed as one of the signs:
Undoubtedly, a period will come
upon people wherein not a single
person will be saved from indulging in
interest. If anyone avoids direct
indulgence in interest, yet he will
not escape from the smoke (effects)
thereof.. Its effects will somehow
reach him. (Narrated by Abu Hurairah)
Another among the signs of the End
Times is that the pilgrimage will be
made for the sake of travel, business,
ostentation or begging.
Such a time will come when the rich
go on pilgrimage for purposes of
travel, the comfortably off for
business, the wise for boasting and
outward show, and the poor to
beg.(Narrated by Anas (r.a.))
Social Deterioration
A serious problem that people face
today is the disintegration of the
social fabric of societies. This
collapse is discernable in various
ways. Broken families, the increase in
divorce and illegitimate births
naturally lead to the destruction of
the institution of the family. Stress,
anxiety, unhappiness, worry and chaos
turn the lives of many people into a
real nightmare. People living in a
spiritual void, looking for a way out
of their depression, fall into a bleak
mire of alcohol or drugs. Some, who
think that there is no solution to be
found, consider suicide as a way out.
One of the striking marks of social
decline is the huge increase in
illicit activities. The level of crime
has reached proportions that astound
even experts. The report, "Universal
Crime and Justice," prepared by the
United Nations Center for
International Crime Prevention,
contains a general appraisal of crime
throughout the world:
Basically, as in
the 1980's, the crime rate continued
to rise in the 1990's.
Everywhere in the world, in a
five-year period, two-thirds of the
people living in large cities have
been the target at least once of a
criminal action.
All over the world, the odds of being
the target of a serious crime
(robbery, sexual crimes, assault) are
one in five. Regardless of the area,
crimes against property, and crimes of
violence committed by youth, have both
had economic ramifications.
The number of types of illicit drugs
has increased and their nature
diversified in recent years.21
Actually, all this is not surprising.
The causes of such a societal
phenomenon are clearly related in the
Qur'n, in the accounts of past
societies. Social deterioration, and
all the various problems associated
with it, are the inevitable result of
human beings' forgetting Allah and the
purposes of their creation, and their
abandoning religion and its spiritual
values.
The aspects of this social
deterioration we see happening so
prevalently today were predicted by
the Prophet (saas) fourteen centuries
ago. Allah's Messenger (saas)
described the End Times as "When
people suffer strife and social
upheaval" (Ahmad Diya'l-Din al-Kamushkhanawi,
Ramuz al-Ahadith). The following
are the hadiths relevant to its first
phase:
It can be understood from the hadiths
that the increase in the amount of
evil people, the fact those people
regarded as trustworthy are liars, and
the fact that some who are regarded as
liars are actually trustworthy, are
characteristics of the End Times.
The growth
in the number of those who
perpetrate evil is proved by the
numerous instances of immorality
reported in the newspapers. Such
instances announce the coming of
the End Times.
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There will be years of deceit, in
which a truthful person will be
disbelieved and a liar will be
believed (Ibn Kathir)
The time will be years of
confusion. People will believe a liar,
and disbelieve one who tells the
truth. People will distrust one who is
trustworthy, and trust onewho is
treacherous. (Ahmad)
The period referred to as the
End Times will be a time of
extreme social disintegration.
The structures that form the
basis of society will be
seriously undermined. In the
hadiths of the Prophet (saas),
there is much to bring to light
the collapse of the fabric of
today's societies.
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The day of Judgment will not come
until the very lowest people are the
happiest. (Tirmidhi)
One hadith reveals that there will be
few trustworthy people and little
money earned according to the rules
and laws of our religion:
In the End Times, people will be
carrying out their trade but hardly
will there be a trustworthy
person.(Bukhari and Muslim)
Truthful testimony will be
neglected while false testimony and
slander will be widespread. This is
yet another sign:
Verily in the presence of the Last
Hour, there would be ... false testimony
and concealing evidence. (Ahmad and
Hakim)
There will be false accusation of
unchastity and slander. (Tirmidhi)
The only measure by which people will
be judged will be wealth, respect
being dependent on how rich a person
is:
Before the Hour comes, there will
be special greeting for the people of
distinction. (Ahmad)
There will be no Judgment until
greetings are given not to the people
but to particular individuals. (Mukhtasar
Tazkirah Qurtubi )
It is said in the hadiths that another
sign it the destruction of social
relations between people:
Only people one knows will be
greeted with the salaam... (Ahmad
Diya'l-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz
al-Ahadith)
One of the
most important features of the
End Times will be the cessation
of love and respect among
people. A sick person lying in
the street, with no one offering
him assistance, will be a common
sight.
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In the hadith quoted below, it is
stressed that positions of
responsibility will be given to those
who are not competent:
When the power or authority comes
in the hands of unfit persons, then
wait for the Hour (Doomsday). (Bukhari)
Another characteristic of the period
will be the disintegration of
relationships among families, between
friends and neighbors, and the loss of
community and spiritual values:
A man is unfilial towards his
mother,and drives his father far
off... (Tirmidhi)
The
disintegration of the family,
people's failure to communicate,
relationships formed not out
love and respect but for other
selfish motives, as well as
increasing loneliness and
alienation, are all
characteristics of the End
Times. This degeneration, as
announced in the hadiths, is an
opportunity for people to
understand that the Day of
Judgment is approaching and to
turn to Allah.
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There would (first) be turmoil for
a person in regard to his family, his
property, his own self, his children,
his neighbors. (Bukhari and Muslim)
Young people will be rebellious and
the love and respect between young
people and adults will deteriorate:
When the old have no compassion for
the young, when the young show no
respect to the old ... when children
grow angry ... Judgment is at hand.
(Reported by Omar (r.a.))
The hadiths show that another
characteristic of the End Times will
be that divorce and the number of
children born outside marriage will
increase:
Divorces will be a daily
occurrence.('llamah Safarini, Ahwal
Yaum al-Qiyamah)
There will be an abundance of
illegitimate children.(Al-Muttaqi
Al-Hindi, Muntakhab Kanzul Ummaal)
Influenced by materialism and their
worldview, people will be excessively
attached to this world, and will
forget about the afterlife. This is
another characteristic of the End
Times:
Meanness and greed will multiply.
(Muslim, Ibn Majah)
At that time, people will sell
their religion for a small amount of
worldly goods. (Ahmad)
A hadith reveals that people will
curse and swear at each other:
In the Last Days, there will be
such people, who, when they meet,
curse and abuse each other instead of
greeting (with salaam). (Allama
Jalaluddin Suyuti, Durre-Mansoor)
Another characteristic of the period
will be gossip and mockery of other
people:
There will be an abundance of
critics, tale-carriers, backbiters and
taunters in society. (Al-Muttaqi
Al-Hindi, Muntakhab Kanzul Ummaal)
Insincere flatterers will be
respected:
As Judgment draws near ... the most
respected people of the age will be
lickspittles and sycophants. (Agreed
upon)
The Last Hour will not arrive till
people come forth who make a living
with their tongues as cows eat with
their tongues. (Tirmidhi)
The
noticeable increase in murders
is a sign announced in the
hadiths.
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Another sign of the End Times to be
frequently encountered will be
dishonesty in business and bribery:
Deceit and cheating will be common,
('llamah Safarini, Ahwal Yaum al-Qiyamah)
Bribes will be called gifts, and
will be considered lawful. (Amal
al-Din al-Qazwini, Mufid al-'ulum
wa-mubid al-humum)
The Prophet (saas) describes the
increase of murder in the End Times in
these words:
The Hour (Last Day) will not be
established until murder will
increase. (Bukhari )
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