The Signs of the Last Day in the Hadiths
of the Prophet (saas)
Fourteen hundred years ago, the Prophet
Muhammad (saas) related a number of
secrets concerning the Doomsday, and of
his thoughts about it, to his Muslim
companions. These valuable words have been
passed down from generation to generation
to the present day in the form of books of
hadiths and works of Islamic scholars. The
hadiths used in the coming sections of
this book contain such information given
by the Prophet (saas) in this regard.
At this point, there may arise some doubt
in the reader in regards to the truth and
authenticity of these hadiths about the
end. It is a recognized fact that, in the
past, there had been a number of
fabricated hadiths falsely attributed to
the Prophet (saas), but the hadiths that
form the subject of our inquiry will be
easily recognized as issuing from the
Prophet (saas). There is a method to
distinguish those that are true from those
that are false. As we know, hadiths about
the Doomsday relate to events that are to
take place in the future. For this reason,
when a hadith comes true in the course of
time, all doubt as to the source of the
words is removed.
Several Islamic
scholars who conducted research on the
subject of the End Times and of the signs
of the Last Day have used this criterion.
An expert on the subject, Bediuzzaman Said
Nursi, said that the fact that the hadiths
concerning the End Times correspond to
events observed in our day shows the truth
of the hadiths.4
Some of the signs related in the hadiths
were observable in some part of the world
in any period during the 1400 year history
of Islam, but that would not have proven
that that period was the End Times. For a
certain period to be called the End Times,
all the signs of the Last Day must be
observed to be occurrence in that same
period. This is expressed in a hadith:
Signs following one another like the
pieces of a necklace falling one after the
other when its string is cut.(Tirmidhi)
When we examine the End Times in the light
of the information related above, we come
up with a surprising conclusion. The signs
that the Prophet (saas) described in
detail are occurring one after the other
in every corner of the world, just in the
way they were described in the age in
which we live. It is so that the hadiths
paint a perfect portrait of our time. This
is indeed a miracle, and demands careful
consideration. Every sign that occurs is
to remind people once again that the
Doomsday is very near, a day when they
will give account of themselves in the
presence of Allah, and therefore, that
they should immediately apply the moral
values of the Qur'n to their lives.
War and Anarchy
In a hadith, the Prophet (saas) described
the End Times in this way:
Allah's Messenger (saas)
said: "The Harj (will increase)." They
asked, "What is the Harj?" He replied,
"(It is) killing (murdering), (it is)
murdering (killing)."(Bukhari)
The meaning of harj mentioned in
the above hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (saas)
is "utter confusion" and "disorder," which
is not to be limited to one particular
area, but will be widespread throughout
the world.
Again, on this topic, the following words
of the Prophet (saas) have come down to
us:
The Hour will come when violence,
bloodshed, and anarchy become
common.(Al-Muttaqi Al-Hindi, Muntakhab
Kanzul Ummaal)
The world will not come to an end until
a day would come to the people on which
there will be general massacre and
bloodshed.(Muslim)
When we examine the above hadiths, we are
led to an important conclusion. The
Prophet (saas) described conflicts, chaos,
murder, war to involve the whole earth,
and outbreaks of terror, and revealed that
these events are signs of the Last Day.
If we look at the last fourteen centuries,
we see that wars were regional before the
twentieth century. However, wars that
affected everyone in the world, political
systems, entire economies and social
structures, have happened only
comparatively recently, in the two world
wars. In World War I, more than 20 million
died; in World War II, the toll was more
than 50 million. At the same time, World
War II is acknowledged to have been the
bloodiest, the greatest and the most
destructive war in history.
Modern military technology, including
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons,
have increased the effects of war to an
extent never before seen in history.
Because of the weapons of mass destruction
that have been developed, it is commonly
accepted that the world will not enter
into a third world war.
The conflicts that occurred after World
War II—the Cold War, the Korean War, the
Vietnam War, the Arab-Israeli conflict,
and the Gulf War—are among the most
critical events of our time. Likewise,
regional wars, conflicts and civil wars,
have caused destruction in many parts of
the world. In places such as Bosnia,
Palestine, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir
and many others, problems continue to
afflict humanity.
Another instance of
a type of "chaos" that concerns human
beings as much as war is organized
international terror. As authorities on
the subject also agree, acts of terror
have multiplied in the latter half of the
twentieth century.5
Indeed, it is even possible to say that
terror is a phenomenon particular to the
twentieth century. Organizations devoted
to racism, communism and similar
ideologies, or with nationalistic aims,
have engaged in acts of brutality with the
help of the developing technology.
within the world's recent history, acts of
terror have, time and again, fomented
chaos. Much blood has been shed and
countless innocent people have been maimed
or killed. But still, humanity has not
learned its lesson from these tragic
events.
In the hadiths,
the Prophet (saas) described the
wars and terror that now engulf the
world, and related that these things
are signs of the Last Day. Today, in
every part of the world, conflicts,
regional as well as civil wars are
pervasive.
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Many countries
of the world struggle with acts of
terror perpetrated by their own
citizens. In places like Chechnya,
mass graves (right) can be found,
and elderly persons, children and
babies are made to suffer. This
terror and conflict concerns all of
us and must be considered as among
the signs of the Last Day. These
events that have been predicted in
the hadiths are an occasion for
everyone to consider and from which
to learn a lesson.
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In many places in the world, terror
continues to be the roots of acts of
murderous anarchy.
There are a number of verses of the Qur'n
relevant to this subject. In Surat ar-Rum,
it is stated that confusion has come upon
the earth because of what human beings
have wrought:
Corruption has appeared in both land and
sea because of what people's own hands
have brought about so that they may taste
something of what they have done so that
hopefully they will turn back. (Surat ar-Rum:
41)
We must add that this verse is to remind
us of a very important truth. The pain and
misery that arises from the mistakes human
beings make are a kind of opportunity to
assist them in turning away from these
errors.
In short, we are now living in that age of
confusion and disorder in which yet
another sign of the End Times is
manifested. This sign is a stern warning
that people should begin immediately to
live their lives according to the moral
teachings of the Qur'n.
The fact that the signs related in
the hadiths of the Messenger of
Allah (as) are coming true, and the
fact that our world is full of
scenes like these is a warning for
humanity to return to the moral
teaching of the Qur'n.
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In the Qur'n,
Allah reveals that human beings have
brought evil upon themselves. The
problems in the world today is a
proof of this...
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The condition
in which people find themselves in
the world today is an important
opportunity for them to consider the
chaos in which they live, and to
learn a lesson from it and turn away
from their error.
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