The Signs of the Day of Judgment (SDOJ)
The
signs of the Day of Judgment which translate as ashrat as-sa’aa. These are
indications or milestones in our path towards the Day of Judgment. As sa’aa
means the Hour, or the beginning of the Day of Judgment.
No
one knows it but Allah. This is ‘ilm al-ghayb. That’s why in the hadith of
jibreel, when he asked about the Hour, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam
said, “The one who is asked does not know any better than the one who is
asking.” Meaning, neither of us knows when the Day of Judgment is, but
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has told us many of its signs. In the
area of the signs of the Day of Judgment, there are many weak ahadith and many
strong ahadith.
It’s
one of the areas where you have to sift through to find the authentic ones.
It’s a very laborious job. Alhamdulillah there is a book that was written –
there are a few (by Ibn Kathir and other scholars) – but there was a master’s
degree or a PhD dissertation (Wallahu ‘Alam) on the authentic ahadith of the
signs of the day of judgement, which was done by a scholar by the name of Yusuf
Al Wabil [jazakAllah khayr born2worship Allah!] This is the primary source that
is used. He has about more than 50 signs of the Day of Judgment.
Types of Signs
Some
of the signs of the Day of Judgment are actual events that can only happen
once. You would have accurate knowledge that it happened. For example, the
Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that there will be a fire that will
come out of hijaaz, and the light of it will reach Ash-Shaam. And you would be
able to see the necks of the camels at night. This is an event that you will
know when it will happen (and this one did happen).
There
are other signs which can happen more than once. Or you think that it already
happened, but it really didn’t. For example, one of the signs is that there
will be a lot of massacre and killing. If you look at the situation today, you
might think it already happened. But maybe it will get worse than it is now.
There are some signs where it could happen to a certain extent in one time, but
they didn’t happen to the full extent. Sometimes they grow gradually.
There
are some signs that are complete opposites. For example, there is one sign that
says peach will spread. And there is another sign that says insecurity and
conflict will spread. They are contradicting each other, so they must happen in
a different chronological order.
1: The Coming of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam
The
first sign is the message of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Because
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “I was sent as close to the day
of judgment like these two fingers are close to each other.” RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is telling us that compared to the life of
humanity on the face of the earth, he is so close to the day of judgment, that
it’s like these two fingers are close to each other. He was sent so close to
the Hour that it’s like he is in the afternoon of the day of humans on the
earth.
2: The Death of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam
‘Auf
ibn Maalik narrated that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam told him of
six signs of the day of judgment; the first was his death. (We’ll talk about
the other five). The death of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is a sign
of the day of judgment and it is the biggest disaster that afflicted the Muslim
Ummah. There is a hadith in which the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said
that whenever you are afflicted with a problem, then remember your problem in
losing me and your problem will seem insignificant. At-Tirmidhi narrates that
Anas ibn Maalik said, “When RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam came to
Madinah, Madinah was all light. And when RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam passed away, Madinah was dark. And as soon as we buried RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and the dirt was on our hands, we felt our hearts
change.” The mere presence of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam meant
something to them, and as soon as he passed away, they felt something missing.
The tranquillity was felt in the hearts when he sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam
was around.
3: The Opening of Jerusalem
This
sign happened during the time of ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab. Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn
AlJarrah was the leader of the Muslim army; they had surrounded Jerusalem. They
had to surrender; they had no chance of fighting. They sent a message to Abu
‘Ubaydah, saying that they were willing to surrender, but they wanted to give
the keys of Jerusalem to the khalifah of the Muslims (because the town was so
important). ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab made shoorah and asked the Sahabah what he
should do – go out or stay? Some of the Sahabah told him that it was dangerous
and to stay in Madinah; other Sahabah said to go – tawakal Al-Allah. ‘Umar ibn
AlKhattaab went out with his servant. They were taking turns on the camel –
‘Umar would ride for awhile, the servant would ride for awhile and then they
would give the camel a break. When ‘Umar rode into Jerusalem, it was his turn
to pull the camel and the servant’s turn to ride the camel. They passed next to
a pool of mud. ‘Umar had to go through it; he picked up his clothes and passed
through it. There was mud on his clothes and legs. This was happening in front
of the people of Jerusalem. Abu ‘Ubaydah (one of the ten promised Jannah) felt
that this was not appropriate – not because the leader shouldn’t be humble, but
he felt that the Romans were living in a culture where the leaders are
surrounded by guards and he thought that they wouldn’t given him the respect he
deserved. ‘Umar deserved respect more than anyone else on earth, at that time.
Abu ‘Ubaydah gave him a few suggestions. ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab hit him in the
chest and said, “I wouldn’t expect this to come from you. We were people who
were humiliated; we were nothing. Allah honored us with Islam. If we seek honor
any other way, Allah will humiliate us.” Meaning, our honor is not based on the
entourage and the motorcade or the extravagance. Our honor is in Islam, not the
clothes that we wear. ‘Umar was wearing a dress with 14 patches. He’s teaching
Abu ‘Ubaydah that Allah will put our honor in their hearts. If we try to honor
ourselves in any superficial fashion, Allah will take it away. And SubhanAllah
– ‘Umar was right. When the people of Jerusalem saw him in that fashion, they
started crying. The people were standing on the roofs of their houses, looking
at him. They had heard of ‘Umar, but they had never seen him. They couldn’t
believe their eyes at the simplicity of Islam. They gave the keys to ‘Umar ibn
AlKhattaab. Allahu ‘Alam, it mentions in the book of Ibn Kathir, that they had
in their books the signs of the one who would take the keys of Jerusalem, and
one of the signs was that he would have 14 patches in his clothes.
4: Plague
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, a death that will eat you away like a
certain illness that afflicts goats. This is referring to plague. It occurred
in 18H, after the opening of Jerusalem, in Ash-Shaam. It was a major disaster
for the Muslims and a great loss for the Ummah because more than 25,000 Muslims
died. Among them were Abu ‘Ubaydah and Mu’aadh ibn Jabl. Many sahaabah died
during that plague. For them, it’s a blessing because ta’oon is a shahadah.
5: The Abundance of Wealth
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Wealth will be so abundant that a man will
be handed 100 dinar (a small weight of gold) and they wouldn’t be satisfied.”
Meaning, “What is this? This is nothing.” There will be so much wealth. This
happened to a certain extent during the time of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-Aziz. There
are a few stories. One is that the state of Africa sent ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-Aziz
some money. ‘Umar said, “What is this? Why is the state of Africa sending me
this money? This money – take it from the rich of that area and give it to the
poor of that area.” In other words, the money did not go to the federal
government. It goes to the local government, to be spent on the same area. They
told him that they didn’t find any poor in that area. He said to send it back to
that area and use it to pave roads or to free slaves. And also, during his
time, the zakah of Yemen was sent. He said the same thing – to send it back.
This was because Allah put blessing in their rizq.
This
sign could also refer to the end of time. There were truly be an abundance of
wealth all over the world. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “A
time will come when a man will go out with zakah/sadaqah (gold) and nobody will
want to take it.” (Muslim) There will be so much money and everyone will be
content. This hadith tells us two things: the people will have enough money and
they are not greedy. There are rich people who will still take sadaqah.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “The earth would vomit gold and silver. The
murderer would come and say, ‘I used to murder for this.’ And the thief will
come and say, ‘I used to steal for this.’ And the one who betrayed my family
and cut his ties would say, ‘I betrayed and fought my family for this.’ And
then nobody will take it.” Allahu ‘Alam, it might also be because they have
suffered so much.
There
is a hadith that the river of Euphrates will uncover a mountain of gold.
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that if you see it, leave it
alone, because out of every 100 that go there, 99 will be killed.
This
hadith, in Muslim, is a warning for us. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam
said, “I was given the keys of the treasures of the earth. I’m not concerned
that you would be poor. I’m worried that you would compete on this world and
that would destroy you.” If we compete on material gains of this world, that
would destroy us. The poverty that is now is not because of a lack of
resources. The problem is unfair distribution and oppression (not giving zakah
and sadaqah). If you look at the world, the dependency is not on resources. It
is the human being that is the greatest asset. Take a place like the Silicon
Valley – it’s nothing but dirt, but it’s the richest place on the face of the
earth. There’s no oil there, no gold and silver, not much agriculture. It is
the human resources there. Unfortunately, we have a lot of resources in the
Muslim world, but we don’t have the ability to make use of it. And Allah will
not give us barakah unless we follow the terms of shari’ah in business law. A
person could have money, but if it doesn’t have barakah, then there is no good
in that money.
6: Times of Trials and Tribulations
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says in the hadith narrated by Muslim: “Do good
deeds before the times of trials and tribulations that are like the darkness of
night.” Do the good deeds before the trials and tribulations are like darkness
of night, spreading all over. Then RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said
that during those times, a man would be a believer in the morning, but a
disbeliever by night time. And a man would be a believer at night time, but a
disbeliever by the morning. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said
because they are selling their religion for a worldly benefit.
In
another hadith by Ahmad (it is the same hadith, but AlHasan alBasri is giving
an explanation): “In the name of Allah, I have seen these people. Forms, but no
minds; bodies without any conscious. Like moths attracted to a fire; and flies
attracted by greed. They would go for two dirhams, and a person would be
willing to sell their religion for the small price of a goat.” AlHasan alBasri
said this at the time of the tabi’een [transcriber's note: tabi'een are the
students of the Sahabah]. I wonder what he would have said if he lived today.
In
another hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad, and this may be talking about a
different time. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said (the hadith is
similar to the other one, but it just says in the end), “[...] the one who is
sitting is better than the one who is standing. And the one who is standing is
better than the one who is walking is better than the one who is running. So
break your bows and stay home. And if anyone enters your home, be like the best
of the two sons of Adam.” This means it is better to stay away from those
trials. Everything is so mixed up that you cannot separate truth from
falsehood. Everything is in the gray area. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam is saying to withdraw. ‘The one who is sitting is better than the one is
standing’ means that if you’re away from it, than you are better than the one
who is standing. Meaning, don’t get involved. Have the least involvement and
stay home. If somebody comes into your house, be like the best of the two sons
of Adam. Qaabil killed Haabil. Haabil had said that ‘If you extend your hand
forward to kill me, I’m not going to fight back.’ This is not talking about
now; this is referring to when times are extremely difficult and you cannot
distinguish between truth and falsehood.
In
terms of fitan, there are many that happened, and many that did not happen.
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam pointed towards the east (when he was
in Madinah) and said, “The fitaan come out from here.” And he said, “That’s
where the horn of shaytaan comes out.”
We find out that the source of some of the greatest trials and
tribulations was east of Madinah. That doesn’t mean all of the fitaan come out
of there, but that is the primary area of fitan. We find that some of the
greatest trials for the Ummah came from the east (of Madinah). Examples of
that: many of the deviants came from the east. Political unrest came from
there. The Tataar – the Mangolians – came from there. Ad-Dajjaal will come from
the east. Yajuj and Majuj will come from there as well.
Some
of the fitan that already appeared:
The Beginning of the Fitna: Assassination of
‘Uthmaan
The
assassination of ‘Uthmaan. This was the beginning of the fitna. It opened the
door for every fitna after. There is a narration from Bukhari between Hudhayfah
and ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab. ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab was in a meeting/gathering with
many of the sahabah. He asked them, “Who among you can tell me the hadith of
the fitna?” Hudhayfah said, “I will.” He mentioned to him some hadith, but that
wasn’t what ‘Umar wanted to hear. He said, “I am not asking you about this. I
am asking you about the trial that will move like the waves of the ocean.”
Hudhayfah said, “Don’t worry about it, because between you and those trials is
a closed door.” ‘Umar asked him, “Will the door be opened or broken?” Hudhayfah
said, “It will be broken.” ‘Umar said, “If it will be broken, it will never be
locked again.” If you open a door – you can lock it again, but if it’s broken,
it can’t be locked again. When Hudhayfah finished, they asked him, “Did ‘Umar
ibn AlKhattaab know who the door was?” Hudhayfah said, “Yes, he knew, because I
told him.” And then Hudhayfah left. They sent someone to go and ask Hudhayfah,
“Who was the door?” Hudhayfah said, “‘Umar was the door.” ‘Umar was a door
between this Ummah and fitna. During his time, there was stability and
security. There were no trials and tribulations during his time. During his
time, it was expansion. After ‘Umar passed away, that’s when the fitan started.
Then
‘Uthmaan ibn Affaan became the khalifah. ‘Uthmaan was assassinated. The
difference between the assassination of ‘Umar was done by a disbeliever, but
the assassination of ‘Uthmaan was done by people under the name of Islam. That
is why it opened the door of disunity. In the case of ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab, it
was an enemy of Islam. Over here, it’s Muslims amongst themselves.
‘Uthmaan
was the khalifah, and some issues happened during his khilaafah. It was a
fitna, and in the end, some Muslims gathered and they surrounded his house and
they wanted him to give up khilaafah. They wanted him to step down. ‘Uthmaan
was told by the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, “Allah will give you a
cloak, and if the people ask you to take it off, don’t.” ‘Uthmaan had no idea
what this meant. He understood what it meant when the people were asking him to
step down. Allah gave him this khilaafah, and these people were telling him to
give it up, so he refused. At the same time, he refused to fight them. ‘Ali ibn
Abi Taalib and his sons were guarding ‘Uthmaan. He told ‘Uthmaan, “Give me your
orders, we will fight them.” ‘Uthmaan said, “I don’t want one drop of blood to
be shed for my cause. I don’t want any killing to happen to safeguard me.” He
told ‘Ali not to fight for him. ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib told his sons – Hassan and
Hussain – to guard ‘Uthmaan. Eventually they came in. These people were in
thousands. They were in Madinah and surrounding the house of the khalifah. In
the end, they came in and killed ‘Uthmaan ibn Affaan. That caused the fitan
after that.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam had mentioned that ‘Uthmaan would die a shaheed.
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was with Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthmaan
on the mountain of Uhud and it shook – it was an earthquake. RasulAllah sallallahu
‘alayhi wa sallam told the mountain, “Stay stable, because on top of you is a
Prophet, a siddeeq and two martyrs.”
6.
Trials and Tribulations (cont….)
The Battle of Al-Jamal
When
‘Uthmaan ibn Affaan was killed, there was no hadiy [t.n: I'm not sure if that's
the Arabic word he used]. Some of the Muslims came to ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib and
told him that they will give him bay’ah [t.n: pledge]. ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib said
no; he said do not give me bay’ah until the Muslims make a shoorah and they
decide. They told ‘Ali that ‘Uthmaan was killed, there is a fitna and the
killers of ‘Uthmaan will spread all over and the problems will get bigger and
bigger. Therefore, you must be the khalifa. They kept insisting until ‘Ali
agreed. They had to have a leader. They needed somebody to go and unite the
Muslims. They gave ‘Ali bay’ah. Az-Zubayr and Talha gave ‘Ali bay’ah also.
The
killers of ‘Uthmaan infiltrated the army of ‘Ali. They were in the hundreds,
and maybe even thousands. Talha, AzZubayr and ‘Aaisha wanted the killers of
‘Uthmaan to be brought to justice. [My own note - remember that ‘Ali, Talha and
AzZubayr were all given glad tidings of Jannah by RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi
wa sallam.] Because the killers of ‘Uthmaan had infiltrated ‘Ali’s army, they
went to ‘Ali and told him that he had to set a court for the ones who killed
the khalifah. ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib said, “The awliya of ‘Uthmaan have to come
forth and ask for his revenge.” And the awliya are the closest relatives of the
deceased. In the Islamic shari’ah, if someone is murdered intentionally, then
their closest relatives are the ones who ask for justice. And they have the
decision of either asking for execution or accepting the financial compensation
(also known as diya). The family decides this, not the court.
Talha,
AzZubayr and ‘Aa`isha agreed with ‘Ali and everything was fine at that time. At
night time, some of these killers of ‘Uthmaan, which were in ‘Ali’s army,
attacked the army of Talha, AzZubayr and ‘Aa`isha. Talha, AzZubayr and ‘Aa`isha did not come out
there to fight; they came out in a big army to ask for justice. AzZubayr and
Talha thought that ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib attacked and that is how the fighting
started. It was a very brief fight. In the end, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib was able to
convince them that he didn’t attack and that he is right in his opinion and
they agreed.
‘Ali
ibn Abi Taalib was once told by RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam that
something will happen between you and ‘Aa`isha. This is narrated by Imam Ahmad.
‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib said, “Between me and ‘Aa`isha?” RasulAllah sallallhu
‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Yes.” ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib said, “Then I am the most
unfortunate of people.” (Something happening between me and the mother of the
believers? I must be a very unfortunate person.) RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi
wa sallam said, “No. And when that happens, then take her back to safety.” ‘Ali
ibn Abi Taalib went to ‘Aa`isha and told some of his army’s officers to
accompany her back to Madinah. This was a fulfillment of the prophecy of
RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam.
The Battle of Siffeen
This
was a big fitna. RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam mentions in a hadith
narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, “There will be a war between two big armies of
Muslims and they are fighting for the same cause.” (Both of them want the same
thing, but they are still fighting.) This is a contradiction. How could you
fight for the same reason? Usually, you fight for different reasons. The
interpretation for this is as follows: The murderers of ‘Uthmaan were in
thousands in ‘Ali’s army. Mu’awiyah was the waliy of ‘Uthmaan; he was his
relative. He had the authority to ask for justice in the case of ‘Uthmaan. He
asked ‘Ali to hand them over. ‘Ali said, “I will, but I need to establish my
authority first. The ones that killed ‘Uthmaan are in the hundreds. I cannot
just hand them over like that; a fitna [t.n: Muhammad AlShareef also mentioned
in a class that the killers' clan would fight ‘Ali if he tried to bring them to
justice] will happen. You have to give me bay’ah first. Everyone in the ummah
has to give my bay’ah first. When I have the authority given to me by the
Muslims, then I will hand them over. I can’t hand them over without authority.”
Mu’awiyah said, “I will not give you bay’ah until you hand them over.”
The
right side, obviously, was ‘Ali’s. Mu’awiyah made an ijtihaad and it was a
wrong ijtihaad. He is still a sahabi of RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam
and a katab al-wahiy (writers of the revelation). RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi
wa sallam entrusted him with writing down the Qur’an. And he is the
brother-in-law of RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Umm Habeebah bint Abi
Sufyaan (the wife of RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was his sister.
The
ones who were on the right track were the ones with ‘Ali. There was an
indication: RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam told Ammaar ibn Yaasir that
he will be killed by the transgressing side. Ammaar ibn Yaasir was fighting on
the side of ‘Ali and was killed by people from the army of Mu’awiyah. We cannot
accused Mu’awiyah, because RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that two
groups of Muslims will fight each other. And this hadith is in Bukhari and
Muslim.
Al-Khawaarij
When
‘Ali and Mu’awiyah fought, ‘Ali’s army had the upper hand. Mu’awiyah’s army
surrendered by putting the musaahif (Qur’aans) on their swords. When ‘Ali saw
this, he stopped fighting. There were people in the army of ‘Ali that were
benefitting from war and bloodshed; they wanted the war to continue. Some of
them were leaders of tribes; they were the ones inflaming this problem. They
existed on both sides. They said, “How can ‘Ali give up? This is the hukm of
Allah. ‘Ali is putting the opinion of men over the order of Allah subhaana wa
ta’aala.” Initially, they accused ‘Ali of making a mistake, and eventually they
accused him of kufr. They obviously accused Mu’awiyah of kufr before. They
broke off from the army of ‘Ali and that is where they got their name of
khawarij from. Khawarij means people who broke off. ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib sent
‘Abdullah ibn Abbaas to have a talk with them. ‘Abdullah ibn Abbaas convinced
4,000 of them to come back. This was the beginning of the formation of the sect
of Khawarij.
The
source of khawarij existed during the time of RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa
sallam. The major characteristic of khawaarij is extremism. Abu Saeed AlKhudri
says that when RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam was dividing the booty of
war, a man from Banu Taneem, called AlKhuwaysarah, came to RasulAllah sallallhu
‘alayhi wa sallam, with pride and arrogance, and said to RasulAllah sallallhu
‘alayhi wa sallam, “Be just.” Look at the rudeness of this man, ordering
RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam to be just. RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi
wa sallam said, “Woe to you! Who could do justice if I did not? I would be a
desperate loser if I did not do justice.” ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab said to
RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam, “Let me chop off his head.” RasulAllah
sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam told him, “Leave him alone. He will have
followers/descendants whom you would see and your prayer compared to theirs
will be as if it is nothing. And your fasting compared to theirs will be as if
it is nothing.” RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam is telling him that the way
that they worship, you will think that the fasting and praying of the sahabah
will seem like nothing compared to theirs. “They read Qur’aan, but it doesn’t
go past their throats.” Meaning that the Qur’aan is not in their actions; in
the inside, there is no Qur’aan. You hear Qur’aan, but there is not Qur’aan in
the heart. “They will leave religion like the arrow will leave the target.”
Sometimes an arrow can hit a target so hard that it can leave the target [Q:
Does this mean go through the target? I did not completely understand.] It went
so fast that it didn’t leave any blood. They are so fast at leaving religion,
because of their extremism, that you don’t even remember when they left it.
RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam was telling that the sources of people
like this were people like AlKhuwaysarah. The roughness and rudeness is the
source of the sect of khawaarij. These were the same people that killed
‘Uthmaan; they caused these wars between the Sahabah; and when they saw peace
between the Muslims, they broke off. [How wrong is that?!]
How
do we know that the ones who broke off from ‘Ali’s army were the ones that
RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam was talking about? RasulAllah sallallhu
‘alayhi wa sallam gave us a sign in a hadith narrated by AlBukhari. Abu Saeed
alKhudri said RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that one of the men
will be a dark man and one of his arms is like the breast of a woman, meaning
that there is no bone in his arm. [You'll see later that a man with this description
is found: 3rd paragraph down.]
Khawarij
said to ‘Ali that you have betrayed the order of Allah. ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib
said, “Then I would give you a few things: you can pray with us in the
masaajid, if you wish; I will give you your share of the booties of war when it
is split amongst the Muslims [look at ‘Ali's forgiveness]; I will leave you
alone as long as you leave the Muslims alone.” But they did not leave the
Muslims alone.
The
son of Khabbaab ibn ??? [didn't understand the father's name], a Sahabi of
RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was travelling with his wife. The
khawarij stopped him. He identified himself as the son of a sahabi. They asked
him, “Whose side are you on?” He said, “I’m not against you, but I’m with the
truth.” They killed him. His wife was pregnant. They opened up her stomach and
killed the fetus. They killed her. After that, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib opened up
war against them. Because the deal was: as long as you leave the Muslims alone,
I’ll leave you alone. Because of the execution of this sahabi’s son and the
brutal execution of his wife, he waged war against them. [A side note:
subhanAllah, look at how they stood up for each other's honor! It seems like
common sense to fight such cruel people - but in reality, it takes a lot to do
that.]
Battle
of Nahrawand [sp??]
‘Ali
ibn Abi Taalib defeated them and killed many of them. Abu Saeed AlKhudri, the
narrator of this hadith, said that ‘Ali told us to go and search for this man
whom RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam described. He (Abu Saeed) said that
he saw the man; he was of the exact description that RasulAllah sallallhu
‘alayhi wa sallam described and he was laying with the dead. And that is a sign
that RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam was talking about these particular
people.
‘Ali
ibn Abi Taalib said about them that there is a great reward for the one who
kills them. RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that, “If I live until
that time, I would kill them like the people of ‘Aad were eliminated.” Complete
elimination. Why? Because such a mentality – there is no way to deal with
except by elimination. You cannot reason with such extremism. These people want
bloodshed; they won’t settle for peace. If you leave them alone, they won’t
leave you alone.
They
have caused the Muslims so many problems. Some of the biggest fitan were caused
by them. The scholars of hadith say that they never find khawaarij that
fabricate hadith. Many of Ahl us-Sunnah did. Khawaarij never lie, but their
minds are very stubborn and they don’t mind killing.
The
fitna of khawaarij was not temporary to that era. RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi
wa sallam said that whenever one generation of them leave, another generation
of them will come up again, until the time of ad-Dajjaal. The continuation is not
linear. They cannot continue. Why? Because they end up fighting themselves and
they destroy themselves. They kill each other or they are killed by outside
forces. Extremism comes into the minds of other people, and then they fight
each other and cause bloodshed…and so on.
They
have a saying in Yemen: “He didn’t find anybody to disagree with, so he
disagreed with his own people.” That is the mentality of the khawaarij.
In
a hadith by Ibn Maajah, ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar said that he heard RasulAllah
sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam say, “Whenever one generation of them comes out, it
will be amputated. Then another generation will come out and it will be
amputated.” ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said that RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa
sallam repeated it more than 20 times. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said, “They are the
worse of people, because they took the ayaat referring to the non-believers and
they applied them on the believers. They accused the Muslims of disbelief.”
They are very easy in accusing people of disbelief – that is their major
characteristic. [Side note: we should be careful in judging people as well!]
Death of Al-Husain ibn Abi Taalib
RasulAllah
sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam was once presented with red dirt by Jibra’eel
‘alayhis sallaam. Jibra’eel told RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam that
your grandson – Al-Husain – will be killed, and this is the dirt of the area
that he will be killed in. He gave RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam a
little bit of the dirt. Al-Husain was killed in Karbala. Al-Hasan had the
khilaafah for six months; he gave it up. After him, Al-Husain was given the
bay’ah. Some tribes of Iraq promised him support, and a large group of ahl
al-bayt (his relatives from the house of RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa
sallam). They fought with the army of Banu Umayyah, and these tribes which
promised them support betrayed them. In the end, it was just Al-Husain and his
relatives from ahl al-bayt. And they fought until the last person. They were
all killed in the end. It was a big bloodshed of the family of RasulAllah
sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam. This was a dark point in the history of the Ummah,
that the Ummah would do this to the family of RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa
sallam. This happened during the time of Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah.
He
also committed a massacre in Madinah. He attacked for days and killed many of
the descendents of the Ansaar and the Ansaar. RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa
sallam said that he saw rain of trials falling on the houses of Madinah.
Both
massacres happened during the time of Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah’s khilaafah.
7: False Prophets
Abu
Hurayrah raiyallahu ‘anhu narrated that RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam
said, “The day of judgement will not occur until 30 false prophets arise. Every
one of them is claiming that he is a messenger.” If we would sum up all of the
people who claim to be prophets in this ummah, we will find that they are more
than 30 (in the past 1400 years). The explainers of hadith say that this is
talking about the false prophets who end up having a sizable following and
become famous and well known. This is not talking about the crazy people here
and there claiming to be prophets. This is referring to people who actually had
a group following them.
Among
the most famous are two who claimed to be prophets during the time of
RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam. These two were: Musaylimah Al-Kadhaab [which
means Musaylimah The Liar] and Al-Aswad al-Unsi in Yemen. This happened towards
the end of the life of RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam.
Musaylimah
was from the Bedouins of Banu Haneefah. This is a big tribe, in the area of
Yamamah. He was playing on the tribalism: RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa
sallam is from Quraysh and I am from Banu Haneefah. They are the city dwellers,
we (Musaylimah’s people) are the rural people. You’ll find that false prophets
always try to use deceptive ways to attract people. Musaylimah knew that the
hearts of the people had nationalism, so he played on that. One of his right
hand supporters would clearly say: “The Liar of Banu Haneefah is better than
the Truthful of the Quraysh!” Many of his followers knew he was lying. His
“Qur’aan” was funny.
This
is a miracle. You will find people who are intelligent and good at poetry, but
if they try to imitate Qur’aan, they come up with something that is not
believable and miserable.
One
of the most well-known and eloquent poets of the Arabs, a blind man, sat down
for awhile to produce a Qur’aan. He was so arrogant and had a big ego. After
awhile, the people started asking, “Where is that Qur’aan that you promised?”
He said, “Forget about it. I couldn’t do it.”
Musaylimah
AlKhadhaab had a huge following – hundreds of thousands of people. It was a big
fitna, and this fitna was not extinguished until the time of Abu Bakr
as-Siddeeq. This was one of the worse battles; tens of huffaadh were being
killed. That’s how the process of collecting Qur’aan began. Abu Bakr started
the process of bringing the mushaf together. And the project continued into
‘Uthmaan’s time. The famous battle of Al-Hadeeqah was when Musaylimah was
finally killed.
RasulAllah
sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam saw a dream where he was wearing two bracelets of
gold. He said, “I was concerned. Allah told me to blow on them, so I blew on
them and they flew away.” They asked RasulAllah sallallhu ‘alayhi wa sallam,
“What is the ta`weer (interpretation) of that dream?” He said, “I interpreted
the two liars that will come up in my Ummah.” He was talking about Musaylimah
and Aswad AlUnsi. Musaylimah was killed. He got married to a woman named Sajah,
who claimed to be a prophet too. She had a certain following, Musaylimah had a
certain following. They married for political reasons. When Musaylimah was
killed, she saw that this prophethood thing was not giving her any advances, so
she forgot about it and became Muslim again.
AlAswad
alUnsi was killed by a man named Fayrooz. They assassinated him in his palace
in Yemen. That was the end of AlAswad alUnsi.
Then
there was Tulayhah alUsdi. He claimed to be a prophet, but he became Muslim
later. They say he was [a] fine [Muslim] after that.
Wallahu
Alam, they say that either Tulayhah or Musaylimah, whenever they asked him to
read Qur’aan, he would talk about ayaat describing food. So they said, “We
don’t know if the angel is revealing to your heart or your stomach!”
AlMukhtaar
Ibn ‘Ubaid at-taqafi also claimed to be a prophet.
In
modern times: there is Mirza Gulaam Ahmad, the founder of alQadiyaniyah. He can
be counted as the one of the 30 because he has a sizable following. It is kufr
by shari’ah and also by Pakistan’s government as well.
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