Taken
from http://ummibraheem.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/cd5-part-1/
8: The Spread of Peace
There
is a hadith that says there will be a spread of peace and there’s a hadith that
says there will be a spread of fitna. And these two were mentioned in the same hadith,
so they must be at different times. Whenever people follow Islam, there will be
peace. Whenever there is a lack of religion, there will be corruption and a lot
of killing.
Khabbaab
came to RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and RasulAllah sallallahu
‘alayhi wa sallam was leaning on Al-Ka’bah. Khabbaab came to him and was
complaining about the difficult situation that the Sahabah were going through
in the early days of Islaam. He said to RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam, “Aren’t you going to make du’aa` for us?” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi
wa sallam sat straight and anger was apparent on his face. He said, “The ones
before you, they would put one of them in the ground and bring a saw and put it
on their head and cut them into two pieces, and he wouldn’t give up his
religion. They would bring another person (another Muslim) and they would comb
him with combs of iron until they separated the flesh from the bones, and the
person would not give up their religion. But you are a people who are in a
hurry.” Even though the Sahabah were suffering, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi
wa sallam said, “You have to have patience. Don’t be in a hurry.” RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that there were people who went through more
trials than what you went through. Then RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam
says, “But Allah will complete this religion. Allah will give victory to this
religion until the traveller will leave from Sam’aa to Hadramawt, and not fear
anyone but Allah and the wolf on their sheep.” The area of Sam’ah and Hadra
mowt was a tribal area, and there wasn’t a lot of security. Whenever any
caravan would go, it would be accompanied by an army to protect it. This did
happen, during the early years of Islam, and it will happen again in the
future.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “There will be a time when the land of the
Arabs will be rivers and forests (it will be green). And the traveller would
leave from Iraq to Makkah, fearing no one but getting lost.”
There’s
another narration, Bukhari. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was visited
by ‘Adiyy ibn Haatim. ‘Adiyy was the leader of a big tribe in North Arabia, and
they were Christian. He was a big figure. His father was the most famous in
terms of generosity. He came in with a cross hanging from his chest. RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “They have taken their priests and their
rabbis as gods besides Allah.” And this caused a conversation between them. A
person came in, asking for help. At that time, the Muslims were going through
trials. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was giving da’wah to ‘Adiyy.
Many of the Muslims were slaves [not in good conditions, etc]. Maybe ‘Adiyy
thought that Islam was for the poor. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam
noticed that and said, “Don’t base your opinions on what you see from the
poverty and the difficulty of my people. A time will come when there will be so
much wealth in this Ummah, and so much security, that a woman traveller would
leave from Al-Heerah to Makkah, and she would not fear anyone but Allah.”
‘Adiyy said, when RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was telling him that,
he was thinking, “What about the burglars of Tayy?” And he knew his tribe; they
would rob and kill people going through that area. These people are very
corrupt. ‘Adiyy knew his tribe. How was this possible, he wondered? ‘Adiyy said
that he lived and he saw that with his own eyes. ['Adiyy became Muslim later on
and was a Sahabah.]
The
complete spread of peace will be during the time of Mahdi and the time of ‘Eesa
‘alayhis sallaam.
9: The Appearance of a Fire in Hijaaz
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “The Hour will not be established until a
fire will come out of the land of hijaaz that will throw a light on the necks
of the camels of Busra.” Busra is a town in Syria (different from Basra in
Iraaq). Hijaaz is Makkah and Madinah – that area. Busra is hundreds of miles
away. This sign actually occured. The fire was a volcano that was close to
Madinah.
In
the time of An-Nawawi, it was seen. An-Nawawi says, “In 1654 Hijri, a big fire
came out in Madinah.”
Ibn
Katheer says, “The bedouins were able to see the spark of light in Busra, on
their camels.” (They saw it like lightening.)
Ibn
Hajar says, “We think that this volcano that happened in Madinah was the one
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was talking about.” And it was
discussed by Qurtubi, and other scholars.
10: The Wars with the Turks
This
is not particularly talking about the people living in Anatolia or Turkey. The
people of Turkey immigrated from Turkaman; it’s an extension of tribes and
people that go all the way to China. They have distinctive features. In a
hadith by Bukhari, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “The Hour will
not be established until you fight with the Turks. People with small eyes,
round, red faces and flat noses. Their faces will look like shields coated with
leather. The Hour will not be established until you fight with people whose
shoes are made of hair.” This is the description of the people of Mangolia, and
the people of Tataristan. Their clothes were made out of wool and their shoes
as well; this is the description of them. SubhanAllah, the Muslims fought
people with the exact description RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam gave.
The battles with them started early on. Then the Mongolians, who are considered
to be part of these people, swept through the Muslim world and destroyed it.
They were under the leadership of Genghis Khan and Taymur Lang. These leaders
just destroyed the world. They even went into Eastern Europe and Russia. They
were a very strong and forceful people. They destroyed Baghdad. They killed 2
million Muslims. They would take the skulls of Muslims and build pyramids out
of it. They used the books of the libraries of Baghdad and made bridges in the
rivers. This was the works of thousands of Muslim minds; there weren’t
printers. These were original manuscripts. They took everything in the biggest
library of the world at that time (in Baghdad). It was said that the rivers
were black from the ink of the books.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, “You’re going to fight with the Turks… [then
he gave the description]. You will find that some of the best people in this
religion are people who were the worst enemies of this religion, until they
enter Islam. And the best of you in the time of Jahiliyyah are the best in Islam,
if you learn.” These Mongolians, if though they were victorious and the rulers,
they adopted Islam. You will never find this in history – the rulers adopting
the religion of the losers. The losing people follow the religion of the
winners. People who are in defeat try to imitate the strong and victorious. The
Maghuls were different. They ended up becoming Muslim, even though it took them
a long time to change.
In
the time of Ibn Taymiyyah, the Tatars that were fighting the Muslims were
already Muslim, but they were still destroying the Muslim world. It took them
awhile to get into the religion and understand the religion.
Who
are the Ottomans? Turkish people who emigrated from the Central Asian Area into
the land of Turkey, which was the Byzantine Empire at the time. It was the
eastern, Roman, Byzantine Empire. This small tribe of Turks went and lived in
Anatolia. Even though it was a small tribe, they began fighting with the Romans
around them. Slowly, slowly they expanded their territory, until they
completely destroyed the Byzantine Empire. It started with one tribe, but they
took down the Byzantine Empire. They ruled all over the Muslim world.
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam described them in the hadith.
’Umar ibn AlKhattaab, for example, was an
enemy of Islam in the beginning, but he became one of the best Sahabah.
11: Loss of Trust
There
is a sign of the Day of Judgement, when the people are dishonest. This sign is
talking about a particular type of trustworthiness. In a hadith narrated by
Bukhari, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “If trust is lost, then
wait for the Hour.” If there is no more trust, wait for the Hour; it’s the end
of the Hour. The Sahabi asked RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam asked,
“How will trust be lost?” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “When
authority is given to those who do not deserve it, then wait for the Hour.”
When the leaders are sufahaa` (people with lack of understanding of religion).
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that if you appoint someone in a position of
leadership and you know there is someone who can do a better job, then you have
cheated the Muslims.
Leadership
and positions of authority are an amanah. Whenever we find that the amanah is
lost, and the leaders are people with no understanding, no religion and no
rahmah, that is a sign of the day of judgement.
12: Knowledge will Subside & Ignorance will
Prevail
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Some of the signs of the Day of Judgement
is that knowledge will be lifted up and ignorance will replace it.” [Bukhari]
Knowledge will be taken away and ignorance will be established in the hearts
and minds of people. How does that happen? Does a knowledgeable person go to
bed and then in the morning they’ve forgotten everything? No. RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Allah does not take away the knowledge by
taking away by taking it from the hearts of the people, but takes it away by
the deaths of the religious learned men, until none of the religious learned
men remains. People will take as their leaders ignorant people. Who, when
consulted, will give their verdict without any knowledge. So they will go
astray and will lead the people astray.” The people will appoint others who
have no knowledge as mufti. They will give out fatwas that are wrong and
mislead the people and themselves.
We
find that a lot of the bid’ah and mistakes today are caused by wrong fatawa
given by scholars – or people who claim to be scholars. The issue of fatwa,
unfortunately, is taken very lightly these days. In the time of the sahabah,
they would run away from giving fatwas. One of the tabi’een said, “I have seen
more than 30 of the Sahabah of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam sitting
in the masjid. A person would come into the masjid asking a question and every
companion of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam would send him to the next
person. ‘I don’t have the answer, ask the other sahabi.’” Now, the answers
aren’t even asked of us, and we run to answer the question. And they used to
run away from asking – the sahabah knew it was a big responsibility.
‘Umar
ibn AlKhattaab was once asked a question. ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab said, “Did it
happen?” The man said, “No, it didn’t happen.” ‘Umar said, “Then go back. When
it happens, come and ask us. I will gather for it the ones who were in the
battle of Badr (I will bring the sahabah who witnessed Badr) and then we’re
going to consult – I’m not going to give you the fatwa myself. We’re going to
make shoorah.” They didn’t even want to get into theoretical things: “If it
didn’t happen, don’t ask me about it.” Now, we ask a lot of theoretical
questions. We ask about things that have no practical use. And we answer them
ourselves.
Imam
Maalik was visited by a person who came all the way from alMaghrib – Morocco.
Or it could have been AlAndalus, wAllahu ‘Alam. He came to Imam Maalik with 40
questions. Imam Maalik responded with, “La ‘Alam” (I don’t know) to 36
questions. He only answered 4 questions. The man told him, “I came all the way
from Morocco to hear you say ‘I don’t know’? What will I tell my people when I
go back?” Imam Maalik said, “Tell them Imam Maalik says, ‘I do not know.’”
I
hear about situations where families are wrecked – big decisions in one’s life
- that were based on wrong answers. They get these wrong fatwas, that cause a
disaster in their lives, and in the end, they find out it was wrong. They
didn’t even have to do it. They did it for the sake of Allah, and then they
found out it was wrong. Look at the sin on the shoulder of the person [who issued
the wrong fatwa].
It
happened in the time of the sahabah. The sahabah were in a ghazwa (battle). One
of the sahabah got injured in his head. He had a wet dream, so he was in a
state of janabah (major impurity). He asked, “Do I have to take a shower now
and wash my head?” They said, “Yes, you have to wash your head.” When he washed
his head, he died, because there was a deep injury in his head. When he washed
his head, it may have caused an infection, wAllahu ‘Alam. When they came back
to RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, they told him what happened.
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “They killed him, may Allah kill
them. It was enough for him to wipe on the bandage (the tissue wrapping the
injury). Why don’t they ask if they do not know? “Because the cure for
ignorance is asking.”
These
hadith are talking about the decrease in the knowledge of religion – the
knowledge of alAakhirah, the knowledge of AlShari’ah.
There
will be a time when things are worse than this. There is a hadith in Ibn
Maajah: Hudhayfah said that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said,
“Islam will erode like the marks on your clothes would erode or wash away.” At
that time, the colouring of the clothes was not permanent. When you would wash
your clothes frequently, it would fade away until it was gone. This is what
will happen to Islam – it will slowly fade until people will not know about
sawm, salah and ibaadah. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallams said, “And
Allah will take all of the Qur’aan from the earth and there will not be one
verse left. And there will be people left – old men and women - who will say,
‘We used to hear our forefathers say La ilaaha illallah and we’re saying it
now.’” That is all they would remember of Islam. They wouldn’t know anything of
salah, etc. Silah was a tabi’ee [a student of the Sahabah], studying under
Hudhayfah. When he heard this hadith, he said, “What will la ilaaha do for them
when they don’t know anything about praying, fasting, hajj or charity?”
Hudhayfah turned away from him. He asked the question again. Hudhayfah turned
away from him again. When he asked him the third time, Hudhayfah said, “O
Silah! La ilaaha illallah will save him
from Hell fire! La ilaaha illallah will save him from Hell fire! La ilaaha
illallah will save him from Hell fire!” Those people, Allah will excuse them
because of their ignorance and will accept from them la ilaaha illallah, even
though it’s just a word that they say. If the knowledge was there, then they
have to pray, make hajj, give sadaqah, etc.
Things
will get even worse than this. Anas said that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam said, “They will come a time when the name of Allah will not be
mentioned on the earth.” [Muslim] Ibn Katheer says that there are two
interpretations of this hadith. One interpretation is that there will not be
any prevention of evil, because when you prevent people from evil, you remind
them of Allah. The other interpretation takes the meaning of the hadith
literally: you will not hear the name of Allah on the earth. This is towards
the absolute end of time, and the day of judgement will occur on these people.
In
a hadith narrated by Ahmad: RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “The
day of judgement will not occur until Allah will take all of the righteous
people away from the face of the earth. Allah will take their souls and the
people that remain will not prevent evil and will not do good.” Ibn Mas’ood
said, “In this time, all of the Qur’aan will be taken away from the earth; it
will not be in the hearts of people.” Ibn Taymiyyah says, “Allah will take it
away to the extent that not one ayah will remain in the hearts of people and
not one letter will remain in the mushaf, because people are so bad and evil
that they do not deserve it.”
13: The Increase of Security Forces
In
a hadith by AtTabarani: RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “There
will be a time when there will be security forces, they leave in the morning
with the wrath of Allah on them, at night they come home with the wrath of
Allah on them. Be careful, don’t be one of their associates.” This hadith is
talking about the security forces that are spying on the people, preventing
them from worshipping Allah, spying on them if they are going to the masajid
and making da’wah. This is talking about the ones that are oppressing the people.
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is saying to not even help them.
This
has happened during the time of some of the khulafaa`. It’s oppression of the
people and it’s a test of the Ummah. Every one of the four Imams [Ahmad,
Maalik, Abu Haneefah and Shafi'ee] has been through a trial. Imaam Maalik’s
shoulder was dislocated. Imam Ahmad was tortured. Imam Shafi’ee was about to be
thrown in jail. Ibn Taymiyyah was thrown into jail and he died there. Many of
the current scholars also undergo trials.
14: Zina Prevails
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Zina will prevail.” [Bukhari]
In
another hadith, which is a scientific miracle, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam said, “If zina will prevail until people will advertise for it in
public, then Allah will inflict on them diseases which did not exist before.”
Not just committing zina – but zina in public and advertised. AIDS was a
disease that did not exist before. Allah sent it on the people because zina is
public and it is advertised for in movies, on billboards, etc. Even advertisement
of cigarettes or cars, there is nudity -this is also advertisement of zina.
People should not think that if they find the cure for AIDS, it’ll be ok,
because Allah will send another disease that didn’t exist before. This is one
of the signs that will happen partially, and in the end it will prevail.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said in a hadith narrated by Muslim, at the time
of ‘Eesa ibn Maryam, Allah will take away the souls of the believers, and then
in the end, the evil people would remain. They would have sexual relations just
like donkeys – everything is legal. Promiscuity will be just like donkeys –
everything will be in public. “This Ummah will not end until a time will come
when a man will approach a woman and will sleep with her in the middle of the
road (in front of everyone). The best amongst them at that time, the most
righteous, will go to them and say, ‘If you could please go behind that wall.’”
This man is not preventing them, or shouting at them. He’s just asking them to go
behind a wall - and this is the best amongst them.
Zina
is widespread now, even amongst Muslims. We need to wake up to the fact that
the culture of Hollywood is a world-wide culture. People in the most holy
places are doing these things. The satellite dish is now over huts and houses
in some parts of the worlds that are so secluded that da’wah has not reached
them in decades. You will find that movies and nudity has reached them. One of
the reasons is that we are promoting that. We have made halaal difficult, and
haraam easy. Look at how difficult marriage is. Muslims have made marriage so
difficult – the responsibility on the man and woman before marriage is so
difficult: the man has to be a doctor, etc. The requirements are so specific.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “If a man comes to you and wants to marry
your daughter, and you are pleased with his religion and his character, and you
refuse to marry him, then there will be fitna and corruption on the earth.”
This is talking about social corruption. We are all raising our daughters in
the same environment. If we don’t rectify the situation, then we are going to
have to pay for it. The term RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam used is
the deen and the character. Character is very important as well. There can be a
religious person with bad character and vice versa. The two things have to be
together.
One
of the scholars was saying that the rich people would do a great sadaqah if
they would help poor couples get married by sponsoring marriage, rather than
giving money to the beggars at the doors of the masjid. You find a lot of
people giving them money. A lot of these people are business people. We need to
re-evaluate how we give sadaqah. There are a lot of people who are in real need
of sadaqah and they don’t get it. For example, a young couple that needs money
to get married.
Al-Qurtubi
said that this is a sign that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam talk
about that is happening especially during our times (the hadith about zina in
public). Al-Qurtubi was describing the situation in his era in AlAndalus. What
caused the Muslims in Spain to lose this strong hold of Islam, that was at one
point a khilafaa in itself? The Muslims, for a long time, didn’t agree with the
concept of more than one khilafaa. Even though the Muslims were independent of
Khilafaa Abbasiyya, they didn’t call themselves a khilafaa. They became so
rich, confident and strong that they began to say that they formed a khilafaa.
This is the first time that there were two khilafaas – a khilaafa in Qurtuba
and a khilafaa in Baghdad. Spain was so wealthy and rich. There was social
corruption. There was a prostitute that wrote on her forehead one line of a
poem, inviting others. Qurtubi was describing that these things (open zina)
happened during his time.
14: The Spread of Riba
We
can translate it as interest, financing, mortgage – but it is the same thing.
Usury was the translation of the world, but that word isn’t used anymore.
Riba
is one of the major sins. It is one of two sins where Allah has announced that
He will wage war against the person who does that sin; one is riba, and the
other is the person who takes Allah’s awliya (friends) as enemies. Allah
subhaana wa ta’aala says in the Qur’aan: “Allah will wage war against you.” Ibn
Abbaas radiyallahu ‘anha says, in the tafsir of this ayah that on the day of
judgement, the one who deals with riba will be resurrected as if the devil is
obsessing the person, and he will be given weapons. And he will be told,
“Prepare for war.” They will tell him to fight Allah subhaana wa ta’aala.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Approaching the day of judgement,
approaching the hour, riba would be widespread.” [AtTabarani]
At
the time of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, there were two types of
riba. One was riba nasiya – riba based on time. Then there is riba alfadl,
which is when you trade gold for gold, silver for silver, but you add an
amount. The second type still exists. The branches of riba (today) are mostly
underneath riba nasiya. In the time of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam,
the traditional form was by time (riba nasiya). It’s basically very similar, or
the same, as a credit card: If you pay during a certain time, it’s ok;
otherwise you incur charges. Nowadays, it comes in many forms. You can rarely
find any company that doesn’t have a loan. Everyone in America is living in
some kind of debt that is incurring some form of riba.
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam really exemplifies the current times when he says,
“A time will come when everyone will deal with interest. And whoever is not
dealing with riba, the dust of riba would befall him.” Riba is so widespread
that almost everyone dealing with it. Even the exceptions, who are not, the
dust of riba will befall them. This hadith would mean that the transactions are
based on riba, and if you try to get away from it – Alhamdulillah you’ll get
away from it, but you’ll be affected by it because it’s a worldwide economy.
Some checking accounts don’t pay you interest, but you are still affected by
the dust of riba because you’re leaving your money with an institution that is
based 100% on riba. (The “dust” is figurative). Try to be clean as much as you
can, but the dust will come over you – just like a person driving on a dusty
road.
Allah
will destroy riba, therefore there is no blessing in riba. We are all harmed by
it, even if we’re not using it. It’s almost everywhere. SubhanAllah, it’s as if
the whole world is immersed in riba. So these are evil times, in this sense. Islam
is a comprehensive system – it even tells how to deal with money. If we separate
money, social life, etc from Islam, then what will we have left?
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, “A time will come when people will not care
where they get their money from. (If it’s halaal or haraam).” People’s
objective will be just to get money. They won’t care where they get it from.
They’ll try to abide by the legal systems of their country, but when it comes
to the laws of Allah, they won’t care. But they will be asked on the day of
judgement. This is one of the four questions that you will be asked: “How did
you make your money and how will you spend it?”
16: The Decoration of AlMasaajid
This
is a sign that has occured. In a hadith by Ibn Maajah: RasulAllah sallallahu
‘alayhi wa sallam said, “A time will come when people will be proud of – or
will compete – in building masaajid.
This
is narrated by Bukhaari, but it’s not a hadith, it’s an order of ‘Umar ibn
AlKhattaab. Abu Sa’eed alKhudri says that the roof of the masjid of RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam in Madinah was from the leaves of palm trees. They
would pack the leaves one over another, and that would be the roof. The point
of their leaves was just for shade – it wasn’t waterproof. So when it rained,
the whole masjid would be soaked. That was the situation of the masaajid in the
time of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and in the time of Abu Bakr.
That masjid was where da’wah came out of; so the criteria for masaajid is never
how beautiful it is. The masjid of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was
the most blessed in the world, and it didn’t even have a waterproof roof.
In
the time of ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab, he bought a builder in and told him, “Build a
roof that would be waterproof. And beware – do not use red or yellow, because
then you would distract poeple.” [SubhanAllah, look at what we have come to!
‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu was saying not to use red and yellow colors - because
they were bright! We're far from being cautioned against red and yellow. If you
told someone building a masjid that today, they would think you were crazy!]
Anas
ibn Maalik said, “A time will come when people will be proud of the the
masaajid, but people will not revive them.” So they would be proud of the
masjid, but the masjid would be dead. Ibn Abbaas said, “A time will come when
you will decorate the masaajid like the Jews and the Christians did.” And now
we are way beyond the issue of using red and yellow. Now it’s gold and crystal chandeliers,
every kind of calligraphy. When ‘Umar said to not use red or yellow, it wasn’t
particularly because of the colours; it was for the issue of distraction. He
said: “So you do not distract the people.” These were the two colours that
existed, Allahu ‘Alam, at that time, that they used for painting. Now, there’s
a company in Turkey that invented a sujaajah that has lights bordering, a built
in alarm that beeps when you forget a rak’ah, etc. The Shuyookh said that it is
too distracting for you during salah.
Abu
Dardaa` says (a companion),”If you decorate your mushaf (Qur’aan) and your
masaajid, then destruction will befall you.” That is a sign of destruction. And
that is exactly what you see today. The mushaf are very expensive - decorated
with gold and special, velvet cloth. The masaajid are built, using huge amounts
of money, by people who don’t even pray (kings and presidents). You’ll find all
of the people are in the market, right next to the masjid, but no one is going
to pray there at the prayer time. Sometimes you’ll find the masjid is so
beautiful that it’s used as a museum, but at the time of salah, no one prays.
It is just there for people to be impressed by the architecture. SubhanAllah
Look at the wisdom of Abu Dardaa` - this is a sign that people are going for
the symbolism and not looking at the substance.
17: Construction of Tall Buildings
RasulAllah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “You will find the barefoot, naked, poor
shepards of goats and sheep competing in building tall buildings.” [Muslim]
Naked does not mean that they don’t have any clothes. It means that they are so
poor that they could barely cover their private parts.
Allahu
‘Alam, this hadith are describing the Muslim Ummah and not the disbelievers. In
many of the signs of the day of judgement, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam was talking about things that would happen to his Ummah. There are some
signs, obviously, talking about the world in general or a particular people. In
the situations where the hadith does not indicate a particular people, it is
about the Muslims. This hadith is talking about people that were really poor
and suddenly become rich. They are not building for the need of building, but
they’re building in competition.
You’ll
find this in the Gulf – because of the oil boom. People suddenly have money.
Before, they couldn’t afford a house, and now there’s competition in building
tall buildings. These tall buildings are built in areas that could easily
afford horizontal expansion. It’s not like its NY, where you have to make tall
buildings. These areas are desert. You can go as horizontal as you want – all
you’ll hit is a sand dune.
SubhanAllah,
this was one of the attributes of the people of ‘Aad. In the Qur’aan, Allah
tells us that their Nabiy, Hud, told them in the Qur’aan, ‘You’re building
monuments on top of mountains for no use.’”
18: The Slave Woman gives birth to her Owner
This
is the famous hadith of Jibreel, in Bukhari and Muslim. Jibreel asked
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam about the signs of the day of judgment.
RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that one of the signs is that the
woman would give birth to her master, or that the slave would give birth to her
master.
The
scholars give a few interpretations for this. One of the interpretations is
that the children would become so rude, disobedient and aggressive in their
dealings with their mothers, to the extent that it becomes like a slave and
master relationship. The child is like a master and the mother is like a slave.
This is the opinion adapted by Ibn Hajar. He says, “This is the most preferable
opinion, because it is the most general.” I think we are seeing this. Before,
in Muslim and non Muslim cultures, there was a lot of respect for parents. This
was even in America (which is only 200-3oo years old). Just a few generations
ago, there was a lot more respect for parents. Now, you’ll find that at the age
of 18, or even earlier, children would break off from the family; they wouldn’t
see that they have any obligation towards the parents. This is by law. If the
son or daughter is 18 years old, the parents cannot get anything from them. The
practice and actions of the people are even worse. You hear horrific stories of
how the children treat their parents.
This
is a teaching of Islam - and common sense - that the parents have done so much
for the child, and therefore, they come second after Allah subhaana wa ta’aala
in terms of obligations. Allah has done the most for us – we owe Him everything
and He owes us nothing. That’s why our gratitude should be to Allah. Second are
the parents.
Allah
says in the Qur’aan, “Allah has decreed/ordered/prescribed that you worship
nobody but Allah and that you be dutiful towards the parents.” The parents are
second – immediately after Allah mentioned Himself, He mentioned dutifulness
parents.
The
suffering that the parents – mother and father – go through for the child. The
child was helpless, with no one to help them but the parents. The only way the
child could survive was from the help of the parents, from the ability that
Allah gave them. SubhanAllah, at the age of 15, the child does not pay anything
back. This is the ultimate degree of ungratefulness.
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