Prophecies of the messenger. Part-3

21.  An Unforgettable Sermon

Ḥudhayfa b. al-Yamān (rA) and ‘Amr b. Akhṭab (rA) report that the Prophet ﷺ once delivered a sermon, from dawn until sunset, in which he mentioned all the [major] things that would take place between then and the Day of Resurrection. Ḥudhayfa (rA) says that he sometimes forgot parts of it, until he saw those events unfold before his very eyes.[42]

22.  The Emergence of Selective Textualism

Miqdām b. Ma’d Karib (rA) reports that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Indeed, I have been given the Qur’an and something similar to it along with it. But soon there will be a time when a man will be reclining on his couch with a full stomach, and he will say, ‘You should adhere to this Qur’an; what you find that it says is permissible, take it as permissible, and what you find it says is forbidden, take it as forbidden.’ But indeed, whatever the Messenger of Allah forbids is like what Allah forbids.”[43] To this day, there continue to arise different groups of people who attempt to delegitimize the Sunnah (prophetic tradition) in order to escape the definitive interpretations it provides of the Qur’an.

23.  A Horrific Wildfire

Abu Hurayra (rA) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “The Hour will not take place until a fire emerges from the lands of Ḥijāz (central Arabia) that illuminates the necks of camels in Busra (Syria).”[44] As numerous scholars—such as Ibn Ḥajar, Ibn Kathīr, and an-Nawawi—confirm, this enormous fire erupted in the city of Madinah on Friday, 5th of Jumāda Thāni, 654H, and lasted for an entire month. The great historian, Abu Shāma, experienced it firsthand and documented much of its details, including its visibility from hundreds of miles away, and how the Madinans sought refuge in the Prophet’s Mosque and collectively repented from the vices they had been engaging in. Historical records seem to indicate that this was a volcanic eruption, and the lava fields around Madinah remain observable until today.

24.  Prosperity and Hedonism Before the End-Times

Abu Hurayra (rA) reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Hour will not commence before wealth becomes abundant and overflowing, to the point that a man brings out the Zakāt (charity due) on his wealth and cannot find anyone to accept it from him, and to the point that Arabia’s lands become meadows and rivers.”[45] While acknowledging earlier manifestations of this prophecy about unprecedented affluence, current lifestyles in today’s “first world” illustrate that they live in greater luxury than 99.9% of recorded human history. Even those financially struggling enjoy recliners at home that are cozier than any ancient king’s royal throne, climate controls in every room, and access to modes of transport that have turned an excruciating month-long journey into a few entertaining hours. Perhaps even more intriguing is the Prophet ﷺ mentioning the agricultural transformation of Arabia in the same context as the surplus of wealth. Fourteen centuries ago, the extensive irrigation methods just invented through modern technology were downright inconceivable. In fact, we are the very first generations privileged to witness this geological phenomena (see: NASA Sees Fields of Green Spring up in Saudi Arabia).

Regarding how material prosperity will be a sign of the end-times, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “And if you see the barefoot, naked, shepherds of camels competing [for praise] in the construction of high-rise buildings, then this is from among the signs [of the Hour].”[46] In a similar hadith about this egotism infesting the mosque atmosphere, he ﷺ said, “The Hour will not commence before people boast of their mosques.” Ibn ‘Abbās (rA), the narrator, added, “You will ornament your mosques just as the Jews and Christians did with their temples.”[47] This intense competition will involve exploitation of others, and thus we find parallel prophecies of hedonism and exploitation in the prophetic tradition as well. In the hadith of Miswar b. Makhrama (rA): “By Allah I do not fear poverty overtaking you, but I fear that you will have abundant wealth at your disposal as it became at the disposal of the nations before you, causing you to compete in it as they competed in it, and then it destroys you as it destroyed them.”[48]

25.  The Unavoidability of Ribā (Interest)

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ also foretold that ribā (interest/usury), which is one of the most unethical and exploitative transactions, would become inescapable. Abu Hurayra (rA) reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “A time will come over the people when they will consume ribā.” They asked him, “All of them?” He said, “Whoever does not consume it will [still] be reached by its dust.”[49] Whether for purchasing a property or vehicle, or simply for developing credit in today’s world, interest-bearing clauses have permeated every dimension of contemporary financial dealings.

26.  An Increase in Brutality and Killing

When people’s greed causes them to see people’s wealth as violable, seeing their lives that way is simply the next step on that continuum. Thus, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Beware of oppression, for oppression will result in darknesses on the Day of Judgment. And beware of greed, for greed is what destroyed those before you; it drove them to spill each other’s blood, and violate each other’s sanctities.”[50] The past century has seen atrocities in modern warfare, cycles of genocide, abusive policing, and senseless violence at large, that are incomparable anywhere in human history and all traceable to selfish interests.

Abu Hurayra (rA) narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “By the One in whose hand is my soul, this world will not end until a day comes over the people where the killer has no idea why he killed, nor the killed why he was killed.” It was said, “How will that be?” He said, “Chaos.”[51] In another hadith, “The Hour will not commence until knowledge is removed, earthquakes become frequent, time narrows, turmoil surfaces, and anarchy increases— namely killing, [lots of] killing.”[52] Again, the 21st century has been the bloodiest in human history. Even without the recent and ongoing nightmares of Bosnia, Iraq, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Palestine, Syria, and Burma; World War I alone claimed the lives of 65 million people, and World War II another 72 million. As for time passing rapidly, how often do people complain nowadays of time “flying” between gadgets and devices engineered to distract? As for knowledge becoming scarce, one can ask themselves what the average Muslim knows about their religion, and what kind of clarity the democratization of knowledge on the internet has offered.

27.  The Plunge into Immorality

Abu Hurayra (rA) narrates that the Prophet ﷺ foretold that there will emerge in the future “women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing gait, with something on their heads that looks like the humps of camels, leaning to one side. They will never enter Paradise or even smell its fragrance, although its fragrance can be detected from such and such a distance.”[53] Is it not remarkable how the Prophet did not only describe “provocative dress,” but even predicted women’s hairstyles?

The Prophet ﷺ also stated that even Muslim communities would participate in some of these trends; “There will be in the end of my nation men who ride chariots who are [in reality] pseudo-men; they will drop off their women, at the gates of the mosques, who are clothed [and yet] naked. Upon their heads will be the likes of a lean camel’s hump.”[54]

‘Abdullâh b. ‘Umar (rA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ also predicted the consequences of a hypersexualized popular culture; “And fornication never becomes prevalent among a people, to the degree that they practice it openly, except that epidemics become rampant among them which had never before existed in their ancestors.”[55] The link between sexual permissiveness and sexually transmitted diseases is not something any sensible person in our times can deny. Perhaps the unhinged pursuit of sexual gratification without liability is behind this next prophecy as well; “A woman will [one day] be taken and have her stomach cut open, then what is inside her womb will be taken and discarded, out of fear of having children.”[56] According to an extensive survey published in Guttmacher Institute Journal, the “fear of dramatic life changes” is by far the most common reason for abortions today, with more than half of those surveyed citing single motherhood as the reason for that fear.

Finally, ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr (rA) narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The Hour will not commence until people mate in the streets just as donkeys mate.” I asked, “Will that really happen?” He said, “Yes, it most certainly will happen.”[57] Though this was stated as one of the last signs before the Day of Judgment, following major apocalyptic events, many of our modern cultures are clearly moving towards that degree of shamelessness, if not experiencing it already.

28.  Muslims Becoming Easy Prey

The Prophet ﷺ also prophesied that carnal pursuits would not only infect his nation but would be the cause of their downfall and devastation. Thawbān (rA) reports that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The nations will soon invite one another to devour you, just as diners are invited to a dish.” It was said, “Will it be because of our small number on that day?” He said, “No, rather you will be many on that day, but you will be [weightless] foam, like the foam on the river. And Allah will remove the fear of you from the hearts of your enemies, and will cast weakness into your hearts.” Someone said, “O Messenger of Allah, what will this weakness be?” He said, “The love of this world, and the hatred of death.”[58]

Reinforcing this point, Anas (rA) narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Once my nation considers five things permissible, then destruction will befall them: when cursing one another appears, wine is drunk, silk is worn [by men], musical instruments are played, and men suffice themselves with men and women suffice themselves with women.”[59] Certainly, Muslims today are not insulated from the ideologies demanding the acceptance of same-sex acts in the world around them. This is even imaginable for a practicing, mosque-goer Muslim, if they allow their religiosity to be reduced to a cultural identity, as the Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith narrated by ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr (rA), “An age will surely come when people gather and pray in the mosques, while there is not a single believer amongst them.”[60]

29.  The Immortality Of This Ummah

In a multitude of reports, the Prophet ﷺ declared, “There will never cease to be a group from my nation victorious upon the truth, unharmed by those who will oppose them, until Allah’s decree comes to pass while they are like that.”[61] Despite the corruption and moral degradation, true believers will endure, even if their challenge is tantamount to holding onto a burning coal. They will be people who value their faith over their lives, and hence the Prophet ﷺ further described them by saying, “The Hour will not commence until a man passes by the grave of his brother and says, ‘I wish I were in his place.’”[62] Ibn Baṭṭāl (d. 1057) explains that this will not be due to any suicidal ideations, but rather an anxiety that the prevalent evils and the strength of their adversaries may cost them their religion.[63]

30.  Never Thought You Would Speak

Abu Sa’īd al-Khudri (rA) reports that the Prophet ﷺ said, “By the One in whose hand is my soul, the Hour will not commence until predators speak to people, and until the tip of a man’s whip and the straps on his sandals speak to him, and his thigh informs him of what occurred with his family after he left.”[64] One can only assume how difficult these statements were for a seventh-century desert dweller to process, but the astronomical strides in electricity and electronics since then have now delivered us to these developments. In TIME’s Best Inventions of 2002, a Japanese toy-maker is showcased for creating a dog translator; a device on its collar that interprets its yelps, growls, and whines into phrases such as “I can’t stand it”, “how boring”, and “I am lonely.” In November of 2006, the New York Times published an article entitled “These Shoes Are Made for Talking,” hailing in a new age of futuristic sports training. In January of 2010, a security camera app was released which transformed the smart-phones on our hips and in our pockets into windows into our homes. Perhaps these are what the Prophet ﷺ intended, or perhaps other phenomena which we have yet to experience.