41. The Absence of Peace
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All hearts being in mischief, some people hold talks with others and make peace and agreement demonstrations. But until a period appears in which people's hearts oppose peace and agreement, Doomsday will not come. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 382, no. 701) | ||
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| (Left) Israel violated the Armistice (Yeni Safak, August 13, 2003) (Right) Isreli bomb to Peace ( Yeni Mesaj, September 11, 2001) Israel does not care about the Road Map (Yeni Safak, August 2, 2003) |
42. Revolutions
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| … Fitna, conflict, and revolution become legion, and people kill one another. People commit suicide, and evil is pervasive all over the world. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 482, no. 901) | ||
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The growing number of civil wars and revolutions are among the important signs of the End Times given by our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace). In the second half of the twentieth century, such Central and South American countries as El Salvador and Nicaragua, being the foremost, were ravaged by revolutions, coups, and counter-coups. At the beginning of the 1980s, with the strenghtening of guerilla movements organized in the countryside, conflicts of interest between executive cadres and military leaders turned into a massive conflict and chaos impacted some 22 million people. In Nicaragua, Somoza was overthrown, and massive uprisings took place in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala that led to many thousands of people being killed.
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43. People Flee from One Another in Confusion
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| "O, Messenger of God, what is the fitna of Akhlas?" He said: "Fleeing - that is, the fleeing of people from one another due to mistrust and the looting of people's possessions." (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 386, no. 714) | ||
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The hadith states that people will flee from one another due to mistrust and fear. This might be a reference to those who are forced to flee their homelands. Indeed, the number of refugees and exiles had increased greatly by the beginning of the twentieth century.
Especially during the last 20-30 years, this increase has reached significant figures. By 2001, the number of refugees reached 23 million while the number of people who had abandoned their homes was about 30 million.
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44. The Global Pervasiveness of Chaos and Conflict
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| At a time when the world will be in harj [utter confusion and disorder], fitna will appear, people will be attacked, the old will not have mercy on the young, and the young will not show respect to the old, God will send someone to eradicate hostility and conquer the castles of perversion, uphold faith in the End Times just as I upheld it formerly, someone who will fill this Earth with justice where violence prevailed before. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 12) | ||
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The Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: "Fitna will spread after me. Terror and war will rage. Then, there will be greater fitnas. When people will say that the fitna has ended, new rebellions will appear. Until someone from my lineage [the Mahdi] emerges, there will be no home in Arabia into which fitna will not enter and a Muslim to whom fitna will not reach. (Fera Idu Fevaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, p. 147)As these hadiths reveal, such chaos will spread around the world. Indeed, many countries have been ruined, either wholly or in part, by chaos, war, murder, and terrorism. Every day, hundreds of people are exiled or murdered for no reason. (For further information, see Harun Yahya, Signs of the Last Day [Global Publishing: 2003].)
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45. The Occurrence of Great and Astonishing Events
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So many appalling incidents will occur in his time. (Imam Rabbani, Letters of Rabbani, vol. 2, p. 258) | ||
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Great phenomena will happen in his time. (Ibn Hajar Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 27)
"… earthquakes, sorrows, and great events are near. That day, Doomsday, is closer than this hand is to your head," he [The Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace] said. (Sunan Abu Dawud)
The signs of his emergence resemble those preparatory signs that earlier gave an indication of our Rasulullah. (Imam Rabbani, Letters of Rabbani, vol, 2, p. 258)
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As indicated in the hadiths above, the Mahdi's emergence will resemble that of our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace). Great and miraculous phenomena will also take place when he emerges.
Some of the remarkable phenomena that took place during the last century are as follows:
- The Ka`bah was raided, and many Muslims were killed
- The 2,500-year Iranian monarchy collapsed and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi died
- A gas leak in a Bombay factory killed 20,000 people
- War broke out between two Muslim nations: Iran and Iraq
- The Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan
- On September 19, 1985, Mexico City was devastated by an earthquake
- The Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted, wiping the town of Armero off the map and killing 25,000 people
- Floods in Bangladesh killed 25,000 people
- Rome, the heart of the Catholic Church, was flooded
- The worst forest fire in history broke out in China
- Indian Prime Minister Gandhi, President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt, and Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme were assassinated
- Pope John Paul II was shot
- The AIDS virus, identified in 1980, has so far killed tens of thousands of people and is known as the "Plague of the Age"
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The space shuttle Challenger exploded soon after it was launched in 1986. |
- The worst nuclear accident in history occurred when the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor, located in the Soviet Union, exploded on April 26 1986 and affected many European countries by the released radiation
- A hole was discovered in the ozone layer
- The Soviet Union collapsed, thanks to Gorbachev, and the newly independent states of Central Asia emerged
- The Gulf War broke out, Iraq annexed and then fled Kuwait, and was finally occupied by America and Britain in 2003.
- An earthquake in Armenia reduced cities to rubble, causing 500,000 people to leave their homes and more than 40,000 people to lose their lives.
- The Chinese government sent its tanks into Tienanmen Square during 1989 to crush a student movement demanding greater freedom; 2,000 students died
- The Berlin Wall, which for 28 years had symbolized the cold war, was torn down
- More than 1,400 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at a tunnel in the Ka`bah in 1990
- Approximately 139,000 people died from flooding in Bangladesh in 1991, and ten million were left homeless
- Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were killed in the atrocities in Bosnia and Kosovo, and hundreds of thousands more were exiled
- The Ebola virus led to the deaths of tens of thousands
- The hurricanes, tornadoes, whirlwinds, and floods caused by El Niño led to the deaths of thousands of people, to millions fleeing their homes, and to billions of dollars worth of damage
- The London Stock Exchange collapsed on October 19, 1987, and the ensuing panic resulted in a value loss of 50 billion Pounds.
- 168 people were killed in a bomb attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City April 19, 1995.
-In 1997, the Hale-Bopp Comet passed so close to Earth that it could be seen with the naked eye
- 1,500 people died in an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale in Iran on May 10, 1997
- 5,000 people died in an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale in Afghanistan on February 1998
- 1,171 people were killed in an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale in Columbia on January 25, 1999
- More than 2,100 people died in an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale in Taiwan on September 21, 1999
- The biggest-ever terrorist attack on America took place on September 11, 2001. Two passenger airplanes crushed into the World Trade Center in New York within 18 minutes of each other. Another plane crushed into the Pentagon. Over 5,000 people died.
- An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck India, killing thousands of people
- Many European countries have experienced heat waves that have killed many people
- Mars was closer to Earth in August 2003 than at any other time in the past 60,000 years
In November 2003, 12 people lost their lives in a flood in Makkah, which is one of the driest regions in the world.
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46. The Situation of Some Muslims
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He said: "I swear by God, Who holds my soul in His hands, that when that time of fitna comes, you will turn into snakes rising to twist each others' necks." (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 386, no. 672) | ||
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.... Fitna will appear from right there, from the place where Satan's two horns will rise. Yet you still strike one another's neck. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 369, no. 675)
... if you start competing with one another, feeling jealous of one another, turning your backs or separating and becoming enemies of one another. (Sahih Muslim)
A time will come when my people will envy one another, just as goats do. (al-Hatim)
47. The Current Situation of the Islamic World
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I swear to God, Who endowed me with justice, that after me there will be a period of gap among my people. At that time, everyone will ask for possessions without considering whether they are halal [lawful], blood will shed, and poems will be held as dear as the Qur'an. (ad-Daylami) | ||
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In the past, the Islamic world built one of the greatest and most glorious civilizations in history. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War had great impact on the Islamic world, for it damaged Muslim unity. Right now, unresolved problems and disagreements are pervasive in many parts of the Islamic world. This aside, nearly all Muslim countries are far behind when it comes to any type of progress associated with science, technology, and economic development. The "period of gap" may refer to this deplorable situation.
We need to remember that, as in the past, it is very easy for the Islamic world to establish a glorious civilization that once again will set an example for the entire world with its moral excellence, peace, security, and abundance. But this will not happen until Muslims once again strive to live according to the morality of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) and to establish the Union of Islam that this morality envisages.
48. Wars between Muslims
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Doomsday will not come until the two great Islamic armies get into war with one another… (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 454, no. 831) | ||
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Muslims who fail to get along well with one another in those days cannot avoid being the target of the Dajjal. (al-Hakim, Mustadrak, vol. 4, pp. 529-30)In these hadiths, our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) called attention to some events that would take in our day. Indeed, as these hadiths reveal, at the beginning of the year 1400 of the Islamic era, Iraq and Iran were fighting each other, and Iraq would later invade Kuwait.
Abu Hurayra reported that God's Messenger narrated: "The Last Hour will not come until the two parties [of Muslim] confront each other and there is a large-scale massacre amongst them and the chain of both of them is the same." (Sahih Muslim)
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| (Left) Iran-Iraq War Intensified |
49. Muslims Are Subjected to Severe Troubles
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At the end of time, their rulers will cause My people severe trouble in such a way that there will be no comfort for Muslims anywhere. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 12) | ||
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Woe to this community because of those tyrannical rulers. These cruel ones frighten even the silent and submissive, apart from those who obey them. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 13)This hadith points out that before the Mahdi comes, those who lack religious morals and have a cruel and merciless character will come to power in some Muslim countries. This is one of the signs indicating that the coming of the Mahdi and Prophet Jesus (pbuh) is drawing nigh.
The cruelty of leaders … is one of the portents of Doomsday. (Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha`ah li Ashrat as-Sa`ah, p. 143)
... There will be no home into which strife does not enter, and no Muslim who is untouched by it. This will continue until a rajul [a man of gnosis and illumination] from my lineage appears. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 25)
[One portent of Doomsday is] sinners raising their voices in the mosques and having victory and dominion over devout believers in place of the religion's commandments. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 450)
I swear that [great] misfortunes will befall the people, and one will not find any refuge from cruelty and tyranny. At such a troublesome time, God will send someone from my lineage. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 437)
In another hadith, our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) tells us that due to all of this oppression at the End Times, sincere Muslims may be forced to hide their belief and worship in secret:
Just as the hypocrites lead their lives in secret among you today, a time will come when believers will try hard to lead their religious lives among others. (Ibn Sunni)
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Some examples of these incidents are as follows:
In Iraq, which lost about one million people during its war against Iran, the Ba`thist dictator Saddam Hussein subjected all Iraqis to unbearable tortures and atrocities.
Instability and turmoil have ruled in Afghanistan ever since the Soviet occupation in 1979. Some Afghanistan authorities (viz., the Taliban), which never represented real Islam, established a very oppressive, ruthless, and intolerant system.
Syrian Muslims suffered a myriad of atrocities during Hafez Assad's 30-year rule. Some cities were entirely destroyed during the massacres, which also led to raping women and a wide-ranging torturing of men.
Djibouti, a tiny African country, has been ruled by a harsh regime that, during 1977-91, killed about 2,000 Muslims, arrested 7,000 people, and tortured many more without any justification.
In Somalia, an oppressive regime led by Major General Mohammed Siad Barre, which targeted Muslims directly, was in power from 1969-91.
Tunisia, ruled by the dictator Habib Bourgiba for 31 years, suffered great oppression during the rule of this self-proclaimed "President for Life."
It is also worthwhile to say that this situation is prevalent in some Muslim countries due to a lack of knowledge about Islamic morality. One of the common features of such regimes is their repressive and cruel power-based ideologies. This is surely incompatible with religion's morality. Therefore, believers need to carry out intellectual struggles against these ideologies, for an ideology that is defeated on intellectual grounds can hardly survive. Muslims must expose these ideologies' errors and deviances and call their adherents to the right path by telling them about religion's true morality. Through this method, which complies with the Qur'anic morality and the Prophet's (may God bless him and grant him peace) Sunnah, all of these cruelties will end, by God's permission, and the Muslim world will attain a celebratory future.
50. The Killing of the Innocent
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The Mahdi will not emerge until innocent people are massacred, and he will appear when those on Earth and up in the sky can no longer put up with such massacres ... (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 37) | ||
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The Mahdi will not emerge until innocent people are killed. When those who are without sin are killed, the people of Earth and sky [will] detest the killers. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 35)
While the hadiths about the Mahdi's emergence mention such massacres as commonplace, they also emphasize that such massacres will target innocent people. As we discussed earlier, almost all of the wars today target civilians. So, civilians and such innocent people as children, the elderly, and women are slaughtered. Targeting these defenseless people in particular has resulted in more comprehensive massacres, while the number of people dying as a result continues to climb. In addition to such massacres, acts of terror, particularly in recent years, have resulted in the mass annihilation of people. Since terror seeks to spread fear and horror, the very group that such attacks often target are innocent civilians.
Many people continue to lose their lives in different countries as a result of terrorists targeting shopping malls, restaurants, and schools frequented by defenseless women, youths, and children.
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