81. People Inclining to the Desires of their Lower Selves
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A time will come when people's concerns will be making a living, their honor will be their possessions, and their qiblah [the direction Muslims face during formal worship] will be their women. Their religion will be gold and silver. These are the people's evils, and they will have nothing in God's sight. (al-Sulami) | ||
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82. Social Deterioration
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... When people suffer strife and social upheaval... (Ahmad Diya'al-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith, vol.7, p. 7) | ||
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A serious problem today is the disintegration of many societies' social fabric. This collapse is discernable in such phenomena as broken families, increased divorce and illegitimate birth rates, which naturally injure and even destroy the institution of the family. Stress, anxiety, unhappiness, worry, and chaos turn the lives of many people into nightmares. People living in a spiritual void, looking for a way out of their depression, fall into a bleak mire of alcohol or drugs. Some who think that there is no solution even consider suicide as a way out.
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Basically, as in the 1980s, the crime rate continued to rise in the 1990s. Everywhere in the world, in a five-year period, two-thirds of the people living in large cities have been the target at least once of a criminal action. All over the world, the odds of being the target of a serious crime (robbery, sexual crimes, assault) are one in five. Regardless of the area, crimes against property, and crimes of violence committed by youth, have both had economic ramifications. The number of types of illicit drugs has increased and their nature has diversified in recent years.53
Actually, this is not surprising, for the causes of such a societal phenomenon are clearly related in the Qur'an's accounts of past societies. Social deterioration and its related problems are the inevitable results of human beings' forgetting God, why they were created, and their abandoning of religion and its spiritual values.
Such social deterioration was predicted by the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace), who described the End Times as "When people suffer strife and social upheaval." (Ahmad Diya'al-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith, vol. 7, p. 7)
83. Adherence to Traitors, and Considering the Righteous as Treacherous
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Soon years containing treacheries and tricks will come. A liar will be declared true in them and a true man will be declared a liar; a treacherous will be designated as trustworthy and a trustworthy as a treacherous. (Ibn Majah) | ||
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The time will be years of confusion. People will believe a liar and not believe one who tells the truth. (Ibn Ahmad Hanbal) The Day of Judgment will not come until the very lowest people are the happiest. (Tirmidhi)
The acceptance of lies and rejection of the truth are among the portents of Doomsday. (al-Tabarani)
The liar will be received well, and the one who tells the truth will be rejected. People will trust traitors, and the ones who are trustworthy will be treated as traitors... Then lies will spread... (Fera Idu Fevaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, pp. 146-47)
Tricky years lie before the Hour. At those times, trustworthy people are accused and traitors are believed. The trustworthy one is silenced, and the liar is seen as reliable. (Ibn Asakir)
It is a sign of the Hour when one who is not fit possesses a lot and is brought to a good status, while one who is capable is ousted. (Nu`aym ibn Hammad, Kitab al-Fitan)
Therefore, the increase in the amount of evil people, as well as the facts that trustworthy people are considered liars and that some presumed liars are actually trustworthy are all characteristics of the End Times.
84. The Decreasing Number of Reliable People
One hadith reveals that before the advent of Prophet Jesus (pbuh), there will be few trustworthy people and only little money earned according to the rules and laws of our religion: | ||
In the End Times, people will be carrying out their trade, but there will hardly be a trustworthy person. (Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim) Good people will all go, leaving behind them bad people, like useless barley and grapes. (Ibn Ahmad Hanbal, Sahih Bukhari) | ||
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85. The Decreasing Number of Trustworthy People
The hadiths report that close to Doomsday, the number of trustworthy people will diminish and that people will seize and use that which has been entrusted to them. Moreover, we are told that people will fall behind in their obligation to give alms: | ||
When the spoils are restricted to a few people, when goods entrusted to one are regarded as booty, when giving alms is regarded as a heavy burden... (Muhammad ibn `Abd ar-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha`ah li Ashrat as-Sa`ah, p. 114) Goods entrusted to one being regarded as booty, and the giving of alms being regarded as a loan [which is hard to repay]... (Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha`ah li Ashrat as-Sa`ah, p.139) | ||
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When you see people breaking their words and promises, disregarding their trusts... (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 378, no. 690)
86. Abandoning Almsgiving
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When they regard giving alms as a punishment [a burden instead of a religious observance]. (Tirmidhi) When that time comes, alms will be taken by force as a punishment and extortion as loot. (Fera Idu Fevaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, pp. 146-47) | ||
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87. Abandoning Salah (Prayers)
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Hudaifa bin Yaman narrated that God's Messenger (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: Islam would extinquish just as the embroidery of a fabric become worn-out so much so that none would know… what prayer is. (Sunan Ibn Majah) | ||
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The Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: "One sign of Doomsday is the abandonment of salah... At that time, O Salman! The most wicked of all sins and irreligiousness will occur. People will abandon salah and adhere to their lust. If you are alive during that period, perform your prayers at their respective times." (Fera Idu Fevaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, pp. 146-47)
People will encounter such a time that salah [prayers] will be abandoned, buildings will be higher, oaths and curses will be everywhere, bribery and adultery will spread, and the Hereafter will be exchanged for this life. (Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha`ah li Ashrat as-Sa`ah, p. 157)
88. The Spread of False Testimony and Slander
The spread of false testimony and slander are further important portents of Doomsday. Such activities occur because people distance themselves from religion's morality, which entails being honest under all conditions and being just even at the expense of one's self-interest. People who are distant from religion's morality and unaware that they will give an account of their deeds on the Day of Judgment can readily tell lies or give false testimony if doing so will benefit them. The growing number of such people is a sign of Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) second coming:
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Verily, in the presence of the Last Hour there will be … false testimony and concealing evidence. (Ibn Ahmad Hanbal and al-Hakim) There will be false accusations of unchastity and slander. (Tirmidhi) | ||
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Claude Lorrain, The Rape of Europe, 1667 |
89. Giving Positions of Responsibility to Incompetent People
The hadith quoted below stresses another sign: | ||
God's Apostle said, "When honesty is lost, then wait for the Hour." It was asked. "How will honesty be lost, O God's Apostle?" He said, "When authority is given to those who do not deserve it, then wait for the Hour." (Sahih Bukhari) | ||
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90. Considering One's Superiority To Be in Wealth Rather than in Awareness of God
People will be judged by their wealth, and respect will be shown to people according to their wealth. These qualities are signs of Doomsday, for: | ||
It becomes obvious that the Hour is drawing near … When people esteem the well-off, and people who are superior to him stand up and salute him. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, pp. 480-81) | ||
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Before the Hour comes, there will be special greeting for the people of distinction. (Ibn Ahmad Hanbal)
