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Armies in Iraq, Sham and Yemen

Signs of the Last Days, Part 6

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

24 March 2016 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

[Series source text: السنن الواردة في الفتن وغوائلها والساعة وأشراطها As-Sunan al-Waridah Fi ‘l-Fitani wa Ghawaali’ihaa wa ‘s-Saa`ati wa Ashraatihaa, by `Uthman bin Sa`eed al-Muqri ad-Daani; research and Hadith authentication by Dr. Ridaaullah bin Muhammad Idris Mubarakfuri; published by Daar al-`Aasima, Riyadh. Originally published 444 Hijri.]

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.

Amma ba’ad, inshaa-Allah we continue with the Signs of the Last Days, there are so many in every sahih: Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Habbaan and Abi Dawood and the sihah mentioning about the Last Days so that we may take ibrah, lessons, for what is coming. First of all, I will not explain, but I will say what the Prophet (s) has predicted from the Signs of the Last Days. He (s) told his Companions, “I am seeing,” as Allah said in Holy Qur'an, “We will show them our Signs in the horizons.”

سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ

Soon will We show them our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the Earth). (Surat al-Fussilat, 41:53)

The Prophet (s) showed them what he was seeing from the horizon, not the physical horizon but the horizon he reached, Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa. And how many horizons are there of Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa that he predicted to his Companions? That is why Abu Hurayrah (r) said, “I have learned from Prophet (s), I memorized,” or “I learned,” or “the Prophet (s) poured in my heart from the Prophet (s),” however you want to explain it, “two kinds of knowledge, and one part is Shari`ah that he told me to spread it, and the other part I did not spread because they will kill me.”

Who will kill him? He was speaking to the Sahaabah (r): they might kill him because they did not hear it from the Prophet (s) and he did hear it from the Prophet (s). So the experts in Hadith cannot deny them, and Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah (r) heard many ahadeeth from the Prophet (s) that if he told the Sahaabah (r) they would not accept as they did not hear it from the Prophet (s). So you cannot make every Hadith da`eef, weak, just because you don't see what is coming from the horizons. Abu Hurayrah (r) said, “I did not spread the other batch of Hadith because they might kill me.” Don’t say that is da`eef; you can take it through fadaa'il al-`amaal, the benefit of what you are practicing. For example, the Hadith about praying two quick raka`ats sunnah before Maghrib, some `ulama say don’t do it, but other say that if you do it you will be rewarded, so why not do it? You will be rewarded, so do it!

The Prophet (s) mentioned something that will happen in the future: “I am telling you in the future there is something happening, a situation you have to avoid, keep at home, don’t jump into the fire.”

سيصير الأمر إلى أن تكونوا جنودا ًمجندة جند بالشام وجند باليمن وجند بالعراق. فقال ابن حوالة خر لي يا رسول الله، إن أدركت ذلك، فقال: عليك بالشام فإنها خيرة الله من أرضه يجتبي إليها خيرته من عباده فأما إن أبيتم فعليكم بيمنكم واسقوا من غدركم فإن الله توكل لي بالشام وأهله

The Prophet (s) said, “In the future you will become armies. There will be armies in Syria, armies in Yemen, and armies in Iraq.” Then Ibn Hawaala said, “Choose one for me, O Messenger of Allah, in case I live that long.” He said, “You must go to Syria for it is Allah’s treasure in His Earth, the treasures of His servants seek it. If you refuse, then you must go to Yemen and drink from treachery, for Allah has given me Syria and its people to rely on. (Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi, Ahmad)

From among the Signs of the Last Days, he (s) said sayakoonu jundun bi ‘l-`iraq, “In the future there will be an army in Iraq.” He said ‘jundun,’ meaning anyone wearing army boots, working for an army, wearing the uniform. This is what the Prophet (s) predicted, jundun, and it means it is not necessary to be Muslim or Arab but, in general, and this is what we are seeing in Iraq today, armies in different uniforms, they might be Western, Arab, Persian, might be from the Sub-continent or whatever. The Prophet (s) has indicated there will be several attacks from different countries. He (s) there are going to be armies in Iraq. What do armies do? They fly airplanes, bomb everywhere. That happened with Persians and Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and with US against Saddam Hussein, and then with coalition forces against Saddam Hussein, and now with forces against ISIL. Prophet (s) didn’t say “jundiyan” or “jundiyun,” meaning “one,” he didn’t give a number, but he said “jundun,” which means all of them from different nations made a coalition and they are attacking for certain reasons. We don’t want to go into why they are attacking, but the Prophet (s) said there will be an army from different countries with different kinds of sophisticated weapons that are going to hit that area in a certain order, and he (s) began with Iraq; after what happened in the time of Saddam Hussein, the first problem was in Iraq.

Then he (s) said there will be jundun bi ‘sh-shaam, “There will be armies in Sham,” with uniforms, machinery, completely well-equipped with everything. How did Prophet (s) know that? He said Iraq and then after Iraq, Sham, which is Damascus or Syria, and now you see the East and the West are fighting in Syria and it is becoming more intense with more armies, more oppositions and governments involved. Everything you want to speak about using weapons, it has been tried in Syria, all kinds of weapons from chemical to partially atomic rockets, everything has been used in Sham!

How is it possible and in sequence, beginning with Iraq, then passing to Sham and then he said, wa jundun bi ‘l-yemen, then armies in Yemen. He said, jundun bi ‘l-`iraq wa jundin bi‘sh-shaam wa jundun bi ‘l-yemen. People of Yemen now are under attack, experiencing problems: two parties are fighting there and a coalition is attacking one, that is Muslims killing Muslims, Muslim against Muslim, about which Prophet (s) said:

إذا التقى المسلمان بسيفيهما، فالقاتل والمقتول في النار. فقيل: يا رسول الله هذا القاتل، فما بال المقتول؟! قال: إنه كان حريصاً على قتل صاحبه

The Prophet (s) said, “If two Muslims meet each other with swords, then the one that killed and the one that was killed are in the fire.” It was asked, “O Messenger of Allah, this is for the one that killed, but why for the one who was killed?” He said, “He was trying to kill his companion.” (Bukhari, Muslim)

The Prophet (s) said if two Muslims fight each other because both of them have a sword and they want to kill each other, so whether they die or not, both of them will go to Hellfire! That is happening in Yemen, Sham and Iraq! Allah doesn’t like what is happening.

Qaal fa qultu, “And I said, ikhtaar lee yaa Rasoolullah, choose for me, yaa Rasoolullah, where I have to be in the Last Days; if there is a fight in Iraq and a fight in Sham and a fight in Yemen where I have to go then? I am stuck.” Iraq was baladun mahlawa wa takaniyya fi dhalika ‘z-zamaan, Baghdad, where the main Muslim libraries and books of knowledge were kept, so it was very important. One Sahaabi (r) asked, “Where will I hide, run and stay, which place is safest?” He wanted to know. All of those places were not a safe-haven because it was a time of war, but Prophet (s) said: `Alayka bi ‘sh-shaam, fa innahaa safwatullahi min ardihi, it means peace is going to happen first in Sham, because it is the country of Awliya, saints. Palestine, Masjid al-Aqsa is the country of so many prophets and Sham has so many Awliya and, therefore, it is the best place on Earth for Allah's servants and only those who are the best of servants will be in Sham. That is why the Prophet (s) mentioned so many Ahadith on Fada'il ash-Sham, the favors of Damascus, Syria. Why is Sham the best? Because Sayyidina `Isa (a) and Sayyidina Mahdi (a) are coming to Sham.

كيف أنتم إذا نزل ابن مريم فيكم وإمامكم منكم

What will your state be when the son of Maryam descends among you and your imam is from you?

(Bukhari)

“How will your situation be when Jesus descends on you and your imam is among you?” He will descend from the First Heaven on the Umawi Mosque in Sham, the big masjid that previously was a church and a synagogue. Sayyidina `Umar (r) kept it as it was and added a mosque for Muslims, so there were three religions in one place; that was true interfaith. Sayyidina `Umar (r) made the best interfaith: he kept the temple for the Jews and the church for the Christians and the mosque for the Muslims in one building, that’s Masjid al-Ummawi! There is the white minaret where Sayyidina `Isa (a) will come down when Imam Mahdi (a) will lead Jumu`ah prayers. Imam Mahdi (a) is not a prophet, but rather a grandson of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), so he will step back to let Sayyidina `Isa (a) lead the prayer. Sayyidina `Isa (a) will say, “No, I asked Allah to accept me from within the Ummat an-Nabi (s), so I will be behind Imam Mahdi (a), and Sayyidina Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (a) will lead the prayer.” This is a famous Hadith. So Sham is the first choice for Muslims to be and peace will be there.

That is what we are seeing today, the fight, the battles are between these three countries and it happened in sequence: first Iraq, second Sham and third Yemen. The Prophet (s) chose Sham for the people who asked him for safety and that is the best place to stay. They asked ibn Mas`ud (r) about the Signs of the Last Days. He said, “It is the time of innovation, everything will be said to be innovation, bid`a, bid`a,” and that is what we are seeing today. Everyone is attacking the other about bid`a, even if they don’t agree on one issue, they say it is bid`a!

كَيْفَ أَنْتُمْ إِذَا ظَهَرَ فِيكُمُ الْبِدَعُ , وَعُمِلَ بِهَا حَتَّى يَرْبُوَ فِيهَا الصَّغِيرُ , وَيَهْرَمَ الْكَبِيرُ , وَيُسْلِمَ فِيهَا الأَعَاجِمُ , حَتَّى يَعْمَلَ الرَّجُلُ بِالسُّنَّةِ ، فَيُقَالُ : بِدْعَةٌ " , قَالُوا : مَتَى ذَلِكَ يَا أَبَا عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ ؟ قَالَ : " إِذَا كَثُرَتْ أُمَرَاؤُكُمْ , وَقَلَّتْ أُمَنَاؤُكُمْ , وَكَثُرَتْ قُرَّاؤُكُمْ , وَقَلَّتْ فُقَهَاؤُكُمْ , وَتُفُقِّهَ لِغَيْرِ الدِّينِ , وَابْتُغِيَتِ الدُّنْيَا بِعَمَلِ الآخِرَةِ

The Prophet said, “What will your state be when innovation appears among you, and it is acted upon to the point that the children are raised with it and the old person ages and non-Arabs become Muslim with it, to the point that a man acts according to the Sunnah and is told it is innovation?” They said, “When will that be, O father of Abdur-Rahman?” He said, “When your princes are many and your trustworthy ones are few, when your Qur’an reciters are many and your scholars of Fiqh are few and are educated for other than religion, and the dunya is sought after by means of the Akhirah.”

(As-Sunan al-Waaridah Fi ‘l-Fitani wa Ghawaali’iha wa ‘s-Saa`ati wa Ashraatihaa)

“How will your situation be when you are contaminated by all kinds of innovations, then everyone will practice it, even the young and the old?” That is the bid`a of ISIS or ISIL, Da`ish, killing people for no reason, and that is the biggest bid`a! They issue fatwas designed to permit them bida`tun ibtada’oohaa, an innovation that was not in the time of the Prophet (s), hatta ya`mal ar-rajul bi ‘s-sunnatiwa yuqaala lahu bida`, “Until a man will follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and they will say to him, ‘Bid`a!’” Typical! You will be following the Sunnah perfectly and they say to you, “Bid`a!” Pray two raka`ats in a masjid and they will tell you, “What are you praying? This is bid`a.”

The Companions asked, “When is this going to happen?” Prophet (s) said, “There will be too many leaders.” Is this what we see today? Google “leaders” and “shaykhs.” A child will become a mufti behind the compute screen and make a fatwa that people will follow, and that is how they ended up fighting in the Middle East. There will not be many Trustworthy Ones and those who are people don’t accept, so the Trustworthy Ones are becoming less and less and the false leaders are becoming more and more, attacking anyone who is following the Sunnah of the Prophet (s).

Wa katharat qurraa’ookum, today there are too many teachings: you know how to pronounce and read Qur’an, which is good, but they don’t teach you how to understand the Holy Qur'an. Wa qallat fuqaha’ukum, “less faqih, `ulama.” Show me today, where are `ulama? There are very few, the rest are finished. Wa tufuqqiha bi ghayr ad-deen, “Everything will be taught except religion.” Wabtughiyat ad-dunya bi `amali ‘l-akhirah, they look for dunya and forget the Akhirah, everyone is thinking about dunya and what they have to achieve in dubya. These big leaders of the five main countries are trying to see who they will attract from the small countries, “Which countries are going to be on my side?” Akhrajahu Abu Na`eem bin Haddad, wa ad-Darami wa Ibn Waddah `ala shart Bukhari wa Muslim.

Ibn Mas`ud (r) said:

سيأتي عليكم زمان لو وجد أحدكم الموت يباع لاشتراه

A time will come upon you when if one of you finds death being sold, he will buy it.[1]

(Cited by Al-Kandalawi al-Madani in his Sharh Muwatta Imam Malik, narrated by Ibn Mas'ud.)

“There will come a time on people when if there was someone selling death, he would run to buy it.” That means it will be better to be dead than to be in such fitna, so run away from it! So what massive horror is coming? Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) said that Sayyidina Muhyideen ibn `Arabi (q) said, “There will come a time when people will walk on dead bodies until the children will have white hair from the horrors they see,” and in another riwayah, in istat`ata an tamoot fa moot, “If you are able to die, then die!” Run away, put yourself in a corner and stay there until you die!

Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah (r) said, “At that time people will run to death, because then it is more valuable than gold.” To be dead is better, because you won’t want to be tortured and abused, in an unbearable situation.

أَنْتُمْ فِي زَمَانٍ مَنْ تَرَكَ عُشْرَ مَا أُمِرَ بِهِ هَلَكَ ، وَسَيَأْتِي عَلَيْكُمْ زَمَانٌ مَنْ عَمِلَ بِعُشْرِ مَا أُمِرَ بِهِ نَجَا

Sayyidina Hasan (r) reported that the Prophet (s) said to his Companions (r): You are in a time when if people leave ten-percent of what they were commanded to do they will perish, but there will come a time when if people perform ten-percent of what they were commanded to do they will be saved. (Tabarani)

This is what we are doing today, running away from everything, not what the Sahaabah (r) or pious people did. Alhamdulillah we still attend dhikr! May Allah forgive us and bless us and keep us safe from the confusions happening on Earth today as we don’t know when it is going to finish.

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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[1] Ibn al-Jawzi (r) refers to it as a saying of Abu Hurayrah (r).

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