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Hadith of Sayyidna Ali (r) on Signs of the Last Days | Part 3

Signs of the Last Days, Part 15

Ramadan Series 2016, Vol 1

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

6 June 2016 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

Fajr Suhbah

[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-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Kullu `aamm wa antum bi-khayr. Ramadan Kareem inshaa-Allah. 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

Inshaa-Allah today we continue the Hadith of the Prophet (s) that been mentioned by Sayyidina `Ali (r) about the Signs of the Last Days. We have explained in two sessions most of the Hadith and now there is a little bit left to continue that Hadith of Sayyidina `Ali (r) [see previous volume].

In a Hadith we will mention later inshaa-Allah, the Prophet (s) said to Sahaabah (r) that the biggest, main Sign of the Last Days is the death of the Prophet (s), because when he was alive there was no zhulma on anyone at that time, but when he left dunya, according to Anas ibn Malik (r):

لَمَّا كَانَ الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي دَخَلَ فِيهِ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ الْمَدِينَةَ أَضَاءَ مِنْهَا كُلُّ شَيْءٍ ، فَلَمَّا كَانَ الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي مَاتَ فِيهِ أَظْلَمَ مِنْهَا كُلُّ شَيْءٍ

On the day the Messenger of Allah entered Madinah everything lit up and on the day the Messenger of Allah passed away in Madinah everything became dark. (Tirmidhi, Ahmad)

When the Prophet (s) entered Madinah al-Munawarrah, the whole Light of Heavens covered the Sahaabah (r): the Tajalli of Mercy, `Ayn al-Yaqeen, Haqq al-Kareem, and when he left dunya all kinds of zhulma spread all over the Earth. This is why the Sahaabah (r) understood the passing of the Prophet (s) was the beginning Sign of the Last Days. Prophet (s) mentioned this is the main sign because there was no one left to ask: there was no more Wahiyy, no more Jibreel (a) descending to Earth bringing Revelation, so that Heavenly Light was finished.

We mentioned many things that will happen in Last Days [from the Hadith of Sayyidina `Ali (r)]; I am not going to repeat them in detail, but I will mention the first one,which is people will make the prayers to be dead, they will not pray anymore, and we see today many people are not praying.

Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, wa huliyat al-masaahif, “When they began to write the Holy Qur'an they made all kinds of decorations.” He did not say, hufizhat al-masaahif, "To memorize the Books," but people will be making so much effort to decorate the verses of the Holy Qur'an not to learn and memorize it. Everyone will be interested to show his best calligraphy of the Holy Qur’an for people to be stunned with the calligraphy, not stunned with the reading and the meaning of the Holy Qur’an. That’s why he (s) said in another Hadith:

يوشك أن يأتي على الناس زمان لا يبقى من الإسلام إلا اسمه ولا يبقى من القرآن إلا رسمه ، مساجدهم عامرة وهي خراب من الهدى ، علماؤهم شر من تحت أديم السماء ، من عندهم تخرج الفتنة ، وفيهم تعود

There will come a time upon a people when nothing remains from Islam except its name, nothing from the Qur’an except the form of its letters, mosques will be built but are empty of guidance, their scholars will be the worst people beneath the sky, and chaos will emerge from them and return to them. (Bayhaqi)

Today we have a friend who every day brings a new verse of Holy Qur'an to hang on the wall, but did he study the meaning or only the calligraphy? Only calligraphy. Today people are no longer interested in studying the Holy Qu’ran, so they hang calligraphy of its verses on the wall and that’s it, which is why Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, "There will be a time when the Qur'ans are decorated.”

Then Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, wa zukhrifat al-masaajid, "The masjids are decorated." What he means here is to decorate your heart is better than to decorate your house, everyone has a heart in his house:

" إِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى بِعَبْدٍ خَيْرًا ، جَعَلَ لَهُ وَاعِظًا مِنْ قَلْبِهِ يَأْمُرُهُ وَيَنْهَاهُ "

If Allah (swt) wants goodness for His servant, He will make for him a guide in his heart.

(Abu Na`eem al-Ispahani in Hilyat al-Awliya)

“If Allah wants good for a servant, He gives him a warner, a guide in his heart.” So make your heart a masjid: it is not important to decorate the walls of the masjid, the walls of your heart are important.

Wa tool al-manaar, "They make very high minarets.” In Turkey you find very high minarets, might be as tall as the Eiffel Tower. So signs are huliyat al-masaahif, decorated the pages of Holy Qur'an; decorated the mosques; building tall minarets. We all see these and still we are not convinced of:

إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا وَأَخْرَجَتِ الْأَرْضُ أَثْقَالَهَا

When Earth is shaken with her (final) earthquake and the Earth throws up her burdens (from within). (Surat az-Zalzalah, 99:1-2)

Still we are not believing and not trying to fix ourselves, because the Signs of the Last Days are approaching. Allah (swt) said in Surat az-Zalzalah, “When the Earth shakes with its great earthquake….” At that time you will realize you did nothing to prepare for your Akhirah! Alhamdulillah there are many gatherings of people like this that sit and remember Allah in the masaajid, but it is not enough, it should be more, everyone should be involved in such gatherings. But for most of them Ramadan is a picnic: they sleep all day and go out at night doing all sorts of (impermissible) things, even in Mecca and Madinah!

And nuqidat al-`uhood, "Breaching of their contract." Everyone is breaching contracts. What does this mean here, that you breach your contract with whom? With Allah (swt)! Whenever we commit a sin we are breaching our contract made with Allah on the Day of Promises by our hidden shirk! On the Day of Promises, we pledged not to breach our Shahadah, wa iqaamu ’s-salaat, wa itaau 'z -zakaat wa siyaamu ramadan wa hajj al-bayt. We signed our contract that we accept all this and when we came to dunya we breached our `uhood, oath we took that Day to make Shahaadah, to repeat, “Ash-s-hadu laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah” and afdal adh-dhikr “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and make our prayers, pay zakaat, fast Ramadan and go for Hajj. Today too many Muslims are breaking their contracts: some do not pray, some do not fast, some do not pay zakaat, some do not go to Hajj. All of that is what we are seeing in front of us, indicating the Signs of the Last Days are coming one after one.

Now one of the main signs is, Shaarakat al-mar’atu zawjahaa fi 't-tijaara, "The wife begins to share with her husband in trading," entering into business. This is what we see today, many wives helping their husbands. Sayyidina `Ali (r) said when this happens it will be a Sign of the Last Days; he is not saying wives shouldn’t help their husbands, he is saying when this happens it will be one of the signs, like when the moon split was a sign, so toi is ladies helping their husbands also a sign. When the wife goes to work outside the home (to help pay bills) it is a sign of the Last Days, although he is not saying it is haraam.

اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ

The Hour (of Judgment) approached and the moon split. (Surat al-Qamar, 54:1)

Also, “When the wife helps her husband in trading.” Another sign is that that women uncover their heads. You go in some countries and you cannot tell if a woman or man are Muslim or not. Men have to wear a hat (kufi), Prophet (s) never left his head uncovered, he always covered his head with a turban or imaamah. Now Muslim men want their ladies to cover, but they do not cover. You go to Muslim countries and you cannot tell who is Muslim because they imitate the Westerners and non-Muslims. Wa tashabbahna bi 'r-rijaal, "The women imitate the men and the men imitate women," in everything.

Wa ’s-salaam li 'l-ma`rifah, "They don't give salaam except if they know each other." If you don't know he is a Muslim (someone not covering his head), how do you know to give him salaam? If he has a hat on his head, immediately you know he is Muslim. That is gone now. In some Muslim countries you enter the mosque and there is a box full of hats, they enter and put a hat on their head. I saw that in many countries in the Sub-Continent and Far East. It means don't pray without a hat on your head and they used to wear it but stopped, and even tomorrow that box will be thrown out! Wa ’s-salaam li 'l-ma`rifah, "You are ordered to make salaam even if you don’t know each other," if you know that person you give salaam, but if you don't know if he is Muslim how can you?

Wa labisoo julood ad-da’an `ala quloobi ’dh-dhi`aab, "They dress the skin of the sheep on the hearts of hyenas." They are showing they are so soft, so easy-going, but their hearts are like wolves or hyenas. They show they are soft in order to deceive the people, but in reality their hearts are like wild animals.

Quloobuhum amarrun min as-sabr, "Their hearts are more bitter than anything you can imagine." Now today this is what we are seeing.

Waltamasu ‘d-dunya bi `amal al-akhirah, "They seek the dunya with the works for Akhirah," like wa baa`u ‘d-deen bi 'd-dunya, "They sold their religion for dunya."

Wa ‘t-tafaqqah bi-ghayr al-ma`rifah, “Without understanding they show they have knowledge of every ruling in Islam and Hadith."

Fa 'n-najaa an-najaa, "Try to run for safety in that time," don't be around those kind of people. Sit by yourself in the deepest room in your home where no one can see you. Run to that room and make it a masjid and sit and worship Allah (swt) there, because regarding these Signs of the Last Days Awliyaullah are trembling because of the heaviness coming in front of us! We are veiled, we cannot see that, but they see it, those whose clean hearts can see.

Why are they telling us these Signs of the Last Days? To convince us to prepare for Akhirah! If we are not preparing for Akhirah, what is the benefit of know these Signs? This is to convince people that 1400 years ago Prophet (s) said, “This will happen,” and it is happening.

فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ

Run to Allah (from all that is false and evil)! (Surat adh-Dhaariyaat, 51:50)

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا

If they had only, when they were unjust (oppressor) to themselves, come to you and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nisaa, 4:64)

La-wajadoo ’Llaah, if you stop there, a different meaning comes: "If they go to the Prophet for istighfaar, they find Allah (swt)."Al-hadhar, al-hadhar, be careful of what is coming! There will come a time when human beings living on Earth will say, “I wish I was a stone in Baytu ‘l-Maqdis (the Holy Mosque in Jerusalem),” because the fitaan is going to be there, like in the Hadith where the Prophet (s) mentioned, jundun fi ‘sh-shaam thumma jundun fi ‘l-yaman thumma jundun fi ‘l-`iraq:

سيصير الأمر إلى أن تكونوا جنودا ًمجندة جند بالعراق وجند بالشام وجند باليمن. 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 Iraq, armies Syria, and armies in Yemen.” 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)

So the Prophet (s) mentioned that first there will be armies in Iraq, this is what happened in the time of Saddam Hussein, then armies in Sham, this is what is going on now, then armies in Yemen. This is the sequence. The armies went into Iraq, then into Sham, then into Yemen. So people will say, “Make me a stone in Bayt ul-Maqdis,” meaning, "Don’t let me be involved in the fighting." That Hadith is finished now. So we hope to be in these places, Mecca, Madina and Bayt al-Maqdis, where the Prophet (s) said:

لا تُشَدُّ الرِّحَالُ إِلا إِلَى ثَلاثَةِ مَسَاجِدَ : الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ , وَمَسْجِدِي هَذَا , وَالْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى

Caravans only travel to three places: al-Masjid al-Haraam, my mosque here, and Masjid al-Aqsa. (Muslim, Abu Dawud, Ahmad)

There are so many Ahadith about the Last Days, how to go through them and explain them all? We will mention another one tomorrow, inshaa-Allah. May Allah forgive us. All people who are watching or hearing, pray for us for this time we are in and we pray for you, as well. Waiting for relief is worship, so even you are working in your daily life still waiting for relief, even though you are working it will be written as worship because you are waiting for relief! May Allah give us relief and safety in this life and in Akhirah!

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

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