Go to media page

Knowledge Will Be Taken from Earth

Signs of the Last Days, Part 16

Ramadan Series 2016, Vol 2

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

9 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-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta'ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.

Alhamdulillah that Allah (swt) balaghanaa Ramadan, that Allah (swt) extended our life to see this Ramadan, inshaa-Allah more Ramadans to come.

The Prophet (s), `alayhi afdal as-salaatu wa ’s-salaam, said:

وَإِذَا حُيِّيْتُم بِتَحِيَّةٍ فَحَيُّواْ بِأَحْسَنَ مِنْهَا أَوْ رُدُّوهَا

When a (courteous) greeting is offered to you, meet it with a greeting still more courteous, or (at least) of equal courtesy. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:86)

SubhaanAllah, Allah is giving to the Prophet (s) and the Prophet (s) is giving to the Ummah, which is adab. If you salute (greet), in a way that is better than the one being saluted; keep high respect, high honor for the one saying, “As-salaamu `alaykum,” and if you have been saluted then return the same salutation or one better than it. Alhamdulillah that Allah made us to be from Ummat an-Nabi (s) and this is the best salaam and best honor for us, that Allah gave us a salutation for Ummat an-Nabi (s). What is our duty then? To make a better salutation, to keep ascending in salutations. What does Allah want from us? He honors us with His Salutations and what does He want from us? He wants salutation, sallimoo `alayhi, send salaams on His Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) said in order to keep us connected to him, “When anyone sends salawaat on me Allah returns my soul to my body in my grave,” and it is not a grave, but a Paradise, “so I can send salawaat on him.”

ما من أحد يسلم عليَّ إلا رد الله عليَّ روحي حتى أسلم عليه

No one prays on me, except that Allah will send back my soul to me to return his greeting. (Abu Dawud)

Sending salawaat on Prophet (s) is a reimbursement, to honor the `ilm that he gave us. When a teacher teaches us a course, they expect us to study, to honor ourselves through acquiring wisdom, to accept their teaching and prepare for that knowledge. You cannot throw diamonds to children, you have to give them candies. We are not after candies, the Prophet (s) wants his Ummah to be after diamonds, so he gives them signals, awareness! Today people have signs outside their homes saying “Be Aware of ADT, this house has an alarm system,” and you don’t go inside without entering the code. Likewise, everything we are doing has an alarm system: for good actions it tells us we are moving towards the Divine Presence and to continue on the Right Way, to Paradise. If we are on the wrong way, sinning, it warns us, “You are not on something preferable, not good, be aware as there is a problem here.” The Prophet (s) wants his Ummah to be aware of what is going to happen in the future and to prepare themselves.

The Prophet (s) mentioned many prophecies 1400 years ago from the Signs of the Last Days. Today we are going to speak about ‘knowledge will be lifted up.’ This is one book we are quoting, but I have six volumes on the Signs of the Last Days, each 300-500 pages.

Two famous Sahaabah (r) narrated that the Prophet (s) said:

إِنَّ بَيْنَ يَدَيِ السَّاعَةِ أَيَّامًا يَنْزِلُ فِيهَا الْجَهْلُ , وَيُرْفَعُ فِيهَا الْعِلْمُ , وَيَكْثُرُ فِيهَا الْهَرْجُ " . قَالَ : قُلْنَا : وَمَا الْهَرْجُ ؟ قَالَ : الْقَتْلُ

The Prophet said, “Just before the Last Hour there will be a time in which ignorance descends, knowledge is lifted up, and harj is everywhere.” He asked, “What is harj?”The Prophet said, “Killing.”

(Bukhari, Muslim)

`Abu Musa al-Ash`ari and `Abdullah Ibn Mas`ood (r), two very famous Sahaabah (r) of the Prophet (s) said, inna bayna yadayya as-saa`ah ayyaaman, “Between the time when you fold the knowledge of that book, meaning between the two hands of the Hour, yanzilu feeha ‘l-jahal, you have to monitor and watch for these days as ignorance descends with these days.” Here ‘ignorance’ means it is finished. Either the Prophet (s) has been sent as minaret for `ilm, knowledge, and when the Last Days approach, ignorance will come down and hit everyone. Yurfa` feeha ‘l-`ilm wa yanzilu feeha ‘l-jahl, “knowledge will be lifted up.” And we know the Prophet (s) said to his Ummah:

‎اطلبوا العلم ولو في الصين

Seek knowledge even if you must go to China. (Bayhaqi)

Knowledge is important, to know what Allah (swt) and Prophet (s) want from us, so what he was saying is there will be days coming where ignorance will come and fill up the Earth. When ignorance comes, there is no need for it to compliment `ilm, so `ilm will be taken away and we will be left with no knowledge. The Prophet (s) described this era, that everyone will run to his house trying to be a mufti, such as on the Internet and computers. That is not the `ilm they want, `ilm is what you learn from the mouth of `ulama, scholars. For example, how do you memorize the Holy Qur'an? You learn from reciters, you cannot memorize by yourself, it must be from teachers: `ilm must be from the mouth of scholars directly to yourself. Today you see this is lost, the system of `ijaazah, in which you were given a certificate from the `ulama, has changed now and we see today everyone is a doctor and professor.

Wa yaktharu feeha ‘l-harj, “There will be too much killings.” Today we see killing everywhere: Muslims killing Muslims, Muslims killing non-Muslims, non-Muslims killing Muslims, and every way of bloodshed. Abu Hurayrah (r) said, “From the Signs of Last Days, time will collapse and come near each other.”

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ، قَالَ : قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : " لا تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يُقْبَضَ الْعِلْمُ , وَتَكْثُرَ الزَّلازِلُ , وَيَتَقَارَبَ الزَّمَانُ , وَتَظْهَرَ الْفِتَنُ , وَيَكْثُرُ الْهَرْجُ وَهُوَ الْقَتْلُ , وَحَتَّى يَكْثُرَ فِيكُمُ الْمَالُ فَيَفِيضَ " .

The Hour will not arise until knowledge is lifted, earthquakes are many, time contracts, chaos is manifest, killing is prevalent, and until there is so much money it spills everywhere. (Bukhari)

Today time is coming near each other in a moment, so quickly. You press a button and the information goes, you take a plane or a train and reach your destination in no time, even a car helps you reach very fast.

He said, yataqaarab az-zamaan, “time contracts,” how did the Prophet (s) know that the time will come near and approach each other? We have to search more and more about these Signs of the Last Days. He said, wa yanqus al`ilm, “knowledge will be diminished,” there will be less knowledge in the hearts of people. Today people are seeking dunya `ilm and not Akhirah `ilm anymore. Wa tazhhar al-fitan, “Too much confusions and ignorance will appear.” Wa yakthur al-harj, “and there will be too much harj.” They asked, “What is al-harj?” and the Prophet (s) said, “Killing, killing,” confirming that killing will cover the Earth. Now everyone has rockets and yatabaaha, showing off that they have rockets that can reach from one continent to another to destroy the world.

As in the previous Hadith, yurfa`u ‘l-`ilm, the knowledge will be lifted up, and they asked, “How will knowledge be removed? Will Holy Qur'an be lifted up? Will angels take it up?” The Prophet (s) said, “No, but there will be no more scholars, bi mawt al-`ulama by death of the scholars.” There are no substitutes. Today every young boy and girl will give a fatwa, but their opinion is not knowledge, which must be based on Fiqh as-Sunnah, the deep knowledge of the Sunnah and Islamic Shari`ah.

إن الله لا يقبض العلم انتزاعا ينتزعه من الناس ولكن يقبض العلم بقبض العلماء حتى إذا لم يترك عالما اتخذ الناس رءوسا جهالا فسئلوا فأفتوا بغير علم فضلوا وأضلوا

Allah will not remove knowledge by pulling it out of people, but He removes knowledge by removing scholars, until when there will be no scholar left and people will take ignorant leaders. They will ask them questions and they will give fatwas without knowledge, misguiding themselves and misguiding others. (Muslim)

Allah will not pull out the knowledge, but through the death of scholars and that way knowledge will be lifted up. That is how the Earth will no longer have the correct teachings of Islam, that’s how the `ilm will be lifted up. There will be no more `alim left, many of them will have passed away and in our time, most fatwas are based on the knowledge of scholars who came before us. Today's muftis or previous muftis based their `ilm on scholars who came before them, from the 1st to the 7th century. Nowadays there are no more scholars like the previous ones, so what will happen? Everyone will try to find scholars, but they will only find ignorant and deviant people and when they follow them, they too will be deviated.

Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin wa `alaa aali Muhammadin wa sallim, the best `ilm is to praise Sayyidina Muhammad (s). `Ilm teaches us `amal, when you know `ilm you make the `amal on what you learned, which keeps you clean and pure, and a good person and Muslim in your society. Ibn Mas`ud (r) said:

عليكم بالعلم قبل أن يقبض وقبضه أن يذهب بأصحابه عليكم بالعلم فإن أحدكم لا يدري متى يفتقر إليه أو يفتقر إلى ما عنده إنكم ستجدون أقواما يزعمون أنهم يدعونكم إلى كتاب الله وقد نبذوه وراء ظهورهم فعليكم بالعلم وإياكم والتبدع وإياكم والتنطع وإياكم والتعمق وعليكم بالعتيق ) . رواه الدارمي

You must seek knowledge before it is contracted, and it will be contracted by the passing of its guardians. You must seek knowledge because none of you knows when you will need it. You will find people who claim that they call to the book of Allah but in fact they cast it off behind their backs. So you must seek knowledge, and you must stay away from bida', stay away from arrogance, stay away from probing too deep, and you must seek the old. (Sunan of Darami)

Follow knowledge and don't be arrogant! Run after `ulama if you find some still available. Alhamdulillah there are still some `ulama that teach their followers how to benefit from the Ahadith of the Prophet (s), how you know that halaak al-ummah, halaak al-naas, the destruction of human beings is by destruction of their scholars. When there are no more scholars you have no more knowledge: you are going to end up in a way that Allah does not like for you.

Regarding knowledge, Mu`adh ibn Jabal (r) said:

به توصل الأرحام ويعرف الحلال من الحرام

Through it blood-ties are restored and the halaal is distinguished from the haraam. (Hilyat al-Awliya)

Through knowledge you know what is halaal and haraam, and the blood relationships will be restored after they have been destroyed. Allah (swt) placed a great deal of emphasis on blood relations in Holy Qur'an: you have to know your uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces; those are the blood relations. Whoever throws away the blood relations is throwing away something that Allah (swt) put in Holy Qur’an to be saved. When someone says you are related to that famous scholar or king, what will happen? You will be happy. What if someone says that you are connected to the Prophet (s)? Then the connection to the Prophet (s) is important, if not through blood then through spiritual connection. When you make tafakkur, you will increase your power of meditation and understanding. It is highly recommended in Islam.

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا اطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

Behold! In the creation of Heaven and Earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding, those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, (saying), "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose! Glory to You! Grant us salvation from the torment of the Fire.” (Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:190-191)

That is to make meditation. Prophet (s) is telling us to be careful, there is coming a time when you are going to lose this knowledge. You have to know that the Prophet (s) said:

إن الأنبياء لم يورثوا دينارا ولا درهما ، وإنما ورثوا العلم فمن أخذه أخذ بحظ وافر

Prophets do not give any gold or silver as inheritance. They only give knowledge knowledge as inheritance, and whoever takes it has taken an abundant portion. (Ibn Majah)

The prophets don't bequeath (leave) money to their children, cousins or uncles, but they leave knowledge to the Ummah. I saw two Grandshaykhs, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil and Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q): when they left dunya they did not leave anything, they distributed everything they had before they left dunya. The Sahaabah (r) distributed everything they had of money or wealth to the Prophet (s), but they didn't leave dunya without leaving their `ilm to some people to teach the Ummah. They don't give you money, but they give you knowledge to teach as part of your inheritance.

Inna’l-anbiyaa lam yuwarrith dinAar wa la dirham,

“The prophets don't bequeath any wealth from dunya, they gave it during their lives, but the real inheritance they give to the Ummah is the knowledge in their hearts. Whoever takes it will be successful.” (Narrated by Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Ibn Majah, ad-Darimi.)

When they leave knowledge for you, take it! The Prophet (s) said if you don't, Allah will take it away from you by taking away the scholars. What kind of `ilm? It is to know about Allah (swt) and to know how to act on your `amal, knowledge of halaal and haraam. W`al-`ilmu bi-Llah, to dive into the Ocean of Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes, as each Name is an ocean. `Ilm ad-Dunya is `Ilm al-Fiqh and `Ilm as-Sunnah: knowledge of dunya is whatever you have to know in order to prepare for your Akhirah, which in reality is Fiqh. Today people study `Ilm al-Fiqh, but neglect al-`Ilmu bi-Llah, the Knowledge of Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes, also what Allah says and how to worship. This will bring Noor, Light to the hearts of Muslims and the Ummah, because `Ilm an-Nabi (s) is `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ’l-Akhireen, the Knowledge of Before and After, which will shine Light in your heart when you remember Allah (swt):

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا اطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

Behold! In the creation of Heaven and Earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding, those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, (saying), "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose! Glory to You! Grant us salvation from the torment of the Fire.” (Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:190-191)

Allahu Noor as-samaawaati wa ‘l-ard, that Noor will go to the heart of the Believer, as:

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ

Allah is the Light of the Heavens and Earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp. (Surat an-Noor, 24:35)

The knowledge Allah ordered us to learn of Fiqh and Sunnah is the whole knowledge of Islam: to know what is halaal and haraam. Who knows their limits will stand at the limit. I heard many times from Grandshaykh (q) that there will come a time when people will not know how to balance their actions or take a decision in their life. He said, “You must think and balance according to the capacity of your mind, because, “Allah (swt) does not burden anyone with more than he can bear.” (2:286) Contemplate and then balance your actions. After you contemplate by ta’ammul, try to balance, say, “Yaa Rabbee, I am going to do this `amal, is it good for me or not?” If your mind says it is good, do it; if your mind says no, then stop it as Allah will inspire you with what is good or what is bad:

فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا

He inspired the self of its good and its bad. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:8)

If your self tells you, “This is bad,” even one percent, don't do it. For sure, your self will tell you whether it is good or bad. If you are asked to go to the movies during prayer time and the movie is three hours long, when will you pray `Asr? Would you prefer to go to `Asr prayer or to the movies? Ask your self. What will your self say? “Go to `Asr,” for sure, but your bad desires will say, “No, don't go to pray `Asr, there will be time after the movie, it ends ten minutes before Maghrib. Enjoy yourself and then go for `Asr.” That is an example of how the self tricks you, so by knowing `ilm you are able to differentiate between what is halaal and what is haraam, what is bad and what is good, and through these principles everyone will learn from what the Prophet (s) has showed us, which s why he (s) said, “If you claim to love Allah then follow me, then Allah will love you.” If you don’t follow, there is no way to bring you.

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)

Abu Hurayrah (r) narrated:

وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ ، لَا تَذْهَبُ الدُّنْيَا حَتَّى يَأْتِيَ عَلَى النَّاسِ يَوْمٌ لَا يَدْرِي الْقَاتِلُ فِيمَ قَتَلَ ، وَلَا الْمَقْتُولُ فِيمَ قُتِلَ ، فَقِيلَ : كَيْفَ يَكُونُ ذَلِكَ ؟ قَالَ : الْهَرْجُ ، الْقَاتِلُ وَالْمَقْتُولُ فِي النَّارِ

The Prophet said, “By He in Whose Hand is my soul, the dunya will not go until a day comes upon people when the killer does not know for what he killed and the one killed does not know for what he was killed.” It was asked, “How will that be?” He said, “Harj. The killer and the one killed will be in the Fire.” (Muslim)

“I give an oath by the One who has my soul in His hands, that this dunya will not leave towards its end until a day will come that people don't know why the killer killed, and why the killed one has been killed.” No one knows. These poor people in the Middle East are being bombarding from airplanes, rockets and explosives, hundreds are dying and no one finds them, they are under rubble. Why are they dying? They are under rubble. The one who killed will ask, “Why have I been killed?”

One time I saw a clip of what is happening in the Middle East. There were two soldiers in military clothes who held two prisoners sitting on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. The soldiers had chainsaws and were saying to one of them to make kufr, I cannot repeat it, something to curse Allah. The prisoner refused, so the soldier took the chainsaw to his neck, you could see and hear the bones cracking and his head was cut off by. It is to that extent! The one who has been killed is going to ask on the Day of Judgment, “For what reason was I killed?” and Allah will take their rights. The Prophet (s) mentioned 1400 years ago about this type of killing.

`An Abu Hurayrah inna min ashraat as-saa`at an yataqaarab az-zamaan, “One of the Signs of the Hour is time will come close together.”

We will continue this tomorrow inshaa-Allah.

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

http://sufilive.com/Knowledge-will-be-Taken-from-Earth--6208.html

© Copyright 2016 Sufilive. All rights reserved. This transcript is protected

by international copyright law. Please attribute Sufilive when sharing it. JazakAllahu khayr.

UA-984942-2