Umm Ibraheem

Minor Signs: That Have Passed September 6, 2011

Posted by ummibraheem in Hadith, Islam, The Hereafter.
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Bismillah. So I sort of cheated with the title. The last sign I mentioned is one of those signs that has passed, can currently be happening and may happen s’more I don’t know how I’m going to group the minor signs of the day of judgment. There are just soooo many! :O I considered plowing through them quickly and then getting on with heaven and hell…but all good things take time So here we go: we’re beginning the minor signs of the day of judgment in our Akhirah series.

1: The Coming of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

According to a hadith in both Muslim and Bukhari, Sahl ibn Sa’d said: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gesturing with his fingers like this, the middle finger and the finger which is next to the thumb (i.e, the index finger), and he said, ‘I and the Hour have been sent like these two.’”

It may seem strange to us that this sign and the next are mentioned as being one of the signs of the day of judgment when they occured hundreds of years ago. To see an explanation of that, please see the previous post.

2: The Death of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

‘Auf ibn Maalik narrated that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam told him of six signs of the day of judgment; the first was his death. (We’ll talk about the other five inshaAllah).

The death of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is a sign of the day of judgment and it is the biggest disaster that afflicted the Muslim Ummah. There is a hadith in which the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that whenever you are afflicted with a problem, then remember your calamity in losing me and your problem will seem insignificant.

At-Tirmidhi narrates that Anas ibn Maalik said, “When RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam came to Madinah, Madinah was all light. And when RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam passed away, Madinah was dark. And as soon as we buried RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and the dirt was on our hands, we felt our hearts change.” The mere presence of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam meant something to them, and as soon as he passed away, they felt something missing. The tranquility was felt in the hearts when he (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was around.

Imagine that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was here today. Imagine that he was living amongst us. We could go to him with all of our problems, all of our questions, all of our woes. And he could fix it all, with the help of Allah. I have a fuzzy memory of a speaker once saying that if Muhammad (peace be upon him) were alive today, he could fix the problems of the world today over a cup of tea. May Allah join us with him in Jannah.

3: The Opening of Jerusalem - A Humble Leader

This sign happened during the time of ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab. Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn AlJarrah was the leader of the Muslim army; they had surrounded Jerusalem. Jerusalem had to surrender; they had no chance of fighting. The people of Jeruslam sent a message to Abu ‘Ubaydah, saying that they were willing to surrender, but they wanted to give the keys of Jerusalem to the khalifah of the Muslims, because of the sacredness of that town.

‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab made shoorah (councel) and asked the Sahabah what he should do – go out or stay? Some of the Sahabah told him that it was dangerous and that he should stay in Madinah. Some of the other companions told him to go, just trust in Allah.

‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab went to with his servant. They were taking turns on the camel – ‘Umar would ride for awhile, the servant would ride for awhile and then they would give the camel a break. When ‘Umar rode into Jerusalem, it was his turn to pull the camel and it was the servant’s turn to ride the camel. They passed next to a pool of mud and ‘Umar had to go through it; he picked up his clothes and passed through it. There was mud on his clothes and legs - imagine! The khalifa of all of the Muslims at that time! Can you picture a world leader doing that today? And all of this was happening in front of the people of Jerusalem. Abu ‘Ubaydah (one of the ten promised Jannah) felt that this was not appropriate – not because the leader shouldn’t be humble, but he felt that the Romans were living in a culture where the leaders are surrounded by guards and he thought that they wouldn’t give ‘Umar the respect he deserved. And ‘Umar deserved respect more than anyone else on earth. So Abu ‘Ubaydah gave him a few suggestions. ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab hit him in the chest and said,

“I wouldn’t expect this to come from you. We were a people who were humiliated; Allah honored us with Islam. If we seek honor any other way, Allah will humiliate us.”

Our honor is not based on the entourage and the motorcade or the extravagance. Our honor is in Islam, not the clothes that we wear. ‘Umar was wearing a dress with 14 patches. He was teaching Abu ‘Ubaydah that Allah will put our honor in their hearts. If we try to honor ourselves in any superficial fashion, Allah will take it away. And SubhanAllah – ‘Umar was right. When the people of Jerusalem saw him in that fashion, they started crying. The people were standing on the roofs of their houses, looking at him. They had heard of ‘Umar, but they had never seen him. They couldn’t believe their eyes at the simplicity of Islam. They gave the keys to ‘Umar ibn AlKhattaab. It is mentioned in the book of Ibn Kathir, that they had in their books the signs of the one who would take the keys of Jerusalem, and one of the signs was that he would have 14 patches in his clothes. wAllahu ‘Alam

4: Plague

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, a death that will eat you away like a certain illness that afflicts goats. This is referring to plague. It occurred in 18H, after the opening of Jerusalem, in Ash-Shaam. And we just mentioned a story from that time above. It was a major disaster for the Muslims and a great loss for the Ummah because more than 25,000 Muslims died. Among them were Abu ‘Ubaydah (one of the ten promised Jannah) and Mu’aadh ibn Jabl (one of THE greatest scholars of Islam). Many sahaabah died during that plague. It was also a blessing for them, though, because dying from the plague makes you a shaheed (martyr).

5: The Abundance of Wealth

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Wealth will be so abundant that a man will be handed 100 dinar (a small weight of gold) and they wouldn’t be satisfied.” Meaning, “What is this? This is nothing.”

This happened to a certain extent during the time of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-Aziz. It is narrated that ‘Umar ibn Usayd said: “No, by Allah, ‘Umar ibn ‘ABd al-’Azeez did not die before a man would come to us with a great deal of money and say, ‘Give this to the poor as you see firt,’ but he would soon go back with his money, trying to find out where he could give it, but he could not find anyone so he would have to take it back. ’Umar ibn ‘Abd al-’Azeez made the people free of need.” (Just FYI, in case no one knows, ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-’Azeez was a very righteous khalifah).

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “I was given the keys of the treasures of the earth. I’m not concerned that you would be poor. I’m worried that you would compete on this world and that would destroy you.” If we compete on material gains of this world, that will destroy us. The poverty that is now is not because of a lack of resources. The problem is unfair distribution and oppression (not giving charity). If you look at the world, the dependency is not on resources: it is the human being that is the greatest asset. Take a place like the Silicon Valley – it’s nothing but dirt, but it’s the richest place on the face of the earth. There’s no oil there, no gold or silver, not much agriculture. It is the human resources there. Unfortunately, we have a lot of resources in the Muslim world, but we don’t have the ability to make use of them.

Allah will not give us barakah unless we follow His Laws in in business law. A person could have money, but if it doesn’t have barakah, then there is no good in that money.

6: The Fire in Hijaaz illuminating the Necks of the Camels

It is narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Hour will not come until fire comes out of the land of Hijaaz and will illuminate the necks of the camels in Busra.” (Bukhari)

The Hijaaz area is the area of Makkah, Madinah and At-Taif. wAllahu ‘Alam. Busra is a city in Syria, which is hundreds of miles away.

This event has passed by already, during the time of An-Nawawi. It was the year 654 A.H. ’Umar al ’Ashqar’s book quotes many letters and accounts that were written by people of this fire. The people recognized it as a sign of the day of judgment, and they turned to the masaajid to repent to Allah and become closer to Him. Here is one of the many accounts that were mentioned in the book; it is a quotation from a letter:

On the night of Wednesday, the third of Jumaada al-Aakhirah, 654 A.H, there was a huge explosion in the city of the Prophet (Madeenah), then there was a mighty earthquake which shook the ground, the walls, the roofs, the wood and the doors, hour after hour until FRiday the fifth of the same month. Then there apeared an immense fire in the harrah* close to Qurayzah, which we could see from our houses inside the city as if it were next to us. It was a huge fire, brighter than three beacons. Rivers of fire were flowing to the valley of Shazaa like streams. It blocked the stream of Shazaa which is no longer flowing. By Allah, a group of us went out to look at it, and the mountain was flowing with fire. The route of Al-Haajj al-’Iraaqi  (the Iraaqi pilgrims) was blocked, and the flow continued until it reached the harrah, then it stopped, after we had feared that it would come to us, and it flowed back towards the east. From the midst of it there came mountains of fire which devoured stones, and it was similar to what Allah described in His Book: “Verily! It [Hell] throws sparks [huge] as Al-Qasr [(a fort or a Qasr (huge log of wood)], as if they were Jimaalatun Sufr [yellow camels or bundles of rope].” (77:32-3)

The earth was devoured, and I wrote this letter on the fifth day of Rajab in the year 654 AH. The fire is increasing and not decreasing. It went back to the harrahs in Qurayzah. The rea from the route of Al-Haajj al-’Iraaqi to the harrah is all in flames which we can see at night from Madeenah, as if they are the torches carried by pilgrims. As to the source of this great fire, it is a mountain of red fire. The source from which the fires are flowing at Qurayzah is growing stronger and people do not know what is going to happen after that. May Allah make our end good. I cannot describe this fire.”

The judge of Damascus, Sadr ad-Deen ‘Ali ibn Abil-Qaasim at-Tameemi al-Hanafi, said: “I heard a Bedouin telling my father in Busra about those nights, when they saw the necks of their camels in the light of that fire which had appeared in the land of al-Hijaaz.”

subhaanAllah. Exactly what the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said came to pass.

7: War with the Turks

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The Hour will not come until you fight the Turks, who have small eyes, red faces and flat noses, as if their faces are flattened shields. The Hour will not come until you fight a people whose shoes are of hair.” (Bukhari)

This is the description of the people of Mangolia, and the people of Tataristan. Their clothes were made out of wool and their shoes as well; this is the description of them. SubhanAllah, the Muslims fought people with the exact description RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam gave. The battles with them started early on. Then the Mongolians, who are considered to be part of these people, swept through the Muslim world and destroyed it. They were under the leadership of Genghis Khan and Taymur Lang. These leaders just destroyed the world. They even went into Eastern Europe and Russia. They were a strong and forceful people. They destroyed Baghdad and killed 2 million Muslims. They would take the skulls of Muslims and build pyramids out of it. They used the books of the libraries of Baghdad and made bridges in the rivers. Just imagine the works of thousands of Muslim minds being thrown into rivers. Remember that there no printers or computers during those days; everything was hand written. Original manuscripts. It was said that the rivers were black from the ink of the books.

Interestingly enough, the Mongols later became Muslims. Though it took them time, they came to Islam. You will never find this in history: the rulers adopting the religion of the conquered. The people who are weak, or who lose, usually follow the religion of the strong and the rulers. The weak immitate the strong. Not in the case, however. Because the truth will stand by itself

*Harrah: stony area or lava field; there are several of these in the vicinity of Madeenah.

 We will end here inshaAllah and pick up next time with another minor sign of the day of judgment.