FAQ in the category of End of Time

1 A war between Jews and Muslims at the end of time is mentioned. Will you give information about the talking of the tree or stone behind which a Jew hides?

There are hadiths that mean:

"Judgment Day will come only when the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, until the Jew hides behind the tree and the stone, and the tree and the stone say: ‘Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah , there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him! Only the Gharqad tree will not say because it is the tree of Jews.” (Muslim, Fitan, 82)

Just as there are mutashabih (having more than one meaning) verses, so too are there mutashabih hadiths. That is, some deep truths are expressed through similes and metaphors. One of the mutashabih hadiths is the one mentioned above. Allah knows best but one of the interpretations of the hadith may be as follows. At the end of time, the mischief and destruction of Jews will increase so much and their impertinence and rebellion will rise so much that Muslims and Christians will unite and act together against them. After coming together, they will form one power against Jews and will destroy them.  

There will be serious antipathy against Jews all over the world so people will inform about Jews through all kinds of communication media, and will try to eliminate them. The Prophet (pbuh) said even "the stones and trees would inform about them" to express the extremeness of the situation.

The Truthful Informant (the Prophet) informed us about it. It will take place sooner or later. Nowadays, they are continuing to gather in their promised land, where they will face their ultimate end; they are continuing their oppression that will cause the general conscience of humanity to decide about ultimate impact they will receive. Until the decision process of the general conscience of humanity against them, which is likened to the talking of the stones and trees, is completed, the curse of the oppressed will reach its target and the material supplies necessary for the execution of the decision given by the oppressed consciences will be obtained.  

Hazrat Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: "The Messenger of Allah said:

"A section of my people will not cease fighting for the Truth and will prevail till the Day of Resurrection. He said: Jesus, son of Mary, would then descend and their (Muslims') commander would invite him to come and lead them in prayer, but he would say: "No, some amongst you are commanders over some (amongst you)." “(Muslim, Eeman 247.)

The hadith expresses that Islam will prevail in the world until the Day of Judgment and that it will exist having a power to fight openly. That expression means the powers against Islam will exist, too. However, it informs us that Islam will not exist in the form of a defeated religion, having been intimidated, hidden, and ineffective, and among limited number of people but struggling victoriously, openly and gloriously. That prophetic information is a glad tiding that is enough to make Muslims get rid of hopelessness about future.  Throughout history, Muslims have been exposed to torture, insult, migration and defeat but they have never been destroyed by a decisive beating. The Prophet informs us that the situation will go on until the Day of Judgment and that Muslims may be intimidated in some parts of the world but the flag of oneness will wave in others.

Our Prophet (pbuh) definitely saw, with the permission of Allah, all of the days to come until the Day of Judgment and informed us about them. The news that he gave us about the future occurred like the morning sun and will continue to occur. However, he had to give the news in a covered style so as not to harm the mystery of testing. He gave the news in a covered way. The news about the Day of Judgment is covered like that.

Now, let us have a look at some of the news the Prophet (pbuh) gave about the future:

Hazrat Huzayfa (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates:

“The Messenger of Allah said: ‘I swear by Allah, in whose hand is my soul, that Doomsday will not strike unless you kill your belief, swing your swords against your Muslim brothers and the evil ones inherit your world.’”1

Hazrat Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) and Hazrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrate: “The Messenger of Allah said:

‘There will be disorders as dark as the night before Doomsday strikes. At that time, a person gets up as a believer and becomes an unbeliever in the evening. He is an unbeliever in the evening but gets up as an unbeliever in the morning. Many people sell their religion in return for very small amounts.’”2

Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah said:

‘After you, some days will come when knowledge and science will be removed and harj will increase!’

“The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) asked:

‘O Messenger of Allah! What is harj?’

“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

‘It is killing. It is killing. It is killing.’”3

Umar ibn Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah said:

‘You will definitely fight Jews! The battle will be so intense that the stone will say:  ‘Oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!.”4

Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah said:

‘Jews will fight you! However, in the end, you will defeat them. Killing will be so intense that the stone will say:  ‘Oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!’”5

Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah said:

‘Judgment Day will not come unless Muslims fight the Jews. Muslims will defeat and kill Jews. The Jew will hide behind the stone and the tree, and the stone or tree will say: ‘Oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him! Only the Gharqad tree will not say because it is the tree of Jews.”6

Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“Doomsday will not strike unless the religious knowledge is taken away, earthquakes increase in number, time approaches and day and night become united, afflictions appear, killing increases, wealth becomes abundant like flood flows, people compete with one another in constructing high buildings. Doomsday will strike so suddenly that a man will have milked his she-camel and will have taken away the milk but he will not be able to drink it. A person will have raised a morsel (of food) to his mouth but Doomsday will strike so suddenly that he will not be able to eat it..”7

Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“Some of my people will alight on low-lying ground, which they will call al-Basrah, beside a river called the Tigris over which there is a bridge. Its people will be numerous and it will be one of the capital cities of Muslims. At the end of time, the descendants of Qantura' will come with broad faces and small eyes and alight on the bank of the river. The town's inhabitants will then separate into three sections:

“- one section will follow cattle and (live in) the desert and perish.

“- another section will seek security for themselves (and make peace with the descendants of Qantura'); thus, they become unbelievers.

“- and a third section will put their children behind their backs and fight the invaders, and they will be the martyrs.”8

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informed us in that hadith that  when the end of time approached Muslims would  

1- fall into weakness of belief,
2- neglect the duty of commanding what is right and forbidding what is evil,
3- be drifted into civil disorders and wars due to weakness of belief, and
4- the evil and oppressing people would dominate over innocent people,
5- the evil people would cause intense disturbance in the world.

It is stated explicitly in hadtihs that Muslims and Jews will fight. It is possible to understand from the text of the hadiths that Muslims will not be the attacking party. Muslims will be right in their cause. Therefore, the public opinion of the world whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim will support Muslims. The talking of the stone and tree in the hadith is a metaphor for the common conscience, that is, the common voice of the people of the world.

Thus, the public opinion of the world  will not approve of Jews. However, there will be a nation that will approve the aggression of Jews, that will support and protect them and that will fight for them. That nation was described as “gharqad tree” by our Prophet (pbuh), who sees the future clearly.  

The Messenger of Allah informed miraculously that the cities of Basra and Baghdad, which had not been established at that time, would be established and that Muslim people would live there. As a matter of fact, Badiuzzaman also mentioned that hadith.9

As it is known, Baghdad was burnt and destroyed by Hulaghu in 656 H.  Thus, the interpretation of the descendants of Qantura' turned out to be true. However, the fact that the USA and the UK, who are close friends with Jews, burnt and destroyed Baghdad again put the oppression of the descendants of Qantura' together with the metaphor of the Gharqad tree that supported Jews into agenda once again.

It is known very well how the mischief of Jews has turned the Middle East to hellfire today it is understood from hadiths that that war will continues a misfortune of the end of time until Jews are defeated. May Allah turn it to a good thing.

Footnotes:

1- Tirmidhi, Fitan 9, (2171).
2- Tirmidhi, Fitan 27, 30, (2196);
3- See: Muslim, Fitan 18, (157); Tirmidhi, Fitan, 28
4- Muslim, Fitan, 80
5- Muslim, Fitan, 81
6- Muslim, Fitan, 82
7- Bukhari, 12/2123
8- Abu Dawud, Mahalim 10, 4306
9- Maktubat, p. 112

2 Why Abdul Uzza ibn Qatan was compared to the dajjal?

According to the information given in the Buhari, "Abdul Uzza ibni Katan" was a person from Huzaa tribe (Buhari, Fiten, 26). According to one narration, he is a person who lived during the time of our Prophet (pbuh). According to another narration, he had lived and died during the time of pre-Islamic Arabian paganism. Ibni Hacer fond the before narration weak and preferred the second narration (See Ibn Hacer, the explanation of the related hadith.).

The comparison made is not a moral comparison, it is a physical comparison. Ibn Qatan was a well known person by the most companions of that time. In order that the physical characteristic of the dajjal to be understood well, the comparison had been made on him. It is being understood that Ibn Qatan had a red/white body, curly hair and was a cockeyed person like dejjal.

3 What is Dabbatu’l Ard? Has it emerged? Can the Illness of Aids be Dabba?

One of the signs of Doomsday is the emergence of "dabbatu'l -ard". The Prophet stated the following:

"One of the signs of Doomsday is the sun rising from the direction where it sets and the emergence of “dabba” at mid-morning. One of these signs will immediately be followed by the other." (Muslim, Fitan, 118)

"Dabba appears holding the seal of Solomon and the staff of Moses. It will illuminate the face of the believer and seal the nose of the unbeliever. When people living at that time come together, believers and unbelieves will be distinguished." (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad ", II, 491)

The word dabba means “a being that is alive and that moves”. Acting upon the meaning of the word, things like the train and the car can be called “dabba”. For instance, if we could bring someone who lived one thousand years ago to today, this person could name a train with a hundred wagons “dabbatul-ard”. However, this word is generally used for animals.

Here, a question like this can come to the mind: "Is dabbatu'l- ard an individual or a species?" It is not appropriate to think that an individual will deal with so many people. In that case, it is more appropriate to regard it as a species.

There are various interpretations about what kind of a creature dabba is. For instance, Hazrat Ali is reported to have said, "What is meant by it is not dabba with tail but dabba with beard." It can be understood that such a viewpoint implies some evil people.

Some people say dabba is “AIDS virus”. Some regard it as “television”. There are even some people who say “they might be robots”. According to them, robots produced by men and equipped with artificial intelligence will not obey “their masters” and they will destroy the human civilization.

Dabba in the Quran

The word "dabba" is mentioned in fourteen places in the Quran. The word “dawabb”, its plural form, is mentioned four times. Let us have a look at some of them.

"There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on Allah." (Hud, 6)

"There is not a moving creature, but He hath grasp of its forelock." (Hud, 56)

"And Allah has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills: for verily Allah has power over all things." (an-Nur, 45)

The word “dabbatu’l-ard” mentioned in verse 82 of the chapter of an-Naml is generally interpreted as a sign of Doomsday by tafsir scholars:

"And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), We shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them: he will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in our Signs."

According to the apparent meaning of the verse, this dabba, which will come out of the ground, will talk to people and say that they do not believe in divine signs fully. Acting upon this, there are some people who say dabba might be the radio, television or even the Internet because they are made of some raw materials extracted from the ground. In some narrations, the following is stated: “The head of dabba will touch the clouds.” As it is known, televisions are connected with satellites and the head of the satellite is in the sky.

People who obey the criteria of halal-haram of the religion benefit from these devices. Those who are deprived of such criteria are harmed by them because those devices can also be used for evil and sins; in fact, they are used for evil and sins more frequently.

We think it is not necessary to regard dabba’s speech as talking through the tongue. This speech might be through the tongue of disposition. For instance, traffic lights and signs have no tongues but they tell many things to people.

What does dabba say?

This realm, which we see, is full of divine signs. However, most people do not understand these signs; they are drifted by the course of the daily events and spend their days in heedlessness. Allah Almighty sometimes sends disasters to warn people. They may be in the form of an earthquake, hurricane, flood or an animal.

When we refer to the Quran, we see that some tribes were sent animals as punishment. For instance, lice, locusts and frogs were sent to the Pharaoh and his tribe; they punished those stubborn people by invading everywhere. It is possible to see similar events today, too. Locusts, which are called “teeth of the wind” land on a field of crops like a black cloud; when they fly away, they leave nothing that can be used behind.

Similarly, flocks of birds were sent against Abraha and his army, who surrounded the Kaaba in order to demolish it; these birds threw special stones, which they were carrying in their beaks and feet, on those oppressed people and destroyed them. This event is narrated in a separate chapter in the Quran. This event, which is narrated in the chapter of al-Fil, took place a short time before the Prophet was born. The word “ababil” used in the chapter expresses that the birds came in flocks. The picture that is described is a “heavenly bombardment”. Like bomber planes dropping bombs on targets, these birds came in groups and made those people “like a field of crop through which locusts passed”.

The Quran states that the soldiers of the skies and the earth are under the command of Allah. (al-Muddaththir 31) Allah uses these soldiers to punish stubborn people whenever He wishes. For instance, water is mercy (a bounty). However, if Allah wishes, He transforms it into a flood as He did when He destroyed the tribe of Noah. Rain is sent down in buckets and water gushes forth from the ground. Eventually, a rebellious and stubborn tribe is flooded and eliminated from the scene of history.

Some people may try to explain them through coincidence. However, there is no place for coincidence in this realm. As Einstein puts it "Allah does not play dice." That is, He does not let things happen by chance. As Hamdi Yazır puts it, "The things that we regard as coincidence are actually divine acts" (Yazır, IV, 2802)

As the Quran states, Allah Almighty always does something. (ar-Rahman, 29) This realm shows the existence of the Sublime Creator with its emergence out of nothing; similarly, the activities that take place in everything, from atoms to galaxies, show His acts. Allah Almighty created the universe but then He did not leave it to work like a wound clock. Not even a particle can move without His permission.

"Not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge." (al-An'am, 59)

"And no female conceives, or lays down (her load), but with His knowledge." (Fatir, 11)

The wind blows fast, not by chance; it blows in the way that He commands. It sometimes caresses our faces as breeze and sometimes acts like “a whip of wrath” as a storm.

When the narrations related to dabba are examined, it will be seen that dabba will emerge as a punishment at the end of time when people deviate from the right path completely. Believers will not be harmed by it thanks to the bounty of their belief; however, rebellious people will be punished by it.

Is AIDS dabba?

At this point, the virus of AIDS can come to the mind because this virus generally spreads through illegitimate relationships. Throughout history, illegitimate relationships have always existed but they never became so widespread and in the form of craze. From this point of view, it seems quite reasonable to regard AIDS virus as a divine punishment.

Moreover, the following event narrated in the Quran about Solomon can be regarded as a sign for one aspect of dabba:

After it is expressed that Solomon used jinn to construct large buildings, sculptures, etc., the following is stated:

"Then, when We decreed (Solomon's) death nothing showed them his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his staff: so when he fell down, the Jinn saw plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in the humiliating Penalty (of their Task)." (Saba, 14).

According to the narration, Solomon leant on his staff and checked the jinn when they were working. However, while he was leaning on his staff, Azrael arrived and removed his soul. The jinn did not understand that he died and they went on working. When a worm of the earth gnawed away at his staff, it broke and Solomon fell down. Only then did the jinn realize that he had died. If they had known the unknown, they would not have worked so hard in pain.

(Note: Solomon’s staff, which is mentioned here is regarded as the system of the state established by him, and the worm gnawing at it as the committees trying to destroy the system. Allah knows best.)

This dabba gnawed at Solomon’s staff; similarly, dabbatul-arz, which is like AIDS virus, can gnaw at some people who transgressed the limits and defeat them.

However, to answer the question "is dabba AIDS?" as “yes, will bring about some problems because AIDS can a part of dabba but it might not express it wholly.

We regard it useful to view the issue as follows:

- The word “dabba” mentioned in the verse is in the form of an indefinite noun; it is used without “al” (“al” in Arabic is like “the” in English); it indicates that dabba is an unknown being. The fact that “the” was not used before the word dabba can be a sign that it is not known or it cannot be known fully.

- Indicating something is different from including it. The word dabba can include AIDS or television which is used for evil purposes but it is not certain.

- The religion is a test. In the test, a door is opened for the mind but the will of man is not removed. Thus, it will be wrong to expect that the signs of Doomsday will be very clear for everyone to understand. For instance, waiting for a dajjal with the writing “unbeliever” on his forehead and waiting for a mahdi who will settle everything as if he has a magic wand means not understanding narrations like that fully. Waiting for the People of the Cave (Ashab al-Kahf) to come out of the cave again is like that. In some books the following narration is included: "During the time of Mahdi, the People of the Cave will wake up." That is, Mahdi will awaken the youth that has been sleeping for three hundred years because it is clearly stated in the chapter of Kahf that the People of the Cave are some young people.

It is seen in the narrations which we have reported and the evaluations which we have made that we have not reached a definite solution which everybody will agree on and that the issue is somewhat suspended.

The knowledge of man is limited. For instance, we cannot give clear answers to questions like, “What is time? What is spirit?” Obscurity is in question to some extent regarding some realities about the universe. For instance, we do not know what atom really is; we have not been able to solve the mystery of life yet. That is, some issues are like a rose bud; when we separate a layer, we see some other layers waiting to be separated. What we need to do is to try to know the unknown things. To search these kinds of mysterious issues is like a sea cruise. Man cannot see what is in front of him very clearly. However, this mystery makes the cruise interesting and beautiful.

We think it is better to regard this issue like that. Some people who say, “this is what is meant by that” might feel ashamed in the future when it does not turn out to be so. Therefore, instead of making a certain decision, it is more appropriate and cautious to say, “this might be what is meant by that” because Allah states the following in the Quran:

"Say: "As to the knowledge of the time, it is with Allah alone." (al-Mulk, 26)

"Say: None in the heavens or on earth, except Allah, knows what is hidden." (an-Naml, 65)

(Doç Dr. Şadi EREN)

* * *

Note: We advise you to read the following article written by the scholar, Mehmet KIRKINCI:

Dabbatu’l ard

Dabba means a living animal that moves. It will be more appropriate to think of dabba as a species rather than a single living being.

The word "dabba" is mentioned in fourteen places in the Quran.

“There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on Allah.” (Hud, 11/6)

The word dabba mentioned in the verse above indicate all living beings.

The following is stated in another verse:

“And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), We shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them: he will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in our Signs.” (an-Naml, 27/ 82)

Dabba's speaking to people does not mean speaking with the tongue only. As a matter of fact, so many antique works of art displayed in this palace of the universe and so many incidents tell a lot of things to people with their tongue of disposition.

Elmalılı Hamdi YAZIR writes the following in the interpretation of the verse above:

“Dabb and Dabib mean to walk slowly, to flounder. It is used for animals, especially for insects. It is also used for the things whose movements cannot be noticed with the eye like alcohol spreading to the body and rottenness spreading to the things around. “Dabbe” is a noun derived from this root, lexically meaning something that walks slowly or flounders. In that case, vehicles like train, car and bicycle can be called dabba in terms of lexicology but it is used for animals. It is customarily used for four-footed animals, especially horses. However, as it is understood from the verse below, it is used for all animals:

“And Allah has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four…” (an-Nur, 24/45)

It is almost synonymous with animal."

"There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on Allah.” (Hud, 11/6)

That is also understood from that verse above. Therefore, the word dabba is also used for human beings along with animals. Since the word "dabba" is used without definite article al (the), it may be something different from the dabbas we know. It is stated clearly in the phrase "dabba speaking with them" that it is a speaking animal; that is a human. Tafsirs usually mention these two points."

"Raghib summarizes the views about the issue in his book called ‘Mufradat’ as follows: “Dabba” is an animal that is different from the animals we know. The following is also stated: “The most evil people who are like animals in terms of ignorance are meant by dabba."

In that case, dabba expresses all of the animals that walk slowly or flounder; like the plural form of the word “khain” used as “khaina”. Qadi Baydawi and some hadith scholars showed it as “jassasa” (spies); according to what is stated in a hadith, jassasa means a spy that collects information for Dajjal (Anthi-Christ). Abu's-Suud writes the following: This dabba is a spy. The reason why it is expressed as a common noun and its obscurity is confirmed with tanwin is to indicate the strangeness of its fame and inexplicability of its characteristics and deeds.

According to what is narrated from Abu Hurayra, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

"The beast (dabbat-ul ard) mentioned in verse 87 of the chapter of an-Naml will emerge from the earth. With it shall be the ring of Sulayman (Solomon) and the staff of Musa (Moses). It will brighten the face of the believer, and stamp the nose of the disbeliever with the ring. Therefore, the people who live in the same place will know one another and will be able to say, 'This one is a believer, and that one is an unbeliever'." (Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 28)

According to this hadith, dabba is a leader that will establish an Islamic state by emerging with extraordinary power and sultanate. There is no doubt that a person that has the staff of Musa and the ring of Sulayman will be a great person. He will be a good person, not a bad one; he will brighten the face of the believers and break the nose of the unbelievers. The following phrase in the verse necessitates it: "…he will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in our Signs.” Then, the reason why he is given the name dabba is the fact that it will be merciless toward the unbelievers and the verse states that it is not difficult for Allah to produce it and that it is as easy as producing a normal dabba from the ground. We will also quote some explanations regarding the issue:

1. Ibn Jarir reports the following from Hudhayfa b. Asid:  "Dabba emerges three times: In the first one, it merges in some deserts and then hides. In the second one, it emerges in some cities when the rulers shed blood and it hides again. Then, when people are in the most honorable, biggest and most virtuous mosque, the earth starts to throw them. People start to run away; a group of believers stays there and says, 'Nothing but Allah can save us.' Dabba climbs over them and brighten their faces like a bright star. Then, it moves; neither the one who follows it can catch up with it nor the one who escapes can be saved from it. It goes to a man who is performing a prayer and says to him, 'By Allah, you are not a person who performs prayers.' It catches him. It brightens the face of the believer and breaks the nose of the unbeliever." We asked, 'What will the situation of the people be at that time?' He said, "They are neighbors in land, partners in property and comrades on the way."

2. Many scholars say dabba emerges when enjoining the good and forbidding the evil is abandoned.

The following is stated in a verse:  “Then, when We decreed (Solomon's) death nothing showed them his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his staff: so when he fell down, the Jinns saw plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in the humiliating Penalty (of their Task.” (Saba, 34/14)

There are two views about the nature of the worm that gnawed away Hz. Sulayman’s staff: According to the first view, it is the well-known woodworm.

According to the other view, it is a worm that eats staff.

Just like the dabba gnawing away Hz. Sulayman’s staff, it is possible for AIDS virus or another disease gnawing away some people who overstep the limits in disobedience and immorality.

In a hadith, the Prophet (pbuh) states that dabbatu'l-ard is one of the signs of the Doomsday that will emerge: “The first sign would be the appearance of the sun from the west, the appearance of the beast before the people in the forenoon and which of the two happens first, the second one would follow immediately after that.” (Muslim, Fitan, 118; Ibn Hanbal, "Musnad", II, 201)

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states the following regarding the issue:

“As for the Beast (Dabbat al-Ard), in the Qur’an is an extremely concise indication, a brief expression made by its tongue of disposition. As for its details, like with some other matters, I do not know with any certainty for the present. I can only say this much: None knows the Unseen save Allah, just as the people of Pharaoh were visited by plagues of locusts and fleas, and the people of Abraha, who were trying to destroy the Ka‘ba, were attacked by “flights of birds;” so too, for the purpose of bringing to their senses those people who knowingly and willingly rebel due to the dissension of the Sufyan and Dajjals, and through the anarchy of Gog and Magog embark on corruption and savagery, and fall into irreligion, disbelief, and denial, a beast will emerge from the earth and beset and rout them. Allah knows best, that beast is a species. For even if huge, a single creature could not be everywhere. That means there will be a truly terrible species of animal. Perhaps, as indicated by the verse, Except a little worm of the earth, which kept [slowly] gnawing away at his staff,that creature will be a sort of termite, called “Dabbat al-Ard,” which will gnaw away at the bones of men as though they were wooden, establishing themselves in every part of their bodies, from their teeth to their finger-nails. By making the creature speak on the question of belief, the verse indicates that through the blessing of belief and their avoiding vice and abuses, the believers will be saved from it.” (Nursi, The Rays, The Fifth Ray)

Nursi emphasizes that the believers will not fall into such a bad state thanks to the blessing of belief and their avoiding vice and abuses. Then, it is necessary to take refuge in the castle of piety from the fire of debauchery, which is the most horrible and biggest danger of this age.

Today, when sins attack us by flooding all around us, the only way to be saved from the danger of the evil-commanding soul and the attacks of the deceptive and attractive desires is to live within the framework of chastity, good manners, modesty and piety (taqwa). For, the shortest way of struggling against the soul is piety.

Man, who was created for lofty purposes, thinks that he was sent to this world only to eat, drink and have fun, does not find the legitimate pleasures sufficient and commits all kinds of immoral deeds and flounders in the quagmire of debauchery.

In a community that is deprived of lofty characteristics like belief, knowledge of Allah, love, worshipping, piety, justice and stability, all kinds of evil deeds like debauchery and prostitution will emerge; they destroy countries, scatters families, eliminates honor and poisons the worldly and otherworldly life of the community.

Some ummahs and nations of the past that overstepped the limits in immorality and immodesty and that were drowned in the quagmire of debauchery were hit by very painful misfortunes and disasters. The following is stated in a verse so that we will take lessons from it: “Say: "Travel through the earth and see what was the End of those before (you).'” (ar-Rum, 30/42)

The blow and penalty by Allah Almighty to the rebellious nations of the past that dropped into immodesty and immorality and fell into the pit of immorality are mentioned in many verses of the Quran. Even very strong nations and empires could not resist the microbe of debauchery, which is like cancer. When this microbe enters a community, it gnaws at its structure in a very short time, weakens it and finally demolishes it. Then, we need to take lessons from those painful incidents that were experienced by the nations in the past and live modestly so that we will not attract the divine wrath.

The reason why Allah Almighty tells us about the painful incidents that happened to the nations of the past in the Quran is to make us take lessons from them. Locusts and frogs invaded the nation of the Pharaoh. However, they broke their promises each time after they were saved, did not take lessons from the misfortunes that hit them and were finally drowned.

Allah Almighty sent flocks of birds against Abraha and his army, who came in order to demolish the Kaaba; and those birds devastated them with the stones they carried with their beaks and feet.

The rebellious and obstinate nation of Hz. Nuh was eliminated by that great deluge.

Allah Almighty warns people in order to make them conscious from time to time through some disasters like earthquake, hurricane, famine and flood. However, man is such a strange and weird creature that he does not take lessons from the verses, hadiths and historical incidents; he does not avoid the mistakes and sins that will endanger him.

Therefore, every believer, especially scholars and educated people, needs to struggle against debauchery, which is the disease of this age and which is more dangerous than cancer, so as not to be hit by various disasters and misfortunes. Otherwise, the innocent people will be hit along with the guilty ones. As a matter of fact, the following is stated in a verse:

“And fear tumult or oppression which affecteth not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong…” (al-Anfal, 8/25)

Many painful incidents hit the previous nations that overstepped the limits in immorality; what demolished many empires like the Roman, Andalusia and Persia was debauchery. Yes, it is definite by the witnessing of history that many nations that were defeated by their enemies got stronger again and beat their enemies. However, it never became possible for a nation that was defeated by immorality, debauchery, oppression and injustice to pull itself together and to get strong again; it is impossible. Debauchery eliminated many nations from the stage of history.

For instance, all of the beauties of virtues developed in the Roman Empire; there was love among the administrators and people. They avoided debauchery and immorality and regarded it an honor to live modestly. Their women and youth were very chaste. However, when Alexander conquered Greece, their immorality and debauchery started to invade the Roman Empire. The high ethics and virtues were replaced by debauchery and immorality. Family life was spoiled. The magnificent Roman Empire was demolished and disappeared from the stage of history. Their laws and wealth could not save them from being destroyed.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states the following:

“…Youth will go. And if it goes being squandered, it results in thousands of calamities and pains both in this world and in the Hereafter. And if you want to understand how the majority of such youths end up in hospitals with imagined diseases arising from misspent youth and prodigality, and in prisons or hostels for the destitute through their excesses, and in bars due to the distress arising from their pain and suffering, then go and ask at the hospitals, prisons and graveyards. For sure, just as you will hear from most of the hospitals the moans and groans of those ill from dissipation and debauchery resulting from the drives of youth, so too will you hear from the prisons the regretful sighs of unhappy youths who are being punished for illicit actions mostly resulting from the excesses of youth. And you will understand that most of the torments of the grave-that Intermediate Realm the doors of which continuously open and shut for those who enter it-are the result of misspent youth, as is testified to by those who have divined the life of the grave, and is affirmed by the people of truth. Also, ask the elderly and the sick, who form the majority of mankind. Certainly, the great majority of them will say with sorrow and regret: "Alas! We wasted our youth on passion and fancy; indeed, harmfully. Be careful, do not do as we did!" (Nursi, Sözler (Words))

4 In a hadith, it is stated that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) wanted to see his brothers that would come at the end of time. What is the reason for this?
5 What are the signs of the Doomsday (Qiyamah)?

The Collections of Hadith include many hadiths that mention the signs to appear before the Doomsday. Evaluating the signs mentioned in the hadiths in terms of their properties, Islamic scholars classified them under two headings as Lesser Signs and Greater Signs. The primary lesser signs that become manifest in the form of the weakening of religious feelings, thoughts and attitudes, not paying due attention to religious rules, abandoning worshipping, increase in immorality in the period before the Doomsday that is called end of time can be listed as follows:  

a) People competing each other to construct higher buildings (Bukhari, Fitan, 25; see Tajrid Sarih Trns; 1/58).

b) People wishing to die (Bukhari, Fitan, 25; Muslim, Fitan, 53-54)

c) A great fire originating in Hejaz illuminating the feet of camels in Busra (a town near Damascus) (Bukhari, Fitan, 24; Muslim, Fitan, 42).

d) The disappearance of the waters of the Euphrates and the uncovering of gold in the riverbed (Muslim, Fitan, 29-31).

e) The disappearance of Islamic sciences and the increase of ignorance (Bukhari, Fitan, 4).

f) The increase in earthquakes (Bukhari, Fitan, 25).

g) The increase in murders and the appearance of fitnahs (sedition, mischief, testing) (Bukhari, Fitan, 4; Muslim, Fitan, 18).

h) The breakout of a war between Jews and Muslims; Muslims killing Jews (Tajrid Sarih Trns, VIII, 341; Muslim, Fitan, 79-82).

l) Committing fornication openly; increase in the consumption of alcohol; increase in the number of women and decrease in the number of men (al-Ali an-Nasif Taj, 5/335).

The greater signs of the Doomsday are mentioned as a whole in the following hadith reported by Hudhayfa al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him): Allah's Messenger (pbuh) came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He said: What do you discuss about? We said, “We are discussing about the Doomsday.” Thereupon, he said, “It will not come until you see ten signs before” and he made a mention of Dajjal (AntiChrist), the smoke, the beast (daabbat al-ard), the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus son of Mary (pbuh), Gog (Yajuj) and Magog (Majuj), and land-sliding in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia at the end of which a fire would burn forth from Yemen and would drive people to the place of their assembly." (Muslim, Fitan, 39)

The ten greater signs of the Doomsday are explained as follows: by other hadiths and Islamic scholars:

1. The emergence of Dajjal: Dajjal is a liar that will emerge at the end of time; He will want to subvert the religion of Islam and Muslims and lead them to evil and mischief. It is stated in sound hadiths that the right eye of Dajjal is blind, the word ‘kafir’ (unbeliever) is written on his forehead, that he has no children, that he cannot enter Madinah and Makkah, that he will remain for forty days in the world after his emergence, that he will show some extraordinary states (istidraj), that he will be killed by Hazrat Eesa (Jesus), who will descend to the earth, which is also one of the greater signs of the Doomsday. (Bukhari, Fitan, 26; Muslim, Fitan, 37, 39, 40, 91, 101, 110, 112) 

2. The emergence of Dukhan (smoke): Dukhan, which means smoke, is one of the greater signs of the Doomsday. (Muslim, Fitan, 39) Before the strike of the Doomsday, a cloud of smoke will cover the world, remaining for forty days; believers will be as if they have caught a cold and unbelievers will be as if they have got drunk.   

3. The emergence of the Daabbat al-ard: It is a beast that is reported to emerge before the Doomsday. The meaning of it is a beast of the earth. The following is stated in the Quran " And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), We shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them: he will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in our Signs." (an-Naml, 27/82) Hazrat Prophet stated the following about Daabbat al-ard "the first signs of the Doomsday are the rising of the sun in the west and the emergence of a beast and its observation by people before noon. One of those signs takes place before the other. Then, the other follows it. “(Muslim, Fitan, 118)  

4) The rising of the sun in the west: The sun will rise in the west; all of the people will believe but the belief of those who have not believed before will not be of any use.  (Tajrid Sarih Trns, XII 307; Muslim, Fitan, 118). 

5. The descent of Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) (pbuh) to the earth: According to Ahl as-Sunnah creed, Hazrat Eesa will descend to the earth before the Doomsday, call Christians to Islam, kill Dajjal and rule the world in accordance with the Shariah of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). (Bukhari, Buyu, 102; Muslim, Eeman, 242-247). 

6. The emergence of Yajuj (Gog) and Majuj (Magog): They are two groups of people whose origins are not certain and that “will do great mischief on earth.” (al-Kahf, 18/94) (Muhammed Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur'an Dili, IV, 3288) They will spread to the earth as a result of the collapse of the barrier built by Dhul Qarnayn (al-Anbiya, 21/96), they will attack people, demolish the towns by burning and pulling them down. In some narrations it is stated that the barrier is the Great Wall of China.  (Muhammed Hamdi Yazır, ibid, IV, 3291, 3374; Bukhari, Anbiya, 7; Muslim, Fitan, 1,2).

7.8.9. Big landslides in three regions: one in the east, one in the west and one in the Arabian peninsula are among the greater signs of the Doomsday (Muslim, Fitan, 39).

10. The emergence of a big fire in Yemen and driving people away and chasing them (Muslim, Fitan, 39).

According to some hadiths in Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi (Sunan), the emergence of Mahdi is also one of the greater signs of the Doomsday. (Sunan Tirmidhi, IV, p.1-93: Sunan Abu Dawud, published by M.Abdul Hamid IV, 100, 106).

Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) informed us that the Doomsday would strike on bad people and unbelievers. According to those hadiths, the spirits of the believers will be removed before the Doomsday strikes and they will be sent to the hereafter. (Bukhari, Fitan, 5; Muslim, Imarah, 53).

6 Where on Earth will everyone be on the Last Day when Allah resurrects us and gets ready to judge everybody?

The place where we will be resurrected after the Final Hour is not the earth. It is Mahshar (the place of gathering/resurrection).

MAHSHAR (PLACE OF GATHERING)

This word refers to a name of place meaning the place where people gather, derived from the verb “ha-sha-ra”. It means the place where all people gather in order to be questioned, after the second blowing of the Trumpet (nafha-i thani), having been resurrected and leaving their graves. Mahshar is called “mawqif” (the place where people will gather so as to be questioned) and that time is called “Yawmu'l-Hashr”. To explain it in detail, in the first nafha (the first time the Trumpet will be blown), all beings will die except for the angels whom Allah wills to keep alive, and the order of the earth and the heavens will be lost. Then, after the order of the heavens and of the extended earth is ordained in a different way, during the second nafha (the second blowing of the Trumpet) the spirit of every human and jinn is unified with their resurrected bodies. “The Trumpet will be blown, and so all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will fall dead, except those whom God wills to exempt. Then it will be blown for the second time, and see, they have all stood upright, looking on (in anticipation).” (The Qur'an, Az-Zumar, 39:68)  After being resurrected, everybody is dispatched to the place named “mahshar” and will be gathered there: “...and the Trumpet will be blown, then We will gather them all together.” (The Qur'an, Al-Kahf, 18:99) “On the Day when the earth is changed into another earth, and the heavens (also), they all appear before God, the One, the All-Overwhelming.” (The Qur'an, Ibrahim, 14:48) Mahshar where the resurrected creatures are gathered will be a new place extraordinarily extensive, even, without pillars and construction. The Prophet, peace and blessings upon him, said: “On the day of resurrection, people will gather on a ground brownish white like perfectly smooth bread made out of genuine flour.” (From Bukhari and Muslim, Mansur Ali Nasif, at-Taj, Istanbul 1962, V, 365).

As we learn from a hadith narrated by Abu Hurayra from The Prophet (PBUH), people will be dispatched to Mahshar in three groups: first, by walking; second, on a mount; third, in fire torment (From Bukhari and Muslim, M.A.Nasif, at-Taj, 364). According to another narration by Tirmidhi, the third group will be brought to Mahshar crawling facedown (at-Taj, V, 365). 
After gathering in Mahshar, Humans and jinns will be held waiting for a long time in various fears and distresses in order to be questioned. It is said that this time is between a thousand and fifty thousand years long. In Mahshar, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will be given the “Liwau'l-Hamd” (the standard of thanks). Firstly Prophet Adam, all prophets will gather under the flag/standard of Allah's Messenger (PBUH) (Tirmidhi, at-Taj, V, 385).

In Mahshar, the person who will intercede (Shafaat) in order for humans' questioning and reckoning to be made quickly is our great Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). That shafaat of his is called “Shafaat-i Uzma” (The Great Shafaat). That rank and degree which he reaches is called “Makam-i Mahmud”. To illustrate, in  Mahshar the sun of Mawqif (place of gathering) will be neared above people's heads. People will encounter grave distresses and hardships which they can't bear, and will wait for a very long time in intense fear and dismay. They will search for a person to intercede (shafaat) so that they can be saved from that hard situation. Some people will tell some others to go to Prophet Adam, peace be upon him. Prophet Adam will remember his eating from the forbidden tree, and send them to Prophet Noah, peace be upon him. Prophet Noah will send them to Prophet Abraham, and he will send them to Prophet Moses. And Prophet Moses will tell them to go to Prophet Jesus. And Prophet Jesus will send them to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings upon them all, the last one of the prophets. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will prostrate and will offer thanks and praises to Allah with the most beautiful thanks and praises inspired to him. Then, Allah will say to him: “O Muhammad! Raise your head; look, what you asked for will be given; ask for shafaat, your shafaat will be accepted.” And he will pray to Allah and Allah will answer his prayer. After that, questioning and reckoning among slaves (humans) will start. A great court of law will be set and everybody will be asked to account for every deed they performed in the world, their records of deeds will be delivered and Mizan (The Order) will be set. Everybody will be called for with their leaders in unbelief and misguidance or with their guides in belief and guidance. About that, it is stated in The Qur'an: “On the Day when We will call every human community with its leader: whoever (has followed a leader towards true faith and righteousness and accountability in the Hereafter) is given his Record (of his life) in his right hand – those will read their book with contentment, and they will not be wronged by even so much as a tiny hair.” (The Qur'an, Al-Isra', 17:71) Everybody will be told: “Read your book!” (The Qur'an, Al-Isra', 17:14) And every human will understand what is written in their book of deeds. “Allah says to the slave: 'Today, as witness, your soul is enough; and as witnesses, the angels of Kiraman Katibin (the angels which write down every deed of humans) are enough' and his mouth is sealed and his organs explain what they did in the world.” (From Muslim, at-Taj, V, 372) “That Day, We will set a seal upon their mouths, and their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness to what they earned (in the world).” (The Qur'an, Ya-Sin, 36:65)

After human dies, his/her body is decomposed and his/her molecules and atoms are transferred to other animals and humans. When Allah resurrects human in the Hereafter, Allah will create a molecule which He protects from being a DNA for other humans and which He saves from getting lost and which completely contains the plan of human's body. And while creating him from that molecule in the same form, He will add his other parts, too. Actually, the human body is completely renewed every five to six years in the world through creation of new cells in place of the dead and shed cells. Therefore, the body and organ of human in Mahshar are not the same as those in the world. If it is asked: “Then, how can the organs of humans which are created out of new materials even if identical to the former ones, bear witness to the crimes committed by his/her former organs?” the correct answer to that is as follows:

Human is human with his/her spirit. Human spirit does not change and does not die. It stays the same undamaged. The information of all  deeds that humans consciously perform in the world is retained in his/her spirit. Allah will seal human's mouth in the Hereafter and will make his organs such as his hand and foot tell that information in his/her spirit about what s/he did, in an extraordinary way.

In the Hereafter, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will be blessed with a colossal pool the length of which will be as much as the distance from Medina to San'a, or from Ayla, a town in Damascus, to San'a. Its water is whiter than milk, its odor better than musk, and its taste better than honey. And its cups are as big as the stars in the sky. Whoever drinks from it for once does not ever have thirst. (From Bukhari and Muslim, at-Taj, V, 380) Thus, before entering Paradise, Believers quench their thirst caused by the dismay of Mahshar by drinking from the water of that pool. In a hadith narrated by Tirmidhi with an interesting record, it is also stated: In Mahshar, “Every prophet will have a pool. I hope that among them I will be the one who comes the most often to his pool to drink water.” (From Tirmidhi, at-Taj, V, 378) The Prophet also stated in one of his hadiths: “The time when some of those who come to the pool are turned back, I will say 'They are my community.' It will be said 'You cannot know what they did after you (that they turned away from their religion)'. And I will say 'From now on, let those who change their religion be ruined!'” (From Bukhari and Muslim, at-Taj, V, 379)

After the questioning of humans is finished in Mahshar, the Bridge of Sirat will be built between Mahshar and Cannat (Paradise) over Cahannam (Hell). Humans will be dispatched in crowds to Hell and to Paradise. (Sa'daddin Taftazani, Sharhu'l-Maqasid, II, 222-223, Istanbul 1305; Abdussalam b. Ibrahim al-Lakkani, Sharh-u Jawharati't-Tawhid, Egypt, 1955/1375, p. 231-234; Fahraddin ar-Razi, Mafatihu'l-Gayb, Istanbul, 1308)
Muhiddin BAĞÇECİ

7 Why is the December 21, 2012 so exaggerated?

Why is the December 21, 2012 so exaggerated?

Nobody but Allah has the knowledge about when the doomsday is going to occur. Maybe it is tomorrow or perhaps closer than tomorrow. Seen in this light, all the claims in question are just fantastic fiction or figment. They are not based on any sound proof at all. In the past, the rumor that a comet would strike our planet spread and some people left their homes and waited outside. We should not take those claims into consideration so much.

Can you give information about the time of the doomsday?

Jafr and Abjad reckoning is a branch of science. It is used in order to understand some secrets and decode some codes that Allah set for the past and future. However, it does not mean to know the unseen (ghaib). It is merely to know how to read it. The person who does not know Chinese language assumes he is looking at a picture. Nonetheless, those having the knowledge of that language can work out many meanings out of it.

Jafr and Abjad reckoning is the art of learning and interpreting some codes that God did set for the past and future.

Hazrat Ali got the essence of this branch of science from our Prophet (pbuh). Therefore, the source of this science is based on revelation. Hazrat Ali assessed those secrets with some rules and formulas. It has been said that those formulas and secrets that Sayyid ancestry is said to have known very well will be known perfectly by Mahdi who was announced to come at the end of the time as glad tidings. (Katip Çelebi, Keşfuzzunun, İlmu Cifir Maddesi)

There are some explanations that knowledge of this science was held by some Jews. For instance, when the verse “alif lam mim” was read out, the Jews claimed the life-span of the umma of Muhammad would be short but they had to keep quiet when our Prophet recited some other verses. Another example is the statement “baldatun tayyibatun” in the Quran. When that phrase is calculated in terms of abjad reckoning, the conquest of Istanbul is concluded. (İsmail Hekimoğlu, Yeni Ansiklopedi, Ebced Maddesi)

The science interpreting the secrets coded within the Quran and Hadiths  is called the Abjad and Jafr reckoning.

For more explanations and examples with regard to this issue, it can be referred to the work entitled Kudsi Kaynaklar prepared by Abdulkadir Badıllı and published by Envar Publications.

The knowledge of Allah embraces all of the happenings from the beginning of the world to the farthest limits of the end of time, times and places. Nothing can be out of the limits of His Knowledge nor can be concealed from Him.

Only Allah knows the unseen occurrences that have not come into existence yet. Nobody but He knows the unseen. There are Five Hidden Things and they can only be known by Allah. 1. The face of baby different from all other human beings in his mother’s womb and his spiritual-talent face. 2. The rainfall time that is still in the scope of the unseen and the signs of which are not apparent yet. 3. What a human being will gain and lose tomorrow 4. When, where and how a person is going to die. 5. When the doomsday is going to occur.

The scholars of Islam considered it forbidden to make any prediction for the unseen so as not to desecrate and be disrespectful to the law “nobody but Allah knows the unseen.” Those giving notice of it did so only in a curtained and unopened way in a form of signal.

The science used to tell something from the future is the Jafr and Abjad reckoning. Each Arabic letter has a certain numerical value. That Abjad reckoning was known before Islam, too. Badiuzzaman confirms that truth by the following story. When some scholars of the sons of Israel heard about the letters ‘alif-lâm-mim’ at the beginning of some verses in the presence of our Prophet, they said relying on the Jafr reckoning: Oh Muhammad. The lifespan of your umma is very short. He said to them. “No, it is not. He recited some other letters at the beginnings of the other verses and declared “They still have time.” And then they kept silent.

The Qasidah al-Jaljalutiya by Hazrat Ali was compiled from the beginning to the end based on a kind of Abjad and Jafr reckoning. Moreover, the people like Jafar-i Sadiq  and  Muhyiddin-i Arabi working on the unseen secrets and the letter science accepted this Abjad reckoning as an unseen law and a key. (Rays: Şualar p 613)

As is seen, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi analyses a hadith telling us about the end of time and Doomsday with abjad and jafr reckoning and concludes some dates. “La tazalu taifatun min ummati zahirina ala’l-haqqi hatta ya’tiyallahu bi amrihi ”, which means “ a group from my nation is going to come and be victorious upon true path until the order of Allah arrives (until the doomsday comes).

“La tazalu taifatun min ummati.” The numerical value according to the abjad and jafr reckoning is Rumi Calendar 1506 (Gregorian calendar 2090)

“Hatta ya’tiyallahu bi amrihi.” Rumi Calendar 1545 (Gregorian calendar 2129)

While thinking about how long the lifespan of students of Risale-i Nur would last, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi said, all of a sudden at the second hour of the tenth day of Ramadan, a hadith had been inspired to his heart. According to that hadith, until Rumi calendar 1506 (Gregorian calendar 2090), religious activities would be carried out obviously, openly and even victoriously and then, till the date 1542 (Gregorian calendar 2126), the guidance and illumination mission would keep on going secretly and in a defeated way. He said that the doomsday would break forth over the unbelievers in Gregorian calendar 2129 and that the knowledge of it was held only by Allah and the truth could be known merely by Allah.

It is very significant that the clause “Allazina an’amta alayhim” describing those being on the straight path in Sura al-Fatiha makes 1506 or 1507 without shadda (a sign written above a consonant (in the Arabic alphabet) to show that it is doubled) and thus it is equal to the numerical value of the part “zahirina ala’l-haqqi”. And it confirms the implication of the hadith. Hence, it is understood that the students of Risale-i Nur are going to be a well-accepted group amongst Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Community at the end of time. 

Besides the implied signs of the Quran and Hadiths regarding the doomsday, the scholars also make some calculations. The comet Halley revolving around an orbit connected to the solar system and passes nearest to the earth at each 76 years passed very close to our globe latest at the early years of 1980. At the next pass, its striking to our sphere with the permission of Allah may give rise to occurrence of the Doomsday. It is even said that a comet called “Swift Tuttle” three miles in diameter is approaching our earth at a speed thirty-seven miles per second and will bump into the world on August 14, 2126 causing an effect greater than that of one million atom bomb. All of those mentioned above are just approximate estimates. Allah knows the best.

“I came in the afternoon period of the humanity” our Prophet (pbuh) says. In another hadith, he is reported to have said “the lifespan of my nation will not be longer than 1500 years.”

The doomsday is the destruction of the universe and its death, which will be followed by a resurrection. Our passing away is our doomsday. Making some preparations for the Infinity Land prior to the breaking forth of the doomsday and complying with the orders and prohibitions of Allah and thus leading a life on true path are the best things that we can do.

8 What will happen when the Dajjal comes?

Mankind has undergone a lot of dissensions, have seen Pharaohs, Nimrods, and Shaddads. However, none of them is as awesome as “the dissension of the end of time.”
The dissension of the end of time is far more awesome than all of them.
The dissensions brought about by Dajjal and Sufyan (the antichrist of Islam) are the most awesome ones. Both of them induce people towards irreligiousness and destroy their Hereafter. Atheism strengthens in their time. Some people do not hesitate to declare their irreligiousness.
In a hadith that the following is stated:” Mahdi does not appear until Allah is denied openly and publicly.”1 Imam Rabbani says Mahdi will not appear until irreligiousness spreads all over the world and its authority is applied openly. He says Mahdi will come when the corruptions arise. 2
At that period, everything out of bounds of Islam will be in demand. “harams (forbidden things) are regarded as halal (lawful).” 3 Such a grievous corruption occurs that nobody can protect himself and it spreads over everywhere in an instant. 4
A great number of calamities and disasters appear as a natural result of this destruction. People start to look forward to a spiritual saver and then Mahdi appears.
Now, let us consider this perilous atmosphere which necessitates Mahdi’s appearance with the light of Hadiths.
Fights and clashes become widespread at full speed at the end of time. According to a narrative in Mustadrak, written by Hakim; Hazrat Ali talked about Mahdi as an answer to a question asked him and pointed out that people would be killed in his era. Additionally, he said, individuals would be killed because of saying “Allah”; Mahdi will appear in such a time. 5
According to what we learn from the hadiths the end of time is an age that people lose their humane feelings in one aspect and deteriorate extremely and most of the signs of the Doomsday arise.
Men resemble women at that period. The notables become subjected to their lust.; shedding blood is considered unimportant; religion is sold in return for worldly things. Relatives, kin, fathers, mothers are not given importance. People abstain from helping and nurturing the poor. Being benign becomes a cause of disgrace and cruelty becomes a cause of pride. Heads of the states become sinners; ministers become liars; administrators become faithless; helpful people are regarded as cruel; people reciting and memorizing the Quran are regarded as sinful and tyrannies are applied in public. Divorce rates increase, transgression and debauchery start, testimonies of false witnesses are accepted, lesbianism occurs, war booty is plundered. The Most Noble Messenger (PBUH,) says they are the signs of the Doomsday and adds “wait for the Doomsday” when they occur. 6
In a narrative, the terrible aspect of the end of time concerning the souls is pointed out: no one who is affected by this dissension will be able to restrain themselves. Therefore for one thousand four hundred years, by the command of the Prophet (PBUH), all the community of the Prophet (PBUH) has sought refuge in Allah from that dissension.
Dajjal arises in an atmosphere like this and starts his activities against Mahdi. Just at that moment, Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) descends from Heaven, meets with Mahdi and they perform their activities.
The Prophet (PBUH) states in another Hadith that a confused wretchedness will occur on the side of Maghrib (west), a fear will arise, a scarcity will cover, dissensions will rise, people will quarrel with each other and in an instant a man from the descendants of Hazrat Fatima will emerge and sustain the right way; his emergence will be the first sign of the Doomsday.
According to a Hadith narrated by Hazrat Ali,: “Four dissensions will occur; three of them will be on account of wealth, poverty and treasure (gold will be the cause), when the fourth breaks out, Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) explains how the reaction would be against it as follows: ‘A man from my descendants will emerge and Allah puts things in order by means of him.’” 7
----------------------------
1. Kitabu'l-Burhan (The Book of the Evidence), p. 27.
2. Imam Rabbani, Maktubat (The Letters), 2:258.
3. al-Kawlu'l-Mukhtasar, p. 39.
4. ibid, p. 24.
5. Siddiq Khan, al-Izaa, p. 130.
6. Nuru'l-Absar (The Light of the Eyes), p. 189.
7. Tazkira, p. 188.

Şaban Döğen

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Mahdi and Dajjal

9 In some Hadiths, people whom prophets and martyrs will envy are mentioned. What are their characteristics?
10 How will the afflictions before the Day of Judgment appear, and how will we protect ourselves from them?
11 Is it true qayamat(doomsday) will come on friday ?
Allah only knows best when the day of doomsday is, but there is a hadith which is; "In a hadith, narrated by Abu Hurayra (one of the companions of our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)), it is said; “The most auspicious day, upon which the sun rises, is Friday. Hadrath Adam (peace be upon him) was created on that day, he entered the paradise on that day and also he was removed from paradise on that day. And what is more the doomsday will break on that day.” (Muslim, Cumua, 5)

12 When and how will the Doomsday take place?

The hour of the Doomsday although it exceeds my authority to say “The doomsday will come at that time.” I will hereby dare to make a guess of its date. Of course, no one can be sure of what will become of him the next day. However, when death draws nearer you feel it. God says that He wills to keep the doomsday, which is becoming evident as it draws nearer secret and says “My design is to keep it hidden.”(1) And when it draws nearer and nearer, you begin to say that it is about to happen and your prediction gets nearer to the truth.

The hour of the Doomsday although it exceeds my authority to say “The doomsday will come at that time.” I will hereby dare to make a guess of its date. Of course, no one can be sure of what will become of him the next day. However, when death draws nearer you feel it. God says that He wills to keep the doomsday, which is becoming evident as it draws nearer secret and says “My design is to keep it hidden.”(1) And when it draws nearer and nearer, you begin to say that it is about to happen and your prediction gets nearer to the truth.

God warns: “They ask thee about the (final) Hour - when will be its appointed time? Say: The knowledge thereof is with my Lord (alone): None but He can reveal as to when it will occur. Heavy were its burden through the heavens and the earth. Only, all of a sudden will it come to you." (2) “Verily the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone). Nor does anyone know what it is that he will earn on the morrow.” (3) “The (Judgment) ever approaching draws nigh.” (4) “And will ye laugh and not weep, wasting your time in vanities.” (5)

I dreamed of the world coming to its end at the night of 26th October 1992. When I understood that the Hour had come, I run through the streets; I grasped everyone I encountered from arms and told them that we should prepare for the Hereafter. Whoever I grasped escaped before I was finished with my words. While I was running with the pain of not expressing myself, the downfall began and I retired to a corner and watched death.

The Earth was shaken with waves; flames gushed out of the cracked and scattered ground. I was afraid of the masses of rock, mount and flames that would fall onto me. I fell on my knees and prayed: “My God, do not make me suffer pain!” I lost my body in the darkness. Then I opened my eyes on the burnt-up debris; I was going somewhere. I was feeling sorry saying “Why did we not heed and understand?” The moment I turned my head and saw the ground as black and the heavens as dark, I woke up.

The next morning I went to my work in the TBMM Commission of Investigation. Holding in one of my hand the daily newspaper, in the other my tee, I was trying to interpret my dream. I opened one of the pages of the newspaper randomly. My eyes were caught by the heading: “The date of the doomsday is found.” I got exited and shuddered. The news was as follows: “The doomsday everybody expected was finally disclosed: 14th August 2126. The famous astronomer Duncan Stell, from the British-Australian Observatory, stated that a comet with a width of three miles named Swift Tuttle is heading for us with a speed of 37 miles per second and at the reckoned time it will crash the Earth causing an explosion more destructive than a million nuclear bombs.” (6)

I was affected by the news after my dream and made studies about the date of the doomsday. I heard that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said: “The life span of my community will exceed a thousand years, but it will not exceed much one and a half thousand years.” (7) And I saw that it was inferred from a hadith that was evaluated with the reckoning of ‘abjad’ that the year 1545 of the Hegira (2120 CE) might be the year of doomsday. (8). When I gathered other dates like that together, I saw that an interesting similarity between the dates pointed nearly to the same years.

Nine years after this dream, I wanted to write a book about the Doomsday and gathered data. (9). I asked one of the authorities of the subject, Prof. Brian G. Marsden, about the developments concerning Swift Tuttle. The e-mail answer of Prof. Marsden dated 17 April 2001 was as follows: “If it were to collide with the Earth during its next crossing, this would happen on 14th August 2126. The comet makes delay with its each crossing. According to the precise reckonings done taking into attention the observations of the Chinese in the years 68 BC and 188 AD, it was understood that the possibility of a collision at that time is very small.” I asked Prof. Marsden whether there was any possibility of collision in the year 2120. He wrote: “If there is any chance of collision at this time, it may happen with a heavenly body we do not know of yet.”

So the possibility of unknown meteors drawing nearer to the Earth was high. According to the scientists in NASA, the meteor called 2004 MN4 that was discovered in June 2004 and that was 400 meters in diameter might crash the Earth with a possibility of one out of three hundred on 13 April 2029. (10) The closer the meteor gets, the higher the possibility of collision; the possibility reckoned recently is one out of thirty-eight. (11)… How many news like that we will read; without even taking it seriously at all…

Will there actually be flood after the year 2100? Will natural disorders happen one after another until the doomsday after the fifty-seventy years ahead of us? When will the calamity befall our earth? Every watchful conscience will find its answer.

When it exploded, the energy issued, in just one second, by the star Neutron, which is fifty thousand years of light away from us, can only be given off by our sun in one million years. According to the scientists, if this explosion happened ten years of light nearer to our world, much of the life on earth would vanish. (12). From now on, the news of doomsday will blow like winds that herald the impending storm. Finally, the real storm will befall us all of a sudden and unexpected. (13).

In the headline of German newspaper ‘Bild’, scientists were warning against the doomsday. One of these scientists, Prof. Sir David King talked to BBC: “If this downfall of the world does not gain momentum, there remain sixty years for us to live peacefully.” (14). Moreover, according to the Washington Worldwatch Institution, there is no world for the generations after our grandchildren. (15). In other words, they mean to say that it is too late.

Shall we fear that the years when our world will no longer go on are about to come and abandon all efforts? On the contrary, the way to deserve eternity passes through efforts to repair and to leave good memoirs. The knowledge of the doomsday should lead us to working hard and to good deeds.

The Destruction of the Universe

How will the catastrophe take place? Will it affect only the world and the solar system; or will it cover the entire Universe? Will the doom of the world and that of the solar system and the universe happen at the same time?

“Do they then only wait for the Hour, - that it should come on them of a sudden? But already have come some tokens thereof, and when it (actually) is on them, how can they benefit then by their admonition?” (16). “The Hour will certainly come: Therein is no doubt: Yet most men believe not.” (17)

“To Allah belongeth the Mystery of the heavens and the earth. And the Decision of the Hour (of Judgment) is as the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker: for Allah hath power over all things.” (18). Just like the Creator creates the universe all of a sudden, He also starts the doom all of a sudden. Everything that seems to be going all right suddenly turns upside down.

The dangers against our world increase more and more. Recently, a meteor has passed our world at close range. (19) Could the scientist disclose it to the public if they were sure that a meteor is going to crash our world? Mihail Smirnov made the announcement: “No meteor is going to crash the Earth in 175 years.” He thinks “The mankind will have already found the way to destroy meteors till that time.” (20)

According to a research published in the magazine Science, it was ‘discovered’ that a meteor of one kilometer width is going to crash the Earth on 16th March 2880. The scientists believe that they will develop the technology to change the direction of the meteor until that time. Moreover, Jon D. Giorgini, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratories says he is not worried because he thinks they will benefit from the time they have and find a solution. (21) Always the same trick and deception…

Meteors are just the pretext of it. The Divine Power that starts the downfall of the Universe will flow into the Universe through the breath of the angel Israfil. If the energy that spreads from the trumpet of Israfil upsets the energy balance of the Universe, the system will begin to fall apart. Unbalance reaches every atom; the Universe begins to fall down with its galaxies and layers of heavens. That day the trumpet is blown; “The Trumpet will be blown, and so all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will fall dead, except those whom God wills to exempt.” (22)

The Universe is expanding like a rubber cloth that is pulled from each side; every entity grows distant form one another from the atom to galaxies. Scientists say that this may be because of the hidden dark energy present in the Universe. (23) If the Universe is under the control of a hidden energy tens of times greater than it, you can imagine the outcomes of its going backwards.

Whether it is veiled with a cause that is either impending or created suddenly or it is triggered without a cause, the process of collapsing will cover the Earth. Whether a meteor crashes or the energy balance of the Universe is upset or the solar and galactic systems fall down; no matter how, the doom will start.

Imagine what will happen if God takes away the power He sends out of the unknown source of the heavens and the earth to electrons. All the wheels of the clock of universe will break off; the components of the machine of substance will spring from their places like a watch spring. An untold lack of control and order will be experienced followed by a fading out and perishing like foam.

The death of the world is awesome: “When the earthquakes with a violent quaking destined for it, And the earth yields up its burdens…” (24) “When the earth is shaken with a violent shock; And the mountains are shattered and crumble; So they become dust scattered…” (25) That day the earth and mountains will quake; mountains will turn into piles of molten sand!

Death spreads all over the universe. “When the stars are effaced, And when the sky is rent asunder, (27) When the heaven is cleft open; And when the stars fall in disorder and are scattered…(28) The sky will cleft open thereby. His promise (of Resurrection and Judgment) is certainly to be fulfilled.” (29) “When the eyesight is confounded (through fear), when the eyesight is confounded (through fear), and the sun and the moon are joined together, On that Day human will say: "Where is the escape?" (30)

We would fall into darkness if a veil was put between us and the sun. If the Creator halts the reflection of His light and power for just a second, the universe will turn to nothing at this moment. We think up scenarios of doomsday in vain.

The return to non-existence

When the doomsday comes, there will be only apathetic and insensitive people living on earth who will be interested only in their material desires. Although they will be seeing all the signs, they will still be reckoning that they will somehow get rescued; they will amuse themselves and continue their rebellion.

They will be shaken by such an uproar of quake that many hearts will burst within breasts. The brain veins of many will thereby split up. Imagine flames that stretch from the horizon to the moon blowing towards you. Seas are pouring down on you just like coming up from heavens. Mountains are torn from their basis; the ground collapses; you watch the earth turning upside down. The ground and the heavens are shouting death.

At the time of the doom, the angels, jinni, devils and souls are weak and desperate, bewildered and shuddered. From its birth, the universe did not experience such an unbelievable terror. “O humankind! Keep from disobedience to your Lord in reverence for Him and piety and get under His protection. (Never forget that) the violent convulsion of the Last Hour is an awesome thing.” (31)

Every living being will experience the terror of the doomsday. People continue to see events with the eye of soul after they die. The collapse will take place in the presence of the souls that are in the intermediate world of grave. The world of grave will also be scattered. This is mixed with the terror of the ones who expect hell and with the joys of the ones who hope the paradise.

Just like they bring the ones sentenced to death at night to the gallows or to the place of execution… And just like they crown the leaders that succeeded in being selected in big ceremonies… That day everybody feels what will become of them soon. Everything will be evident in the presence of everybody; the biggest questioning of the history will presently take place.

The commandment “The Day when We will roll up heaven as written scrolls are rolled up” (32) will take place. The material of the universe collapses and the systems are scattered. The collapse of the galaxies is followed by the closure of the heavenly layers. Souls and angels also fade away one after another and the final judgment of the verse “Everything is perishable (and so perishing) except His "Face" (His eternal Self and what is done in seeking His good pleasure).” (33) Comes true.

The doom has taken place. Time finishes and there remains no entity except God. From then on everything is in the knowledge of only God. The last page of a wonderful novel was also lived and sent to history. Everything with body and material perished like foam; the universe melted like wax and vanished.

Sources

(1) The Qur'an, Ta Ha, 15.

(2) The Qur'an, Al-A'raf, 187.

(3) The Qur'an, Luqman, 34.

(4) The Qur'an, An-Najm, 57.

(5) The Qur'an, An-Najm, 60.

(6) See Hürriyet, 27.10.2002. In addition, I mentioned this topic for the first time in my article titled “When will the Doomsday break out?”  Which was published in the newspaper Yeni Asya dated 18.11.2002.

(7) Al-Barzanji, Kiyamet Alametleri (Signs of the Doomsday)(Istanbul: Pamuk Publications., 2002) p. 299, quoted  from Jalaladdin Suyuti's “al-Kashf'u fi Mujazawati Hazin al-Ummati al-Alfa allazi Dallat Alayh al-Asar”.

(8) Now we are in the year 1426 according to the Hijrat Calendar (based on the Emigration from Mecca to Medina) (2005 AD). See Bediuzzaman, Kastamonu Lahikası, p. 23.

(9) After gathering all data about the Doomsday, when I thought I would be able to write my book, I renewed my computer. Long after the formatting, I learned that the data about the Doomsday were also deleted.

(10) Milliyet, “Will the Doomsday break out on 13 April 2029?” (25.12.2004).

(11) Vatan, “The Alarm for Meteor” (10.4.2005).

(12) Hürriyet, “Great explosion in the Milky Way” (20.02.2005).

(13) “It does not come to you except unawares.” (The Qur'an, Al-A'raf, 187).

(14) Hürriyet, “The world has a life of 60 years left” (07.11.2004).

(15) NTVMSNBC, “We have a time of one or two generations left” (10.01.2003).

(16) The Qur'an, Muhammed, 18.

(17) The Qur'an, Al- Mumin, 59.

(18) The Qur'an, An-Nahl, 77.

(19) Hürriyet, “The meteor passed by tangent” (19.03.2004).

(20) Hürriyet, “No meteor will fall down in 175 years.” (05.02.2001).

(21) Akşam, “The Doomsday is after 878 years” (05.04.2002).

(22) The Qur'an, Az-Zumar, 68. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) states that on the right side of the Archangel Israfil, whom he described as “The owner of The Trumpet”, Archangel Gabriel will be positioned; and on Israfil's left side, the Archangel Michael will be positioned. (Abu Davud, Huruf wa’l-Qiraat 1, 3999). Together with those trees, Archangel Azrael will penetrate the dimensions of the universe and they represent four great areas of energy and the dimension of conscious and command.  As we understand, Israfil represents the area of energy which plays a role in Allah's exterminating and resurrecting the universe.

(23) The known baryonic matter (galaxies) in the universe makes up % 4 of the whole body. It is assumed that % 75 is the dark energy and the rest is the dark matter. See http://www.nasa.gov/missions/deepspace/f_dark-energy.html

(24) The Qur'an, Az-Zalzalah, 1-2.

(25) The Qur'an, Al-Waqi'ah,  4-6.

(26) The Qur'an, Al-Muzzammil,  14.

(27) The Qur'an, Al-Mursalaat, 8-11.

(28) The Qur'an, Al-Infitaar,  1-3.

(29) The Qur'an, Al-Muzzammil, 18.

(30) The Qur'an, Al-Qiyamah,  7-10.

(31) The Qur'an, Al-Hajj, 1.

(32) The Qur'an, Al-Anbiya, 104.

(33) The Qur'an, Al-Qasas, 88.

Quoted from the author's book "Sonsuzluk Yolculuğu" (The Journey to Eternity)...

13 Why the Doomsday is kept secret?
14 Who are Yajuj (Gog) and Majuj (Magog)?

Gog and Magog are two plundering tribes that lived in the past but it is possible to meet tribes similar to them any time. It is understood that especially at the end of time they will devastate the earth and cause mischief.

It is understood that Gog and Magog are closely related to anarchy. Anarchy, which is a word derived from Greek, means the absence of state and government, the people being unconfined, the weakness of the rule of state and law and the social chaos caused by them.

The fact that Gog and Magog devastate the earth and cause mischief everywhere is a complete scene of anarchy; the fact that the appearance of Gog and Magog again is indicated as a sign of the Doomsday shows that anarchy is one of the signs of the Doomsday. 

Acting upon the expression of Badiuzzaman, " an oppressive anarchy in ethics and life and an oppressive irreligiousness”, it can easily be said that the anarchy will not be in the material field only. Besides, what leads people to mischief and makes the world a blood bath is the anarchy in the hearts. 

Badiuzzaman gives the Manchurian and Mongolian tribes as examples in order to make us see the issue better. A group descending from them can do it again during the end of time. We cannot know it. Or another group may do it. The fact that some things are kept as secret by God Almighty (like Gog and Magog, Mahdi, Jesus Christ) depends on some wisdom. Since this world is a place of testing and trial, it is necessary for some things to remain secret so that everybody will be careful and they will not go to extremes. If the testing is made known to everybody, then Abu Jahls, that is, people with black spirits will be in the same level as people with white spirits; they will not be differentiated...

After those explanations, we can go on to the information about Gog and Magog.

Gog and Magog are the names of the plundering tribes that caused and will cause mischief and anarchy on the earth and that are mentioned in the Quran (18:94) and (21:96). They may be in different nations.  

Gog and Magog are also mentioned in hadith books. Briefly, Gog and Magog are mentioned in Bukhari, hadiths 789 and 1372; Ibn Majah 36 Kitab-ul Fitan parts 9, 28, 33; Muslim 8, 52. Kitab-ul Fitan  part 1,p 403 and other hadith books.

Badiuzzaman gives the following explanation about Gog and Magog:

FIFTEENTH MATTER

The events involving Gog and Magog are mentioned concisely in the Qur’an, and there are some details of them in narrations. Those details are not firmly established like the concise but incontrovertible matters of the Qur’an, and may be considered allegorical. They require interpretation. Indeed, they need to be interpreted, for the narrators’ interpretations have been mixed in with them.

Yes, None knows the Unseen save God, one interpretation is this: it is an allusion and indication that just as the Manchurian and Mongol tribes, which in the heavenly tongue of the Qur’an are called “Gog and Magog,”25 together with some other tribes, several times overturned Asia and Europe; so will they again cause chaos in the world in the future. In fact even now some of them are famous anarchists, and anarchy is born of communism.

Yes, socialism sprang up in the French Revolution from the seed of libertarianism. Then since socialism destroyed certain sacred matters, the ideas it inculcated turned into bolshevism. And because bolshevism corrupted even more sacred moral and human values, and those of the human heart, of course the seeds it sowed will produce anarchy, which recognizes no restrictions whatsoever and has respect for nothing. For if respect and compassion quit the human heart, those with such hearts become exceedingly cruel beasts and can no longer be governed through politics. Just the place for the idea of anarchy will be those oppressed, numerous raiding tribes, which are backward in respect of both civilization and government. The people who fit those conditions are the Manchurian, Mongol, and some of the Kirghiz tribes, who caused the building of the Great Wall of China, which is forty-days’ distance in length and is one of the seven wonders of the world. Expounding the Qur’an’s concise statements about them, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) predicted their appearance miraculously and precisely. The Rays, The Fifth Ray, Fifteenth Matter.

Badiüzzaman Said Nursi

Can you give some information about Dhul-Qarnayn mentioned in Surah of Al-Kahf?

15 How should we understand the hadith: "One will be believer in the morning and an infidel in the evening?"

"There will emerge mischief in future. In this mischief, the person will wake up in the morning as believer and may reach the evening as unbeliever; except for the people whose hearts Allah revived with knowledge." (1)

This hadith strengthens the hadiths about mischief. Here the point is that mischief and corruption will be extensive. In a Muslim community, a person who wakes up and leaves his house as Muslim may come back to his house in the evening as unbeliever because of a doubt, a word or any other cause with the effects of the community, his friends, media or another source. Here the biggest factor is that the person does not know his religion well, because the one whose heart Allah revives with the knowledge of Islam and truths of faith will be saved. In this respect, it comes to the mind that in the age of mischief and corruption, the number of the ones who knows Islam will diminish, Islamic knowledge will be insufficient, and it will be difficult to convey Islam to the needy.

To summarize, while innovations (non-Islamic elements put into the religion) and debauchery surround Muslims, it will make them earn great rewards for the upright and devout people to stick to the judgments of Islam and to the Sunnat (the way Prophet Mohammad lived). For at that time it is so big a deed even to protect faith.

Sources:

1. Ramuzul-Ehadis p. 299, 3722 hadith. (From Tabarani Kebir, from Ibn-i Mace, from Deylemi Ebi Umame), en-Nevevi, Ebu Zakariyya Yahya b. Sharaf, Riyazus-Salihin, Trans. Emre, Mehmed, Istanbul 1974, p. 99 87. hadith; Sunenu Ibn-i Mace, II, 1305, 1310 (3954, 3961) hadiths.

16 What will happen to the living people on the Doomsday?

Everybody will die with the strike of Doomsday.

DOOMSDAY

It means standing up, standing, rising up, straightening up and resurrecting. In the belief of Islam, it denotes the disturbance of the system of the universe, everything being upside down and all of the dead resurrecting and standing. In the Quran, that event is mentioned with various names.

Among those names are Yawmul-Qiyamah (Day of Standing), as-Saa (Hour), Yawmul-Âkhir (Last day), al-Âkhira (Future Life), Yawmud-Din (Day of Punishment), Yawmul-Hisab (Day of Reckoning), Yawmul-Fasl (Day of Decision), Yawmul-Jam (Day of Coming Together), Yawmul-Khulud( Day of Eternity, Being Eternal), Yawmul-Ba’th (Day of Resurrection), Yawmul-Hashra (day of Repentance), Yawmut-Taghabun (Day of Mutual disillusion), al-Qaria (Astonishing Calamity), an-Nashiya (Terrifying Disaster), at-Tamma (Calamity Surrounding Everything), al-Haqqa (Great Truth) and al-Waqia (Great Event)'. Those names reveal and explain the formation and outcomes of Doomsday.

Doomsday forms the first phase of the life in the hereafter, the second fundamental belief of Islam that comes after belief in Allah. Events like Gathering, Reckoning, Scales, Paradise and Hell that will take place with a general destruction and resurrection are all in the agenda of Doomsday. Therefore, belief in the hereafter is nothing but belief in Doomsday and the events that take place together with it. Due to its great importance, the Quran often reminds us Doomsday; sometimes the Quran uses it as an element of frightening and warning. And the Hour is surely coming (when this will be manifest) (al-Hijr, 15/85), there can be no doubt about it (al-Hajj, 22, 7). Already have come some tokens thereof (Muhammad, 47/18), the hour (of Judgment) is nigh (al-Qamar, 54/1). And the matter of the Hour (of Judgment) is as the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker (an-, Nahl, 16, 77). Those who reject Faith will not cease to be in doubt concerning (Revelation) (al-Hajj 22/55), they deny the Hour (al-Furqan 25/11). Heavy were its burden through the heavens and the earth. Only, all of a sudden will it come to you (al-A'raf, 7/187). The convulsion of the Hour (of Judgment) will be a thing terrible (al-Hajj, 22/1). And that Hour will be Most grievous and most bitter. (al-Qamar, 54/46). We have prepared a Blazing Fire for such as deny the Hour (al-Furqan, 25/11).

Although the Quran informs us about the certainty and closeness of Doomsday and even gives descriptions about how it will take place, it does not make any explanations about its time. Doomsday is an event that is completely based on the will of Allah and no one except Him knows about it. After stating that the time of Doomsday cannot be known by anybody with verses like, “Verily the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone)." (Luqman, 31/34), the Quran answers the questions about it as follows: " The knowledge thereof is with my Lord (alone): none but He can reveal as to when it will occur" (al-A'raf, 7/187). They ask thee about the Hour― `When will be its appointed time?' Wherein art thou (concerned) with the declaration thereof? With they Lord is the Limit fixed therefore “(an-Naziat, 79/42-44). In the hadith that is known as the hadith of Jibril (Gabriel), Hazrat Prophet answers the question of Jibril about the issue as “The answerer has no better knowledge than the questioner." Stating that he has no knowledge about the time of Doomsday."(Bukhari, Eeman, 37).

The Quran draws detailed and terrifying paintings about the formation of Doomsday. According to these verses, "Doomsday will start when the Trumpet will be sounded" (az-Zumar, 39/68) and every mother giving suck shall forget her suckling-babe, and every pregnant female shall drop her load (unformed), people will be like drunk due to the terrifying sound and the convulsion (al-Hajj, 22/1-2). The Day that the sky will be like molten brass, And the mountains will be like wool, And no friend will ask after a friend (al-Maarij, 70/8-10). When the Sky is cleft asunder;  When the Stars are scattered; When the Oceans are suffered to burst forth; And when the Graves are turned upside down (al-İnfitar, 82/1-5). At length, when the Sight is dazed, And the moon is buried in darkness. And the sun and moon are joined together― That Day will Man say "Where is the refuge?" (al-Qiyamah, 75/6-12). When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; When the stars fall, losing their luster; When the mountains vanish (like a mirage); When the she-camels, ten months with young, are left untended; When the wild beasts are herded together (in human habitations); When the oceans boil over with a swell; When the souls are sorted out, (being joined, like with like);  When the female (infant) buried alive , is questioned― For what crime she was killed; When the Scrolls are laid open; When the World on High is unveiled: When the Blazing Fire is kindled to fierce heat; And when the Garden is brought near― (at-Takwir, 81/1-13).

That first phase of Doomsday, in which the general destruction takes place, will be followed by the second phase, in which the trumpet will be sounded; all people will stand up (az-Zumar, 39/68). The resurrection and standing up will be followed by gathering. The Quran narrates the second phase with lively descriptions:  They will come forth― their eyes humbled― from (their) graves, (torpid) like locusts scattered abroad, hastening, with eyes transfixed, towards the Caller!― "Hard is this Day!" the Unbelievers will say (al-Qamar, 54/7-8). One day He will gather them together (Yunus 10/45). That Day shall a man flee from his own brother. And from his mother and his father.  And from his wife and his children.  Each one of them, that Day, will have enough concern (of his own) to make him indifferent to the others. Some Faces that Day will be beaming, Laughing, rejoicing.  And other faces that Day will be dust-stained; Blackness will cover them: Such will be the Rejecters of Allah, the Doers of Iniquity. (Abasa, 80/34-42). One day We shall call together all human beings with their (respective) Imams (al-İsra, 17/71), and when the messengers are (all) appointed a time (to collect)(al-Mursalat, 77/11), the Day the heaven shall be rent asunder with clouds, and angels shall be sent down descending, (in ranks) (al-Furqan, 25/25).

After the resurrection, standing up and gathering, people will be given their books of deeds; the scales will be set up; the rewards and sins of people will be weighed; those who deserve Paradise will go there; those who deserve Hell will go there to stay temporarily or forever; thus, the endless life of the hereafter will start with happiness or torture.

It has become a tradition among Muslims to call death as small doomsday although it is not based on any certain evidence in the Quran and sunnah. According to some scholars, that definition is based on the fact that death is a passage for the life in the hereafter. Some scholars say that definition is based on the Quran. According to those scholars, the word ‘hour’ meaning ‘ Doomsday’ in the following verse also denotes death "Lost indeed are they who treat it as a falsehood that they must meet Allah,― until on a sudden the hour is on them, and they say: "Ah! woe unto us that we took no thought of it"; for they bear their burdens on their backs; and evil indeed are the burdens that they bear!..." (al-An'am, 6/31).

The period that starts with small doomsday (death) and lasts till big Doomsday is called the Life of Grave or Barzakh. In the Life of Grave, there is the questioning by the angels, munkar and nakir, and happiness or torture depending on whether the dead person is a believer or unbeliever. In a hadith related to the Life of Grave, Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) defined grave as a garden from the gardens of Paradise or a pit from the pits of Hell. (Tirmidhi, Qiyamah, 26). In another hadith, it is narrated that the dead person is given bounties or tortured after the questioning by munkar and nakir. Accordingly, the grave of the believer is expanded seventy arshins (1 arshin = 68 cm) and it is enlightened; the following is said to him, "Go on sleeping until the Day of Gathering like a person who has entered the bridal chamber and is awakened by  the person whom he loves the most." The grave of the munafiq (hypocrite) is ordered to squeeze him. The earth squeezes him like a press until his bones are broken into pieces and that dead person is tortured until he is resurrected (Tirmidhi, Janaiz; 70).

Ahmet ÖZALP

17 In a hadith, it is said that at the end of time there will emerge mischief and dissentions, which will separate the person from his brother and father. What are they?
18 What is dajjal?

to see the answer click here

19 Whoever held tight my Sunnah (the way of Prophet Muhammad) at the time of sedition in my Community, he will get reward equivalent to a hundred Martyrs. Is it a hadith, and if it is how should we comprehend it?
20 Being with loved ones in jannah

One is with the One Who One Loves

"All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah,- of the prophets (who teach), the Sincere (lovers of Truth), the martyrs, and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! How beautiful is there fellowship!" (An-Nisa, 69)

"Say: "If ye do love Allah, Follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins: For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. "(The Family Of Ìmrán (Al-Ìmrán, 31)

Enes b. Malik (may God be pleased with him), who began to serve him after Prophet  Muhammad (peace be upon him) migrated to Medina, and who started this service at the age of nine or ten and stayed with the Prophet ten years till he died, narrates an event that took place in Medina as follows [Hayâtus-Sahâbe I (the Lives of the Companions), 406 and the others, Sahabiler Enc. I. 408]:
A beduin-villager asked the Prophet:

-         O God's Messenger! “Metes saatu  –  What is the time of the Last Hour-Doomsday?”
The Prophet said:

-         Mâ adette lehâ – What did you prepare for the Last Hour?
-         Hubballâhi ve Rasulihî – The love of God and His Prophet.

Thereupon God's Messenger said:
-         Ente meamen ahbebte – You are with the ones whom you love. [Riyâzus-Salihîn p. 282. 45. part; Hayatus-Sahabe II (the Lives of the Companions), 476; Cevâhirul-Buharî, p. 408; et-Tâc V, 80; Tefsîrul-Kurânil-Azîm II, 330 (about the verse Al-Anfal Surah, 8:74)]

The script of the hadith is from Muslim (one of the hadith narrators). In the script where Bukhari and Muslim agree, there is the following part:
“I did not prepare very much fasting, prayer, and alms for the Last Hour, but I love God and His Messenger very much.” [Riyâzus-Salihîn p. 282; et-Tâc, V, 80; Cevâhirul-Buhârî, p. 408 (edeb. 96)]

Accroding to the narration of Enes (may God be pleased with him), an Arab villager came to Medina and this conversation took place in front of a group of people. This person is not someone who only claims to love God and His Messenger but does not have good deeds. According to the unanimous statements of Bukhari and Muslim, it is understood that, though he did not have many extra good deeds to accompany the obligatory ones, he performed his prayers, fasted and loved God and the Prophet dearly. Otherwise, just by saying 'I love', one cannot say one really loves God and His Messenger. As a piece of advice to Enes b. Malik, the Prophet said: “...Whoever keeps alive my Sunnat (an act which the Prophet performed; not required but carries much reward) loves me, and whoever loves me is with me in the Paradise.” (Tirmizî, Edeb. 63). The essence in love is to try to be on the way of the beloved and to live one's life according to the beloved. As is expresed above, one will truly pass to the afterlife on the religion of one's beloved.

21 Does verse 158 of the chapter of al-Anam indicate the sun rising from the west, which is a sign of Doomsday?

A person can repent and start worshipping until he enters the grave or Doomsday strikes. What is meant in this verse is the sun rising in the west, which is the beginning of the end of the test and the last sign of Doomsday. That is, people will not undergo many extraordinary states during the test and even if they do, it will be veiled to some extent. However, when the sun rises in the west, it will clearly mean that it is the time for Doomsday and the end of the test.

The following is stated in the verse that is mentioned above:

"Are they waiting to see if the angels come to them, OR THY LORD (HIMSELF), OR CERTAIN OF THE SIGNS OF THY LORD! THE DAY THAT CERTAIN OF THE SIGNS OF THY LORD DO COME, no good will it do to a soul to believe in them then, if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its Faith. Say: ’Wait ye: we too are waiting’" (al-Anam, 6/158)

Ahmed b. Hanbal, the great Islamic scholar, states that the Prophet (pbuh) said “the sun rising in the west” about the phrase “CERTAIN OF THE SIGNS OF THY LORD” mentioned in the verse. With this verse, all people are asked to believe before the signs of our Lord showing Doomsday is approaching. Some of the hadiths of the Prophet regarding this verse are as follows:

“DOOMSDAY WILL NOT STRIKE UNTIL THE SUN RISES IN THE WEST. WHEN THE SUN RISES IN THE WEST EVERYBODY WILL SEE IT AND BELIEVE ALL TOGETHER."

"This is ‘…the day that certain of the signs of thy Lord do come, no good will it do to a soul to believe in them then …’ (al-An’am, 6/158). Doomsday will definitely strike...." (Sahih-i Bukhari, XIV/6426)

"DOOMSDAY WILL NOT STRIKE UNLESS THE SUN RISES IN THE PLACE WHERE IT SETS. When the people in the world see it, they will believe." (Sunani Ibn Majah, IX/4362)

Great Islamic tafsir scholars interpret this verse unanimously as above and interpreted it as a sign of “the sun rising in the west”. The following verse in the chapter of al-Qiyamah,

“And the sun and moon are joined together….” (al-Qiyamah, 75/9)

is also interpreted as evidence for “the sun rising in the west”.

- How will this Great Sign occur?

When the sun rises in the west, everybody will believe. Since there is no will any longer,the door of repentance will be closed. Then, the belief and worshipping of the people who had not believed before and their charities and righteous deeds will not be accepted; they will be worthless. (1) For, it will be too late.

When the sun rises in the place where it sets, worshipping and testing will end; will of the people will be removed. The door of repentance (2), which will be open up to that time, will be closed; repentance will not be of any use after that time. Indicating this point, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states that when the sun rises in the west, there will be no will in man:

“If there were no will, there would be no accountability. It is because of this mystery and wisdom that miracles are displayed only rarely, and in this realm of accountability, like some allegorical verses of the Qur’an, the signs of the end of the world, which will be visible and seen, are obscure and open to interpretation. Since when the sun rises in the west it will be so clear everyone will be compelled to affirm it, the door of repentance will be closed and repentance and belief will no longer be accepted. For the Abu Bakr’s and the Abu Jahl’s will be equal in their affirmation of it.” (Şuâlar (Rays), p. 884)

In the hadiths, “the sun rising in the west” is regarded in the literal sense; the Prophet (pbuh) stated the following in a hadith reported by Abu Dharr:

“I entered the mosque when the sun was setting. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was sitting. He said,

‘O Abu Dharr! Do you know where the sun is going?’ I said,

‘Allah and His Messenger know.’ He said,

‘It is going in order to get permission for prostration and it is given the permission. One day, it will be addressed, ‘Rise here!’ and it will rise in the place where it sets.’After that, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) read the following verse:

‘And the Sun runs his course for a period determined for him.’ (Yasin, 36:38)” (3)

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states thatthe sun rising in the west should be thought in its literal sense, that is, rising in the west and that it does not need any interpretation. However, he also adds the following:

“Allah knows best, its apparent cause will be this: with the disappearance from the head of the earth of the Qur’an, which is like its intelligence, the earth will go mad. With Divine permission, on another planet colliding with it, its rotation will be reversed. Through Divine will, its journeying from west to east will be reversed to from east to west, and the sun will start to rise in the west. Yes, the Qur’an is ‘the firm cord of Allah’ which binds the earth to the sun, and the ground to the Divine Throne. If its gravity is broken, the string holding the earth would be undone, it would become dizzy and deranged, and with its reversed uncontrolled motion, the sun would rise in the west. There is another interpretation, which is that due to a collision, Doomsday would break forth at the Divine command...” (Şualar (Rays), p.496-497)

There will be very little time between the sun rising in the west and Doomsday striking. This issue is mentioned in hadiths andthe following is stated in a hadith: The Hour will be established while two men spreading a garment in front of them will not be able to sell it, nor fold it up when a man has milked his she-camel and has taken away the milk but he will not be able to drink it, before a man repairing a tank (for his livestock) is able to water (his animals) in it, and when a person has raised a morsel (of food) to his mouth but will not be able to eat it. (4) However, it should not be thought that they all will take place in a few hours. This is metaphorical like the other issues and aims to state that the time is short.

References:

(1) Muslim, Iman, 248; Ibn Majah, Fitan, 32.
(2) Ibn Majah, Fitan, 32.
(3) Tirmidhi, Fitan, 22.
(4) Bukhari, Fitan, 25; Musnad, II/313.

22 Who is Mahdi? How can we know about Mahdi?

We think that if some points about the Mahdi are well known, the narrations and comments about this issue will be better understood. This is as follows:

-The issue of Mahdi is not included in the faith. That’ is to say; if a believer denies the Mahdi, he will not be out of the religion; he will only become deprived of his light and he will not benefit from his service.

-It is difficult to determine the Mahdi as a person. Almost every group tends to see its master or sheik as the Mahdi.

-It is different to be the Mahdi and to suppose oneself as the Mahdi. Sometimes some mad people go forth and present themselves as the Mahdi or Jesus Christ. However, the Mahdi invites not into believing in his being the Mahdi, but into Islam. A prophet says, “I am the messenger of God; follow me.” However, the Mahdi cannot say, “I am the Mahdi; follow me, otherwise you will fall into unbelief.”

-Every century is in need of a meaning of a Mahdi to save believers from despair; in other words, every century has its specific share from the meaning of Mahdi.

-Bediuzzaman Said Nursi gives very valuable information about the Mahdi. One of the most important ones of these is as follows:

This not the time of individualism. In the past, wonderful people came and performed valuable services. However, in our time, unbelief attacks as a collective identity. Against this attack even, the greatest personal resistance is bound to be defeated. For this reason, we must form a collective identity against this collective attack.

-Bediüzzaman mentions three dimensions of being Mahdi:
1-Faith
2-Life
3-the Shari’a

Though Risale-i Nur serves mainly for faith, we can say that it takes the lead in also the other two dimensions. Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was in the base of the cause of Islam and laid the foundation for the Islamic services yet to come. There is no obstruction for a similar situation to be also in question for the issue of Mahdi. In other words, the service of faith will affect the other two fields of service. On the other hand, while service is being made in the wide circles of life, it can be said that these services are fulfilled through the help of some extraordinary people. “The great duties of the Possessor are borne only by His great people.” Of course, in undertaking these sacred services, some champions of spiritual realms will be employed. “As every forest has lion peculiar to itself, every field has its own peculiar brave men.”

-Questions like “Who is the Mahdi? When will he come?” may sometimes prevent man from his real duties. Instead of this, dealing directly with active service should be chosen. We should especially avoid dragging the issue of being Mahdi into the field of dispute. As is narrated, while Said Nursi was in exile, a pure-hearted says, “Master, don’t be sad. The Mahdi will come and put everything upright.” Said Nursi makes this meaningful reply: “Let the Mahdi find you on duty when he comes!”

To read further more about this subject, Please click on the links given below;

Who is the ‘Mahdi’? What does it mean as a term?

It is understood from some of the accounts regarding Mahdi that he is described as an extraordinary person. How should we assess such accounts?

What Will Mahdi Do?

Mahdi and Dajjal

23 Who will be affected by Doomsday? Is it true that the spirits of believers will be removed before Doomsday strikes?

During the end of time, there will be a lot of mischief and disorders one after another; people will abandon the Quran and belief. Ethical people will live in the mountains; justice will exist by name only; oppression and cruelty will cover and surround the world like dark clouds. They are mentioned in the hadiths of the Prophet and they are known very well. As Doomsday approaches, people will go to bed as believers but wake up in the morning as unbelievers; or they will wake up as believers but will go to bed as unbelievers because of the events that take place and the words one utters during the day.(1) It has been known for a long time that Doomsday will strike and affect the evil people who lost their religion and belief and the unbelievers that represent and spread the evil and that the spirits of believers will be removed just before Doomsday strikes so that the believers will not experience that terror as a sign of the mercy of Allah due to their belief (2); it has logical explanations because Allah created this world so that people would believe in Him and worship Him. It is normal for the owner of a land to cancel the contract when the tenant does not act in accordance with his wishes. We can liken it to a business that has been set up to function in accordance with the wishes of the owner. The easiest and most natural solution for a business that does not make any profit is to end it or establish it somewhere else; it is the best logical solution. Therefore, it is quite natural that Doomsday will strike and affect those who deny it so that some of them will see the result through their own eyes.  As a matter of fact, we will quote some of the Quranic verses regarding its denial by the unbelievers so that the issue will be understood more easily:

“The Unbelievers say "Never to us will come the hour": say "Nay! but most surely, by my Lord, it will come upon you― by Him Who knows the unseen― from Whom is not hidden the least little atom in the Heavens or on earth: nor is there anything less than, that or greater, but is in the Record Perspicuous”(Saba, 34:3)

Stating that everything, from the smallest one to the biggest one, everything that is in the sky, is recorded in His knowledge or what is meant by the record is the Quran or lawh al-mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet), in which the destiny of everything is recorded, Allah declares openly that Doomsday will strike and affect unbelievers. The priggish attitude of  the unbelievers and their words of like “Doomsday will not affect us; it will only affect you” that can be heard today, too, as if they have a contract with Allah and making fun of the believers are enough for the strike of Doomsday; they push the button by doing so. When it is a matter of obstinacy, things that are not normally expected to take place can take place. When a criminal or an ordinary man says to the judge, “You cannot condemn me” that judge will definitely condemn that person, if he has honor, even only for that insult and send him to prison; he will even build a prison if there is not one. Besides, Doomsday will definitely strike and Allah will reckon people. It is an absolute fact that is known or need to be learned. However, He knows its real cause and the exact time through His pre-eternal knowledge; therefore, He only delays its time.

“We created not the heavens and the earth and all between them but for just ends, and for a term appointed: but those who reject Faith turn away from that whereof they are warned.”(al-Ahqaf, 46:3) It is in vain that they deny it and try to escape from responsibility. As a matter of fact, they will regret for it and be sorry but it will be too late:

– Then woe that Day to those that treat (truth) as Falsehood!”(at-Tur, 52:11)

Apart from those verses, there are many clear hadiths of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh); one of them is the following hadith narrated by Anas (may Allah be pleased with him):

– Doomsday will not strike or affect any person who says, ‘Allah Allah’.”(3) Or, if we translate the hadith as it is narrated by Tirmidhi, “Doomsday will not strike until there exists nobody who says ’Allah Allah’ on earth.” In another hadith, it is stated that the spirits ofall believers will be removed just before Doomsday strikes and there will be no good people left in the world and that Doomsday will strike and affect the unbelievers.

According to a hadith reported by Hazrat Aisha, one day, the Prophet said,

“– Night and day will not disappear unless people start to worship Lat and Uzza again!” Thereupon, Hazrat Aisha said,

“– O Messenger of Allah! When Allah sent down this verse: “It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it)”(as-Saff, 61:9), I thought it had been completed. Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) said,

– Whatever Allah said regarding the issue will take place. Then, Allah will send a nice wind. Through this wind, the spirits of those who have even the slightest belief in their hearts will be removed. Only the people who are no good will be left in the world and they will return to the religion of their ancestors.”(4) In another hadith reported from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), it is stated that the wind is softer than silk and that it will come from the direction of Yemen. (5)

Both hadiths have a similar meaning: All of the believers will be purified and their spirits will be removed just before Doomsday strikes either as a grace of Allah or as a part of the destiny of the Day of Judgment. The unbelievers who see the terror that day will try to believe but their belief will not be accepted. Allah will make all of the believers die beforehand lest they should experience that terror. We do not know but maybe that moment of terror will petrify them and they will lose their belief. However, most of those who do not believe until that time will be forced by the terror of that day and the power of Allah to believe; it is stated clearly in the verses that we quoted and in hadiths. In one of those hadiths reported by Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) said,

– Doomsday will not strike until the sun rises from the point where it sets. When it rises in the west, people will see it and all of them will believe. However, that belief will not be of any use to the people who have not believed before or who have not done any good deeds by the encouragement of their belief.”(6) At that time, the test will have ended.

Therefore, it will not be possible to enter the venue of examination and to take the test again.

In a hadith reported by Huzayfa regarding the strike of Doomsday when unbelievers are alive and mentioning the dishonor of the people who are shown respect, Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) said,

 – Doomsday will not strike until the least honorable and dishonest people are regarded as respectable people.(7)

Whether those dishonest people who will live just before Doomsday claim that they have believed or not, it is not important in the eye of Allah. Therefore, they form one of the reasons for Doomsday because what matters in the eye of Allah is to have full belief and to live as one believes. Otherwise, everybody thinks they believe based on their own views and utters “Allah” or religious terms unconsciously.

(1) – Tirmidhi, Fitan, 30; Ramuz al-Ahadith, 299:4.

(2) – Bukhari, Fitan, 13; Riqaq, 9; Tecrid-i Sarih Trns. XII, 182; Muslim, Iman, 234; Fitan, 52; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 9, 35, 37; Ibn Majah, Fitan, 25; Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Şualar, p. 490-491.

(3) – Muslim, Iman 234, (148); Tirmidhi, Fitan 35, (2208).

(4) – Muslim, Fitan 52, (2907).

(5) – Muslim, Iman 185, (117).

(6) – Bukhari, Riqaq 39, Istithqa 27, Zakah 9; Muslim, Iman 248, (157); Abu Dawud, Malahim 12, (4312).

(7) – Tirmidhi, Fitan 37, (2210).

Please click on the link given below;

What are the signs of the Doomsday (Qiyamah)?

24 Does the Qur'an prophetize this current time period as an end of an era or the end of life altogether?

Just as the birth of the child is the end of the life in the mother’s uterus and the beginning of the world life so too is the death the end of the world life and the beginning of the life in the hereafter.

What are the logical and scientific proofs of the doomsday and the destruction of the universe? 

In the chapters of al-Inshiqaq, al-Infitar, at-Takwir, Al-Zalzala and in many verses in the Quran, the strike of the doomsday, and the astonishing and terrifying magnificent events that will take place then like the scattering of the stars, the darkening and fading of the sun, the sun colliding and uniting with the moon, the breakdown of the sky, the sky becoming red and like the glowing fire are narrated vividly and described for us. In those verses, along with the events that will take place with the strike of the doomsday, the events like the scattering of the stars, the fading of the light of the sun and great earthquakes are pointed out.
The verse "And it is He Who made the Night and the Day to follow each other: for such as have the will to celebrate His praises or to show their gratitude." (al-Furqan, 62) indicates that just as the seconds show that a minute passes and the minutes show that an hour passes, so too does the passing of the day and night show that the great hour will act and the doomsday will strike. That is, man understands that his life and the universe are getting older and that one day he will die and the doomsday will strike as he sees that time passes when seconds, minutes, hours and days follow one another. If the night and the day continued constantly, if we lived in the night and the day constantly, we would not understand the passing of the time; thus we would not understand that our life and the life of the universe were decreasing. Therefore, such and advice can be included in the scope of the taking advice in the verse.   (1)
It is possible to perceive a meaning like that from the word yawm (day) that is often used in the Quran in the phrases like yawm ad-din, yawm al-qiyama, yawm al-akhir. The word al-yawm (the day) indicates an intuitional proof of raising from the dead due to the appropriateness among the day, year, human life and the rotating of the world. It is like the state of the spindles of a clock that count seconds, minutes, hours and days. When a person sees a spindle that completes its cycle, he thinks through his intuition that – even if after a while – the other will complete its cycle too. Similarly, a person who sees the special doomsdays like days and years that are continuously repeated understands through his intuition that the endless bliss will emerge for the mankind in the morning of the Gathering. (2)
We can understand from the following reality that it is possible for the universe to collapse and the doomsday to strike: science has proved that the universe is created without leaving any doubt and it has managed to show what happened in the first seconds of the creation. The calculations have shown that the universe was created about 13-15 billion years ago. (3) Thus, rational and experimental evidence shows that the universe was created later. The fact that it was created later proves that it will end and that it is not irrational that it will end. (4) What has a beginning will definitely have an end. This universe is not pre-eternal; it is not post-eternal, either.(5)
The fact that we see the beings like men, animals, plants and other beings are born, grow and die, which can be regarded as doomsday for them, implies that there will be a doomsday in the universe.
As a matter of fact, there is growth and development in everything that is subject to the law of growth. Therefore, that thing has a natural lifespan. Everything that has a natural lifespan has a time of death; it is impossible to avoid death. It is impossible for man, who is a small universe, to avoid death; similarly, the universe, which is like a big man, is bound to die. A tree is subject to destruction and decay; similarly, the universe, which originates from the tree of creation, cannot avoid destruction that takes place to be repaired... The day when truth mentioned in the following verses will definitely come: "When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; When the stars fall, losing their luster; When the mountains vanish (like a mirage)... (at-Takwir, 1-13), "When the Sky is rent asunder..." (al-Inshiqaq, 1-5. Thus, the death sound of the universe, which is like a big man, in the space will be heard with a strange growl and a terrifying noise. (6)
As it is indicated above, it is certain scientifically that a universal doomsday will strike. All of the evidences indicate that the universe has a limited lifespan. (7) What is wondered now is not whether the doomsday will strike or not but when and how it will strike because there are a lot of causes for the death of the universe. The question is which one will take place first. (8)
Under the light of the determinations of today, we can list the causes that can make it possible for the universe to collapse and the doomsday to strike as follows: 1. The scattering of the universe as a result of its continuous expansion (open universe model) or by the slowing down of that expansion one day, the becoming smaller of the universe and as a result going back to its first state, ending the universe (closed universe model) is in question.(9)
In the open universe model, the stars will die one by one as they use up their fuels and the universe will become a big expanding graveyard.(10)
In the closed universe model, an overall doomsday will finish everything without waiting for the death of the stars one by one. (11) Accordingly, the fact that the mass tends to increase will increase the force of gravity; the universe will stop expanding and it will inevitably collapse by being influenced by its own force of gravity. (12)
The universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. The expansion has continued because the force of expansion has not been able to overcome the force of gravity based on mass up to now. If the force of gravity dominates the expansion, the expansion will stop. When the force of gravity becomes dominant in a universe that is too dense and closed, everything will collapse spontaneously. The sky will split like a pressed orange. The space will start to close with a reverse action from the endless horizons. The stars and planets will turn to a cosmic soup consisting of radiation, electrons and nuclei. The sky will have a red color all over due to excessive heat. The universe will turn to a slender and elegance rose bud that is closing not to a flower that is blossoming. (13)
2. The continuous increase of entropy (14)': There has been a continuous flow of heat from hot substances to cold substances since the creation of the universe. However, when the difference of heat among the substances is balanced and becomes equal in time, the action in the universe will stop and a heat death, a thermodynamic doomsday will be inevitable. (15)
Sir James Jeans, an astronomy scientist says the following relating the issue: "...To argue that the total energy  of the universe cannot diminish, and therefore the universe must go on for ever is like arguing that as a clock weight cannot diminish, the clock-hand must go round and round for ever. Energy cannot run downhill forever, and, like the clock-weight, it must touch bottom at last. And so the universe cannot go on forever; sooner or later, the time must come when its last erg of energy has reached the lowest of the ladder of descending availability, and at this moment, the active life of the universe must cease. The energy is still there, but it has lost all capacity for change; it is as little able to work the universe as the water in a flat pond is able to turn a water wheel. We are left with a dead, although possibly a warm, universe - a heat death. Such is the teaching of modern thermodynamics. There is no reason for doubting or challenging it and indeed it is so fully confirmed by the whole of our terrestrial experience that it would be difficult to find any point at which it could be open to attack".(16)
3. Black Holes: Although it has not been proved definitely, black holes, which are definitely accepted by many scientists, are things that are regarded as the causes of the doomsday.
If a star that dies is three or more times bigger than our son, it does not remain in the level of a neutron star; it becomes a black hole. It means its exit from the realm of matter. That black hole neither breaks down nor gets smaller. It gets bigger and bigger. The black hole that swallows everything that it meets gets bigger continuously. As it gets bigger, the limit of its gravity force increases, and that getting bigger goes on with an increasing speed. Thus, in time, it may get so big as to swallow the whole galaxy it is in. It is even possible that the whole universe can become a black hole. (17)
4. The strike of the doomsday is possible if one of the causes that the life of the world depends upon disappears. For instance, if the sun, which is our source of heat and light, uses up its energy and burns out; the life in the world will end. The fact that is expressed by the verse "When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up" (at-Takwir, 1) is also stated by the science.
Each star loses its brightness and fades away. One day, the sun will fade a way too. (18) Yes, the sun will have an end too. The sun, which is one of the billions of stars in the universe, will turn the hydrogen in its store to helium and finish its fuel; then it will presumably lose its life as a white dwarf about five billion years later.(19)
Apart from those causes, many other serious incidences that can take place in the universe are enough for the doomsday to strike. Even if we consider the world alone, we will see that many disasters that can take place will be enough for the destruction of the world. For instance, the earthquake that almost everybody in the world has witnessed reminds us about the doomsday of the world. The fact that big cities are overturned as a result of an 8-magnitude earthquake and that millions of people die shows that an earthquake with a magnitude of a few times bigger that can affect the whole world is enough to end the world.
The center of the earth contains substances with very high temperatures. G. Gamow, a geographer says the following: "There exists a natural blazing hell under the blue seas. In other words, we stand on a big sewage of dynamites. One day, it may explode and overturn the system of the earth completely. "(20)
Moreover, the meteorites that fall down on the earth can bring the world to an end if they fall down in great numbers and quantities. Asteroids and comets can be the cause of the doomsday just like the meteorites. Comets can cause great damage although not as heavy as asteroids. When the comet Halley approached the world in 1910, some people preferred to commit suicide. Many other causes like that can be listed. (21)
The causes in the universe can be included among the signs of the doomsday stated in the following verse: "Do they then only wait for the Hour― that it should come on them of a sudden? But already have come some tokens thereof..." (Muhammad, 18). Yes, the signs of the doomsday are certain but Allah knows their characterisitics.
It can be calculated that long years need to pass for one or some of those causes to take place. However, it should not be forgotten that what is unknown is more than what is known in the universe. Allah’s will is enough to do away with the calculations. Some large strong buildings that seem to be able to stand for long years are razed to the ground by a sudden earthquake; similarly, the universe can be destroyed like that. Therefore, the doomsday is certain but no one knows when it will break:
"They ask thee about the (final) Hour― when will be its appointed time? Say: "The knowledge thereof is with my Lord (alone): none but He can reveal as to when it will occur. Heavy were its burden through the heavens and the earth. Only, all of a sudden will it come to you. They ask thee as if thou wert eager in search thereof: Say: "The knowledge thereof is with Allah (alone), but most men know not."" (al-Araf, 187).
Footnotes

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1. Razi gives the meaning of that verse as, "so that a thinking person will know that there is a being that transform them from one state to another and that changes them by observing them following one another". (See Razi, XXIV, 93). As it is seen, Razi points out that the existence of Allah is proved through that verse. However, since a verse may indicate various issues, it is possible that the verse contains the meaning above too.
2. Nursî, İşaratu'l-İ'caz, p. 37.
3. Taşkın Tuna, Uzay ve Dünya, İstanbul, 1982, p. 21, 23.
4. Sharqawi, p. 296.
5. Şadi Eren, Kur'ân'da Gayb Bilgisi, Işık yay., İzmir, 1995, p. 217.
6. Nursî, İşarâtu'l-İ'caz, p. 242-243; Abdülmecid Ünlükul, İmân Dili, Konya, 1961, p. 58-59.
7. Paul Davies, Son Üç Dakika (The Last Three Minutes), trns. Sinem Gül, Varlık Yayınları, İstanbul, 1994, p.30.
8. Hüseyin Demirkan. Yıldızların Esrarı, İstanbul, 1978, 14. imp., p. 31.
9. Davies, p. 126; Steven Weinberg, İlk Üç Dakika (The First Three Minutes), Tübitak Yayınları, 6.imp. Ankara, 1996, p. 139; Sadettin Merdin, Tanrıya Koşan Fizik, Timaş, İstanbul 1995, p. 376 et al.
10. Ümit Şimşek. Big Bang Kâinatın Doğuşu, İstanbul, 1980, p.74.
11. ibid, p. 74
12. Tuna, Uzayın Sırları, Boğaziçi yay. İstanbul, 1992, p. 368.
13. Davies, p.86, 126; Weinberg, p. 139-141; Tuna, Uzayın Sırları, p.144, 369-370; Merdin, 379
14. Entropy is used to express the insignificance of energy. With the mathematical expression, the rate of the amount of heat of a system to its absolute heat is called the entropy of that system.
15. Lincoln Barnett, Evren ve Einstein, Varlık Yayınları, İstanbul, 1969, p. 114 vd; Davies, p.21, 24;
16. Senih, p. 6-7 (Sir James Jeans, quoted from ‘Etrafımızdaki Kâinat’ (The Universe Around Us)).
Since the universe is exhausted irrevocably with a finite speed, it is not possible for it to exist pre-eternally. Something that is exhausted with a finite speed cannot be pre-eternal; it will have died up to now. Thus, all of the evidences indicating that the universe will eventually end also indicate as absolutely that it has a certain beginning in the past (Barnett, p. 119; Davies, p. 25)
17. Davies, p.66, also see ibid, p. 63-74, Demirkan, p. 44, 46; Tuna, Uzayın Sırları, p. 268-271.
18. Davies, p. 24; Tuna, Hayat Kaynağımız Güneş, Yeni Asya yay. İstanbul, 1983, p. 22.
19. Davies, p. 58; Tuna, Güneş Sistemi, Yeni Asya yay. İstanbul, 1983, p. 53; Uzayın Sırları, p. 87; Hayat Kaynağımız Güneş, p. 22; Demirkan, p.18.
20. Han, al-Isaâmu Yatahadda, p. 82 (Biography of The Earth, quoted from p 62).
21. Davies, p. 15-17, Senih, p.11-15; see also Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa. Yaratılış ve Ötesi (Sarairu'l-Quran), Edited by: Ali Turgut, Kültür Basın Yayın Birliği, İstanbul, nd., p. 230, 267. 

Veysel Güllüce (Ass Prof.)

25 Is Mahdi a radical muslim?

Do not use the term radical (fundamental) for Mahdi. Mahdi is a religious scholar who will inform people about the real Islam. The essence of the religion is making things easy, not difficult. Mahdi will bring ease. However, he cannot do something like turning a deed which is haram to halal.

Please click on the link given below;

What are the properties of Mahdi?

26 When and how will the Doomsday take place?

I will dare to make a guess about the date of Doomsday although it exceeds my authority to say “The doomsday will come at such and such a date.” Of course, no one can be sure of what will become of one the next day. However, when death draws nearer, you feel it. The Creator says that He wills to keep doomsday, which is becoming evident as it draws nearer, a secret and says “My design is to keep it hidden.”(1) And when it draws nearer and nearer, you begin to say that it is about to happen and your prediction gets nearer to the truth.

Allah warns us as follows: “They ask thee about the (final) Hour - when will be its appointed time? Say: The knowledge thereof is with my Lord (alone): None but He can reveal as to when it will occur. Heavy were its burden through the heavens and the earth. Only, all of a sudden will it come to you." (2) “Verily the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone). Nor does anyone know what it is that he will earn on the morrow.” (3) “The (Judgment) ever approaching draws nigh.” (4) “And will ye laugh and not weep, wasting your time in vanities.” (5)

I dreamed of the world coming to the end on the night of 26th October 1992. When I understood that the Hour had come, I ran through the streets; I grasped everyone I encountered from arms and told them that we should prepare for the Hereafter. Whomever I grasped escaped before I finished my words. While I was running with the pain of not expressing myself, the downfall began and I retired to a corner and watched death.

The Earth was shaken with waves; flames gushed out of the cracked and scattered ground. I was afraid of the masses of rock, mount and flames that would fall onto me. I fell on my knees and prayed: “Oh Allah, do not make me suffer pain!”

 I lost my body in the darkness. Then I opened my eyes on the burnt-up debris; I was going somewhere. I was feeling sorry saying “Why did we not heed and understand?” The moment I turned my head and saw the ground as black and the heavens as dark, I woke up.

The next morning I went to my work in the TBMM (Turkish Grand National Assembly) Commission of Investigation. Holding in one of my hand the daily newspaper, in the other my tea, I was trying to interpret my dream. I opened one of the pages of the newspaper randomly. My eyes were caught by the heading: “The date of the doomsday is found.” I got exited and shuddered. The news was as follows: “The doomsday everybody expected was finally disclosed: 14th August 2126. The famous astronomer Duncan Stell, from the British-Australian Observatory, stated that a comet with a width of three miles named Swift Tuttle is heading for us with a speed of 37 miles per second and at the reckoned time it will crash the Earth causing an explosion more destructive than a million nuclear bombs.” (6)

I was affected by the news after my dream and made studies about the date of the doomsday. I heard that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said: “The life span of my community will exceed a thousand years, but it will not exceed much one and a half thousand years.” (7) And I saw that it was inferred from a hadith that was evaluated with the reckoning of ‘abjad’ that the year 1545 of the Hegira (2120 CE) might be the year of doomsday. (8). When I gathered other dates like that together, I saw that an interesting similarity between the dates pointed nearly to the same years.

Nine years after this dream, I wanted to write a book about Doomsday and gathered data. (9). I asked one of the authorities of the subject, Prof. Brian G. Marsden, about the developments concerning Swift Tuttle. The e-mail answer of Prof. Marsden dated 17 April 2001 was as follows: “If it were to collide with the Earth during its next crossing, it would happen on 14th August 2126. The comet makes delay with its each crossing. According to the precise reckonings done taking into consideration the observations of the Chinese in the years 68 BC and 188 AD, it was understood that the possibility of a collision at that time is very small.” I asked Prof. Marsden whether there was any possibility of collision in the year 2120. He wrote: “If there is any chance of collision at that time, it may happen with a heavenly body we do not know of yet.”

So the possibility of unknown meteors drawing nearer to the Earth was high. According to the scientists in NASA, the meteor called 2004 MN4 that was discovered in June 2004 and that was 400 meters in diameter might crash the Earth with a possibility of one out of three hundred on 13 April 2029. (10) The closer the meteor gets, the higher the possibility of collision; the possibility reckoned recently is one out of thirty-eight. (11)… How many pieces of news like that will we read; without even taking it seriously at all…

Will there actually be flood after the year 2100? Will natural disorders happen one after another until Doomsday after the fifty-seventy years ahead of us? When will the calamity befall our earth? Every watchful conscience will find its answer.

When the star Neutron, which is fifty thousand years of light away from us, exploded in 2004, the energy issued, in just one second, can only be given off by our sun in one million years. According to the scientists, if that explosion had happened ten light-years nearer to our world, much of the life on earth would have vanished. (12). From now on, the news of doomsday will blow like winds that herald the impending storm. Finally, the real storm will befall us all of a sudden and unexpected. (13).

In the headline of German newspaper ‘Bild’, scientists were warning people against doomsday. One of those scientists, Prof. Sir David King talked to BBC: “If this downfall of the world does not gain momentum, there remain sixty years for us to live peacefully.” (14). Moreover, according to the Washington Worldwatch Institution, there is no world for the generations after our grandchildren. (15). In other words, they mean to say that it is too late.

Shall we fear that the years when our world will no longer go on are about to come and abandon all efforts? On the contrary, the way to deserve eternity passes through efforts to repair and to leave good memoirs. The knowledge of doomsday should lead us to working hard and to good deeds.

The Destruction of the Universe

How will the catastrophe take place? Will it affect only the world and the solar system; or will it cover the entire Universe? Will the doom of the world and that of the solar system and the universe happen at the same time?

“Do they then only wait for the Hour, - that it should come on them of a sudden? But already have come some tokens thereof, and when it (actually) is on them, how can they benefit then by their admonition?” (16). “The Hour will certainly come: Therein is no doubt: Yet most men believe not.” (17)

“To Allah belongeth the Mystery of the heavens and the earth. And the Decision of the Hour (of Judgment) is as the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker: for Allah hath power over all things.” (18). Just like the Creator creates the universe all of a sudden, He also starts the doom all of a sudden. Everything that seems to be going all right suddenly turns upside down.

The dangers against our world are increasing more and more. Recently, a meteor has passed our world at close range. (19) Could the scientist disclose it to the public if they were sure that a meteor is going to crash our world? Mihail Smirnov made the announcement: “No meteor is going to crash the Earth in 175 years.” He thinks “The mankind will have already found the way to destroy meteors by that time.” (20)

According to a research published in the magazine Science, it was ‘discovered’ that a meteor of one kilometer width is going to crash the Earth on 16th March 2880. The scientists believe that they will develop the technology to change the direction of the meteor until that time. Moreover, Jon D. Giorgini, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratories says he is not worried because he thinks they will benefit from the time they have and find a solution. (21) Always the same trick and deception…

Meteors are just the pretext of it. The Divine Power that starts the downfall of the Universe will flow into the Universe through the breath of the angel Israfil. If the energy that spreads from the trumpet of Israfil upsets the energy balance of the Universe, the system will begin to fall apart. Unbalance reaches every atom; the Universe begins to fall down with its galaxies and layers of heavens. That day the trumpet is blown; “The Trumpet will be blown, and so all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will fall dead, except those whom God wills to exempt.” (22)

The Universe is expanding like a rubber cloth that is pulled from each side; every entity grows distant from one another from the atom to galaxies. Scientists say that it may be because of the hidden dark energy present in the Universe. (23) If the Universe is under the control of a hidden energy tens of times greater than it, you can imagine the outcomes of its going backwards.

Whether it is veiled with a cause that is either impending or created suddenly or it is triggered without a cause, the process of collapsing will cover the Earth. Whether a meteor crashes or the energy balance of the Universe is upset or the solar and galactic systems fall down; no matter how, the doom will start.

Imagine what will happen if Allah takes away the power He sends out of the unknown source of the heavens and the earth to electrons. All the wheels of the clock of the universe will break off; the components of the machine of substance will spring from their places like a watch spring. An untold lack of control and order will be experienced followed by a fading out and perishing like foam.

The death of the world is awesome: “When the earthquakes with a violent quaking destined for it, And the earth yields up its burdens…” (24) “When the earth is shaken with a violent shock; And the mountains are shattered and crumble; So they become dust scattered…” (25) That day the earth and mountains will quake; mountains will turn into piles of molten sand!

Death spreads all over the universe. “When the stars are effaced, And when the sky is rent asunder, (27) When the heaven is cleft open; And when the stars fall in disorder and are scattered…(28) The sky will cleft open thereby. His promise (of Resurrection and Judgment) is certainly to be fulfilled.” (29) “When the eyesight is confounded (through fear), when the eyesight is confounded (through fear), and the sun and the moon are joined together, On that Day human will say: "Where is the escape?" (30)

We would fall into darkness if a veil was put between us and the sun. If the Creator halts the reflection of His light and power for just a second, the universe will turn to nothing at this moment. We think up scenarios of doomsday in vain.

The return to non-existence

When doomsday comes, there will be only apathetic and insensitive people living on earth who will be interested only in their material desires. Although they will be seeing all the signs, they will still be reckoning that they will somehow get rescued; they will amuse themselves and continue their disobedience.

They will be shaken by such an uproar of quake that many hearts will burst within breasts. The brain veins of many will thereby split up. Imagine flames that stretch from the horizon to the moon blowing towards you. Seas are pouring down on you just like coming up from heavens. Mountains are torn from their basis; the ground collapses; you watch the earth turning upside down. The ground and the heavens are crying out death.

At the time of the doom, the angels, jinni, devils and souls are weak and desperate, bewildered and shuddered. Since its birth, the universe had not experienced such an unbelievable terror. “O humankind! Keep from disobedience to your Lord in reverence for Him and piety and get under His protection. (Never forget that) the violent convulsion of the Last Hour is an awesome thing.” (31)

Every living being will experience the terror of doomsday. People continue to see events with the eye of soul after they die. The collapse will take place in the presence of the souls that are in the intermediate world of grave. The world of grave will also be scattered. This is mixed with the terror of the ones who expect hell and with the joys of the ones who hope the paradise.

They bring the ones sentenced to death at night to the gallows or to the place of execution… They crown the leaders that succeeded in being selected in big ceremonies… That day everybody feels what will become of them soon. Everything will be evident in the presence of everybody; the biggest questioning of the history will presently take place.

The commandment “The Day when We will roll up heaven as written scrolls are rolled up” (32) will take place. The material of the universe collapses and the systems are scattered. The collapse of the galaxies is followed by the closure of the heavenly layers. Souls and angels also fade away one after another and the final judgment of the verse “Everything is perishable (and so perishing) except His "Face" (His eternal Self and what is done in seeking His good pleasure).” (33) comes true.

The doom has taken place. Time finishes and there remains no entity except Allah. From then on, everything is in the knowledge of only Allah. The last page of a wonderful novel was lived and sent to history. Everything with body and material perished like foam; the universe melted like wax and vanished.

References

(1) The Qur'an, Ta Ha, 15.
(2) The Qur'an, Al-A'raf, 187.
(3) The Qur'an, Luqman, 34.
(4) The Qur'an, An-Najm, 57.
(5) The Qur'an, An-Najm, 60.
(6) See Hürriyet, 27.10.2002. In addition, I mentioned this topic for the first time in my article titled “When will the Doomsday break out?” Which was published in the newspaper Yeni Asya dated 18.11.2002.
(7) Al-Barzanji, Kiyamet Alametleri (Signs of the Doomsday)(Istanbul: Pamuk Publications., 2002) p. 299, quoted from Jalaladdin Suyuti's “al-Kashf'u fi Mujazawati Hazin al-Ummati al-Alfa allazi Dallat Alayh al-Asar”.
(8) Now we are in the year 1426 according to the Hijrah Calendar (based on the Emigration from Mecca to Medina) (2005 AD). See Badiuzzaman, Kastamonu Lahikası, p. 23.
(9) After gathering all data about the Doomsday, when I thought I would be able to write my book, I renewed my computer. Long after the formatting, I learned that the data about the Doomsday were also deleted.
(10) Milliyet, “Will Doomsday break out on 13 April 2029?” (25.12.2004).
(11) Vatan, “The Alarm for Meteor” (10.4.2005).
(12) Hürriyet, “Great explosion in the Milky Way” (20.02.2005).
(13) “It does not come to you except unawares.” (The Qur'an, Al-A'raf, 187).
(14) Hürriyet, “The world has a life of 60 years left” (07.11.2004).
(15) NTVMSNBC, “We have a time of one or two generations left” (10.01.2003).
(16) The Qur'an, Muhammad, 18.
(17) The Qur'an, Al- Mumin, 59.
(18) The Qur'an, An-Nahl, 77.
(19) Hürriyet, “The meteor passed by tangent” (19.03.2004).
(20) Hürriyet, “No meteor will fall down in 175 years.” (05.02.2001).
(21) Akşam, “The Doomsday is after 878 years” (05.04.2002).
(22) The Qur'an, Az-Zumar, 68. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) states that on the right side of the Archangel Israfil, whom he described as “The owner of The Trumpet”, Archangel Gabriel will be positioned; and on Israfil's left side, the Archangel Michael will be positioned. (Abu Dawud, Huruf wa’l-Qiraat 1, 3999). Together with those trees, Archangel Azrael will penetrate the dimensions of the universe and they represent four great areas of energy and the dimension of conscious and command. As we understand, Israfil represents the area of energy which plays a role in Allah's exterminating and resurrecting the universe.
(23) The known baryonic matter (galaxies) in the universe makes up % 4 of the whole body. It is assumed that % 75 is the dark energy and the rest is the dark matter. See http://www.nasa.gov/missions/deepspace/f_dark-energy.html
(24) The Qur'an, Az-Zalzalah, 1-2.
(25) The Qur'an, Al-Waqi'ah, 4-6.
(26) The Qur'an, Al-Muzzammil, 14.
(27) The Qur'an, Al-Mursalaat, 8-11.
(28) The Qur'an, Al-Infitaar, 1-3.
(29) The Qur'an, Al-Muzzammil, 18.
(30) The Qur'an, Al-Qiyamah, 7-10.
(31) The Qur'an, Al-Hajj, 1.
(32) The Qur'an, Al-Anbiya, 104.
(33) The Qur'an, Al-Qasas, 88.
Quoted from the author's book "Sonsuzluk Yolculuğu" (The Journey to Eternity)...

Muhammed Bozdağ (Dr.)

27 What does "to maintain belief will be like grasping a hot coal" mean?

Abu Umayyah ash-Sha'bani narrates: I asked Abu Tha'labah: What is your opinion about the following verse:

"O ye who believe! Guard your own souls: if ye follow (right) guidance, no hurt can come to you from those who stray..."(al-Maida, 5/105).

He said: I swear by Allah, I asked the one who was well informed about it; I asked the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) about it. He said:

"Enjoin one another to do what is good and forbid one another to do what is evil. But when you see niggardliness being obeyed, passion being followed, worldly interests being preferred, everyone being charmed with his opinion, then care for yourself and leave alone what people in general are doing. For, ahead of you are days which will require endurance, in which showing endurance will be like grasping a hot coal. The one who acts rightly during that period will have the reward of fifty men who act as he does."[Abu Dawud, Malahim 17, (4341); Tirmidhi, Tafsir, al-Maida, (3060); Ibn Majah, Fitan 21, (4014)]

People will live in such an era that to practice (maintain) one's religion will be as difficult as grasping a hot coal because a believer will be insulted so much that he will be more debased than his sheep. Many people will not be able to resist this pressure. The weak ones will surrender and they will sell their religion and holy things for a little amount of money. During the course of time, there will be so hard times that somebody will say, "Who will sell his religion to us for a fistful of money?" This question is not in vain: "Many people sell their religion for a small amount of money."

The Prophet (pbuh) states that practicing one's religion under such hard circumstances is more valuable than the other times:

"To worship Allah at times of anarchy, sedition, mischief and chaos is a means of getting rewards like hijrah (migration) to me."

In another narration, Hz. Prophet (pbuh) addresses his Companions as follows to express the hardship of the state at the time of sedition:

"You live at such a time that if any of you abandons one tenth of what he is ordered, he will be destroyed. There will come such a time that a person will attain salvation if he does one tenth of what he is ordered."

Those who can protect their religious persistence are promised fifty times more rewards than worshipping at normal times. When Hz. Prophet (pbuh) was asked a question about the verse,

"Guard your own souls..."

He ended his explanation to Abu Tha'labah as follows:

"...For, ahead of you are days which will require endurance, in which showing endurance will be like grasping a hot coal. The one who acts rightly during that period will have the reward of fifty men who act as he does..."When somebody asked, 'the reward of fifty of them?' the Prophet (pbuh) replied: 'The reward of fifty of you.'

(Prof.Dr. İbrahim CANAN, Kütüb-ü Sitte,  XIII/458-459)

28 Will you explain the hadith "Son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you as a just ruler, will break the Cross, kill the pig and abolish jizyah; wealth will become so abundant that no one will accept it"?

1. (5004)- Hz. Abu Hurayra narrates: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,  

"By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you as a just ruler, will break the Cross, kill the pig and abolish jizyah (a tax taken from the non-Muslims who are in the protection of the Muslim government). Then there will be abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts. A single prostration (sajdah) will be better than the world and everything in it."

Then, Abu Hurayra adds: "Read the following verse if you wish:

"And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he (Jesus) will be a witness against them." (an-Nisa, 4/159). [Bukhari, Buyu 102, Mazalim 31, Anbiya 49; Muslim, Iman 242, (155); Abu Dawud, Malahim 14, (4324); Tirmidhi, Fitan 54, (2234).]

EXPLANATION:

1. According to our belief, Hz. Isa did not die; he was raised to the sky. He lives in the sky with his worldly body. As it is seen in the hadith, he will come down to the earth close to the Day of Judgment and do positive things: He will compensate for the spiritual destruction caused by Dajjal (Anti-Christ). It is stated that when he comes, abundance and welfare will increase; his improvements will not be in the spiritual field only; he will realize economic improvements too.

Breaking the Cross means the abolishment of Christianity and its elimination. If it is considered that the church is behind the West, which is the source of the agony of humanity today, the abolishment of the church means the defeat of the West, saving it from egoism and making it attain real humanity. When the West, which dominates the world politics and economy, accepts the truth, the whole humanity will attain peace. For, the hand of the West is behind all of the social mischiefs and unrests that disturb people. This “Western hand” lies behind all of the agonies of humanity. 

The prohibition of pork is hidden under the breaking of the Cross. For, Christians take the permission of eating pork from their religion. When their religion is abolished, their custom of eating pork will be abolished along with many other wrong beliefs. Besides, it is remarkable that the following stated in a narration: وَلَتَذْهَبَنَّ الشَّحْنَاءُ وَالتَّبَاغُضُ وَالتَّحَاسُدُ "...hostilities, hatred and jealousy will definitely end". Thus, it is stated that the enmity that continued for ages, not centuries, will be eliminated. The deadlock about all those issues was the church. Its abolition by Hz. Isa is a sign that many things will change at once.  

2. The abolition of jizyah means Christians’ becoming Muslims. For, zakah is taken from Muslims, not jizyah. Then, only one religion will remain in the world and there will be nobody to pay jizyah. Some scholars reached the following interpretation from that phrase: "Wealth will increase so much that there will be no poor people to give the money collected from jizyah. Jizya is abandoned due to lack of need." Iyad states the following: "What is meant by the imposition of jizyah may be its imposition on unbelievers. Abundance may occur thanks to jizyah collected from all unbelievers."

Nawawi does not agree with Iyad's interpretation and says, "Hz. Isa will not accept any religion other than Islam." As a matter of fact, the following is stated in one of the conclusions of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal regarding the issue: وَتَكُونُ الدّعْوى وَاحِدَةً "The cause becomes the same (one)."

Nawawi states the following related to Hz. Isa's abolition of jizyah: "Jizyah is legitimate in this shari’ah but its legitimacy is dependent on Hz. Isa's descent." The hadith we are analyzing indicates this. Hz. Isa does not abrogate the decree of jizyah. The Prophet expresses abrogation with this statement of his. Ibn Battal states the following: "We accept jizyah before Hz. Isa's descent because we need it but we will not need wealth after his descent because there will be plenty of wealth during his period. Nobody will accept any goods or money. The following is also possible: The reason why jizyah from Christians and Jews is accepted and is regarded legitimate is the fact that the book they have is doubted to be revelation and they think it is related to ancient shari’ahs. When it becomes possible to see Hz. Isa in person, the doubt mentioned above is removed since their evidences fail and their states become apparent; thus, the attitude toward them becomes in the form of not accepting their jizyah."

We want to attach an annotation of reservation to this interpretation: In this interpretation, it is meant that when Hz. Isa descends, everybody will know and recognize him as Hz. Isa. However, not everybody can know the persons of the end of time clearly. The relatives of those persons and people with high degrees can know them but others cannot. Otherwise, it will be contrary to the secret of testing.

The interpretation that the treasures of the earth will appear as Hz. Isa descends but that nobody will be interested in them “since Doomsday is close” does not sound satisfactory from this point of view.

3. "A single prostration (sajdah) being better than the world and everything in it" is explained as follows: “Nobody will accept sadaqah; therefore, the best way to approach Allah will be only through worshipping and performing prayers.” Some scholars interpret it as follows: "People will hate the world so much that a single prostration will be more beloved than the world and everything in it for them."

Ibnul-Jawzi states the following: "By reading a verse at the end of the narration, Abu Hurayra wanted to indicate that he established a connection between that verse and the phrase "A single prostration (sajdah) will be better than the world and everything in it". For, Abu Hurayra thus indicates that people will improve and they will strengthen their belief, doing good deeds. They will improve so much and attain such a strong belief that they will prefer a single prostration to the world and everything in it. What is meant by prostration is rak’ah."

4. There are various interpretations related to the verse too:

* As it is understood from the hadith, according to Abu Hurayra, the pronoun in "believe in him" and before his death in the verse refers to Hz. Isa. That is, the meaning is as follows: "Everybody from the People of the Book will believe in Hz. Isa before his death." Ibn Abbas interpreted it like that too. The following is stated in a narration from him: "No Jew and Christian will die before believing in Isa but belief at the time of death is of no use."

* Tafsir scholars have different interpretations regarding the issue. According to some of them, the pronoun him “in believe in him” refers to Allah or Muhammad (pbuh). The pronoun his in “before his death” refers to the People of the Book – and even to Hz. Isa. In that case, it is understood that the People of the Book will die by attaining real Islamic belief. According to an interpretation, "Neither Jews nor Christians will die before believing in Hz. Isa (truly)." Nawawi explains this view as follows: Accordingly, the meaning of the verse is as follows:

"Every individual from the People of the Book will believe that Hz. Isa is a slave of Allah and that he is the son of a female slave of Allah after seeing the truths with their eyes at the time of death and before death comes and before the spirit leaves the body (which is informed by verses and hadiths). However, belief in that state will of be no use as it is mentioned in the verse below:

"Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them, and he says, "Now have I repented indeed;" nor of those who die rejecting Faith: for them have We prepared a punishment most grievous." (an-Nisa, 4/18)

Nawawi regards this interpretation more reasonable. He states the following: "For, in the previous interpretation, what is meant by the People of the Book is the People of the Book that were present when Hz. Isa descended. The apparent meaning of the Quran comprehends all of the People of the Book, whether they live at the time of Hz. Isa or previously."

* Some Islamic scholars say, "The descent of Hz. Isa, not other prophets, is based on the wisdom of rejecting Jews because according to their claim they killed Hz. Isa. Allah states that they lied."

* The following is also stated: "When Hz. Isa saw Hz. Muhammad and the qualities of his ummah, he prayed to Allah and asked Him to include him among the ummah of Muhammad; and Allah accepted his prayer. Thus, He gave him life up to the time of his descent as a mujaddid at the end of time. When his time is due, he will come down to the earth and kill Dajjal. His descent will be at the time when Dajjal appears."

Ibn Hajar regards the previous view more reasonable:

* It is controversial how long Hz. Isa will stay in the world when he descends.  
** According to some narrations, he will remain seven years.
** According to some narrations, he will marry after his descent and live for 19 years.
** It is stated in another narration that he will remain in the world for 40 years.
* A narration about Hz. Isa is as follows: "Hz. Isa descends wearing two clothes with the color of red soil; he breaks the cross, kills the pig, abolishes jizyah and invites people to Islam. Allah eliminates all religions except Islam during his period. The earth becomes secure. Lions and camels graze together. Children play with snakes."
* There is controversy about whether Hz. Isa died before he was raised to the sky but the following verse regarding the issue is essential:

"Behold! Allah said: ‘O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme...’" (Aal-i Imran, 3/55).

* It is controversial how old Hz. Isa was when he was raised to the sky; some scholars say he was 33 while others say 120.  

(Prof. Dr. İbrahim Canan, Kütüb-i Sitte)

29 “The lifespan of this ummah will exceed a thousand years but it will not exceed one thousand and five hundred years.” Is this statement a hadith?

a) Suyuti is the greatest hadith scholar of his time. His determination that the lifespan of this ummah will not exceed 1,500 years - not a direct hadith translation - is a conclusion derived from many hadiths. (see al-Hawi, lil-Fatawi, Beirut, 1424/2004, 2/103…)

- One of the numbers that Suyuti accepts as the basic criterion in this regard is the following hadith: “The life of the world is seven thousand years and the Prophet came in the last thousand years.” Suyuti, who cites the sources, states that the hadith narrations coming from Ibn Abbas regarding the issue as -narrated by some scholars – are sound. (see al-Hawi, 2/106)

- Then, since Suyuti lived in the 9th Hijri century and the apocalypse did not happen until that day, the remaining life of the world should be calculated as 900. Suyuti did just that. After the date he was found, he calculated the remaining time based on the timing of the events mentioned in the hadiths.

He included the hadiths that listed signs of the Apocalypse such as Dajjal, Jesus, Mahdi, the rising of the sun in the west, and based his conclusion on the numbers that took into account certain processes there.

- Finally, this conclusion is an estimation, but it is a strong estimation based on scientific evidence.

- The writer of Ruhul-Bayan mentions this issue in the tafsir of the chapter of al-Qamar and briefly points to the issue with statements that seem to be based on Suyuti’s findings. (see Ruhul-Bayan, Beirut, nd., 9/262)

Since the Hijri date, on which we wrote this information, shows the year 1436, approximately 500 years have passed since Suyuti, and the fact that the apocalypse has not happened until now confirms his scientific inferences in a way.

- That Badiuzzaman Said Nursi’s statement that Doomsday will strike around 1540 H in the calculations he deduced from the signs of the verses and hadiths and abjad values (see Kastamonu Lahikası, p. 27) also supports the determinations of Suyuti. No one but Allah can know the exact time of Doomsday with certainty. However, the inferences made by these two mujaddids from verses and hadiths reveal a strong scientific possibility called “zann ghalib”.

b) Ahmad b. Hanbal narrated this hadith from Abu Musa al-Ashari.

Our Prophet (pbuh) said:

“The elimination of my ummah will be with ta’n and taun.” They said,

“O Messenger of Allah! We know Ta’un (plague), but what is ta’n?” He answered as follows:

“Ta’n is the attack of your enemies from the jinn. However, there is martyrdom in both of them.” (Ahmad. b. Hanbal, Musnad, Muassasatu-Risala, 1421/ 2001, 32 /294, 520)

- Ibn Hajar states that this hadith is sound. (see Fathul-Bari, Beirut, 1379, 10/182)

Hakim includes the following narration expressing the same meaning: The Prophet (pbuh) prayed as follows:

“O Allah! Determine the destruction/elimination of my ummah as being killed in your way with ta’n and ta’un!” (Hakim, 2/102)

Hakim states that this narration is “sound” and Dhahabi (ibid) confirms him.

- Scholars understood the following from this hadith:

The Prophet (pbuh) wanted his ummah to die with the highest level of martyrdom. And it is to be killed in the way of Allah by the hands of people or jinn who are enemies (unbelievers). (see Ibn Hajar, 10/182)

This last narration also exists in Ibn Hanbal. Hafiz Haythami states that both of these narrations in Ibn Hanbal are sound. (see Majmauz-Zawaid, 2/311-312)

c) The answer to the question “Is it a hadith or a verse that there will be a group that cling to the truth until the Day of Judgment?” is it is a “hadith”. (see Muslim, Imarah, 170)

- Badiuzzaman Said Nursi also point to this hadith and states the following:

“In the second hour of the tenth day in Ramadan, the following hadith came to my mind: A community from my ummah will always stand firm on the true path determined by the Quran and will fight spiritually against their opponents until the Day of Judgment.  Maybe I was reminded about it because I was thinking of how long the disciples of the Risale-i Nur would continue. The phrase ظَاهِرِينَ عَلَى الْحَقِ (shadda is taken into account), whose jafr reckoning is one thousand five hundred and six (1506), implies that they will continue their duty until this date obviously and apparently maybe highly probably, and in secrecy and in defeat until forty-two.” (See Kastamonu Lahikası, pp. 27-28)

30 The following is stated in a hadith: "When a person does only one-tenth of what is ordered, he will be saved." How should we understand it?

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) addressed his Companions as follows:

"You are in such a time that if any of you abandons one-tenth of what is ordered, he will be destroyed; then, there will be some timewhen a person who does only one-tenth of what is ordered will be saved.” (Ramuzul-Ahadith p. 136, 1753, hadith Tabarani filkabir, Ibn Adiy, Abu Hurayra)

The phrase "to do one-tenth of it" in the hadith is in terms of quality, not quantity.

That is, along with the truths of belief, it will be enough for the Muslims at the end of time to do one-tenth of the worshipping like prayer and fasting and in general practicing Islam that the Companions did in terms of quality.

Otherwise, it does not mean to perform one of the deeds of worshipping like prayer, fasting, kalima ash-shahadah, zakah and the truths of belief (for instance, to utter kalima ash-shahadah only) and to abandon others.

31 It is said that the Kaaba will be eliminated by Allah before Doomsday. Did the Prophet (pbuh) say he saw an Abyssinian demolishing the Kaaba when he mentioned the signs of Doomsday?

According to the narration of a hadith, the Prophet (pbuh) said,

“A short / weak legged Abyssinian demolishes the Kaaba.”  (see Bukhari, Hajj, 47, 49; Muslim, Fitan, 57-59)

This demolishing will take place when Doomsday approaches. Therefore, this destruction is not contrary to the characteristic of Makkah mentioned in the Quran as “city of security”. For, it means this characteristic will continue up to a time close to Doomsday. This destruction will take place at a time when nobody who says “Allah, Allah” will remain in the world; it will not be repaired and visited after that. During the process of Doomsday, nothing will remain stable.

However, according to some scholars, the Kaaba will be repaired after this destruction; hajj and umrah will continue. (see Nawawi, Ibn Hajar, Ibn Battal, the explanation of the hadith in question)

Bukhari repeated this issue three times and mentioned one of them under the heading of the following verse:

"Allah made the Ka´ba, the Sacred House, an asylum of security for men, as also the Sacred Months, the animals for offerings, and the garlands that mark them: That ye may know that Allah hath knowledge of what is in the heavens and on earth and that Allah is well acquainted with all things." (al-Maida, 5/97)

He attracted attention to the following fine point: Islam will stand as long as the Kaaba stands. 

As a matter of fact, Hasan- al-Basri read the verse above and said, “As long as people use the Kaaba as the qiblah and visit it for hajj, they will remain stable in their religion." (see Ibn Hajar, ibid)

32 When will Doomsday strike? Is the information that it will strike in the evening true? When it is the evening in a European country, it is the morning in America. How will Doomsday take place then?

The following is stated in a hadith narrated by Abu Hurayra:

"The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday; on it, Adam was created. On it, he was made to enter Paradise; on it, he was expelled from it. And the last hour will take place on no day other than Friday." (Muslim, Jumua, 18)

On the other hand, it is mentioned in the statements of the Prophet (pbuh) that Doomsday will strike in the evening:

“Doomsday will strike in the evening when the sun sets.” (Bukhari, Tafsiru Surah 6/9; Tirmidhi, Daawat, 98)

The Prophet (pbuh) also said,

“I am the prophet after the time of the afternoon.” (Tafsiru Ibn Kathir, XII/6549)

Thus, it is understood that these times are not related to the times of the earth we live in and the days on it.

In fact, the day, year, man and universe remind one another; they are samples of one another. That is, almost the same things happen in these four things. For instance,

- When the day starts in the morning, the morning of the year is the time of spring. Similarly, man is born in the uterus and the universe is born on the first day of its creation of six phases.

- The noontime of the day reminds the midsummer, youth of man’s lifespan and the creation of humans in the life of the universe.

- The afternoon time reminds the last days of the summer, old age in man’s life and the time of the Prophet (pbuh) of the end of time in the life of the universe. Accordingly, the Prophet (pbuh) came to the world after the afternoon time in the life of man or the universe.

- The evening time reminds fall (autumn) in man’s life and the Day of Judgment in the life of the universe, which is its destruction.

Accordingly, Doomsday striking in the evening should be understood as the evening time of the universe, not the evening time of the day of the earth we live.

What is meant by Doomsday striking on Friday is not the Friday of the earth. Doomsday of the universe will take place on the Friday of the universe.

33 Is the rising of the sun in the west the first sign?

Yes, as you also point out, a question comes to mind here:

In a version of a hadith narration, it is stated that the first sign of Doomsday will be the rising of the sun in the place where it sets.

However, it is not the first sign of Doomsday.

Munawi gave the following ­answer to that question:

What is meant by the hadith about the rising of the sun in the west being the first sign to appear, means an unusual sign. The appearance of Dajjal­, the descent of the Prophet Isa (Jesus) and the appearance of Yajuj Majuj (Gog Magog) are among the signs to appear before, but they are common and known things.

The hadith is also understood as the first of the signs of Doomsday to occur in the sky is the sun rising in the west.

That is, as a sign of the deterioration of the cosmological order prevailing in the universe, the rising of the sun in the west at the beginning of the cosmic events is one of the primary events to take place before Doomsday.

The Prophet (pbuh) states that the rising of the sun in the west is meant in the verse that attracts attention to “the day that certain of the signs of thy lord do come, no good will it do to a soul to believe in them” (al-An’am, 6/158) (Ibn Kathir, the interpretation of the verse in question).

It is possible to see the cosmic events such as the great land subsidence mentioned in the hadiths, the fire to send people from the east to the west emerging from the ground, the increase of lightning and rain extraordinarily, and the formation of a wind that kills people as the reflections of the great change and formations that will occur in the solar system connected to the Milky Way, including the earth, let alone other galaxies.

On the other hand, as it is mentioned in the question, it can be said that there are some symbolic meanings related to the rising of the sun in the west. However, this sign should also be seen as the first sign of the balance of the world being disturbed and Doomsday’s actual beginning because after that, repentance will no longer be accepted.

The issue of the order in which the sign of Doomsday will occur was also discussed by scholars and different rankings were made for it. (see Barzanji, al-Ishaa li-Ashratis-Sa’ah, Cairo 1393, pp. 180-182; Saffarini, Ahwalul-Qiyamah, Beirut 1406/1986, p. 106)

Will you please click on the link given below;

Can you mention the signs of the End Times in the order they will occur?

34 Will the spirits in graves be affected by the horror of Doomsday? What will the state of believers be like when Doomsday strikes?

When Doomsday strikes, the spirits of believers will be removed before so that they will not experiencethe horror of Doomsday as a sign of mercy; Doomsday will strike unbelievers.

Will the eternal spirits in graves be affected by the events of Doomsday?

Those who will be affected based on their decrees: Angels will be affected by Allah’s manifestations of wrath based on their degrees. When a person who is in a warm place sees the people who shiver outside in the snow and blizzard, he is affected in terms of his intellect and conscience. Similarly, the signs of the Quran shows that conscious eternal spirits are affected by the big incidents of the universe based on their degrees since they are related to the universe, that unbelievers will be affected badly and that people of bliss will be affected well. For, the Quran always mentions the strange incidents of Doomsday in the form of threats; it says, "You will see!" In fact, those who see it with their bodies are those who will be living when Doomsday strikes. That is, the spirits whose bodies decay in the grave will also receive their shares from the threat of the Quran.

35 Can you mention the signs of the End Times in the order they will occur?

- Although they are explained in the hadiths based on a certain order, the opinion that this order is not the order of their emergence is the strongest one among scholars.

Accordingly, we think that it is not possible to tell exactly which sign will appear when chronologically.

However, in accordance with the rule “Time is a great interpreter; if it determines its limits, it cannot be gainsaid”, we can summarize an approximate list by taking into account some of the facts interpreted by time.

- It is possible to list the minor signs of Doomsday as the spread of ignorance about religion and faith, excessive drinking of alcohol, increase in mischief, killing and turmoil, rise in discontent and ingratitude along with material prosperity, and Allah’s consent being replaced by material interests and benefits.

- The major signs of Doomsday are reported in the following hadith:

“Doomsday will not strike until ten signs occur: The emergence of Dukhan, the emergence of Dajjal, the emergence of Dabbatul-Ard, the rising of the sun in the west, The descent of the Prophet Jesus (Isa) on the earth, the emergence of Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog), the sinking of three places in the East, the West and the Arabian peninsula, and the emergence of a fire from the lower part of Adan, which will drive people to the Gathering Place.” (Muslim, Fitan, 39, 40 / 2901)

Although it is not included in the hadith above, one of the great signs of the Day of Judgment included in other hadiths is Mahdi, and another one is a great war called Malhame al-Kubra.

“Do they then only wait for the Hour,- that it should come on them of a sudden? But already have come some tokens thereof, and when it (actually) is on them, how can they benefit then by their admonition?” (Muhammad, 47/18)

The existence of those signs is briefly pointed out in the verse above.

We can classify those signs as follows, in line with our own opinion:

1. MALHAMA AL-KUBRA (GREAT WAR):

With a strong probability, this war, which means a great conflict, fight is the World War I. The World War II is a sequel to it.

2. The Emergence of DAJJAL (ANTICHRIST)

There are two great antichrists to appear in the End Times. One is the Dajjal of Islam that will eliminate the religion of Islam and took the title of Sufyan. The second is the name of a movement that wages war on all monotheistic religions. This is the communist movement that includes atheism. Those who want to get detailed information about those two Dajjals can look at the Risale-i Nur Collection. As it is mentioned in the Muslim hadith above, Dajjal is mentioned in many hadith narrations.

3. The Emergence of MAHDI

There are hadiths at the level of tawatur in meaning that Mahdi will come to reform the mischievous ummah.

“Even if there is only one day left for the destruction of the world, God Almighty will extend that day and send Mahdi.” (Abu Dawud, Mahdi 4; Tirmidhi, Fitan 43)

We can understand the value of Mahdi from the hadith above.

4. The Descent of ISA (JESUS)

Along with the hadiths, there is a consensus of the majority of the Islamic scholars that the Prophet Isa is alive with his body in the heavens, that he will descend onto the earth in the End Times / before the Day of Judgment, and that he will act according the religion the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Along with many sound hadith narrations,

“And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment)” (az-Zukhruf, 43/61),

it is pointed out in the verse above that Jesus is one of the signs of Doomsday.

There are narrations showing that Dajjal, Mahdi and Jesus will be in the same time period. The hadith stating that Jesus will follow Mahdi in prayer is one of them.

Besides, the hadith narrations showing that Jesus and Mahdi will fight Dajjal together also show that they will be in the same period.

5. The emergence of DABBATUL-ARD

This animal, among many possibilities, will emerge as a germ, a virus; a special disease was created and will be created in every century with the wisdom of making the disobedient people come to their senses.

Who knows, many more unheard material or spiritual diseases will appear and they will actually confirm “dabbatul-ard”.

6. LAND SUBSIDENCE IN THREE REGIONS (They are listed separately in the hadith).

These sinkings will most likely be due to earthquakes. Their locations are determined in the hadith and expressed as “In the East, in the West and in the Arabian Peninsula...”.

7. The Emergence of YAJUJ-MAJUJ

We can think of them as a community consisting of some Mongolian, Tatar and Kyrgyz people that caused the Great Wall of China to be built and that caused a lot of mischief through anarchy.

It can be said that in the near future, they or similar ones will emerge and cause anarchy and wreak havoc on the earth.

8. A FIRE Coming Out of YEMEN/ADAN

The description “the fire that will drive people to the Gathering Place” in the Muslim hadith shows that this sign will take place very close to the Day of Judgment.

9. The Appearance of DUKHAN

Dukhan, which means smoke, is one of the great signs of Doomsday. (Muslim, Fitan, 39) Before the Doomsday comes, a cloud of smoke will cover the world, and it will stay forty days and forty nights; believers will feel as if they have caught a cold and unbelievers will be like drunkards.

“Then watch thou for the Day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke (or mist) plainly visible! Enveloping the people: this will be a Penalty Grievous. (They will say:) ‘Our Lord! remove the Penalty from us, for we do really believe!’” (ad-Dukhan, 44/10-12)

This sign is also mentioned in the verse above.

10. THE RISING OF THE SUN IN THE WEST

We consider this sign to be the last one. The balance of the world will be disturbed and as a result of the disruption of some cosmic laws such as the repulsion-gravity laws, the earth will begin to reverse while revolving around the sun, and hence the sun will rise in the west...

36 Will the worship performed at the end of time be rewarded by Allah differently?

“Whoever adheres to my Sunnah at the time of the degeneration of my ummah will gain the reward of one hundred martyrs.”(1)

A person who adheres to the Sunnah of the Prophet will be able to gain the reward of one hundred martyrs at a time when bid’ahs and heresies invade the Islamic community and rule it. Naturally, the realities of the Quran and the principles of the Sunnah are not separated from each other. When bid’ahs become popular in the ummah and when the majority is invaded by bid’ahs and heresies, it is really a risky and dangerous time. The riskier a deed is, the more rewards are gained from it. It is great service to work so that the realities of belief, the decrees of Islam and the Quran are understood and the Sunnah and Islam are practiced at such a dangerous time; it even necessitates more self-sacrifice than that of a martyr at normal times so that it will gain man the reward of many martyrs. For, a martyr sacrifices himself once and dies in the way of Allah all of a sudden but a person who serves the realities of belief, the Quran and the Sunnah makes great sacrifices every day in such an environment.

Thus, the harder time gets and the more mischiefs increase, the more rewards will be gained from deeds. Beside, this hadith encourages people to adhere to the Sunnah.

The word tamassuk (adhering) mentioned in the hadith includes the following meanings: (2)

1) Tamassuk means resoluteness, perseverance and insistence.
2) Tamassuk includes continuation.
3) Tamassuk means to dealing with the whole.
4) Tamassuk reflects the struggle of opposite forces.

Ammar b. Yasir narrates:

“My ummah is a blessed ummah; it is not known whether the beginning of it is better or the end of it.”(3)

An analogy is made between the first members of the ummah and the last members here. The Companions underwent great hardships and tortures to practice Islam in the first years of Islam; they were alienated, despised and condemned by the polytheists; the Messenger of Allah was called “mad” and those who followed him were oppressed and tortured. They were alienated in the community, were accused of being insane and were even expelled from their homeland. They received so many rewards and thawabs in return for those hardships, tortures and agonies. Similarly, the state of the last members of the ummah, that is, the ummah at the end of time, will be similar and close to the first members. The ummah will degenerate; foreign cultures and heretic ideas will be seen everywhere. Thus, those who adhere to Islam and serve the Sunnah and the Quran will be alienated; they will be insulted, criticized and be accused of unconformity; they will even try to exclude them from the community. The thawabs of the righteous deeds done despite the material and spiritual pressure of the majority will increase as the difficulty increases.

Similar hardships and tortures that the first Muslims were exposed to in Makkah and Madinah will be inflicted upon the sincere Muslims of the end of time. They will be expelled, tortured, etc. They will not be able to go out of their houses. Those afflictions and tortures will be a means of blessing and spiritual gains. Their degrees will be elevated. They will be the lonely people of the end of time. (4) They will be similar to the Companions from that point of view.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) addresses his Companions as follows in a hadith:

“Verily you are in an age in which if you neglect one-tenth of what is ordered, you will be doomed. After this a time will come; when he who shall observe one-tenth of what is now ordered will be redeemed.” (5)

What is meant by one-tenth of the religion in the hadith is not in terms of quantity but quality.

That is, it will be enough for the Muslims at the end of time, in terms of quality, to do one-tenth of the deeds of worship like prayer and fasting and practicing the religion in general compared to what the Companions did.

It does not mean to do only one of the deeds like prayer, fasting, kalima ash-shahada, zakah and principles of belief (for instance, uttering kalima ash-shahada only) and to abandon the others.

A similar hadith is as follows:

“My ummah is like the rain, I do not know whether the first of it is better or the last of it.”(6)

It is significant that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) uses the word rain in the hadith. He likens his ummah to rain coming down from useful clouds full of rain. The first members of the ummah is like the first drops of this blessed rain and the last members are like the last drops. 

In addition, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) likens the people who will come at the end of time and who will practice the decrees of the religion in the presence of sins and evil deeds to the Companions in terms of good deeds.

Once, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said to his Companions,

“I wish I could see my brothers coming toward me to the pool and welcome them with bowls filled with sweet juices. I wish I could offer them from my Pool of Kawthar before entering Paradise?”

Upon these words, the Companions said:

“O Messenger of Allah! Are we not your brothers?”
He replied as follows:

“You are my Companions (friends). And my brothers are the believers who believe in me without seeing me. Surely, I ask of my Lord to illuminate my eyes with you and the believers who believe without seeing me” (7)

The following is stated in a similar hadith:

“I wish I could meet my brothers.” Thereupon, the listeners said,
“Are we not your brothers?”
He replied as follows:

“You are my companions and my brothers. After me, a group who will believe in me though they never saw me will come.”

After a while, he said,

“O Abu Bakr! Would you not like to love a community who loves you because they have heard that you love me? Love these people whom Allah loves.” (8)

In those hadiths, the Prophet says that at the end of time, at the time of the corruption of the ummah, there will be his brothers. He yearns for “his brothers”. He really wants to see his brothers with strong belief who will come toward the pool while he will be beside the Pool of Kawthar and wants to offer them water from this pool.

It is of great importance that these fortunate people whom Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) called ‘my brothers’ believe in him and in what he brought with a strong faith.

Therefore, the people who deserve the attention and praise of the Prophet must surely be self-sacrificing, loyal, patient, ready to make every effort for the cause of Islam and must be so courageous as not to be intimidated by any kinds of despise or condemnation and as to adhere to the way of the Prophet and his Companions. These are the brothers of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). He calls them “my brothers” and his Companions “my friends”.

Besides, an important quality of these people is that they love Hz. Abu Bakr because he loved the Prophet or that they love the companions, like Hz. Abu Bakr, who loved the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).

As for the companions, they also paid great attention to these patriots of belief and followers of the light of guidance. As it is stated that they will come beside the Pool of Kawthar before they enter Paradise and as the Prophet shows such a great longing for them, they will retain their faiths, will enter the grave as believers, and will be among the residents of Paradise. (9) That is to say, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informs us that they will enter the grave with belief.

References:

1. al-Baghawi, Husayn b. Muhammad ash-Shafi, Masabihus-Sunna, I-II, Beirut, nd. I, 40, no: 130; al-Munawi, Abdurra‘uf, Faydul-Qadir, I-VI, Beirut, nd. VI, 261. (no: 9171-9172); For the issue of the increase of rewards when the ummah degenerates, see Taftazani, Masud b. Umar, Sharhul-Maqasid, I-W, Beirut 1988 I, 308; al-Haytami, Ahmad b. Hajar, as-Sawaiqul-Muhriqa, Cairo 1385, p. 210.
2. al-Qamusul-Muhit III, 329; al-Mu’jamul-Wasit p. 869; al-Mufradat, p, 469.
3. Ramuzul-Ahadith p. 83, hadith 1151. (Ibn Asakir, from Amr b. Uthmandan as mursal); Kandahlawi Muhammad b. Yusuf, Hayatus-Sahaba I-IV, Konya 1983, II, 599; Subulus-Salam IW, 127; as-Sawaiqul-Muhriqah p. 211.
4. Sunanu Ibn Majah, II, 1306, (no: 3956), 1309 (no. 3988); 1320 (no: 4014: Being religions will be as difficult as holding cinder within the hand. The prophets will the people who will be tested the most severely in terms of afflictions among people. See ibid II. 1334 (no: 4023): The greatness of the reward is in accordance with the greatness of the affliction. The reward will increase as the affliction increases. Ibid II, 1334 (no: 4031, 4032).
5. Ramuzul-Ahadith p. 136, 1753. hadith (Tabarani fil-Kabir, Ibn Adiyy, from Abu Hurayra).
6. al-Jami‘ li Ahkamil-Quran, IW, 172; For the types of clouds and sahab, see II, 222 (The state of a believer and an unbeliever is explained with the example of rain there. See the chapter of al-A’raf, 57-58); Ibn Majah, Muhammad b. Yazid, Sunanu Ibn Majah I-II, Istanbul, nd. II, 1319, no: 3987; as-Sawaiqul-Muhriqah p. 211, Subulus-Salam IW, 127.
7. Ramuzul-Ahadith p. 361, 4460 hadith (Abu Nuaym, from Ibn Umar) see also Hak Dini IV, 2731 (When it is explained that there will be no fear and sorrow for saints of Allah in verse 62 of the chapter of Yunus, a similar hadith is mentioned.): Hayatu’s-Sahaba. II, 567-568 (This fact is mentioned through two long hadiths.
8. age. s. 461. 5719 hadith. (Ibn Asakir from Bara b. Azib).
9. For similar hadiths, see al-Matalibul-Aliya, 4241, 8424, Muslim, Taharah, 395 Kanzul-Ummal, 345, 84.

37 "One who holds steadfast to my Sunnah at the time of the mischief of my ummah will get the reward of one hundred martyrs." Is this statement a hadith? If it is a hadith, how should it be understood?

Yes, it is a hadith.

"One who holds steadfast to my Sunnah at the time of the mischief of my ummah will get the reward of one hundred martyrs."(1)

A person who holds steadfast to the Sunnah of the Prophet when bid’ahs (innovations in religion) and wrong practices invade the Islamic community can get the reward of one hundred martyrs.

The realities of the Quran and the principles of the Sunnah of the Prophet are not separated from each other. A time when bid’ahs are popular in the ummah and the majority is invaded by bid’ahs and wrong practices is really a very risky and dangerous time.  

As danger increases in a deed, its thawab also increases. To serve Islam in order to make the decrees of Islam be understood and the sunnah and Islam be practiced is a great service; it necessitates more sacrifices than what a martyr does under normal circumstances to get the thawab of many martyrs.  

For, a martyr makes a sacrifice only once and dies for the sake of Allah but a person who serves the realities of belief, the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet in such an environment can make great sacrifices every day.   

Thus, as the times get harder and mischief increases, the thawabs of deeds will also increase.

The word tamassuk (holding steadfast to the Sunnah) mentioned in the hadith includes the following meanings: (2)

1. Tamassuk means determination, perseverance and insistence: Holding expressed by tamassuk includes determination, perseverance and insistence. Some people will emerge at the time of the mischief of my ummah; they will show their loyalty to the sunnah of the Prophet and the Quran by maintaining the same positive attitude with determination and insistence. They face everything in this way. This meaning exists in the root “msk” and in all derivatives of it.

2. Tamassuk includes continuity: Determination, perseverance and insistence already necessitate continuity. When the meanings of the verb are examined, continuity will be seen in all of them. It necessitates holding something continuously without releasing it. Maintaining means keeping something continuously. In that case, the deed that brings a great reward like the thawab of one hundred martyrs necessitates continuity, patience, determination and devoting one’s life to the way of the Quran and the Sunnah, which do not separate from each other.

3. Tamassuk means to look after the whole thing: Tamassuk indicates looking after “the whole”. To hold something without releasing is possible through catching it and holding the whole of the thing that has been caught, like catching a person. To keep one’s tongue means to prevent it from speaking. It does not mean to speak for a while and to keep silent for a while. The same thing is valid for imsak, which means keeping away from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse.    

In that case, tamassuk (holding steadfast to the Sunnah) at the time of the mischief of the ummah means tammasuk related to the whole sunnah aiming to support and practice the whole sunnah. It means to hold steadfast to all aspects of the Quran and the sunnah, not to leave them and to struggle to keep them upright. In general, the people to do it at the time of the mischief of the ummah will be very few. It is clear that such a task is difficult. Due to those reasons, its reward is great.

4. Tamassuk reflects the struggle of opposite powers: The root msk and the word tamassuk include mutual struggle and the resistance of two powers. Imsak, imtisak, tamasuk, tamassuk and mask express to hold something with the intention of not leaving or releasing it. The party that faces the difficulty is the one that catches and holds and that does not release. The party that is caught resists in order to get rid of that grip; it wants to be freed.

For instance, in the deed of keeping the tongue expressed with the root msk, the tongue wants to speak and tries to speak but is overcome by the power that prevents it. When the struggle in the root msk is considered in terms of the hadith “One who holds steadfast to my Sunnah...”, it expresses a continuous struggle to keep and maintain the Sunnah.  

References:

1. al-Baghawi, Husayn b. Muhammad ash-Shafi, Masabihus-Sunnah, I-II, Beirut, nd. I, 40, no: 130; al-Munawi, Abdurra‘uf, Faydul-Qadir, I-VI, Beirut, nd. VI, 261. (no: 9171-9172); For the issue of the increase of thawabs at the time of the mischief of the ummah, see Taftazani, Masud b. Umar, Sharhul-Maqasid, I-V, Beirut 1988 I, 308; al-Haythami, Ahmad b. Hajar, as-Sawaiqul-Muhriqa, Cairo 1385, p. 210.

2. al-Qamusul-Muhit III, 329; al-Mu’jamul-Wasit p. 869; al-Mufradat, p. 469.

38 "Allah will complete (the revelation of) His light." How will this verse be realized? Sins seem to be dominant everywhere.

Hundreds of thousands of people become Muslims in various countries of the world every year. Islam is advancing very fast all over the world. It will be wrong to think that Doomsday will strike in five or ten years since we are at the end of time. It is not certain when Doomsday will strike. Allah will definitely keep His promise. He will keep His promise even if only one year is left for Doomsday. It is not difficult for Allah.

"Their intention is to extinguish Allah´s Light (by blowing) with their mouths: But Allah will complete (the revelation of) His Light, even though the Unbelievers may detest (it)." (as-Saff, 61/8)

1. This statement is mentioned bot in verses and hadiths. Allah will definitely keep His promise and complete His light.

2. Our duty is not to convert people to Islam by force. It is Allah who will create belief in people’s hearts. A farmer sows the seeds in the field and does not interfere with their becoming green; similarly, we will sow the seeds of belief and Islam in people’s hearts and refer their becoming green to Allah.

3. Allah, who brings summer after winter every year, the day after the darkness of the night every day, shows the sun everywhere all of a sudden by clearing the sky covered with clouds, can transform these nights of unbelief, clouds of debauchery and the winter season full of bad things into the day, the sun and summer respectively if we deserve those good things and if we rely on His mercy and blessing.

4. Some prophets came and only a few people believed in them but they received the thawab of prophethood fully. Therefore, Allah will treat people based on how much they conveyed the message of Islam and how much they practiced it, not based on how many people they converted to Islam.

5. Hopelessness is a big sin and a disease that eats man away. We need to take refuge in Allah’s mercy from it. Who could have guessed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics would collapse so easily? Therefore, we should fulfill our duties. Allah is the one who knows best what to do.

39 Is the narration reported by Naim bin Hammad about the black and yellow flags sound?

- These narrations are weak. The following determinations were made about the narrator Naim bin Hammad as a result of jarh and ta’dil:

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal reported that Naim bin Hammad was reliable. Imam Nasai reported that this narrator was weak. Imam Abu Dawud said that the 20 hadiths narrated by this narrator were ungrounded. (Imam Dhahabi, Mizanul-Itidal fi Naqd Er Rical, Vol.4, p.267)

- Based on the concise statements of the hadiths, some narrators evaluated the time they were in and added their own interpretations especially to the narrations about wars and events in the end times. Zuhri’s statement, “Hisham (b. Abdulmalik) dies, and then a young man from his Ahl al-Bayt will be killed... Sulayman b. Hisham will be killed in the Arabian Peninsula...” can be given as an example to them.  (al-Fitan, 1/136, 197)

- Badiuzzaman Said Nursi expresses it as follows:  

“In addition, the interpretations and judgments of some of the narrators, which are based on their erroneous ijtihads, are mixed with the words of hadith and mistaken for hadith, and the meaning becomes hidden.” (Şualar, p. 581)

- The issues mentioned in such narrations might not be specific to one incident, but might be a sign of repeated battles throughout history. The fact that these narrations cover such a wide range of time periods makes them part of the category of ambiguous / mutashabih hadiths.

- There are narrations that the Prophet (pbuh) determined yellow flags for Ansar (see Majmauz-Zawahid, 5/321)

- However, the yellow flags could be a sign of the blonde race of Europe / the West, which is often called “Banu asfar”. The black flag, on the other hand, may refer to the dark and black people outside the West, especially in Asia and Africa.

- The fact that the Islamic world had been dealing with the crusades started by the Christians representing the yellow race throughout history might represent some of these narrations.

- The fact that the Ottoman State had to fight important wars with the Europeans in the Damascus region might also be a sign of these dirty wars that resulted in the collapse of the Ottoman State in particular.

The mention of Sufyani, a title of the “Dajjal of Islam” who will come in the end times, in the narration stated to be on page 160 of the book in question (actually, 1/270), in which it is reported that the battle will take place on the bridge of the Egyptians, is an indication of how mutashabih these narrations are.

40 Is the biggest fitnah the woman or The Antichrist (Dajjal)?

There is no contradiction between sound hadiths. They have explanations in hadith methodology.

1. Eloquence is conformity with the necessities of the current state. In other words, every station has a word and every assembly has an essence. Being sad at a wedding or rejoicing at a funeral is not a form of eloquence.

Similarly, in verses and hadiths, different values can be considered as “added value” in accordance with the conformity of the topic, the consideration of guidance, and the requirement of the authority. For example:

“After me, I did not leave any cause of mischief (fitnah) to men more harmful than women.” (1)

It is wrong to understand from the expression of the hadith that all women are bad people who cause mischief and turmoil.

In this hadith, some problematic women are pointed out, and it is stated that they will put men in a difficult situation because of their moodiness.

The following verse supporting this hadith sheds light on the issue:

“O ye who believe! Truly, among your wives and your children are (some that are) enemies to yourselves: so beware of them! But if ye forgive and overlook, and cover up (their faults), verily Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (at-Taghabun, 64/14)

The spouses and children of some believers who dedicate their wealth and lives to the path of Allah may dissuade them from this behavior by appealing to their feelings. They may say, “What will we do if you die; do not go to war.” “Do not waste your money; think about your children.” By saying so, they can prevent the man from doing good deeds. By wanting more than they have, they can lead their husbands to illegitimate gains and sins.

2. The Prophet states the following in a hadith:

“The (worldly) happiness of man depends on three things: A good woman, a suitable/wide house, and a suitable mount.”

This hadith is accepted as sound by both Hakim and Dhahabi. (2)

So, these two evaluations were made according to these two authorities.

3. There is another important aspect of the issue: As it is stated in the Quran (3), human beings were created to be fond of some worldly pleasures and blessings. One of them, perhaps the first, is the inclination of the two sexes to each other. Failure to use this inclination in moderation poses a danger to both parties.

The attention of men is drawn to this danger in the hadith and they are asked to be careful and vigilant about women.

The following hadith clearly states this issue:

“The world is sweet, dazzling and charming. Allah will give it to you to use and will see how you behave. Beware of being deceived by the world. Avoid getting caught by women because the first fitnah among Sons of Israel was caused by women.” (4)

4. The answer to the main question may be as follows:

One of the elements that disturb the peace of the family may be the woman. The moodiness of women, whose role is more than men, with different authority, influence and attractive mission, is also a bigger element of fitnah. Therefore, when it comes to family - as expressed in the hadiths above - the peace and restlessness of the home depend on the woman more than the man.

5. When a worldwide fitnah is mentioned, the most mischievous element is definitely the Antichrist. It is indicated in different hadiths.

So, the mischief of the woman in terms of family the mischief of the Antichrist in terms of the world/country is the biggest.

References:

1) Bukhari Nikah 17; Muslim Dhikr 97 98. See also Tirmidhi Adab 31; Ibn Majah Fitan 31.
2) See al-Mustadrak, ibid Takhlis, 2640.
3) Aal-i Imran, 3/14.
4) Muslim, Dhikr 99; Tirmidhi, Fitan 26; Ibn Majah, Fitan 19.

41 Will the Muslims see Doomsday strike?

Just before Doomsday strikes, the spirits of the believers will be removed as a sign of divine mercy so that they will not see the horrible events of Doomsday; Doomsday will strike the unbelievers.

"Doomsday will not strike the believers. Just before Doomsday, Allah will send a wind. As that wind blows, no believer who has belief will survive; they will die. May Allah have mercy on them!"1

Footnote:

1.Sharhus-Sunnah 15/90, Musnadul-Firdaws 5/88, al-Matalibul-Aliya hadith no: 4582 (Imam Busiri decreed that the hadith was sound.); Kanzul-Ummal 15/229; Shuabu İman Bayhaqi 2/191; Mu'jamut-Tabarani al-Kabir 3/3037.

42 Nowadays, some people who do not believe utter statements like the following: "Since you created the whole universe, show me a miracle so that I will believe in you." How should we answer them?

What is a miracle? We should view its definition first. Mujiza (miracle) is described as follows in dictionaries: Something extraordinary and strange that appalls and amazes man and that makes him feel too weak to do anything.

So, a miracle makes man feel too weak to do anything. What does it mean for man to feel too weak to do anything? It means something that is impossible for him to do. For instance, man can make a refrigerator. So, it is not a miracle for man to make a refrigerator. Man can also make a telephone and a television set. Thus, man is not too weak to do them.   

However, man cannot make an apple. He cannot make a plum. He cannot make an egg. He cannot make leaves, flowers and insects. Man can make eyeglasses, but he cannot make an eye. He can make a prosthetic arm but he cannot make a living arm. He can makes earphones but he cannot make an ear that can hear and renew its cells constantly.

He can make their imitations from plastic or paper but he cannot create a living organ or a living thing itself that develops, differentiates and has changing cells.

He is too weak to make them. So, it is a miracle to make and create them and similar things.

When you look at the universe from this point of view, everything is a miracle.

The emergence of a tree from a seed, the creation of leaves, flowers and fruits from a tree, the creation of an animal from a cell, the creation of man from a cell are all miracles.

It is a miracle for a melon to emerge from a seed and it is a different miracle for the seed that has all of the characteristics of the melon to be created again in the melon.

The structure of each organ of human beings and animals is a miracle, and their placement and operation in the body is a different miracle. That is, the creation of an eye is a miracle and the creation of a vision is another miracle. The creation of an ear and its settlement in the body is a miracle; the creation of hearing is a different miracle.

As a matter of fact, the existence of people who have ears but who cannot hear and who have eyes but cannot see show it to us.

Is it not a miracle that eggs are made from the wheat eaten by chickens and the meat and milk are made from the grass eaten by sheep? Since we cannot make meat and milk from grass and eggs and meat from wheat, how is it be possible for the chicken and sheep to make them?

If you see some red beads hanging on the branches of the cherry tree in front of your house when you wake up in the morning in January, the first thing you will do is to ask the following question:

- Who hung these beads on the branches?

You cannot even imagine that these beads appeared spontaneously, coincidentally or that they were produced by nature. You will definitely think that they were hung by someone has knowledge, will, power and consciousness. That is the truth.

So, will the cherries like red beads hung on those branches in June not be hung by anybody? Is it not a miracle since the cherries cannot be produced coincidentally or  by nature and since it is impossible for people to produce them?

Since these cherries are living and since all of the genetic characteristics of the cherry tree are encoded in their stones, do these wonderful works of art not show Allah with their existence?

All of what we have mentioned up to now and the characteristics of all of the living beings we have not mentioned are miracles that cannot be made by animals or human beings. 

When the universe is viewed like that, there is no being that is not a miracle. Each living states the following with all of its characteristics: “I am a miraculous work of art of Allah. My existence is the greatest proof of Allah's existence and unity.”

Who transformed man from a cell in the mother's womb into a living being? Who gave him the organs like the heart, stomach, intestines, eyes, ears and head? Who placed the feelings like the mind, consciousness, memory, curiosity, concern, compassion and love in him?

Can there be a greater miracle than this to prove Allah’s existence and unity?

Those who do not take lessons from them and still look for a miracle for Allah’s existence should be answered by the following proverbs:

“A word to the wise is enough.”

“A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.”

43 Can you explain this hadith? “It is very near that the son of Mary will come down to you as a just judge. When he comes, he will break the cross...”

1. (5004)- Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (aleyhissalatu wassalam) said,

“I swear by the One in whose might is my soul! The time when Jesus, the son of Mary, will descend among you as a just judge (who will rule by this shari’ah), break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the jizyah (from the People of the Book) is near. Wealth will increase so much at that time that no one will accept it; and a single prostration will be better than the world and all that is in it.”

Then, Abu Hurayra said, “Read the following verse:

“And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him (Jesus) before his death; and on the Day of Judgment, he will be a witness against them.” (an-Nisa, 4/159). [Bukhari, Buyu 102, Mazalim 31, Anbiya 49; Muslim, Iman 242, (155); Abu Dawud, Malahim 14, (4324); Tirmidhi, Fitan 54, (2234).]

EXPLANATION:

1. According to our belief, Jesus did not die; he was raised to the sky. He lives in the sky with his worldly body. As it is seen in the hadith, he will come down to the earth close to the Day of Judgment and do good things: He will compensate for the spiritual destruction caused by Dajjal (Anti-Christ). It is stated that when he comes, abundance and welfare will increase; his improvements will not be in the spiritual field only; he will realize economic improvements too.

Breaking the Cross means the abolishment of Christianity and its elimination. If it is considered that the church is behind the West, which is the source of the agony of humanity today, the abolishment of the church means the defeat of the West, saving it from egoism and making it attain real humanity. When the West, which dominates the world politics and economy, accepts the truth, the whole humanity will attain peace. For, the hand of the West is behind all of the social mischiefs and unrests that disturb people. This “Western hand” lies behind all of the agonies of humanity. 

The prohibition of pork is hidden under the breaking of the Cross because Christians take the permission of eating pork from their religion. When their religion is abolished, their custom of eating pork will be abolished along with many other wrong beliefs. Besides, it is remarkable that the following stated in a narration: وَلَتَذْهَبَنَّ الشَّحْنَاءُ وَالتَّبَاغُضُ وَالتَّحَاسُدُ “...hostilities, hatred and jealousy will definitely end”. Thus, it is stated that the enmity that continued for ages, not centuries, will be eliminated. The deadlock about all those issues was the church. Its abolition by Jesus is a sign that many things will change at once. 

2. The abolition of jizyah means Christians’ becoming Muslims. For, zakah is taken from Muslims, not jizyah. Then, only one religion will remain in the world and there will be nobody to pay jizyah. Some scholars reached the following interpretation from that phrase: “Wealth will increase so much that there will be no poor people to give the money collected from jizyah. Jizya is abandoned due to lack of need.”

Iyad states the following:

“What is meant by the imposition of jizyah may be its imposition on unbelievers. Abundance may occur thanks to jizyah collected from all unbelievers.”

Nawawi does not agree with Iyad’s interpretation and says, “Jesus will not accept any religion other than Islam.” As a matter of fact, the following is stated in one of the conclusions of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal regarding the issue: وَتَكُونُ الدّعْوى وَاحِدَةً “The cause becomes the same (one).”

Nawawi states the following related to Jesus’ abolition of jizyah: “Jizyah is legitimate in this shari’ah but its legitimacy is dependent on the descent of Jesus.” The hadith we are analyzing indicates this. Jesus does not abrogate the decree of jizyah. The Prophet expresses abrogation with this statement of his. Ibn Battal states the following:

“We accept jizyah before the descent of Jesus because we need it but we will not need wealth after his descent because there will be plenty of wealth during his period. Nobody will accept any goods or money. The following is also possible: The reason why jizyah from Christians and Jews is accepted and is regarded legitimate is the fact that the book they have is doubted to be revelation and they think it is related to ancient shari’ahs. When it becomes possible to see Jesus in person, the doubt mentioned above is removed since their evidences fail and their states become apparent; thus, the attitude toward them becomes in the form of not accepting their jizyah.”

We want to attach an annotation of reservation to this interpretation: In this interpretation, it is meant that when Jesus descends, everybody will know and recognize him as Jesus. However, not everybody can know the persons of the end of time clearly. The relatives of those persons and people with high degrees can know them but others cannot. Otherwise, it will be contrary to the secret of testing.

The interpretation that the treasures of the earth will appear as Jesus descends but that nobody will be interested in them “since Doomsday is close” does not sound satisfactory from this point of view.

3. “A single prostration (sajdah) being better than the world and everything in it” is explained as follows: “Nobody will accept sadaqah; therefore, the best way to approach Allah will be only through worshipping and performing prayers.” Some scholars interpret it as follows: “People will hate the world so much that a single prostration will be more beloved than the world and everything in it for them.”

Ibnul-Jawzi states the following:

“By reading a verse at the end of the narration, Abu Hurayra wanted to indicate that he established a connection between that verse and the phrase “A single prostration (sajdah) will be better than the world and everything in it”. Abu Hurayra thus indicates that people will improve and they will strengthen their belief, doing good deeds. They will improve so much and attain such a strong belief that they will prefer a single prostration to the world and everything in it. What is meant by prostration is rak’ah.”

4. There are various interpretations related to the verse too:

* As it is understood from the hadith, according to Abu Hurayra, the pronoun in “believe in him” and before his death in the verse refers to the Prophet Isa (Jesus). That is, the meaning is as follows: “Everybody from the People of the Book will believe in Jesus before his death.” Ibn Abbas interpreted it like that too. The following is stated in a narration from him: “No Jew and Christian will die before believing in Isa but belief at the time of death is of no use.”

* Tafsir scholars made different interpretations regarding the issue. According to some of them, the pronoun him “in believe in him” refers to Allah or Muhammad (pbuh). The pronoun his in “before his death” refers to the People of the Book – and even to Jesus. In that case, it is understood that the People of the Book will die by attaining real Islamic belief. According to an interpretation, “Neither Jews nor Christians will die before believing in Jesus (truly).” Nawawi explains this view as follows: Accordingly, the meaning of the verse is as follows:

“Every individual from the People of the Book will believe that Jesus is a slave of Allah and that he is the son of a female slave of Allah after seeing the truths with their eyes at the time of death and before death comes and before the spirit leaves the body (which is informed by verses and hadiths). However, belief in that state will of be no use as it is mentioned in the verse below:

“Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them, and he says, “Now have I repented indeed;” nor of those who die rejecting Faith: for them have We prepared a punishment most grievous.” (an-Nisa, 4/18)

Nawawi regards this interpretation more reasonable. He states the following: “In the previous interpretation, what is meant by the People of the Book is the People of the Book that will be present when Jesus descends. The apparent meaning of the Quran comprehends all of the People of the Book, whether they live at the time of Jesus or previously.”

* Some Islamic scholars say, “The descent of Jesus, not other prophets, is based on the wisdom of rejecting Jews because according to their claim they killed Jesus. Allah states that they lied.”

* The following is also stated: “When Jesus saw Muhammad (pbuh) and the qualities of his ummah, he prayed to Allah and asked Him to include him among the ummah of Muhammad; and Allah accepted his prayer. Thus, He gave him life up to the time of his descent as a mujaddid at the end of time. When his time is due, he will come down to the earth and kill Dajjal. His descent will be at the time when Dajjal appears.”

Ibn Hajar regards the previous view more reasonable:

* It is controversial how long Jesus will stay in the world when he descends. 
** According to some narrations, he will remain seven years.
** According to some narrations, he will marry after his descent and live for 19 years.
** It is stated in another narration that he will remain in the world for 40 years.
* A narration about Jesus is as follows: “Jesus will descend wearing two clothes with the color of red soil; he will break the cross, kill the pig, abolish jizyah and invite people to Islam. Allah will eliminate all religions except Islam during his period. The earth will become secure. Lions and camels will graze together. Children will play with snakes.”
* There is controversy about whether Jesus died before he was raised to the sky or not but the following verse regarding the issue is essential:

“Behold! Allah said: ‘O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme...’” (Aal-i Imran, 3/55).

* It is controversial how old Jesus was when he was raised to the sky; some scholars say he was 33 while others say 120.

(Prof. Dr. İbrahim Canan, Kütüb-i Sitte)

44 Will you write the hadiths in which the Prophet says the Last Hour will not come unless these things happen?

There are many hadiths about it. Some of them are as follows:

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Last Hour will not come until you fight with a people wearing shoes of hair. The Last Hour will not come until you fight with a people having faces looking like shields coated with leather, having small eyes and broad snub noses.” (Bukhari, Jihad 95, 96, Manaqib 25; Muslim, Fitan 62, Abu Dawud, Malahim 9, Tirmidhi, Fitan 40, Nasai, Jihad 42)

According to what is narrated from Abu Hurayra (r.a.), the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “Doomsday will not strike until the incidents of Harj increase.” They asked: “O Messenger of Allah! What is Harj?” The Messenger of Allah said: “Killing, killing!” (Muslim, Fitan 18)

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“Doomsday will not strike before the Euphrates uncovers a mountain of gold. People will fight for it. Ninety-nine out of each one hundred will be killed. Every one of them will think, ‘I will probably win the fight.’” (Bukhari, Fitan 24; Muslim, Fitan 29)

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Last Hour will not come until fire emits from the earth of Hejaz which will illuminate the necks of the camels of Busra.” (Bukhari, Fitan 24; Muslim, Fitan 42)

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Last Hour will not come until the Romans land at al-A’maq or in Dabiq. An army consisting of the best of the people of the earth at that time will come from Madinah to counteract them. When they arrange themselves in ranks, the Romans will say:

“Do not stand between us and those (Muslims) who took prisoners from amongst us. Let us fight with them; and the Muslims will say: Nay, by Allah, we will never get aside from you and from our brethren that you may fight them. They will then fight and a third of the army will run away, whom Allah will never forgive. A third which will be constituted of excellent martyrs in Allah’s eye, will be killed and the third who will never be put to trial will win and they will be conquerors of Constantinople. And as they will be busy in distributing the spoils of war (amongst themselves) after hanging their swords by the olive trees, Satan will cry: Masih Dajjal has taken your place among your family.”

“They will then come out, but that news is wrong. And when they come to Damascus, he (Dajjal) will come out. While they will be still preparing themselves for battle drawing up the ranks, iqamah will be called for prayer and then Jesus, son of Mary, will descend and want to go to them. When the enemy of Allah sees him, he will disappear just as the salt dissolves itself in water and if he (Jesus) were not to confront him at all, even then he would dissolve completely, but Allah will kill him with His hand of power and he will show them his blood on his lance.” (Muslim, Fitan 34,)

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Hour will not be established till the buttocks of the women of the tribe of Daws move while going round Dhul-Khalasa.” Dhul-Khalasa was the idol of the Daws tribe (in Tabala) which they used to worship in the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance.” (Bukhari, Fitan 23; Muslim, Fitan 51)

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“Doomsday will not strike until two groups of Muslims fight among themselves. They will fight a great war between them, but their cause is one.” (Bukhari, Fitan 24, Manaqib 25, Istitaba 8; Muslim, İman 248, Fitan 17)

Hudhayfa (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“By the One in whose hand is my soul! The Hour will not be established until you fight your imams, you strike one another with your swords and your world is inherited by the evilest among you.” (Tirmidhi, Fitan 9)

Anas (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“Before the Hour, there shall be fitan like a portion of the dark night. Morning will come upon a man as a believer, who will be an unbeliever in the evening, and evening will come upon a believer, who will be an unbeliever in the morning; people will sell their religion for goods of the world.” (Tirmidhi, Fitan 30)

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Hour shall not be established until nearly thirty imposters, Dajjals appear, each of them claiming that he is the Messenger of Allah.” (Tirmidhi, Fitan 43, Abu Dawud, Malahim 16)

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Hour will not be established till the sun rises from the west, and when it rises (from the west) and the people see it, then all of them will believe (in Allah). But that will be the time when ‘No good it will do to a soul to believe then. If it believed not before’.” (Bukhari, Riqaq 39, Istisqa 27, Zakah 9; Muslim, Iman 248, Abu Dawud, Malahim 12.)

Abu Said (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“I swear by the One who holds my soul in His mighty hand that the Hour will not come unless wild animals speak to people, unless the leather on the end of his whip and the laces of his shoes speak to a person, and unless his knee informs him of what his people do after him.” (Tirmidhi, Fitan 19)

Hudhayfa (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“Doomsday will not strike unless the most fortunate people in the world will the sons of scoundrels.” (Tirmidhi, Fitan 37)

Anas (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The Hour will not occur as long as anyone says: ‘Allah, Allah.” (Muslim, Iman 234, Tirmidhi, Fitan 35)

The following is stated in another version of the hadith:

“The Hour will not occur until ‘Allah, Allah’ is not said on earth.”

Anas (radiyallahu anh) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

“The hour shall not be established until time is constricted, and the year is like a month, a month is like the week, and the week is like the day, and the day is like the hour, and the hour is like the flare of the fire.” (Tirmidhi, Zuhd 24)

45 Has time contracted at the end of time?

The words "qaruba-taqaraba" derived from "QRB" mentioned in hadiths were translated as "contraction" in our opinion. In fact, this word means "closeness/being near".

The Prophet (pbuh) states the following in a hadith:

"When the end of time draws near, hardly any believer will see a false dream, and the ones who see the truest dreams will be the ones who are truest in speech. And the dream of the believer is one of the forty-six parts of prophecy." (Ibn Majah, Ruya, 9)

The scholars interpret the phrase "the end of time draws near" in the hadith as time approaching the Day of Judgment, its closeness to the Day of Judgment and time approaching its end since it is close to the Day of Judgment.

Another hadith regarding the issue is as follows:

"Time will pass rapidly, good deeds (in another narration, knowledge) will decrease, and miserliness will be thrown (in the hearts of the people), and the Harj (killing/murdering) will increase." (Bukhari, Adab, 39; Fitan, 25; Muslim, Ilm, 11-12).

Scholars interpret “taqarub (drawing near/passing) of time” mentioned in the hadith differently.

Some interpret it as "time when day and night will always be equal". We do not think this view is very healthy. If something like that happens, it will mean the solar system will follow an irregular course. In that sense, Doomsday will be about to strike. However, the mischief of end of time is mentioned in the hadith.

We can summarize the best view, which Ibn Hajar also confirms, as follows:

What is meant by it is the approaching of Doomsday. In the mischief at the end of time when Doomsday is close, abundance (blessing) will disappear and time will lack abundance. Day and night will pass quickly. That is something about which people complain nowadays.

This meaning is observed clearly in a hadith:

"Time will draw near. One year will pass as fast as a month, a month as fast as a week, a week as fast as a day and a day as fast as an hour; an hour will pass as fast as a date branch burning down at once. Besides, the levels of the people living at that time will generally approach one another. People will share the same level by not doing good deeds and committing bad deeds." (Ibn Hajar, 13/16)

46 Arabia will once again become meadows and rivers

Yes, it has begun; however, we cannot know how long it will continue.

Abū Hurayrah (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) narrates that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said:

“The Hour will not be established until wealth becomes abundant and overflows from the doors, to such an extent that a man will take out the zakāh of his wealth but will find no one to accept it. And the Hour will not be established until the land of the Arabs / the Arabian Peninsula becomes green again, with rivers flowing.”
(See: Muslim, Zakāt, 60; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, 2/370, 417; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, 7/331)

This hadith indicates that, toward the end of time, the Arabs who once lived a desert life would attain great wealth and develop their lands. Witnessing such developments today may be regarded as one of the Prophet’s (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) miracles concerning matters of the unseen.