In the Name of Allah the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the all-knowing, the all-seeing and we beseech Allah to send His noblest blessings on the Seal of the Prophets, Our Master and Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaho Alayhi Wasallam).
Shaykh Sulaiman Moola (Lecturer/Ustadh of Hadeeth in Johannesburg, South Africa)
It is no secret the planet has been gripped, rocked and played by turmoil, turbulence, mayhem and anarchy. Doom and gloom has covered our horizons. The vessel of humanity is nagging against one iceberg or another. Political, social, economical, religious and otherwise. Every sane person with no exception, regardless of his paper denomination is appalled by the timings and brutality that is going on in the world. As Muslims we are equally appalled. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) foretold us of this 14 centuries ago. He (peace be upon him) told us, “The glory of this Ummah will be in the early days” (Bukhari)
Hudhayfah (Allah be pleased with him) mentions the environment was so pure and pristine that I could enter into a transaction with someone, and if he were a believer his faith would not let him tell a lie and if he were a disbeliever society would not allow him to tell a lie.
Abu Sufyan (Allah be pleased with him) was summoned by Hiraql – Abu Sufyan (Allah be pleased with him) had not accepted Islam yet. And he was about to be interviewed about the Prophet (peace be upon him), he categorically, emphatically, systematically and explicitly said, “I had an agenda, I wanted to be biased and prejudiced and I wanted to tarnish the reputation of the best of Allah’s creation. I was not in harmony, we couldn’t see eye to eye. But, now I was at a crossroad, either I speak ill of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the emperor would not be impressed but I could not live with the stigma of a liar for the rest of my life. So, I kept the interview as candid as possible.”
There will be fitnah in the latter of the Ummah. To the extent a man will sell his religion for little worldly gain. Imam Hakim (Allah have mercy on him) reports, the Prophet (peace be upon him) recited Surah Nasr: ‘When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest, And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, Then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance.’ Thereafter He (peace be upon him) mentioned, “When people start flocking towards Islam and groups upon groups become Muslim, likewise many will leave Islam in large groups.” Another Hadith metaphorically states that the fitnah will be blind, deaf and dumb. What this means is that they will leave the ‘people’ blind, deaf and dumb! In Fathul Bari, volume 15, page 52, Ibn Uyaynah (Allah have mercy on him) on the strength of Khalaf ibn Hawshab (Allah have mercy on him) narrates a poem (translation), “Fitnah are like battles, initially battles are young and attractive, but when you go deep into it you get swallowed and realise it is not as pretty, black and white mixed, you dislike her complexion, you will not want to spend a moment with her in seclusion.” To quote another Hadith, “Every subsequent era would be more wicked than the previous era.” If we look at the era of Hajjaj RH it was full of dhulm (oppression), then it was followed by an era of peace and justice ruled by Umar Ibn AbdulAziz (Allah have mercy on him). Shah Wailullah Dehlawi (Allah have mercy on him), reports, there will be many types of fitnah, the first type of fitnah will be in a man’s personal capacity, so much so that his heart will become hard. We see the carnage that is happening in the world, hearts have become hard. Secondly, in a man’s family structure. There will be mayhem in his social structure. Imam Bayhaqi (Allah have mercy on him) on the strength of Abullah Ibn Mas’ood (Allah be pleased with him) and Abu Hurayrah (Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A time will come, when a man will lose his strength and Imaan because of his wife and children.” The companions (Allah be pleased with them all) were astounded, “But they are beloved to us!” The Prophet (peace be upon him), “How many a man, his family put such financial burden upon him that they make him stand beyond his economic muscle?” … Either you stay in this house, make or break, do or die?!
Imam Bukhari (Allah have mercy on him) and Muslim (Allah have mercy on him) have recorded from Hudhayfah (Allah be pleased with him), “We were once sat with Umar (Allah be pleased with him) and a group of Sahabah (Allah be pleased with them). Umar (Allah be pleased with him) asked, which one of you remembers the Hadith of the Prophet in which he mentioned the fitnah. Hudhayfah (Allah be pleased with him) said, “I do.” Umar (Allah be pleased with him) said, “Go ahead, you seem like the brave one!!” Hudhayfah (Allah be pleased with him), said a man would be gripped by fitnah through his family, his children, his neighbour, his wealth, the only expiation and atonement he will find are; praying Salah, observing fast, inviting towards good and forbidding evil .” Umar (Allah be pleased with him) said, “No! You did not understand me! I am referring to those fitnah that will rock the planet!!! Those that will grip and seize the entire earth!! So Hudhayfah (Allah be pleased with him) replied, “But Umar what have you got to do with that – between you and those fitnah there is a door.” He asked, “Is that door open or closed?” “Unfortunately, it is broken.” To which Umar (Allah have mercy on him) said, “I doubt it will ever be repaired.” Shaqeeq (Allah have mercy on him) says, “We asked Hudhayfah does Umar know who the door is?” Hudhayfah (Allah be pleased with him) said, “Just as Umar knows day is preceded by night- with that equal condition he know who is the door.” But to be sure we requested Masrooq (Allah have mercy on him) to ask Hudhayfah who was the door, says Shaqeeq (Allah have mercy on him). Hudhayfah (Allah have mercy on him) informed them, “It is Umar himself!”
A sign of Qiyamah is people will be greedy for leadership and authority (Caliph).
Shah Waliullah (Allah have mercy on him) further states another fitnah will be one that strips mankind of human instinct. He will reduce himself to animalistic behaviour. Do we hear of incest? Rape? Juvenile murders? Beastiality? “There will be people who commit heinous crimes such as sleeping with their biological mothers” (Hadith). Shah Waliullah finishes by saying, “then will come the tornadoes, the tsunamis, the earthquakes.” How quickly will the events of Qiyamah befall? “Two men will be in a transaction,a piece of cloth will be put on the counter, they will be debating the price and Qiyamah will have happened!” (Hadith)
Another sign is that transparency, honest and trust will be extinct. When will this happen? When undeserving people will aspire for position and they will be given that position. We see so much nepotism in our institutions and circles. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “You will see exploitation, discrimination, unfairness and injustices – all blatant and brazen.” The companions (Allah have mercy on them) queried, “What do you advise?” He (peace be upon him) answered, “Whoever you owe your due to, discharge your due to him and what is owed to you, ask it from Allah.”
Allah says, “And We have made some of you [people] as trial for others – will you have patience? And ever is your Lord, Seeing.” (25:20) In the footnotes of Tafsir Uthmani, Allah is telling the Prophet (peace be upon him), the disbelievers are there to test your perseverance and you are there to test their submission.
A fitnah will also be those without knowledge who like to comment on the Qur’an. “And of the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge and follows every rebellious devil.” (22:3) “And no one knows its [true] interpretation except Allah .” (3:7) The reason Allah sent the Qur’an was to see our compliance and whether we believe. Nobody truly knows what it means except Allah. But we love to have our views and opinions in deen and comment by ‘googling’ answers. And to prove that we have a story, Imam Hakim (Allah have mercy on him) in Mustadrak narrates that someone came to the Giant of Tafseer, Abdullah Ibn Abbas (Allah have mercy on him) and said, “There are two verses of the Qur’an and I can see a clear contradiction please help me reconcile, “then it will ascend to Him in a Day, the extent of which is a thousand years of those which you count.” (32:5) The second verse, “The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.” Abdullah Ibn Abbas (Allah have mercy on him) said, “these are two verses which Allah has categorically stated, how can i blurt something about which I know nothing.”
…How easy is it to say, “I don’t know.”
Mawlana Abdur Raheem Limbada Saheb, (Ustadh of Bury Darul Uloom)
The Court of Justice
We all have to stand before Allah on the Day of Qiyamat – hisaab, kitaab, mizaan, pul siraat…these are all things that we will all have to face.
We will come out of our graves just as we came out of the womb.
We will be raised back to life just as we are now; to the very fingertip.
The first person to be raised back to life will be Nabi (SAW), followed by the Khulafaa Rashidun, followed by those of Jannatul Baaqi, followed by those of Jannatul Ma’laa.
The maydaan (plain) of Hashr will either be Arafat or in Baytul Maqdis (there are differing opinions on this and Allah knows best). The maydaan will be stretched, there will be no seas as they will all have perished.
We will be drowning in sweat according to our sins. Things will be out of the norm on that day. Some people, (the chosen and blessed ones) will be under the shade of the Arsh (Throne of Allah SWT). They will include the just ruler, the person who spent his youth in the path of deen, the one whose heart is attached to the Masjid, the one who rejected zinaa (fornication), two people who met and parted for Allah’s SWT sake, the one who gave in charity and the one who remembered Allah SWT and cried out of fear of Him. With regards to the last category, Shaykh mentioned that the one who cries even a single tear in this state will be granted this lofty status. We pray that the Almighty Allah SWT grants us the status of these people and grants us the shade of His Arsh on the day when there will be no shade. Shaykh also mentioned that two other categories have also been mentioned, though they are not as well known. They include the one who has istihzar (awareness/consciousness) of Allah SWT at all times and those who are kind to their spouses and parents.
Shaykh mentioned a description of the day when we shall be standing before Allah – how often to we think about this? Have we ever thought about this? We will be standing before our Creator, just you and Him. Before the commencement of hisaab kitaab, the people will be waiting for judgement to commence, everyone of us will be in a state of sheer panic and fear. People will start asking each other questions such as, ‘How long are we going to wait?’ (due to their anxiety), however as we will be weak, we will not have the guts to go straight to Allah SWT to ask Him, instead, we will look for an intercessor. (There is a difference of opinion as to whether all of the people will approach the Ambiya (AS) one by one or whether it will only be those amongst the pious). Each Prophet (AS) when approached, will say, ‘My Rabb is extremely angry today due to the sins of man, I made a mistake once; nafsi, nafsi’
Nabi (SAW), when approached will accept our request and will travel with Jibraeel (AS) on the buraaq. He (SAW), will be taken somewhere and will praise Allah SWT in a manner that will be inspired by Allah SWT Himself, he (SAW), will praise Allah SWT in a manner that Allah SWT has never been praised before. Allah SWT will ask him (Nabi SAW) to raise his head and ask; he (SAW) will ask for our intercession and he (SAW) will also make dua for hisaab kitaab to commence. This will be granted. The heavens and the earth will split asunder and the angels in the first heaven will be heard. There will be such a nur (heavenly/divine light) emanating from the first heaven that the people will ask if it is Allah SWT Himself. The people will be told that it is just the angels, who will come down onto maydaan-e-hashr and will surround the people. This will happen for each and every of the seven heavens, then finally, the Arsh of Allah SWT will be brought down by eight strong angels.
Every nation will be told to follow whoever they followed, be this idols, people of false deities.
Our books will be presented to us so that we can read them (see verse: ‘Iqra’ kitataabaq…’) and they will given to us in either our right or left hands according to our deeds.
This will be the time when we will have a direct conversation with Allah SWT. A screen will be placed around a believer as Allah SWT is As-Sattaar. Therefore we are reminded that if Allah SWT conceals our sins, why do we, ourselves, not? If we commit sins, do not boast about them or make them public knowledge (through social media etc), rather our first steps should be those towards repentance.
At this stage, the mutakabireen (oppressors) will be cast aside and they will not even be granted Allah SWT’s presence.
Every person will be asked four questions, and their feet will not move until they answer them fully, what are these questions? They are:
1) How did you spend your life?
2) How did you spend your youth (the best portion of your life)?
3) How did you spend your wealth and how did you earn it? (every single penny will need to be accounted for, thus why the poor will reach Jannah before the rich).
4) How much ilm (knowledge) did you acquire, and how did you acquire it?
After this accountability has taken place, every good deed and every bad deed will be placed on the scale.
There are three groups that will be ‘fast-tracked’ to their destination, they will be:
1) The Ambiya (AS) and other such people who will have no hisaab to give as they are not sinners.
2) The Kuffaar who will have no hisaab to give as they are sinners.
3) Those who are in-between the two (Al-A’raaf) – their good deeds and their bad deeds will be equal in weight and one good deed will make all the difference (however this will a day in which no-one will be willing to part with anything, not a single deed, as they will only be concerned about their own fate; nafsi, nafsi).
The events at the Pul Siraat and the knocking on the doors of Jannah by Nabi (SAW) will occur (wherein Ridhwaan will only open the door to Nabi (SAW)).
Everyone will go their own Jannah, just as we know which house is our house in this world, we will know which house is our house in Jannah as we will have been shown it during our time in the barzaq. On a side note Shaykhul Hadeeth mentioned that we hear a lot of people use the phrase, ‘Only Allah will judge me’ etc. Shaykhul Hadeeth advised us not to use this phrase due to the flippant nature of it; considering what has been covered, we need to take in to account the enormity of the words we are saying: Allah Will Judge Us. It should strike absolute fear in to our hearts – Allah SWT is going to judge us for every single deed one day very soon; what if on that day Allah SWT is angry with us? What if we have done something that has angered Allah SWT and attracted His wrath? All of the hasaanat (good deeds) that we have acquired could be wiped out due to one sin, one sin.
We must remember that on that day, all of creation will be given true and absolute justice, for our Rabb is Al-Adl (The Most Just), so much so that on that day, an animal who only had one horn will be given justice for not having two horns, SubhanAllah.
Shaykh Ahmed Ali (al-Mahad al-Islami, Bradford)
Let me take you back to July 1999, the 16th Century false Prophet was on the lips of every person, the news the media, it was none other than Nostradamus. He made many a prediction, despite many of those predictons were not true and proven false people still believed that the world was going to end. There were a group of people sat with their belongings in the centre of Leeds, waiting for the world to end. And many others believed the same. But did the world come to an end? Are you in doubt? Lol. Then it was the millennium – the world was meant to end. But it is August 2014, we are still here. Now, the talk of the town is still the world will come to an end!
We are sat here today to talk about the End of the World – Qiyamah. You don’t normally see a Masjid so full with thousands of people listening lecture upon lecture. Only in Ramadhan you may see this. On Jumuah you will see this but we pray 2 rak’ah and then leave. Our Masajid are crying, they are empty. We do not pray as we need to pray. We do to bow down as we need to bow down. We do not prostrate as we need to prostrate. We do not fast as we need to fast. Have we forgotten a time will come, when we will need to face our Lord, the Lord of the Arsh and Kursiyy (throne). There will be no veil or wall between you and Allah Almighty. Picture this in your mind’s eyes, this is no joke. Allah will be angry like never before. He will punish like nobody has ever punished before. Allah will hold you account for every word, for every minute, every word you uttered, every sin you committed, now tell me brothers is this what excites you about the world ending and about the Akhirah. Allah is swearing, “I will fill Jahannam with the humankind and the jinnkind!”
The fire of hell is not yellow or red like that of the fire in this world, it is absolutely black! The fire of Hell will be brought on Qiyamah it will have 70,000 reins and on every rein there will be 70,000 angels pulling and bringing Jahannam. Jahannam will be angry because Allah Almighty will be angry. It will be brought on the plain of Qiyamah, believe me kid! You will be there, you will be the actor in this film, you’re the producer and the director. Trust me, or you can hold my neck on the day of Qiyamah and call me a liar. Imagine the heat, billions of people on one open plain, every man from Adam (peace be upon him) till the last man Allah creates. You will be standing so close together you will be on top of one another. The Prophet (peace be upon him) described this as, “Feet on the day of Qiyamah will be like arrows in a pouch.” You will not be able to put your feet on the ground.
The sun is currently 90,000,000 miles away, on that day it will be brought close. Our Prophet informed us it will only be a mile away. ‘Meel’ in arabic is termed as a mile or some Ulama have taken another meaning which is the needle one uses to put surmah on. Man next to beast, beast next to jinn, jinn next to shaytan and it will be totally hectic. You will sweat, either up to your ankles, or up to your knees, or up to your waist and some will be completely drowning in sweat due to their sins. How is this possible that one person can be sweating up to his ankles and next to you someone is sweating up to his waist? it will happen brothers and sisters do not ponder on this too much by using your Aql (intellect). As everything does not make sense in our Aql. For example when we do masah on our socks for wudhu, do we do it on the top or the bottom of our socks? On the top, whereas it is the bottom that gets dirty. The reason for this is our religion is based on Naql (Qur’an/Hadith) not on Aql (intellect).
Now, the doors of Hell will be open, and the fire will be black as Allah will have been fuelling it for many years. When you light a fire and keep it burning it gets hotter and hotter, the fire of Jahannam has been burning for thousands and thousands of years. The doors of Hell will be thrown open and the hot air will blow on the faces of some and not on others. “The smell of Hell on the plain of resurrection will be worse than rotten corpses.” (Hadith) We cannot bear the stench of a dead mouse under the floorboards in our house, what will be the smell on that day. The gravity of this day will be so hard for us, a man will say, “O Allah! Just send me to Hell, I cannot bear this anymore, please send me to Hell, I will stay in Hell, anything but this!!” This is just the start, this is nothing, just the beginning. The punishment of Hell is far, far worse. For those who disbelieved in this world they will burn in Hell forever and ever, no coming out, no rest, no peace and respite.
Shaykh Hashim Ahmad (USA) – Prepare today for tomorrow
(Shaykh Hashim presented his topic with the aid of a PPT presentation thus it is difficult to translate without the slides for reference)
The two questions one needs to ask are these:
1) Why am I here?
2) What is the purpose of my life?
With regards to the first question, man has travelled far into space and into the depth of the oceans yet he still hasn’t figured out the purpose of his own creation, of his own existence – ajeeb!
With regards to the second question:
‘And I created not the jinn and mankind except for (My continuous) ubudiyyah (worship/servitude).
On a sidenote, Shaykh Hashim mentioned that the English translation(s) given for the term ‘ubudiyyah’ are rather lacking, for they do not even come close to defining or capturing the essence of what the term in Arabic means and tries to convey.
(The root of the word ‘ubudiyyah’ is abd, which means ‘slave’; a slave does nothing except that which the Master commands)
A few questions that we need to look at in order to understand the essence of Islam:
1) What is Islam?
Islam isn’t an ‘ism’; Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism etc, rather, it is a state of being. It is an absolute submission to Allah SWT, a submission borne out of love, awe and reverence of the Master
2) Who is a Muslim?
A Muslim is one who submits (to his Lord, to the commands of his Lord).
3) What is Deen?
It is a total system of submission to Allah.
Run to Allah, not from Him!
Ubudiyyah (servitude) isn’t just ibaadah (worship) – it (ubudiyyah) is obedience and servitude to Allah out of love and reverence of Him – whereas acts of ibaadah, like the five pillars of Islam are the ahkaamaat (commandments); they just also happen to be forms of ibaadah. Shaykh Hashim used a visual metaphor and described how ubudiyyah is like the trunk of a tree, with da’wah, taleem and tarbiyah being it’s roots (they are the basis upon which ubudiyyah is founded, and without which, ubudiyyah cannot exist, be understood or nurtured). Acts of ibaadah such as salaah, sawm, zakaah and hajj amongst others are the branches of this tree.
Shaykh Hashim finished off the talk by discussing the seven aqabaat outlined by Imaam Ghazali in his ‘On the path to ubudiyyah’:
1) Tanabbuh (Awakening)
Recognition of being a Muslim and what this involves.
2) Ilm and Tawbah
3) Awaa’iq (Hinderences)
Awaa’iq: The Dunya
The remedy: Tajarrud – Abstain from the dunya, learn not to love it
Awaa’iq: Society
The remedy: Taffarud – Choose solitude instead of excessive socialising
Awaa’iq: Shaytan
The remedy: Muharabah – Battle him
Awaa’iq: Nafs
The remedy: Mukhalafa – Oppose it
4) Awaarid (Obstacles)
Awaarid: Rizq (sustenance)
The remedy: Learn tawaqqul (reliance on Allah)
Awaarid: Akhtar (dangers)
The remedy: Tafweedh (plan, then leave the matter to Allah SWT)
Awaarid: Masa’ib (calamities)
The remedy: Sabr
Awaarid: Qadr (destiny)
The remedy: Ridaa bil qadha
5) Bawaa’ith (motivators)
Raja (hope) and Khawf (fear) – these are both revivers.
6) Qawadhih (destructors)
Riya (pride/showing off) and Ujb (conceit)
7) And if/when you have worked your way through this process, turn to Hamd (praising Allah) and express your Shukr (gratitude).
Suggestions for an action plan to attain true ubudiyyah:
1) Niyyah (intention)
2) Azm (Determination)
3) Sabr (Patience
4) Connected with ‘the connected’ (the ulema)
Ismail Ibn Nazir Satia (In dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure).
10th Dhul Qa’dah 1435