Signs of the Hour - 1
Syed Iqbal Zaheer
Many signs that our Prophet foretold concerning
the end of the world have miraculously come true within
a few decades of our time: enough to convince the most die-hard
skeptic to wonder how such wide and varying phenomenon could
have been so accurately foreseen by someone appearing a
millennium and a half ago. But the fulfillments do not seem
to have sufficiently turned people to Islam. Jesus had said
about the uselessness of signs for an unbelieving people:
"An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign,
but no sign shall be given to it" (Matt. 12: 39)
He said that because,
"And the Pharisees and Sad'ducees came, and to test
him (Jesus) they asked him to show them a sign from
heaven. He answered them, "When it is evening, you say,
`It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.' And in
the morning, `It will be stormy today, for the sky is
red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the
appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the
signs of the times." (Matt. 16: 1-3)
The Bible of Barnabas says that when a town's people asked
for signs, Jesus refused and, instead, repairing to an unknown
village, demonstrated Allah's power there – perhaps in hope
that the countrymen are less spiritually corrupted.
The Qur'an has said,
"Nothing prevented Us to send the signs except that
the earlier ones had denied them." (17: 59)
A sign asked for and denied, turns into a wrath of God.
So, its non-appearance is a kind of mercy.
If signs could restore people to faith, scientific discoveries
of our own age should have turned all scientists believers
in God. That the world is so large, expanding at a lightening
speed, and that physical laws deny that we should ever know
how large our world is, should have run a chill in the backbones
of the discoverers. But the result has been pride at the
mere ability to discover the phenomenon! Discovery of the
double helix containing transferable messages, did turn
one here, or another there, to wonder whether there could
be an outside Agency responsible for the message, but by
and large, the rest of the scientific community was bursting
out with uncontrollable hubris.
If the discoveries of the signs of God have had such amazing
effects on the scientific community, the fact that some
of the modern discoveries were already plainly stated in
the Qur'an and Sunnah, have had similar amazing effects
upon the faith of the Muslims. Many of them have remained
as skeptic – at least in practical terms – as they were,
perhaps even more, two centuries ago. Sale of Qur'anic commentaries
continues to slide; hadith books suffer no better treatment.
Signs are not meant to be bedtime stories for the curious,
but are a mercy for the believers. They re-confirm their
faith, making them more committed to Islam. The complacent
among them become pro-active. Their personal library experiences
growth. If the sign happens to puts them to test, they take
it with placid coolness and peaceful hearts and not vent
anger and beat the waves with a stick, as the Sri Lankan
boy is reported to have done in his frustration after the
2004 tsunami. It is for men and women of belief that the
signs of the Last Hour have been so graphically depicted.
When they occur, they ring familiar tones in them: as one
of the Companions said: "Although we forgot much of what
we heard from the Prophet as signs that will unfold with
the passage of time, when we actually experienced one, we
immediately recalled his words."
A greater part of what are known as "minor signs," have
already appeared. How many have heeded? How many changed
their life styles? And now we have arrived in an age which
is pregnant with the "major signs." Some events of recent
occurring have been so close to the description of the happenings
of the Last Hour that some people have begun to think that
perhaps a few have already appeared. Imran Nazr Hosein is
one such scholar who has been thinking, talking and writing
about it for more than a decade. His book "Jerusalem
in the Qur'an" (published by Masjid Dar al-Qur'an, 1514
East Third Avenue, Bayshore, New York, 11706, USA, year
2002, printed by Percetakan Zafar Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia) makes interesting reading. He predicts that this
will be the last century. A few of the major signs have
already appeared, and the rest will unfold in quick succession.
But that is his interpretation – and interpretations are
always stretched, questionable, and evoke skepticism.
Born at the Caribbean, Imran was educated both in traditional
Madrasas (Karachi, Azhar) as well as in prestigious universities
(Trinidad, Switzerland). He trained both as an intellectual
as well as a spiritualist and has a good eye on eschatology,
history, politics and socio-economic issues. Having lived
in New York for ten years serving as the Director of Islamic
Studies for the Joint Committee of Muslim Organizations
of Greater New York, and having lectured in several American
and Canadian universities, colleges, churches, synagogues,
prisons, community halls, etc., and, having participated
in many inter-faith dialogues with Christian and Jewish
scholars he enjoys a good understanding of the Western mind,
culture and politics. And he is courageous. He writes in
his "Jerusalem and the Qur'an:"
"The Taliban were in a situation comparable to the 12
year old Palestinian Muslim boy who fought US-made Israeli
tanks with a stone in his hand. Neither were the Taliban
defeated by America, nor by the 'Northern' Yankey Alliance
with which Iran is still comfortable. And the young
boys who fight with stones in the Holy Land, can never
be defeated. Rather, the Taliban withdrew to the mountains
where cowardly fighter aircraft and missile cannot reach
them. And so these soldiers of Allah live to fight 'another'
day. We salute them! Indeed, this war will not end until
the Muslim army emerges out of Khorasan and marches
triumphantly to Jerusalem. All those who read this book,
and who are Muslims, should have the desire in their
hearts to be part of that army." (P. 237).
Those are bold words, and could lead him to serious trouble
if he was living in the USA.
[The Khorasan army of his reference has been prophesized
by our Prophet. He said that the Mahdi, his descendant bearing
the same name and sharing his father's name (Muhammad or
Ahmad b. `Abdullah), will appear from the East, accompanied
by black flags. Some reports add the word Khorasan to the
text, which is an area covering north-west of Pakistan and
south-east of Iran, with Afghanistan in the middle. Black
flags refer to an army. The Mahdi will be a member of the
army but without knowing that he is the promised Mahdi.
He will be recognized as one at the Ka`bah and the best
of Muslims will rush from Syria, Iraq and other places to
swear allegiance to him].
Imran Hosein is forthright too. He writes:
"The most dangerous and obnoxious of all creatures on
the face of the earth today (or rather the most evil
people beneath the sky) are those scholars of Islam
or Muslim leaders who were totally deceived by the Sept.
11th act of terrorism and who responded to it by blaming
Arabs and Muslims for the attack and by extending patriotic
support to Britain/USA/Israel in their war against Islamic
Afghanistan." (P. 238)
Finally, he has foresight and a pretty good understanding
of the political objectives of the West, particularly USA
which is led by the Zionist noose around its neck. He writes:
"This book anticipates that the US/UK – led alliance
will wage a protracted war in Afghanistan and elsewhere
for the express purpose, among other things, of provoking
civil war in Pakistan. If and when elements in the Pakistan
armed forces eventually revolt and join popular forces
opposed to the Government's policy of support for USA,
and civil war brakes out in Pakistan, such would be
the cue for USA to lead international coalition in an
attack on Pakistan's nuclear plants where the nuclear
weapons are produced. If this opportunity does not present
itself they probably have a number of alternatives through
which to achieve this objective. In fact, USA and its
allies may very well go on to transform Pakistan into
another Turkey or Iraq, or to preside over the (further)
break-up of Pakistan." (P. 245).
Thus the book makes interesting reading. But two of its
aspects ask for closer study: (i) interpretations of the
Prophetic predictions, and (ii) Imran M. Hosein's own predictions.
Prophesies of our Prophet have been traditionally divided
into major and minor signs. He spoke about several minor
signs of the approach of the Hour; that is, the ending days
of the life on earth. In the words of Imran, [elsewhere],
describing the minor signs, "People would follow a way of
life other than mine and give guidance other than mine”,
“I fear for my people only the leaders who lead men astray”,
“Before the Last Hour there will be great liars, so beware
of them”, “When the most wicked member of a tribe becomes
its ruler, and the most worthless member of a community
becomes its leader, and a man is respected through fear
of the evil he may do, and leadership is given to people
who are unworthy of it, expect the Last Hour”, – all of
these warnings have already been dramatically and ominously
fulfilled in the world.
Women dressing like men and men like women, wide-spread
fornication, disappearance of religious knowledge, true
scholars belittled, marginalized, and even demonized, random
killing, prevalence of riba, and naked barefoot bedouins
competing in the construction of high-rise buildings, are
all minor signs that have unfolded themselves within such
quick spell as impossible to be ignored by the commonest
of men. Yet, these direct, clear, unambiguous unfolding
of the prophesies have drawn less attention than the hazy,
ambiguous and heretofore false predictions of Nostradamus.
Regarding the major signs, we have a Companions narrating:
Once we were sitting together and talking amongst ourselves
when the Prophet appeared. He asked us what it was we were
discussing. We said it was the Hour. He said: It will not
be called until ten signs have appeared: "Smoke, Dajjal,
the Animal (that will speak to the people), rising of the
sun from the West, descending down of Isa (asws), appearance
of Yajuj and Majuj, and three sinkings (or caving in of
the earth): one in the East, another in the West and a third
in the Arabian Peninsula. The last (sign) will be that of
the Fire that will start from Yemen and drive the people
towards the place of Reckoning."
The minor signs have been fulfilled with such absence of
ambiguity surrounding them that they cannot be disputed
against. In fact, their fulfillment can be proved scientifically
in terms of data that can be collected, analyzed, results
worked out, etc. And, therefore, their fulfillment does
not call for any interpretation. But major signs are different.
There has been a tendency among some people to interpret
some events to conclude that a few have already occurred.
Thereafter, predictions follow. This is what Imran N. Hosein
attempts. He interprets a few events that have occurred
in our times to build up the argument that they are the
fulfilled signs. That achieved, he undertakes to predict
how the rest of the signs are likely to follow. Accordingly,
he assigns a chronological order to the above ten signs:
- Appearance of Dajjal
- Yajuj and Majuj
- Smoke
- The Beast of the Earth
- The sun rising from the West
- Three earthquakes: One in the East
- Another in the West
- A third in Arabia
- A fire coming from Yemen,
- and The descent of Isa, the son of Maryam.
As mentioned earlier, to arrive at the above order, which
was not prescribed by the Prophet, he has been at pains
to resort to interpretations. And this is the aspect that
we intend to discuss. However, before we do that we might
point out that the end of the world is not a minor affair.
It has provoked greatest of interest in the peoples of the
world, and specifically the Muslims since they have received
the signs in explicit terms. Innumerable scholars have,
therefore, written on the topic. The chronological order
that they have assigned as the most likely, is based
on inner evidences rather than external happenings. Obviously,
this is a safer way of determining the order. A detailed
study of their arguments will require a volume, but at this
point a single example may suffice. The scholars have generally
suggested that the rising of the sun from the west should
appear last – much before the appearance of Jesus Christ.
Why? That is because the Prophet has said that no repentant's
repentance will be accepted after that event. Now, if it
is placed before the appearance of Jesus Christ, it will
mean that those who repent after his arrival, acknowledge
his descent, and fight along with him, will not have their
repentance accepted.
In this study we shall examine each of the signs that Imran
N. Hosein argues as have been fulfilled. He contends for
example, that Dajjal has already appeared – albeit in an
impersonated form. His place of origin is identified as
Britain. He is geographically now located in USA from where
he is about to move to Israel, where he will appear as a
young, powerfully built Jew to assume control of the state
of Israel. Imran thinks Yajuj and Majuj were released during
the time of the Prophet himself. He identifies, although
implicitly, Britain and USA as the Gog and Magog (Yajuj
and Majuj). He suggests that right now we are living in
the age of Gog and Magog. Similarly, his argument is that
the Beast of the Land is none other than the imposter state
of Israel that occupies the Holy Land while the Smoke of
the hadith is identified as modern-day pollution. The book
was written in 2003. The author has followed up with the
events and has, in his other writings (not part of this
book), identified the East Asian tsunami of 2004 as the
first caving in of the three promised. As regards the Prophet's
prophesy concerning a fire from the Hejaz, he thinks it
will happen when Israel launches a nuclear attack on this
part of the world.
The theme that dominates this book is that after Britain
(the first phase of Dajjal), United States took over as
the world superpower (the second phase of Dajjal), and that
now, after a predictable collapse of American currency and
military power, Israel will take over as the Ruling State
of the world. That would occur when Israel wages her big
war that would result in the dramatic territorial expansion
of the State 'from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.'
Israel will then seize control of the Suez Canal and all
the oil of the Arabian Gulf. It is at the end of this third
phase that the Anti-Christ (Dajjal) will appear in his full
and final human form to take control of the State of Israel.
It is then that Jesus Christ will descend, overcome Dajjal,
and rule the world from Jerusalem establishing peace everywhere.
To Imran N. Hosein, Jerusalem is the fulcrum of the world
and is the one alluded to in the ayah 95 of surah Al-Anbiyaa'.
The above is roughly the gist of the book. But the gist
is nothing without the interesting (philosophical) arguments
that the author builds. Yet, those arguments do not interest
us. This is because they have been created to support certain
interpretations and predictions. In the issue that follows
we shall look into why the interpretations cannot hold their
ground against scholarly examination, and why the predictions
are, logically, politically, and scientifically speaking,
questionable.
(To be continued).
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