Are You Preparing Yourself for the End Times?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

What End Times? No doubt that we are approaching the End Times, when the world will come to an end and all will be destroyed. Each and every individual will have to account for his/her actions, and their final fate will be decided by Allah.

Are you prepared for it? Are you helping your children to prepare for it? Maybe we won't live long enough to see the the world ending but we are definitely living through the beginning stage of end times.

We can understand from the hadiths of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam that the first stage of the End Times is a period that seems to be religious, but one that almost completely rejects Allah's religion and the moral values of the Qur'an. It is a period in which that which has been clearly indicated in the verses of the Qur'an are overlooked, non-Islamic judgments are given by using the name of Allah, religion falls into discord, worship is performed for show, and religion is used as a means for profit and gain. It is a characteristic of this time that faith does not depend on knowledge and study but on imitation. In this time, so-called Muslims are in the majority, while real scholars and sincere Muslims are in the minority.

We have been warned about the approach of Day of Judgement in many Qur'anic verses and Ahadith. There many signs that will tell us that the Day of Judgement is near, and in the recent times these signs have become more evident. As Muslims, we should be aware of this and each person should prepare himself by being virtuous and abstaining from sin.

Honesty will be lost.

Abu Hurayrah narrates that, while the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam was saying something in a gathering, a Bedouin came and asked him, "When will the Hour (Day of Judgement) take place?" Allah's Messenger continued his talk, so some people said that he had heard the question but did not like what the Bedouin had asked. Some of them said that Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wassallam had not heard it. When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam finished his speech, he said,"Where is the questioner, who inquired about the Hour (Day of Judgement)?" The Bedouin said, "I am here, O Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wassallam ." Then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam said, "When honesty is lost, then wait for the Hour." The Bedouin said, "How will that be lost?" The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam said, "When the power or authority comes in the hands of unfit persons, then wait for the Hour." [Bukhari]

The raising of trustworthiness from the hearts:

Zaid ibn Wahb related to Abu Hudhaifah said, "The Messenger of Allah mentioned two ahadeeth to us, I witnessed one of them and I am waiitng for the other. First, he sallallahu alayhi wassallam said, 'Indeed, trustworthiness descended to the roots of the people's hearts; then the Qur'an was revealed, and they knew from the Qur'an, and then they knew from the Sunnah.' And he spoke to us about the raising of trustworthiness when he sallallahu alayhi wassallam said, 'While a man is sleeping, trustworthiness will be taken from his heart, yet a tract if it, the size of a small spot will remain. Then he will sleep again, and it will be taken, but it's trace remains as a scar...People will begin to buy and sell with one another, and hardly anyone will fulfill the trust. It will be said that among the children of so and so is a trustworthy man. And it will be said to a man, "How wise he is, how charming he is, and how hardy he is.' but he will not have a mustard seed amount of iman in his heart. There was a time when I didn't mind whom it was from you that I traded with: if he was a Muslim, then his Islam (his religion and trustworthiness) would prevent him from treachery; and if he was a Christian or a Jew, then the one in authority over him would prevent him (from wronging me). As for today, I would not trade except with so-and-so and with so-and-so. [Bukhari]

According to the Qur'an, on the Last Day the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam will say that his own people will have abandoned the Qur'an: "My Lord, my people treat this Qur'an as something to be ignored…" (Surat al-Furqan: 30) It is also revealed in the hadiths that, during the End Times, the Qur'an's guidance will be disregarded and people will stray from it.

Near the establishment of the Hour there will be days during which (religious) knowledge will be taken away (vanish) and general ignorance will spread...(Bukhari)

There will come a time for my people when there will remain nothing of the Qur'an except its outward form and nothing of Islam except its name and they will call themselves by this name even though they are the people furthest from it. (Ibn Babuya, Thawab ul-A'mal)

A comparison is made in Surah Jumu'ah, verse 5: "The metaphor of those who were charged with the Torah but then have not upheld it, is that of a donkey carrying books..." There is no doubt that this verse applies as a warning to Muslims, reminding them that they must be careful not to fall into the same grave error. The Qur'an was sent down as a book of guidance for people to observe.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam said that, despite the fact that the Qur'an will be read, the knowledge and wisdom it contains will not be considered. This is another sign of the time of the End Times.

There will come a time upon the Ummah when people will recite the Qur'an, but it will not go further than their throats, (into their hearts).(Bukhari)

Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wassallam spoke of something and said: "It will happen when knowledge will be no more. " (Ziyad) said: "Allah's Messenger, how will knowledge vanish despite the fact that we will be reciting the Qur'an and teaching its recitation to our children and our children will teach its recitation to their children up to the Day of Resurrection?" Thereupon he (the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam) said: "Ziyad, do these Jews and Christians not recite the Torah and the Bible but not act according to what is contained in them?"(Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi)

It is a sign of the End Times that some Muslims will follow the example of heretical Jews and Christians and imitate them blindly.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam said, "Surely you will follow the ways, of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (i.e. inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a lizard, you too would follow them," We said, "O Allah's Messenger! Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?" He replied, "Whom else?"(Bukhari)

Surat al-An'am, verse 26 speaks of those who keep others away from the Qur'an. We can understand from the hadiths that there will be corrupt manners of thought prevalent before the Doomsday comes, and that systems will come into being that are far from truth and justice, that only cause great discord and draw people away from the ways of Allah.

The Apostle of Allah sallallahu alayhi wassallam said: Before the Last Hour there will be commotions like pieces of a dark night. (Abu Dawood)

Before the Last Hour there will be commotions like pieces of a dark night in which a man will be a believer in the morning and an infidel in the evening, or a believer in the evening and infidel in the morning. (Abu Dawood)

It will be a sign of the Last Day that after Allah has completely revealed in the Qur'an what is lawful and what is forbidden, laws and commands will be given that are not essential to religion:

A time will come when a man will not care about how he gets things, whether lawful or unlawful. (Bukhari)

Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wassallam, revealed to us that, in the End Times, some people acknowledged as scholars will actually be two-faced impostors:

Wolves will give readings in the End Times. Let those who come to see those times seek shelter from their evil in Allah. They will be very corrupt people. Hypocrisy will prevail, and nobody will be ashamed of it and its manifestations.(Tirmidhi, Nawadir al-'usul)

There will appear in latter times a people who will gain this world with the help of religion. (Tirmidhi)

Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wassallam said, "In the End Times men will come forth who will fraudulently use religion for worldly ends and wear sheepskins in public to display meekness. Their tongues will be sweeter than sugar, but their hearts will be the hearts of wolves."(Tirmidhi)

Those people are described who show no respect for the laws of Islam and who do not hesitate to use religion as a means for their own profit:

In the End Times of the community of the faithful, people, those who adorn the mosques but leave their own hearts in ruins, who fail to look after their religion as much as they do their clothes, who forsake their religious obligations for the sake of their activities in this world, will increase in number. (Agreed upon)

It is a sign that the Doomsday is approaching when people know that Allah has commanded them to prefer goodness and shun evil, but do not observe it:

The Last Hour will not be established until there will remain those people who will neither be aware of the virtues and never prevent the vices. (Ahmad)

Near the establishment of the Hour, good deeds will decrease. (Bukhari)

In one hadith it is revealed as a sign of the Last Day that faithful Muslims will become weakened under pressure from sinners.

The Hour will come when voices are raised in the mosques. (Tirmidhi)

In the hadith quoted below, it is revealed as a sign of the End that mosques and Islamic schools will be made into places used only as social gatherings:

A time will come upon people in which they will use the Masjid as a pavilion (a meeting place).(Narrated by Hasan (r.a.))

In the End Times, people will appear who read the Qur'an for profit rather than to gain Allah's approval:

Let him who reads the Qur'an ask (his reward) from Allah. Because in the final times there will be many people who read the Qur'an and seek their reward from other people. (Tirmidhi)

It is also a sign that the Qur'an will be read only for pleasure, just like a song:

When the Qur'an is read as if singing a song, and when a person is esteemed for reading in that way, even though he is not knowledgead ... (Al-Tabarani, Al-Kabir)

Despite the fact that Allah has forbidden the taking of interest, it is practiced openly. In one hadith, this is revealed as one of the signs:

Undoubtedly, a period will come upon people wherein not a single person will be saved from indulging in interest. If anyone avoids direct indulgence in interest, yet he will not escape from the smoke (effects) thereof.. Its effects will somehow reach him.(Narrated by Abu Hurairah)

Another among the signs of the End Times is that the pilgrimage (hajj and umrah) will be made for the sake of travel, business, ostentation or begging.

May Allah help bring us out of the state of heedlessness into the state of wakefulness. May Allah protect us from the trials and tribulations of this life and the next. May Allah grant us good in this life and the next. Ameen.

And Allah knows best and He alone grant success.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.

Wassalaam