It is 21st December 2012
and it was supposed to be the day world ended, at least according to some
predictions. But, on the contrary, you are reading my blog and you are a living part of the un-ended world! And now, all of
those who may have watched the movie ‘2012’ may recall it with a sense of
comedy as opposed to the fear and awe with which its storyline used to be
recalled before 21st December 2012! While as the Mayan ‘prophecy’
has since long been, quite expectedly, treated with disdain by the scientific
community on the basis of scientific and astronomical facts, the Islamic point
of view on the subject is much more clear.
Without
going much into the details of what actually the prediction was and what was
its probability of coming out true, I will just focus on the approach we can
adopt towards this kind of ‘prophecies’ as believers. First things first, the
most intelligent person to have ever walked the surface of earth – Prophet
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) – when asked about the exact time of The Hour or
The Doomsday declared his inability to answer. Instead of predicting any date
for The Hour, he stressed upon two related things – the signs preceding The
Hour and the preparation his followers ought to have before The Hour.
It
is mentioned in the Noble Quran, “Surely the knowledge of The Hour is with
Allah alone” (31:34). It is amply clear from this Quranic declaration why even
the Prophet who was informed about every other matter through revelation was
unaware of the exact time of The Hour. But, nevertheless, he did disclose a
number of signs, the most by any Prophet, to his followers so that they reform
themselves and refrain from vile and immoral living. The signs have been
disclosed only for the purpose that we may reform our lives and not that we may
attempt to deduce the date of The Hour by perusing these signs.
As
mentioned in the book ‘Meaning of signs of The Hour, their importance and
kinds’ written by Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani, the signs of The Hour are of
three kinds with respect to time – The distant signs which have already
manifest themselves in the past include; Mischief of the Tartars, The fire of Hejaz
(and the Splitting of the moon which occurred during the lifetime of the
Prophet). The minor or the in-between signs which have become manifest but are
yet to take complete shape include; Chiefs of nations being hypocrites and
immoral, The trustworthy being treated as cheats and vice versa, Wine, Interest
and Bribe becoming acceptable under different names, Immodesty and
shamelessness becoming commonplace, obedience of parents becoming a taboo etc.
The near signs which would be very near to The Hour include; The coming of Mahdi, The emergence of Dajjal, the second coming of Jesus
(PBUH), the appearance of Gog & Magog and the rising of Sun from the west!
It
is our common experience that as our school/college exams grow closer, we
redouble our efforts and hence our preparation is at the top. Anyone who does
nothing more than contemplating and complaining about date sheets and
romanticises with the date of exam gets hold of nothing but failure. The
knowledge of the signs of The Hour is one of the basics a believer should
possess. So, I thought it as my duty as a believer, not as any scholar, to pass
this to my fellow brethren. And our approach should always be as pronounced by
the Prophet i.e. we should be more concerned about the preparation (our way of
living) rather than deliberating about the exact day, month, year or the
century in which The Hour would come. Preparation matters, date sheets don’t!
