The Minor Signs

Muslim has divided the signs that herald the end of time into two categories: minor signs and major signs.

Minor Signs:

In Islam, minor signs of the end of time are the signs that take place seriatim (in continuous series over time).They are normal events that characterize any society that undergoes cultural changes as the result of social religious, political, economic or technical evolution. Primitivesocieties are prone to be more stable, simplistic and homogenous, while developed countries are subject to perpetual changes, for good or bad. Through this changing process in which drastic transformation, modified modes, value and social classification may significantly affect all aspects of daily life of people. What was considered a taboo in the past may not be currently regarded as a taboo. In other words, the world vies of a given society becomes more materialistic, individualistic and irreligious. Such societies experience moral disorder, spiritual decadence, and fierce struggle between liberalism and conservatism. Thus, according to Islamic ethics, Islamic societies have suffered from these social maladies since the inception of the region of the Umayyad epoch. This trend continued to underscore the daily life of the Islamic communities in the urban areas throughout the region of the Abbasid

dynasty. The spiritual life became very bleak despite the efforts of Muslims religious leaders to contain the tide of depravity and immorality. All attempts to regenerate a righteous society after the model of the Islamic community of the Madinites as it was during the life of the only or the first civilization to sustain such moral decay. Great civilizations before: Greek, Roman, Persian, Egyptians and others, were subject to fatal moral degeneration that corroded their societies in spite of their highly developed civilizations.

By examining the nature of the minor signs we realize that some of them are normal events that plague any society at given point in its historical course. While other signs are categorized as normal events, they are, in reality, extraordinary. They would baffle the mind if they ever actually happened.

The Normal Minor Signs

a) The increase of ignorance. Ignorance of the fundamentals of Islamic religion. The ordinances of Islam will cease to be an integral part of the daily religious life of Muslim communities. There will be a lack of Imams and spiritual guidance, and mosques will be deserted. Corporal tantalizations become the idols worshipped by people. It is a tragic return to the era of ignorance of the pre-Islamic time but in different form. One reasons for such ignorance is the death of religious learned men. The Hajj journey (pilgrimage) to the Kaba will be abandoned. Furthermore, the Hour will not be established until the women of the tribe of Dus resume their dancing

around the idol Dhial khulasa.It is a religious inversion in defiance to Islam,and return to polytheism.

b) The prevalence of drinking alcohol and the practice of open illegal sexual intercourse. This is a violation of the Islamic moral code. In this case, the Islamic Law becomes dysfunctional since its religious custodians are powerless or already decreased. The breakdown of the socio-religious values will create a chaotic, unrestrained society that indulges openly in mundane pleasures.

c) These immoral practices are vibrantly depicted in this New Testament. It seems that Muslim traditionalists or even Muhammad Himself, were aware of the biblical teachings about the evil that would embroil the society in the last days. Matthew 24:12 indicates that because of increase of wickedness, the love of God will grow cold in the hearts of many believers,There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, and disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous , rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Such abominable society reflects not only the secular world but also alludes to the corruption that would permeate the spiritual life of many of so called Christians. In reality, a large segment of the traditional Christian world will relinquish its faith and defy all the biblical values.

d) Apostasy: The Hour of the end of time will not be established until some Muslims believers are enticed by the Dajjal (Anti-Christ) and follow him. They will be deceived by the temporary power he enjoys and the miracles he performs.

e) Jesus predicted that many false prophets will arise and will mislead many ( Matthew 24:11). These false prophets are the avant-garde who would pave the way for the dramatic appearance of the Antichrist. In another place, Jesus warned the believers that false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead ,if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24). f) Evidently Muhammad heard of the Antichrist and other false prophets that would entice and mislead entire communities from Christans. Those Christians were zealously anticipating the second coming of Christ like their predecessors.They watched for the signs of which Jesus prophesized, and endeavored to the read future.Most probably their preachers, orators, and hermits such as Umayya bin Abi al-Salt(d.624) who was a contemporary of Muhammad, Quss bin Sa,ida al Ayedi(d.600), whom Muhammad as a youth heard him preaching in the literary assembly of Suq of Ukaz and quoted a portion of his sermon, and ,Waraqa bin Nawfal, who was the most knowledgeable Christian religious scholar in Mecca, and Muhammads first wifes cousin; all reflected in their sermons images the Quran later echoed about the Hour of the resurrection.

g) The end of time will come when earthquakes will be more frequent, plagues will be widespread so that no Arab house will escape, Murders crimes will increase, money will overflow among Muslims and time will pass very quickly. The wealth will be in abundance so that one will become worried, for no one will accept his Almsgiving (Zakat), and the person to whom the charity is offered will reply, I am not in need of it These calamities will afflict the world.

h) The Hour will approach when women outnumber men so that one man will look after fifty women. There is no reason given for this imbalance between men and women. Most probably Muslim traditional lists anticipated that a large number of men will be killed in wars and leave behind a large crowd of windows and orphans.

i) The hour will come when the power of authority is entrusted to the hand of unfit or unqualified people. Among these people who lack honesty, corruption will prevail. In another hadith, it is stated: When bare footed naked people become the chief of people. Moreover the last Hour will not come until the most fortunate of men in the world will be baseborn, son of a baseborn.

j) The Hour will come when people boast of building luxurious mosques.AlBukhari remarks that the Hour will come when the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with each other in the construction of

high buildings. Some Muslim expounders found in the profound change of the Saudi Arabia nomadic society that transformed it into unprecedented sophisticated sedentary life, a fulfillment of this tradition. They Hour will not be established until a man passes by the grave of another man and says, If I were in his place. Some Muslim remark that death becomes the desire of many devout Muslims who suffer from the desire of many devout Muslims who suffer from the blights and wickedness of the society, or to spare themselves the wrath of the sovereign God. In Revelation 6:16-17 we read And they said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him Who sits on the throne, and from wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand?

k) It is an effete attempt to justify Muhammads reluctance to foretell their names since he claimed that he had an intimate knowledge of them. It is the belief of this writer that disclosing their names would make Muhammad vulnerable in case it was proven that his prediction was a false prognosis. There is a precedent in the Quran in which Muhammad was challenged by the people of Mecca to perform a miracle. He rejected their request claming that even if he complied with their demand they would not believe. The Quran also made it clear that God did not allow Muhammad to make prodigy(Chapter 30:59).

l) The last Hour does not come until Muslims murder their leaders, fight among themselves with their swords and the worst of the people will inherit

all the worldly possessions. The history of Arab Islamic empire dynasties is a belligerent history. Since its inception,several caliphs have been assassinated, such as Umar bin al-Khattab ,Uthman bin Affan , Ali bin abi Talib and his two sons, the fight among the companions, the wars between the Shi its and the Sunnis, the Umayyad and the Abbasids, even among the members of the household of the caliphs. Despite this sanguinary history, the last Hour is still hidden in the obscure future and never materialized.

m) The Hour does not arrive until there will be commotions like bites of adark night in which a man who would be a believer in the morning would turn into an infidel in the evenings,or who had been an infidel in the evenings would turn into a believer in the morning.This fluctuation between faith and skepticism reflects the state of chaos that stigmatized the degenerated society especially during the disintegration of the declined Arab empire.

n) The Hour will not come upon people until the caliphate has been established in the Holy land, and earthquakes, calamities and serious matters are drawn near.

o) One of the signs of approach of the last Hour will be the destructions of the Arabs. History recounts that the destructions of the Arabs was simultaneous with the collapse of the political system of the empire. Foreign powers such as the Mamluks, the Buwayhids and the Suljuks ripped apart the Arab empire.

Later Hulago the Tatar conquered and looted the city of Baghdad and destroyed other diminutive kingdoms. Soon the Ottoman Empire annexed to its domain the entire Middle East with the exception of Persia. For over four hundred years, Arab countries have continued to be subjugated to this formidable super power. In the twentieth century however,Arab countries, against all odds, regained their sovereignty, independence, freedom and survived the vicissitudes of life. Evidently, the Arabs have not been eradicated and presently they are impacting the world history as they try to revive the past glory of Islam. Still the Hour has not come yet.

p) The last Hour would not come until habitations Medina would extended to Ihab or Yahab. It is rather difficult to comprehend why the expansion of Madina to these suburbs is a sig of the coming of the Hour. It is natural for a city in which the tomb of Muhammad is located and regarded as the second sacred shrine in Islam to expand.Pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina is one of the pillars of Islam. Consequently, there is a need for expansion, prosperity and cultural development.

q) The Hour will come when people believe in the stars and rejected their preordained fate(the Divine Decree of destiny). There was no time in the history of the Arabs in which alarge segment of the society has refrained from practicing divination and astrology. Such pursuit was part of their conventional life. Fear of the unknown, superstition and the anxiety of the future made people to resort to such invisible powers to ward off evil.

r) The Hour will not come until Muslims will fight people whose shoes are made of hairs an until they fight the Turks whose eyes are small, their faces are red, the tips of their noses are flat, and their faces as stricken shields. It is not clear here whether these traditions appertain to the Trucks or the Tatars or both of them. Historically, however, the Arabs fought against both peoples and lost, yet the Hour did not come.

s) The hour does not come until the best of the Muslims, the people ofHijaz, who do not fear in God the reproach of the disgruntled, will march against the Byzantine and they will conquer Constantinople with praises and the call: God is Greater.This same tradition was related in Sahih of Muslims as a sound hadith in which the complier presented a different version.On the authority of Muhammad, Abu Hurayra related that the Hour would not come until seventy thousands of the children of Isaac(the Jews) invade Constantinople without employing any type of the arms.All its fortified walls will fall by praises and the call of God is Greater.Based on the historical account, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman dynasty(Turks) in the fifteenth century and not by the Arabs. Secondly, the contradiction between the two traditions is obvious since the Children of Isaac has nothing to do with the conquest of Constantinople. Thirdly , is seems that the narrator of this tradition was historically confused that he failed to differentiate between the episodes of the fall of Jericho as it is recorded in chapter six of the book of Joshua and the myth of the conquest

of Constantinople. Such contradiction and confusion suggest that this tradition was a late fabrication by the narrators who sought to amaze their audience.

t) The Hour will not come until God will cause the believers of the time to die peacefully and leave the wicked alive to indulge in their lust preterm until the appointed hour of resurrection. This image reflects the biblical account of the rapture in which the living believers are taken away from the earth and ungodly are left to face their destiny after the second resurrection. Since Islamic theology does not accommodate for the concepts of rapture, the miraculous death of the believers replaces the supernatural event of the rapture.

u) The Hour will not come until the city of Mecca is turned into ruins. The Islamic tradition implies that an obscure Ethiopian man, whose surname is Thu al-Suwayqatayn, will ravage the city of Mecca, which would be inhabited by wild animals and predacious birds. There is not a definite explanation for the tragic end of the most sacred city in the treasures of the Ka,ba. Other traditions indicate that both the Ka,ba and the Madinat of the Prophet are going to be subjected to permanent destruction and desolation, and will never be rebuilt again.

The Extraordinary Minor Signs

The Last Hour will not arrive till people come forth who eat with their tongues as cows do.There is no explanation of the origin of these people and their role in the historical events unless these are the people of Gog and Magog.

The last Hour will not come before time contracts, a year being like a mouth, a month like a week, a week like a day, a day like an hour and an hour like the kindling of the fire. Such statement echoes what Jesus has taught in Matthew 24:22, Unless those days had been cutshort, no life have been saved. On the other hand, some traditionalists and narrators found in this exciting future drama a fertile ground to fabricate some amazing stories or traditions to capture the imagination of their audience and to generate some remuneration. In this book, al-Fitanwa al- Malahim, IbnKathir provides us with a striking paradigm. This episode addressed in this book is attributed to Muhammad, yet any objective crictic of the text recognizes the fanciful creation permeating its event that exposes the innovation of the story tellers. It is difficult to epitomize this story , but the reader gets the impression that he is reliving a scene from a mythical world where God the almighty is the main actor and the producer of a formidable melodrama. This author does not attempt to present an acrimonious criticism against the Islamic

eschatology but rather to recapitulate the problems that face the researcher who endeavors to represent a scholarly study when he is forced to rely on doubtful resources or references.

Reference: http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=KZHbG5kmziAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb# v=onepage&q&f=false Name of the book: THE LAST TRUMPET Written by: Samual Shaid