WHAT DO WE DO DURING THE END TIMES? | Signs of the Hour (Mufti Azeemuddin) | Unity Islamic Center

Opening Supplications

The Opening Verse

Allah said in the glorious Qur'an, after I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan:

The Words of Ali ibn Abi Talib

And Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

"The dunya is departing with its back turned, and the akhirah is approaching with its face turned. Each of them has its children, so be from the children of the akhirah and do not be from the children of the dunya. For today there is action and no reckoning, and tomorrow there is reckoning and no action."

Gratitude and Praise

Honorable beloved brothers and sisters, dear listeners. We thank Allah, our creator, our master, our nourisher, our provider. The grantor of success, the grantor of honor, the grantor of all sustenance, of health, of wealth, of kindness, of all the good qualities and the good things that you and I enjoy. The source of all khair and goodness, including all good deeds that we do. We thank Him for all that He has given us. We thank Him for blessing us with those blessings that we have never deserved. And we thank Him and appreciate Him for not snatching and taking away these blessings due to our ingratitude.

And we ask Him to send the choicest blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ. We ask Allah to reward the Prophet ﷺ on behalf of the entire ummah in the best possible manner.

We ask Allah that He allows our gathering here to be extremely rewarding and powerful. May He make our sitting here today a means of transforming our hearts and a means of rejuvenating the iman in our souls. We ask Allah to allow us all to hear that which we need to benefit from the most. Allow us to practice on it. Allow us to propagate it. We ask Allah that the khair and the good that is happening in this masjid — allow the nur, the barakah and the faiz of it to spread across the globe. And we ask Allah that He allows all of us to remain steadfast on the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ till our last breath.

Every Situation Is a Test

Honorable friends, Allah, most kind, most merciful. He gives whatever He gives out of His own wisdom to whomsoever He wishes. Allah gives boys to whomsoever He wishes, grants girls to whomsoever He wishes, grants them both to whomsoever He wishes, and whomsoever He wishes, He also chooses to make barren. Someone may be deprived of any children, someone may be blessed with many. But in reality all are being tried and tested in some way.

A person who has gotten children, he is also in a test. The one who doesn't have children, he is also in a test. The one who has boys only, he is in a test. The one who has got girls only, she is also in a test. The one who has got boys and girls, also in a test. The one who has got a healthy child, he is in a test. The one who has got a disabled child, he is in a test. The one who has got an obedient child, he is in a test. The one who has got a disobedient child, he is also in a test. The one whose son doesn't come to Jummah, he is in a test. The one whose son is the best Hafidh, he is also in a test. Everywhere you look, it's a test.

If you and I understand that — that in every situation Allah is looking at us, how do we handle what comes down towards us — the blessings, the tests, the difficulties, the trials, the tribulations. Every one of these things, in reality, behind what seems to be a huge, beautiful, enjoyable thing, it is behind every single thing a test.

Indeed, We have created whatever is on this earth as a source of beauty for it. Every single thing on this earth, including you and I — we're walking on this earth, we came from this earth, we came from the earth, we're going to go back into this earth, and we're going to come back from this ground up on the Day of Judgment. All of us, and all that we have built, and all that we found before we were born, and that which was on the earth before humanity was born — subhanAllah, what is this? All is zina. It is a source of beautification. And the purpose of it — what's the purpose of it?

The purpose of it is to test them — to test humanity. "Who amongst them has the best of deeds?"

Allah's Power and Watchfulness

My beloved sisters, beloved brothers, dear listeners — all of us are constantly being watched by Allah. We talk about being watched by big brother, right? Our movements are being tracked. Many of the technological advancements that we have today in reality help us understand the Qudra of Allah and the Akhirah even better. Just like human beings now have the capacity in many ways to track our movements, just like we have the means of controlling so many things by the will of Allah — controlling who gets electricity, who gets oil, who gets medical resources and medication, who gets grains — all of those things, slowly and surely, we're seeing it being amassed in the hands of a few. But if you think about it, in reality all of these things are showing us how Allah works.

If a human being can be given so much power by Allah in this world, imagine how much power Allah has over us. Imagine if a person can make a fake AI video — any of the boys here can do it — and he can spread it all over social media and make it seem like you are doing something you never in your 50 years of your life thought you would do, and saying something you never thought in your 60 years of your life you would ever say, in a language that you don't even know. It won't take more than a few minutes to create something like that. A deep fake, release it, make people believe it, and subhanAllah — a person who had this type of honor — it could be a matter of 24 hours or less that he loses every single thing.

When you see this, then you understand what it means that Allah is Al-Mu'izz and Al-Khāfid and Al-Mudhill and Al-Rāfi'. That Allah has the full power to disgrace someone, full power to give honor to someone, full power to lift up someone, full power to bring down someone. It took that person 24 hours or 12 hours to do something. Allah does not need any time.

The creator of time does not need time to do things. Allah's mere intention itself will create whatever He wants to be created.

He doesn't even have to say "Kun." This is for you and I to understand. For Allah to create something into existence, His mere intention itself equals existence.

So what we see today — all the good and the bad — in reality, behind everything is what? It's the hidden hand of Allah. If only we could see it. If only we could reflect. Then imagine how much Qudra and power Allah has — if one small tablet can cause so-called so much benefit, one small drop of poison can cause so much harm. Then imagine the Qudra of Allah.

We Are Trials for One Another

Allah says in the Quran:

"We have made some of you as a fitna for some of you. Are you going to remain patient or are you not going to remain patient? And your Lord is all watchful."

How often — probably there isn't a single person here who won't, if you gave him a chance, speak about how he can't get along with somebody. Could be a spouse, could be a parent, could be a child, could be a sibling, could be an uncle, an aunt, a business partner, whatnot. Everyone has got at least one person they say, "Man, this person really pushes my buttons. It's very hard."

Allah says, "I did this for you. I created your relationship such that when you say, 'This person gets on my nerves, he gets under my skin,' — that is meant to happen. Allah made it such. Allah is testing you." If everyone was sweet and nice and smiled and gave you hugs and kisses, there's no test. The reality is: what you get tested with is the one who gets under your skin. The one who makes a very horrible comment. The one who says something that breaks your heart. How do you respond at that time?

Da'wah — The Art of Connecting With People

There are a lot of Islamophobes — misaken people sitting there bashing Muslims on the internet. "Muslims are like this, Muslims are like that." How many of us, subhanAllah, thought that the reason they're like this is because — not all of them, but many of them — they simply haven't met Muslims?

I remember many years ago, we were teaching — some mashaikh who were teaching in a school, in one madrasa, a Darul Hikmah class. And we went for coffee together. When we went for coffee, one person looked at us — five, six brothers wearing turbans, kurtas, beards, etc. — and he began bad-mouthing us. He started screaming, cursing us. "Go back to where you came from." Saying all these things.

So one scholar started responding in a very academic, calm manner — "No, we're not the terrorists. XYZ is the terrorists. We didn't cause any problem. XYZ is like this." Trying to make him listen, giving him references, books. You think he was in a mood of listening?

Then another scholar — or as you could say, student scholar, a younger person — he was very street smart, mashaAllah, in da'wah. How to deal with people. It is not sufficient to learn a lot of books and memorize a lot of things. You have to know how to deal with people. So he looked at him and said one statement: "Man, just because the Bears are losing, you don't have to be so stressed out like this."

That one statement — he talked about the sports team. That was it. It was like you take a balloon and pop it. All of a sudden, subhanAllah, the man smiled. "Oh, you're a Bears fan too? You play football?" Bas. It was a matter of minutes — he sat down for coffee with us. We spoke for 15–20 minutes. We asked him in our discussion, "Hey, how many Muslims have you ever spoken to?" He said, "None. You guys are the first people I've seen. I don't know any Muslims. But I've been reading a lot of crazy things about Muslims."

The conversation ended on such a beautiful note where he made niyyah — an intention — to at least get to know more Muslims and to not have the negative mindset that he had. Just with one joke. It started up the whole conversation.

How many times do we have similar incidents happening in our lives? Not with non-Muslims, but with our own Muslims who come into the masjid and scream at us. Everyone, remember this: anyone who screams at you and yells at you, he himself is a maskeen. No one in their right mind is going to be screaming and berating you if they were healthy. He himself is worried, very worried. You don't have to become worried. The most worried is the one who is screaming and yelling. He is stuck in his own problems, and he is trying to vent his frustration by screaming at you. That's what you need to understand.

That alhamdulillah, if you don't feel like screaming, you are — mashaAllah — beautiful, you are healthy, psychologically, emotionally, mentally in a good state. But the one who gets triggered and screams out loud — screams at the imam, screams at the khateeb — he is the one who is a maskeen. He is the one who is going through his own problems. As they say: بھائی بیوی سے لڑ کر آئے تو غصہ یہاں نکالنے چاہتے ہیں. You have a fight at home, and then you come and take out the anger in the masjid.

So Allah is saying in the Qur'an: "I created these relationships and these tense moments in your life. These tense moments when your spouse says something you don't want to hear. Your child says something you don't want to hear. Your mom and dad say something you don't want to hear. How do you respond at that time?"

"And your Lord is all watchful." Whether anyone else looks at it or not — you get a text message, your blood boils. How do you respond to that text message? Allah is watching. You can delete it afterwards. But you can never delete it from Allah.

"My Lord neither errs nor forgets."

"Allah has recorded it while they forgot it." Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala retains everything while people forget what they did. Allah never forgets.

The Test of the Masjid

One person recently told me — just last night — "My family doesn't go to the masjid for any program." "But what happened?" "Oh, she went once and someone said, 'Why are you sitting here? Get up, move over here and sit here.'" That's it. "You're telling me to move from here? I'm never gonna come back for any program."

Is this uncommon? Absolutely not. If you go in jawla — "Why don't you come for Maghrib? Why don't you come for Isha? We had a program, why don't you come?" — each one will tell you some story. These are all tests. The miskeen got tested and failed. Got upset because someone said something. But we, as the ones who are in the masjid today — ask yourselves: how many people have we turned away from the masjid? How many people have we said something to, they got upset and left? That's our test.

My gist of all this is: every single movement of ours is being watched by Allah and recorded by Allah. And all of the time, we are being tested — regardless of whether you and I understand the test or not. So the people of Sudan and Gaza and Yemen and Afghanistan and Iran — as they are being tested through the obvious ways — you and I in the luxury and the comfort of this country are also being tested. We're both being tested. The big difference is: they know they're being tested and most of us here don't think we're being tested.

When we have wealth, we somehow think this means Allah is happy with us.

The Tasbeeh of the Thunder

When you hear thunder, recite tasbeeh. Allah says:

"And the thunder exalts His praise, and the angels too, out of His awe." That thunder you just heard — the Qur'an says it is the tasbeeh of the creation of Allah. And the angels also do tasbeeh from the fear of Allah. Think about this: every creation of Allah, including the angels, including the heavens and the earth — they are so afraid of Allah.

Now, we have been given agency. Thunder, lightning, sun, moon, earth — they cannot disobey Allah. But Allah on the other hand gave you and I agency. It's up to you: if you want to obey, you can. And if you want to disobey, you can.

"Whosoever wants, he can believe. Whosoever wants, he can disbelieve. Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them."

We Are in the Era of End Times

My beloved friends — this mindset that every moment of ours is watched and tested by Allah is so important to realize in this era of fitna and trials that we're in right now. We are in the era of the end of times. We are in an era of absolute chaos. Every single day brings chaos. The way the stock market is reacting — being made to react — subhanAllah, this is a fitna. Where people's livelihoods — what they have saved up for decades — is being wiped out in minutes and hours. And people are going from rags to riches, and from riches to even more riches, within minutes and hours.

We look at the TV, it's like — I don't know when it happened. It happened in the past, it's happening live. The air strikes, the drones, the missiles, subhanAllah. Millions of dollars per day are being spent on bombs. Billions are spent per week to kill and destroy. The gardens of people, the homes of people, everything being uprooted. This is all fitna.

The Hadith on Al-Haraj — The Killing

The Prophet ﷺ said before the end of times, there will be a lot of killing — al-haraj. They said, "Ya Rasulallah, what does haraj mean?" He said, "Killing." They said, "How much killing?" He said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 54, Hadith 73)

"The killer does not know why he killed, and the one who was murdered does not know why he was killed." No one knows. Just kill, kill, kill — bloodshed. The Prophet ﷺ said this is from the signs of the Hour.

Signs of the Hour — Changing Weather and Natural Disasters

The Prophet ﷺ also mentioned from amongst the signs of the Hour that the weather will be changing. He prophesized about the weather patterns — how they will change to such an extent that there will be natural disasters happening left and right. To the extent that a person will wake up in the morning and the first thing he will do is speak to someone about what natural disaster happened in their area the night before.

Now when you read this hadith and you think — how is it that people will wake up in the morning and speak about natural disasters that happened across different areas? Today we have WhatsApp. You wake up in the morning and you see Google News, and you're reading about what happened in Indonesia, what happened in Southern America, what happened in Southern Africa, what happened in Europe. Every single day there are natural disasters happening.

Look at the flooding happening in the Middle East right now. Huge flooding in Wisconsin — roads closed off, houses submerged — an hour and a half away from us. Tornadoes striking. The West Coast ski resorts closed because of no snow this year. On the other hand, unprecedented 95-degree weather in March on the West Coast. Earthquakes, mudslides, the earth opening up and swallowing people. And this will lead to a shortage of food.

Three Years Before Mahdi — The Hadith on Drought

The Prophet ﷺ mentioned how, three years before the coming of Mahdi and Dajjal, Allah will order the sky to hold back one third of its rain and order the earth to hold back one third of its grain. The next year, another one third less rain and another one third less grain. And in the third year — zero rain, zero grain.

The Prophet ﷺ also mentioned that when these things happen, when the weather patterns change, the Arab lands and the Middle East will return back to green pastures. I remember a few years back, traveling from Mecca to Medina and looking at the mountains — I literally thought that someone had put green paint on them. I had never seen those black mountains green. And they were genuinely green, on that road from Mecca to Medina. The Prophet ﷺ said the Middle East will return to being green, and now you can see the greenery and gardens appearing, if you don't even travel — just look online.

And then, on the other side, you have other places going through such heat that — by 2050 or 2055 — temperatures during Hajj are expected to hit 160 degrees. We already hit unprecedented heat records last year. We have a super El Niño event coming this August — an unprecedented event in which ocean temperatures will rise beyond what we have ever recorded. This will create massive flooding in some parts of the world, destroying crops, and prolonged droughts in other parts, also destroying crops.

Control of the Food Supply

And then there are the genetically modified seeds given out at discounted prices or normal prices — seeds that will give you two crops a year instead of one, two corn per stalk instead of one, more tomatoes per plant. Naturally countries will buy this. They plant it, great crop. They say, "Alhamdulillah, this was good. Let's save some of these seeds and reuse them next year." When they go to use their saved seeds — it doesn't work. The land has been changed. This soil is now not going to provide anything unless you use the exact same seeds from that same seller. You are hooked. You have to continuously purchase seeds from that seller.

Go to different parts of the world — Africa, Pakistan, anywhere — and speak to the farmers over there, and they'll tell you how much they are suffering. They don't even control their land anymore. This Dajjal is not even here yet. I'm just telling you the pre-Dajjali era of what's happening — the controlling of food.

Some of the largest — four or five of the largest Middle Eastern and South Asian food distributors in this country — have recently in the past year and a half been bought by hedge funds. And these were completely started up by one Muslim brother and his family. Think about where this is going. When you have the largest food sources of the Muslim community — our Middle Eastern, our South Asian food distributors — it's a vertical integration from top to bottom in the hands of a few. From the crops, to the packaging, to the distribution — full control of where this food goes, full control of the petroleum and oil, full control of everything.

The Currency of Dajjal — Iman

During Dajjal's time, Bitcoin is not going to help. A gold bar is not going to help. The dollar, the Rupee, the Dinar and the Dirham — none of it is going to help. What does Dajjal want? Anyone know what currency he wants? Dajjal wants Iman.

If you give him Iman, you get everything you want. The currency he wants is La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah — except he wants you to switch it and say La ilaha illallah Dajjal. Just give me this. Give me your Iman, and I'll give you whatever you want. He doesn't need your wealth. That is the time that Nabi ﷺ has spoken about. That Dajjali forces will say: "You have to be with us, firmly in belief that this is our god and this is who everything is. And if you don't believe this, you are our enemy."

So what are people going to do? We haven't even been tested. We don't know what test means. A small little thing — I was saying just today in Jummah — if the khateeb goes one minute, two minutes, three minutes late, is there a commotion? Yes, we have a problem. But how come there is no commotion that 80% of the masjid is missing from the beginning of the khutbah? SubhanAllah.

The Weakness of the Ummah Today

If you think about it — how many people, in parking lots of every masjid across the country, during salah time, when the imam is about to start — that's when the majority of the crowd comes. I was very heartbroken when I went to South Africa. I go every year — it's a place where I studied. And I gave khutbah in one of the big masajid in Johannesburg. A huge masjid — 3,000 people can easily fit in there. I gave the English bayan. Bayan finished. Sunnah finished. Arabic khutbah, salah is starting. People were walking in from the parking lot — the whole time they had been standing in the parking lot chit-chatting.

This is not America. This is a place where I studied ilm, a place known for very strong deen. It was heartbreaking. When I recently went to Makkah al-Mukarramah, I ended up praying outside the haram, coming towards the haram, and I was shocked — adhan is happening, khutbah started, khutbah ended, salah is starting — and wallahi I tell you, you couldn't tell it was Jummah happening. Cars moving, people walking, people on their cellphones — just like a normal day. In Makkah al-Mukarramah, with Masjid al-Haram literally right there. You can hear the khutbah and the adhan and the salah and everything.

Jummah is the last frontier. After that, what's left? If we don't have Jummah, what have we got left? No one is putting a gun to our head to force us to pray Jummah. No one is putting us through difficulty. But the ummah has gotten so weak, so in love with materialism, so in love with the job and money, that they say, "Whatever it is, brother, we just cannot take a hit on our job and our money." And Dajjal has not even arrived. Difficulty has not come. What will happen when difficulty does come?

A Story from Gaza — Steadfastness Under Torture

Recently I saw an interview of a physician who went to Gaza. He was speaking about a surgeon there. This surgeon was captured and being tortured in jail. They were saying, "Confess that you were part of some mischief." He said, "I never did anything. What are you talking about? I'm a surgeon helping in the hospital." But they forced him, forced him, forced him to confess. But he didn't — why would he lie?

So they tied him up, blindfolded him, chained him, and did all kinds of torture. Every single day, he was forced to urinate and defecate over his own body — just to create najasah over himself and humiliate him. Eventually they brought a laptop and showed him a structure. "Is this your house? Who lives here?" He said, "My wife, who is expecting a child." "Anyone else?" "No." "Just watch."

In front of him, they called in an airstrike. The whole house was leveled in front of him. And then they made him watch the paramedics come and pull out the dead body of his pregnant wife and take her away. Then they closed the computer.

But then — they did not allow him to even move his lips. You cannot move your lips while in prison. زبان ہلانے نہیں دیتے، تسبیح نہیں کرنا ہے، بات نہیں کرنا ہے۔ Nothing. Silence. I'm telling you these words but I cannot imagine what this means. I'm not speaking about Uhud and Badr and Makkah — I'm speaking about right now, live.

And yet this doctor said — "Alhamdulillah, every single salah I still pray to the best of my ability. Without moving my lips, in my heart. I did ruku and sajdah with my eyes."

I want us to think about this. How does a person in this state maintain this? Now we understand why Rasulullah ﷺ gave such enormous virtue to those who remain firm at the end of times. Because the end of times will become like the earliest of times. The difficulty with which you will need to practice your deen will be similar to what Bilal and Khabbab and Khubayb — radhiallahu anhum — had to go through.

That's why reading the hayat of the sahaba, reading their stories — why is it so important for you and I and for our children to hear these stories? It's not about the past. It's about the near future. It's about people recognizing that Nabi ﷺ did not give out these virtues for free.

The Reward of 50 Companions

"Whoever does good deeds in those [times of tribulation] will have the reward of fifty."

They said, "Ya Rasulallah, fifty from amongst us, or fifty from amongst them?" He said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4341; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3058)

"Rather, fifty from amongst you" — oh sahaba. The one who stays firm in the time of fitna in the latter times will get the reward of fifty of the sahaba. Why? Because it will genuinely be so difficult. And because we don't have Nabi ﷺ with us. We don't have wahi being received. We don't have Jibreel Ameen descending. And yet we'll be put through tests similar to that of the sahaba. So why not? The reward is enormous.

The Prophet ﷺ Longing for His Brothers

After a burial in Jannatul Baqi', the Prophet ﷺ had a stick in his hand and was making lines in the ground. Then he said:

"I wish I could meet my brothers." They said, "Ya Rasulallah, are we not your brothers?" He said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 1775; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 6808)

"No. You are my companions. But my brothers are those who will believe in me without having seen me."

My beloved friends, to have ishq of Nabi ﷺ now is so much harder than it was 30 years ago. To love Allah and His Rasul now is so much harder. Today there is a lot more knowledge — knowledge of the tongue. But a lot less knowledge of the heart. SubhanAllah. There are people who can win seerah competitions, adhan competitions, Qur'an competitions, and every other competition you can think of — but they don't love Allah and His Rasul.

Our parents' and grandparents' generation — they didn't have all of this knowledge, they didn't have the resources. But what they had was that they truly loved Allah and His Rasul ﷺ. They would stutter and read Qur'an. One juz would take them one hour. But they read more Qur'an than many a Hafiz today. They didn't have the means to go for Umrah and Hajj. But the desire they had to go — the way they cried — was more than the one who is sitting in front of the Ka'bah today, looking at the Hajr al-Aswad while filming and live streaming and Snapchatting.

We should not think that the abundance of books and information is making us a better group of people. This is all data. AI is data. It's a great example — when I ask intricate questions and have discussions with AI as a tool, I'm always reminded: if you're going to call this ilm, then by God, we don't need any of us sitting in this room. There's no comparison to what Gemini or Claude will give you. But then you realize — this is not ilm, this is just data. A computer generating things. And that's what the rest of the people have become today as well. If that knowledge doesn't translate into action, you're just like an AI bot. I can share all kinds of information. But if it doesn't translate into action, if it doesn't move my heart, if it doesn't change the way I spend my night and my day — how am I different from this?

The End Times Is Not Just an Entertaining Topic

The end of times is not an exciting topic only. It is not like, "Let's go to the masjid and listen to a topic on Dajjal — exciting, entertaining." If you and I have an iota of belief in this, we should walk away crying. Because you and I know we are absolutely not ready.

Just today — if someone were to say, "If you come for Isha salah with jama'ah, you're going to lose your citizenship" — how many people would still come for Isha? Not even die — just lose citizenship, become denaturalized. Simple question. And without any such obstacles, we are already suffering in terms of salah with jama'ah and deeni programs. So I want us to keep thinking: what will happen when the actual challenges begin?

This is where the hadith and the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ and the seerah of the sahaba gives us comfort — to say that no matter what happens, there will always be a group of people who will be firm. And Allah will give them strength. That doctor whose story I told you — with the torture he was going through, similar to the torture of the sahaba — Allah in that state still kept him grounded.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1469)

"Whoever tries to remain patient, Allah will give him patience."

What does it mean —

"O our Lord, pour upon us patience and make our feet firm."

"If you help Allah's deen, Allah will help you and keep your feet firm."

Helping Allah's Deen — More Than Just Salah

My beloved friends, if you're worried about the future of your children or yourself, it's not going to happen by just staying at home. And it's not going to happen by just coming for salah. Allah says you have to help Allah's deen. How do you help Allah's deen? Just by coming for salah? That's a small portion of it. Allah's deen will get help by us bringing our own sons and daughters to the deen, bringing our uncles and aunts to the deen, bringing our nephews and cousins to the deen.

While we sit here and worry about all sorts of things — how often have you and I sat there and worried: "Wallah, Ramadan has just finished one month ago and the masajid have become empty. The maktabs have become empty. Deeni lessons and talks are so few in attendance. What are you going to do?" That concern and worry, if it comes into your heart and translates into action, you are actually helping Allah's deen. Remember, Allah is clearly saying in Surah Muhammad — if you help the deen of Allah, Allah will help you in anything you've got going in your life.

The Hadith on Tasbih as Nourishment

The sahaba said: "Ya Rasulallah, when there is going to be a drought of three years before Dajjal and Mahdi comes — as mentioned in hadith Ibn Majah — and eventually all food will come to an end, how will the believers live? At that time, the Dajjali powers will have tons of food stored in their palaces and bunkers, and their genetically modified food will continue to produce. But us — those who don't want to give the currency of iman to Dajjali powers — what are we going to do? How are we going to live?"

The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith: that tasbih, takbir and tahleel will become like food.

SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar — these will do the job of food. One tasbih of istighfar, one tasbih of dhikr will give you nourishment. That time is coming. It's not past — it's coming. It's coming.

When Will Mahdi Come? — The Words of a Scholar

About two and a half years ago, I asked one of my asatidha: "Hazrat, people say Mahdi is around the corner. What do you think? Are things happening?" He said to me — and this was two and a half years ago:

"Not yet — there is still time. Right now, regarding the oppression happening in the world, you still have the freedom and the ability to speak out against it and stand up against it. But soon a time will come when you will not be able to speak against it. You will not be able to raise your voice. You will not be able to say anything at all. Because whoever speaks up will himself become the victim. Then, however many years will pass while people are witnessing oppression, unable to do anything and unable to say anything — and the condition of the ummah will become extremely severe, and they will cry and cry until they tire. The auliya, the ulama, the sulaha — all of them. After that, when the crying and begging and falling prostrate before Allah in du'a reaches a threshold that only Allah knows, then Allah's help will arrive."

This was two and a half years ago. And I think about this statement — how rapidly the world has changed in those two and a half years. What is happening in this country today, honestly, three years ago I would never have imagined. I would never have imagined this could happen in the United States of America. But it is so rapidly changing.

The Iman of Our Children — Our Greatest Responsibility

My beloved brothers, we all have to wake up to realize — subhanAllah — the most precious thing is our iman and the iman of our children. Shaitan is misleading us so badly, and our nafs is misleading us so badly. Recently I was at somebody's house — mashaAllah, very regular in the masjid, goes for all the salahs, very close to the masjid. But I asked him about the kids. He said, "Yeah, the kids, you know, they never go to the masjid. They pray Jummah, that's it." "Why?" "I don't want to force anybody."

Do the kids go to college? Do they go to high school? They go for everything. Do they eat? Do they drink? Do they go to sports? They do everything. SubhanAllah — you're not "forcing" them on anything. When it comes to the deen, you say, "What am I supposed to do? I don't want to force." There is truth to this — you cannot force people. But you also cannot say, "I'm going to get up every single day for tahajjud, pray my fajr in the masjid, come back, go to sleep, say 'Allah, guide my kids,' and go back to sleep." No. That is the other extreme.

Instead, our focus needs to be on what's happening in our homes every day. If the members of my household are not praying salah, not wearing hijab, not reciting Qur'an, not having haya, not having etiquette — you need to be burning inside. You need to be perplexed. You need to be worried.

How many of us here can honestly say that the biggest worry for us today — on this Friday — was that our kids didn't show up for Salatul Fajr in the masjid. Not the stock market. Not the leaking faucet. Not the car payments. But: "I don't remember since Ramadan whether I saw my daughter reciting Qur'an. I don't know what to do." If this concern for our own children's deen is not what makes us cry and tear up — then what is going to move you and I?

All the fathers sitting here — our duas are accepted on behalf of our children. The dua of a father is powerful. My friends, how much time are you and I spending making dua to Allah: "Ya Allah, please guide my children. And Ya Allah, guide me on what I need to do to become a means of guiding my children." Because dua for guidance is not sufficient alone — we also have to have a game plan. We have to create something that entices our children to come to the masjid, to get connected to Allah. This is what is required from us today.

The Advice of Mawlana Sajjad Naumani

I met Mawlana Sajjad Naumani three years ago. I mentioned to him the number of Muslims leaving Islam in our country and my experiences with this. He told me:

"In order to simply save my faith — and to save the faith of my children — to become a scholar, to become a Hafiz, not even to become an Imam — just to save my faith — I am telling you: performing salah with jama'at in the masjid, in the front row, with your children, should be regarded as a duty."

He was on his way to Hajj. He was sitting for a few minutes, alhamdulillah I was able to meet him. And that felt so profound — that if you simply want to remain Muslim, you should regard it as a duty to perform salah with jama'at in the masjid, in the front row, with your kids.

And yet we are so relaxed today, thinking that my son goes to Islamic school, my daughter goes to Hifz school, my son goes to Alim school, she came out first in this, he came out first in that — and we're relaxed. I don't want to pop your bubble, but I do — it's my responsibility. A Hafiz graduate of our city told me this. He is now in his late twenties. He said, "The majority of the boys who graduated with me from Hifz are no longer Muslim." Majority. And he is almost 30 years old. He said one of them wrote a 100-page book against Islam — while intoxicated. This is in our city, just within blocks around us.

The idea that "I threw my kid in a madrasah, threw my kid in Islamic school, it's all set, so I'm not responsible anymore" — that's wrong. Things have changed. Think about it like inflation. Previously a whole family could eat for $10. Now a simple burger costs $12–13. You have to pay a lot more to get the same thing. Similarly — there is inflation in the deen as well. In order to simply keep your kids as believers, you have to put in a lot more effort than was required 50 years ago. The amount of hard work, compared to what was required then, now takes ten times more. Our older generation says, "Our father did this much, so we'll do this much." But it turns out that's not sufficient at all. Because the circumstances have changed.

Guidance Through Allah Alone

My beloved friends — we're not going back, we're going forward. What is at the end of it? Akhirah. Day of Judgment. In all the chaos happening in the dunya, alhamdulillah, I started this talk by praising Allah and thanking Him for giving us this deen — which gives us light in the deepest type of darkness you can ever face.

"Whoever believes in Allah, Allah will guide his heart." Believe in Him. No matter what the situation may be, Allah will teach you — what did Rasulullah ﷺ do at this time?

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1319; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 23814)

"Whenever Rasulullah ﷺ became overwhelmed with something, he would turn to salah." Even a storm — he would run towards salah. That's how our deen teaches us. Situations come from where? Allah. And the solution also comes from where? Allah. That's it.

The Roller Coaster Analogy

I don't want us to leave this gathering in a state of depression or feeling overwhelmed. That's not the purpose of this. The purpose is for you to say, "SubhanAllah, we've got a big test ahead. And alhamdulillah, we've got the answer sheet. We've got the study guide. I just have to study it, memorize the answers. The rest of the people will also have this test, but they don't have a study guide, they don't have an answer sheet."

An example came to my mind. If you ever went on a roller coaster — massive roller coasters, always getting crazier every summer. Look at how a roller coaster goes: super high, super low, sharp 90-degree turns, sometimes upside down, people screaming at the top of their lungs. But imagine someone is at the top, 180–200 feet high, hanging upside down, and he says, "Oh my God, this is so scary — let me jump off." Is that a smart move? No. You're going to pretty much certainly die, or get crippled for life. What do you need to do at that time? Stay put. You have your seatbelt on. Hold on to the bar. Wait. Because as wild as this roller coaster is — do the people who paid to ride it actually think they're going to die? No. They know this is a ride. And this ride was designed by engineers, with a full system set up to make sure it goes exactly the way it's supposed to. The 30 seconds hanging upside down is what? Preplanned. The 100 miles an hour, then full brake, then 100 miles an hour again — all preplanned.

Did you get this example? This is how the believer understands world events. That it's crazy what's happening — in the stock market, in geopolitics, every single day some ajeeb thing is going on. But a believer is not moved by this. He doesn't get shaken up. He says: "Everything is happening by the qudra of Allah, by the planning of Allah. In this chaos, there is the hidden wisdom of Allah. In this chaos, there is the hidden tartib — the ordering — of Allah behind all of this."

But this is the key thing I want you to take home: as believers, we do not get overwhelmed. Do not get overwhelmed. Do not let your kids and your spouse get overwhelmed. That doesn't help us. Instead, turn your anxiety and stress to the musalla. Turn it towards Allah. Turn it towards dua. Turn it towards crying.

The Du'a of the Drowning Person

One of the companions said:

"A time will come upon the people when no one will be saved from it except the one who cries to Allah like a drowning person cries." Not a little bit — but cries and begs Allah the way a drowning person cries and begs. The one who cries like that will survive; otherwise, they will be dead — meaning they will lose their iman.

Collective Responsibility — What Do We Do?

My beloved brothers, this is the message tonight. We have to allow these words to sink into our hearts. We have to understand — this is haq, this is not made up. These are the hadith and the Qur'an I'm sharing with you. And every one of us is responsible to prepare himself, his wife, his children, his parents, his siblings. And then to awaken the ummah — let's come back towards the masjid, let's come back towards the deen of Allah, let's come back towards the sunnah of Rasulullah. Let's make ishtima'i — collective — tawbah from major and minor sins.

Now you say, "MashaAllah, I agree. Where do we start from? Do we need to make a new organization? Fundraise? What do we do?" No, my friend. Allah has given us a very easy solution:

Khuruj fi sabilillah. Going out in the path of Allah for a few days of your time. Wallahi, I tell you — you will see yourself. You have problems with your spouse, with your children, with your deen and your dunya. Say, "I'm going to go out in the path of Allah the way the sahaba did." Leave the comfort of your home, the comfort of your materialistic life for some time. Do i'tikaf in the masjid. Put yourself in front of Allah. Take your spouse with you. Take your children with you. Say, "Ya Allah, I've come here to repent. I'm not going to leave until You forgive me. I'm going to inspire others to repent as well. Ya Allah, I'm going to do what my Prophet ﷺ would have done if he were here — connect the people to the masjid."

MashaAllah — alhamdulillah — we have two jama'ats here from the Darussalam area and beyond, staying in your masjid tonight and tomorrow night. One is a young students' jama'at, alhamdulillah. And the other is a jama'at — some of them students — who have come with their spouses, daughters, and sisters. The sisters and wives are staying nearby in one of the houses. The men are staying here until Sunday morning. The brothers are here until Sunday morning. The sisters, with their husbands, will be here until inshaAllah Sunday afternoon.

I request all those present here — please make niyyah for nusrah. Join us inshaAllah for one night of i'tikaf here if you can. Join us during the day tomorrow. Bring your friends. Start today, start small. There are 20 friends of yours who should have been here and are not — go work on them. Call them right after this Isha salah. Say, "Come join us at this masjid. From dhuhr to maghrib, from dhuhr to isha. Come and have a meal with us. Just sit down and eat. Just sit down and talk." Just spending a few hours in the house of Allah can change our lives.

Send our womenfolk, our daughters, our sisters to the house program — they'll announce the address where the women are staying. Just a few hours — wallahi, I know so many stories of sisters whose husbands could not get them to wear the hijab for years upon years. Then they attended just a few hours of a halaqah of ta'aleem, and they came back and said, "Please, dear husband, go to my drawer and bring my scarf. I'm waiting here. When you give me the scarf, I'll wear it and come out." These are stories of people who are close to me. Alhamdulillah, Allah has put effect in this method of sunnah.

The effort of da'wah and tabligh is not a bid'ah. It is to revive the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ and the sunnah of the sahaba. So this is an appeal for all of us to go out whenever we can. This weekend, next weekend, summertime — mashaAllah. Tell your sons and daughters that during the summer, between high school and college, take out 40 days, take out 4 months, take out a month, whatever you can. Go out. Take them with you. Take your spouse. Just a couple of weeks will change you. You will see — subhanAllah — the renewal of your iman, the connection with Allah, the power in the dua, the crying that will come. It's unbelievable, it's unreal.

And I say this with experience, alhamdulillah. I'm in the field of da'wah, teaching, learning, imamat, madrasah — but mashaAllah, when I got a chance recently to go to India and spend a month, it was such an amazing refresher I cannot tell you. What I got in that one month — the revival my soul received — was so powerful. There's nothing equivalent to that.

If you want to truly scrub that heart clean and say, "SubhanAllah, I want to change from tonight, and I want my kids to also change" — you start making dua: "Ya Allah, allow my children and I to go on Your path. Ya Allah, allow my spouse to go on Your path." And remember — Allah is Al-Hadi. Allah is the one who gives guidance; you and I don't give guidance. Just keep on begging Allah and trying. InshaAllah, a day will come when Allah will allow us to see the qadr of hidayah in our lives.

Wallahi, yesterday I met a brother — he told me he didn't pray Jummah, didn't pray janazah, didn't do anything, was far away from the masjid, with gangs in Chicago. SubhanAllah — he got married, and his wife said, "If you want to marry me, you have to go to salah." He went as a 22 or 23-year-old man to the masjid and had no idea how to pray. None. Born Muslim, from a Muslim community. But mashaAllah — today — what ilm, what wealth, what deen, what everything Allah has given him in a matter of just a few years. It's unbelievable when you hear his story — where he was just a few years ago. Meaning, Allah will give hidayah at His time. You and I have to make the effort of hidayah and the dua of hidayah.

InshaAllah, we ask Allah to grant us tawfiq and allow us all — our families, our children, our communities — to return to His deen and the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ. Ameen.