Facing the Reality

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...and those trials that will be coming before. We find that sometimes a person likes to do us a favor. And he tells us something that will be happening over there in the future, or maybe certain conditions.

And because this person has informed us ahead of time, we appreciate it. Whereas if the person had never informed us, then we would have never known what would be coming ahead. Rasulullah has done such a great favor to this ummah by educating regarding every single thing.

There wasn't a single stone which was left unturned, which we can say that the Prophet did not teach us regarding this aspect. Jibreel once comes to the Prophet, and he asks this very famous question: When will the day of judgment be occurring? Rasulullah responded and he says, that the person who is being asked doesn't know more than the one who is asking him. In other words, I don't know more than you.

Then Jibreel, he goes to the next question and he asks, أَخْبِرْنِي عَنْ أَمَارَاتِهَا "Okay fine, at least tell me the signs regarding the day of judgment." And then Rasulullah, he goes into the deep details of many signs that will be occurring before the day of judgment. The books of Ahadith are just full of them.

You can go through these books and you'll find chapters just on regarding the signs of the day of judgment. And the way Rasulullah explained it, سُبْحَانَ اللهِ. You would feel as if there was a huge TV screen sitting in front of the Prophet, and through that Allah was showing him everything that will be occurring before the day of judgment.

And he's explaining the same thing to the Sahaba. And Sahaba are accepting it, even though many of those things they haven't even understood it. Look at the level of their Iman.

But unfortunately today we are living in that time, and all of those fitnahs have unraveled themselves. And we have become so oblivious, and so unmindful, that we don't even know that is going on around us. That the day of judgment is so close, but people are so into their busy schedules, people are so unaware of what's happening around them.

Nobody has a single clue what's going on there in the world. In fact the Prophet, he mentions, that when Dajjal will come out, he will come out in such a time where nobody will speak about him. People won't even want to hear about him.

In fact in one Masjid, when the Imam started to speak about the signs of the day of judgment, he started speaking about Dajjal, the people over there, they said, "you know, stop scaring us." But remember that this doesn't change the reality. Not speaking about the reality will never change the reality.

It's just like when you are about to go outside, somebody comes and he informs you, and he tells you that, "you know brother, be careful, the weather outside is horrible. It's snowing out there, there's black ice over there, there are a lot of accidents over there, just be careful." And now you start to tell this person that, "you know brother, please stop scaring me.

I don't want to hear about this." In fact this person is actually doing you a favor by informing you of the situation ahead of time. So that way it doesn't come to you as a surprise.

That when you go over there, you take that street, or you take that route, and you find that there are a lot of cars that are being piled up in accidents. And then you start to ask this question that, "how come nobody ever informed me earlier?" Only if somebody had informed me earlier, I would have saved myself against it. Rasulullah is telling us the weather forecast of the entire universe.

What is he saying? That Dajjal will come out at a time when nobody will speak about him. When's the last time do you think that you have heard about somebody speaking about Dajjal? And some of those fitnas, they will become so strong that we will become so immune to it. It will become something very normal.

Lying wasn't so rampant back in those days. It wasn't so common. But today it has become so common that we have lost our consciousness.

We have become immune to it. There was a time when zina used to take place, and it would become the talk of the city, the talk of the country. Today it's so common that when people are passing by, they will simply say, "oh, maybe they're just having fun."

There isn't a single person there to stop it. And سُبْحَانَ اللهِ, Rasulullah, he also gave us the solutions for them too. He says that Dajjal will come out at a time when nobody will speak about it.

Today when you ask the children, they will say, "yeah, you know, we used to hear about this one-eyed man, and we only see that stuff in cartoons. There's nothing like that." I mean, look at how our hearts have become so dead, where we are unable to realize and acknowledge certain things.

In Surah Al-Tirmidhi, Rasulullah, there's a lengthy hadith over there, which is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira. He says that, إِذَا فَعَلَتْ أُمَّتِي خَمْسَةَ عَشْرَةَ خَصْلَةً حَلَّ بِهَا الْبَلَىٰ "When my ummah starts to do 15 of these things, then the azaab and the punishment of Allah will start to descend upon this ummah." And he mentions, إِذَا تُخِذَ الْفَيْءُ دُوَلَىٰ There are 15 things. Out of those 15 things, the first one is, إِذَا تُخِذَ الْفَيْءُ دُوَلَىٰ "When you will start to see that the common welfare of the general public will start to circulate in the hands of the few."

It will only be under the control of the elites and the most powerful of them. Just look at around us. All of these major companies and all of these major factories, under whose control are they? Basic necessities of human beings, the public doesn't have any access to them.

It's circulating in the hands of the few. Every other day you find that the gas prices are fluctuating. They're going up and down so much, that if you were to seriously think about it, that does it really take that much money to extract that oil or that gas from the ground? That the price has to change that much every single day? Whether it has to do with gas, whether it's water, whether it's electricity bills, who has control over it? Is it you and I? Or is it just in the hands of the few? إِذَا تُخِذَ الْفَيْءُ دُوَلًا And for this very reason that Allah has prohibited interest and usury, because eventually what happens is that the wealth starts to circulate in the hands of the rich.

The rich continue to get rich and the poor continue to get poor. The poor will always suffer and the rich will always be enjoying their life. Allah made certain rules to balance out the economic system over here in the world.

And the number two he mentions, وَالْأَمَانَةُ مَغْنَمًا "People will start to breach their trusts." Somebody lends you a car and he gives it to you for a whole month. Brother, you can use this car for a whole month and after a month you can return this car back to me.

Now that person hands you the keys. Not only that you will just be using this car, you will go to the extent of abusing this car and misusing this car. Who cares? It's not mine.

I'll have to return it back at the end of the month. He has to deal with it. A person gives you his house keys and we all know what we will do.

Somebody gives us anything. وَالْأَمَانَةُ مَغْنَمًا "People will start to breach their trusts." You won't find people that are trustworthy anymore.

Every other person you have this fear that can I trust this person or can I not trust this person? And if I do trust this person, to what extent can I trust this person? Because I'm not sure if my belongings are safe in his possession. And then the Prophet he moves on and he says, وَالزَّكَاةُ مَغْرَمًا "People will start to take zakat as a burden." Oh, it's too much for me.

How can I pay all of this? How can I go through all of this? I'm paying thousands and thousands of dollars every year. I need to use it for something else. But we often forget that a person should be thinking that this is actually a blessing from Allah.

Every year those thousands of dollars that this person is taking out from his wealth, this is actually a blessing of Allah. That is only because Allah has granted him all that wealth that you are able to take out that wealth. And this person should have been thankful to Allah that at least I'm the one who's giving zakat and I'm not the one who's receiving that zakat.

But no, a time will come when people will like to spend on everything else. But when it comes to giving zakat, they'll be putting their hands back. Sometimes we find ourselves that we even end up paying zakat.

We might end up giving our zakat. But we end up giving it in such a way where we are very hesitant to give it. We don't want to give it.

We're not giving it with a clean heart or with happiness. The Prophet is saying that a time will come when people will start to consider zakat as a tax. That, "oh, every year I have to give tax for this."

And not only to that extent, but it goes even beyond where zakat is being misused. And people will be misusing that zakat. They will even bring up this hadith where it says that when a person spends upon his family, he spends on his children, then he will be receiving the reward of spending فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ, he'll be getting the reward of giving sadaqah and charity in the path of Allah.

And now that zakat is being used over there. But the reality is that there's a big difference between zakat and sadaqah. Sadaqah can be given anywhere.

Whereas zakat has a lot of restrictions to it. You can't give it over here. You can't give it over here.

You have to make sure it goes over there. You have to make sure it's done in this particular manner. Just the way you have sadaqah, you have to make sure you perform your sadaqah at this time.

You can't perform it over there at that time. It has these many rakahs, you can't perform these many rakahs. Zakat is also coming with the same things.

And not only that, sometimes we are just merely playing games with Allah. We're just trying to fool and deceive Allah. The husband is giving the zakat to the wife, the wife is giving zakat to the husband to avoid giving zakat.

You can take the zakat in your possession and after the year is over, just give it, hand it back to me. We're playing games with Allah. We're playing games with the deen of Allah.

And not only that, sometimes it even goes even beyond that. Where we are taking services from our zakat. We are trying to pay zakat to those people whom we are taking services from.

We're taking salaries for that. Or they are given that salary from us. وَالزَّكَاةُ مَغْرَمًا "People will use zakat and misuse zakat and they will consider zakat as a burden upon them."

Then the Prophet, he moves on and he says, وَتُعُلِّمَ لِغَيْرِ الدِّينِ "The knowledge of deen will become such that people won't want to learn about it anymore." People will start asking such questions as, "how will this benefit me? If I learn deen, how will it benefit me? What apparent benefit will I see in this world?" They will learn everything in this world, except for deen. The muhaddithin have made two different explanations to this hadith.

That people will be learning everything about the world and they will just be ignoring deen and putting deen to the side. Just look at ourselves today. How much of our deen do we know? We can talk about technology, we can talk about different sciences and different fields.

We can speak about a whole bunch of other things. But if someone was to just tell his brother, "you know, perform wudu, let me just see how you perform your wudu." We'll see how many mistakes that person can take out from our wudu.

How well are we performing our wudu? How well are we performing our salah? How well are we performing our ibadah? We won't even know the basics. Everything in this world will be learned except for deen. يَعْلَمُونَ ظَاهِرًا مِّنَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ الْآخِرَةِ هُمْ غَافِلُونَ And people will be oblivious from the hereafter.

And the second meaning of this hadith is that people will be learning that deen, but they won't be learning that deen for the pleasure of Allah, they will be learning that deen for some other reason. "Let me learn this deen so I can become an imam. Let me learn this deen so I can get some salary for it.

Maybe I can preach people and make money out of it." وَتُعُلِّمَ لِغَيْرِ الدِّينِ "People will be learning this deen so they can use it for some other reasons. It will not be for the pleasure of Allah."

And then the Prophet, he moves on and he says, وَأَطَاعَ الرَّجُلُ امْرَأَتَهُ وَعَقَّ أُمَّهُ "A person will disobey his mother in front of his wife. He will go to the extent of disgracing his parents and obeying his wife." And of course this doesn't mean that a person doesn't obey his wife.

But this means that a person will be insulting, disgracing and putting his parents down before his own wife and children. Go look in the nursery homes, what's happening? Where are those children whose parents had raised these children with their own hands? The father couldn't sleep at night. The mother couldn't sleep at night.

They've done everything for this child. But now when the same child grows up, "Oh! My life has become so busy, I don't have time to give to my parents. Let me just put them in those homes, those nursery homes.

They can take care of it." Do you really think that they will be receiving the love from those nursery homes the way they can receive love from their own children? That mother is crying over there. That "my child has abandoned me.

I've spent my entire life for this child." And today his child grows up and he's talking against me. Remember, we can't make our parents bow down before our own wives and children.

Where is that adab? Where is that discipline? Look at what Allah says in the Quran.

"Not once or twice, there are multiple places in the Quran where Allah is instructing us that you need to respect your parents. Do not even say uf to them."

And the mufassireen over here in this verse they explain that what does this uf mean? Does it mean that a person starts to shout and yell at his parents? No, that's not what it means. That's even at a higher level. That is one of the major sins from the kabair in Islam.

That a person is talking back to his parents and he's shouting and he's cursing at them. The mufassireen they explain that uf simply means that you do it. They ask you to do something, you do it.

But you start making some sounds. "Son, can you give me a glass of water?" Okay, but that is uf. "Can you throw out the garbage?" Oh yes, but that is uf.

During the time of the Prophet, there was just one youth, one youngster. He was on his deathbed, he was unable to utter the kalima. He was able to say everything else.

He was nicely communicating with people, he's talking. But when he was asked to say the kalima, he just couldn't say it. And people are worried, they're asking what's happening, why can't he say the kalima? It's very simple, it's just one sentence.

So they brought the matter to the Prophet. The Prophet, he asked, أَحَيٌّ وَالِدَاهُ "Is his mother alive?" They said, "yes." Okay, take me to his mother. The Prophet goes to the mother and says, "that is there anything that this child of yours has done because of which you are displeased with this child?" The mother says, "yes, you know there was a time when my child said something so insulting to me and I have the feeling for that in my heart."

The Prophet asks her, "that do you forgive this child?" She said, "no. Because the feeling of that is so painful, that is I just can't let go of it." So the Prophet instructs his Sahaba, "okay, throw this child into the fire."

So the mother that was standing over there, she asked, she was worried that, "oh Prophet of Allah, are you going to burn my child? Are you going to throw my son into the fire?" The Prophet, he said, "yes. Because the punishment which is going to be coming for this child in the future, in the hereafter, will be million times greater than this. Do you want your child to suffer in the hereafter? Or do you want your child to take this little pain over here in this world?" The mother says that, "oh Prophet of Allah, I forgive this child."

Immediately as soon as she said that "I forgive my child", he said, أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ And he passed away. Just the displeasure of our parents is enough to prevent us from uttering the Kalima. Imagine when we are shouting at them, we are cursing at them, we are hurting their feelings.

وَأَطَاعَ الرَّجُلُ امْرَأَتَهُ وَعَقَّ أُمَّهُ There is one very famous incident that occurred during the time of the Prophet. And a son came to the Prophet. Of course that son was a man, 30 years old, 40 years old. And he comes to the Prophet, he starts complaining regarding his father. "Oh Prophet of Allah, you know my father, he abuses us and he takes my wealth and he spends it over here and he doesn't have any permission from me."

And he just went on and on and complaining. The Prophet he asked that the father of this child or the father of this son be brought. So now the Sahaba they're going and they're going to go call this father.

And when the father heard and he came to realize that the son is complaining to the Prophet regarding me, he started to think of certain poetries in his mind. Remember poetry was something which was very common in those days. But he started to think of certain poetries in his mind.

And that poetry was so emotional that I just can't resist not mentioning it in Arabic. I wish everyone sitting over here can understand Arabic. But as he was thinking of some poetry, he's coming to the Prophet and on the way he's thinking of this poetry.

And when he reaches the Prophet, the Prophet asks him, "before anything else, can you tell me that poetry that you were thinking about in your mind?" So now this person he's shocked. He said, "Oh Prophet of Allah, how did you come to know of what was only in my mind? My own ears have not even heard of it. I have not even mentioned this to anybody else.

I have not even said it yet. How are you informed? Every time I come across you and I meet you, my iman just becomes more and more stronger." Rasulullah of course he was informed through Jibreel. So the Prophet asks him that "what was that poetry that you were thinking about in your mind?" And he goes on.

It was a very lengthy poetry. And he continues on until he finishes the entire poetry. And by the time he finishes that poetry, the Prophet's blessed eyes were full of tears.

What did this man say? He started to mention certain things which were very emotional. He says to the Prophet that "when this child of mine was born, I was so joyous. I was so happy.

And I took care of this child in every single way possible. I raised him. I sacrificed my sleep at night for this child.

When this child would be sick at night, I couldn't fall asleep. And I would just be turning left. I would be turning left in my bed.

That if a person was to pass by, they would think that I'm the one who's sick and it's not my child. And if he was sick, I would bring him medications. And when he grew up, I enrolled him into a school, into an institution.

And I took care of every need of his. I provided him with food. I gave him clothing.

I gave him everything that he asked for. Until he grew up. And then slowly he started to become independent.

And I encouraged him in every single field. I would become restless when he would be going through any pain. Now the same child, he's growing up.

And through me, he has earned and attained that degree or that position or the place where he has ended up. It was through me. If it wasn't me, I don't know where this child would have ended up.

And today now the same child is complaining against me. And he's saying that I'm usurping his land. I'm usurping his wealth.

And I'm misusing it. But let me tell you, that I'm not misusing any of this. I'm actually using that so I can feed the poor and the needy.

And I'm using it to give zakah and sadaqah. But my child is complaining against me. And then the last thing that he says, is that, "at least, if you can't treat your own father like a good neighbor, treat his Muslim, a neighbor, then at least please treat me like a good Muslim would treat another Muslim."

And by the end, the Prophet's eyes were just full of tears. Really, we don't realize this. But it has become so common.

And what does the Prophet say? وَأَدْنَىٰ صَدِيقَهُ وَأَقْصَىٰ أَبَاهُ "People will be drawing their friends closer. And they will be shoving their fathers away from them." When it comes to speaking to their parents, when it comes to speaking to their own father, people don't enjoy it.

But those friends can come to them and take hours and hours of their time away. And they'll enjoy that company. "I don't like to sit with my father, but I like to enjoy the company of my friends."

Do you think that out of all of these signs that the Prophet has mentioned, we don't see any one of them today? Like I said, that when the Sahaba heard these signs, all of these things were non-existent during their time. But they still believed it. Today it's happening right before our eyes when we're sleeping.

We don't realize that we are proceeding and going towards the Day of Judgment. The path for Dajjal is being paved. All of these things will occur before the coming and the emergence of Dajjal.

And the Prophet also taught us how to protect ourselves against the fitnahs and the trials of Dajjal. And now let's just hope that today we have recited Surah Al-Kahf. If we haven't recited Surah Al-Kahf, then maybe you can still go home and recite Surah Al-Kahf before it's the time of Maghrib.

Because the Prophet mentioned that the most powerful weapon that a believer will have against the fitnahs of Dajjal will be Surah Al-Kahf. And as we can see that the fitnahs are just increasing every single day, then now the scholars have mentioned that a person should be reciting Surah Al-Kahf every single day, not just the day of Jummah, but every single day. And if a person has a difficult time reciting Surah Al-Kahf, then of course you can just recite at least the first ruku and the last ruku of Surah Al-Kahf.

And eventually over a period of time it might become easier for you. But this will definitely protect us against the fitnahs of Dajjal. What does the Prophet say? That "that person who recites Surah Al-Kahf on the day of Friday, Allah will give him such nur, such light, such radiance that will last from one Jummah till the other Jummah.

That if Dajjal was to emerge within that time, then this Surah Al-Kahf will be sufficient for this person in protecting him against Dajjal." May Allah grant us this understanding and the ability to practice upon all the teachings of Rasulullah and to save ourselves against the trials and the fitnahs of Dajjal and to rectify our lives and to please Allah.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَالْمُسْلِمَاتِ وَأَقُولُ دِعَاؤُنَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ