Portents of the Day of Judgement
(ep 26)
Bismillah Al Rahman Al Raheem.
Today we are going to talk about the Portents of the Day of Judgement.
By Portents we mean those incidents or events which definitely will take place before the Day of Judgement.
Before we go further, lets focus on one thing and that is the stages people are going through from the beginning to the end.
Of course the first stage is that every foetus is in the womb of his mother, after the fertilised egg by sperm, after mating of the man and woman, sperm fertilising the egg, the new foetus will start where? The embryo then the foetus in the womb and this pregnancy takes place for 42 weeks approximately, 9 months and sometimes say that 9 months and 9 days.
Anyway, this is the first stage.
Then is the life which we are in. This part of life which depends on many items but approximately the expectation of life is different from different places and here can be 70,75 or maximum 90-95.
This is the second stage that we are going through.
The third one is (Barzakh) or the time between death and the Day of resurrection, Day of Judgement.
This can be as long as millions of years. We don’t know but definitely there are tens of Ayat if not hundreds.
There are thousands of Ahadeeth to talk about this stage of (Barzakh) where the body will rotten. The bones will decay.
We will turn into dust. Our soul travels away.
Spirit is taken from the body and that is what we are going to discuss in another occasion about the material and immaterial Resurrection but now we are only focusing on the stages.
During the pregnancy in the womb, then this life, then (Barzakh) which is in between death and resurrection, before resurrection there are events to take place. Definitely one important one, these are what we call them Portents of the Day of Judgement.
Definitely one of them is the descent of the Prophet Isa (as).
According to Islamic faith we know that Prophet Isa (as) was not Crucified, he was elevated to celestial being wether it is (assamaa’ul rabi’a)- the fourth Heaven or what does this exactly mean? But we know that he is not dead in a sense that all bodies are decayed and turned into dust, rather (Ahyaa’un inda Rabihim yurzaqun) -they are alive. So he was elevated and taken from this temporary life and will descend after ascending to heaven. Now he is returning to us,returning to this life.
Allah swt, or this Earth.
Allah swt considered that (Wa in min ahlil kitaabi ilaa la yu’minnana bihi qabla mawtihi, wa yawm al qiyamati yakunu alaihim shaheeda)- That, before his death, its not like many Christians believe that he was crucified then he was resurrected and.. No, no.
Allah swt clearly says that (wa ma qataluhu wa ma salabuhu)
Now, when we are talking about the descent of Isa (as) before the Day of Judgement, of course we have many (Ahadeeth) that that time will be exactly the time of the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam (afs), Imam Al Mehdi (as).
In Sahih al Bukhara, the Prophet (saww) said to his companions, (it is there) that how it be that you see that Isa (as) has descended but the one who leads the prayer and takes precedence and he is getting the authority is one of you? And people thought ‘Oh is it possible?’ Then the Prophet (as) explains that this is that time when is the reappearance of the Last Vicegerent of my Earth and that is the Twelfth Imam who will reappear and jointly they work together in filling the Earth with Justice and Truth.
So one of the events which definitely is going to take place before the Day of Judgement is the descent of Isa (as).
Another sign or another Portent is the smoke permeating the Heavens and that is in Quran Surah number 44;10-16.
Allah swt tells us ‘ Wait then for the day when hear smoke permeates the Heavens, that will envelop the humanity in painful torment, then people that did not believe in our signs will say Oh our Lord please remove this torment for now we truly believe in you. But how can such and awakening avail them in the last hour for when the Messenger was sent to them to clearly expound the truth? They turn their backs upon him saying he is a lunatic, or by those instructions of intentions.
So in this way Allah swt speaks about a very significant smoke which will cover the whole atmosphere.
Wether this is because of bombings or fires or whatever chemical weapons, we don’t know but definitely it is (wartaqib yawma ta’ti asamaa’u bidokhanin mobeen) and people will suffer a lot from that.
There are some other signs or some other Portents mentioned in the (Ahadeeth) and in these (Ahadeeth) unfortunately explains how people are misled. How people are going astray. How the merits and the morality is forgotten and in a way that people would think that ‘what happened to people?’ ‘What happened to their minds and their ethics?’
We are talking about the Portents of the Day Judgement and it is interesting to read this (Hadeeth) when Abdullah Ibn Abbas, the Sage of the Nation, the Prophets Cousin reports: When we accompanied the Prophet (saww) in his Farewell Pilgrimage, he (saww) was holding onto the door of the Ka’ba turned to us and asked. It is interesting how the Prophet puts this to his companions by putting a question and then trying to explain.
He asked, at this point would you like to know more about the Portents of the Day of Judgement?
The one of us closest to him at that moment, Salman begged him, continue!
The Prophet (saww) then said ‘They are neglecting to pray, focusing on ones own desires, being party of misinforming the community, showing servile, difference to those received to have wealth and the things which are always more important in peoples eyes than faith and religion.
When these occur, believers will suffer the result of no longer having opportunity to change.
This (hadeeth) is in Bhiar Al anwar and similar (ahadeeth) show that neglecting the prayers or focusing on the worldly affairs, giving preference to the ill desires and giving less attention to the morality and to religion and furthermore we see in some other (ahaeeth) that the Prophet (saww) predicted and says that one day we will see that the same sex marriage will take place, will people witness corruption spreading everywhere and all these things will lead to one thing, thats loss of the morality, corruption and bloodshed is there. Anarchy and how people losing their faith in Allah swt and only thing which gives them pleasure is the worldly wealth, the worldly status, the worldly affairs and nothing about spirituality.
In another (hadeeth) we read that Huthayfa Ibn Usaid Al Ghifari reports thats when the Prophet (saww) saw his companions in the ernest deliberation he asked what their subject was. The response, the Day of Judgement. He (saww) said this will only occur after ten signs have been observed. So in the (ahadeeth) these are the signs or the Portents before the Day of Judgement:
The smoke, the charlatan which is the AntiChrist, the life created being (daabat al arth), the sun rising in the west, the descend of Isa son of Maryam, Gog and Magog- these are (yazjooj wa ma’jooj), three major incidents of the Earth subsiding- one in the east, one in the west and one in the Arabian peninsula and lastly the fire that pushes all humanity towards resurrection.
Indeed there are many signs, sometimes in books of (hadeeth) or books of (tafseer) as called as (ashraatul saa’a)- the Portents of the Day of Judgement. But all reveal one thing, that the wars, the disputes, the attacks, the disunity, losing the ethics and morality, all these become something very very common towards the end of the time and before the Day of Judgement.
So what is our position?
What are we supposed to do and how to react to these things?
Of course, no one would be able to fix a time for the Day of Resurrection because Allah swt says (Wa yas’aloonaka an il saa’a)- people ask about the Day of Judgement and when you are resurrected and raised you think (ma labithu illaa sa’a)- that as if all this life and all the time you spent, it was only just an hour. If this means that people will be summoned and called upon to attend the Resurrection and that is when the trumpet is blown by Israfeel the Angel in charge of that.
Now, first we said that the life within the womb, then this temporary life, then (barzakh) which ends up with those Portents of the Day of Judgement, then it is the Day of judgement itself, where according to one Ayah it is equivalent to 50,000 years. Each individual will attend that exam, will sit that exam and will be held accountable for every single act people committed during their lifetime.
Not only that , even the intentions will be revealed and made public and known and the ability of people to see everything clear without barriers, without materialistic barriers here and there, will be there and thats what tens or hundreds of Ahadeeth speak about the fears, the troubles of the Day of Judgement. Ways people are waiting for them to be either given the reward and the final destination will be Paradise or will be tortured by the chastisement which matches that evil act or evil actions done by them.
And here is one important thing, that the Prophet (saww) is standing by the pool called Kawthar (hawth al Kawthar) and those who are fetched by that pool they will feel the pleasure and the tranquility and they be given the good news and the glad tidings, how salvation is awaiting for them. But on the other hand will be those who did every mischief, they did every wrong doing in this life. Of course we will see that (Shafa’a) or intersession is another issue which Inshalla we will discuss it later, that there are always possibilities for forgiveness after repentance (tawba) and (shafa’a) which is the intersession.
May Allah swt enable us to be entitled, to be eligible to get that intersession from the Prophet (saww)
Allahumma Sali Ala Muhammadin Wa Aali Muhammad Wa Ajil Farajahum.