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Friday, 29 January 2016

Dajjalian System of Life - Lessons From History



Dajjalian System of Life

It is important to distinguish between Dajjal the individual, and Dajjal as a world-wide intellectual and social phenomenon based on materialism and atheism. The latter is manifested as the philosophical outlook that has taken shape during the last few centuries in Europe, as well as the culture and life-style based upon that Godless outlook. The system of life which is predominantly materialistic and which dominates the entire globe today is actually the “Dajjalian System” itself, whereas the greatest defender of that system will be Dajjal the individual.

As we have seen earlier, the innovations introduced by St. Paul in the original teachings of Prophet Isa (AS) had led to the  genesis  of  a  completely  new  and  different  religion.  The highly  irrational  claim  of  Trinity  ultimately  resulted  in  the divorce between two natural allies, religion and reason. The conversion of Caesar Constantine in 313 C.E., and of the entire Roman Empire during the next hundred years or so, turned out to be the starting point for the establishment of Christian Theocracy in Europe. The huge vacuum created by the Pauline idea of abolition of the Mosaic law was then filled with the virtually unlimited authority of the Church, represented by the infallible Pope. During the Middle Ages the Church and the clergy ruled the masses with an iron hand, oppressing and exploiting them in the name of religion, while discouraging any inclination towards science or rationalism.

The Aristotelian system of cosmos, as adopted by Ptolemy, was already incorporated into the Christian theology. As a result, when Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo opposed the Geocentric doctrine and proposed Heliocentric views based on their scientific observations, the Church condemned and vehemently opposed them as heretics, thus starting the unfortunate rivalry and rift between Science and Religion.

The scientific and rationalistic movement in Europe, therefore, came face to face with the powerful religious establishment of the Church. The latter used all its resources to halt this new wave of progress towards knowledge and learning, but succeeded only in producing among the masses a deep mistrust of all things connected with religion. The ruthlessly unfavorable attitude of the clergy caused a reactionary feeling of hatred against the Church, and then against the very idea of religion itself.

The development of science and philosophy in Europe, therefore, was forced to take place in an environment which was hostile to religion, and this hostility has since then permeated deep down into the very roots of Western thought. The world- view and civilization that grew out of this materialistic frame of mind  is  what  we  call  the  “Dajjalian  System”  of  life.  The hallmark of this system is a profound shift of emphasis — from God the Almighty to the material universe and laws of nature, from   spiritual   pursuits   to   sensual   gratification,   and   from salvation in the life-after-death to material prosperity in this world.

Human beings have been endowed by Almighty Allah (SWT) with two distinct sources of knowledge, that is, (a) information gathered by the senses and their interpretation by means of reason, intellect, and logic; along with (b) Revelation, in order to acquire knowledge of the ultimate realities and also the practical guidance for living a just, virtuous, and balanced life.  However,  the  unfortunate  shift  of  emphasis  mentioned above resulted in a serious imbalance in the modern thinking process. Thus, while humanity has made an incredible amount of progress with regard to science and technology, we see that, correspondingly, religion and morality have undergone unprecedented decay and decline. As such, the Western civilization can be described as possessing only a single eye, epistemologically speaking. In other words, it has invested everything it had into a single source of knowledge — Reason and  Science    while  totally  ignoring  the  other,  equally important,   source   of   knowledge      Revelation   from   the Heavens.

The  system  of  life  resulting  from  this  materialistic mental attitude is characterized by a morbid preoccupation with collecting things and accumulating money. The corner stone of the Dajjalian System is the producer-consumer process, which is promoted as the ideal way of life. Highly sophisticated means are employed to convince the masses that they want newer and more  expensive products, so that they can be made to work continuously in order to earn the money to pay for the goods and services they don’t even need. The life blood of the Dajjalian System is usury, which is used to subjugate individuals as well as entire nations so that they can be controlled and manipulated by a financial aristocracy. The masses are encouraged to work hard, to enjoy their weekends, to uncritically digest whatever the media feeds them, and to invest all their time and energy in the pursuit of material well-being and sensual gratification. Humans are being reduced to the level of beasts. Endless consumption of products has become the dominant life-style of our times, and people have been made conditioned to measure each other on the basis of wealth and affluence, rather than character and morals. A whole entertainment industry has been created to keep the minds of the masses occupied whenever they are not working.

The entire system is geared so that the overwhelming majority is deprived of either the time or the energy to give any serious thought to the nature of existence, to the Creator, to the accountability in the Hereafter — or to the exploiters. Dajjal the individual   will   represent   the   interests   of   those   who   are financially exploiting the whole world, against those who are being exploited. After the Armageddon, a Just Social Order will replace the present Dajjalian System, and there shall be no more exploitation.






Friday, 22 January 2016

Armageddon! - Lessons From History



Armageddon!

It is interesting to note that prophecies regarding an ultimate World War between the forces of Good and the forces of  Evil  are  also  found in the Christian tradition. The highly cryptic and symbolic language of the last book in the New Testament — the Revelations of John — is often difficult to interpret, but the references to the beast and the false prophet resembles  closely  the  Muslim concept  of  Dajjal;  the  woman riding  the  beast  most  probably  refers  to  the  Jews  and  their revival; the rider coming on the white horse seems like representing the Second Coming of Prophet Isa (AS). Here are a few excerpts:

I saw three foul spirits like frogs coming from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. These are demonic spirits with power to work out miracles, sent out to muster all the kings of the world for the battle on the great day of God the sovereign Lord. (16:13,14)

...I saw a woman mounted on a scarlet beast which was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads  and  ten  horns...  I  saw that  the  woman was drunk with the blood of God’s people, and with the blood  of  those  who  had  borne  their  testimony to Jesus... the angel said... the beast you saw was once alive, and it is alive no longer, but has yet to ascend out  of  the  abyss  before  going  to  be  destroyed. (17:3,6-8)
I saw heaven wide open, and a white horse appeared; its rider’s name was Faithful and True, for he is just in judgment and just in war... The armies of heaven followed him... Out of his mouth came a sharp sword to smite the nation; for it is he who will rule them with a rod of iron... I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies mustered to do battle against the rider and his army. The beast was taken prisoner,  along  with  the  false  prophet  who  has worked miracles in its presence and deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire with its sulfurous flames. The rest were killed by the sword which came out of the rider’s mouth, and the birds all gorged themselves on their flesh (19:11,14,15,19-21)

I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the  dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil, or Satan, and chained him up for a thousand years; he threw him into the abyss, shutting and sealing it over him, so that he might not seduce the nations  again  till  the  thousand  years  were  ended. After that he must be let loose for a little while. (20:1-3)

The site of the final battle against the Anti-Christ is said to be Armageddon   (Revelation   16:16),   located   in   the   ancient stronghold of Megiddo, roughly 15 miles south-east of Jerusalem.. The word Armageddon has now come to mean the final battle between the forces of Good and the forces of Evil.





Friday, 15 January 2016

The Way to God’s Kingdom - Lessons From History



The Way to God’s Kingdom

Belief in the most certain event of Doomsday is part of our faith as Muslims, and, in this context, the global happenings of our age clearly indicate that the end of the world is probably a matter of near future. This opinion is based upon the predictions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), many of which have already come true in the world around us, and the stage is obviously being set for the final set of events before Doomsday — the grand finale of the global drama. We shall now discuss these coming events which will precede the establishment of the domination  of  Islam,  as  disclosed  by  Prophet  Muhammad (SAW).

Indications regarding the greatest World War of human history that appear in the Hadith collections are, in general, couched in allegorical language. It seems that The War will take place in three phases, and will be fought predominantly in the Middle  East.  During  the  first  phase,  Muslim  and  Christian armies will join hands and fight against a third force, the identity of  which  is  uncertain.  The  allies  will  defeat  their  common enemy,  but  then  serious  discord  and  hostility  will  break out between them, leading to the second phase of The War characterized  by  fierce  fighting  between  the  Muslim  and Christian  armies.  Initially  the  Christians  will  have  the  upper hand, and the Muslims will lose important strongholds like Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Although during the first and second  phases  the  Jews themselves will not take part in the battle,  their  resources,  technical  know-how,  and  their propaganda  machinery  will  be  used  with  utmost  destructive effect against the Muslims.

According to the prophecies, at this point the Muslims will select a rightly guided man as their military and political leader. This leader, called Mahdi in Hadith literature, will reorganize and unite the Muslim forces against the Christians, shifting the fortunes of The War in favor of the Muslims.

The third phase of The War will commence with the appearance  on  the  scene  of  an  exceedingly  cunning  Jewish leader — Dajjal or Anti-Christ. From then onwards the Jews will start to take active part in the fighting, and the combined forces of Jews and Christians will inflict heavy losses on the Muslims. At this stage — Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has told in unequivocal words — Prophet Isa (AS) will reappear to strengthen and reinforce the Muslim armies. He will deliver the final installment of Divine punishment to the Jews, and will kill their leader, Dajjal. The reappearance of Prophet Isa (AS) will mark the end of Christianity as a separate religion, and the most glorious and peaceful era of human history will commence. This will be “God’s Kingdom on earth,” when the Deen of Allah (SWT) will reign supreme, and the world will enjoy unprecedented bounties and blessings of the Lord.

This period of Khilafah on the pattern of Prophethood will last so long as Almighty Allah (SWT) wills; then, after this blissful era, the world will once again be filled with wickedness. All the faithful population of the world will die peacefully and calmly one day, just before the end of the world. In this way, only the unbelievers and the wicked shall be left to face the dreadful events of the Doomsday.