Signs of the Last Day and the End of History
Insights from Sheikh Imran Hosein
Let us now turn to the Islamic view of the subject in which the movement of history is determined by the movement of truth in history. Allah Most High is al-Haq (i.e., Truth):
“That is because He, Allah, is the Truth . . . . .” (Qur’an, al-Hajj, 22:62)
Not only is He, Most High, Truth, but Truth also comes from Him in the form of the revealed Word: “And say, The Truth is from your Lord . . . . “ (Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:29)
The Qur’an also describes everything in the world around us to be pregnant with Truth:
“Do they not reflect within themselves? Not but with Truth and for a term appointed, did Allah create the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them . . . .” (Qur’an, Rum, 30:8)
Truth (al-Haq) which comes from Allah Most High provokes confrontation with falsehood (al-Batil). The Islamic view is that the conflict between truth and falsehood is the dominant factor determining the movement of history. Human beings participate in this struggle because Allah Most High gave to them the freewill with which to choose. Although they possess limited freedom, it is nevertheless freedom:
“Say, truth is from your Lord-God. Let him who will, believe in it, and let him who will, reject it.” (Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:29)
Mankind is free to chose, either to accept the Truth and to be rewarded for such a choice, or to reject it and to pay the price for that rejection. This self-directed-will and capacity for a free choice causes the historical process to move sometimes this way, sometimes that way. Dr. Burhan Ahmad Faruqi used the term zigzag to describe the movement of history. It moves now this way, and now that – sometimes progress and sometimes regress that reflect success and failure in the moral struggle. Islam thus rejects both the cyclic view as well as the linear regressive and the linear progressive views of the movement of history.
Divine intervention occurs in the historical process when Prophets are sent, and when Scriptures are revealed. Such intervention results in a Prophet inserting himself in the sweep of history and launching an effort to re-direct the movement of history so that it is restored to the straight path (i.e., Sirat al-Mustaqim). These divine interventions constitute landmarks of the historical process. The advent of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), however, witnessed the most decisive, the most comprehensive triumph of truth over falsehood ever to have occurred in history.
Dr. Faruqi used the Qur’an to demonstrate Islam’s view that history cannot end without another triumph of truth over falsehood.
Such an event, however, would validate the Islamic claim to truth since it would deliver a re-realization of the golden age of the Prophets, David and Solomon (peace be upon them), when the Holy (Islamic State) of Israel ruled the world from the Holy Land, and the golden age of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who declared: “My companions are like the rain. I don’t know which shower is better, the first or the last”.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah Most High be upon him) has provided a description of a Last Age that would precede the end of history. Many Signs of the Last Day reveal grave events that would occur in the Last Age. These events would seem like an evil storm blowing through the world while sifting the grain (i.e., those who have true faith) from the husk (those who have no faith).
Allah Most High created that evil storm that will sweep everyone into the garbage bin of history—except those who have firm faith in the One God and in the truth that came from him. Islam declares that Allah Most High sent Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as His last Prophet and Messenger to all mankind, and sent him with the Qur’an as the last divinely-revealed scripture. To the extent that he is indeed a true Prophet, and the Qur’an is indeed divine revelation, then only those who faithfully follow him, and who are guided by the Qur’an, would be able to survive the evil storm.
The essays in this book attempt to locate and explain some of those Signs of the Last Day as they are already appearing in the modern world. They depict the evil storm that is already unleashed and is sweeping all but the truly faithful into the garbage-bin of history. The greatest danger to the religious way of life that has come with that storm is an epistemological attack on the spiritual heart of religion.
Source: Signs of the Last Day and the End of History
to be continued....
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