[Note: Sorry, I haven’t put any references. If you wish to have them, please feel free to ask. Remember that it is your right to ask for them.]
The End = The Hereafter.
The Beginnings of this end are the appearance of the minor signs of the Last Day.
[Of course, from an individual perspective, the beginning of the end = death.]
There are soooo many minor signs of the Last Day like:
Bedouins competing in making tall buildings. [I can see them all from my house (the buildings I mean, not the Bedouins.)]
People competing to build nicer masjids. [No comment.]
Marketplaces coming nearer to one another. [Translation: Shopping malls will sprout up in every corner. Hello Ibn Battuta, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall, etc.]
People decorating their homes. [Today, if you don’t decorate your house and doll it up beyond recognition, the guests will accuse you of being a cheapskate.]
The masaahif (mushafs of the Quran) will be decorated. [Someone even showed me a perfumed mushaf once.]
And there are so many more….
Does every sign point to a bad event? No, not necessarily.
The coming of the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam) is one of the minor signs and the (second) coming of Isa (alaihissalam) is one of the major signs. Everybody would agree that these are not bad things.
[A major sign is that which occurs very close to the Hour which is why the coming of Isa (alaihissalam) is a major sign, but the coming of Muhammad (salallahu alaihi wasallam) is not.]
However, most of these signs don’t point to good things. Decorating homes, masjids and masaahif points to extravagance which is NOT a good thing.
What do we need to do? Well, when we come across these signs, we need to ponder over them, and ask ourselves if we are guilty of doing the actions mentioned therein.
One of the signs that I came across a long time ago was that the salaams would only be conveyed to those whom one knows.
I was shocked when I came across this hadeeth because I was guilty of doing this action.
So, we need to think and change our actions if required.
Here’s a lecture that discusses a few of the minor signs in detail. It’s by Uthman Barry (rahimahullah), my late professor.
Why, you ask? Well, I read somewhere that Imam Ash-Shafiee (rahimahullah) considered Imam Layth (rahimahullah) from Egypt to be a better jurist than Imam Maalik (rahimahullah).
Who’s Imam Layth, you ask? Exactly. We don’t know much about him.
Imam Ash-Shafiee considered Imam Layth’s students to have failed him.
How do a person’s students fail him? Well, by not conveying what they have learnt from him, thereby not benefiting their teacher.
I don’t want to make the same mistake as Imam Layth’s students. That’s why I’ll be trying to put up as many of Ustadh Uthman’s lectures as I can so that this can benefit him, insha-Allah.]
Here’s the audio:
The Beginning of the End by Uthman Barry (rahimahullah) (Download)
Many of us (or perhaps all of us?) underestimate the bad effects that sins have on our lives. To us, a sin we committed might just be a “little” one but its repercussions might be grave.
Sadly, the one month where many Muslims try to avoid committing sins is Ramadan. Outside that, many people do not seem to care. Yes, a lot of us try to continue doing good deeds after Ramadan, but very few of us try to stop sinning.
One of the main reasons for this is that these sins are not recognised as being such.
For example, you’ll see most Muslim women refuse to touch alcohol. Why? Because it’s a big sin to drink it, they’ll say. Well, many of these same women do not wear hijab. Why? Well, one reason is weakness of iman. Another reason is because they think that not covering one’s body is a “little” thing. They do not realise that not wearing hijab, like drinking alcohol, is a major sin.
[By the by, major sins need to be repented from in order to be forgiven. Doing good deeds won’t erase them. That only works for minor sins.]
Anyway, here’s a lecture on this topic based on writings of Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim (rahimahullah). I’ve put the translation of that below the lecture.
The Effects of Sins by Uthman Barry (rahimahullah) (Download)
There’s a “propaganda” against tawheed (worshipping Allah alone), you ask?
Of course.
Shaytaan knows that tawheed is the key to Paradise and the key out of Hell so he’s been really busy stopping people from learning about tawheed.
See, it’s simple. The whole religion of Islam is based on tawheed. The person who does not comprehend the tawheed of Allah has not comprehended the religion, even if he understands everything else.
Here’s a lecture about this issue. I chose this lecture for two reasons:
1) Tawheed is the most important topic, therefore we should spend more time on it.
2) The brother giving the lecture is an ex-teacher of mine, the late Uthman Barry (rahimahullah). I wanted him to get some sadaqah jaariyah.
I’m in the process of listening to it. I think that those who are interested in Islamic and world history might really like this lecture because he discusses lots of stuff.
Propaganda against Tawheed by Uthman Barry (rahimahullah) (Download)
May Allah reward Brother Uthman Barry for spreading tawheed during his lifetime and grant him Al-Firdaus. Ameen.
The Greatest Month 