It has been established that the center of the Earthquake in Rome was 10 kilometers beneath a Catholic monastery in the township of Paganica. Three hundred people lost their lives, 1,500 people were injured, 100 seriously, and 50,000 have been left homeless in the earthquake, estimated at 6.3 on the Richter Scale according to the latest figures. The earthquake has gone down as the worst in Italy for 30 years. The quake at around 04.30 Turkish time on the night of 6 April, and was felt across Central Italy, including the capital, Rome.
The death toll increased still further as a number of homes and buildings collapsed in L’Aquila following an after-shock measuring 5.6 that took place in the region on the evening of 7 April.
One of the main portents of the End Times is a rise in earthquakes. Our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has described in detail in several hadith how earthquakes will strike at the time of the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (peace be upon him). One of the earthquakes reported by the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as heralding the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) is to take place in Italy. The hadith describes how Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will achieve the spiritual conquest of Rome through his intellectual activities and how the walls of the Vatican will be destroyed by an earthquake. The collapse of the walls of the Vatican as revealed in the hadith is an indication of homes and churches, in short of buildings, collapsing and being destroyed in an earthquake due to take place in the region.
"...Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) and his students will...capture Rome with tasbih (praise Allah) and takbir (declaration of the greatness of Allah) of Allah’s greatness...THE WALLS OF THAT CITY [THE VATICAN] WILL COLLAPSE... [BY AN EARTHQUAKE] ..." (Muhammad ibn 'Abd ar-Rasul Barzanji, Portents of Doomsday, p. 204)
THE VATICAN EARTHQUAKE, described as one of the portents of the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) in the hadith, may be the violent quake that struck on April 6. Consequent to this earthquake city walls of Vatican have been ruined. Many buildings have been destroyed.
OTHER HADITH REGARDING “AN INCREASE IN EARTHQUAKES,” A PORTENT OF THE COMING OF HAZRAT MAHDI (PBUH):
· …Doomsday will not take place until EARTHQUAKES MULTIPLY, corruption appears and murders rise in number. (Portents of Doomsday, p. 109)
In the above hadith, our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) speaks of “earthquakes multiplying” as one of the portents that will take place at the time of the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh). Indeed, the 20th and 21st centuries have gone down as a time when tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in quakes. The violent quake in Kobe, a succession of earthquakes in Turkey, Taiwan, Greece and Mexico, the 2008 quake in Sichuan which cost the lives of 70,000 people, and finally the quakes in Rome all contain important signs in the context of the End Times.
- "There will be QUAKES in my community. Such that TEN THOUSAND, TWENTY THOUSAND OR THIRTY THOUSAND POEOPLE DIE IN THESE QUAKES. Allah will make this death a lesson for unbelievers, a blessing for Muslims, and a torment for the deniers.” (Ibn Asaqir, History of the Future 1, Orhan Baytan, Mevsim Publications, p. 81)
- The time is approaching when you will find NO HOMES TO SHELTER YOU nor animals to bear you. BECAUSE EARTHQUAKES WILL DESTROY YOUR HOUSES, and lightning strikes will turn your animals to coal. (Nuaym Ibn Hammad, History of the Future 1, p. 82)
- If you see the caliphate in the Holy Land come down, know that EARTHQUAKES, sorrows and great events are close at hand. On that day, Doomsday will be closer to people that this hand of mine to my head. (Abu Dawud, Kutub as- Sitta, Vol. 14, p. 339)
- When the latter generations of these people insult the former ones, expect red winds, Earth's collapse [EARTHQUAKE], or the raining of stones from the heavens. (Tirmidhi)
- Doomsday will not take place, until there is no knowledge left, UNTIL EARTHQUAKES MULTIPLY, until time is shortened, until corruption appears and until murders increase. Sahih Bukhari, Ibn Majah, Portents of Doomsday, p. 108)
THE “INCREASE IN EARTHQUAKES” THAT IS ONE OF THE PORTENTS OF THE COMING OF HAZRAT MAHDI (PBUH) IS DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
The portents of the End Times when Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will appear are sometimes described quite clearly in the New Testament, and sometimes in more allegorical terms. Looking at the expressions employed in the New Testament, it appears that at this time of the appearance of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) there will be moral and social degeneration, major wars, disasters and EARTHQUAKES that wreak terrible harm, extraordinary phenomena in the sky, people will turn away from religious moral values, there will be injustice and unfairness, true believers will be persecuted, and peace and security will give way to strife and unease. The “INCREASE IN EARTHQUAKES” that is a portent of the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) is described as follows in the New Testament:
- Such things must happen, but the end is still to come… There will be … EARTHQUAKES in various places. (Matthew 24:6-7)
- THERE WILL BE GREAT EARTHQUAKES…But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to … prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. (Luke 21:11-12)
- THE TIME WILL COME WHEN NOT ONE STONE WILL BE LEFT ON ANOTHER…(Luke 21:6)
- …No EARTHQUAKE like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the QUAKE. THE GREAT CITY SPLIT INTO THREE PARTS, AND THE CITIES OF THE NATIONS COLLAPSED. (Revelation 16:18-19)
- Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be EARTHQUAKES in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. (Mark, 13:8)
- I watched as he opened the sixth seal. THERE WAS A GREAT EARTHQUAKE. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red. (Revelation, 6:12)
THE “INCREASE IN EARTHQUAKES” THAT IS ONE OF THE PORTENTS OF THE COMING OF HAZRAT MAHDI (PBUH) IS DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS IN THE TORAH:
According to the Jews, in the time preceding the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) (whom they refer to as the Messiah) there will be a moral collapse stemming from a loss of religious belief. People will have less sense of shame, arrogance and oppression will rise, people will have no mercy, the devout will be despised, and denial and corruption will spread. Disasters, EARTHQUAKES, oppression and wars will follow one another, the land will become less fertile and there will be an increase in prices, famine and poverty. Texts regarded as sacred by the Jews describe the EARTHQUAKES that will herald the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) as follows:
- …THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH SHAKE. THE EARTH IS BROKEN UP, THE EARTH IS SPLIT ASUNDER, THE EARTH IS THOROUGHLY SHAKEN. THE EARTH REELS…; IT SWAYS LIKE A HUT IN THE WIND… (Isaiah, 24:18-20)
- THEREFORE I WILL MAKE THE HEAVENS TREMBLE; and THE EARTH WILL SHAKE FROM ITS PLACE (Isaiah, 13:13)
- THE EARTH TREMBLED AND QUAKED, AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE MOUNTAINS SHOOK The valleys of the sea were exposed. (Psalm, 18:7, 15)
- ... the Lord Almighty will come with THUNDER AND EARTHQUAKE and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire. (Isaiah, 29:6)
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