Signs of Jesus’ (pbuh) Second Coming -
The Signs from the Islamic Resources 071-080

The Signs from the Islamic Resources 8/12

71. Hypocritical and Fraudulent Clergy

God's Messenger (may God bless him and grant him peace), revealed that in the End Times, some people acknowledged as scholars will actually be two-faced impostors:

Wolves will give readings in the End Times. Let those who live to see those times seek shelter from their evil in God. They will be very corrupt people. Hypocrisy will prevail, and nobody will be ashamed of it and its manifestations. (Tirmidhi)

God's Messenger (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: “A man will wake up as a believer, and be an unbeliever by nightfall. People will sell their religion for a small amount of wordly goods." (Ibn Ahmad Hanbal)

He said: “In mosques, the voices of those who rebel aganist God rise, and those who commit those deeds prohibited by religion hold control over sincere believers.” (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 450, no. 828)

Ultimately some ignorant people remain. When they are asked about religious issues, they give a fatwa ]juridical decision], although they are illiterate. This way, they pervert and also make others stray from the right path. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 463, no. 850)

What a pity for my community, because of the scholars who have gone astray! These are the people who make religion a matter of commerce. They approach the chiefs of their time to earn their living. (al-Hatim)

A time will come when everyone will read the Qur’an, perform their acts of worship, and, meanwhile, engage in bid`a [innovation in worship that must be avoided]. Yet little do they know that they become idolaters in a way of which they are unaware. They earn money in return for their reading and knowledge, and consume the time of this life in return for the religion. These will become the followers of the blind Dajjal. (ad-Daylami)

Those people who show no respect for the laws of Islam and who do not hesitate to use religion as a means for their own profit are described in the following terms:

In the End Times of the community of the faithful, people, those who adorn the mosques but leave their own hearts in ruins, who fail to look after their religion as much as they do their clothes, who forsake their religious obligations for the sake of their activities in this world, will increase in number. (al-Hakim)

72. Degeneration among Politicians

In the End Times there will be cruel rulers, wicked ministers, treacherous judges, and lying hodjas. If anyone goes to them, let him not be allied to them, help them, or show them the way. (Risalat al-Khuruj al-Mahdi, p. 182)

Some chiefs and rulers of states will … take [unjustly] what is not given to you [as the poor ones entitled to take] from the state treasure. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 380, no. 697)

Soon there will appear some chiefs who will confiscate your food and soothe you with lies. They will work, yet what they do will be evil. Their worst attribute is that they will not be pleased with you until you consider their evil as good and confirm their lies. (al-Tabarani)

One by one, the principles of Islam will be violated and some statesmen will misguide people ... (al-Hakim, Mustadrak)

One important feature of this time is the emergence of ruthless, cruel leaders who lead their peoples to disaster. The twentieth century was full of such people. These individuals, who adopted ideologies far removed from the moral values of religion, became notorious for the cruelties they inflicted and for the sufferings they caused due to war and other conflicts.

Chairman Mao had thousands of citizens killed solely for opposing him, and was responsible for the deaths of millions during his regime. Under the influence of fascist ideology, Mussolini led his people to a terrible disaster by dragging his country into World War II. Mobutu has gone down in history as one of Africa’s most ruthless dictators.

73. Abandoning "Enjoining the Right and Forbidding the Wrong" as an Act of Worship

The Hour will approach … when good is abandoned and nobody enjoins it, and evil is committed and no one forbids it. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 480)

The Hour draws near, and the good deeds diminish. (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha`ah li Ashrat as-Sa`ah, p. 264)

With the verse “Let there be a community among you who call to the good, and enjoin the right, and forbid the wrong. They are the ones who have success” (Surah Al `Imran, 3:104), God makes it compulsory (fardh) for people to enjoin good and forbid evil. People’s failure to do so is a sign of the Hour as well as of Prophet Jesus’ (pbuh) second coming, an event that heralds the great events due to occur before the Hour.

74. Good Is Confused with Evil

“What will become of you when you do not enjoin the right and forbid the wrong?” he asked. [Those around him asked in amazement:] “Will that truly happen?” “Yes, and even worse!” he replied, and went on to ask: “What will become of you when you enjoin the wrong and forbid the good?” Those around him were astonished: “O Prophet! Will that also happen?” “Yes, and even worse!” he replied, and continued: “What will become of you when you regard good as evil and evil as good?” The people around him asked: “O Prophet! Will that also come to pass?” “Yes, it will,” he replied. (Ibn Abi Ya'la, Musnad; al-Tabarani, al-Awsat)

The hadith states that good is totally confused with evil in societies that are far removed from religious values. People are regarded as naïve for doing what is right and exhibiting proper moral values, and those who trample on others' rights in their own interests are regarded as clever and competent. This situation, which is completely opposed to the Qur’an’s moral values, has become a fixed concept in many present-day societies.

75. Close People Will Encourage One Another to Evil

The destruction of a person will be in the hands of his parent; if not, of his wife; and again if not, in his relative. They will blame him for his failure to earn his living, cause him to drift into deeds of which he is incapable, and ultimately make him get involved in dark and dangerous deeds, at the cost of his destruction. (Abu Naim)

76. The Number of True Believers Being Very Few

The Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) says that in the End Times, very few people will be true believers:

There will come a time for my people when … the mosques will be full of people, but they will be empty of right guidance. (al-Hakim)

77. Use of Mosques for Different Purposes

The hadith quoted below reveals that one sign of the End Times is that mosques will be used only as social gathering places:

The Hour will not come until mosques cease to be places where people pray, but become places where people stop by. (Son Zamanla İlgili Hadisler [Hadiths Related to the End Times], p. 87)

The Last Hour will not come until people vie with one another about mosques. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Ibn Hibban, and Ibn Majah)

78. Appearance of People Who Recite the Qur'an for Personal Benefit

In the End Times, some people will recite the Qur'an for profit rather than for gaining God's approval:

Let him who reads the Qur'an ask [his reward] from God, because in the End Times many people will read it and seek their reward from other people. (Tirmidhi)

When our scholars study in order to take your gold and silver, and when you take the Qur'an for trade, then Doomsday is at hand. (Muhammad ibn 'Abd ar-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha`ah li Ashrat as-Sa`ah, p. 141)

Another sign is that the Qur'an will be recited in ways far removed from its real purpose:

When the Qur'an is recited as if singing a song, and when a person is esteemed for reading in that way, even though he is not knowledgeable … (Al-Tabarani)

79. Faith in Horoscopes and Refutation of Fate

Some Muslims will have a wrong understanding of fate, while some will believe that the stars can grant knowledge of the future. This is another indication of the End Times:

The Hour will come when people will believe in the stars and reject Qadar [the Divine Decree of destiny]. (Al-Haythami, Kitab al-Fitan)

80. Making Hajj (the Pilgrimage to Makkah) for Purposes Other Than God's Good Pleasure

Making Hajj for commerce, travel, ostentation, or for a change is another portent of the End Times:

A time will come when the wealthy perform Hajj for travel, the average man for commerce, their scholars for ostentation and hypocrisy, and the poor for begging for alms. (Ahmad Diya'al-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith, p. 503, no. 8)