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Friday, September 12, 2014

SIGNS OF THE EMERGENCE OF MAHDI

Fourteen hundred years ago, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) related a number of secrets concerning the Doomsday, and of his thoughts about it, to his Muslim companions. These valuable words have been passed down from generation to generation to the present day in the form of books of hadiths and works of Islamic scholars. The hadiths used in the coming sections of this book contain such information given by the Prophet (saas) in this regard.
At this point, there may arise some doubt in the reader in regards to the truth and authenticity of these hadiths about the end. It is a recognized fact that, in the past, there had been a number of fabricated hadiths falsely attributed to the Prophet (saas), but the hadiths that form the subject of our inquiry will be easily recognized as issuing from the Prophet (saas). There is a method to distinguish those that are true from those that are false. As we know, hadiths about the Doomsday relate to events that are to take place in the future. For this reason, when a hadith comes true in the course of time, all doubt as to the source of the words is removed.
Several Islamic scholars who conducted research on the subject of the End Times and of the signs of the Last Day have used this criterion. An expert on the subject, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, said that the fact that the hadiths concerning the End Times correspond to events observed in our day shows the truth of the hadiths. (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Risale-i Nur Collection, The Rays, Fourteenth Ray)
Some of the signs related in the hadiths were observable in some part of the world in any period during the 1400 year history of Islam, but that would not have proven that that period was the the End Times. For a certain period to be called the End Times, all the signs of the Last Day must be observed to be occurrence in that same period.
When we examine the End Times we come up with a surprising conclusion. The signs that the Prophet (saas) described in detail are occurring one after the other in every corner of the world, just in the way they were described in the age in which we live. It is so that the hadiths paint a perfect portrait of our time. This is indeed a miracle, and demands careful consideration. Every sign that occurs is to remind people once again that the Doomsday is very near, a day when they will give account of themselves in the presence of Allah, and therefore, that they should immediately apply the moral values of the Qur’an to their lives.

Proliferation of corruption
While a corrupt environment enablesbelievers with strong faith to increase their faith and patience, and their rewards in the Hereafter, it leads those with weak and superficial faith to lose their faith or weaken it further. The Mahdi will come when the existing corrupt environment is extremely intense and severe.

The Mahdi, one of my children, comes into being, by the blessing of Allah, upon the approach of the Day of Judgment and the weakening of the hearts of the faithful because of death, hunger, and the disappearance of the sunnah, and the emergence of innovations and the loss of means by which to enjoin the right and forbidding the wrong. His justice and prosperity will ease the hearts of the faithful, and friendship and love will settle between the non-Arab and Arab nations. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman, p. 66)
Disorder, corruption, and fear will emerge in the West... Corruption will proliferate. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah Qurtubi)
A kind of corruption will surface, from which no party will be able to protect itself, and spread immediately to every direction. This situation will persist until one comes and says: 'O people, from now on your leader is the Mahdi.' (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 23)


The hadiths speak of a corruption that will touch everybody and spread quickly. In other words, a certain type of corruption that is known to everybody and opposes religion and Allah will target the people's faith. Today, materialist philosophy is the largest and most comprehensive trend designed to deny Allah's Existence and creation. Underlying this philosophy is the 'theory of evolution,' which provides it with a self-proclaimed 'scientific' basis. Even though it is not based on any scientific and logical evidence, certain materialist circles throughout the world continue to work for its acceptance by using methods associated with strong propaganda, deceit, and even fraud.
Today, as this theory has penetrated almost every household by means of both the press and television, almost everyone in the Muslim world and everywhere else has heard of it. This theory is first presented as fact when people are children by means of countless lies and deceit. As they grow older, they continue to be misled by such funny nonsense that they, and humanity as a whole, came into being merely as a result of coincidences and that they descended from monkeys. Youths of all age are brainwashed at all stages of their education by evolutionist lies.
There is a noteworthy point here. As our Prophet (saas) noted in one of his hadiths, corruption's global pervasiveness and rapid spread can materialize only when suitable technological means are available, as they are today (e.g., the press, publications, broadcasting, the Internet, and satellite communication). As the relevant technology did not exist in the past, corruption could not spread throughout the world. As a result, no other worldwide corruption that had declared war against Allah's Existence, creation, and religion was seen in the past. All of these are among the important signs that the Mahdi's advent coincides with the present time.

Omnipresent corruption

Corruption which no one can escape will occur, such corruption will spread to another place immediately…
(El-Kavlu'l Muhtasar Fi Alamet-il Mehdiyy-il Muntazar, p. 21 - 22)
"There is corruption just like pitch dark nights just before the Judgment Day."
(Ramuz-El Ehadis, 121 / 5)

The hadith above mentions about corruption, which steadily spreads in the World and continues for extended periods. The term "corruption" also means "war, disorder, quarrel, dispute" as mentioned earlier. Given such meanings of the word, wars, civil wars and disorder, "which just spreads to another place from where it stays" as expressed by the narrative continue unceasingly all over the World during the current century. In particular, the 20th century we have just left behind is remembered as "the Century of Wars". As for the 21st century we are just in, it started off with wars and terror and they still continue unabatedly all over the World.
As we earlier mentioned, about 180 million people lost their life at the wars in the 21st century. For the first time in the history of man, such a huge number of lives were lost in wars within one century. Again, 165 wars and confrontations took place each causing the death of minimum 6000 people.
When we analyze the regions in the World where wars and civil wars have taken place in the last 25 years, it is quite possible to see that the World cannot get rid of instances of corruption, which ends in one place, but yet re-emerges in another. Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosova, Albania, Bulgaria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine, Israel, North Korea, Cambodia, Eastern Turkistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Uganda, Algeria, Ruanda, Mozambique, Angola, Congo, Liberia, Burundi, Sudan, Lebanon, Argentine, Northern Ireland, El Salvador, Nicaragua…. They are just a few of those countries beset by wars and civil wars for the last 25 years.
World history is so full of wars but the wars and massacres taking place in the 20th century differ from all the other mass killings which ever occurred in World history so far by so many of their aspects. As earlier mentioned, the total death toll in all these wars was much more higher than the total of all the wars. Besides, wars used to remain regional and contained throughout history, not spreading from one place to another, so not spreading globally. However, these clashes spread all over the World in the 20th century. There are virtually no countries not having a war or confrontation or acts of terror in the previous century.
Another feature that distinguishes the 20th century wars from others is the power of weaponry used. Much more terrible massacres were suffered as a result of the use of nuclear and chemical weapons in particular in that century ; immense damages have been inflicted upon not only those generations physically undergoing the wars but also one or more new generations that followed. They are topped by the atomic bombs thrown down on to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Presently, biological warfare is seen as one of the biggest dangers. As a result, the bacteria of anthrax sent out to addresses in envelopes by mail immediately after the September 11 terror attack in the USA serves an example of this and it has already caused so many casualties.
As a result, it is highly probable that the specific incidence of corruption referred to in the hadith as spreading to many places in the World relates to the wars, confrontations, disorder and acts of terror, which started in the 20th century and continue well into the 21st century. All this may just be the sign of the Golden Age period approaching and that the end of time is being lived.

Religious prohibitions gaining acceptance
The prevailing lifestyle of our own time, which has spread so widely in the last several decades and makes no distinction between what religion prohibits and allows, while tolerating all kinds of debauchery, reflects the environment depicted in the hadiths. Several hadiths describe this dark environment, the harbinger of the Mahdi's emergence, as follows:

The Mahdi will not emerge unless disbelief invades everywhere and is openly committed in the public. What rules in such times is the invasion by disbelief... That is its power. (Mektubat-i Rabbani, 2:259)
The Mahdi will emerge following the instance of such vile corruption (fitnah) whereby all of the prohibitions are regarded as lawful. (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 23)


Iran-Iraq War

There will be tumult in Shawwal (the tenth Islamic month), talks of war in Dhul-Qa`dah (the eleventh Islamic month), and the outbreak of war in Dhul-Hijjah (the twelfth month). (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji , Al-Isha‘ah li-ashrat al-sa‘ah, p. 166)

The three months referred to in this hadith coincide with the months during which the Iran-Iraq war developed. The first uprising against the Shah took place on 5 Shawwal 1398 (8 September 1976), as indicated by the hadith, and a full-blown war broke out between Iran and Iraq in Dhu'l-Hijjah 1400 (October 1980).
Another hadith describes the details of this war as follows:

A nation/tribe will come from the Farsi direction, saying: 'You Arabs! You have been too zealous! If you don't give them their due rights, nobody will have an alliance with you... It must be given to them one day and to you the following day, and mutual promises must be kept...' They will be going up Mutekh; Muslims will be coming down to the plain... Mushrikun (idolaters) will be standing over there on the bank of a black river (Rakabeh) on the other side. There will be a war between them. Allah will deprive both armies of a victory... (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji , Al-Isha‘ah li-ashrat al-sa‘ah, p. 179)


- those coming from the Farsi direction :
those coming from the Iranian side
- Farsi : Iran, Iranian (Grand Dictionary)
- Coming down to the plain : Plain, Iranian Plain
- Mutekh : Name of a mountain in the region
- Rakabeh : Region where oil wells are concentrated
This hadith draws attention to the outbreak of a racial dispute that would cause both sides to come down to the plain (Iranian Plain) and wage war. Further, as noted by the hadith, the Iran-Iraq war lasted for 8 years and, despite the many thousands of casualties, neither side could claim victory or a decisive superiority.

Occupation of Afghanistan

Pity poor Taliqan (a region in Afghanistan) that at that place are treasures of Allah, but these are not of gold and silver but consist of people who have recognised Allah as they should have. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p.59)

There is an indication that Afghanistan will be occupied during the Last Days. The Russian invasion of Afghanistan took place in 1979 (1400, according to the Islamic calendar). In addition, this hadith draws attention to Afghanistan's material riches. Today, large oil deposits, iron basins, and coal mines that have not been commercially exploited yet have been detected there.

Stopping the flow of the Euphrates river
Stopping and interrupting the flow of the Euphrates river is just one sign of the Mahdi's emergence.

Soon the river Euphrates will disclose the treasure (the mountain) of gold, so whoever will be present at that time should not take anything of it. (Bukhari)
It (the Euphrates) will uncover a mountain of gold (under it). (Abu Dawud)

Many respected books of hadith mention both of these events. Al-Suyuti mentions this hadith as 'the stopping of water.' Actually, the Keban Dam has stopped the flow of this river's water. The surrounding land has become as valuable as gold for various reasons, such as electricity production and higher soil fertility through the irrigation and transport facilities that the dam has made possible. The dam resembles a concrete mountain, and wealth as valuable as gold comes out of it. Therefore, the dam takes on the properties of 'the golden mountain' (Allah knows best).

Eclipse of the moon and sun in Ramadan

There are two signs for the Mahdi... The first one is the lunar eclipse in the first night of Ramadan, and the second is the solar eclipse in the middle of this month. (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 47)
There will be two solar eclipses in Ramadan before the Mahdi's advent. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah Qurtubi)
... The solar eclipse in the middle of the month, and the lunar eclipse at the end... (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 37)
It has reached me that before the Mahdi emerges the moon will be eclipsed twice in Ramadan. (Related by Abu Nu'aym in al-Fitan)

The most striking point here is that it is impossible for there to be two solar as well as two lunar eclipses within one month. Such things cannot occur under ordinary conditions. However, most signs of the End Times are incidents that the human mind can grasp and realize, depending on certain reasons.
If these incidents are examined carefully, some differences become apparent. The best thing to do in such a situation is to locate the areas of agreement. These are the following: There will be solar and lunar eclipses during Ramadan, these will be spaced about 14-15 days apart, and the eclipses will be repeated twice.
In line with these calculations, there was a lunar eclipse in 1981 (Hijri 1401) on the 15th day of Ramadan, and a solar eclipse on the 29th day of the month. There was a "second" lunar eclipse in 1982 (Hijri 1402) on the 14th day of Ramadan, and a solar eclipse on the 28th day of the month.
It is also particularly significant that in that particular instance, there was a full lunar eclipse in the middle of Ramadan, a most striking prophecy.
The occurrence of these incidents during the same period coinciding with the signs of the Mahdi's emergence, and their miraculous recurrence at the onset of the fourteenth Islamic century for two consecutive years (1401-02) makes it possible for these events to be the signs foretold by the hadiths.

A sign out of the Sun

He (the Mahdi) will not come unless a sign emerges out of the Sun. (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 47)
The Mahdi will not emerge unless the Sun rises as a sign. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 33)

The large explosions detected on the Sun during the twentieth century may well be this sign.
Also, the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse was the last of the century. It was the first time that so many people had been able to watch and study an eclipse for so long.

The rise of a comet

A comet will be appearing in the East, giving out illumination before he arrives. (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 53)
The rise of that star will occur after the eclipse of the Sun and the Moon. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p.32)

As referred to by the hadiths,
In 1986 (1406), Halley's comet passed by Earth. The comet is a bright, shining star that travels from East to West. This happened after the lunar and solar eclipses of 1981 and 1982 (1401-1402).
The concurrence of this star's rise with other signs of the Mahdi's emergence indicates that Halley's comet is the star pointed to in the hadith.

Storming the Ka`ba and the subsequent bloodshed

People will perform hajj together and gather without an Imam. The Hajjis will be looted and there will be a battle at Mina in which many will be slain and blood will flow until it runs over the Jamra al-'Aqaba. (Jamra: a stone pillar, which represents Satan, that is stoned during the pilgrimage.) (Reported by 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb, al-Hakim and Nu'aym ibn Hammad)
People make pilgrimage without an imam leading them. Big wars break out when they come down to Mina, and they are entwined just the way dogs entwine, and tribes attack on each other. This strife is so widespread that legs are buried in lakes of blood. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 35)

The phrase 'the year in which he will emerge' draws attention to a massacre that will occur on the date of the Mahdi's emergence. In 1979, a massacre very like this one occured during the Ka'ba raid, which took place during the pilgrimage month. It is very interesting that this raid occured at the very beginning of the period during which the signs of Mahdi's advent appeared, that is, the first day of the Islamic year 1400 (21 November 1979).
The hadiths also mention bloodshed and massacres. The killing of 30 people during the clashes between Saudi soldiers and attacking militants during the raid confirms the rest of this hadith.
Seven years later, an even bloodier incident happened during the pilgrimage. In this incident, 402 demonstrating pilgrims were killed, and vast amounts of blood was shed. Both the Saudi soldiers and the Iranian pilgrims committed great sins, for they killed one another. These bloody incidents have great parallels to the environment described in the hadith.

There come the cries of war in (the month of) Shawwal with the outbreak of war, massacre, and carnage in (the month of) Dhu'l-Hijja. The pilgrims are plundered in this month, the streets cannot be crossed because of the blood shed, and religious prohibitions are violated. Big sins are committed near the Magnificient House (the Ka`ba). (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 37)

This hadith draws attention to the incidents that will occur near the Ka`ba. The incidents during 1407 actually took place near the Ka`ba, and not inside it, unlike the event of 1400. Both incidents happened just the hadiths indicated that they would.

Sighting a flare in the East

In its section on the signs of the Mahdi's emergence, the book Ikdiddurer states: 'The emergence of a big flare which is seen in the East up on the sky for three nights. Sighting of an extraordinary redness, not as red as the usual color of the dawn, and its spread over the horizon. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 32)
A big flame will occur in the East for 3 or 7 days in a row, followed by darkness in the sky and a brand new redness unlike the usual color of red spreading over the sky. A proclamation will be heard in a language Earth can understand. (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji , Al-Isha‘ah li-ashrat al-sa‘ah, p. 166)
I swear that a flame will engulf you. That flame is presently in an extinguished state at the valley called Berehut. That flame swallows up people with terrible pain inside it, burns down and destroys people and property, and spreads all over the world by flying like a cloud with the assistance of winds. Its heat at night is much higher than its daytime temperature. By going as deep as the center of Earth from the heads of people, that flame becomes a terrible noise just like the lightning between the earth and sky, he narrated. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah Qurtubi)

A brief explanation of this flame, a sign of the Mahdi's advent, is as follows:
In July 1991, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, a huge fire spread through Kuwait and the Persian Gulf after the Iraqis fired Kuwait's oil wells.
In addition, the first part of the hadith says that the flame 'is in an extinguished state.' Given that the flame is the result of burning an inflammable substance, what waits in an extinguished state is not the flame itself but the material to be burnt by the flame.
In this context, this means underground oil. Berehut is the name of a well—an oil well. When the time comes, oil extracted from these wells will become a fire ready to be burned.

Occurrence of big events and appaling things

"Big phenomena will happen in his time."
(El - Kavlu'l Muhtasar fi' 'Alamatil Mehdiyy - il Muntazar, p. 27)
"So many appalling incidents will occur in his time."
(Mektubat-i Rabbani, 2 / 258)
"The signs of his emergence resemble those preparatory signs that earlier gave an indication of our Rasullallah."
(Mektubat-i Rabbani, 2 / 258)

Great and extraordinary events had taken place before the birth of the Prophet Mohammad. A new star rose on the night of his birth; 14 towers of the Palace of the Iranian emperors worshipping flame collapsed; the Magians' (fire worshippers') fire that was burning for 1000 years in Iran went out; Semavi Valley was flooded ; Save Lake dried up, etc.
As indicated in the hadiths above, the emergence of Mahdi will resemple that of our holy Prophet. Big and miraculous phenomena will also take place during the period witnessing his emergence.
Some of the big and remarkable phenomena taking place in the World for over 100 years are as follows:
-Kaaba was raided, with a high number of Muslims being killed.
-The shah rule in Iran that continued for 2500 years was overthrown and Iranian Shah Reza
Pahlavi passed away.
-Gas leaking out of a factory in the City of Bombay in India caused the death of 20,000 people.
-An 8-year war broke out between two Muslim countries, Iraq and Iran.
-Russians occupied Afghanistan.
-Mexico City was destructed by a heavy earthquake.
-Nevada Del Ruiz Volcano in Northern Columbia erupted for the first time in 400 years. The city of Armero was wiped off the map by mud resulting from the melting snow and ice. 20,000 people died.
-Flooding in Bangladesh killed 25,000 people.
-Rome, the center of Christianity, was flooded.
-A forest fire, the biggest ever in its history, took place in China in 1986.
-Indian Prime Minister Ghandi, Egyptian President Anvar Sadat, Swedish PM Olof Palme were massacred.
-Pope John Paul II was shot.
-First AIDS incidents reported in the early 1980s. This disease, which has so far claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, has been named "the Plague of the Century". AIDS has put an end to the "Sexual Revolution", which started in the USA in the 1960s and introduced all kinds of sexual liberties.
-In 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger explodes into pieces after the launch.
-The biggest ever nuclear accident in history broke out at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. Many European countries were affected by the spreading radiation.
-The perforation in the Ozone layer has had very adverse impact on the global climate.
-The Soviet Union collapsed, followed by the emergence of a number of Independent States thanks to Gorbachov.
-The Gulf War broke out and continued into many years after the annexation by Iraq of Kuwait.
-An earthquake in Armenia turned cities into rubbles. As 500,000 people were evacuated from houses, the death toll rose exceeded 40,000.
-In 1989, communist troops marched on the students with tanks at Tiananmen Square, killing 2000 students.
-Berlin Wall, the symbol of the Cold War, was pulled down 28 years after its construction.
-More than 1,400 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at a tunnel in Kaaba in 1990.
-More than 120,000 people died as a result of the flooding in Bangladesh in 1991 as millions were homeless.
-For the last 20 years, storms, typhoons, cyclones and flooding never come to an end in the USA. Thousands of people were killed, millions left homes and material damage was estimated at billions of Dollars in each instance.
-Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were massacred in Bosnia and Kosova while hundreds of thousands more were banished from their homeland.
-The Ebola Virus claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
-El Nino inflicted immeasurable disasters on all the countries around the World.
-London Stock Exchange collapsed on October 19, 1987. The consequent panicking resulted in a value loss of 50 billion Pounds.
-168 people were killed in a bomb attack on a Federal building in the City of Oklahoma in the USA on April 19, 1995.
-On March 22, 1997, the Comet of Hale-Bopp passed by at a distance of 195 million km to the World at a speed of 160 km per hour. The passage of Hale Bopp, which could be watched by eyes, was welcome by millions of people all over the World with much interest.
-1,500 people died in an earthquake measuring at 7.1 on Richter scale in Iran on May 10, 1997.
-5,000 people lost lives in an earthquake measuring at 6.1 on Richter scale in Afghanistan on February 1998.
-1171 people were killed in an earthquake measuring at 6 in Columbia on January 25, 1999.
-More than 2,100 people died in an earthquake measuring at 7.6 in Taiwan on September 21, 1999.
-The biggest ever terrorist attack on the USA in history took place on September 11, 2001. Two passenger airplanes crushed into the two sky scrapers housing the World Trade Center in New York one after the other just with an 18 minute interval briefly after the working hours began in the morning. The death toll of the attack was over 5,000.


Change of the systems

"A man called Mahdi will come at a time when time is interrupted (the systems have changed."

(Kitab-ül Burhan Fi Alameti-il Mehdiyy-il Ahir Zaman, p. 14)

In this hadith, our holy Prophet (saas) foretold that Mahdi would come during a time when "the systems have changed". "The change of system" pointed to by this hadith is likely to be the communist regimes which ruled all over the World in the 20th century and collapsed towards the end of the century.
One of the biggest reasons for the bloody wars and massacres, which had their stamp on the 20th century, is the rule of the communist ideology which was a product of the materialist philosophy. This ideology was influential in a great part of the World extending from Europe and Asia to Southern America and Africa and many countries were ruled by the communist regimes for decades or they were the target of the communist rings. Communism was the reason for the cold war which continued until the 1990s as well as the most ruthless assassinations.
Apart from attempting to spread their ideologies by fighting other countries, the communist regimes applied great oppression to their subjects and they killed big basses through executions, mass massacres, heavy conditions at the concentration camps and scarcities.
According to the historians' estimates, the communist regimes caused the death of 120 million people during the 20th century. Most of them were civilians killed by the communist states in their societies, not the soldiers killed in action in wars. Tens of millions of people including men and women, the old aged, infants and children lost their lives just because of the rigid and savage characteristics of the communist regimes. Apart from this, millions of people were subjected to communist atrocities, they were forced to migrate as a result, their possessions and land were seized and they constantly lived with fear of being arrested without a crime or being subject to atrocities unfairly.
However, these regimes, which were thought to be very powerful and invincible, began collapsing one after the other, losing power. The destruction of the Berlin Wall is the most distinctive symbol of this collapse. 2 years later, the Soviet Union, which was the biggest and most powerful communist state in the World, collapsed, with the Eastern Bloc falling to pieces totally. Various other communist regimes on a geography extending from Africa to Indochina collapsed one after the other, "the bi-polar World Order", which was the constant international system in the World since 1945 vanished and as put by the political commentators, a new World Order has been established. The "change of system" referred to by the hadith has thus materialized following this development which came true in a most surprising manner.
Today, the last ideological and political remnants of communism - also those of another totalitarian system, fascism, which is based on the same ideological sources - are also disappearing and the World is being cleansed of these bloody ideologies. With the spread of the Islamic ethics, the atrocities, pain, ignorance and poverty will be eradicated in the real sense and man will attain beauty, wealth, prosperity and peace. As a manifestation of his forgiveness and grace and benevolence after hardship, darkness, wars, massacres and sorrows, Allah will offer mankind matchless benefaction.


The breaking of Berlin Wall in 1989 is regarded as a symbol of the collapse of communism. That the giant statues of Lenin who is considered as one of the greatest leaders of Communist ideology, were broken into pieces by public is one of the most obvious signs of the change of system mentioned in the hadith.

Oppression of Muslims

At the end of time, their rulers will cause My people severe trouble in such a way that there will be no comfort for Muslims anywhere. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 12)

This hadith points out that before the Mahdi comes, those who lack religious morals and have a cruel and merciless character will come to power in some Muslim countries. As a matter of fact, some contemporary Muslim rulers oppress Muslims and crush people with their oppressive and despotic regimes. In other countries, people are subjected to trouble because their rulers are unqualified to rule. Muslims in some countries, particularly Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Tunisia, and Djoubiti, are oppressed by their respectives, and so are subjected to various hardship and problems. Muslims are prevented from practicing their religion and worshipping, and economic difficulties make life harder.
Examples of some incidents taking place in such countries are as follows:
In Iraq which lost about one million of its 3 million population in the war against Iran, the Fascist dictator Saddam Hussein has applied unbelievable torture and atrocities to his people. At present, Iraqi Muslims are crushed under Saddam's Fascist practices and they are subject to international sanctions just because of Saddam's unwise policies.
Instability and turmoil have ruled in Afghanistan ever since the Soviet occupation in 1979 and the political powers which never represented the real Islam have established a very oppressive, ruthless and intolerant system.
Djibouti, one of the tiny countries in Africa, has been ruled by a harsh regime under which, between 1977 and 1991, about 2 thousand Muslims were slaughtered and 7 thousand people were arrested and tortured without any justification.
In Somalia, an oppressive regime led by Major General Mohammed Siad Biare, which targeted at Muslims directly, was in power for about 20 years between 1969 and 1991.
Tunisia was ruled by Habib Burghiba's dictatorship for 31 years. Declaring himself as "the Life President", Burghiba oppressed people during his entire rule.
Syrian Muslims suffered a myriad of atrocities during Hafez Assad's rule that lasted 30 years. Some cities were entirely destructed during the massacres which also led to rapes of women and all kinds of torture to men.
Hafiz al-Assad has perpetrated many massacres throughout his 30 year rule. One of these is the brutally killing of 40 thousand Muslims in one day in Hama city.

The Red Army occupation in Afganistan which lasted for 10 years left ten thousands of dead and that many crippled / disabled behind. The bloody civil war led the country to a bigger chaos.


Habib Burgiba has oppressed the Muslim Tunus people during his rule. The most important common characteristic of the authorities that come to power in Somali is their practice against Islam. The civil war that had begun during Siad Barre rule is still going on.

Tribulation like patches of dark night

There will be a tribulation like patches of dark night... (Abu Dawud)

The word 'tribulation (fitnah)' implies anything that turns peoples' reason and hearts away from the true path, or war, incitement, chaos, disorder and conflict. The tribulation in the hadith will leave smoke and dust behind it, we learn.
Furthermore, the way that tribulation is described as 'darkness' in the hadith, can be seen as an indication that its origins are unclear, that it is unexpected. Looking at it from that regard, it is probable that the hadith is referring to one of the world's worst terrorist attack, on the cities of New York and Washington in the United States on September 11, 2001.
Therefore, this most saddening act of terror, which caused the lives and injuries of thousands of innocent people, may well be that 'tribulation like patches of dark night' foretold by the hadith as the sign of the Mahdi's emergence.
The dusty and smoky discord" that is mentioned in the hadith is one of the clear characteristics of September 11 attacks as observed in the picture.

Widespread massacres

The Mahdi will only appear at a time when people are experiencing great fear and are afflicted by disturbances and civil war and other disasters.(Reported by Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali)

Most hadiths about the Mahdi's advent focus on the prophecy that turmoil, insecurity, and disorder will rule the world before his coming. Massacres, wars, and confrontations are one of the major features of such a period. Besides, the hadith draws attention to the fact that massacres will occur all over the world.

According to Amnesty International reports Saddam Hussein has made to massacre 5000 civilians in Halepce, where thousands of others were lost in similar attacks.
During the two world wars of the twentieth century, an estimated 65 million people were killed. The number of the civilians slaughtered for political reasons during the same century is estimated to be well over 180 million. This is an extraordinarily high figure compared with previous centuries.
Such atrocities still continue; today, bloody wars and combats are at full swing all over the World. The common feature of such wars is that as indicated by the hadith above, these are the wars during which massacres take place. Commencement of use of mass destruction weapons, and the ideological domination of those views encouraging confrontation and blood shed have caused massacres to be very comprehensive.
A look at the recent history will point to the examples of many massacres in which so many people lost their lives. For instance, the Bosnian War went down in history as a war which targeted at the civilian population heavily, resulting in the murder of thousands of people without discrimination including women, children and the old aged. The mass graves uncovered after the war are striking evidence displaying the dimensions of such massacres.
Another "ethnic cleansing" campaign that was carried out against the Palestinian people since the 1940s is a long term policy of massacre. The exemplary massacres of Sabra and Shatilla as part of this policy fully expose the exact dimensions of the incidents.
There is also violent fighting occurring between various ethnicities in Africa so frequently and thousands of people die as a result. In spring 1997, a large scale ethnic war broke out between 2 major tribes, Hutu and Tutsi, covering 5 big countries - Zaire, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. About half a million people lost their lives in this war. Tens of thousands of people had to fight poverty, misery and contagious diseases in the jungles and a big portion of them died. Even children and babies were savagely murdered just because they were from the rival tribes.

In Bosnia a huge genocide took place in front of the world's eyes and ended. However, mass graves that are being found one after the other puts for the actual magnitude of the massacres.

In the ongoing disputes in Checynya territory for years numerous innocent people have lost their lives. Many other people have become refugees who then lost their lives on the roads.

Massacre of innocent people

The Mahdi will not emerge unless innocent people are massacred, and he will appear when those on Earth and up in the sky can no longer put up with such massacres... (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi' 'Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 37)


Pictures from the massacre Saddam Hussein has perpetrated in Halepce.
While the hadiths about his emergence mention such massacres as commonplace, they also emphasize that such massacres will target innocent people. As we discussed earlier, almost all of the wars today target people. So, civilians and such innocent people as children, the elderly, and women are slaughtered. Targeting these defenseless people in particular has resulted in more comprehensive massacres, while the number of people dying as a result continues to climb.
Since terror seeks to spread fear and horror, the very group on which such attacks focus are often innocent civilians.


In the terrorist attacks, bombings and sabotages that take place one after the other in all over the world always the innocent people are chosen as target.

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