Chapter 4: The Prophet's Saying: Woe to the Arabs From an Approaching Evil

[...except his statement:] "Time will draw near" (يتقارب الزمان). Its meaning - and Allah knows best - is the convergence of the conditions of its people in their scarcity of religious commitment, such that there remains none among them who enjoins good or forbids evil due to the prevalence of transgression and the dominance of its perpetrators. It has been reported in the hadith: "People will continue to be in good as long as they vary in virtue, but when they become equal, they will perish." That is, they will remain in good as long as there exist among them people of virtue, righteousness, and fear of Allah, to whom recourse is made in hardships, whose opinions bring healing, through whose supplications blessings are sought, and whose guidance and legacy are followed. Al-Tahawi said: It may specifically mean the abandonment of seeking knowledge and being content with ignorance. That is because people are never equal in knowledge, since degrees of knowledge vary, as the Exalted said: "And above every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing" (Yusuf: 76); rather, they only become equal when they are all ignorant. It is as though he intended the dominance of ignorance and its proliferation to the extent that knowledge is lost with the demise of scholars. Ibn Battal said: "All the portents included in this hadith, we have witnessed them with our own eyes: knowledge has indeed decreased, ignorance has appeared, stinginess has been cast into the hearts, tribulations have become widespread, and killing has multiplied." I say: What is apparent is that what he witnessed was a large amount of that while its opposite was still present. The intended meaning of the hadith is the complete entrenchment of that state such that nothing remains of its opposite except what is extremely rare. This is indicated by the expression "the seizing of knowledge" (qabd al-'ilm), so that nothing remains except pure ignorance. This is not contradicted by the presence of a remnant group of the people of knowledge, because at that time they will be overwhelmed and obscured among the masses. This is supported by what Ibn Majah reported with a strong chain from Hudhayfah, who said: "Islam will fade away just as the embroidery of a garment fades away, until it will not be known what is fasting, nor prayer, nor ritual sacrifice, nor charity. And the Book of Allah will be taken away in a single night, so that not a single ayah of it will remain on earth..." the hadith; and I will mention further details of this near the end of the Book of Tribulations. In al-Tabarani from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, he said: "The Qur'an shall surely be stripped away from among you; it will be taken away at night and will vanish from the chests of men, so that nothing of it remains on earth." Its chain is sahih, although it is mawquf (halted at the Companion). The clarification of what seemingly contradicts it will follow in the Book of Judgments (Kitab al-Ahkam), along with the reconciliation between them; and the same applies to the rest of the attributes. The reality is that the beginnings of the aforementioned characteristics were found since the era of the Companions, then they progressively increased in some regions more than others. What will directly precede the establishment of the Hour is the absolute entrenchment of that, as I have established. From the time Ibn Battal said what he said, approximately three hundred and fifty years have passed, and the aforementioned characteristics continue to increase across all lands, though some of them may lessen in certain places while increasing in others; and whenever a generation passes, substantial deterioration appears in the one following it. To this points his statement in the hadith of the next chapter: "No time comes upon you except that which follows it is worse than it." Then Ibn Battal quoted from al-Khattabi regarding the meaning of "time drawing near" mentioned in the other hadith - namely, what was recorded by al-Tirmidhi from the hadith of Anas and Ahmad from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah as a marfu' report: "The Hour will not be established until time draws near, so that a year will be like a month, a month like a week, a week like a day, a day like an hour, and an hour like the burning of a palm-leaf." Al-Khattabi said: "It is due to the delight and sweetness of living." He meant - and Allah knows best - that this occurs upon the appearance of the Mahdi, the occurrence of peace across the earth, and the prevalence of justice in it; for living will then become delightful, so its duration will seem short. People have always perceived the days of prosperity and ease as short even if they are long, and they perceive the duration of hardship as long even if it is short. Al-Kirmani countered him, remarking that this does not fit the context of its companion signs such as the appearance of fitan (tribulations), the proliferation of Haraj (killing), and other things. And I say: Al-Khattabi only needed to interpret it in the manner he mentioned because that contraction had not yet occurred in his time; otherwise, what the hadith encompasses has indeed materialized in our present era, for we perceive such rapid passage of days as was never experienced in the era before ours, even though there is no delightful ease of life here. The truth is that what is intended is the removal of barakah (blessing) from everything, even from time itself, and that is among the signs of the proximity of the Hour. Some scholars said: The meaning of time drawing near is the equalization of day and night. I say: This is also what they stated concerning the Prophet's saying: "When time draws near, the vision of a believer will scarcely be false", as explained previously. Ibn al-Tin transmitted from al-Dawudi that the meaning of this chapter's hadith is that the hours of daylight will shorten near the establishment of the Hour, and the day will draw close to...