Shadee Elmasry – Are We in the End Times
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of knowing the signs of the end of times and shrouds of shrouds for achieving Islam. They emphasize the misunderstandings of the supposed "Mahdi" and "hams" of the Holy Spirit, which are related to religion. The speaker suggests taking action towards one's beliefs and avoiding being associated with a religion. Additionally, they mention recent events and accusations of ap symptoms.
AI: Summary ©
So, us observing the signs of the end
of times and knowing the signs of the
end of times, the least we could say
is it's a fundamental importance of religion.
I think you could really make an argument
whether it's a pillar or not, and my
own more direct shuyukh do not categorize it
that way, though that is a b'ath
of Habib Abu Bakr al-Mushawar rahimahullah, who
we hold great love for and respect for,
Allah ya'hamuhu, the last few years.
Another point that everyone should understand, without doubt,
we are in the latter days.
Subhanallah.
Qat'an.
Because the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is from the
signs of the latter days.
Subhanallah.
Right?
يَسَلُونَكَ عَنَ الْسَاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَاهَةٍ فِي مَا أَنْتَ
مِن ذِكْرَاهَةٍ They ask you of that final
hour, when will it come, why would they
ask you that you are from its signs?
Right?
We can understand that from that verse in
Surah An-Naziat, right?
So he's from the signs of the end
of times.
Anything after the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is latter
days.
And then also with the signs of the
end of times, there are major and minor
signs.
Many of the minor signs have been here
for hundreds of years.
And the ulama have been saying that for
hundreds of years.
Like this is a sign of the end
of times.
The minor signs, many, many of them have
been here.
Then there are major signs.
And major signs you're getting into things like
Isa, the Dajjal, Khuruj al-Mahdi, Gog and
Magog, Yajuj wal-Majuj, and so on.
Those are major signs, right?
The hour is very, very near at that
point.
As for the minor signs, they're here.
So then with respect to, and this kind
of, this leads to why I didn't give
it as much focus and detail as perhaps
some of my peers did and even some
of my shuyukh.
Now a principle that our shuyukh taught us
and kind of got on our case about.
Because preoccupation with, for example, the Khuruj of
the Mahdi or the coming, the Nuzul of
Isa ﷺ, that is something that has happened
again for quite a long time.
There are those that predicted the Mahdi, those
that predicted Isa, even unfortunately those that have
made claims of being the Mahdi and so
on.
And without any disrespect to the kesh, to
the unveilings that the righteous receive.
And those many times are like dreams, somewhat
allegorical.
We can say that the preoccupation with it
is reprehensible.
Preoccupation with it, for an aspirant, for a
spiritual traveler, with visions, with major signs of
the end of times, with such and such
wali said, this is going to happen at
this time.
That's reprehensible because the goal of one's aspiration
in drawing nearer to Allah is nothing other
than Allah ﷻ Himself.
The goal is not a vision, even of
the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
That's not, the himmah of the salik is
above that.
The himmah of the aspirant is Allah ﷻ
Himself.
So to make the goal anything other than
that, like a vision or a clairvoyance, like
a kesh of this is going to happen
on this date, and that does happen, but
it's not an objective in and of itself.
So actually they got on our case because
some of our brothers were talking about the
Mahdi and this and that about the Mahdi
or Isa and this and that about Isa.
And essentially they said, you're supposed to be
talking to the people about the pillars of
the religion and the fundamentals of the religion.
You're supposed to be talking to people about
al-wudu and as-salah and zakah and,
you know, bir al-walidayn and so on.
And as for his appearance, the Mahdi does
not need talk.
The Mahdi requires istikamah, uprightness.
And if we're upright and the Mahdi were
to appear today, great, Allahu akbar.
And if we're not upright and he were
to appear, we may be as stated in
what you've read of those who opposed him
with the adab of Allah ﷻ.
But for that reason, I didn't give it
a whole lot of focus.
And beyond, for example, the hadith that you
read, I can't comment on the Sufyani.
All I could say is, you know, some
of the hadith in Kitab al-Fitn, events
that have happened in about the last 10
years, we sat with some of our shuyukh
and they were essentially like, why are people
even arguing about this chain?
We're looking at this right in front of
us.
SubhanAllah.
SubhanAllah.
Allah's Messenger informed us of the gravity of
events in the latter days.
And when we see many of these signs
unfolding, many, many of these signs, it's just
undeniably unfolding in front of us, it should
behoove us to recognize the gravity of the
time in which we live, particularly those of
us in North America.
Some of the things that have been predicted,
we see indications of those, and I won't
say that they're to the full throttle of
those.
That the Prophet ﷺ listed various fitn, in
a hadith Abu Dawood narrates it, and he
begins with fitna ad-duhayma, the great dark
fitna, and he said that it wouldn't leave
any Muslim except that it smacked them in
the face, latamatu latma.
And then he said, yusbihu rajul mu'minan wa
yumsi kafiran, that in that fitna, a person
would be a believer in the morning and
a disbeliever in the night.
Hatta yaseera an-nas fustatayn, until people were
formed into two camps, fustat, iman, la nifaqafi,
a camp of pure faith and there's no
hypocrisy in it, fustat, nifaq, la imanafi, and
a fustat, and he didn't say kufr ﷺ,
he said nifaq, a camp of hypocrisy, and
nifaq, like a technical definition of nifaq is,
it appears to be Islam and inwardly it's
disbelief.
And he said when they reach that point,
wait for the dajjal min yomihi awradihi.
So in our situation, we do have an
issue of apostasy, I mean us, right, North
American, especially university trained, you know, young and
middle-aged people, and younger, we're seeing substantial
apostasy with the Ayatollah.
And then, personally speaking, I see a lot
of things, man.
It's brown-skinned people with names like Amr
and Bekir and Safiyyah, I'm trying to find
a name that's not a mother of believer,
but frankly speaking, as someone who's embraced Islam
and especially someone who grew up around a
lot of like atheist, agnostic, very liberal people,
I grew up in Berkeley, California, the values
and some of the behavior that's condoned and
I'll say explicitly like the embracing of the
homosexual agenda, I fear that that's headed towards
the full start of nifaq.
You know, so these are grave times and
grave times warrant, you know, hardcore adherence to
Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
If the Prophet ﷺ said, as these latter
days come and these fitn come, there's going
to be camps of pure faith and camps
of pure hypocrisy, it behooves a believer when
they see, you know, indications of those camps
forming, that they try their, you know, make
an ijtihad and a jihad in their level
best, that them and their spouse and their
children and their household and their loved ones
and as many people as they can help
to be in the camp of Iman exist
in that camp, and as many people as
can be invited away from apostasy and nifaq
without obviously ever accusing someone of that, unless
they make that statement themselves of apostasy, invite
them back to Allah and we should take
a stand, we should take a stand in
this time, that's what I have to say.