الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينة ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا، ومن سيئات أعمالنا ، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له ، وأشهد أن سيدنا محمداً عبده ورسوله ، اللهم صلِّ وسلم وبارك على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وأصحابه  ومن تبعه إلى يوم الدين

 In the 10^th year of Hijra, The Prophet (PBUH) went to Hajj and that was his only Hajj, During the Hajj on the 9th day of Dhul-Hijjah, the Prophet (PBUH) left Mina after sunrise and went the mountain of Arafat (عرفة).  When the sun went down (زالت الشمس), he went down the valley where over hundred and twenty thousand (over 120,000) Muslims gathered.  There he stood up and delivered his last sermon while Rabi‘a bin Omaiyah bin Khalaf (ربيعة بن أمية ابن خَلَف) repeated the Prophet’s (PBUH) statements loudly.  Some elements of this sermon are as follows:

‏ أيها الناس ‏إن دماءكم وأموالكم حرام عليكم كحرمة يومكم هذا، في شهركم هذا، في بلدكم هذا‏.‏

“O People! just as you regard this month, this day, this city as sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim a sacred trust. 

أيها الناس، إنما المؤمنون إخوة، ولا يَحلُّ لامرئٍ مالُ أخيه إلا عن طيب نفسٍ منه، ألا هل بلغت، اللهم فاشهد، فلا ترجعوا بعدي كفَّارًا يَضرب بعضُكم رقابَ بعض، فإني قد تركتُ فيكم ما إن تمسكتم به لن تضلوا بعده؛ كتاب الله.

O People, the believers are brothers, it Is not allowed for anyone to take any money of his brother without his permission.  Do not return after me idolators (kufar) killing each other.   I leave for you the Book of Allah which if you hold fast, you shall never go astray.”

أيها الناس، إن ربَّكم واحدٌ، وإن أباكم واحد، كلكم لآدمَ، وآدمُ من تراب، أكرمكم عند الله أتقاكم، ليس لعربي فضل على عَجمي إلا بالتقوى، ألا هل بلغت، اللهم فاشهد.

O People, your God is One and your father (Adam) is One and you are all from Adam and Adam is from dust, the most honorable among you with Allah is the most righteous.  There is no preference between an Arab and a no-Arab expect by righteousness.  O’ Allah, I have delivered the message, O Allah be my Witness.

Then the Prophet (PBUH) directed a question to the attendees by saying

وبعد الانتهاء من خطبة الوداع سأل رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم- الناس فقال: (وَأَنْتُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ عَنِّي، فَما أَنْتُمْ قَائِلُونَ؟ قالوا: نَشْهَدُ أنَّكَ قدْ بَلَّغْتَ وَأَدَّيْتَ وَنَصَحْتَ، فَقالَ: بإصْبَعِهِ السَّبَّابَةِ، يَرْفَعُهَا إلى السَّمَاءِ وَيَنْكُتُهَا إلى النَّاسِ اللَّهُمَّ، اشْهَدْ، اللَّهُمَّ، اشْهَدْ ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ).

You will be asked about me, what will you say?

The people replied: “We bear witness that you have conveyed the message and gave us complete advise.”

He (PBUH) then raised his fore finger skywards and said: “O Allah, be my witness, that I have conveyed your message to Your people.” He said this phrase thrice.

The emphasizes in the Prophet’s sermon was on the unity of Muslims and warning them of returning to the time of ignorance and the worship of idols by killing each other.  Worshiping idols does not only mean worshipping statutes but worshipping leaders who mislead them and create dissent among them. Following any person blindly implies worshipping that person as the Prophet (PBUH) explained the following verse in Surat Al-Tawba:

ٱتَّخَذُوٓاْ أَحۡبَارَهُمۡ وَرُهۡبَـٰنَهُمۡ أَرۡبَابً۬ا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ

“They take their Rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah (by obeying them in things which they made lawful or unlawful according to their own desires).” (Al-Tawba 9:31)

 One of the major concerns of the Prophet (PBUH) was the division among Muslims and he warned against this in many of His sayings such as this one reported in both Bukhari and Muslim:

روى البخاري ومسلم عن أبي بكرة أن النبي ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قال: “إذا التقى المسلمانِ بسيفَيْهما فالقاتل والمقتول في النار” قلت: يا رسول الله هذا القاتِل فما بالُ المقتول؟ قال: “إنّه كان حريصًا على قتل صاحبه”

If two Muslims met raising their swords against each other, both the killer and the own who is killed in the hellfire.

The companions asked, this can be for the killer but why the one being killed.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: because he was keen to kill his companion.

This hadith is reinforcement of Allah’s grave waring:

وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِناً مُتَعَمِّداً فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِداً فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَاباً عَظِيماً) [النساء (93)]

“Whoever kills a Believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein forever: and the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him.” (Al-NIsa 4:93)

 Because of this concern, the Prophet (PBUH) repeatedly warned the Muslims from what will happen to them in the future to make sure that they heed his warnings.  The sad part is that Muslims continue until today to walk blind and fall in every trap that the Prophet (PBUH) identified for them.  When you read what the prophet (PBUH) said, you will be perplexed regarding how Muslims can be that blind that they continue to exactly create the conditions that the Prophet (PBUH) warned them from.

As we read the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH), we realize that he (PBUH) was reading to us from the book of the future that Allah revealed to him because what he said happened and is happening even today.  This may bring the argument that are often made when discussing future events that are mentioned by the Prophet (PBUH) and are materialized.  The argument goes as follows: since the Prophet (PBUH) told us what will happen and he does not say anything that is not a revelation, why should we blame Muslims for falling in the foretold disasters since what he said must happen because it is a decree by Allah.  This argument about the divine decree is old one and it can be addressed on several grounds such as:

2. Is the decree of Allah based on His command or based on His pre-knowledge of the consequences of the divine system that He established of the cause-effect relationship?

2. Arguing that Allah’s decree is predestined and thus must happen imposes a time constraint on Allah and we know that Allah does not live under time constraint. Therefore, you cannot speak of past, present, and future regarding Allah’s actions because all these are time dependent elements.  Allah gave us the experience of not living under time constraint through our dreams that may last only for a minute but in our dream, it appears to last for years.

3. We also realize that the divine decree can be avoided since the Prophet (PBUH) said:

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لا يرد القضاء إلا الدعاء ولا يزيد في العمر إلا البر. )رواه أحمد والترمذي وابن ماجه والحاكم  (

  “Nothing repels Divine Decree except Du’a, and nothing increases one’s life-span except righteousness (good deeds)” [Ahmad, Al-Tirmidhi and al-Hakim]

قال صلى الله عليه وسلم  : (لا يزال القضاء والدعاء يعتلجان ما بين الأرض والسماء فأيهما غلب أصاب ).ومعنى (يعتلجان) أي يتصارعان، ،

“The Dua and the divine decree meet each other between heaven and earth and continue preventing each other from moving until one of them wins and whoever wins, its impact will happen.”

 There are verses in the Quran that suggest that the divine decree can change based on certain divine rules and these include Dua and Charity. Allah says:

يَمۡحُواْ ٱللَّهُ مَا يَشَآءُ وَيُثۡبِتُ‌ۖ وَعِندَهُ ۥۤ أُمُّ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبِ (٣٩)

“Allah erases what He wills and affirms what He wills and with Him is the Mother Book.” (Al-Rad 13:39)

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ طِينٍ ثُمَّ قَضَى أَجَلًا وَأَجَلٌ مُسَمًّى عِنْدَهُ ثُمَّ أَنْتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ) الأنعام(

He is the One Who created you from clay, and then decreed a stated term (for you). And there is another determined term with Him; yet you are in doubt.” (Al-An’am 6:2)

These verses suggest that Allah decreed two things depending on the people’s behavior.

Also, Allah refuted the claim by anyone that the problem he faced is a decree from Allah, as He said:

وَقَالُوا لَوْ شَاءَ الرَّحْمَنُ مَا عَبَدْنَاهُمْ مَا لَهُمْ بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ ﴾[ سورة الزخرف ]

“And they said: “Had the Rahman so willed, we should not have worshipped them (the false deities).” They have no knowledge whatsoever of that. They do nothing but lie.” (Al-Zughruf 43:20)

4. One of the challenges with the divine decree is that we ignore that Allah’s knowledge, power and authority are infinite and thus argument that are made for finite properties do not hold. As example, If I say that X + Y = X +Z, you will directly expect that Y =Z but this is only true if the value of X is finite. But if X is infinite, there is no reason for Y to be equal to Z.  Therefore, any analytical model will fail when it involves Allah’s infinite attributes.  So, if I say:

 Divine authority + Decree = Divine authority + Fulfillment

We cannot conclude that decree equals fulfillment because the divine authority is infinite.   

5. But a key issue that we must keep in mind is that when Allah or the Prophet (PBUH) warns us of a disaster that will happen in the future, it must be for our benefit to either make plans and take actions to avoid it or at least to not participant in creating the disaster or suffering from it.

Now, let us examine some of the foretold history that the Prophet (PBUH) warned the companion from.  It is reported by Imam Ahmad that Hudhifa said that the Prophet (PBUH) said:

روى الإمام أحمد عن حذيفة: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: تكون النبوة فيكم ما شاء الله أن تكون، ثم يرفعها الله إذا شاء أن يرفعها، ثم تكون خلافة على منهاج النبوة فتكون ما شاء الله أن تكون، ثم يرفعها الله إذا شاء أن يرفعها، ثم تكون ملكًا عاضًا فيكون ما شاء الله أن يكون، ثم يرفعها إذا شاء الله أن يرفعها، ثم تكون ملكًا جبرية فتكون ما شاء الله أن تكون، ثم يرفعها الله إذا شاء أن يرفعها، ثم تكون خلافة على منهاج النبوة، ثم سكت) وروى الحديث أيضًا الطيالسي والبيهقي، والطبري(

“Prophethood will be among you as long as Allah intends, and then Allah will take it away if He so wills.

Then there will be a caliphate according to the prophetic method. It will be among you as long as Allah intends, and then Allah will take it away if He so wills.

Then there will be a mordacious monarchy (taken by corrosive style). It will be among you as long as Allah intends, and then Allah will take it away if He so wills.

Then there will be a tyrannical monarchy. It will be among you as long as Allah intends, and then Allah will take it away if He so wills.

Then there will be a caliphate in accordance with the prophetic method. And the Prophet stopped” (Ahmad, Baihaqi and Tabari)

 According to this hadith, the Prophet (PBUH) specified the four governing phases for Muslims after he passes away.  Two of these phases are good and Muslims must always seek to preserve them and two are bad and Muslims must seek to prevent them and get rid of them if they occur. 

The first good governing phase is the one that follows the death of the Prophet (PBUH), and this is something that early Muslims should have directed their efforts to protect it.  But this just system failed because of Muslims’ division and in-fighting, The following two systems will be monarchy form of government with progressive tyranny.  Muslims who live during these two phases must work hard to minimize their rein to allow for the fourth phase to come.

To give the Muslims even greater warning, the Prophet (PBUH) informed them of the time at which they should be doubly careful because it is the time at which they are at the highest risk of destroying the prophetically based system of government.  This time will be near the 30^th year after the death of the Prophet (PBUH).  The Prophet (PBUH) said:

عن سَفِينَةُ رضي الله عنه، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: الْخِلاَفَةُ فِي أُمّتِي ثَلاَثُونَ سَنَةً، ثُمّ مُلْكٌ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ.. )رواه أحمد(

“The Caliphate according to the Prophetic method will last 30 years and after it will be monarchy”. (Ahmad)

 In the previous hadith, the Prophet warned of the monarchy that will be obtained by force and it will progressively get tyrannical.   When we examine what happens, we note that Umayyad rule started exactly on the 30^th year after the death of the Prophet (PBUH) and it was monarchy that was obtained by force. It continued since then and we may be now living under tyrannically systems of government.

The 30 years of prophetic based system of government was as follows:

Abu Bakr ruled over the righteous Caliphate from 632-634 CE (2 years) (11-13H)

Omar ruled over the righteous Caliphate from 634 to 644 (10 years) (13-23 H)

Uthman ibn Affan ruled over the righteous Caliphate from 644-656 CE. (12 years) (23-35 H)

Ali ruled over the righteous Caliphate from 656 to 661 CE (5 years) (35-40H)

Hasan was the caliph for 7 months before he surrendered his control of Iraq in Rabi II 41 (August 661) to Muawiya who transformed the system into a monarchy system.

The Umayyad ruled from 661 to 750 CE (89 years), (41 – 132H)

The Abbasid ruled from 750 – 1258 CE (508 years) (132 – 656 H)

The Ottomans ruled from 1299 to 1922 (623 years) and the Khalifa ended in 1924.  This followed by the occupation of all the Muslim world in the Middle East and establishing dictatorships that continue until now.

There are several other hadith that gave more details about specific conflicts that led to the assignation of Khalifa Omar, Uthman, and Ali.

There is another Hadith that gives details on the great tribulation that will face the Muslims and thus we must heed since these tribulations may be in our time now.  The hadith is narrated by Abdullah ibn Omar who said:

روى أبو داود وأحمد عن عبد الله بن عمر يقول: كُنَّا قُعُودًا عِنْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ فَذَكَرَ الْفِتَنَ فَأَكْثَرَ فِي ذِكْرِهَا حَتَّى ذَكَرَ فِتْنَةَ الْأَحْلَاسِ فَقَالَ قَائِلٌ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا فِتْنَةُ الْأَحْلَاسِ قَالَ هِيَ هَرَبٌ وَحَرْبٌ ثُمَّ فِتْنَةُ السَّرَّاءِ دَخَنُهَا مِنْ تَحْتِ قَدَمَيْ رَجُلٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ بَيْتِي يَزْعُمُ أَنَّهُ مِنِّي وَلَيْسَ مِنِّي وَإِنَّمَا أَوْلِيَائِي الْمُتَّقُونَ ثُمَّ يَصْطَلِحُ النَّاسُ عَلَى رَجُلٍ كَوَرِكٍ عَلَى ضِلَعٍ ثُمَّ فِتْنَةُ الدُّهَيْمَاءِ لَا تَدَعُ أَحَدًا مِنْ هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ إِلَّا لَطَمَتْهُ لَطْمَةً فَإِذَا قِيلَ انْقَضَتْ تَمَادَتْ يُصْبِحُ الرَّجُلُ فِيهَا مُؤْمِنًا وَيُمْسِي كَافِرًا حَتَّى يَصِيرَ النَّاسُ إِلَى فُسْطَاطَيْنِ فُسْطَاطِ إِيمَانٍ لَا نِفَاقَ فِيهِ وَفُسْطَاطِ نِفَاقٍ لَا إِيمَانَ فِيهِ فَإِذَا كَانَ ذَاكُمْ فَانْتَظِرُوا الدَّجَّالَ مِنْ يَوْمِهِ أَوْ مِنْ غَدِهِ.

When we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he talked about periods of tribulations (fitan), mentioning many of them. Of what he mentioned is “Fitnat Al-Ahlas” (فِتْنَةَ الْأَحْلَاسِ).  Some asked him: Messenger of Allah, what is “Fitnat Al-Ahlas”

The Prophet (PBUH) said: It will be fight and flight.

Then there will come “Fitnat Al-Sara’a (فِتْنَةُ السَّرَّاءِ).  Its murkiness is due to the fact that it is produced by a man from the people of my house (Ahl Al-Bayt), who will assert that he belongs to me, whereas he does not, for my ahl (family) are only those who have Taqwa (God-fearing.

Then the people will unite under a man who will be like a hipbone on a rib (unfit).

Then there will be “Fitanat Al-Duhima’a” (فِتْنَةُ الدُّهَيْمَاءِ) which will leave none of this community without impacting (giving him a slap), and when people say that it is finished, it will be extended. During it a man will be a believer in the morning and an infidel in the evening, so that the people will be in two camps: the camp of the faithful who have no hypocrisy, and the camp of hypocrites who have no faith. When this ends, expect the Antichrist (Dajjal) in a day or two.

The first Fitnah “Fitnat Al-Ahlas” (فِتْنَةَ الْأَحْلَاسِ) has apparently passed with the conflicts in history between Ali and Muawiya and between the Ummayd and the Abassi and all the other wars in between until the Ottoman rule.   

The second Fitnat: Fitnat Al-Sara’a (ثفِتْنَةُ السَّرَّاءِ) is one that started by one of the people from the house of the Prophet.  From the name this fitnah it was deceiving because it was led by a man from the house of the Prophet on the promise of that it will bring happiness to the Muslims.  But is resulted in an evil outcome, The Prophet (PBUH) rejected the relationship with this man and asserted that the people of his house are only the righteous and not merely because of lineage.  This fitnah has apparently passed because it started by one from the house of the Prophet and it led to the destruction of the Ottoman khilafa and the occupation of many Muslim countries.   

This fitnah was led by Sharif Hussein ibn Ali who was plotting with the British to break the Ottoman rule on the Arab world on the promise that he will be declared as the khalifa.   This fitnah became apparent with the Arab Revolt that began in June 1916 when Sharif Hussein publicly proclaimed the revolt in Mecca. His forces seized the city defeating the Ottoman garrison and one of his sons besieged the town of Ta’if and his other two sons attacked the Ottoman garrison in Medina.

The plot to break the Ottoman rule started when Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon (مكماهون), the British High Commissioner to Egypt started sending letters to Sharif Hussein informing him that the king of England wants the Khliafa to return to a pure Arab from the blessed house of the Prophet.    Obviously, none of the promises that McMahon made to the naïve Sharif Hussein was fulfilled.  In fact the opposite happened through the Sykes–Picot Agreement between the British and the French and the Balfour Declaration that granted the Jews Palestine. While the Arabs lost everything, the British gained victory over the Ottoman because the Arabs refused to support the Ottoman army in the first world war and started campaigns against it.  This led to the defeat of the Ottoman army and the destruction of the Ottoman khilafa and deposing the khalifa and replacing him with the Turkish field marshal Kamal Atatürk who served as Turkey’s president from 1923 to 1938.  During his rule, Turkey was transformed into a secular republic.  

All this is history, what is of concern to us now in the third Fitnah, “Fitanat Al-Duhima’a” (فِتْنَةُ الدُّهَيْمَاءِ) that we appear to be in its midst. This Fitnah will be widespread. It will leave no one but impacts him. This fitnah will not end until people’ belief is fully tested and will split the Muslims into two groups, a group of hypocrites who have no belief and a group of believers who have no hypocrisy. 

When this Fitnah ends, the anti-Christ will rise.

We pray to Allah to protect us from this tribulation and help us strengthening our belief that we remain steadfast on our belief.

DUa