FINAL DIVINE CALL
Circumstances tell us that with the beginning of the 21st century, all the signs of the approaching doomsday have already appeared. From the religious point of view, one sign is that human perversion has gone beyond all limits, thus causing the man to lose all justification for being allowed to inhabit this earth created by God. During the last period of the Prophet Noah’s time, such conditions prevailed that he felt constrained to pray to God: “If You leave any, they will misguide Your servants, and they will beget none but sinners and deniers of truth.” (71:27). Given this kind of extreme situation, God destroyed the people of Noah by a great flood. Only a tiny minority who had believed in the admonitions of the Prophet Noah was saved from the general annihilation.
Once again, in the age of intellectual darkness, perversion has set in across the world on a vast scale, and the words of Noah, “They will beget none but sinners and deniers of truth”, have become applicable to the world at large. It is almost sure that soon a flood greater than Noah’s flood will engulf the world, destroying man and human civilisation. That will be the Day of Judgement for all humanity. At that time, all human beings will be produced for the final reckoning before the Almighty, the Lord of the Universe.
We learn from the traditions that, during the last stage of the Muslim community, a great dawah mission will be launched when Doomsday has drawn very near.
The Greatest Witness
From the Quran and Hadith, we also learn that, before the end of the world, a Final Divine Call will be given so that the human beings inhabiting this world finally come to know that they have to stand before the Creator of this world for the final reckoning and that after that there will be either eternal heaven or eternal hell.
Sahih Muslim, one of the most authentic books of Hadith, tells us that the Prophet told his Companions that during the last days, a believer from the Muslim community would attain a higher level of realisation of religious truths through scientific arguments and convey these truths peacefully to all humanity. This event, in its reality, would be so great that the Prophet observed, “In the eyes of God, this would be the greatest witness in the entire human history.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2938)
The present state of affairs tells us that time has already come when certain people shall arise and perform this role. This tradition, along with other such traditions, indicates the opportunity to peacefully convey God’s word that must be availed of before Doomsday strikes. People must rush to perform this role.
Thus this greatest witness to humanity is related to the most extraordinary possibilities available in those times. This tradition means that, during the last days, there will appear great opportunities by availing of which it will become possible to perform the most significant role of conveying the divine message ever performed.
This call before Doomsday is not going to be performed miraculously. Instead, it will be performed through the process of ‘cause and effect’. Now the opportunities for this final divine call have fully come into existence through modern means of communication. People are required to rise and fully avail of these opportunities and communicate the divine message throughout the world.
The Angel Israfil, who holds the trumpet, is perhaps waiting for this final call. According to the hadith, this call will take place before the end of the world, and God has created all the opportunities for it. The only thing required is to utilize these opportunities and perform this great task.
The coming of the end of human history is no simple matter. It is directly linked with divine law. The present world was not given to man by way of right or reward, nor was it accidentally acquired. No indeed! He was placed here to be tested. After completing the test period, man will lose any justification to live in this world. It is just like being in an examination hall. The candidate can come to the hall for a limited period to take the test. The moment this time is up, he has to hand in his paper—whether he has completed it or not—and leave the room. The same is true of man’s stay in this world, only on a larger and more complex scale.
The Age of the Global Divine Call
Another aspect of the constructive task to be performed in the final stage of human history is dawah work on a global scale. A prediction is made in a hadith about this global dawah: “There will be no house, big or small, in which God will not cause the word of God to enter.” (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 23814)
How will this event take place? In ancient times, it was just not possible for the word of God to enter all homes. It has become possible only today with modern communications having come into existence, albeit after the appearance of the signs of the Qiyamah. The entering of the word of God into every home is, in fact, a sign of the approach of the Qiyamah. Today through television, the internet, social media and other means of communication, the divine message has reached all homes. In the age of the computer, it has become comprehensible. For the first time in human history, practically every home and office has become possible to have a computer. All kinds of information are being posted on the Internet on different websites, and now at any place in the world, in any office or home, one can access complete information regarding Islam in one’s language. The entry of the word of Islam into every home means potential entry and not actual entry. Undoubtedly as far as potential entry is concerned, God’s Message has entered every home.
This introduction of God’s word will take place through known channels of global communication. For the first time, global means of communication have become available to man, making it possible for him to do dawah work on a greatly enlarged scale. Prior to the age of the scientific revolution, this had simply not been possible.
Nowadays, dajjals or misguided leaders (known in Christian tradition as anti-Christ) have used modern means of communication to fill the entire world with negative propaganda. The whole world is now living under the shadow of negative thinking. This state of affairs has been called in Traditions fitnah duhaima,
the age of utter darkness. (Sunan Abu Dawood, Hadith No. 4242)
This darkness, actually denoting intellectual darkness, will spread worldwide through the harmful use of modern means of communication.
Today, Islam is in the news everywhere, but its image has become distorted. The publicity Islam has received mainly has been negative.
The need of the hour is converting that image into a positive one. It is an ongoing process worldwide, for the negative image has aroused global curiosity to know Islam as it is. People want to study the Quran and learn about Islam. In this way, about fifty per cent of the work has already been done. Moreover, the remaining fifty per cent is being undertaken. I am sure that this process will reach its culmination. It will mean that the Qiyamah has come very close—the Qiyamah about which the prophets had warned us. The Quran is the final revealed book of God. It was revealed to the final prophet, Muhammad, in the first quarter of the 7th century. The word of God entering every home means that the message of the Quran will enter every home. What is the message of the Quran? It is to make man aware of God’s creation plan, according to which the present world has been built for a limited period. A time will come when this world is brought to an end, then Qiyamat, or the Day of Judgement, will occur. All human beings will be resurrected and presented before the Creator of the universe. Then, according to the record of their deeds on earth, their final fate will be decided upon.
For the first time in human history, it has become possible for practically almost every individual in a home and office to access a computer or a smartphone. All kinds of information are being posted on the Internet on different websites, and now at any place in the world, one can access complete information regarding Islam in one’s language. The entry of God’s Message into every home means potential entry and not actual entry. Undoubtedly as far as potential entry is concerned, God’s Message has entered every home. We now have to continue to place more and more information on the internet and social media so that no one can stand in front of God Almighty on the Day of Judgement and say that they were unaware. (The Quran, 4:165)
Ikhwan-e-Rasool: Brothers of the Prophet
As narrated by Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet of Islam said, ‘I want to see my brothers.’ The Companions of the Prophet said, ‘O Prophet of God, are we not your brothers?’ The Prophet replied, ‘You are my companions. My brothers have not yet come. They will come in later times.’ (Sahih Muslim, Hadith
No. 249)
There is nothing mysterious about the Companions of the Prophet or his ‘brothers.’ The nature of these two groups can be understood by a study of the Quran and Hadith. The nature of the Prophet’s companions can be judged from a verse of the Quran which begins: ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who are his companions in the true sense...’ (48:29) It then enumerates several other noble qualities they possessed. From this, we infer that the secret of the high degree of faith with which the Prophet’s companions were imbued was attributable to the Prophet’s companionship and the training he imparted to them. In consequence, his companions became ‘the best community that has ever been brought forth for the good of mankind.’ (3:110)
Ikhwan-e-Rasool is also indirectly alluded to in a verse of the Quran, which reads: ‘We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this is the truth.’ (41:53). This verse is like a prediction that a time will come when the signs latent in nature will appear and will be a source of higher realisation for the seekers after truth. Subsequent events tell us that the present scientific age is referred to here. Indeed, in this age, such facts about the world of nature have come to man’s knowledge as are undoubtedly a source of realisation.
Keeping this reality in view, it would perhaps be correct to say that the brothers (and sisters) of the Prophet will be those believers who, born in the scientific age, will derive intellectual nourishment from scientific discoveries and thus attain high levels of realisation. These will be the people who will perform excellent dawah work at the global level in the final stage of human history.
One example of this matter is the phenomenon of the solar and lunar eclipses. An eclipse obscures the reflected light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the earth. However, in the age of the companions of the Prophet in the first half of the 7th century, the eclipses were misrepresented in the current popular tales as subjects of great mystery and superstition. It was only by rising above superstition that the companions of the Prophet learnt the truth about solar and lunar eclipses, i.e., that they were the divine signs of the Lord of the Universe—heavenly demonstrations of God’s power. Once having accepted this truth, they attained the realisation of God. On seeing solar and lunar eclipses, they prostrated themselves before God in prayer and acknowledgement of His greatness.
In the present scientific age, discoveries about the solar system have been made using telescopic observation. Such information is undoubtedly a source of higher realisation. In the light of these discoveries, one sees the phenomena of solar and lunar eclipses. Today, one has that great experience of the realisation of God which can move hearts and make our body hair stand on end.
According to modern discoveries, the earth, the sun, and the moon are three astral bodies that are widely different in size but so positioned in their orbits in the vastness of space that they cause the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses. These can be predicted by mathematical calculation and are visible to the human eye.
The Role of Ikhwan-e-Rasool
Now let us take the role of Ikhwan-e-Rasool. There are two aspects of the role of Ikhwan-e-Rasool: high level of realisation and dawah, i.e., the attainment of superior realisation in the light of newly discovered realities, and propagating the Islamic call effectively at a global level by modern means of communication. Both these aspects have been foretold in the Quran and Hadith.
The possibility of attaining superior realisation by modern means has already been mentioned in the Quran: “We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this (Quran) is the truth.” (41:53)
This verse of the Quran was revealed in the first quarter of the seventh century. At that time, it was predicted that the hidden divine signs in the universe would be revealed as a result of human discoveries. These signs would establish the veracity of the Quran at the level of human knowledge.
The history of religion tells us that from the time God created man, he has been sending prophets for man’s guidance. During the age of the prophets, the knowledge of reality was transmitted at the level of revelation. This process continued until the age of the modern scientific revolution. Now, the reality, which was being presented to man at the level of revelation, has become a proven fact to the ultimate extent at the level of human knowledge. In this way, for the first time in human history, the divine book, the Quran, and human knowledge are totally in consonance. It has made it possible to find the truth at the level of total conviction and realisation, leaving no margin of doubt.
This prediction has become a reality in present times. In this way, the initial 50 per cent of the task has already been performed. Now the task or the role of Ikhwan-e-Rasool is to learn about these realities and complete the remaining 50 per cent of the task so that the signs of God may become a means of attaining a higher realisation of God. Then these will be the people who, in the final stage of human history, before Doomsday, will perform excellent dawah work at the global level.
All that is left to happen now is for Doomsday to take place and Almighty God to come directly into man’s view. Now, the final time has come for all human beings to awake and arise. The trumpet of Doomsday will awaken those who do not awake today, but that awakening will be of no avail to anyone.
The Role of Muslims
The particular purpose for which God had sent Prophet Muhammad was to convey to people the message and guidance he received from God. Chapter five of the Quran states:
“Messenger, proclaim everything that has been sent down to you from your Lord— if you do not, then you will not have communicated His message. God will protect you from all people.” (5:67)
This was the Prophet’s primary mission. If the Prophet had not undertaken this task, it would have meant that he had failed in discharging his divine duties. Moreover, that being so, his prophethood would have come under the shadow of a doubt. In other words, the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad could only stand proven in the eyes of God after he had completed the mission of conveying God’s message to the people.
After the end of the prophethood, the followers of the Prophet have to carry out the task of conveying God’s message in its original form to mankind on his behalf. In the eyes of God, only then Muslims would genuinely be called the followers of Prophet Muhammad.
There are three levels on which the Muslims must perform dawah work. Every believing man and woman must prove himself or herself to be a preacher of Truth on one of these three levels. In this regard, God has the same criterion for the Prophet as for his followers.
Every believer must be eager to guide other people. So the first level of continuing the prophetic mission deals with intention, that is, niyah. Specifically, it means the individual intention to participate in the prophetic mission. However, such intention is not just some kind of verbal repetition or lip service. It is a feeling which makes the heart tremble. Every believer should become restless and tremble on seeing others being misguided. This feeling should be of such intensity that, while thinking about it, tears should flood his eyes. Moreover, he should pray for the guidance of others while contemplating solitude.
On the second level of dawah work, believers should take every precaution not to become a hindrance in the way of the prophetic mission. They will not act in such a way as to arouse in people’s hearts hatred or disgust for Islam, nor will they in any way cause annoyance on the subject. They will entirely refrain from any such acts as will cause friction between the addresser (dayee) and the addressee (madu). They will take special care to conduct themselves in this way, even if it means sacrificing their economic, national or political interests.
On the third level, dawah is to be performed directly. Those who can present Islam through public speaking, writing, or modern means of communication should strive to convey the divine religion to the people. They should try to address people’s minds by using arguments that make a powerful impression so that their addressees may fully understand the proper guidance.
The Call of the Quran
In his last sermon, the Prophet Muhammad also urged his followers to convey the message of the Quran ‘even if only a single verse’. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 3461)
Therefore, the greatest need of the hour is to acquaint all people with God’s message in a language and style which is understandable to them, as the Prophet—and through him, all the believers—is enjoined in the Quran: ‘O Messenger, proclaim all that is revealed to you from your Lord.’ (5:67)
What is the message of the Quran? The message of the Quran is to make man aware of the Creation plan of God. That is, to tell man why God created this world, the purpose of settling man on earth; what is required from man in his pre-death life span, and what he will confront after death. Man is born as an eternal creature. When God created man as such, He divided his life span into two periods, the pre-death period, which is a time of trial, and the post-death period, which is the time for receiving the rewards or punishment merited by one’s actions during one’s lifetime. These actions will take the form of eternal paradise or eternal hell. The purpose of the Quran is to make man aware of this reality. This is the theme of this divine Book, which guides man throughout his entire journey from this life to the next in the Hereafter.
It would not be wrong to say that man is a seeker by birth. These questions lurk in everyone’s mind: Who am I? What is the purpose of my life? What is the reality of life and death? What is the secret of man’s success and failure? etc. According to the Quran, the answer to these questions is that the present world is the testing ground, and whatever man has been endowed with in his pre-death period is all a part of the test. The Hereafter is the place where the result of the test will be taken into account by the Almighty, and whatever man receives in the life after death, by way of reward or punishment, will be commensurate with his deeds in this world. The secret of man’s success in this life is understanding God’s creation plan and mapping out his life accordingly.
Thus we must strive to perform this task in all sincerity till the Last Day; therein lies our success both in this world and in the world to come.
