The Quran and Hadith have clearly predicted that after Qiyamah or Doomsday, the Day of Judgement or the Final Reckoning will come. This will be the Day when the whole of creation will be gathered before the Lord. All voices will be silenced except for the voice of God. Only the truth will have any weight on that day. Nothing else will be of any benefit. On that day man will be judged. From the Islamic viewpoint, God had made this world for a limited period of time. Now those signs have appeared which tell us that this limited period of time is reaching its end. Then there will be Doomsday. Prophet Muhammad made it clear that human beings had not been settled on this Earth for all eternity; that a time would come when the present inhabited world would come to an end and be replaced by another world. Then all the evil people would be sent to the universal dustbin and all the good people, who obeyed God, would inhabit the eternal world of Paradise. Now, human beings must realize that they stand on the threshold of Paradise.
The Quran is the final revealed book of God. It was revealed to the last prophet, Muhammad in the first quarter of the 7th century. The basic theme of the Quran is to warn man 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 will be brought to an end, then Qiyamah (Doomsday) will occur. The study of the Quran (and prophetic traditions) tell us that before the coming of Doomsday, certain signs will be revealed. After the emergence of these signs, God will command the angel Israfil to blow the trumpet. Then, suddenly, human history, having passed through its temporary phase, will enter its permanent phase. That is to say, the blowing of the trumpet will mark the end of the phase of action and the beginning of the phase of reward. All of these signs have already been fulfilled. The time is soon coming when Doomsday appears and all human beings will be resurrected to be presented before their Creator on the Day of Judgement. Then, according to the record of their deeds on Earth, their final fate will be decided upon.
Source: The Alarm of Doomsday
The Quran is the book of God. The Quran, having been preserved in its original form, is a completely reliable source of divine guidance. There are 114 surahs in the Quran. Everything that has been laid down in the Quran can be summed up thus: an individual should believe in the one God, and hold himself accountable to Him alone. He should discover that the Prophet Muhammad was a messenger who conveyed God’s guidance to humanity.
The Quran is a sacred book sent by God for everyone. It is a book for all because it has been sent by God, Who is the Creator of all mankind. It explains God’s creation plan for humanity. The Quran is not a new divine book. It is, in effect, a preserved version of the previous divine books. In this sense, the Quran is a book for all human beings and all nations. The Quran manifests God’s mercy for all. It is the message of God sent by Him for everyone. The Quran is a light of guidance for the whole world, just as the sun is a source of light and heat for the whole world. The Quran emphasizes the importance of spiritual and intellectual discovery of truth, aiming to make individuals aware of God's creation plan and their purpose in life. In essence, the Quran is a book of wisdom, guidance, and contemplation, urging individuals to study and reflect upon its messages to lead a meaningful life.
Source: The Spirit of Islam Magazine
To make us aware of this reality, since the dawn of human history, God has been sending prophets for man’s guidance: from the first man Adam, also the first prophet till Prophet Muhammad, the last prophet. The age of the prophets was the age when 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 with each other. This has made it possible to find the truth at the level of full conviction and realization, leaving no margin for doubt. 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 awaken and arise. Those who do not awake today will be awakened by the trumpet of Doomsday, but that awakening will be of no avail to anyone.
The Creator of the world has created this world, as one half of a pair—the present world, in which we pass our lives after birth, is the first half; and the next eternal world where we will live after death is the other half. The Creator of man has thus created him as an eternal creature and has divided his life into two periods—the pre-death period or the life in this world and the post-death period or the life after death. The limited period before death is meant to be a test for man, while the eternal period after his death will be the period for his reward or punishment, based on his performance in the test in this life.
According to this Creation Plan of God, human beings are placed in situations where they have to face hardships from time to time throughout their lives as part of their test. Difficulty and sadness are an integral part of the creation plan of the Creator. No man has the power to extricate himself from this life of trial and tribulation. This arrangement is to remind man of the fact that the present world has not been made as a place of luxury and comfort, but rather as a period of trial and such as will help determine whether he is eligible or not for the eternal life in Paradise. This is the scheme of existence for this world as devised by its Creator. The aim of creation is to select those who are fit to inhabit the world of Paradise.
Source: The Alarm of Doomsday
Paradise is the name of the ideal world, the desire for which is lodged in the hearts of all human beings. It is Paradise where man’s personality shall achieve fulfilment in the most absolute sense. Man desires this Paradise with every fibre of his being, and Paradise awaits him in its entirety. Paradise is a world where man attains his complete fulfilment, where he thinks the way he wants to think; where he sees what he desires to see; where he listens to the sounds that give pleasure to his ears in the real sense; where he touches those things which give him the highest degree of pleasure; where he has the company of those people who make his life highly meaningful, where the winds are life-giving zephyrs for him, where he eats such food as he eternally craved for and he sips such drinks as are only beautiful figments of his imagination today.
Those pure souls will qualify for Paradise who, in their life in this world, come up to the standard of citizenship of Paradise—a perfect world of eternal comfort and pleasure, a world which holds far more significant meaning than this one.
Source: The Alarm of Doomsday
Standing at the end of human history, we stand on the threshold of Paradise. Now the time is not far away when the present world will be replaced by its second phase. While the first temporary phase was meant purely as a test for humanity; the second phase will be for the test result on the Day of Judgment. Thereafter, there will be an eternal world: eternal joy in Paradise or eternal deprivation (in Hell). While man has been seeking a Paradise on Earth for thousands of years, in response to his natural urges, the reality is that Paradise will only be found in a state of perfection in the world Hereafter. There man will find a life of joy, peace and happiness forever in this world. There will be no necessity for physical labour; pleasant intellectual activities will suffice for the achievement of all desired goals. Human beings must realize that they now stand on the threshold of Paradise.
God’s prophets have constantly told us that the present world will not be eternal, that it is perpetually on its countdown, and that a time will come when its term will expire, and it will come to its end. All the scientific evidence tells us that this countdown is approaching its final number. The scientists of the 20th century discovered the law of entropy and concluded that the world’s energy is continuously on the decrease and that this process cannot be reversed. Therefore, it is inevitable that the present world will end after a fixed period. According to their research, the scientists of the 21st century have told us that the time for the end of the present world has come very close. It could even be a mere 10 to 20 years.
All these revelations and scientific facts covered in the media under global warming are, in fact, divine warnings. It is a declaration by the Creator that, according to His plan, this period of the world has come to its end. It is an Alarm of the coming of Doomsday when the first phase of human history will end. 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 awaken and arise. The trumpet of Doomsday will awaken those who do not awake today, but that awakening will be of no avail to anyone.
Source: The Alarm of Doomsday
The study of the Quran and Hadith tells us that before the end of human history on Earth, some clear signs will appear which will serve as the final warning for man, which will signal the end of human history. The report on climate change shows that all the signs have already appeared. Some of these signs foretold are as follows:
1. According to a tradition, Prophet Muhammad said, “The Hour (Last Day) will not be established until earthquakes will be very frequent. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1036)
In light of the above tradition, we studied seismic activity over the last century and found that the world has been witnessing a substantial increase in the number of earthquakes. According to long-term records since about 1900, the average number of major earthquakes per year is 16. These normally include 15 earthquakes in the magnitude 7 range and one earthquake having a magnitude of 8.0 or greater. The records of the past 40-50 years reveal that we have exceeded the long-term average number of major earthquakes about a dozen times. Earthquakes are increasing all around the world. This is a clear sign that the end of human history is near.
2. In another tradition, the Prophet of Islam mentioned ten indicators signalling the approach of Doomsday, one of the last being smoke (dukhan): “God’s Messenger said: The Last Hour will not come until you see ten signs before and (in this connection) he made a mention of the smoke. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2901) The same is predicted in the Quran in these words: “Watch out for the day when the sky brings out plainly visible clouds of smoke (dukhan) that will envelop the people. This will be a painful punishment.” (Quran, 44:10-11) This predicts the coming of visible clouds of dukhan or smoke as one of the major signs of the coming of Doomsday.
On 14 April, 2010, a volcano erupted all of a sudden from beneath the glaciers in Iceland, an island in the north Atlantic about 200 miles southeast of Greenland. So much ash was emitted that it spread throughout the greater part of Europe’s atmosphere. On 19th September 2021, the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma, sending lava shooting into the air and streaming in rivers towards houses in two villages from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island. (“Lava pours out of volcano on La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands”, Reuters, September 20, 2021) Plumes of thick, black smoke which are blocking the sun above the island is seen in the images, captured by a satellite of the U.S. Earth observation company Maxar Technologies on Thursday (October 14), indicating that iron mixed with magma, is rising from Cumbre Vieja volcano crater. The Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (INVOLCAN) suggested that the current eruption could persist for weeks to months. (NASA Earth Observatory , October 4, 2021)
3. Another tradition of the Prophet of Islam states that the smoke will last for forty days: “There will be smoke (dukhan) that fills the space from east to west and will last forty days.” (Tafsir al-Tabari, Vol. 21, p. 19) The forty days of smoke referred to in the above tradition may refer to the plumes of thick black smoke blocking the sun of the La Palma volcano. That La Palma volcanic activity continuing for weeks might be a realization of the prediction in the above tradition of Prophet Muhammad. The Spanish Island volcano is erupting more lava than ever on Day 37, according to a report, "A volcano erupting for the last five weeks on the Spanish island of La Palma is more active than ever, officials said. A powerful new river of molten lava rock gushed out of the Cumbre Veja volcano early on Monday. The Canary Island Volcanology Institute described it as 'a giant lava fountain'." ('Lava Fountain,' Times Global, Times of India, October 26, 2021)
The cloud of smoke emitted by the La Palma volcano is spreading over Europe, reaching altitudes of up to 3.1 miles (5 kilometres), according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). It is expected to cross Europe from west to east over the coming days, CAMS senior scientist Mark Parrington said on Twitter.
Global warming, the increase in the frequency of earthquakes, smoke (dukhan), etc., are predictions that clearly show that the end of human history is near. Now, circumstances tell us that the last hour has come for man to take heed, and reform himself before it is too late for him.
Scientists from all over the world are repeatedly emphasizing that global warming is the greatest danger of present times. Both print and electronic media inform people daily of this perilous situation. Reports based on the findings of international scientists, such as “Doomsday Not Far.”
The emergence of other signs: increasing floods, forest fires, the rise in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and especially the COVID-19 pandemic are all signalling the disturbance in the life support system. We learn from the Quran and Hadith that the present world is not eternal. A time will come when this world will be wound up and replaced by another world which will be eternal. Now both Quranic revelation and science are confirming that the end of human history, Qiyamah, has come very close. Global warming is, therefore, a clear evidence signifying that the end of human history is near. In this way, it is a case of divine warning.
Prophet Muhammad made it clear that human beings had not been settled on Earth for all eternity; that a time would come when the present inhabited world would come to an end and be replaced by another world. Then all the evil people would be sent to the universal dustbin and all the good people, who obeyed God, would inhabit the eternal world of Paradise. Now the time has come when this world should be terminated and man should be brought to book and be held accountable on the Day of Judgement.
Yes, Today no one needs to be a scholar to call people to God. The present age is highly favourable to the communication of the word of God. Today we are living in an age of religious freedom, with communication facilities available as never before in human history. We have Quran translations that are clear and in an easily understandable language as well as effective dawah literature in the form of articles, books, audio and video lectures explaining Islam in the modern idiom. CPS has placed all this material online on www.cpsglobal.org for easy access and sharing.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan learned from Dr J Oacek of the Oriental Department of Charles University in Prague that a distinguished Czech orientalist had translated the Quran into Czech. It was an excellent translation, and according to Dr Oacek, within a few weeks of publication, was completely sold out. This shows how great the opportunities are for conveying the message of Islam. Many people today would like to study Islam from its sources but cannot do so because of the non-availability of the requisite books in the languages they know. There is a need for the Quran to be translated into all languages and published and distributed worldwide for mutual understanding.
The Quran is not a religious book in the ordinary sense of the word. When one reads it one can find out that it speaks of the law of nature and tells us about God’s scheme of things. The Quran is not a book which solely commands us to pray and fast, neither is it just a book of jurisprudence. It informs us of the creation plan of God. It talks about universal laws of human nature. According to Islam, the Quran is the book given to us by the Creator of the universe. It is the only book preserved in its entirety for all time to come.
For the above reasons, the Quran is not merely the book of a certain religion. For instance, a verse in the Quran states: “Surely, with every hardship there is ease.” (94:5) This means if we face a difficulty or problem, we must not begin to fight or clash with others. The difficulty we are encountering will remain only for a temporary period. So, one must peacefully make one’s plan of work rather than react or become provocative. This principle is meant for all human beings. We have an example of this principle in the histories of Germany and Japan.
Germany lost one-third of its land after WWII. It then began its economic planning on the basis of the land that had remained with it and later on, emerged very successful. This line of action adopted by Germany was very much an Islamic principle similar to the one stated in the above Quranic verse.
The Prophet Muhammad too in his lifetime had to let go of his hometown Makkah and had to migrate to Madinah. Though he had lost Makkah, he still had Madinah as a place to carry forward his mission. The Prophet then planned on the basis of Madinah and not of Makkah. These principles of success are mentioned in the Quran.
The universal approach of the Quran wherein the laws of nature are mentioned is the factor which justifies the work of making it accessible to entire mankind.
Source: The Spirit of Islam Magazine
Islam emphasizes on the self-discovery of truth, and the Quran provides supporting evidence for this through study and contemplation. Reading the Quran, one can discover the creation plan of God and the laws of nature. If one only follows Islam because others have told him to do so and has not questioned or discovered it himself, then his conviction would not be of the highest quality.
Source: The Seeker’s Guide
The spirit required to call people to God is of well-wishing. Well-wishing here means that you share the message of the Quran with others showing a concern for the genuine well-being of others. The action of peacefully conveying the divine message to others arises from love and well-wishing. It cannot come out of a heart filled with hatred and enmity for others. This is why the Quran commands that one must remain peaceful and patient. (REF)
No, conversion is not at all a goal of Islam. According to Islam, religion is a matter of self-discovery. Conversion has no place in Islam. The Quran, therefore, has declared for the first time in human history: There shall be no coercion in matters of religion. (2:256) The Quran, further, states: “ To you your religion and to me mine.” (109:6)
The principle that we obtain from the above verses of the Quran is generally referred to, in today’s context, as religious freedom. Given this prohibition of coercion, all Islamic jurists without any exception hold that forcible conversion is under all circumstances null and void. Any attempt to coerce a person to accept Islam is a grievous sin. According to Islam, religion is a personal discovery for an individual.
Source: The Seeker’s Guide
Generally, a person’s character is constructed according to his emotions. Anger, revenge, jealousy, hate, opportunism, etc.—are negative feelings that often indelibly shape a person’s character. No person can enter Paradise with a character developed by such emotions. To enter Paradise, one needs to be a person of virtuous character. For this, one should not build one’s character under external factors; instead, one must build it by adhering to certain moral principles of one’s own free will. Only people of honest character can be held eligible to enter and live in Paradise in the life after death. This is the creation plan under which man has been created.
In the present world, man finds himself completely free. However, this freedom is not given to him as a right. Instead, it is simply a sort of examination paper for everyone. Man has to acknowledge the truth without any pressure. Without any compulsion, he must bow before the truth. Man has been given freedom of choice to test him. Through his own choice, he should limit or control his freedom. Bowing before the truth is undoubtedly the most enormous sacrifice for man. Acknowledging the truth may appear to be making oneself small compared to others, but this makes a person arrive at the highest position, leading him to reach the door of Paradise.
God created man for a specific plan. God created man as an eternal creature and divided his life into two parts: a limited pre-death period and an eternal post-death period. According to this plan, man must spend a period of time in the present, non-ideal world for the purpose of a test, and after this, in line with his actions, man will obtain the right to reside in an ideal world, which is called Paradise, or else will be consigned to a place of eternal deprivation forever. Paradise is a society of select pious individuals throughout human history who possess the highest moral and divine qualities. The present world has been created as a trial period for one to prove oneself an eligible candidate for the refined society of Paradise. Here, man is engaged in a continuous test. If he passes this test, he will obtain a place in the ideal world, Paradise, in eternal life after death. On the other hand, if he fails this test, he will live in a state of eternal deprivation. To be eligible to enter Paradise, there are two things that man needs to do while on Earth. One is to acknowledge the truth, and the other is to lead a principled life.
Muslims should realize that the first requirement for them and their future generations is that they understand the true Islamic teachings, live by those teachings of peace and well-wishing and communicate to the world that Islam is a religion of peace, through every action as well as diction. It is the responsibility of the followers of Prophet Muhammad to pass on the truth as enshrined in the Quran and Sunnah they had received from the Prophet to others to make the message of God clear to people. (Quran, 3:187) The Call of the Quran or the call to God is all a matter of responsibility. The Prophet of Islam is called the ‘seal of the Prophets’ (Quran, 33:40); therefore, no other Prophet will come after him. The followers of Prophet Muhammad must fulfil their responsibility of conveying the divine message as enshrined in the original sources—Quran and Sunnah—to their contemporaries in every age till Doomsday. It is the duty of every Muslim, and he must perform it on a priority basis. We should remember that conveying God’s message to humanity is to be done in a clear and understandable style to the addressees that makes Islam understandable to people in the language of today, i.e., modern, scientific idiom. To achieve this purpose it is important to translate the Quran into all languages and convey its message to everyone.
