2 More post and that ought to do it sorry for the long haul folks.
The emergence of the beast
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AMONG the signs of the Hour will be the emergence of a beast from the
earth. It will be very strange in appearance, and extremely huge; one
cannot even imagine what it will look like. It will emerge from the earth
and shake the dust from its head. It will have with it the ring of Solomon
and the rod of Moses. People will be terrified of it and will try to run
away, but they will not be able to escape, because such will be the decree
of Allah. It will destroy the nose of every unbeliever with the rod, and
write the word "Kafir" on his forehead; it will adorn the face of every
believer and write the word "Mu'min" (true believer) on his forehead, and
it will speak to people.
Allah SWT said:
"And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), We shall
produce from the earth a Beast to (face) them: it will speak to them,'"
(al-Naml 27.82)
Ibn 'Abbas, al-Hasan and Qutadah said that "It will speak to them"
(tukallimuhum) means that it will address them. Ibn Jarir suggested that
it means that the Beast will address them with the words "'for that
mankind did not believe with assurance in Our Sings" (al-Naml 27:82 -
latter part of the Ayah). Ibn Jarir reported this from 'Ali and 'Ata' It
was reported from Ibn 'Abbas that tukallimuhum means that the Beast will
cut them, i e, it will write the word "Kafir" on the forehead of the
unbeliever. It was also reported from Ibn 'Abbas that he will both address
them and cut them; this suggestion incorporates both of the previous
suggestions; and Allah knows best.
We have already mentioned the Hadith of Hudhayfah ibn Usayd, in which the
Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) is reported to have said, "The Hour
will not come until you see ten signs: the smoke; the Dajjal; the Beast;
the sun rising from the West; the descent of Jesus son of Mary; Gog and
Magog; and three landslides - one in the East, one in the West, and one in
Arabia, at the end of which fire will burst forth from the direction of
Aden (Yemen) and drive people to the place of their final assembly."
Abu Hurairah said: "The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) said,
'Hasten to do good deeds before six things happen: the rising of the sun
from the West, the smoke, the Dajjal, the Beast, the (death) of one of you
or general tribulation." (Muslim.)
Baridah said: "The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) took me to a
place in the desert, near Makkah. It was a dry piece of land surrounded by
sand. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) said, 'The Beast will
emerge from this place. It was a very small area." (Ibn Majah.)
It was reported from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa
sallam) said, "The Beast of the Earth will emerge, and will have with it
the rod of Moses and the ring of Solomon." It was also reported that he
said, "(The Beast) will destroy the noses of the unbelievers with the
ring, - so that people seated around one table will begin to address one
another with the words "O Believer!" or "O Unbeliever!" (i e, everyone's
status will become clear). (Ibn Majah.)
'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr said, "I memorised a Hadith from the Prophet
(sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) which I have not forgotten since. I heard
the Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) say, 'The first of the signs (of
the Hour) to appear will be the rising of the sun from the West and the
appearance of the Best before the people in the forenoon. Whichever of
these two events happens first, the other will follow immediately.'"
(Muslim). That is to say, these will be the first extraordinary signs. The
Dajjal, the descent of Jesus (alayhe salam), the emergence of Gog and
Magog, are less unusual in that they are all human beings. But the
emergence of the Beast, whose form will be very strange, its addressing
the people and classifying them according to their faith or unbelief, is
something truly extraordinary. This is the first of the earthly signs, as
the rising of the sun from the West is the first of the heavenly signs.
THE RISING OF THE SUN FROM THE WEST
ALLAH SWT says: "Are they waiting to see if the angels come to them, or
thy Lord (Himself), or certain of the Signs of thy Lord? The day that
certaof thesigns of thy Lord do come, no good will it do to a soul to
believe in them then, if it believed not before nor earned righteousness
through its faith. Say: 'Wait ye: we too are waiting'" (al-Anam 6:158.)
It was reported from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhe wa sallam) explained, "The day that certain of the Signs of thy
Lord do come, no good will it do to a soul to believe in them then",
referring to the rising of the sun from the West. (Ahmad.)
Abu Hurairah said, "The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) said, 'The
Hour will not come until the sun rises from the West. When the people see
it, whoever is living on earth will believe, but that will be the time
when - No good will it do to a soul to believe in them then, if it
believed not before'" (Bukhari.)
It was also reported from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhe
wa sallam) said, "The Hour will not come until the sun rises from the
West. When it rises and the people see it, they will all believe. But that
will be the time when 'No good will it do to a soul to believe in them
then'" (Bukhari.)
It was reported from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa
sallam) said, "There are three things which, if they appear, 'No good will
it do to a soul to believe in them then, if it believed not before nor
earned righteousness through its faith' They are: the rising of the sun
from the West, the Dajjal, and the Beast of the Earth." (Ahmad, Muslim,
Tirmidhi.)
Abu Dharr said, "The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) asked me, 'Do
you know where the sun goes when it sets? I said, 'I do not know'He said,
'It travels until it prostrates itself beneath the Throne, and asks for
permission to rise again. But a time will come when it will be told, 'Go
back whence you came.' That will be the time when 'No good will it do to a
soul to believe in them then, if it believed not before nor earned
righteousness through its faith'" (Bukhari.)
'Amr ibn Jarir said, "Three Muslims were sitting with Marwan in Madinah,
and heard him say, whilst talking about the Signs of the Hour, that the
first of them would be the appearance of the Dajjal. The three went to
'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr, and told him what they had heard Marwan say
concerning the Signs. 'Abd Allah said, 'Marwan has not said much. I
memorised a Hadith like that from the Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa
sallam) which I have not forgotten since. I heard the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhe wa sallam) say: The first of the signs will be the rising of the
sun from the West, and the emergence of the Beast in the forenoon.
Whichever of the two comes first, the other will follow immediately'"
"The 'Abd Allah, who was widely-read, said, 'I think that the first to
happen will be the rising of the sun from the West. Every time it sets, it
goes beneath the Throne, prostrates itself, and seeks permission to rise
again. A time will come when three times it will seek permission and will
receive no reply, until, when part of the night has passed and it realises
that even if it were given permission, it would not be able to rise on
time, it will say: "O my Lord, how far the rising-point is from me! What
can I do for the people now?" Then it will seek permission to go back, and
it will be told: 'Rise from where you are now' - and it will rise from the
West'" Then 'Abd Allah recited the Ayah:
"No good will it do to a soul to believe in them then, if it believed not
before nor earned righteousness through its faith." (Ahmad.)
Some scholars interpret "the rising of the sun from the West" as meaning
that Islam will appear in the West, as strong as it was in the beginning,
and that the people of the West will carry the flag of Islam.
THE SMOKE WHICH WILL APPEAR AT THE END OF TIME
MASRUQ said: "While a man was giving a speech among the people of Kindah,
he said, 'There will be smoke on the Day of Resurrection which will
deprive the hypocrites of their hearing and sight, but the believers will
only suffer something like a cold' We were terrified, so we went to Ibn
Masud, who was reclining. When he heard about this, he became angry and
sat up, and said: 'O people, whoever knows a thing, let him say it; but
whoever does not know, let him say, "Allah knows best." It is a part of
knowledge, when one does not know something, to say "Allah knows best."
Allah SWT said to His Prophet Mohammad (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam):
"Say: 'No reward do I ask of you for this (Qur'an), nor am I a pretender'"
(Sad 38:86.)
"Quraysh were being slow in embracing Islam, so the Prophet (sallallahu
alayhe wa sallam) prayed against them, saying, 'O Allah, help me against
them by sending seven years of famine like those of Joseph.' They were
afflicted by a year of famine in which they were destroyed, and ate dead
animals and bones. They began to see something like smoke between the sky
and the earth. Abu Sufyan came and said, 'O Mohammad! You came to command
us to keep good relations with our relatives, and your people have
perished, so pray that Allah may relieve them'"
The Ibn Mas'ud recited,
"Then watch thou for the Day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke
(or mist) plainly visible,
Enveloping the people: this will be a Penalty Grievous.
(They will say
'Our Lord! Remove the Penalty from us, for we do truly
believe!
How shall the Message be (effectual) for them, seeing that an Apostle
explaining things clearly has (already) come to them?
Yet they return away from him and say: 'Tutored (by others), a man
possessed!
We shall indeed remove the Penalty for a while, (but) truly ye will revert
(to your ways)." (al-Dukhan 44:10-15)
Ibn Maud asked: "Will their punishment in the Hereafter be removed so they
can go back to their Kufr?"
Allah SWT said:
"One day We shall seize you with a mighty onslaught: We will indeed (then)
exact Retribution!"
(al-Dukhan 44:16)
"...and soon will come the inevitable (punishment)!" (al-Furqan 25:77)
These Ayat refer to the Day (Battle) of Badr.
Allah SWT said:
"Alif-Lam-Mim. The Romans (Byzantines) have been defeated - in a land
close by; but they, (even) after (this) defeat of theirs, will soon be
victorious - within a few years'"
(al-Rum 30: 1-3) (Bukhari.)
This speaker's suggestion - that the idea that the smoke would be on the
Day or Resurrection was not a good one - made Ibn Masud react angrily. But
the smoke will appear before the Day of Resurrection; it will be one of
the signs, which are: the Beast, the Dajjal, the Smoke, and Gog and Magog,
as the Ahadith narrated from Abu Sarihah, Abu Hurairah and other Sahabah
indicate.
As mentioned in the Sahih Ahadith, the fire which will appear before the
Day of Resurrection will burst forth from the direction of Aden, and drive
the people to the place of their final assembly. It will move with them
and halt with them, and will devour any who lag behind.