Preamble
A quick glance on social media feeds this evening (31/12/2019) will reveal the perpetual question of wonder asking “Where did the year go?” in utter disbelief at how ‘swiftly’ an entire year has come to pass?
At the end of each year, most of us are in a state of confusion as to the swift passing of that previous year. That puzzled look when the question is asked every year should be considered as the fulfillment of a prophesized sign! Retrospectively, there seems to be insufficient hours in the day to complete some of the most basic of tasks. One would expect the development of technology to be instrumental in giving value to time, but alas, it has become more ‘time consuming’ than anything.
Unlike the previous ages in which our parents and grandparents incessantly remind us of, about a time where so much could be done in a day with still enough time to focus on their familial responsibilities as well as their Ibādah (worship). Gone are those days in which a family had the ‘time’ to enjoy the serenity of sunset, or the bond of a meal together without the pressure of the remainder of the ‘daily’ schedule. For the Islāmically educated mind, the global state of this loss of time was an inevitable experience as elucidated in the second ‘shortest’ chapter in the entire Qur’ān when it warned,
وَالْعَصْرِ إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُسْر
“By (the Token of) Time (through the ages), Lo! Humankind is a state of loss!”[1]
Astoundingly, the deeper meaning of this frequently recited chapter of the Qur’ān has escaped the understanding of all of humankind, inclusive of majority of Muslims. The message of the chapter, albeit profoundly ‘lengthy’ to erudite, alludes to the current state of humankind and appeals to the rational faculty to arrive at the forgotten conclusion stating that the ‘time’ we so ‘hurriedly chase after’ in pursuit of the acquisition of a better life in this world, is ipso facto under the control of the creator of time itself viz. God Almighty.
Hence, the time we are constantly trying to make up for, by cutting down our time of worship and substituting it for the ‘deadlines’ required to make our sojourn on earth a more comfortable one, is essentially illogical because ultimately, submission to God will ensure that ‘time’ moves according to our need, and not vice versa.
Sūrah Al-Asr further tells us of the ‘exceptions’ to the rule (of being at a loss for time in the last verse). This is quite clear from the story of the sleepers of the cave in Sūrah Al-Kahf of the Qur’ān which exhibited the different experiences of time, dimension and realm for the believers, whilst elucidating a completely opposite experience for the unbelievers. Inside the cave, their sleep was that of the experience of afternoon nap. Yet in the exact same duration of time the people outside the cave experienced three hundred years! This may be, -and Allāh Almighty knows best- that when the heart is connected to Allāh Almighty, then time moves slower, and when the hearts are disconnected from Allāh Almighty and is connected to the world, then time moves faster.
Thus it becomes increasingly important for us to understand that secularization (the removal of God from all walks of life) is diametrically opposed to the Islāmic stance which encourages a continuous remembrance of God in all walks of life. This is evident from the fact that upon awakening we are encouraged to remember God Almighty by the recitation and reflection of a ‘Duā’ for awakening from sleep. From that moment on, there is a supplication for almost every movement in our day to ensure that Allāh Almighty is included in every moment of the passage of time experienced in our day, right until we lay our heads on the pillow; there is a supplication for that too.
Essentially, the constant complaint of the swift passage of time is a corollary of a complete disconnect from our creator on a daily basis. The subject of the swift passage of time has been discussed in numerous hadīth sources and the 2016 Islāmic Lifestyle Solutions publications has discussed the subject with much detail in the book, “The Beginning of the End – An Eschatological Endeavour to Unravel the Mysteries of the Modern Age”.
The Swift Passage of Time as a Sign
We have already discussed how at the end of each year; the swift passage of time is experienced by all when reflected upon the year that passed. 1400 years ago, the Prophet Muhammad k warned us about this fact;
عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يَتَقَارَبَ الزَّمَانُ فَتَكُونُ السَّنَةُ كَالشَّهْرِ وَالشَّهْرُ كَالْجُمُعَةِ وَتَكُونُ الْجُمُعَةُ كَالْيَوْمِ وَيَكُونُ الْيَوْمُ كَالسَّاعَةِ وَتَكُونُ السَّاعَةُ كَالضَّرْمَةِ بِالنَّارِ
Sayyidunā Anas bin Mālik t narrated that the Allāh’sY Messenger r said, “The hour shall not be established until time is constricted, and the year is like a month, a month is like the week, and the week is like the day, and the day is like the hour, and the hour is like the flare of the fire.”[2]
Are we not experiencing the reality of that very narration right now? Yet the swift passage of time, albeit experienced by all, is considered normal by the masses. A Muslim however, who is acquainted with Islāmic eschatology views the world with a different set of eyes. Those are the eyes of the heart (22:46), which places the words of the Prophet r above all others. The great scholar of hadīth, Allāmah Ibn Hajr Asqalāni t stated,
“The true intent (of the narration) is the removal of blessing from everything until it (the blessing) is removed from time. That (removal of blessing from time) is a sign of the close proximity of the Final Hour”[3]
As a result of the swift passage of time, most people today battle with identifying which day of the week we are in. This is a fact! Indeed, the ever-perplexing subject of time and its swift movement is a sign through which the believers will possess the ability to approximate the closeness of the end of time itself.
When the subject of time in Ākhiruz Zamān is studied with an investigative methodology to search the entirety of the prophecies, the hadīth corpus reveals that the subject of the swift passage of time will not be a ‘by the way’ experience. In fact, it is said to be connected to that infamous actor in the End-Times known as Al-Masīhud Dajjāl (the False Messiah).
Dajjāl & the Swift Passage of Time
The Dajjāl will indeed pose one of the greatest of trials for the entire world when he inevitably emerges, and a cursory reading of the subject reveals that the Prophet k linked the fast-paced experience of time to the emergence of that great deceiver,
عَنِ النَّوَّاسِ بْنِ سَمْعَانَ الْكِلاَبِيِّ، قَالَ ذَكَرَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم الدَّجَّالَ فَقَالَ إِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَأَنَا فِيكُمْ فَأَنَا حَجِيجُهُ دُونَكُمْ وَإِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَلَسْتُ فِيكُمْ فَامْرُؤٌ حَجِيجُ نَفْسِهِ وَاللَّهُ خَلِيفَتِي عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ فَمَنْ أَدْرَكَهُ مِنْكُمْ فَلْيَقْرَأْ عَلَيْهِ فَوَاتِحَ سُورَةِ الْكَهْفِ فَإِنَّهَا جِوَارُكُمْ مِنْ فِتْنَتِهِ ” . قُلْنَا وَمَا لُبْثُهُ فِي الأَرْضِ قَالَ أَرْبَعُونَ يَوْمًا يَوْمٌ كَسَنَةٍ وَيَوْمٌ كَشَهْرٍ وَيَوْمٌ كَجُمُعَةٍ وَسَائِرُ أَيَّامِهِ كَأَيَّامِكُمْ. فَقُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ هَذَا الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي كَسَنَةٍ أَتَكْفِينَا فِيهِ صَلاَةُ يَوْمٍ وَلَيْلَةٍ قَالَ لاَ اقْدُرُوا لَهُ قَدْرَهُ
Sayyidunā Nawās bin Sam’ān Al-Kilābī y stated, “The Messengerr of Allah Y mentioned the Dajjāl saying,‘If he comes forth while I am among you I shall be the one who will dispute with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth when I am not among you, a man must dispute on his own behalf, and AllāhY will take my place in looking after every Muslim. Those of you who live up to his time should recite over him the opening verses of Sūrah Al-Kahf, for they are your protection from his trial. We asked, ‘How long will he remain on the earth?’ He replied ,‘Forty days, one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and rest of his days like your (days).’ We asked, Messengerr of AllāhY, will one day’s prayer suffice us in this day which will be like a year?’ He replied, No, you must make an estimate of its extent….”[4]
Whilst the aforesaid narration is not to be confined to the limits of a literal approach[5], it strikes a remarkable resemblance to the previous prophecy regarding the swift passage of time as a sign of the End-Times. It seems as though, -and Allāh Almighty knows best-, that Blessed Prophet Muhammad k wanted his followers to find the system that binds the two subjects together and to identify the subject of the emergence of Dajjāl as a conduit to the subsequent loss of ‘barakah’ (blessing) in one’s experience of time.
Retrospectively, if the connection to God Almighty ensures that one’s experience of time is full of blessing, and if the disconnection from God Almighty ensures that time moves faster and yet faster, then suffice to say that the build up to the mission of Dajjāl will be to ensure a global ‘disconnect’ from God Almighty so that when he emerges, the masses will be in a theological quagmire as we see today with the rise of secularism giving birth to the increase in atheism.
Hence, Muslims are urged to establish a firm connection with Allāh Almighty in every facet of life to ensure that we are not victims of the fitnah of Dajjāl, who wants to remove all barakah (blessing) from time, so that his eventual emergence is one accepted by even ‘Muslims’ with open arms. The Dajjāl is blind in one eye, and wants to create a one-eyed epistemology to ensnare us all. The subject of time and its swift passage is indeed a sign that must resonate with us, and if we can, then we must connect the passage of time with our Creator, who will then protect us from the trials and tribulations of Dajjāl the False Messiah.
We seek refuge in the Majesty of Allāh, from the fitnah
of Dajjāl!
[1]Sūrah Al-Asr (103:1-2)
[2]Jāmi’ At-Tirmizhī – Book on Az-Zuhd, Chapter- What Has Been Related About The Constriction Of Time And The Curtailment Of Hope, Hadīth 2332
[3]Fath Al-Bāri – Commentary of Sahīh Al-Bukhāri by Allāmah ibn Hajr Asqalāni under the above cited narration.
[4]Sunan Abū Dāūd – Book of Battles, Chapter on the appearance of the Dajjāl ,Hadīth 4321.The next statement of the hadīth concerning Prophet Jesus u was not included as it will be discussed in the next chapter.
[5] For more details in the ILS Publication, “The Beginning of the End – An Eschatological Endeavour to Unravel the Mysteries of the Modern Age”
