بسم
الله الرحمن الرحيم
Being
a prophet of God, Muhammad Nabi (sall Allahu alaih wasallam)
naturally made countless prophecies on the authority of divine
Revelation and the news vouchsafed to him through the Angel Gabriel.
Indeed, the basic definition of prophet is someone who makes
prophecies – predictions concerning the future. The prophecies of
the Israelite Prophets and our darling Prophet Muhammad (sall Allahu
alaihi wasallam), generally speaking, are regarding the condition of
the community of Believers, and certain events that will directly
impact them. Hence, we read in the Hebrew Scriptures about how the
Israelite Prophets and Seers like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
Daniel (peace be upon them), issued prophecies detailing the future
condition and events surrounding the nation of Israel. Likewise, our
master Muhammad the Prophet (sall Allahu alaihi wasallam) gave
detailed news about the future course of his Ummah. He mentioned the
various phases they would pass through, starting with what would
happen immediately after his death. He spoke of the initial trials
and tribulations the Ummah would face, how his Faith would spread to
the extremities of the East and the West. He (sall Allahu alaihi
wasallam) said:
إِنَّ
رَبِّي زَوَى لِيَ الأَرْضَ فَرَأَيْتُ
مَشَارِقَهَا وَمَغَارِبَهَا وَإِنَّ
مُلْكَ أُمَّتِي سَيَبْلُغُ مَا زُوِيَ
لِي مِنْهَا وَأُعْطِيتُ الْكَنْزَيْنِ
الأَحْمَرَ وَالأَبْيَضَ
“My
Lord levelled the Earth for me so I was able to see its east and its
west, and the dominion of my Ummah reached the extent to which it
(the Earth) was unfolded for me, and I was granted two treasures; the
red and the white (people)”
(Sunan
Abi Dawud)
In
this Hadith, the Prophet (sall Allahu alaihi wasallam) is describing
a vision in which he was shown the Earth unfolded or leveled for
him. Incidentally, this is an indication that Islam does not teach
that the Earth is flat. In this vision, he saw the extent to which
the dominion of his Ummah would spread, in both the east and the
west. At the time of the Prophet’s death, the Ummah was confined to
and its dominion extended over the Arabian Peninsula only. But very
soon, beginning during the caliphate of sayyidina Umar al-Faruq (radi
Allahu anhu), this dominion spread exponentially with the miraculous
and divinely brought about conquests of the entire Middle East and
North Africa. The dominion of the Muslims continued to expand into
the Iberian Peninsula and Transoxiana during the subsequent rule of
various Arab dynasties. Today, the dominion of the Muslim Ummah
extends from Morocco and West Africa in the west to the Indonesian
Archipelago in the east, and from Kazakhstan in the north to the Horn
of Africa in the south. Additionally, the Prophet (sall Allahu alaihi
wasallam) saw that he was granted two treasures, the conversion of a
white-skinned people and a red-skinned people to his Faith. This
refers to the fact that the people of Anatolia, the Caucasus, and
many in the Balkans are Muslim peoples who have a white complexion,
and likewise, the Turkic peoples of the Steppes of Central Asia are
also Muslim, who have a reddish or ruddy complexion. It may also
refer to the people of the Levant and the Muslims of the Indian
subcontinent who may respectively be described as having white and
red complexisions. And
we expect the continued spread of Islam among new populations that
are presently non-Muslim, in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America,
Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, in sha Allah. At any rate, this
prophetic vision has been literally and spectacularly fulfilled with
utmost precision. The Prophet (sall Allahu alaihi wasallam) said:
كَانَ
كُلُّ نَبِيٍّ يُبْعَثُ إِلَى قَوْمِهِ
خَاصَّةً وَبُعِثْتُ إِلَى كُلِّ أَحْمَرَ
وَأَسْوَدَ
“Every
Prophet was sent to his specific people, but I have been sent to all,
red and black.”
(Sahih
Muslim)
But
in another prophecy, our darling Prophet Muhammad (sall Allahu alaihi
wasallam) spoke of the downfall of this Ummah, and how it would be
conquered and colonized by the foreign, unbelieving nations of this
world:
يُوشِكُ
الأُمَمُ أَنْ تَدَاعَى عَلَيْكُمْ كَمَا
تَدَاعَى الأَكَلَةُ إِلَى قَصْعَتِهَا
.
فَقَالَ
قَائِلٌ وَمِنْ قِلَّةٍ نَحْنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ
قَالَ "
بَلْ
أَنْتُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ كَثِيرٌ وَلَكِنَّكُمْ
غُثَاءٌ كَغُثَاءِ السَّيْلِ وَلَيَنْزِعَنَّ
اللَّهُ مِنْ صُدُورِ عَدُوِّكُمُ
الْمَهَابَةَ مِنْكُمْ وَلَيَقْذِفَنَّ
اللَّهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمُ الْوَهَنَ
.
فَقَالَ
قَائِلٌ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا
الْوَهَنُ قَالَ حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا
وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ
“Soon,
the nations will invite (one another) to partake of you, as diners
call one another to a large dish.” Someone said, “Will it be
because we will be few in number on that day?” He said: “No,
rather you will be many on that day, but you will like the refuse of
the flood. Allah will take away fear of you from the hearts of your
enemies, and Allah will pelt your hearts with Wahn
(weakness).” Someone said, “O Messenger of Allah, what is Wahn?”
He said: “Love of this world and dislike of death.” (Sunan Abi
Dawud #4297)
How
accurately this prophecy describes the conquest and dividing up of
the Muslim world by European colonialism, and the phenomenon of
neo-imperialism which the Muslim world continues to be a victim of
till the present. Consider the fact that the Prophet (sall Allahu
alaihi wasallam) made this prophecy while the spread of his Faith had
not yet gone beyond the boundaries of Arabia, but was apparently on
the ascendant. Yet, counterintuitively, he is describing a future in
which his Ummah is large but weak. In an analogy, the Prophet (sall
Allahu alaihi wasallam) compared the foreign nations summoning one
another to conquer the Muslims the way a host invites guests to feast
alongside him from a large dish of food. Does it not describe how
after the First World War, the imperial powers of western Europe
divided up the conquered territories of the Muslim world among
themselves? And likewise, does it not describe how the United States
and other imperial powers invited other non-Muslim nations to join
them in a “coalition” to attack and conquer various Muslim
countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya)? Consider the fact that at its
greatest extent, European colonialism had directly colonized the vast
majority of the Muslim world, and the remainder was either under its
partial control or within its sphere of influence:
According
to this map, Japan, Korea, Siam and Liberia were the only countries
in the world which managed to remain outside the European sphere of
influence. Notice also that apart from Arabia, Turkey, Iran and
Afghanistan, the rest of the Muslim world was directly ruled and
colonized by the European powers.
Another
significant element of this prophecy is that the fear of the Muslims
would vanish from the hearts of the non-Muslim nations. From the very
beginning at the emergence of Islam, the non-Muslims were struck by a
fear and awe of the Muslims that was surely put into their hearts by
God Himself. This allowed the Muslims to remain the most powerful
force on Earth for centuries. But beginning with the First Crusade,
in which the Catholic Pope called upon the world of Christendom to
unite and attack the Muslims, that fear began to be taken away from
their hearts. It was completely removed at the height of European
colonialism and subsequently American neo-imperialism. India, which
for centuries had by ruled by various Muslim dynasties, was colonized
by the British (becoming their “crown jewel”), the Muslim states
and emirates of Central Asia were gobbled up by the Russians, the
French took over North Africa, while the Dutch ruled the East Indies
(Malaysia and Indonesia). After the age of colonialism, despite the
fact that the Muslim world is at least nominally independent, there
is the inescapable secular influence of the French in North Africa,
in terms of both culture, lifestyle and law, the remaining of the
British legal system in Pakistan and Bangladesh over and above the
Islamic Shari’ah, the the atheistic influence of the Soviet
Russians in Central Asia. We see that there is only some remaining
semblance of Islamic culture and lifestyle in remote parts of the
Muslim world, such as Afghanistan, Yemen and parts of Arabia, which
the Europeans never managed to completely colonize or control
directly. But apart from these remote places and isolated examples,
the rest of the Muslim world has been almost completely Europeanized
in terms of law, culture, lifestyle, dress, philosophy, political
ideology, and language. This is a consequence of, according to the
Prophet (sall Allahu alaihi wasallam) the Muslims, by and large,
having excessive love for this transient world and dislike of death.
It is this inner condition that has made the Muslims weak – easy
prey for the predatory, foreign powers of this world.
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