The Rapture in Islam: Cool Breeze that takes the Soul of Every Believer

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام عليك يا خاتم النبيين

وعلى آلك واصحابك يا رحمة للعالمين

As in some denominations of Protestantism, there is a prophecy concerning the Rapture in Islam. The Holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said:

ثُمَّ يُرْسِلُ اللَّهُ رِيحًا بَارِدَةً مِنْ قِبَلِ الشَّأْمِ فَلاَ يَبْقَى عَلَى وَجْهِ الأَرْضِ أَحَدٌ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ مِنْ خَيْرٍ أَوْ إِيمَانٍ إِلاَّ قَبَضَتْهُ حَتَّى لَوْ أَنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ دَخَلَ فِي كَبَدِ جَبَلٍ لَدَخَلَتْهُ عَلَيْهِ حَتَّى تَقْبِضَهُ فَيَبْقَى شِرَارُ النَّاسِ فِي خِفَّةِ الطَّيْرِ وَأَحْلاَمِ السِّبَاعِ لاَ يَعْرِفُونَ مَعْرُوفًا وَلاَ يُنْكِرُونَ مُنْكَرًا فَيَتَمَثَّلُ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ فَيَقُولُ أَلاَ تَسْتَجِيبُونَ فَيَقُولُونَ فَمَا تَأْمُرُنَا فَيَأْمُرُهُمْ بِعِبَادَةِ الأَوْثَانِ وَهُمْ فِي ذَلِكَ دَارٌّ رِزْقُهُمْ حَسَنٌ عَيْشُهُمْ ثُمَّ يُنْفَخُ فِي الصُّورِ

Then Allah will send a cold wind from the direction of the Levant, and there will not remain on the face of the Earth anyone in whose heart there is an atom's weight of goodness or faith except that it will take him away, to the extent that if one of you were to enter the heart of a mountain, it would enter upon him until it took him away. Then the worst of people will remain as light as birds and as dreamy as wild beasts, not recognizing good and not denouncing evil. Then Satan will appear to them and say, “Will you not respond?” They will say, “Then what do you command us?” So he will command them to worship idols, while they are in that abode, their provision is good and their life is good. Then the Trumpet will be blown (Sahih Muslim)

إِذْ بَعَثَ اللَّهُ رِيحًا طَيِّبَةً فَتَأْخُذُهُمْ تَحْتَ آبَاطِهِمْ فَتَقْبِضُ رُوحَ كُلِّ مُؤْمِنٍ وَكُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ وَيَبْقَى شِرَارُ النَّاسِ يَتَهَارَجُونَ فِيهَا تَهَارُجَ الْحُمُرِ فَعَلَيْهِمْ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ

When Allah sends a pleasant wind, and it seizes them under their armpits, and it seizes the soul of every Believer and every Muslim, and the worst of people remain, fighting therein like donkeys fighting, and upon them the Hour will come (ibid)

These and other Ahadith indicate that the Hour, meaning Judgment Day, when the Trumpet is blown and the Resurrection begins, shall come upon the worst of mankind who have not a grain of faith or goodness in them. And the reason for this is that prior to the Hour, and some time subsequent to the Second Coming of the Messiah through which the Antichrist is vanquished, there shall be the Rapture that takes only the souls of the believing Muslims while leaving everyone else behind. Such a scenario has been described by Jesus too, as mentioned in the Bible: “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left” (Matthew 24:40-41, KJV)

Yet, we should not expect this Rapture to occur until the Dajjal has already emerged and until the Messiah Jesus عليه السلام has already descended from Heaven. Some of the extremists and Takfiris, who consider Muslim society today to be Jahiliyya, in a state of Ignorance, and put forward a false narrative that the Ummah has reverted to idolatry, specifically the idolatry of grave worship, say that these prophecies from the Sunnah have already transpired. Concerning the Rapture by the cool breeze that comes from the direction of the Levant, Shah Isma’il of Delhi wrote:

اللہ تعالی ایک ایسی ہوا بھیجے گا کہ سب اچھے بندے مر جائیں گے جن کے دل میں تھوڑا سا بھی ایمان ہوگا اور وہی لوگ زندہ رہ جائیں گے جن میں کچھ بھلائی نہیں ہوگی۔

اس حدیث سے معلوم ہوا کہ آخر زمانہ میں شرک قدیم بھی رائج ہوگا وہ رسول اللہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے فرمانے کے مطابق ہوا۔

Allah Most High will send such a wind that all the good people who have even a little faith in their hearts will die and those who have no good will be left alive.
From this Hadith it is known that in the end times the old polytheism will also be prevalent. It already happened according to the saying of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace (Taqwiyat ul-Iman, p.75)

Muslims should tread with caution, and beware of the false interpretations of the deviants and extremists. Many cults and false religions, like the Qadianis, argue that the Signs of the Hour such as the emergence of the Dajjal, the Second Coming of the Messiah, the Sun rising from the West, the coming of the Beast and so on have already transpired. Yet none of these Major Signs of the Apocalypse have yet occurred. For Shah Isma’il to have apparently claimed that the Rapture already occurred, the cool and pleasant breeze that shall take the souls of all the Believers leaving behind only the most wicked humans on Earth, is indicative of a Takfiri mindset which considers the main body of the Muslims today apostate or at the very least severely misguided.