The New Millennium
By Maulana I. Suleman
Assalamu Alaikum, dear respected brothers, sisters, elders, and young friends.
Humanity, at this moment in time, human civilization andhuman beings
are all waiting for the mew millennium from the far east coast of
Moscow to the far westcoast of the United States of America; right up
north to the north pole and down to Antarctica. The whole of mankind
is spinning and revolvingaround one word, which is known as the
Millennium. Leaflets have been posted through letterboxes informing
parents, children, neighbors, and societies about what the millennium
bug is. But the fact of the matter remains that this notion of the
millennium has gripped the world and the tools by which the brains are
captured by the TV, Sky TV, and cable TV. These are the tools by which
the brains of the humans are captured. There is a great deal of
apocalyptic hype as weapproach the new millennium. Ordinary people are
grasped by anxiety, where as, scientists, politicians, economists,
religious leaders and the media are busy in anticipating and
predicting the future and the most affected generation is the young
generation. Thisconcept of the new millennium is nothing new.
We should look one thousand years ago when the first millennium came
and see what the history books say. I will quote a particular work by
Professor William Durant, a professor at the University of Berkeley in
California, USA. He wrote the history of civilization over thirty
years. At the time of the last millennium, human beings thought that
the Day of Judgement was going to come. Forthe preparation for theDay
of Judgement they decided to build churches so everyone turned towards
God because they thought the day of Judgement was coming and they
thought, Now, we haveto face our Lord. What will our answers be? But
this Day of Judgement did not come. And if you read the books of
Christianity, they will tell you that the next year after the
millennium is called, The Biggest Disappointed. The biggest
disappointed because Qiyyamah never came. They have a church in
Germany called the Reformation Church. They decided that people are
gettingso far away from Allah:We need to reform, resurrect our Iman.
Thats why they have the Reformation Church and this concept was also
hit tothe Muslim communities. We are now in our 15th century when the
one thousandth Hijri came. Allama Suyooti (R.A.) stated in his work
that this Ummat (of Rasoolullah) will pass their first millennium,
which occurred four centuries ago. He collected all those ahaadith,
which proved that the Muslims will go past the first millennium
because people were concerned at that time like other communities so
he proved in his book by collections of the Prophet SAW that they will
pass the new millenium, which was the first millennium for the Muslims
(according to the Islamic calendar).
So this concept about the millenium was relevant to the Muslims as it
was to the Christians. Some groups of the Christian churches believe
that Y2K will bring the Day of Judgement and others believe that the
time of the millenium is the time of partying. If we put the money
that will be spent in celebrating the new millenium in one corner and
you look at the third world debt on the other corner, you will see
that the world will be spendingthree times as much more money than the
debts of the third world countries.
Human behaviour has come to such an extentthat not only have
theyforgotten Allah, but also they have decided to take the satanic
path, the path of Shaytaan in celebrating. We need to understand the
story line as to why thenew malls, movie theaters, football stadiums,
etc. are being built. We have tounderstand the times and the world we
are facing and then see what the problem is and try to find a solution
for our children and I particularly address those brothers who have
children because it is the future of your child that is at stake now
and the Quran addresses all of us: This world is full of pleasures and
pursuits.If you look at the scenarios around us, you will see stickers
onthe back of cars spreading messages like, Its good to show off. And
if you ask people what they do when they get upset, a lot of people
say, I go shopping. There used to be a time when people used to go to
churches and mosques to find some satisfaction and internal security
and peace in them. But now, we have to go to the big malls and big
arcade places and big cinemas. These are plans of Shaytaan to deviate
mankind away from his goal in life, away from the remembrance of their
Lord. And your Lord says: O man! What has lured you away from your
Gracious Lord, Who created and molded you and gave you an upright
shape?
When the Prophet SAWcame into this world, the community, at the time,
was known as Ummi, or illiterate. They did not know how to live life.
They didnt know what the potential of the humanbeing was and the
Prophet SAW, himself, was not described as a person fully educated
with a professorship or a Ph.D. He was also described as an Ummi. On
the one hand, we have a Prophet who is Ummi and on the otherhand we
have a community who is Ummi. The Prophet SAW stands up to his
community and makes two major claims. Claim number one: I have been
sent into this world as an educator. He had nevereven seen the face of
a teacher and he claims to be an educator. Claim number two: I have
been sent into this world to perfect the best moral conductin human
behaviour, to educate them, and make sure that they live life as human
beings, not as animals of a jungle. This was a major challenge given
to the Prophet SAW. When the last sermon was delivered in the field of
Arafah, there were 125,000 people present. There is no other period of
time in the past two millenniums that one person has changed the lives
and minds of so many people in a period of 23 years. Professor William
Montgomery Watt, lecturer at Edinburgh University, wrote a book called
Muhammad at Mecca, Muhammad at Madina. He is described as a
professional and number one expert on the life of the Prophet SAW. He
said, One thing baffles me. I cannot understand how one man, who hasno
formal education, could lead a community who behaved like animals and
created those human beings, which the world had never seen, created
them into the best individuals. This baffled the professor. These were
Christians who studied Islam and said that the Muslims were the people
who gave the world a lifestyle to live and the intelligence to think
and today the Muslims are living like animals!
You must have heard the name of Ubay bin Khalaf. He was the person who
left no stone unturned in demonstrating his enmity against Islam.
Allama Zahabi has written in his book which is about major sins that
those people who do not perform their salah regularly because they
were too busy in business (or work) would be resurrected on the Day of
Judgement with Ubay bin Khalaf, who was a commercial businessman in
the city of Makkah. And if you were away from salah because you were a
king of a country, then your resurrection will be with Pharaoh because
he forgot Allah. And if you are at a ministerialor a professional
position and that leadsyou away from the remembrance and worship of
Allah, your resurrection will be with Haman. And if your material
assets deviated you from the remembrance of Allah, your resurrection
will be with Qaroon.
Ubay bin Khalaf had a brother called Ummayah bin Khalaf, who was
killed in the Battle of Badr in the year 2 Hijri, year 620. Ummayah
bin Khalaf had a son named Safwaan bin Ummayah. Safwaan wanted to
assassinate the Prophet SAW in revenge of his fathers death. He was a
leader at the time and hired the services of a hit man, a professional
assassin, whose name was Umayr bin Wahb. Umary, after financial
security from Safwan went ahead and dipped his sword into poison and
traveled 600 kilometers from Makkah to Madina. When he got to the
mosque, the Prophet SAW was already giventhe news for the reason he
had come. When he came, the Prophet SAW told him in one ear and not in
front of everyone that, O Umary, have you come to kill me? Safwaan was
shocked and said, How do you know, O Prophet of Allah? The Prophet SAW
replied, I was informed by that Creator who has the information of
everything. And at this moment, Umary said that this person can only
be a Prophet and recited the shahadah. Eight years later, Makkah was
conquered. Umayr saidto the Prophet SAW, You may remember Safwaan, the
one who issued a contract against you. Today, he has fled to Jeddah
and wants to commit suicide because he feels that his life will be
taken (for trying to kill the Prophet SAW eight years before). The
Prophet SAW took his turban off and sent it to Safwaan. When Umayr
came back, he said, Safwaan feels secure from you now and needs two
monthsto think about this. TheProphet SAW said, Givehim four months.
After that, the Prophet SAW took Safwaan to Hunayn and Taif and he
gave him a share of the booty and the spoils of war after which
Safwaan said, This type of behaviour can only be expected from a
Prophet, so the answer to the questionProfessor William M. Watt put
forward in his book is the fact thatIslam was not spread by the sword,
but by the behaviour of the Prophet SAW. The same people who came to
cut off the neck of the Prophet SAW put their necks in his laps. This
kind of person does not rule over the land and territory. This kind of
person rules over the hearts of the people.
So, how do we educateourselves? At the time of the Prophet SAW there
was a Jewish community, there was a Christian community,there was a
community that did not believe in any god. The same communitiesare
here today. The thing that changed the Arabian society was the
characteristics of Rasoolullah SAW. In this day and age, this isa form
of dawah and tableegh propagation of Islam and it is upon the mothers
and fathers to make sure that that type of education is supplied to
our children. Who knows how the next generation will face our deaths.
Are we going to spend our lastdays in this world in nursing homes? Are
they going to remember us at the time of death? As one poet says: Life
is thing that turns on wheels. Death is thing that everyone feels. If
life was a thing that money could buy, the rich would live and thepoor
would die. Allah, in his wisdom, has made it so that the richand the
poor, together must go.
'' Our Lord ! grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire '' [Ameen]
-
{in Arab} :->
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid-dunyaa hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqinaa 'athaaban-naar/-
(Surah Al-Baqarah ,verse 201)
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