 One of the things that we can turn to during times of confusion is the guidance that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us through the noble words of the blessed Messenger of Allah ﷺ. During the end of times, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that one of the signs will be confusion. People will be confused. So when we live in a time where we see confusion and we see other signs at the end of times, the Prophet ﷺ said that murder and killing will become rampant and we see that. That leaders will be put up as puppets and they will be the worst of people will become the puppets. Asfalunat, the Sufaha, the foolish people, the fools and the lowest of society will be done to be put as the leaders of the people and the people will come to the Ummah, the Prophet ﷺ and all of the non-believers will eat and split up the resources and the wealth of the Muslims like people picking from a plate. We see that happening. We see the sanctions and the embargoes that crippled our brothers and sisters in Iraq that the Prophet ﷺ foretold in Sahih Muslim that there will be an embargo, there will be sanctions on Iraq and Syria and we witness those. So we have no doubt as Muslims that we're living at the end of times. We know that the first sign of the end of times was the Prophet ﷺ. He said that he was sent between him and the end of time are like two fingers that close. Now when we read those a hadith about the end of times being near it's not that we become apocalyptic and think that it's going to happen tomorrow and it's especially important that we don't set a date to it as some apocalyptic cults from both within the Muslim community and outside the Muslim community begin to do. Oh on October of this year the world is going to end or at 1500 years the Ummah will end. Recently somebody sent me a message and said oh have you heard such and such Shev he calculated out that the Ummah will only be 1500 years old and I responded to him. I said first of all any calculations that give an exact time to the end of the Ummah the Prophet ﷺ which also signifies the end of the world. All of those hadith are not those calculations are not to be counted on. That's not something that we know for a fact because if we feel that we know when the world will end then how can we say it's from the knowledge of the unseen. How can the Messenger of Allah ﷺ tell Jibril ﷺ when he asked him when is the end of times he said the one being question doesn't know more than the questioner. Both of us we don't know it's from the knowledge of the unseen. It's from one of the five matters that only Allah ﷺ knows. So how can we have people that will put a date to the end of times when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us nobody knows it except Allah ﷺ. So we don't want to fall into that and then I said second of all the reason why you shouldn't concern yourself with all these calculations of when exactly the world will end is because the purpose of studying the end of times is not to become so frightened and become more confused if so that you focus on what you need to do. So the three questions that we should ask ourselves when we understand or when we read about or when we hear about the end of times after the time or the signs of the end of times. The question is why should we study them and then the question is what are they and then the third question should be what do we do what do we do. The first two questions in terms of what they are and why we study them in a foundational hadith that every single Muslim should know and that we should teach our children from a young age and we find it at the beginning of Noah's 40 hadith the hadith that's called the hadith of Jibril ﷺ but not just to teach it and oh here's the story but to look at it as guidance that Allah is giving us on the lips of the blessed messenger of Allah ﷺ. The one who is given what is called jawami ul-kalim comprehensive words oceans of understanding can be understood from a few words of the messenger of Allah ﷺ. They said that one fourth of Islam can be traced back to the hadith. Three words of the messenger of Allah ﷺ and you can trace one part of the understanding and the rules and the laws of Islam back to this hadith. That's because he was given so much power and eloquence in his words that no other prophet was given. So when we look at his words it shouldn't be just we're looking at a like we look at a twitter feed or we look at a facebook post or sometimes we have facebook sages that want to put up their facebook hikam in a few letters or a few words. We don't read the hadith of the messenger of Allah ﷺ like that. We read it realizing that Allah is giving us revelation through the messenger of Allah ﷺ and he was given jawami ul-kalim. So when we find Jibril ﷺ asking the messenger of Allah ﷺ four questions he said what is Islam? What is iman? What is iqsan? And when is the end of times? When is the sa'a the final hour? The messenger of Allah ﷺ responded by mentioning the five pillars of Islam and the pillars of faith and what exactly iqsan is but what I want to focus on is this last question because sometimes we don't. Sometimes when we look at the books when they teach the deen they just look at our faith our practice and then the inward perfection and the outward perfection of those two things those three but the hadith mentions four and the messenger of Allah ﷺ said this was jibril came to teach you your deen he came to teach you your deen so the deen is not just in those three it's also in knowledge of the final hour and the signs so jibril ﷺ asks the messenger of Allah ﷺ when is the final hour? He says nobody essentially only Allah knows you don't know and I don't know he said jibril ﷺ then said then what are the signs and he mentioned two signs that the slave woman will give birth to her master and that the poor destitute and unclothed shepherds will compete with each other to build tall buildings the first one the slave mass the slave will give birth to her master they said a literal meaning of this is that eventually there were many people who were slaves and they were they were brought into the ummah and they gave they they got their freedom through giving birth to people that without going into all of the details that's a lengthy discussion the the non-literal interpretation is that authority will be inverted so for example the slave woman how is she giving birth to her master she's going to give birth she's going to bring somebody into this world that's now going to control them one of the understandings is we find this in the way that people have lost respect for their parents the parent who brought you into the world now you become their master speaking to them in a disparaging way in a foul way yelling at them cursing them treating like them like a slave and that's a sign of the end of times the messenger of Allah said him said but who will become rampant disrespect their parents will become rampant so that's one thing those were two signs the other side or that was one sign the other sign is that the poor destitute barefoot shepherds will compete with each other to build tall buildings what do we see in the Gulf today people who yesterday did not have oil and gas and their economy like in the united era of emirates was based on livestock and pearl diving livestock the shepherds and the hadith says they're unclothed and if you see i one time saw a picture of what the pearl divers used to wear very see imagine what a diver is going to wear just going without any stupid gear what he's going to go to to dive for the pearls barely any clothes so an economy who yesterday just 50 60 years ago was based on livestock and pearl diving the barefoot and unclothed shepherds now they're competing with each other to build tall buildings they're not building tall buildings the hadith says doesn't say building tall buildings it says competing with each other our building is taller no our buildings taller so we see this so what is it why do we do this why should we learn these ashrat usaa the first thing is that it's mentioned by the messenger of allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam as a part of our dean knowing the signs of the end of time it's a part of our dean and what it builds in the believer is awareness of your surroundings and awareness of your time because it's not just enough for us as muslims to say we have the book of allah and we have the sunnah of the messenger of allah sallallahu and it's sufficient for all ages it's true that's definitely true but we can't stop there we have to look around us and we have to see what is going on in our lives and what's going on in our society and what's going on with our community our portion of the umma of the Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and then apply our dean accordingly apply our dean accordingly not compromise our dean we're sticking to the principles of the Quran we're sticking to the principles of the sunnah we're sticking to what has been laid down by our the early generations of the salaf and the scholars we're sticking to those principles but we know how to apply it to our times and i'll give you an example recently somebody sent me a text message or i was on a text message group and they said be careful when you're discussing on what's app because on the the generic wallpaper behind it is a little picture of a dog and sometimes we discuss a hadith in Quran and now it's being fed on this wallpaper that has a picture of a dog i said first of all this is ridiculous because from a fifth aspect there's nothing wrong with reciting Quran live and there's a dog a few meters away or a few feet away or right next to you and some of our teachers if they were eating a meal outside and a dog pays fast by it they would feed the dog and there they are a few feet away from and if you recite Quran your molecules and the vibrations of your recitations you're connected to that dog by the air by the air by the molecules you have a connection so if i have a connection live to this dog and there's nothing wrong with reciting Quran when a dog is around then why do you what's what's the whole purpose of having a fetwa that says you can't have these discussions on what's up second of all is that really what our time is about if you're afraid as the fetwa mentioned this little fetwa postcard that said people are using their phones and they have to make sure that they're using their phones for goodness and look what they're doing i said people are doing a lot more foul things with their phones and we don't have to go into all of the details of what people are doing foul with their phones so if you want to address the foul issues the societal ills that are connected to handheld smartphones in our society deal with those issues deal with illicit issues of illicit pictures of children deal with human trafficking deal with drug deals deal with hookup acts and kick and tender and all of these other apps that our people are using for khadu for foulness deal with those issues and forget about a simple non-relevant issue that even from a fifth aspect has no uh standing in our society but when we don't look at our society and we don't realize what we're living in and the reality of the times that we're living in then we'll get caught up in these other issues these non-important issues and argue amongst ourselves on non-important issues then i find i ended the conversation i said and tell the group when they figure out how many heads are how many angels are on the head of a pin to let me know that as well because in the early centuries of the christians theologians they also they got to a point where they were arguing about well how many angels could fit on the head of a pin nothing relevant to a person's life to their akida to their fit to their practice to their spirituality and when people got so far from reality look at what happened to their communities they began leaving the church and this push towards atheism didn't start today and it didn't start yesterday and it didn't start with the late show famous late show hosts who are proud of their atheism and trying to push it on all faith communities it started hundreds of years ago as people started moving away from the church so we have to be aware of our surroundings and know what we're living in and the realities of the times that we're living in not to where we go to the extreme of thinking that it's going to end tomorrow and so we become in a state of despair but also so that we don't go to the extreme of not even caring about it if we really felt that this was the end of times and the ashraf of sa'a the signs of the end of times are occurring and manifesting themselves on a daily basis would we really be cared about what's on a whatsapp group and any other non-important issue that we can think of we have to be aware of our times the sahaba they said they were from the guidance of the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam sometimes he would make the appearance of the jal seems so imminent they thought he was right around the corner and at other times they felt he would never come now what does this do for the believer it puts them in a state of balance when you feel when you get too comfortable with the times that you're living in then move to those ahadith to talk about the dajal and make him seem imminent his appearance imminent so that you can move towards the center but if you become too apocalyptic and think that the world is going to end tomorrow then bring yourself back from the despair by looking at i could live another 50 years we don't know the umma can go for another 10 000 years there's nobody that came and said it's going to end at this time so but we can move back we can say it could happen tomorrow one of the things that happens on yom al-jum'ah is that all creatures on the earth are silent in anticipation of the nafqasul because it will happen on a jom'ah on a friday except the thapada except for the humans in the jinn we're too caught up in our experience of this the illusion of the dunya and we don't realize it could happen today but the animals realize that and they have a a sense of this perception that it could happen today and we can move towards that the way we do it is by understanding the signs of the end of times reading the signs of the end of times recognizing that it could happen it could happen in our lives it could happen in our lives but it could also happen a hundred years down but that whole process of going back and forth gives us a perception you have to know what's going around in your times if you just read the books and just read the ahadith and the ahadith of the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said this and this and this well how would we know that it applies to our day and life if we don't have an understanding of the society that we're living in so we can't just live in a bubble the ulama have said for this specific reason the ulama have to write books every single generation every single generation because the ulama will write books that respond and address issues in their times one of the scholars contemporary scholar i have a great deal of respect for him he brought on a student and the first project that he gave him was he said go around my library and make a note of every book in my library the topic and the age that it was written in and then start doing an analysis looking what the ulama did because if you don't see that happening if you don't see the ulama writing that then we might pull a book off the shelf that was written in the fifth or sixth century and then make a whole movement to try to say that this author and his understanding is going to be applicable in our times and if we just go back to that book in that paradigm and those teachings we'll be fine and that's the wrong understanding the ulama of every generation have to analyze their times and either say read this book it applies to our times or make a new book review revamp that curriculum so that it's pertinent to our society that's the duty of the ulama what's the duty of every single one of us every single one of us has to be aware of our times i'll give you one example parents raising their children in modern society if a parent raises their child in modern society and does not know the movies that they're watching and does not know the music that they're listening to and even if without going into the fifth debate if you don't want to listen to the music then read the lyrics read the lyrics of the music that your children are listening to and see what they're talking about and understand the the singers and the people who who are those people that are that are making those lyrics understand about them but if you just say oh it's okay he just listened to some music some harmless music you don't understand you don't have a perception of his reality do you understand the reality of the movies that they're watching and the messages that are coming in through those movies and who the actors are if you don't want to watch the movie read the transcript or read the synopsis but be a part of the reality of your children that are being raised in this society do you realize do you understand all of the apps that are out there on the phones that you give your child for hay it could be used for hay but it could also be used for a lot of evil and even if you have devices to monitor and lock they have the the the young the the youth know how to unlock those and cover up their their tracks so do you know what's going on in their iphone that they're using do you know the forums that they're they're going on do you know what's going on do you know what is around us in our society that's the struggle of each and every single one of us we have to have a perception of the world that we're bringing our children up in and don't just say to i can't do a lot but the qiyamah could be a long ways away the jack could be a long ways away and to i can't do a lot i i i i dependent on allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what is the message of allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam say to the better one when he came in and he didn't tie up his camel he said why don't you tie up your camel he said i'm depending on allah he said i tell him what to look at tie your camel and then depend on allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so understand the reality that your children are living in understand the friends that they have at their schools understand the books and the novels and the social media that they're exposed to understand all of those things then depend on allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but you have to have a perception we can't just go through thinking i'm muslim and then everything will be fine we have to be active we have to be proactive we have to be a part of our children's lives we have to be a part of the society that we're living in and not just live in a time before us otherwise we will make the mistake of not only not knowing the signs but then of becoming one of the signs at the end of times and that's the other reason why we learned the top signs at the end of time so that we don't become one of the signs at the end of times we praise allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we ask peace and blessings be sent upon our noble messenger and our beloved Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and i enjoy you and i enjoy myself to have taqwa of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala avoiding the prohibitions of allah outwardly and inwardly and fulfilling his commands outwardly and inwardly we talked about why we should know the signs at the end of times what are the signs at the end of times but now what do we do what do we do when we see those times manifesting themselves when we see the foolish people becoming the leader when we see our countries becoming divided when we see the people becoming divided when we see bloodshed and murder becoming rampant as the messenger of allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam said al haraj al haraj and the sahaba said what is that he said murder killing to where the point the person doesn't even know why they're killed we see the images on the tv officer why did you shoot me i don't know literally they're saying the same things that the messenger of allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam said will happen people will not know why they're being shot when we're seeing that happen are we just going to go buy in our daily lives are we going to become apocalyptic and say oh now the solution is we have to move to another country the end of times is for the whole earth you can go to a muslim country muslim majority country you can stay here it will find you that the jail will find people even in the remotest parts of the desert it says in the ravines of the mountains in the desert that the jail will be there his system will be there he knows what people will be doing he'll track be tracking everybody and with smartphones now in the remotest parts of the desert we see the system that's going to proceed to the job but what do we do we go to a hadith and i first heard this hadith from my father may Allah have mercy on his soul and which reminds us his parents teach your children hadith and teach your children the guidance of the messenger of allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam you don't know what hadith i'll stick but this hadith that i first heard from my father helps me stay balanced in this confusing times the messenger of allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam said and hadith related by many including ahmet in amat ala ahadikum al qiyama wa fiyadihi fasila falyagrisha if the day of judgment comes upon you and in your hand is a baby palm tree a sapling then planted then planted go ahead complete what you started complete what you started one way to look at this hadith is that it's a figure of speech because if the qiyama happens when the mountains are are being turned into what looks like wool and the skies are falling and everything is is now over and cracking and the world is coming to an end no one will be in a state of mind they will be so scared that they can even complete an action that they were doing so some of the alama said we take this as a figure of speech what it means is that if the end of times is imminent upon you then continue working because you don't know who's going to come after you one time umar bin al sattab radi allahu anhu saw an older man and he said why aren't you a farmer he said why aren't you why didn't you plant he said i'm old and i'm going to die any day there's no point i'm not going to eat from my crops or from the trees the orchards that he plants he said but there are people that could come after you that could benefit from that he said i implore you to finish your farm and umar and the farmer both with both of their hands continued the farm i learned this lesson one time first hand from an old man the first person that i studied or on with the first person that i studied with in west africa and he was at his day palms and a younger student from the state said he said chef you're very old why are you planting new palm trees you're not going to benefit from them he said yes but my children will come after me and benefit so there are things that we're doing we can't become in such a state of despair that we think nothing's going to happen after us we have to continue things for the people that are coming after us so we should not go into a state of despair with all of this confusion this is happening and all of the divisiveness that is happening and all the political turmoil that is happening say oh it's over it's too late no plant the palm tree every single one of us has a palm tree in their lives that they can plant plant it because you could benefit from it the people after you could come and benefit the other understanding of this hadid they said this is the power of having a sincere intention and doing things for the sake of Allah because when that person is planting that that sapling if he sees the end of times happening as their literal understanding of that hadid is he's going to complete it because he started this action for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he should finish it because whether or not it ends right then and there he's going to get the reward for it so finish your actions but the important thing for us to remember is to do something we have to do something as the political turmoil is happening as the divisiveness is happening as the oppression is rampant and murder is rapid and whatever is happening and the morals of society are going down and down and down on a daily basis on an hourly basis each and every single one of us has to do something don't just be an armchair revolutionary a monday morning quarterback a facebook warrior and making posts about what's going on in the world do something each one of us should be doing something when somebody asked me about a movement recently i said we could talk about the movements we could talk about the movies but i'm too busy actually doing things to help the people in those urban communities i don't need to talk about the importance of doing it because i'm actually trying to do something yes it's important to have awareness and build awareness but once we've done our duty in building awareness about what needs to be done in society pick something and do something each one of us has a god-given talent has something within us and we find this in the message of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's hadith about people are like the have been fit but people are like gold and silver but you have to have fit of islam understanding of islam not just fit the science of fit but the total holistic understanding of islam and bring that out and each every single one of us can offer something to our society to our families to our friends but we can't just be takers from society and getting our job and our 401k our children are in the best of colleges and we got everything set up for us and we forget the rest of our society we have to do something to be givers to our society that we're living in and we actually have to do something and continue doing that especially when you feel like there's no point especially when you feel like the mountains are falling and the skies are falling if the day of judgment falls upon you and in your hand is a baby palm tree he should plant it may Allah give us the tawfiq to understand where our fasila is where is our palm tree and to give us the tawfiq in these last confusing times to be able to to plant it and Ya Allah give us clarity and give us understanding of the times that we live in and Ya Allah give us understanding of the signs of the end of times and make us from amongst the people who do something in these end of times and not those that the people who talk about what needs to be done Ya Allah make us from amongst the people that are not from the signs of the end of times and protect us from all of the fit and all of the trials at the end of times