Is 2015 the year of the Mahdi ?

Glossary - 'Hadith' is an Islamic historical account of the Prophets words and actions

With the Islamic event of Mid-Shaban having just passed us this week (June 3^rd-4^th), a few sources like discoveringislam.org are of the opinion that this would be the year that the Mahdi will appear. The conditions are ripe according to them, with Syria currently in a devastating war, an event prophesied by the Hadith as a condition for the arrival of the Mahdi during the Mid-Shaban. For the uninformed, Mahdi in simple terms is Islam’s answer to the modern messiah and just like Christians expecting the return of Jesus, there is a lot of anticipation building on the Mahdi’s arrival, given the state of the world today. 

According to the Hadith, the period of the Mahdi’s arrival will also coincide with the return of Jesus and an entity known as ‘Dajjal’, who for years has been speculated to signify everything from a deranged person to technological innovations like the internet / TV to even countries like the U.S and Russia.  Whatever ‘Dajjal’ maybe, we know that it contrives in propaganda, imparting suffering and sin. If I were to look at all this rationally, it might all seem far-fetched with inklings of some extraordinary story told by the Bedouins of Arabia but you cannot take away the fact that these narrations have accurately predicted the fall of modern day Iraq, Syria and more recently Yemen, three regions which at the time of the prophet were hugely successful. 

I have said in my earlier posts on how certain parts of the Hadith can in many cases seem suspicious with hidden agendas of people and it should therefore never be used to make decisions that affect people and their livelihoods. The Hadith however, for historical buffs like me, provides amazing insight into the thoughts and blocs of knowledge shared during the times of the prophet which makes a scintillating read. Take for example the paraphrased extract of the articles on the appearance of the Mahdi, ‘Dajjal’ and Jesus: 

 "The Mahdi will be among my nation. If he lives for a short period, it will be seven, and if he lives for a long period, it will be nine, during which my nation will enjoy a time of ease such as it has never enjoyed...”

Reference

: Sunan Ibn Majah 4083

 “He (Dajjal) would be twisted and blind in one eye…. He would appear on the way between Syria and Iraq and would spread mischief right and left….. We said: Allah's Messenger, how long would he stay on the earth? He (ﷺ) said: For forty days, one day like a year and one day like a month and one day like a week and the rest of the days would be like your (normal) days….and it would be at this very time that Allah would send Christ, son of Mary, and he will descend at the white minaret in the eastern side of Damascus wearing two garments lightly dyed with saffron and placing his hands on the wings of two Angels."

Reference: Sahih Muslim 2937a

It appears from these extracts that the sequence of the timeline would be Mahdi's appearance for 7 to 9 years, post which Dajjal and Jesus appear. Based on a continuing paragraph, Jesus and the Mahdi will then kill Dajjal at the gates of Lud in modern day Tel Aviv Israel. I understand from this text that Israel will also be involved somehow which doesn’t seem likely if we were to take 2015 as the year of the death of Dajjal (considering that Tel Aviv is now covered by a blanket of security). 

I also noticed that the word ‘day’ in Arabic in the text about Dajjal is actually translated to ‘period’ which could mean anything but let us assume for the purpose of this discussion the definition of ‘Period’ as per the Quran i.e 1000 Earth years. In other words, 1 day/period in the sight of God is equivalent to 1000 earth days/periods.

It follows that the Dajjal will be alive for 40 days/ periods where the first period/ day is equivalent to 365,000 Earth days (1 year), the second period/day is equivalent to 30,000 Earth days  (1 month) and the Third period/ day is equivalent to 7000 Earth days (1 week).  The remaining 37 days will be 37 Earth days. This sums up to 1101 Earth years.

We have established (based on an assumption of course) that the Dajjal will be present for 1101 years before being vanquished. The question remains now on what would be the starting point for Dajjal and for this I refer to this text:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "The greatest war, the conquest of Constantinople and the coming forth of the Dajjal (Antichrist) will take place within a period of seven months."

Reference:  Sunan Abi Dawud 4295

We know from history that Constantinople fell on May-June 1453 which means the Dajjal would have appeared 7 months later that is in 1454. If we add the 1101 years, which we got from before, the death of Dajjal is roughly placed in the year 2555. This means that Mahdi would appear 7 to 9 years prior which is either the year 2548 or 2546. 

This is all speculation at this point and I truly believe that the Almighty knows best, however if my calculations are right, it would mean that the state of affairs in Syria may not improve for the next 500 years which is really disheartening unless there is a scenario where the situation improves and then deteriorates around the year 2548 to match the prophecies of the hadith.

In any case, I am convinced that 2015 is in no way significant and we have many centuries to go before we enter the final days of our existence as a species. I leave it to the Almighty to decide when that might be.

To say or not to say ? that is the question !

It’s been a while since my last post, and over the period of my hiatus, there have been developments across the world that has once again bought into foray the question of free speech. First, there was the arrest of a Bangalore based techie, who was reportedly operating a twitter account that sold ISIS propaganda. Next, we had the Australian Café attacks by an Iranian born nut who was provoked because” nobody” would listen to what he had to say and finally, the tragic events at Paris that killed the crew at Charlie Hebdo.

All of these incidents are instigated by the very notion that there is an unwritten rule in the history of this world where our species cannot communicate to one another if it intends to offend, hurt or ( taking a leaf out of Spielberg’s  ‘Minority Report’)- can cause a crime to occur. Essentially, these in my opinion collectively define aspects of ‘Right to Free Speech’. If the proponents of free speech feel so strongly about it, they should understand that it goes both ways- It allows a Charlie Hebdo to draw the Holy Prophet, while it also allows at the same time for ISIS to spell out their agenda freely. I therefore feel these self-styled liberals should think before taking to the world, the idea of free speech. 

They argue that the Holy Prophet was depicted in artworks very freely till the 13^th century and I agree to that. But where I beg to differ is to equate that with the shameful depictions of any belief as done by the likes of Charlie Hebdo to those 13^th century depictions.  I’m all for satire, but there is a line that needs to be maintained. It’s the same line that brings respect to communities and prevents lawlessness. Every religion in the world gives its definition to this “line” and I can therefore understand when atheists start talking about the irrelevance of this line. What I cannot tolerate are the hypocrites who have boundaries when it comes to religion but speak of no boundaries when it comes to speech. 

Accordingly, one of the most pressing concerns for free speech is very simply, who defines this line? While that’s an easy question to answer in communities that are strictly orthodox, it becomes a complicated issue when we attempt to answer this question for a world stage with multiple opinions, beliefs and principles. The solution in my opinion was summed up very crudely by a journalist I recently met: “Free speech is like farting. You do it in your personal space and people who like that sort of thing will follow you there. It’s not something to share in a public arena. “On the other side of the table, it is also essential for the people who get easily offended to understand that the world we live in is today governed by multiple ideologies. The only way to keep yourself shielded is to embrace the way the world is changing and build tolerance in your communities. If only both sides had understood this, the unnecessary killings over the last few weeks could have been avoided.

How Islam reached the Indian Subcontinent?

India, a land mass comprising of 1.2 billion people today accounts for 17% of the world’s population with around 14% of Indians following Islam. What most people don’t realize from this statistic is that, it means that around 177 million Muslims live in India, making it the 3^rd largest Muslim populated country in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan.

Islam's route to India - Click to enlarge

Contrary to popular belief, there are not one but three main routes that brought Islam to India. The most well-known among these was the invasion coming in from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan around the 11^th century. These dynasties and their descendants form a large part of North India and Pakistan as we know it today. The Mughals of India also trace their lineage through Turkish-Mongol warriors who used this route. There are however lesser known routes that outdated the Northern occurrence of Islam and this was primarily through sea routes bordering the south western coast of India and South eastern coast of India (via Sri Lanka known as Ceylon at the time). Even before the advent of Islam, Arab and Middle Eastern sailors used to trade with Indian ports on the Western Coast for spices and other amenities.  Significant proof of this can be found in early maps and documents that mention ports in Western India such as Manjarur ( Mangalore), Qaliqut (Calicut) and Kawlam (Kollam). Thus the route to India was a well-known one. 

The Cheruman Perumal Mosque (7th century) as seen in 1905 on India's West Coast

Masjid Al-Abrar (7th century) in Sri Lanka

Shortly after the rise of Islam in Saudi Arabia, the Prophet (PBUH) sent missionaries to spread the word of Islam, and it is through this initiative that Malik Deenar, a close companion of the prophet set out to capturing the minds and hearts of Indians looking for an escape from the ugly face of the caste system that was prevalent at the time. But it was not only the lower castes who were mesmerized with the religion and its teaching. The Chera king Cheruman Perumar who ruled parts of modern day Kerala, is considered by many Islamic historians to be the first Muslim in India. The story of his miraculous conversion to Islam and his visit to see the holy prophet can only be speculated. However, historians relate that he changed his name to Tajuddin and died on his voyage back from Makkah when his ship sank near the coast of Oman due to severe weather. They support this theory by citing evidence relating to a tomb in Oman that bears his name. Other accounts of this episode state that Tajuddin was in fact a local Chieftain whose descendants would go on to form the Zamorins of Calicut. In either case, the contingent, who escaped the storm, reached the coasts of the Indian Subcontinent and Sri Lanka. From here the contingent split, one focusing on the western coast of India and another focusing on Ceylon, the name by which Sri Lanka was historically known.  In Sri Lanka, Masjid Al Abrar located in the town of Beruwala (loosely translated as ‘lower the sails’) is the first mosque that was built a few years after the Sri Lankan contingent arrived. The Western Indian contingent arrived on the Malabar plains and built their first mosque there, today called the Cheruman Perumal Mosque in honor of the Chera King Cheruman Perumal.  A small settlement of Yemeni Muslims also landed on the east coast of India during this time however, it was much later around the 12^th-13^th centuries that an influx of Muslims starting settling in the Eastern Coast of India primarily arriving from Sri Lanka and the North India. 

KilaKarai Masjid (8th century) on India's East coast built by Yemeni Merchants 

One of the best evidences in my opinion of understanding how Islam spread in any geographical area is to look at the Islamic schools of thought that Muslims in these regions follow as of today.  For the unaware, Sunni Muslims primarily follow one of four schools of thought founded by theologians who interpreted the holy books and put in place laws that govern Islamic society.  These are interesting anthropological indicators only because very rarely do Muslims over generations tend to change their school of thought as in most cases; the school of thought is associated with language, culture and customs. Accordingly, in the case of India and Sri Lanka, it is clearly seen that in land areas close to the sea such as the coastal belts of India, and Srilanka, ‘Shafism’ ,the school of thought propagated by Imam Shafi is prevalent while in North and Central parts of India, ‘Hanafism’, a school of thought propagated by Imam Abu Hanifa is the prevalent school of thought. Similarly, in the case of the other sect of Islam i.e Shiaism that was brought from Persia, it is widely prevalent in the Northern parts of India while being almost absent from coastal areas. This trend is also seen among other South East Asian Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. It follows from this that Indian Muslims who live along the coastal belt of India especially the west have high chances of having an Arab /Middle Eastern lineage whereas Muslims in the Northern part of India are most likely descendants of  Afghani – Uzbek or Persian Heritage.

In addition to the Northern Invasions and the sea trade routes, we must not forget the contributions of one more channel that spread Islam in India to a large extent i.e. Sufism. Sufism is said to have arrived in India from Turkey and Iran (Persia) early in the 10^th-11^th centuries and captured Indian audiences with its mysticism, peacefulness and simplicity. To prove the point on how influential Sufism is, historians point out that during the travels of Sufi Saint Moinuddin Chishti in the 12^th century, he is known to have convinced more than 90,000 followers to embrace Islam! To put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to the population of an entire city at the time!

Personality profile: Umar Ibn Al Katthab

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to be introducing a new series of posts in my blog that will talk about leading figures in Islam and history in general. Ideally I would have liked to start with our beloved prophet (PBUH), however given the man that he was and his achievements, I want to take time to research and make it relevant  and special for readers. I therefore start the series with one of his close aides, the second caliph according to the Sunni tradition- Umar Ibn Al khattab. 

Much has been said about the man, and stories relating to his piousness are a part of every Muslim gathering and event.  Encyclopedia Britannica describes Umar as follows : 

“ʿUmar I, in full ʿumar Ibn Al-khaṭtāb    (born c. ad 586, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia]—died Nov. 3, 644, Medina, Arabia), the second Muslim caliph (from 634), under whom Arab armies conquered Mesopotamia and Syria and began the conquest of Iran and Egypt.

A member of the clan of ʿAdi of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (Koreish), ʿUmar at first opposed Muḥammad but, by about 615, became a Muslim. By 622, he had become one of Muḥammad’s chief advisers, closely associated with Abū Bakr. His position in the state was marked by Muḥammad’s marriage to his daughter Hafsa in 625. On Muḥammad’s death in 632 ʿUmar was largely responsible for reconciling the Medinan Muslims to the acceptance of a Meccan, Abū Bakr, as head of state (caliph). Abū Bakr (reigned 632–634) relied greatly on ʿUmar and nominated him to succeed him. As caliph, ʿUmar was the first to call himself “commander of the faithful” (amīr al-muʾminīn). His reign saw the transformation of the Islāmic state from an Arabian principality to a world power. Throughout this remarkable expansion ʿUmar closely controlled general policy and laid down the principles for administering the conquered lands. The structure of the later Islāmic empire, including legal practice, is largely due to him. Assassinated by a Persian slave for personal reasons, he died at Medina 10 years after coming to the throne. A strong ruler, stern toward offenders, and himself ascetic to the point of harshness, he was universally respected for his justice and authority.”

As described correctly, a large part of Sunni Islam as we see it today has roots in policies that were implemented by Umar during his reign. For this reason, my view is that he is easily attributed to be one of (if not the only) true architects of modern Islam after the prophet (PBUH). Many practices that you see today including the Tarawih prayers during the holy month of Ramadhan and the compilation of the Quran into the book we know of are as a result of orders given out by Umar during his reign.  Among the various stories that are prevalent on his humbleness and fairness as the ruler of Muslims (amīr al-muʾminīn), there are two that distinctly fascinate me.

The first one relates to the power he bestowed on the administrative officials of his state during his reign as the second caliph of Islam. Here was an all-powerful ruler, leader of over a billion people, who placed so much trust in his administrative officials, that he himself had to ask permission and seek approval from these officials if their services were to be availed. The story begins on one of the days of Ramadhan when Umar approached the official in charge of the people’s treasury seeking a loan. Despite being the ruler, Umar lived a most humble life and on the advice of his wife decided to take a loan from the treasury to buy his daughters some new clothes on the occasion of Eid. Umar asked the official if he could borrow some money with the intention of repaying once his salary was received at the end of the month (The fact that a ruler at the time received a salary from the treasury and the fact that he had to seek permission to take a loan itself is fascinating for me). But the story goes on to show how capable the people whom Umar placed his trust on were. The official replied that he would gladly give Umar the loan from the People’s treasury provided Umar signs a written affidavit that he would not die till the end of the month!! The official then goes on to say that the treasury was made up of the people’s contribution and to take this money without the guarantee of repaying would be a grave sin. Umar immediately realized his mistake and recalled his decision to take the loan.

The second story, similar in context and equally riveting goes something like this: It was late evening when Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet approaches Umar’s house to talk to him on an urgent issue. Umar had just wrapped up a meeting with his administrative officials. On seeing Ali and learning of his purpose of visit, he immediately enquires if the matter he would like to talk about is regarding the state or something personal. Ali replies it was the latter. On hearing this, Umar extinguishes that lamp that was already lit, and lights another lamp. Puzzled by this rather odd reaction, Ali asks for a reason to which Umar replies “ My dear Ali, the oil that burns in the first lamp has been bought with money from the treasury i.e the People’s treasury. To use this lamp while we speak of personal matters would be highly unfair and unethical. For this reason, we can have the conversation at my expense i.e using the second lamp which burns of oil bought from my salary.”

How many of our present day leaders follow such an honest and fair path? How many of our present day leaders can be so accountable? Is this not what the Arab spring set to bring about ? Both these stories coupled with his achievements in history to take Islam far from the lands from where it was born and more importantly to rule these lands in a such a just and right manner makes him in my view one of the greats in Islam’s 1400 year old history. Though there is much controversy among Shia Muslims on his genuineness, they would agree that if not for this ‘commander of the faithful’ and the solid foundations that he laid, Islam today would have not survived the long list of events that took place in the very lands in which he ruled.