Twilight of a World

As life on planet Earth becomes ever more terrifying, as the frequency and scale both of natural and man made disasters, of violence and pollution at every level, of moral and social disorder, and economic instability reach alarming levels, and as the media bring these live into every home, tension and anguish have gripped the human race in an unprecedented manner. We Muslims have been amply forewarned about these days, having received from our Blessed Prophet—may peace be upon him—detailed knowledge of what is now actually taking place, together with instructions on how to cope with these perils. There is a large corpus of Prophetic traditions concerning the Latter Days and the events that lead up to them. For the Prophet—may God’s blessings and peace be upon him—informed us, his people, of everything we need to know in order to navigate the storms that he knew were sure to come our way. Not only did he teach us our creed, Sacred Law, and how to enhance our spirituality, but also the signs by which we should be able to recognize which stage of the history of our community we have reached and what ought to be done about it.