CONCLUSION

THE BRIGHT FUTURE AWAITING THE WORLD

Throughout this book, we have examined the situation of the Turkish-Islamic world, the urgent need for creating the Turkish Islamic Union, and the resulting benefits of it for Muslims and other nations alike. As we saw in the previous chapter, recent developments clearly show that the Islamic world is ripe for great and fundamental change. The Qur'an and the hadith literature suggest that the approaching period will be a bright one for the world's Muslims, Allah willing. Setting up the Turkish Islamic Union will speed up the process and begin a new era of plenty and prosperity for humanity in general.

The current situation may seem to be very negative at first look, whereas in reality each negative development signals the approach of a blessed period. War, destitution, famine, oppression, and tyranny against Muslims across the world are signs of the End Times foretold by our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). That all of these events are taking place is also a clear sign that the global rule of Islamic morality is approaching, as prophesized by our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) (Allah knows the truth). Therefore, the current situation must not cause Muslims to feel despair and hopelessness; on the contrary, it should motivate them and increase their zeal and excitement. In addition, they must act with the awareness that despairing of solace from Allah is not an option, for

Do not despair of solace from Allah. No one despairs of solace from Allah except for people who disbelieve. (Surah Yusuf: 87)

The great scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi explained, in his famous the Damascus Sermon (Hutbe-i Samiye), the conditions in which Muslims live, warned of the dangers of falling into despair, and spoke of the bright future awaiting them, as follows:
Despair is the most detrimental sickness. It has permeated into the heart of the Islamic world... Such a despair that it has stifled our sublime morality, swerving our attention from the interests of the general to our personal interests. It is the very same despair that has broken our spiritual might... Despair is the most dreadful sickness of our people... It is the pretext of the coward, the inferior and the helpless... It is only Islam which will truly and spiritually pervade the continents of the future and lead humanity to bliss both in this world and the next.58

 

The End Times

The hadith literature is the foremost source that reveals the Islamic world's bright future. This literature, which describes in great detail the nature of the End Times (the period before the Last Day), reveals that these signs bear a great resemblance to hundreds of events taking place right now. Some of the most prominent signs of the appearance of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) are that people seek to distance themselves from the purpose of their Creation and, consequently, participate in society's spiritual break-down by altering Allah's law, openly denying Allah's existence, spreading disorder around the world, and increasing decadence. Other signs include frequent natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes and floods, droughts and famines); increasing warfare, conflict, and bloodshed; emergence of bid'ats (innovation, changing the original teaching of the Prophet); widespread poverty; astonishing and shocking events; and the almost complete disappearance of contentment and stability. In the End Times, murder, killing, and fighting will intensify, and the oppression of Muslims will worsen. In addition, Muslims living during this time will be subjected to such violence and tyranny that most of them will not be able to find a way out of the cruel environment in which they live.

Our Word was given before to Our servants, the Messengers, that they would certainly be helped. (Qur’an, 37:171-72)

Following this difficult and disordered period, Allah will send a holy savior, the Mahdi (one who guides to the righteous path), who will deliver people from the darkness of ignorance into the light of true knowledge. This blessed person will first enlighten the Islamic world and then bring peace, love, and morality to the entire world. With his arrival, all anti-religious ideologies that deny Allah's existence will be completely refuted, religious morality will be returned to its original pure state, as revealed by the Qur'an and the hadiths, and the Islamic world will gain economic, political, and social power.

The hadiths also reveal that the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) will return to Earth during the End Times. His second coming is one of the greatest events of the End Times, and is revealed by a number of hadiths and many Qur'anic verses. Allah reveals in the Qur'an that the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) was not killed or crucified, but that He caused the people to see it that way, and then raised him to His Presence. (For further information, please see Harun Yahya, Jesus Will Return [London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 2001]). This fact is revealed in Surat an-Nisa':

And [on account of] their saying: "We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Maryam, Messenger of Allah." They did not kill him and they did not crucify him, but it was made to seem so to them. Those who argue about him are in doubt about it. They have no real knowledge of it, just conjecture. But they certainly did not kill him. Allah raised him up to Himself. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat an-Nisa': 157-158)

Those who believe and do right actions, happiness will be theirs and a wonderful Homecoming. (Surat ar-Ra’d: 29)

When the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) returns, he will rule by the Qur'an. He will free Christians from their myths and invite them to live by the Qur'an's values. This way, Islam and Christianity will unite into one faith, and the world will enter a new golden era in which peace, happiness, security, contentment, and prosperity rule. The Golden Age, like the time of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), will be a blessed period characterized by justice instead of cruelty. There will be so much prosperity that people who want to give alms to the poor will not be able to find anyone to accept them. Developments in science and technology will raise the quality of life, and goodness and comfort will increase. Wherever they turn, people will see prosperity and beauty.

When the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) returns, he will rule by the Qur'an. He will free Christians from their myths and invite them to live by the Qur'an's values. This way, Islam and Christianity will unite into one faith, and the world will enter a new golden era in which peace, happiness, security, contentment, and prosperity rule. The Golden Age, like the time of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), will be a blessed period characterized by justice instead of cruelty. There will be so much prosperity that people who want to give alms to the poor will not be able to find anyone to accept them. Developments in science and technology will raise the quality of life, and goodness and comfort will increase. Wherever they turn, people will see prosperity and beauty.

Some of the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) hadiths on the End Times are listed below.

THE PROPHET JESUS (PBUH) AND HAZRAT MAHDI (PBUH) WILL APPEAR IN THIS CENTURY Works by great and esteemed scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah, including Sunan Abu-Dawud and Maktubat of Imam Rabbani, explicitly state that Allah sends an individual every century in order to revive and rid religious morals of any innovations: "Allah will raise for this community at the beginning of EVERY HUNDRED YEARS the one who will renovate its religion for it." (Sunan Abu Dawud, 5/100) One hadith handed down from our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) states that Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will appear in 1400 in the words:  "People will gather around Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) in the year 1400." (Risalat al-Huruj al-Mahdi, p. 108) The religious moral values of Islam will rule the whole world, as the result of a specific process, in this century, while the system of the dajjal (the antichrist) that opposes those values will entirely disappear. But following this period of progression, that will last for approximately 100 years, the world will again find itself in a phase of degeneration, around the 1500s according to the Islamic calendar. In one hadith narrated by many scholars, including Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, a great Ahl al-Sunnah hadith and Islamic jurisprudence scholar, our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) provides important information about the beginning of human history by saying that 5600 years had passed up until his own day: Ahmad Ibn Hanbal transmitted in his 'Ilal: FIVE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED YEARS HAVE PASSED FROM THIS WORLD. (Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 89) Many other hadith contain explicit references to the life span of the world being 7000 years: Anas Ibn Malik narrates that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: THE LIFE SPAN OF THE WORLD IS SEVEN DAYS IN THE DAYS OF THE HEREAFTER. Almighty Allah has said: ONE DAY IN THE SIGHT OF YOUR LORD IS LIKE A THOUSAND OF YOUR YEARS. Allah will ASCRIBE THE EQUIVALENT OF GOOD DEEDS OF THE SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS OF THE AGE OF THIS WORLD to the one who meets the need of any of his brothers in the faith on the path of Allah as if he spends his days in fasting and his nights in worship. (Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 88) Narrated from Daqqaq Ibn Zaid al-Juhani: I told the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) of a dream I had had. In that dream the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was at the top step of a seven-stepped pulpit. He said: THE SEVEN-STEPPED PULPIT YOU SEE IS THE SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS OF AGE OF THIS WORLD. (Al-Burhan fi 'Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 8) Said Nursi, the renovator of the Islamic 1300s and the greatest one of the last millennium, cited the 1500s as the period of dominion of Islamic moral values. He stated that Muslims would enjoy a time of clear and explicit victory up until then. He said that in the years after that, the rise of the moral values of Islam would come to an end and that the Last Day would break for the unbelievers in the Islamic year 1545. (Allah knows the truth.) "A group from my community will remain in truth until Allah's command [the Last Day]." The abjad calculation of the clause "A group from my community..." which is 1542 (2117) implies its (the community's) time of survival. The abjad calculation of the clause "will remain in truth" (when the gemination mark is counted) gives 1506 (2082); it indicates until that date (2082) it will continue its work of enlightenment evidently and obviously, and maybe victoriously; then until 1542 (2117) in secrecy and defeat. The abjad calculation of the clause "until Allah's command" (when the gemination mark is counted) suggests that THE LAST DAY WILL BEFALL the unbeliever in 1545 (2120). (Kastamonu Addendum, p. 33) The great Sunni scholar al-Barzanji states that the life span of the world will not last until the Islamic 1600, in other words, that the Last Day is expected to come in Islamic 1500s by Allah's leave. (Allah knows the truth.) THE LIFE OF THIS COMMUNITY WILL EXCEED 1,000 YEARS, YET BE LIMITED TO 1,500 YEARS ... (Muhammad ibn 'Abd ar-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha'ah li Ashrat as-Sa'ah, The Portents of the Last Day, p. 299) Suyuti's statement made on the basis of the hadith handed down from our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is as follows: "THE LIFE OF MY COMMUNITY WILL NOT EXCEED 1,500 YEARS.(Suyuti, al-Kasfu an Mujawazati Hazihil Ummah al-Alfu, al-hawi lil Fatawi. 2/248, Tafsir Ruh-ul Bayan. Bursawi 4/262, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Kitab al-'Ilal, p. 89) As is clear from the hadith of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and statements by great Islamic scholars, the Islamic 1400s we are now living in is the age of the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh). The Prophet Jesus (pbuh) will return to earth in this century, Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will appear and the moral values of Islam will rule the world.

Calling on the World of Islam

At present, irreligious systems of thought are collapsing around the world and people are turning to faith and religious morality. Furthermore, Islam has become the most important subject on the world's agenda, and people's attention has turned toward the true religion. Our time's technological development has made intra-Muslim cooperation easier, and have created the opportunity to convey the beauty of Islamic morality to the masses.

However, parts of the Islamic world still suffer from poverty and ignorance. People who take advantage of this situation act in the name of Islam, but contrary to Islam, and thereby make Muslims accused in the eyes of the world. Circles who oppose Islamic morality use the Muslims' present weakness and disorder to oppress them and plan even worse tyranny. The solution to the Islamic world's ongoing tension and conflict, both internal and external, lies in forming a Turkish Islamic Union that will unite all Muslims and guide them to the right path. Therefore, every Muslim must work for its creation.

All Muslim governments should prepare for the Turkish Islamic Union by developing their relations with other Muslim countries and organizing cultural activities that will help establish true Islamic morality in their countries. All Muslim NGOs, associations, charities, members of the media, and intellectual leaders should make genuine efforts to resolve the differences between Muslims and to achieve unity and solidarity. All Muslims should work to create this Islamic unity, regardless of the mosque or school they attend, the Internet sites that they visit, and the charities or associations to which they belong. Moreover, they must encourage other Muslims to follow their example.

It is the prayer of all Muslims that the great Islamic civilization, one that will bring goodness, justice, and peace to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, will flourish once more. Allah willing, the formation of the Turkish Islamic Union will bring all of this about. All Muslims who wish to play a role in this holy duty should make the following prayer and then act upon it:

Come, let's heal the rifts between Muslims. Let's bridge the gaps between Muslims who do not pray in one another's mosques, who do not read each others books, and who are hostile to one another because of small ideological differences. Let's do away with such artificial segregations. Let the house of Allah, the mosque, be the place of worship of not this group or that sect but of all Muslims. Let every Muslim greet and talk with every other Muslim. Let's end the disputes between communities or individuals, and let all Muslims work hand in hand in humility and compassion to serve Allah's religion. Let's not forget Allah's command:

Hold fast to the rope of Allah all together, and do not separate. Remember Allah's blessing to you when you were enemies and He joined your hearts together so that you became brothers by His blessing. You were on the very brink of a pit of the Fire and He rescued you from it. In this way, Allah makes His Signs clear to you so that, hopefully, you will be guided. (Surah Al 'Imran: 103)