The Religious Condition of the People prior to the advent of the Imam of the Time

By: Najmuddin Tabasi
In this chapter, we will examine the religious condition of the people prior to the advent of the Imam of the Time (‘atfs). It can be understood from the hadiths that during those days, Islam and the Qur’an will remain in name only while the Muslims will be Muslims only superficially. The mosques will no longer be centers for guiding and admonishing the people. The jurists (fuqaha) at that time will be the worst jurists on the face of the earth while religion will be bartered for a trivial price and paltry sum.

Islam and the Muslims
Islam means submission to the will and orders of God. Islam is the most superior and the best religion which ensures the felicity of mankind in this world and in the hereafter. However, that which is valuable is the implementation of the precepts of Islam and the Qur’an. At the end of time, everything will be the contrary. In other words, nothing will be left of Islam but its name.
The Qur’an will be present in society, but nothing of it will remain except the script written on its pages. The Muslims will be Muslims only in name and no semblance of Islam will be found in them. The Noble Prophet of Islam (S) said: “A period will come to pass for my ummah in which nothing will be left of Islam but its name, and there will be no trace of the Qur’an but its form and outline. The Muslims will be called Muslims in name but of all the people they will be the most alien to Islam.”[20][31]
Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) said: “A time will soon come to pass when the people will not recognize God and will not know the meaning of monotheism at such a time the Dajjal (the Anti-Christ) will appear.”[21][32]

The Mosques
The mosque is the place for the worship of God, religious preaching, and guiding and enlightening the people. During the early period of Islam, even important administrative work would be carried out in the mosques. Jihad would be planned there, and man would realize spiritual ascension (mi‘raj) from the mosque.
But during the end of time, mosques will lose their importance, and instead of being centers for religious teaching, propagation and enlightenment, only their number and splendor will increase, even when they will be cut off from the believers. The Prophet of God (S) said: “During that time the mosques will be beautiful and flourishing but they will be devoid of guidance and enlightenment.”[22][33]

The Jurists (fuqaha)
The scholars and the ‘ulama’ of Islam are the protectors of God’s religion on earth, and the guidance and enlightenment of the people lies upon their shoulders. By enduring great difficulties, they deduce religious matters from the fundamental sources of the religion and present them to the people. At the end of time, however, the situation will change, and the ‘ulama’ of those days will be the worst ‘ulama’.
In this regard, the Messenger of God (S) said: “The jurists (fuqaha) of those days will be the worst jurists under heaven. Sedition and chaos will start from them and will also return to them.”[23][34] Perhaps, it alludes to court-affiliated scholars who justify the crimes of tyrant kings and self-centered rulers, giving them an Islamic twist.
It also includes those who are ready to compromise with every offender and criminal such as Wahhabi[24][35] preachers on the payroll of kings who regard it as unlawful to struggle against America and Israel, and those who did not speak out against the crimes of Israel and justified the crimes of the Wahhabis in killing pilgrims to the House of God by citing Qur’anic verses and hadiths.[25][36] Yes, it must be said that they are the worst fuqaha from whom seditions have started and to whom they will also return.

The Desertion of Religion
Another sign of the end of time is the people’s desertion of religion. One day, Imam Husayn (‘a) came to the Commander of the Faithful (Imam ‘Ali) (‘a) while a group of people were sitting around him. ‘Ali (‘a) said to them: “Husayn is your chief. The Messenger of Allah has called him sayyid (master) and chief.
From among his progeny a man will rise up who resembles me in appearance and character. He will fill the world with justice and equity just as it had been full of injustice and oppression.” It was asked: “When will this uprising occur?” He said: “Alas! It will be at the time when you would abandon religion in the same manner that a wife would take off her clothes for her husband.”[26][37]

The Selling of Religion
If a person’s life is in danger, he becomes obliged to sacrifice his property in order to save his life. If his religion is in danger, however, he must sacrifice his life in order to save his religion. At the end of time, however, religion will be sold for a miserable price, and those who were believers in the morning will become infidels by the afternoon.
In this regard, the Messenger of God (S) has said: “Woe to the Arabs for the evil that is approaching them. Seditions, like nighttime, are dark and gloomy. A man would be a believer in the morning and an infidel at sunset. A group will sell their religion for a trivial profit and a miserable amount. Anyone at that time who will cling steadfastly to his religion would be like one who will take an ember from the fire or squeeze a thorn in his hands.”[27][38]

Morality before the Advent of Imam al-Mahdi (‘atfs)
The weakening of the foundations of the family, of kinship and friendship; the coldness of human feelings and heartlessness are among the salient characteristics of the end of time.

The Coldness of Human Feelings
The Noble Messenger of Islam (S) thus described the state of affairs of those days from the emotional perspective: “In those days the elders will not have mercy upon subordinates and the young, while the powerful will not have pity on the weak. At that time, God will give permission to him (al-Mahdi) to rise up and reappear.”[28][39]
He also said: “The Day of Resurrection (yawm al-qiyamah) shall not take place unless the time would come when a man (out of intense poverty) would look toward his kith and kin, and swear that they are his relatives to receive help from them, but they will give nothing to him. One will seek help from his neighbor and appeal to the right of neighborliness, but his neighbor will not render him any assistance.”[29][40]
The Prophet (S) also said elsewhere: “Among the signs of the Day of Resurrection is bad treatment between neighbors and severance of the bonds of kinship.”[30][41]
Since in some hadiths the word “as-sa‘ah” (the time) has been interpreted as the advent of Imam Mahdi (‘atfs),[31][42] I interpreted the hadiths on the “signs of the time” (asharat as-sa‘ah) as the “signs of the advent”.

Moral Corruption
It is possible for any kind of deviation and corruption to be tolerated somehow except sexual promiscuity, which is very unpleasant and intolerable for dignified and noble people. Among the vilest and most hazardous deviations with which the society prior to the advent of the Imam of the Time (‘atfs) will be afflicted would be family insecurity and moral turpitude.
At that time, corruption and moral laxity will spread remarkably. The animalistic acts of pseudo-humans will no longer be seen as indecent and obscene due to the extent of the corruption, and these acts will gradually appear as natural and normal. Corruption will be so widespread that it would be hard to find anyone who could or would want to prevent it.
The celebration of 2,500 years of the Iranian monarchy in 1971 during the rule of Muhammad Rida Pahlavi in which extremely obscene scenes of animalistic life had been presented under the guise of “Shiraz Arts” earned the condemnation of the Islamic society of Iran. During the time prior to the advent of Imam Mahdi (‘a), however, there will be no such protests and the only gesture of protest will be this: “Why were such indecent acts undertaken in the middle of the crossroads?” This is the highest form of forbidding evil that will be undertaken and such a person will be the most pious of his time.
Now, let us look at the hadiths in order to comprehend the profundity of the tragedy of the loss of Islamic values and the spread of corruption at that time. The Messenger of Allah (S) said: “The Day of Resurrection will not commence unless a woman would be openly taken away from her guardian in broad daylight and be molested in public in the middle of the road and no one would condemn and prevent this. The best among the people is he who will say: ‘I wish you would have gone a bit away from the middle of the road and done your work!’”[32][43]
He (S) also said: “I swear to the One in Whose hand is the life of Muhammad (S) that this ummah will not vanish until such a time when man would ambush a woman like a wild lion and molest her. The best among the people is he who will say: ‘I wish you would have hidden her behind this wall and did not do such a thing in public’.”[33][44]
Elsewhere, he (S) said: “Those men, being like animals, will fight one another in the middle of the road, and then one of them will publicly molest the other one’s mother, sister and daughter in the middle of the road. Thereafter, he will let others molest them, and they, one after the other, will do this lewd act. But no one will condemn this lewd act or change it. The best among them would be he who will say: ‘It would have been better if you would have been far from the highway and away from the public eye’.”[34][45]

The Spread of Immodest Acts
Muhammad ibn Muslim said: “I asked Imam al-Baqir (‘a): ‘O son of the Messenger of Allah! When will the Qa’im from among you appear?’” The Imam said: “It will be at the time when men would resemble women and women would act like men; at the time when men would suffice themselves with men (i.e. they would do sodomy), and so would women with other women (i.e. they would engage in lesbianism).”[35][46]
Another hadith with the same content has been reported from Imam as-Sadiq (‘a).[36][47] Abu Hurayrah also reported from the Prophet (S), thus: “The Day of Resurrection shall not come to pass until such time when men would vie with one another in committing indecent acts; the same would be the case with women.”[37][48]
Other hadith with the same content has also been reported.[38][49]

The Desire for Less Children
The Prophet of Islam (S) said: “The Day of Resurrection shall not come to pass until such time when someone who has five children would wish for four while one who had four children will say: “I wish I had three!” The one having three children would wish for two, one with two children would wish for one child, and the one with a single child would thus say: “I wish I had no child!”[39][50]
He (S) said in another hadith: “A time will come when a man would begrudge having a smaller number of children just as you are now begrudging more children and properties; so much so that one of you will pass by the grave of his brother and wish to be in his place (that he was also dead)—just as animals will wish for a place in the meadow—and he will say: “How I wish I were in his stead!” And this statement is not on account of eagerness to meet the Lord and because of the good deeds he has done before; instead, it is due to the calamities and adversities that will befall him.”[40][51]
He (S) also said elsewhere: “The Day of Resurrection shall not come to pass unless offspring would decrease in number.”[41][52] In this hadith the phrase, “al-walad ghayzan” means abortion and contraception, but the word “ghayzan” in another hadith means worry, agony, suffering, and resentment.
In other words, by practicing abortion and contraception at that time, the people will prevent increase in the number of children. It can also mean that having a child would make one sad, anxious and furious. Perhaps, it would be due to extreme economic problems, the spread of diseases among children, the lack of facilities, and the propaganda and encouragement to have fewer children, or other factors.

The Increase in the Number of Families without Guardians
The Messenger of Allah (S) said: “One of the signs of the Day of Resurrection is the decrease in the number of men and the increase in the number of women to such an extent that there will be one guardian for every fifty women.”[42][53]
Perhaps, this condition will result from the deaths of men in the successive and protracted wars that will occur.
He (S) also said: “The Day of Resurrection shall not come to pass until such a time when thirty women will be in pursuit of one man, and each of them would request him to marry her.”[43][54]
He (S) also said in another hadith: “Allah will separate His Friends and chosen ones from the rest so as to make this earth devoid of the hypocrites and misguided as well as their children. A time shall come when fifty women will face a single man. One will say: “O servant of God! Take me.” The other one will say: “Give me refuge.”[44][55]
Anas narrated: The Prophet (S) said: “The Day of Resurrection shall not come to pass until such a time when (on account of the death of men and the plentitude of women) a woman would find a pair of shoes along the way and (out of remorse and disappointment) she would say: “This pair of shoes belonged to a man!” At that time, there will be one guardian for every fifty women.”[45][56]
Anas said: Wouldn’t you like me to narrate a hadith I heard from the Prophet (S)? The Prophet (S) said: “Men will die while women will remain.”[46][57]