Signs of The Hour Which Have Happened (3/4)
Dr. `Umar S. al-Ashqar
As for us, a major event has occurred among us. On the night of Wednesday, the third of Jumaada al-Aakhirah, and for two days beforehand, the people started to hear a sound like the sound of thunder, which frightened all the people. They awoke from their sleep and started to pray to Allah for forgiveness. They hastened to the mosque and prayed there, and it kept shaking with them hour after hour, until the morning. That continued all day on Wednesday, and on Thursday night and Friday night. On Friday the earth started to shake so violently that the minarets of the mosque were shaking, and the roof of the mosque was heard creaking loudly. The people were scared because of their sins. The earthquake subsided on Friday morning, before noon.
Then there appeared in the harrah behind Qurayzah on the road of al-Sawaariqiyyah a huge fire which burst forth from the earth and flowed from morning until noon. The people were utterly terrified of it. Then there appeared smoke which billowed up into the sky until it looked like white clouds, and it remained there until just before sunset on Friday. Then there appeared fire with tongues reaching up the sky, red and huge like fortresses. The people fled to the mosque of the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) and to his tomb, where they gathered around the tomb, bared their heads and confessed their sins. They beseeched Allah and sought His help by virtue of His Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him). The people came to the mosque from every comer of the city, and the women and children came out of their houses. They all gathered and prayed sincerely to Allah. The redness of the fire covered the entire sky, as if the people were in the light of the moon, and the sky remained (the colour of) a blood clot. The people were certain that they would be destroyed and punished. They spent that whole night praying, reading Qur'an, bowing and prostrating, praying to Allah, repenting from their sins and seeking Allah's forgiveness. The fire stayed where it was then it started to decrease in intensity and size.
The faqeeh and the Qaadi went to the governor to advise him, so he abolished the excise duties and freed all his slaves, and he restored to us and to others all the property that he had taken. That fire remained as it was, with its burning flames. It was as high as a mountain and as broad as a city, and it shot forth rocks into the sky which flew up then plummeted down. It threw forth huge mountains of fire (with a sound like) thunder. It remained like that for several days, then it started flowing towards the valley of Ajeeleen, then along that valley to ash-Shazaa, until it reached Bahrat al-Haajj. It carried rocks along with it, until it almost approached Harrat al-'Areed. Then it stopped for a few days, then it started to throw forth rocks behind it and in front of it. Then it formed two mountains, and a "tongue" came forth from between the two mountains for several days. Then it became large and is still burning brightly up till now, burning more brightly than ever. Every day it makes a loud noise from the end of the night until mid-morning. There are many strange and wondrous things about it that I cannot describe fully to you. It is sufficient to tell you that the sun and the moon look as if they are eclipsed until now. This letter was written a month ago, and it is still where it was, neither advancing nor retreating."
I say: The hadith which speaks of this fire is narrated in as-Saheehayn (Bukhari and Muslim) via az-Zuhri from Sa'eed ibn al-Musaayib from Abu Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) said:
"The Hour will not come until fire comes out of the land of I:Jijaaz which will illuminate the necks of the camels in Busra."
This version is narrated by Bukhari.
This happened in this year - 654 AH - as we have mentioned. The chief Qaadi, Sadr ad-Deen 'Ali ibn Abil-Qaasim at-Tameemi al-Hanafi, the judge of Damascus, told me, whilst we were discussing this hadith and this fire which happened in this year, "I heard a Bedouin telling my father in Busra about those nights, when they saw the necks of their camels in the light of that fire which had appeared in the land of al-Hijaaz."
I say: He was born in 642 AH, and his father was a teacher of the Hanafi School of fiqh in Busra, as was his grandfather. He also taught there, then he moved to Damascus and taught in as-Saadiriyyah and al-Ma'damiyyah, then he was appointed as chief Qaadi of the Hanafi School, and he was known for issuing good judgements and rulings. When this fire happened in the Hijaaz, he was twelve years old, and a boy of that age could listen and understand and remember precisely what was said by the Bedouin when he told his father about those nights. May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) and all his family and Companions.
Some of the poets composed verses about the fire in the Hijaaz and the floods in Baghdad, for example:
"Glory be to the One Whose will has come to pass in His creation in the most complete and precise manner, Baghdad has been flooded with water whilst the land of the Hlijaaz has been burnt with fire."
Abu Shaamah said: the correct thing to say is:
"In one year He flooded Iraq and burnt the land of the Hijaaz with fire."
Ibn as-Saa'i said in his history of the year 654 AH: on Friday the eighteenth of Rajab - i.e. of this year - I was sitting with the wazeer (minister) when he received a letter from the city of the Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him) (Madeenah), which was brought by a traveller known by the name of Qeemaaz al-'Alawi al-Hasani al-Madani. He gave the letter to him and he read it. The letter said that the city of the Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him) had been shaken by an earthquake on Tuesday the second of Jumaada al-Aakhirah; the grave of the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) had been shaken and the sound of the iron in it had been heard, and the chains had shaken. Fire had appeared at a distance of four parasangs (12 miles) from Madeenah, and it was throwing forth liquid like the tops of mountains. This had lasted for fifteen days.
This traveller said: I came and it had not stopped yet. It was still as it was. I asked him, in which direction is it throwing (that liquid)? He said, towards the east. So I walked past it with a group of people from Yemen. We threw a palm-leaf into it and it did not bum, but the fire was burning rocks and melting them. This Qeemaaz took out a piece of the burned rock and it was like coal in its colour and light weight.
He said, and it was mentioned in the letter, which was in the handwriting of the Qaadi of Madeenah, that when the earthquake happened, they went into the mosque, uncovered their heads and prayed for forgiveness. The governor of Madeenah freed all his slaves and gave back all that had been wrongfully seized. They kept on praying for forgiveness until the earthquake subsided, but the fire which had appeared did not cease. This traveller came when it had been burning for fifteen days and was still burning.
Ibn as-Saa'i said: I read in the handwriting of the trustworthy man Mahmood ibn Yoosuf al-Am'aani, the Shaykh of the sanctuary of Madeenah, may the best of blessings and peace be upon its inhabitants, that he said: This fire which has appeared in the Hijaaz is a mighty sign, a sound indication that the Hour is at hand. The blessed one is the one who seizes the opportunity before death comes and hastens to reform himself and "make his peace" with Allah before death comes. This fire is in a land where there are no trees or vegetation, and parts of it consume other parts if it finds nothing else to consume. It bums stones and melts them so that they become like wet mud, then when the air comes into contact with them they become like the dross of iron which comes forth from the bellows. May Allah make it a lesson for the Muslims and a mercy to the world, by the virtue of Muhammad and his pure family.
This is the end of the quotation from Ibn Katheer.[1]
Among the great scholars who were alive at the time when this fire appeared was Imam an-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him). He mentioned it in his commentary on Muslim, where he says: "In our time a fire appeared in Madeenah, in 654 AH. It was an immense fire on the eastern side of Madeenah, behind the harrah. Knowledge of its emergence is widely known (mutawaatir) throughout ash-Shaam (Greater Syria - present day Syria, Jordan, Palestine) and all the lands, and people of Madeenah who witnessed it have told me about it."[2]
It is clear from the descriptions given by witnesses who saw this fire that it was a huge volcano, accompanied by great earthquakes. The point here is that this fire appeared as described by the one who told us about it, the most truthful one (blessings and peace be upon him).
(Continued)
[1] Al-Bidaayah wan-Nihaayah, 13/187-192
[2] Sharh an-Nawawi 'ala Muslim, 18/28