THE PROPHECIES OF THE PROPHET
(SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam)

Br. Jafar Wafa

To know the future has been the greatest urge of mankind, and its inability to peer into the future, perhaps, one of its biggest regrets.

In Biblical times, a prophet was supposed to foretell the future in the light of “Wahi” (revelations) and warn his people of the impending calamity. The Hebrew word for Prophet is ‘Nabi’, meaning a seer and warner.

In ancient Arabia before the advent of Islam, however, it were the ‘Kaahins’, who professed to have access to the unknown future and who had set up their own places of worship, held sway over the minds of the people.

But no one except those who were ‘inspired’ by Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa), in other words, the Prophets, whose sources of information, observation and experience are actually based on “Wahi” and not on the five senses, could actually got exposed to the future like an eye witness as much as ordered by Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa). The Prophets of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) have recourse to the spiritual, or angelic, medium of “Wahi”. Only the pious and saintly persons, called Auliaullah (plural of Wali of Allah, literally, ‘Friend of God’) are supposed to partially share this facility with the Divinely-inspired-resource in the form of “Ilhaam” or “Ilqaa” (a thought created by Allah, Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa, directly in the heart of the “Wali”. Not the ordinary folk.

Prophet Muhammad (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) is reported to have narrated to his pious Sahaabah (Companions) on various occasions the shape of things to come, as he was informed them as the Final Prophet. Every one will concede that the Prophet of Islam has an extraordinary place in the history of making, having been ranked as the topmost person out of “the hundred” considered by Hart, a non-Muslim. His prophecies as narrated to his companions, on various occasions, some on the basis of direct revelation from the Almighty and some on indirect indications received from above, have an aura of absolute truth for Muslims, if not for others, and have to be taken note of.

It will be enlightening for the readers if some of the Prophetic prophecies, which have political, or historical, significance, are described briefly:

The Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) had given glad tidings to his small band of followers in Madinah, while trenches were being dug on the peripheries of the city to obstruct the Makkan horsemen who were about to ride into the city with weapons of war, during Ghazwah Ahzaab. It was on this occasion, when their existence was even at stake, he pronounced loudly that he had received clear indications that these very Muslims would, shortly, become a force to reckon with and that, in the near future, the Roman and the Persian empires, the two superpowers of the day, would be run over by them and Egypt would also be conquered and annexed by them and later, they will have to even face the Mongols who will be distinct because of their “oblique, narrow eyes and broad faces”.

How the Arabs rose from strength to strength and conquered the whole of the Middle East and North Africa by liquidating the Roman and Persian empires and peacefully penetrating in Asia Minor is history.

This prophecy about liquidation of the two superpowers of the 7th century A.D. materialized when Syria and Iraq were conquered during Hadhrat Umar’s rule and, as foretold, that “Arabs of Madinah will migrate there en masse” (Muslim’s compilation of Traditions), these two countries are now inhabited, almost entirely, by Arabs.

Similarly, as recorded by Muslim, on the authority of Hadhrat Abu Zar Ghifari, that the Holy Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) had told him that Egypt will be conquered by Muslims during his (Ghifari’s) life time, who not only lived to see this event to happen but also had the opportunity of visiting Egypt. Similarly, the books of Traditions refer to the Holy Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) having predicted the conquest of Khuzistan, Kirman, Jerusalem and Constantinople all of which came true.

The Holy Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) had hinted, without specifying the period, (Muslim: Bab-e-Fitan) that there would be “bloody battles” in Syria between Christians and Muslims. This has already happened if it is taken to mean the earth-shaking Crusades which began in 1099 A.D. and ended with the re-conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin (Salahuddin Ayubi) in 1244 A.D.

While the Crusades ended in early 13th century, the hordes of Mongolian Tartars appeared on the scene as a pestilence. This important historical event too was foretold by the Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam), having been reported in various ways by various narrators of Traditions. The concise version in Bukhari’s Babe-Alaamaat can be rendered in English thus: “The world will not approach its end until Muslims fight non-Arab (Ajami) Turks (meaning Tartars) whose faces would be reddish and flat with snub noses, and small eyes, and whose garments would be of hairy hides, and such would be their socks and footwear”.

Although the Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) had not seen these Mongols in his life time, as they emerged from their seclusion in 13th century, or six centuries after the Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam)’s departure from this mortal world, their description is like an eye-witness account. They plundered the flowers of Muslim civilization at Samarkand and Bukhara, and, led by Halaku, sacked Baghdad in 1258 A.D.

Two prophecies which relate to the current period of history are of grave implications. They are as under:

There will be “a memorable and decisive war in Syria between Muslims and Jews”. This particular prediction appeared to be strange in the Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam)’s time, and even centuries later, as there was no Jewish state and no Jewish army till the infamous Balfour Declaration granted the land of the Arabs to the Jewish diaspora which led to the creation of what is now Israel, located in a small part of what was known as Syria in the Prophet (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam)’s time.

When, numerically, Muslims will be counted as a big nation (as opposed to their small population during the Prophet, SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam’s time), other nations of the world “would coalesce and join each other just as hungry persons rush and jostle with each other when they see a basketful of eatables”. Such a grand coalition will attack Muslims. Who at that time, despite their sizable numbers will have neither pride nor prestige left because of their hankering after worldly gains? The above two predictions have been quoted by Syed Sulaiman Nadvi in Seeratun Nabi Vol, 3 and are based on reliable traditions.

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