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Undilah PAS : MENENTANG KEZALIMAN & MENEGAKKAN KEADILAN
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by Dr. Munir Elkassem
Predicting the future can be quite intriguing. Everyone likes to know what
sort
of thing will happen and when it will happen. Of particular interest
are the prophecies regarding the end of the world. It has become
difficult these days to surf the internet without coming across
prophecies and self proclaimed prophets who are apologizing for a
date that has been missed.
Recently, because of the "flood" of natural phenomena and disasters,
more people than ever are entering the arena of "end of the world"
prophecies.
The "End of the World" has been consistently predicted in virtually
every century since the time of Jesus, peace be upon him. Such
prophecies became increasingly prominent in the 1800's and 1900's
beginning with the Millerite movement. Dates such as 1820,1844,
1874, 1914, 1918, 1926, 1940, 1975, 1985, and 1994 were marked by
prophecies that obviously did not come to pass. Whenever a particular
generation witnessed wars, famines, plagues, earthquakes, violent
weather phenomena and mysterious comets, some people would quickly
jump to foretell doom.
Despite the fact that 99% of the time, prophecies were more wrong
than right, they served the financial interests of the people who
made them. Millions of books were sold with such catchy titles as
"The Time Is At Hand", Millions Now Living Will Never Die and "The
Late Great Planet Earth". They also served as means to control the
believers. Most often, however, they led to great disappointments and
loss of faith. In certain cases, cults were formed and hundreds of
people perished as a result of those prophecies. The Branch Davidian
and Heaven's Gate are two examples that are still fresh in our
memories.
In the final days of the 20th century, self proclaimed prophets have
once again found a suitable target in a potential computer problem -
the Y2K bug. There is no need to elaborate on this real world
problem because, by now, even the computer illeterate have become
familiar with the "Millenium Bug". People who like to browse the net
have come across hundreds of doom-and-gloom purveyors, none of whom
actually is a computer programmer.
"Hell starts Jan. 1. 2000 when the lights go out", "There won't be
any accidental survivors", "An alignment of the planets in May 2000
will burn up the earth", are typical predictions that are starting to
spread fear, even panic among people. New Agers are holding hands
and closing their eyes coming up with outrageous prophecies for the
years 2000 and 2001.
" I cringe when I hear that people are digging caves and bunkering
themselves underground", says Karen Anderson of Dallas, the Martha
Stewart of Y2K survivalism.
In an effort to calm people's fears and put things in the proper
perspective, a computer programmer declared on the web:"Those of us
who are involved with these systems on a daily basis tend to suspect
that while there may be widespread outrages and related problems,
the worst that will happen is that a whole host of unlucky nerds will
have to pull several all nighters in front of their terminals. But
they wil get it fixed."
Let us stop getting hysterical and ask ourselves: Is there such a
thing as religious millennialism? CAn we still expect to stop the
proliferation of millennial doomsayers or are we a bit late? Did the
scriptures give us any indication when the world would come to an
end?
The Y2K alarmists are not really concerned about their post-millenium
credibility. As long as they make their financial gains, the
tremendous social meltdown seems irrelevant to them.
Last year, bishops of The Lutheran Church In America did the
responsible thing by issuing a pastoral letter dismissing "wild
prophecies" and declaring the third Christian millenium should be
welcomed with hope.
In the Qur'an, the final divine revelation to mankind, we learn that
the world will definitely come to an end. However, there are many
indications that the knowledge of the exact timing belongs only to
Almighty God. "God is the knower of the unseen; He reveals unto
none His secret" 72:26.
"With God is the knowledge of the Hour (end of the world)" 31:34.
"They ask you (O; Muhammad) concerning the Hour: when will it come to
port?" Why (ask they)? What have you to tell thereof? Unto your
Lord belongs (knowledge of) the term thereof. You are but a warner
unto him who fears it. On the day when they behold it; it will be as
if they had but tarried for an evening or the morn thereof."79:
42-46.
The Sunnah (Prophetic Tradition) of Muhammad, peace be upon him
abounds with minor and major signs of the approach of the Hour.
The first of the Minor signs is his advent as the final messenger
from Almighty God. Scholars have indicated that all the Minor
signs have already come to pass. However, none of the ten Major
signs, which are mosly Cosmic in nature, has been witnessed
yet.
Muslims believe that we should not concern ourselves with the fearful
events of the Day of Judgement as long as we are maintaining a good
relationship with God. Those events will strike panic only among
those who deserve God's punishment. All others will be protected and
will make such a smooth transition to the Hereafter. For those who
wonder if they qualify for the protection of God there is hope that
they can still improve their relationship with God, as long as the
Major signs did not yet come to pass.
So, when it strikes midnight on December 31, 1999, do not expect that
the world will come undone. go and have a good night sleep and get
up the next morning to start the new millenium with fresh hope for
the future of mankind.
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Websites to checkout..........
www.islamworld.net
www.mostmerciful.com (Good one to share with your non-muslim
friends)
www.londonmuslims.com
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"The POWER is with the PEOPLE, not with two and
three leaders, not with senior officials,
not with corporate leaders,the real power is
with the people, those who are brave to demand
their rights and brave to demand REFORM and
CHANGES." - Anwar Ibrahim
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