Everything You Must Know About The End of Times | Signs of the Hour Ep. 1
5 Signs That Happened in the Prophet’s ﷺ Lifetime | Signs of the Hour Ep. 2
Was Dajjal Alive During The Prophet’s ﷺ Time? | Signs of the Hour Ep. 3
20 Verses of Qur’an That Protect from Dajjal | Signs of the Hour Ep. 4
When 40 Prophets Were Killed | Signs of the Hour Ep. 5
When Only One Sahabi Was Left In The World | Signs of the Hour Ep. 6
Jerusalem to Constantinople: The Promised Conquests | Signs of the Hour Ep. 7
Acts of God: Disasters Foretold by the Prophet ﷺ | Signs of the Hour Ep. 8
The Rise of the Unqualified | Signs of the Hour Ep. 9
The Night the Qur’an Disappears | Signs of the Hour Ep. 10
The Years of Intense Deception | Signs of the Hour Ep. 11
The 10 Patterns of Religious Corruption | Signs of the Hour Ep. 12
A Beautiful Masjid With Empty Rows | Signs of the Hour Ep. 13
Making Halal What Allah Made Haram | Signs of the Hour Ep. 14
When The Love for Wealth Becomes Violent | Signs of the Hour Ep. 16
How Time Is Shrinking | Signs of the Hour Ep. 17
Why The Prophet ﷺ Said People Will Envy the Dead | Signs of the Hour Ep. 18
Playing
Why Modern Life Makes Every Death Feel Sudden | Signs of the Hour Ep. 19
Signs of the Hour
Why Modern Life Makes Every Death Feel Sudden | Signs of the Hour Ep. 19
Sudden death is a sign of the Hour, and nearly everyone says they would choose it: to go peacefully in their sleep. The pious predecessors wanted an illness first, with time to repent, make their will, and seek forgiveness.
When Aisha (ra) asked the Prophet ﷺ about sudden death, his answer depended on who was dying. Find out what he said in the full episode.
Dr. Omar Suleiman’s answer to a world where death arrives without warning is urgency without panic: hurry to good deeds, visit the graves, and let children witness a janazah.
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
00:00Is sudden death bad or is sudden death good? Don't you see how quick death comes to the most unsuspecting of people? The dunya deceives just like Dajjal deceives.
00:09The pious predecessors actually wanted to experience some illness before they would pass away. There is a strange invincibility that we feel with our immunity.
00:23The solution is not to become hysterical and to say, "Oh my God, I need to do a checkup like every two weeks." It's not good for you and it can flood the mind and it can flood the heart. We're not visiting the graves to wish that we were there.
00:36We're visiting the graves to prepare for when we are inevitably there. I've had very well-meaning parents that say that I don't want to take my kids to a janazah yet. I think it's too early to expose them to death. I think it's too early to expose them to the graveyard.
00:50And I think that that's the wrong way of thinking. The next sign is a very specific sign as well.
01:03It's a hadith of Anas ibn Malik, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said that from the signs of the end of time
01:11that sudden death will appear. People will die suddenly. The hadith is in Tabarani and it's an authentic hadith.
01:25Sudden death. Now, as I said many times before, you can derive multiple lessons from the same hadith. Sudden death can be very obvious. Don't you see, subhanallah, how many people just go to sleep and don't wake up?
01:39Don't you see how many people are just driving their car and then suddenly they have a brain aneurysm and they go off-road and they die? Don't you see how quick death comes to the most unsuspecting of people?
01:51It's sudden and it's suddenly announced. Like, it's actually a crazy thought to think about that the same WhatsApp group that you're in, the same social media that you're using,
02:03one minute you're posting a life update and on that same platform by the end of the day there might be a black and white image of you that so-and-so passed away in your janazah tomorrow. That could happen in a matter of an hour, a matter of minutes.
02:17Quick, sudden death. Okay? So that's the first thing is just the obvious zahir of the hadith, the apparent meaning of the hadith is that people just keep dying quick. Now the ulama also derive some angles from it.
02:31Some of them say it feels sudden in the same way that time feels shorter. So it's not that people are dying earlier, it's that people have higher life expectations. That's one angle.
02:45It doesn't contradict the first one. But it's also true if you think about it, right? Like, what is the modern life expectancy? And you think, you know, hey, I live right next to this hospital. I got this doctor. If I start feeling this way, I can make this call, right? I have health care.
02:59If you live in America, right? Like, I can do this, I can do that. It's easy for me. I can figure this out. I can go here. I can go there. I can call this person. I can call this person. Right? I'll be all right. I'm still healthy. There are no red flags.
03:13Like, there's a strange invincibility that we feel with our immunity. You know, really, SubhanAllah, when you read like in the Seerah, a person had a fever.
03:24And back then they didn't used to diagnose the fevers and the flus the way that we do. Right? They didn't have a million names for it. They just said this person fell sick and this person died.
03:33So when a person fell sick, they didn't know if they were getting a simple cold or if they had something that was terminal. Right? That's the way life was. You just kind of went with the flow. And so you were always expecting death, even if you weren't a believer.
03:47Like, it was a natural phenomenon. But when people start getting invested in modern technology and medical devices, "Yeah, we're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine." And then you're not fine.
03:58So that's one extrapolation from this hadith as well. A third extrapolation that some of the ulama mention is the unhealthiness of life.
04:09So if fasad, if corruption comes because of our behavior, that means there are certain diseases that are unleashed upon us.
04:18Just as we have the speed of our vehicles, like, how many camel accidents used to lead to people's death back in the day? Right? Car accidents. Right? So the speed of your technology, like, you're speeding up your death in a way.
04:32Because your modern mechanics have just made death so much more unpredictable and so much quicker. But here's the thing. Is sudden death bad or is sudden death good?
04:44See, a lot of people, when you think of death, you're like, "I just don't want to suffer at the time of death." Right? Like, and I just want it to be quick. And this is a very interesting bab, a very interesting chapter.
04:56For one, when the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, used to say, "Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min zawali ni'matik, wa tahawwuli aafiyatik, wa fujaa'ati nikmatik, wa jami'i sakhatik."
05:10"Oh Allah, I seek refuge in you from the decline of your favor, from the sudden change in your protection, and from the sudden onset of your punishment, and from all of your wrath." Some of the ulama mention al-mawt.
05:24Here it could be al-fujaa', being death, quick death. And all of your wrath. Now, the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, however, in an authentic narration, when he was asked by Aisha, radiallahu anha, radiallahu anha, because she would always ask.
05:38She asked the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, "Sa'altu rasool Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, an al-mawti al-fujaa'." I asked the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, about sudden death. "Faqala raahatun lil-mu'min, wa akhdatu asaf asafin lil-fajir."
05:50"Wa fi riwaya akhdatu ghadabin lil-kafir." The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, "It's mercy for the believer.
06:02That a sudden death is a mercy for the believer. And it's a sudden grabbing, seizure of the wicked person, or for the disbeliever." So yes, indeed, sudden death can be a rahmah.
06:16Perhaps Allah Azawajal knows the state of this person, and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wants to make their death easy for them, and they don't have too many sins to expiate. Or maybe Allah wants to take them as in the form of a shaheed.
06:27Right? Perhaps that's what it is. Right? The rapidness of it. However, what should the believer look for? Right?
06:41Now, if Allah Azawajal allows you through your Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to say, "If you know that fitna will be difficult for me or coming, then take my life." Then there's a component of that with death as well.
06:54That Allah Azawajal knows what's best for you at the time of death as well. Right? Like, is it best for you to die fast, or is it best for you to go slowly? Right? Are you going to be... I mean, SubhanAllah, you see some people, when they struggle,
07:06they get diagnosed with something, and they lose their faith. It's extremely, extremely, extremely painful to watch that happen.
07:14It's extremely painful. Like, when I say, you hate to see it. Someone that was, you know, upon deen, and then suddenly they're in the hospital,
07:26and they start questioning Allah Azawajal, then they die two, three, four weeks later, and it's like, "Ya Allah. Ya Allah." Like, that trial went to waste.
07:38That trial could have come as a purifying medicine to you at the end of your life, but that trial broke you instead. May Allah protect us. That's a fitna. That's also a fitna, a personal fitna, that a person can crumble under. So, if Allah knows that I would crumble, then I would want my death to be quick.
07:52And if Allah knows that I would hold firm, then I wouldn't necessarily want it that way. Why? Because Ibrahim An-Nakha'i, rahimahullah, he said about the Salaf,
08:04that they would like the pious predecessors actually wanted to experience some illness before they would pass away.
08:08Why?
08:23Liyatuboo, so that they could properly repent to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. liyatub, so that they could properly repent to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. wa yusiyyah, and they could properly give their will. So, they could call their children, they could call their loved ones, and they could kind of prepare them, tell them what they want to be done.
08:36wa yastaghfir, and they could seek forgiveness from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So, at the bare minimum, like there would be an expiation of their sins, and there would be an elevation of their rank.
08:46So, he's saying that the Salaf did not actually like quick death as a default. Right? And so, that means that when you see someone who dies suddenly,
08:57you hope that it was rahmah, you hope that it was a mercy for them as a believer. And for yourself, you don't ask Allah to prolong my illness. You ask Allah to give you what's best.
09:08But when you see someone who is suffering in agony for some time before they pass away, our husn adh-dhann and our good assumption of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, especially when that person is responding with dhikr, and that person is responding with du'a,
09:20that Allah is just washing them, washing their sins away from them. And as painful as it is to see someone be sucked dry in this life,
09:31and, you know, like the sins come off of them, if you could see the spiritual dimension of it washing away, then you would feel good for them. You'd feel happy for them.
09:43But it's hard, because that's the deception of this dunya, right? The dunya deceives, just like dajjal deceives, right? The dunya and its nature deceives. And so, you see someone in pain and agony, you hate to see it.
09:55You know, subhanAllah, I'll say this, like, Shaykh Ahmad Deedat, rahimahullah, had a very difficult last few years of his life.
10:03And you can find that some of his opponents, who he demolished in debate, were mocking him. And for us, we hope that Allah Aza wa Jall was purifying him, was expiating. And for all of us, right?
10:16When you see someone who goes through those last days, and it's like the most righteous person, it's like, Ya Allah, like, let it be over with. No, maybe Allah Aza wa Jall wants to bring that person back to him, bila dhunub, without any sins.
10:29Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, mentioned that Allah Aza wa Jall would test a person until he brings them back like a newborn baby, bila dhunub. He squeezes the sins out of them. Not that Allah has to do that,
10:40but perhaps Allah Aza wa Jall sees that best fit for that person. So, sudden death is a sign of the end of times. People dying, people dropping dead, young people, death becoming unpredictable. The loss of barakah in time,
10:53which means extending and prolonging our expectations of this life. So, how does the believer respond? The first thing, subhanAllah, you will find every single one of these books, as they would use the ilaj, the cure,
11:07ba'diru bil-a'mal assariha, then rush to do good deeds. That's what the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, said. The solution is not to become hysterical and to panic and to say, Oh my God, I need to do a checkup like every two weeks
11:21to just make sure there's nothing going on here, or I have a headache, I must be dying, right? The solution is not panic. Solution is not to become hysterical.
11:33The solution is to act with your good deeds with a sense of urgency. And that's why the ulama mentioned, look at the wisdom of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, when he said that I used to forbid you from visiting the graves,
11:47but he said, but I want you to visit it because it reminds you of the hereafter. Someone might say, well, if we're coming to a time where people are going to look at the grave and say,
12:00I want to go in the grave. And I'm going to say this very straightforward, by the way. Okay. And please hear it from my heart and don't hear it in any offensive way. I've had very well-meaning parents that say that I don't want to take my kids
12:13to a janazah yet. I don't think, I think it's too early to expose them to death. I think it's too early to expose them to the graveyard. And I think that that's the wrong way of thinking.
12:26And Allah knows best, right? So we're not visiting the graves to wish that we were there. We're visiting the graves to prepare when we are inevitably there. And a person should not say, well, you know, I think about death too much.
12:40I shouldn't go to the grave. Or I don't want to expose my child to death yet. I don't want them to see a janazah. No, they're going to see death. Contextualize it for them. Contextualize it for ourselves.
12:54And a believer is someone who goes and who does their best to ponder and to think about what is on the other side of that grave and what is in their inevitable home. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make it a home of goodness for us,
13:08a home of heaven, a home of paradise for us. Allahumma ameen. So on that thought, of course, one of the things that we're learning about the end of times is that being hyper-connected is not giving people a sense of companionship,
13:22that having access to the world and being connected is connected with the greatest levels of isolation and loneliness.
13:31People seeking validation through these machines is not actually giving them what they thought they would get. And sometimes the most publicly visible are the most privately despairing, right?
13:45Like there is a correlation between these things. And by the way, SubhanAllah, there's this idea of like what the digital gives you of just constant, not just dopamine, but constant like heightened emotions, right?
13:59Constant heightened emotions, constant anxiety, constant bad news, constant this, constant vanity. It's not good for you and it can flood the mind and it can flood the heart to
14:09the point that a person would start to envy the dead because of how difficult life has become. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala heal our brokenness, whether it is spiritual with spiritual or mental with mental or emotional with emotional.
14:23Allahumma ameen.
