"When The Trumpet Calls" on Judgement Day | Faith Events Conference Notes
What are the signs of the Last Days? Are you prepared for the Day of Judgement? What can you do to prepare? These were the main questions addressed at the "When the Trumpet Calls" Faith Events Conference in March 2024. The honoured speakers were Shaykhs Yahya Ibrahim and Yusha Evans. This article presents a summary of the key points I learnt.
Who Are The Speakers?
This was the second time I met Yahya Ibrahim who is Canadian by birth, Egyptian through ancestry, Turkish via marriage, and Australian by choice of residence and migration. The first time I met him was at the September 2023 Faith Events conference on marriage. Shaykh Yahya is one of my favourite shaykhs along with Omar Suleiman, Ali Hammuda, and Nouman Ali Khan. He has this pleasing tone with a Canadian accent that I would describe as calm yet with a tinge of firmness.
Around 10 years ago, in my journey of rediscovering my faith, I discovered Yusha Evans on YouTube. I was mesmerised by the way he spoke – strong and fervent. He talked about his revert journey from Christianity to Islam. I didn't really think much about meeting him in real life considering he's based in the United States. But Allah is Most Generous and so I'm grateful that I got to meet him.
Yusha Evans (left) and Yahya Ibrahim (right) on the podium
The Aqeedah of Muslims
There are 3 key things that we should believe with absolute certainty with regards to the Day of Judgement:
- Allah will resurrect the dead.
- Allah will judge all of us as accountable beings before Him.
- There's a Paradise (Jannah) and those who enter have earned it with good deeds.
Before getting into how to earn the good deeds for Jannah, let's learn a bit more about the end of times.
The Difference Between Major and Minor Signs of the End of Times
The terms "major" and "minor" in this context doesn't necessarily indicate the level of severity.
Minor signs are signs that Muslims are able to identify based on the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Major signs are signs that all human beings identify with. Its cataclysmic and produces a change in a landscape.
The Minor Signs
This is a non-exhaustive list of the minor signs:
- Pages of the Quran will be repealed
- Destruction of Kaabah
- Knowledge is deprived
- People with lots of knowledge but lack taqwa
- The return of idols in Makkah and worshipping of al-Lat and al-Uzza as per pre-Islamic times in the Arabian Peninsula
- Barefooted unclothed people of the Arab tribes amassing power to build tall towers
- Riba (interest) will be so prolific that no one can escape it
- Children will have ghayr or anger towards authority figures such as parents
- Nikah or legal marriage occurs between people of same sex
- Intoxicants being normalised and heart is weak to avoid restaurants selling alcohol despite having halal food
The Major Signs
The following are the major signs that would be felt and experienced by all of humanity regardless of faith.
- The major dajjal
- There will be lots of deception in the world and one may not be able to identify what is truth or reality and what is fake.
- On land where there’s usually no rain, there will be the ability to bring rain from the sky. We can see this from the technology created like the cloud seeding in Dubai.
- There will be lands that are able to grow crops when it usually couldn't by using technology like hydroponics and genetic modification.
- Ya'juj ma'juj
- This is the time after dajjal and before the resurrection of Prophet Isa AS (Jesus) where destructive effects on humanity will occur.
- There will be 3 regions where the earth will be fractured i.e. east, west and Arab peninsula.
- Sun rising from the west
- This is a premonition that I still struggle to scientifically grasp. The Shaykh said to google how long it takes for earth magnetic field to reverse. The quick google answer is every 7,000 years. This article by Nasa that earth magnetic pole reversals are common, though the last one took place 780,000 years ago. Maybe the next one would mean the end of life on earth.
- The unbelievers are rampant
- This will be the time where there is very little faith in God and sinful acts happen all the time. This point assured me that the end of time is still a long way to go and won’t happen while I’m alive (God willing) because I’m seeing an increase in people embracing Islam. Allahu alam.
- The Shaykh also mentioned that there will be an animal who possesses the rod of musa and the ring of Prophet Suleiman AS though I’m not sure what the significance of this is.
- Rain of fire
- This will happen towards the very end. I pray to God I won’t have to witness this.
The Names of the Day of Judgment
Sahih Bukhari mentions 50 names of the day of judgement that Allah refers to in the Quran. It’s important to learn and understand the names so that we may reflect and remember to always turn back to Allah.
Some of the names include:
- Yawm al qiyamah = day of judgement, where we’ll be standing for 50,000 years.
- Al-Saa’ah = the hour
- Yawm al khuruj = day of leaving one place to another
- Yawm al qariyya = day when everyone will be in fear
- Yawm al fasl = day of decision
- As-Sakh = the deafening blast
- Yawm al hasr = day of regrets
- Yawm al akhr = the last day, whereby after this people will either be in Paradis or Hellfire in perpetuity.
The Day of Judgment Begins at Death
Many would think that the Day of Judgement would be a long time away. That it will not happen so soon.
But what we tend to forget is that the Day of Judgement begins at death.
Our day of judgement begins the moment we let out our last breath.
This is why when we make du’a we would ask for Allah to protect us from the punishment of the grave. Depending on our deeds on earth, we would either rest in peace or suffer in darkness. And this is before we are resurrected on the day of reckoning.
How to Prepare for the Day of Judgement
Shaykh Yusha Evans pointed out that death and resurrection are certainties but we don't know when they will happen. This means that we need to always be in a state of preparedness.
How do we prepare for death? How do we ensure that we are saved from the punishment of the grave? And ultimately, how can we attain Jannah without going through the Fire?
As humans, we are all sinners. We can’t escape from sin. But what differentiates the believers from the non-believers, is the act of repentance.
This is the key point to remember. We sin, then we repent sincerely.
Knowing that we sin, doesn’t mean that it’s a free pass for us to continue sinning. We need to have the intention to always do good and avoid sin as much as possible. But because we are often tempted to sin and each one of us has our weaknesses, Allah is All-Merciful that He accepts sincere and truthful repentance from us.
The believing ones among us are the ones who often repent and will be the ones who are victorious in the Afterlife.
وَٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَآءُ بَعْضٍۢ ۚ يَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَيُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَيُطِيعُونَ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥٓ ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ سَيَرْحَمُهُمُ ٱللَّهُ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌۭ ٧١
The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakāh and obey Allāh and His Messenger. Those - Allāh will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allāh is Exalted in Might and Wise. [Quran 9:71]
Manners: the heaviest weight on the mizaan
Malaysian Muslims are known to be friendly and polite. This was apparent to Shaykh Yusha. He pointed this out and prayed that this will not change because manners will weigh the heaviest on the mizaan (scales).
With good manners comes humility and subsequently the habit of being grateful. Of saying “ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ” — praised be to God — during both hardship and ease.
Being grateful during difficulty is a test of faith. And those who believe are grateful for whatever that happens. If you’ve seen some of the videos coming from Palestine, you might see the people professing their gratitude to God despite the injustice they face. This is pure faith and allegiance to The One.
Litmus Test to Measure the Extent of Your Love for Allah SWT
Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim presented 3 tests to measure how much we truly love Allah SWT. Ask yourself these:
- Do I pray the two sunnah rakaats before Fajr?
- Who are my friends that I surround myself with?
- Do I repent and make istighfar often?
Growing up, I wasn’t taught the significance of the sunnah prayers. I only saw people doing it in congregation but never thought to ask why they did it.
Recently, as I rediscover my faith, I understand that the sunnah prayers are essentially vitamin supplements to our obligatory prayers and may help expiate past sins or misdeeds.
In terms of the people you surround yourself with, it’s also a common personal development advice. You are the sum of the friends you surround yourself with. They would determine your spiritual, financial, and economic position whether you realise it or not. And according to Shaykh Yahya, your friends are a type of rizq; a gift from Allah.
Lastly, istighfar. Have the phrase “I seek forgiveness in God” often on your tongue. For what you know and don’t know. Istighfar is the greatest seed that you can plant now for the next life.
Fear and Love Allah
We all have some fear of death, even the bravest of us.
That’s normal; that’s human.
And as we learn about the Day of Judgement and Allah’s wrath, we feel afraid of the potential consequences of our actions.
Some fear is good, but it’s not productive to let it consume you. So you need to balance it with love.
Allah is Most Merciful, Most Generous, Most Loving.
If we take the time to learn more about our Creator, to be grateful of the blessings in life, then the love for Allah will manifest.
From this Faith Events conference, I saw that love is necessary for not only our journey towards Jannah but also the wellbeing of our ummah in this dunya.
If our ummah (community) is not well, we as individuals will be affected.
Shaykh Yusha argued that Muslims today would not be suffering from so many catastrophes and injustices if they have love for each other through forgiveness. There are so many people holding grudges and hate for another that it has become a sickness.
Love is the key to acquiring imaan (faith) and entering Paradise.
By Him in Whose Hand my soul is! You will not enter Jannah until you believe, and you shall not believe until you love one another. [Muslim]
So try to go above and beyond. Aspire to the greatest height of Jannah.
As Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim said, “Don’t be a minimum wage Muslim”.
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