`Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As (May Allah be pleased with them) said: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Dajjal (the Antichrist) will appear in my Ummah and he will stay in the world for forty. I do not know whether this will be forty days or forty months or forty years. Allah will then send (Prophet) `Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary). `Isa will pursue him and slaughter him. Then people will survive for seven years (i.e., after the demise of `Isa) in the state that there will be no rancour between two persons. Then Allah will send a cool breeze from the side of Ash-Sham. None will remain upon the face of the earth having the smallest particle of good or Faith in him but he will die, so much so that even if someone amongst you will enter the innermost part of a mountain, this breeze will reach that place also and will cause him to die. Only the wicked people will survive and they will be as fast as birds (i.e., to commit evil) and as ferocious towards one another as wild beasts. They will never appreciate the good, nor condemn evil. Then Shaitan (Satan) will come to them in the garb of a man and will say: `Will you not obey me? They will say: `What do you order us to do? He will command them to worship idols. They will have abundance of sustenance and will lead comfortable lives. Then the Trumpet will be blown. Every one hearing it, will turn his neck towards it and will raise it. The first one to hear that Trumpet will be a man who will be busy repairing the basin for his camels. He will become unconscious. Allah will send, or will cause to send, rain which will be like dew and there will grow out of it (like wild growth) the bodies of the people. Then the second Trumpet will be blown and they will stand up and begin to look around. Then it will be said: `O people! Go to your Rubb. Then there will be a command: `Make them stand there. After it they will be called to account. Then it will be said: `Separate from them the share of the Fire. It will be asked: `How much? It will be said: `Nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand. That will be the Day which will make children hoary-headed men because of its terror and that will be the Day when the Shin will be uncovered."[Muslim].
Commentary:
The question arises as to what is the meaning of the phrase - the Shin will be uncovered - at this place? Some people say that it refers to the calamities and troubles of the Day of Judgement. But according to a reliable narration, it refers to an act of Allah of uncovering His Shin in a way which befits His Majesty. As believers, we must confirm Allah's all Qualities which He has stated in the Qur'an or mentioned through His Messenger (PBUH) without changing them or ignoring them completely or twisting their meanings or giving resemblance to any of the created things. What is meant by the uncovering of the Shin of Allah is something we can neither understand nor describe. We can only believe in it without understanding the real explanation of it, in the same way we believe in the Eye or Ear of Allah. We should believe in all these things as mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith without trying to go into the explanation. This is the view of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama`ah to which we should stick. (See Tafsir Ahsan-ul-Bayan)
Then all the Muslims will prostrate before Him. However, those people who used to pray and prostrate before Him in their worldly lives only for showing off or for gaining good reputation, will not be able to prostrate before Him on this occasion. Their spines will become stiff like a wooden board and it would become impossible for them to bend. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Tafsir Surat An-Nur and Al-Qalam).
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