8. The Spread of Peace

There is a hadith that says there will be a spread of peace and there’s a hadith that says there will be a spread of fitna. And these two were mentioned in the same hadith, so they must be at different times. Whenever people follow Islam, there will be peace. Whenever there is a lack of religion, there will be corruption and a lot of killing.

Khabbaab came to RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was leaning on Al-Ka’bah. Khabbaab came to him and was complaining about the difficult situation that the Sahabah were going through in the early days of Islam. He said to RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, “Aren’t you going to make du’aa` for us?” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam sat straight and anger was apparent on his face. He said, “The ones before you, they would put one of them in the ground and bring a saw and put it on their head and cut them into two pieces, and he wouldn’t give up his religion. They would bring another person (another Muslim) and they would comb him with combs of iron until they separated the flesh from the bones, and the person would not give up their religion. But you are a people who are in a hurry.” Even though the Sahabah were suffering, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “You have to have patience. Don’t be in a hurry.” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that there were people who went through more trials than what you went through. Then RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, “But Allah will complete this religion. Allah will give victory to this religion until the traveller will leave from Sam’aa to Hadramawt, and not fear anyone but Allah and the wolf on their sheep.” The area of Sam’ah and Hadra mowt was a tribal area, and there wasn’t a lot of security. Whenever any caravan would go, it would be accompanied by an army to protect it. This did happen, during the early years of Islam, and it will happen again in the future.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “There will be a time when the land of the Arabs will be rivers and forests (it will be green). And the traveller would leave from Iraq to Makkah, fearing no one but getting lost.”

There’s another narration in Bukhari. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was visited by ‘Adiyy ibn Haatim. ‘Adiyy was the leader of a big tribe in North Arabia, and they were Christian. He was a big figure. His father was the most famous in terms of generosity. He came in with a cross hanging from his chest. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “They have taken their priests and their rabbis as gods besides Allah.” And this caused a conversation between them. A person came in, asking for help. At that time, the Muslims were going through trials. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was giving da’wah to ‘Adiyy. Many of the Muslims were slaves [not in good conditions, etc]. Maybe ‘Adiyy thought that Islam was for the poor. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam noticed that and said, “Don’t base your opinions on what you see from the poverty and the difficulty of my people. A time will come when there will be so much wealth in this Ummah, and so much security, that a woman traveller would leave from Al-Heerah to Makkah, and she would not fear anyone but Allah.” ‘Adiyy said, when RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was telling him that, he was thinking, “What about the burglars of Tayy?” And he knew his tribe; they would rob and kill people going through that area. These people are very corrupt. ‘Adiyy knew his tribe. How was this possible, he wondered? ‘Adiyy said that he lived and he saw that with his own eyes. ['Adiyy became Muslim later on and was a Sahabah.]

The complete spread of peace will be during the time of Mahdi and the time of ‘Eesa ‘alayhis sallaam.