ESCHATOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: INTERFAITH AND COMPARITIVE PERSPECTIVES
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LET US BE CLEAR THAT SAUDI ARABIA HAS EFFECTIVELY BANNED THE HAJJ IN 1441/2020. THIS MEANS THAT THE CORONA VIRUS- COVID 19 SATANIC DAJALLIC PLANDEMIC IS BEING USED AS A COVER FOR A DIRECT ASSAULT ON THE HAJJ,  ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS PRACTICES, ISLAM AND ISLAMIC CIVILISATION. 2.5 MILLION HAJJIS WERE EXPECTED GLOBALLY TO PERFORM THE HAJJ THIS YEAR. THE SCALING BACK TO 1000 LOCAL HAJJIS IS JUST TOKENISM AND CANNOT ERASE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS HISTORIC DECISION. EFFECTIVELY THE  HAJJ HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND IT IS LEADING TO THE ABANDONMENT OF THE HAJJ THE FIFTH PILLAR OF ISLAM . IF THIS IS NOT ESCHATOLOGICAL I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS. BY EXECUTING THIS DECISION LET IT BE CLEAR THAT THE SAUDI REGIME HAS UNDERMINED IT'S LEGITIMACY AS BEING THE CUSTODIANS OF THE HARAMAIN. THEY ARE NOTHING BUT A TRIBAL OLIGARCHY BROUGHT TO POWER AND PAID FOR BY NON MUSLIM WESTERN IMPERIALISTS AFTER THE TREACHERY LEADING TO THE DEMISE OF THE OTTOMANS IN WW1. 


THE ENDGAME HAS COMMENCED AND THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL AS THE SAUDIS CAN NO LONGER CLAIM THE RIGHT TO BE CUSTODIANS OF THE HARAMAIN NOR DO THEY HAVE ANY POLITICAL LEGITIMACY BY SERVING THE INTERESTS OF WESTERN IMPERIALISM AND THE DAJALLIC NWO. AS THE HOUSE OF CARDS BUILT ON SAND DISSOLVES THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS WILL BE REVIEWED HEREAFTER.    



HAJJ AMID THE PANDEMIC     
https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articl...e-pandemic

When the coronavirus pandemic erupted, the Saudi regime announced it was suspending umrah (the lesser pilgrimage) to Makkah and Madinah. It also said Muslims should not make any arrangements for Hajj until further notice. Even if the Saudis had not made this announcement, Muslims would have found it virtually impossible to travel to Jeddah—the main entry point for pilgrims—because all flights were cancelled.


Tens of thousands of poor workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines etc. are still stranded in Saudi Arabia without a job and cannot return home because there are no flights. They are living in desperate conditions amid lack of resources. Heart-breaking videos of Pakistani workers stranded in Saudi Arabia have appeared on the Internet pleading for help.

On June 23, the Saudi regime announced it would allow about 1,000 pilgrims residing in the kingdom to perform Hajj this year but no pilgrims from outside. Many would have found it impossible anyway due to air and other travel restrictions. Given the pandemic related health risks, if this year’s Hajj had been suspended altogether, that would still be understandable. Islam places great emphasis on the protection of human life. Even the 1,000 pilgrims allowed from inside the kingdom are not without risk. After all, the pandemic has taken a heavy toll of life worldwide. Saudi Arabia’s infections have reportedly exceeded 167,000 with almost 1400 deaths. While this is not a huge number in global terms, if the usual 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world had come for Hajj, this would have led to a catastrophe.

In addition to the unusual health risks associated with large gatherings, Hajj has been emptied out of its Islamic content under the Bani Saud. It has been reduced to a few empty rituals that the Saudis insist Muslims must perform and then leave immediately. The most they can do is buy some trinkets imported from China that most Muslims in their innocence believe have some sacred value, and perhaps a can of Zam Zam water.

In an age when virtually everything has gone virtual, Hajj unfortunately cannot be performed ‘virtually’. One has to be present in Makkah (at or near Mount Arafat, to be precise) to fulfill the requirements of Hajj. Muslims, however, can and must pay attention to some aspects of Hajj that have been erased from their collective memory. Crescent International has regularly drawn attention to these and are being highlighted again.
First, Hajj is the common heritage of the Ummah and not the exclusive preserve of one country, clan or family. Its affairs must be administered according to the collective will of the Ummah, not the capricious policies of uncouth Bedouins whose only mission in life is subservience to the kuffar, bordering almost on shirk.

In needs recalling that until 1957, the Nizam of Hyderabad (under Indian occupation now), Mir Osman Ali Khan used to send £25 million every year to cover the expenses of Hajj. This reflected the fact that Hajj was the common heritage and responsibility of all Muslims. While oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938, the Americans paid pittance to the Saudis as they plundered their oil wealth, hence the need for Hajj subsidies. Today, billions of dollars in Hajj and umrah revenues are pocketed by the greedy Saudi ‘royals’. They have also turned the sacred cities of Makkah and Madinah into cheap replicas of Las Vegas, the gambling capital of America, again without any regard to the sanctity of these places.

Equally important is the issue of how Hajj is to be performed. Ever since the Bani Saud occupied Makkah and al-Madinah in 1925, helped by the British, they have worked assiduously to empty the Hajj of its Qur’anic content. Regrettably, most Muslims, especially the ulama have also been complicit in the Saudis’ violation of divine commands relating to Hajj.

In the noble Qur’an, Allah (swt) commands us to proclaim our complete dissociation from the mushrikeen at the time of Hajj (the Qur’anic expression is bara’a min al-mushrikeen). The first set of ayats of Surah at-Tawbah (9: ayats 1-29) relate to this. One ayah in particular leaves no doubt about what Muslims are required to do at the time of Hajj.

And a proclamation from Allah and His Apostle [is herewith made] unto all humankind on this day of Hajj: ‘Allah disavows all who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him, and [so does] His Apostle. Hence, if you repent, it shall be for your own good; and if you turn away, then know that you can never elude Allah [’s corrective justice]” (9:03).

Understanding the time and circumstances of the revelation of these ayats is crucial. It was the ninth year of the Hijrah. Led by Abu Bakr Siddiq (ra), Muslims had set out from Madinah to perform Hajj. While the Muslim pilgrims were on their way to Makkah, these ayats
of Surah at-Tawbah were revealed to the noble Messenger (pbuh) in Madinah. He immediately dispatched his cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali (ra) to go to Makkah and proclaim these ayats at the time of Hajj!

We must reflect on why the noble Messenger (pbuh) did not wait for the Muslims to return from Hajj to inform them of the latest set of revelations. It was a divine command and had to be fulfilled right away. Is this divine command no longer applicable (nastaghfirullah)? By prohibiting the bara’a min al-mushrikeen (disavowal from the mushrikeen) march during the time of Hajj, the Saudi occupiers are preventing Muslims from fulfilling a divine command.
It is not difficult to surmise why the Bani Saud would want to violate the divine command. They want to appease their mushrik masters rather than Allah. This alone disqualifies them from being in control of the affairs of Hajj, not to mention their incompetence and gross mismanagement of Hajj.

Muslims have an obligation to highlight these and demand that the affairs of Hajj be administered by a competent body of Muslim technical experts under the guidance of muttaqi ulama representing the genuine aspirations of the Ummah. Reclaiming the administration of Hajj from the clutches of the corrupt Saudis should be the top priority of Muslims worldwide as must the right to organize bara’a min al-mushrikeen marches in fulfilment of Allah’s command.

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SAUDI ARABIA TO ALLOW AROUND 1,000 PILGRIMS TO PERFORM HAJ , SAYS MINISTER  

Saudi Arabia will allow around 1,000 pilgrims residing in the kingdom to perform Haj this year, a minister said on Tuesday, after it announced the ritual would be scaled back due to coronavirus. “The number of pilgrims will be around 1,000, maybe less, maybe a little more,” Haj Minister Mohammad Benten told reporters. “The number won't be in tens or hundreds of thousands” this year, he added.  The pilgrimage, scheduled for the end of July, will be limited to those below 65 years of age and with no chronic illnesses, Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah said.  The pilgrims will be tested for coronavirus before arriving in the holy city of Makkah and will be required to quarantine at home after the ritual, Rabiah added.  


Saudi Arabia announced on Monday it would hold a “very limited” Haj this year, as it moves to curb the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the Gulf.  It said the ritual will be open to people of various nationalities already in the kingdom.  The decision marks the first time in Saudi Arabia's modern history that Muslims outside the kingdom have been barred from performing Haj, which last year drew 2.5 million pilgrims.  Benten did not specify how the pilgrims will be selected. But he said the government will work with various diplomatic missions in the kingdom to select foreign pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia who fit the health criteria.

The annual Haj typically packs millions of pilgrims into congested religious sites and could be a major source of contagion.  The decision comes as Saudi Arabia grapples with a major spike in infections, which have now risen to more than 161,000 cases — the highest in the Gulf — with more than 1,300 deaths.  But the move to scale back the five-day event is fraught with political and economic peril and comes after several Muslim countries pulled out of the ritual that forms one of the main pillars of Islam.



IF SAUDI ARABIA IS FORCED TO PUT THE HAJJ ON HOLD, 
IT WILL NOT BE WITHOUT PRECEDENT 

[url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1653191/saudi-arabia]https://www.arabnews.com/node/1653191/saudi-arabia


JEDDAH: Will the Hajj, which draws millions of Muslims annually to Islam’s birthplace in Saudi Arabia, be suspended this year owing to the global coronavirus pandemic?


That question had been uppermost in the minds of millions of Muslims worldwide even before a Saudi official asked them to put on hold any plans to perform the obligatory pilgrimage, scheduled to begin in late July.  “We’ve asked our Muslim brothers around the world to wait” before making Hajj plans “until there’s clarity,” Dr. Muhammad Salih bin Taher Banten, minister of Hajj and Umrah, told state-run Al-Ekhbariya TV in comments on March 31 that quickly bounced around the world.  He added: “We've asked the world not to rush with regards to Hajj groups until the path of the epidemic becomes clear, keeping in mind the safety of pilgrims and public health as a priority.”

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health has taken the whole gamut of precautionary measures to control the spread of COVID-19 infection in Makkah and Madinah, yet a total of more than 480 active cases have been reported in the two holy cities so far. Last month, the Kingdom suspended the Umrah pilgrimage until further notice, halted all international passenger flights indefinitely, and blocked the entry and exit to several cities, including Makkah and Madinah.
There have been 25 deaths reported among more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia.


Globally, more than 1,000,000 people have been infected and nearly 59,000 of them have died. Against this backdrop, a decision to suspend the Hajj may seem at once inevitable and unprecedented. In actual fact, the pilgrimage has experienced disruptions through the centuries due to circumstances beyond the control of Hajj authorities. According to a report published by the King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah), the first time the Hajj was interrupted was in 930 AD when the Qarmatians, a syncretic branch of Sevener Ismaili Shiite Islam that revolted against the Abbasid Caliphate, attacked pilgrims on the eighth day of Hajj.

The report says the Qarmatians, convinced that performing the Hajj was an act of idolatry, killed more than 30,000 pilgrims that year, desecrated Makkah’s Zamzam well with corpses, and ran off with the Black Stone of the Kaaba back to Hajr (Qatif nowadays), their capital on the Arabian Gulf at that time.  On account of the bloody assault, the Hajj was not performed for another 10 years, according to the Darah report. The next disruption happened in 968 AD, says the report, citing Ibn Kathir’s book “Al-Bidaya wan-Nihayah.” It said a disease spread inside Makkah and claimed the lives of many pilgrims. The Prophet Muhammad said, ‘If you hear of an outbreak of a plague in a land, do not enter it.’

At the same time, camels used for transporting pilgrims to Makkah died owing to a scarcity of water. “Many of those who managed to reach Makkah safely could not live long after Hajj for the same reason,” according to the Darah report. Among those who came to Makkah to perform the Hajj in significant numbers were Egyptians. But in 1000 AD, they could not afford to undertake the journey because of the high cost of living in the country that year. Some 29 years later, no pilgrims from the East or Egypt came for the Hajj. According to the Darah report, in 1030 only a few Iraqi pilgrims managed to reach Makkah to perform the Hajj.  Nine years later, Iraqi, Egyptian, Central Asian and north Arabian Muslims were unable to perform the Hajj. Dr. Emad Taher, head of the history department at King Abdul Aziz University, said the reason was political unrest and sectarian tensions.  Similarly, no one performed the Hajj in 1099 owing to fear and insecurity across the Muslim world as a result of wars.

Some five years before the Crusaders seized Jerusalem in 1099, lack of unity among Muslim rulers of the Arab region meant that no Muslims could manage to reach Makkah to perform the Hajj.  In 1168, Egyptians found themselves locked in confrontation with Kurdish Commander Asaduddin Shirkuh, who was hoping to extend the Zangid dynasty to Egypt. The situation naturally did not allow Egyptians to perform the Hajj. The pilgrimage was again disrupted in the 13th century. The Darah report says no people from outside the Hijaz region could perform the Hajj between 1256 and1260.

French leader Napoleon Bonaparte’s military campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria from 1798 to 1801 made the standard routes to Makkah unsafe for pilgrims. More than two centuries on, a global pandemic has cast a huge shadow of uncertainty on the Islamic pilgrimage. Hani Nasira, an Egyptian academic and writer, said if COVID-19 cases worldwide continue to increase, a decision to halt the Hajj should come as no surprise.  “If imposed, such a decision will be wise and in full compliance with the Islamic Shariah, which basically aims to protect and preserve peoples’ lives,” he told Arab News.  “In the Holy Qur’an, Allah says, ‘and do not kill yourselves.’ Also, the Prophet Muhammad warned his companions against epidemics.


Muslims visit the Kaaba during a pilgrimage to Makkah in 1954. (AP)
“Abdulrahman bin Awf narrated that the Prophet Muhammad had said, ‘if you hear of an outbreak of a plague in a land, do not enter it; but if that epidemic breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place.’ This Hadith shows the significance of avoiding plagues.”  Nasira noted that the COVID-19 outbreak has claimed thousands of lives across the world and shows no sign of abating.  “The whole world is suffering from the swift spread of the coronavirus, which has filled people everywhere with unprecedented dread,” he told Arab News. “With scientists having little information about the virus, a cure isn’t likely to come out soon, so the continuation of the situation makes suspending the Hajj necessary to protect lives.”  Nasira drew attention to the fact that some Muslim countries, including Iran and Turkey, are among the biggest casualties of the pandemic.

“We don’t want to add fuel to the fire. It’s illogical, and Islam also never accepts or approves that. If I were a mufti, I wouldn’t hesitate to call for a suspension,” he said.  Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, a researcher of Islamic studies, pointed out that the Hajj is not a limited ritual in the sense that it can be carried out at least once in the lifetime of an adult Muslim. “Performing the Hajj isn’t limited to a specific time. An adult Muslim can perform the Hajj whenever he or she likes once they’ve reached the age of discretion,” he told Arab News.

“Prophet Muhammad, for instance, didn’t perform the pilgrimage in the first year the Hajj became a duty. He made his Hajj a year later,” said Al-Ghamdi, who specializes in Hadith and Islamic sciences. Like Nasira, he maintains that Islamic Shariah strongly backs public interest and wellbeing.  “In case of dire necessity, such as because of the spread of the coronavirus disease, political reasons or security compulsions, the Hajj can be suspended and this doesn’t contradict Islamic teachings,” Al-Ghamdi said. “The Almighty has ordered us to not expose ourselves to danger.”  Moreover, Al-Ghamdi said, the Hajj is founded in reason and logic, so if health officials find that a contagious sickness can cause deaths, preserving people’s lives is more important than the pilgrimage itself. “Nothing is wrong with this line of reasoning in Islamic Shariah,” he added.
 
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RE: ESCHATOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: INTERFAITH AND COMPARITIVE PERSPECTIVES - by globalvision2000administrator - 06-23-2020, 11:46 AM

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