In the name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful!
Abu Huraira reported:
One day the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) appeared before the public so a man came to him and then said:
Prophet of Allah, what is Iman?
Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, His angels, His Books, His meeting, His Messengers and that you affirm your faith in the Resurrection hereafter.
He said: Messenger of Allah, what is al-Islam?
He replied: Al-Islam is that you worship Allah and do not associate anything with Him and you establish obligatory prayer and you pay the obligatory alms (Zakat) and you observe the fast of Ramadan.
He said: Messenger of Allah, what is al-Ihsan?
He replied: That you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, and for if you fail to see Him.
He said: Messenger of Allah, when is the Hour (of Doom)?
He replied: The one who is asked about it is no better informed than the inquirer, however I will narrate some of its signs to you. When the slave-girl will give birth to her master, then that is from its signs. When the naked, barefooted would become the chiefs of the people, then that is from its signs. When the shepherds of the black (camels) would exult themselves in buildings, then that is from its signs. (The Hour is) Among one of the five which no one knows but Allah. Then he recited (the verse): "Verily Allah! with Him alone is the knowledge of the Hour and He it is Who sends down the rain and knows that which is in the wombs. And no soul knows what it shall earn tomorrow, and a soul knows not in what land it shall die. Verily Allah is Knowing, Aware." He (Abu Huraira) said: Then the person turned back and went away. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Bring that man back to me. They went to bring him back, but they saw nothing there. Upon this the Messenger of Allah remarked: he was Gabriel, who came to teach the people their religion.
According to traditions, Jibreel (Gabriel) visited Mohammad (pbuh) and questioned him about Iman (Creed), Islam (Pillars of Islam) and Ihsan (Excellence). Furthermore, Gabriel asked Muhammad about the Hour of Doom at which point Muhammad retorts that the questioner knows more about the Hour of Doom, than the one being questioned.
The phrase Slave-Girl giving birth to her Master (or Mistress in some traditions) has been interpreted to indicate children born to trafficked slaves or children born with purchased or forced surrogacy.
However, Imam Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani when commenting on this hadith said the accurate meaning of the phrase ‘slave-girl will give birth to her mistress’ is children will disobey their own parents, where children will treat their parents the way a master treats their slaves, with insults, abuse and disrespect, hitting and forcing their parents to work for them. This opinion is appropriate in the context of the hadith discussing one of the signs of the Last Day, where the lower-class people will be raised in their ranks, and parents who are supposed to have authority over their children are overwhelmed by their own children. [Mufti of Federal Territory's Office]
It's ironic that in China, the term Háinú is used to denote Child's Slave - a term used for parents in China in the 1980s who were forced to follow the one-child policy enforced in that era. The children that were being tended to by these Háinús were of course spoilt brats.
May we all be saved from the horrors and terrors of the End Times. A'meen.
Picture from Unsplash.
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