Have any of the prophet's predictions concerning the distant future been proven true?

• Once God’s Messenger declared: When the end of time [the Last Day] approaches, the children of Kantura will appear; they will be slant-eyed, chubby-faced and flat-nosed.30
  
  This description fits well the Mongols, as it does some of the Kharijites, whom it is traditionally thought to refer to. God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, predicted, in fact, both the Mongol invasion and the destruction of the Muslim world, and the Western massacre of the Andalusian Muslims – two of the most tragic calamities to afflict the Muslim nation. Since he was concerned with the fate of his nation to the utmost degree, he drew, through such predictions, the attention of Muslims to the fact that when they deviate from the Straight Path, they will inevitably be struck by calamities. God uses wrong-doers and oppressors as a ‘sword’ to chasten and correct his believing servants, and afterwards He turns against the oppressors and eradicates them.
• God’s Messenger also gave the glad tidings of the conquest of Istanbul, saying: Certainly, Constantinople will be conquered. How good is the commander who will conquer it and how good his army!31
  
  Hoping to be the object of the Prophet‘s praise, Muslim rulers and commanders, from the time of Mu‘awiya, attempted many times to conquer Constantinople (Istanbul). It was in one of those campaigns that Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the noble Companion of God’s Messenger, was martyred and buried in the vicinity of the city walls.
  
  Istanbul was conquered by the Ottoman ruler, Mehmed, the Conqueror. Besides this great commander and statesman, his two school friends, Hasan of Ulubat and Qadi Khidr Calabi, as well as his tutor Ak Shamsaddin, were also symbols of this conquest, one in the army, the others in the departments of religious and scientific education. The prayer and praise of God’s Messenger encompasses all of them.
• God’s Messenger predicted and explained the principle reasons for the destruction of the Ottoman State and the condition of the Muslim world in the aftermath of the First World War, saying:
  
  Nations will call each other, as people make invitations to a meal, to make a concerted attack on you. Someone asked: ‘Will this happen because of our being small in number?’ God’s Messenger answered: ‘Rather, you will then be great in number, but as powerless as wood-chips or straw carried in a flood. God will remove fear of you from the hearts of your enemies and implant in you fear of death and love of the world.’32
  
  This hadith warns us that a day will come when the world nations will flock upon us as if for dividing food at a table. This will happen because the Muslims will be, rather than like a deep-rooted tree, like woodchips or straw carried away by a flood.
  
  The prediction, which became reality during the First World War, also describes our current situation. We have been divided into many factions while our enemies have formed a unity based on their interests. In the past, they were afraid of us because for us the grave was like a bridal chamber – something to be looked forward to. But now, we have become so attached to this temporal world that we try to escape death despite knowing that it will grasp us at its appointed time.
  
  We have been the object of many treacheries during our history. ‘Uthman and ‘Ali, in the early period of Islam, were victims of a treacherous group. And the magnificent Ottoman State was made sacrificial food for the carnivorous peoples of the world as a result of the endless betrayals of nations that had lived the most prosperous periods of their history peacefully under its administration.
• God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, also predicted the rise of Communism in a hadith reported by Ibn ‘Umar. Facing toward the east, he said, Take care! Anarchy and subversion will appear from that direction, from where the age of Satan will begin.33
  
  The age of Satan is the opposite of the age of the Prophet. Contrary to the age of the Prophet, being based on belief in, and devotion to, God, the age of Satan will be built upon atheism and hedonism, fostered by Satan. Since Communism, being the unlawful outcome of capitalism, champions hostility to religion, piety, and to all the moral and traditional values, God’s Messenger called the epoch when it would have momentum the age of Satan, and warned his nation of the mischief which it would bring.
• God’s Messenger once declared:
  
  The Euphrates will probably go dry, uncovering a treasure (a mountain, according to another version) of gold beneath it. Whoever of you witnesses it, should refrain from taking any of it.34
  
  This hadith alludes to great bloodshed which is expected to take place along the Euphrates. Al-though the Euphrates has so far witnessed many wars, like the Iran-Iraq war, what this hadith points to is a much greater bloodshed which will occur in the future. While we may take the hadith in its literal meaning – that is, the Euphrates may actually go dry to uncover a treasure or a mountain of gold beneath it – we may also regard it in a figurative sense. For example, we tend to call petrol ‘black gold’, or the water of the Euphrates may be, in the future, as valuable as gold, and cause regional or even international wars. Also it may be that the income obtained through the dams over the Euphrates will attract international attention and cause great wars. In whichever case, God’s Messenger warned fourteen centuries ago that the region of the Euphrates is like dynamite at the heart of the Muslim world.
• God’s Messenger, who is the Prince of both worlds, also averred that Christianity would be purified of the pagan elements which have filtered over time into its body and join Islam, thus giving strength to the Divine religion.35 This will be a universal turning point in human history, and the believers will, at a time when they are gripped by their enemies, defeat and destroy the world-wide representatives of unbelief.
• God’s Messenger predicted that, through the reformations in agriculture and developments in science and technology, a pomegranate will suffice for as many as twenty people, with its rind providing shade for them. He also prophesied that the wheat produced in so small an area as a house balcony will be enough for the annual consumption of a family.36
  
  These predictions will also prove to be true and mankind will thereby confirm once again that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
• In another Tradition, God’s Messenger upon him be peace and blessings, describes ‘the end of time’, saying:
  
  Prior to Doomsday, people will make discrimination when offering their greetings (preferring to greet only some); trade will be given so much currency and preference that a wife will help her husband in it; parents and relatives will no longer be visited; false evidence and false testimony will replace true ones, and writing will gain prominence.37
  
  Everything predicted in this hadith fourteen centuries ago, has proved to be true. Today, trade is the most preferred way of making a livelihood and women are exploited in it as a means of advertisement and for attracting customers. Secondly, the rights of parents and relatives are no longer considered and, once they become old – when they are most in need of attention and affection – they are often driven from their family homes to old people‘s homes. Thirdly, the power of the the modern press is unquestionable and thousands of books are published every day. Fourthly, lying is so widespread that few can refrain from it. This is true at all levels from business lies to false testimony in law suits.
  
  All these predictions, together with the ones that have already come true or are certain to come true in due time, demonstrate that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, who articulated what was revealed to him.
• In a hadith qudsi, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, relates from God:
  
  At the end of time I will cause knowledge to be obtained by everyone, including men and women, slaves and the free, and the old and the young.38
  
  As we all know, education is now open to almost everyone through numerous institutions including schools, universities, and the media. Many intellectuals and scientists say that the next age will be the age of information. This is another proof of the truthfulness and, by implication, the Prophethood of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings.
• In another authentic Tradition, God’s Messenger declares:
  
  The Hour (the Last Day) will not come until God’s Book (the Qur’an) is a means of shame and Islam is left without a powerful group to support it.39a
  
  We have seen the truth of this prediction. For nearly a century, Muslims have been persecuted even in their own lands, and, while atheists and unbelievers have openly declared their unbelief everywhere, Islam has been the target of verbal, written and, even, active assaults. Muslims have felt compelled to conceal their belief and have become too ashamed to openly declare their confirmation of the Qur’an.
• The hadith continues:
  
  The Hour will not come until the distances of time and space diminish.39b
  
  I have translated the word taqarub as diminishing. It means ‘to approach each other’ and implies that before the Day of Judgement comes, things which took a long time in the past will be possible in a very short time. This hadith, in addition to predicting modern vehicles of transportation, implies that time is relative.
  
  The earth is gradually taking an elliptical strap. This may possibly cause some changes in the division and calculation of time.
  
  As for the relativity of time alluded to in the hadith: as is known, time differs in some aspects such as division, length, calculation and the speed of its passage in or around every sphere or planet. If, therefore, one day, mankind are able to get out of the solar system, the present conception of time will completely change. Thus, in a single word, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, besides making several predictions, some of which have already come true, alludes to several scientific facts.
  
  I wonder how anybody can come forward, in the face of these predictions, and claim that the one who made them is an ordinary man. Whoever else, other than the One who has absolute disposal of time and space, can know all these facts, and who can dispute the Prophethood of the one who foretold them fourteen centuries ago?
• God’s Messenger also predicted:
  
  A time will come upon people when almost everyone will eat from usury, to the extent that those who refrain from it will be exposed to its ‘dust’.40
  
  God’s Messenger points to two important facts:
• A time will come when all formal transactions will involve interest. No one will be able to avoid it completely. However, those who do not enter into interest-based transactions will not be held accountable for the interest they eat unintentionally so long as they do their best to refrain from usury.
• God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, may have meant by ‘being exposed to its dust’ that a ‘capitalist’ class would emerge and increase its wealth through interest. This would gradually lead the ‘working class’ into deeper and deeper poverty, which would result in direct and bitter class warfare.
  
  It goes without saying that all these predictions have come true. How tragic it is that Muslim countries are in such a despised, degenerate state because of, among other things, their drowning in the swamp of interest, while the Qur’an has clearly declared that anyone involved in interset-based transactions was at war with God and His Messenger (al-Baqara, 2.279). If only Muslims had been conscious of such Qur’anic threats, they would not be in such a miserable position.
• In the following authentic Tradition, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, points to another aspect of the present world:
  
  A time will come upon people when believers conceal themselves as hypocrites do among you today.41
  
  At the time of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, hypocrites used to conceal themselves. Inwardly they were unbelievers but outwardly they performed all the religious duties. God’s Messenger foretold the pitiful state of Muslims when they would conceal their belief and perform even their religious obligations secretly.
  
  The same state was described in another hadith:
  
  Sedition and deviation will occur, and a Muslim will be disgraced because of performing prescribed prayers as a woman is disgraced today because of fornication.
• In another narration, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, predicted that petroleum would be discovered in Taleqan, saying:
  
  Good tidings to Taleqan, for there are God’s treasuries there, but not of gold and silver.42
  
  In the past, people meant by ‘treasury’ gold and silver. For this reason, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, emphasized that the treasuries which would be discovered in Taleqan would not be those of gold and silver. What comes to mind first today when told of a treasury which is not of gold and silver is petroleum. However, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, might also have implied resources of uranium or diamond. In which case, the Prophetic prediction has, again, come true because those resources have already been discovered in and around Taleqan.
• The following is another prediction by God’s Messenger, which has come true:
  
  You will certainly walk in the footsteps of those who preceded you so closely that if, for example, they had put their heads in the hole of a lizard, you would do the same. The Companions asked him if he meant by ‘those who preceded you’ the Jews and Christians, he answered: Who else could it be other than them?43
  
  Muslims have been suffering from an identity crisis for two centuries. They are blind imitators of the West and have been caught up in the vices which destroyed all previous civilizations.
  
  All the foregoing together with hundreds of other predictions constitute a decisive proof that Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, was a Prophet, a Messenger, taught by God.

30. Bukhari, Jihad, 95,96; Abu Dawud, Malahim, 10; Ibn Ma’ja, Fitan, 36; Ibn Hanbal, 5.40, 45.

31. Hakim, Mustadrak, 4.422; I. Hanbal, 4.335.

32. Abu Dawud, Malahim, 5; I. Hanbal, 5.278.

33. Bukhari, Fitan, 16; Muslim, Fitan, 45; I. Hanbal, 2.50, 72.

34. Bukhari, Fitan, 24; Muslim, Fitan, 30; Abu Dawud, Malahim, 12,13.

35. Muslim, Iman, 244–7.

36. Muslim, Fitan, 110; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 59; I. Hanbal, 4.182.

37. I. Hanbal, 1.407, 408; Hakim, Mustadrak, 4.98, 448.

38. Darimi, Muqaddima, 27.

39a. Kanz al-‘Ummal, 14.244.

39b. Haythami, Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 7.324.

40. I. Ma’ja, Tijara, 58; I. Hanbal, 2.494; Nasa’i, Buyu, 2.

41. Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal, 11.176.

42. Kanz al-‘Ummal, 14.591

43. Muslim, ‘Ilm, 6; Bukhari, Anbiya’, 50.