Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 119
THE REN AISSANCE OF ISLAM 119 Of the problems confronting him were not only the hostility of the followers of all other faiths towards Islam, and their complete indifference towards moral and spiritual values, but also the condition of the House of Islam itself, which was riddled with mutual strife and pitiful ignorance of the values inculcated by Islam for the regulation of all aspects of human life, let alone putting them into practice in all matters big and small. The condition of the Muslims of his time, and indeed of our own present time, was summed up by the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, as follows: A time would arrive when the Muslims will praise a person for his courage, his agreeableness, his grand manners and his wisdom, while there would not be a particle of faith in his heart. This is well illustrated today in that if a person, who is not in the least conver- sant with the values of the faith, stands up and begins to clamour vociferously for the rights of the Muslims, they at once proclaim him their leader. No one'dares to say a word against him or to inquire how such a person, who has never taken a single step in the cause of Islam, has become a leader of the Muslims. They consider it enough that he makes excellent speeches, refutes his rivals very cleverly or is so anxious to achieve his political objectives that he puts his own life in danger in their pursuit. The Holy Prophet, peace be on him, also indicated that in the latter days the true believers would not be honoured and would remain hidden on account of the enmity of people. He also indicated that the knowledge of Arabic and its use as a medium of communication between Muslims would decline and the Muslims would thereby be deprived of many social, religious and political benefits that they could have derived from greater knowledge and use of the Arabic language. He also indicated that women would take to dressing in a manner that would make their beauty manifest rather than cover it up; and that women would take part in trade and commerce along with men and would become dominant over men. He also prophecied that the proportion of women