Lecture Sialkot — Page 12
12 L ECTURE S IALKOT When it is said that no one knows the Hour of Resur- rection, it does not imply that nothing can possibly be known about it. If such were the case, then all the signs mentioned in the Holy Quran and authentic Hadith re- garding Resurrection would stand rejected because they constitute the very source of our knowledge about the proximity of the Day of Resurrection. God Al- mighty has said in the Holy Quran that in the latter days canals would flow, books and newspapers would be published in large numbers and camels would fall into disuse. We find that all these prophesies have come to be fulfilled in our time. Camels, for instance, have been replaced by railway as a means of commer- cial transport. We can, therefore, conclude that the Day of Resurrection is close at hand. In the verse 7 and in many other verses, God Himself warned us long ago that the Day of Resurrection is near. Hence, the Shariah does not mean that the time of Resurrection is a complete mystery. On the con- trary, all Prophets as have spoken of the signs of the Last Age as have the Gospels. But it is also true that no one has exact knowledge of the Hour. God is Omnipo- tent and, after the lapse of a thousand years, He can add a few more centuries, for fractions do not count in such calculations. It is just like the period of pregnancy 7 The Hour has drawn nigh. —Al-Qamar, 54:2 [Publishers]