The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A time will come upon the people in which the one who holds fast to his religion is like the one holding a hot coal.” Has this time come, and is it our time?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2260Hasan (Darussalam) Has this time come, and is it our time?
The Shaykh : This matter varies depending on the people and the places. In some places, a person is oppressed in his religion and restricted until he is like the one holding a hot coal. In this case, it is obligatory for him to migrate to another country where he can practice his religion with freedom and peace. This is because the scholars say that if a person is unable to manifest his religion in a land of disbelief, it is obligatory for him to migrate so that he can establish his religion. In some countries in our time, a person finds complete freedom to perform the rituals of his religion, manifest them, and declare them. In that case, we cannot say that the era referred to by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exists now, because we find, praise be to Allah, in some Islamic countries that a person is able to establish his religion in the manner that pleases Allah and His Messenger.
There shall come upon the people a time in which the one who is patient upon his religion will be like the one holding onto a burning ember.
يأتي على الناس زمان القابض فيه على دينه كالقابض على الجمرThe Shaykh : This matter varies depending on the people and the places. In some places, a person is oppressed in his religion and restricted until he is like the one holding a hot coal. In this case, it is obligatory for him to migrate to another country where he can practice his religion with freedom and peace. This is because the scholars say that if a person is unable to manifest his religion in a land of disbelief, it is obligatory for him to migrate so that he can establish his religion. In some countries in our time, a person finds complete freedom to perform the rituals of his religion, manifest them, and declare them. In that case, we cannot say that the era referred to by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exists now, because we find, praise be to Allah, in some Islamic countries that a person is able to establish his religion in the manner that pleases Allah and His Messenger.