What is the validity of the statement by some that we are living today in an era similar to the Meccan era? What is your opinion on this?

The questioner : Some people say that we are living in these days in an era similar to the first Meccan era; so what is your opinion of this statement, and what is your advice in such circumstances if this statement is correct?

The Shaykh : We say, and praise be to Allah, that we are not living in an era similar to the Meccan era. Rather, we are living after Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, revealed those golden verses: But, unfortunately, some people, due to their distance from their religion and their lack of interest in understanding their religion, imagine this grave and erroneous illusion. They say, "Our era is like the Meccan era," meaning the era in which—not to say that the Shari'ah had not been completed, but rather that—only a very small amount of the legal rulings had been revealed. Therefore, this statement is a lie and slander. And what I fear most is that it may be as it is said: "Behind the dune is what is behind the dune." That the intention behind such a statement is to prepare the ground for negligence in carrying out the rulings, or in many of the legal rulings, on the one hand, or for not paying attention to much of what is established in Islam, on the basis that we are in an era similar to the Meccan era. For example, it is not permissible to investigate matters they call "superficial" or "not essential," or the like. And whatever is built upon a defective foundation is defective, and as it was said: "Can the shadow be straight while the stick is crooked?"

The questioner : There are some similarities between the Meccan era and the era we are living in, but does this make them the same, or not?

The Shaykh : The similarities are not in legislation; rather, they are in some circumstances regarding some people. But nothing is built upon this except the focus on reform, and this is what every group, every community that calls to Islam, must do.