The reality of the situation is that, us as an Ummah, we’re going to face a predicament much greater than this, and that is the fitnah of Dajjal (Antichrist).

The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us that not a Prophet was sent except that he warned his people against the Dajjal, all the way from Noah to the Prophet Muhammad. That’s how great of a fitnah it is, that all of mankind from the beginning, needed to be warned.

The Test of Poverty

Now, why is it such a great fitnah? Because one of the tests that Dajjal comes with is that he tests people with poverty.

So you will see that the Dajjal will come with three years of famine. In the first year, there will be two-thirds of the average amount of rain, so there’s still a decent amount of rain; and the second year, there is half the amount of rain that there usually is; and in the third year, there will be no rain whatsoever…

Meaning that all the crops that we grow from the corn to the wheat to the barley to the oats… will not be possible to grow because there is no rain coming down.

Mankind will be struck with such a strict poverty that we would have never been faced with it before. Then the Dajjal will come to the people and he will tell them:

“Worship me and I will make the rain come down!”

And then some group of people will be so desperate for that food, so desperate for that rain, they will worship the Dajjal and then that rain will come down, and they will get their food and that will be their final state that they will die in.

Bringing the Dead to Life

A second test that the Dajjal will come with is that he will bring the dead back to life, may Allah protect our parents and all of your parents.

He will test an individual or many individuals by killing off their parents literally just chopping their heads off, slicing them in half, and then he will tell them:

“Worship me and I will bring your parents back to life!”

And people, in their weak state of Iman, will worship the Dajjal and they will die in that state (of disbelief).

The Prophet (peace be upon him), as narrated in the hadith, says:

When the Dajjal comes, he will come for a period of forty days. The first day will be like that of a year, the second day will be like that of a month, the third day will be like that of a week, and then the rest of the days will be normal days.

At that time, the companions asked the Prophet an important question.

Now, what would that question be would? Would it be ‘how do we kill the Dajjal? ‘How do we protect ourselves from the Dajjal?’ Or ‘how do we save ourselves from this trial?’

It could have been any of these questions. But the question they asked was:

“O messenger of Allah! On that day when one day is like a year, and a month, and a week how will we perform our salah (prayer)?”

It shows you that the ultimate concern for the companions was their connection with their Lord.