IS THIS THE AGE FOR ISOLATION AND THE MOUNTAINS??
Some Scholars are using the Hadith in Bukhaari that says when fitnah spreads one should abandon everyone and go to the mountains with his sheep and live there even if he has to eat roots of trees. Therefore some Scholars have gone to live on farms with their families, isolating themselves. Is this the time of fitnah mentioned in—the Hadith? Is it valid to oneself like this? What would be the best option in terms of the Qur’aan and Hadith? Are those who have not isolated themselves guilty of sinning? What is the correct explanation of this Hadith?
ANSWER [Mujlisul Ulama]
The Hadith pertaining to the Mountains mentioned by you is authentic. The Hadith does not command anyone to take to the mountains. It only mentions the state of fitnah and anarchy, evil and immorality which will prevail and that at such a time the best option for a concerned Muslim will be isolation. Thus, in one Hadith Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: “Abandon the affairs of the public.” The command even in this Hadith is not for compulsion. It is advice for those who find that calling people to the Path is absolutely futile and is fraught with the unbearable difficulties, persecution and hardship beyond one’s ability of toleration. However, not withstanding this, there will remain for all time right until the end, a small group of Ulama-e-Haqq who will not take to the mountains, but will resolutely proclaim the Haqq and fight for the Haqq until the end, for this is Allah’s Command, for such Ulama represent the divine institution which Allah Ta’ala has created for the defence of Islam. Thus they will remain active in the field to fight kufr, baatil, dhalaal, ilhaad, bid’ah,shirk, fisq, fujoor, modernism, liberalism, etc., regardless of the overwhelming deluge of these evil satanic forces. For this group of Ulama, isolation is not an option.
Ordinary Muslims who are pious and concerned with their Imaan and Akhlaaq – when they find that they are unable to practise the Deen due to persecution by the state, it will be –best for them to take to isolation in whichever way it is possible.
The Hadith pertaining to mountains will apply literally in such places where one can find such a mountain where one will be allowed to live in peace. But in today’s era there is no such mountain. A person living in isolation on a mountain will be quickly apprehended and detained by the slaves of America for being a `terrorist’ or for planning `terrorism’. There is no safe mountain any longer currently. However, the time may still come when all central authority of the state will collapse and total anarchy will reign. At such a time the arm of the law will not extend to remote mountains, and one will be able to find refuge there.
However, generally speaking, there is no refuge even on the mountains, especially in this age of technological advancement. Furthermore, there are other Ahadith which corroborate. what we are saying. For example, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that in the age in close proximity to Qiyaamah, a man will flee with his Imaan – to protect his Deen and morality -from city to city, town to town, village to village, and from mountain to mountain like a hunted fox fleeing from the hunter who is in hot pursuit on its trail. Afghanistan has about the most rugged and highest mountains on earth. It has provided the Taliban with natural refuge against the occupation forces of the kuffaar world. But even there if any person lives alone in isolation in ibaadat, he will be quickly discovered. The places literally teem with spies for the kuffaar. People from nearby villages, lured by the dollars, will most assuredly inform the kuffaar that there is a `Taliban’ hiding and plotting in the mountains. One will then be quickly apprehended.
All the mountains in most countries, western and eastern, are under the control of the departments of forestry. So right now, we don’t know of any mountain range which can provide refuge for a Muslim who wishes to be isolated. Then, again, not a single one of the ordinary Muslims will be able to live a single night in a truly desolate mountain range or wilderness. There is nothing, absolutely nothing to provide for the needs of everyday life for an ordinary Muslim lacking in spiritual elevation. Ordinary Muslims can never withstand the onslaught of the rigours of mountain-life without any modern-day amenities. Who will be able to survive on roots and brak -water for which he will have to search? Mountain life suits only such Auliya who have become like Angels, whose survival depends on Tasbeeh/Thikrullah and who are able to live contently for days and days without food and water. There is no medical treatment, no water facilities, no food arrangement, no proper shelter against the elements, flies, mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, wild animals, no lighting system, not even candles, not even matches to light a fire to cook the roots, etc., etc., . Who but a true Wali can survive in such barren, cruel conditions of hardship? The weather in mountains is extreme.
As for those who speak about living on farms, while there may be the .01% who is honest, the rest are dwelling in deception. Almost all of them are wealthy – very wealthy. The farms are holiday resorts. They spend the greater part of the month in the cities and go for an outing for a weekend or a couple of days to enjoy themselves on their farms fitted out luxuriously with all the amenities found in the city. The farm today is a holiday resort and within the city precincts. There they indulge in sports, futility and stupidities which pave the path of Jahannum. Such farms are haunts of vice. They come no where near to the scope of the mountain Hadith. The isolated one is the odd man out. On the farms they perpetrate all their city shaitaaniyat. If they genuinely believe that they are acting in accordance with the mountain Hadith, then they labour in self-deception and are victims of nafsaani and shaitaani ploys.
The mountain Hadith is also ambiguous. No one can say to which era it applies. It can apply to any age, from the age of the Sahaabah to the age in proximity to Qiyaamah. In fact, during the times of fitnah in the age of the Sahaabah when two groups of Sahaabah were pitted against one other, some Sahaabah such as Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar (radhiyallahu anhu) and others interpreted the Hadith to fit their times, hence they isolated themselves and did not side with any of the two opposing groups of Sahaabah.
Then during the time when the Islamic empire was finally demolished by Ghengis Khan, the kuffaar of the time regarded dogs to be superior to Muslims. In Baghdad and wherever the Tartars reigned, Muslims had to conceal their Imaan for fear of being tortured to death. The same scenario prevailed during the demise of Islamic rule in Spain, Central Asia under the Soviets, and in recent times in Bosnia. It has application even today in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, etc. where orthodox Muslims are persecuted for observing the Sunnah. For each of these segments of the Muslim Ummah, the mountain Hadith had and has reality, but there were no mountains where they could to take refuge. Thus, the Hadith of isolation applies for all ages until the Last Day. It is not conditioned with a specific age. In times of fitnah, wherever and in whichever way one can find safe isolation in which one’s Imaan and Akhlaaq can remain safe, it will fulfil the requisite of the mountain Hadith.
And what we are saying is not far-fetched, because it comes in the Hadith that during times of fitnah when there will be no refuge anywhere, a man passing by the Qabrustaan will yearn that he was in the grave. We shall yet be hemmed in on all sides. May Allah Ta’ala have mercy on us.
The aforementioned discussion will, Insha’Allah, answer your questions. The specific answers to your questions are:
⚫ The present age is undoubtedly among the times of fitnah mentioned in the Hadith. The evidence for this are the many Signs of Qiyaamah materializing in front of our eyes. These are the lesser Signs.
⚫It is valid to isolate oneself and adopt seclusion. It is commendable provided that no one’s rights are abandoned or violated, e.g. the rights of aged The Qur’aan and Hadith are silent on the ‘best options’. Whatever form of isolation is available will come within the scope of the mountain Hadith.
⚫No, no one is sinful for not isolating himself because the Shariah does not command the isolation as an incumbent obligation. Whether in isolation or not, the Muslim is required to follow the Shariah. Submission to the Shariah is the obligation.
Islam Reigns 