Cell phones not a sign of the Hour according to this Hadeeth

8-11-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Aslamualakaum there is a hadith in muslims that says that towards the end of time, whips will talk, can you please explain this. i seen somone linking it to phones, but can you please expalin

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

This Hadeeth was not reported in Muslim’s Saheeh; it was reported in Ahmad, At-Tirmithi, Al-Haakim, and Al-Bayhaqi. Both Al-Haakim and Al-Bayhaqi classified it as Saheeh (sound) and Ath-Thahabi, Al-Haytami, and Al-Albaani conccurred with that classification.

The wording of this Hadeeth reads: The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “By the One in Whose Hand lies my soul! The Hour will not come until predators speak to people and until the tip of a man’s whip and the straps on his sandal speak to him, and his thigh informs him of what occurred with his family after him.”

According to Al-Mubaarakfoori’s commentary on At-Tirmithi’s Sunan, the meaning of the Arabic expression ‘athabat as-sawt in the Hadeeth is the “tip of the whip” and shiraak an-na‘l means the “straps on the sandal”.

As for interpreting the expression 'athabat as-sawt' as cell phones, we do not know of any scholar holding such a view. The linguistic indication of the words does not suggest that meaning. We also know of no scholar who maintains that the cell phone is among the signs of the Hour. Forced interpretation and speculation in interpreting the religious texts are strictly unacceptable.

Allaah Knows best.