Death and the End of Days: A Seminar on Islamic Eschatology
Fear and fascination mark human engagements with the end of all things. The specter of death looms over human societies that are today killing at impossible scale. Thinking about our individual and collective mortality tends to immobilize hearts. Oscillating between terror and obsession, we are paralyzed and incapable of responding to the call to cultivate reverence, resist oppression, and manifest radical optimism. The Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him – taught that if we should happen to find the ourselves in the End of Days, we should plant a tree. In other words, never abandon hope, even when the darkest of times are upon us.
Die before you die; this aphorism of the Sufis provides a roadmap to the spiritual liberation needed to face up to the challenges of an era of unprecedented darknesses. Only human beings who have faced the metaphysical reality of death – only spirits that have witnessed it – can be truly free from this primordial human fear. In this spiritual intensive weekend retreat, hosted at the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland and streamed lived over zoom, we will examine the Qur’an and teachings of the Prophet (pbuh) as well as the guidance from African Muslim scholars on how to muster the courage to face up to the challenge of death and the end of days. The only thing we know for sure about when the Hour will come, is that it has never been closer.
- The Metaphysics of Life & Death - 18 – 11am-1 pm Eastern (8-10am pacific)
- The Ontology of the Grave/Barzakh 18 – 2pm-4pm Eastern (11-2 pacific)
- The Tribulation of the Anti-Christ 19 - 11am-1 pm Eastern (8-10am pacific)
- The Afterlife 19 - 2pm-4pm Eastern (11-2 pacific)