Role of the Believers of Later Times

ROLE OF THE BELIEVERS OF LATER TIMES The Companions of the Prophet and the Brothers of the Prophet share the same motivation: to avail of the opportunities in their respective eras to promote the cause of religion. T he believers in later times have been described as bearers of high levels of faith. Certain traditions illustrate this. For example, according to Anas bin Malik, a Companion of the Prophet, the Prophet said, ‘The example of my ummah is like rains, nobody knows which phase, earlier or later, will be better.’ (At-Tirmizi, Hadith No. 2869) In this Hadith, the simile of the rain denotes a whole historical process. The revolution brought about in the seventh century by the Prophet and his Companions was, in one sense, the beginning of a process. The historical process which set in in the wake of this revolution was to yield the final result in the future. “Future” here probably means the same historical phenomenon referred to in another tradition as Ikhwan-e-Rasool (Brothers of the Prophet).