Abū Hurayrah  narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that there will emerge in the future “women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing gait, with something on their heads that looks like the humps of camels, leaning to one side. They will never enter Paradise or even smell its fragrance, although its fragrance can be detected from such and such a distance.”327

Is it not remarkable how he not only foretold their provocative dress, but even predicted women’s hairstyles? The Prophet also stated that even Muslim communities would participate in some of these trends. “There will be in the end of my nation men who ride chariots who are in reality pseudo-men; they will drop off their women, at the gates of the mosques, who are clothed and yet naked. Upon their heads will be the likes of a lean camel’s hump.”328 While this occurred in the past as well, as al-Nawawī asserts about his own premodern society, it is even less difficult now to find a Muslim man who is protective of what brand of “chariot” he rides and its “horse-power” but not protective of his women and their revealing attire in public.

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar  narrated that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم also predicted the consequences of a hypersexualized popular culture; “And fornication never becomes prevalent among a people, to the degree that they practice it openly, except that epidemics become rampant among them which had never before existed in their ancestors.”329 The link between sexual permissiveness and sexually transmitted diseases is not something any sensible person in our times can deny. Perhaps the unhinged pursuit of sexual gratification without liability is behind this next prophecy as well; “A woman will one day be taken and have her abdomen cut open, then what is inside her womb will be taken and discarded, out of fear of having children.”330 According to an extensive survey published in Guttmacher Institute Journal, the “fear of dramatic life changes” is by far the most common reason for abortions today, with more than half of those surveyed citing single motherhood as the reason for that fear.331 Another remarkable presumption in this hadith is that, one day, removing a fetus from the womb will be without much risk to the mother.

This has only been possible recently in human history and would have been extremely dangerous in the recent past. For this reason, a Caesarean section was usually not performed in history except on a dead or dying mother.

Finally, ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr  narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “The Hour will not commence until people mate in the streets just as donkeys mate.” I asked, “Will that really happen?” He said, “Yes, it most certainly will happen.”332 Though this was stated as one of the last signs before the Day of Judgment, following major apocalyptic events, many of our modern cultures are clearly moving towards that degree of shamelessness, if not experiencing it already.