Abi Talib (ع) that at the End of Time prayer will be abandoned...

Abi Talib (ع) that at the End of Time prayer will be abandoned; trusts will be dishonoured; lying will be considered permissible; usury will become prevalent; bribery will be all-encompassing; religion will be relinquished in favour of the material life; women’s counsel will be sought; family bonds will be severed; people will become licentious; murder will acquire normalcy; patience will be counted as a weakness; injustice will be prided on; the people of knowledge will be treacherous; the reciters of the Qur`an will be perverse; the mosques will be embellished and the minarets built high [but without the spirituality that is their substance]; promises will be broken; and desires will be ever diverse [and conflicting].

To put it more generally, the precepts of Islam will be neglected. However, this neglect will be relative; that is, it would be the prevalent mood of human society at the time. This is to such an extent that it has been related that when the Imam (ع) re-emerges he will bring a new way, a new book, and a new religion; meaning that Islam will be so contaminated with superstitions, the Qur`an so assailed with conceptual distortions [i.e.

false interpretations] that their reality and inner truth will have been forgotten. c. Natural factors Also among the signs heralding the re-emergence of the Imam (ع) are the natural disasters…