The Talking Shoe Prophecy of the Prophet Muhammad (s)
وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى تُكَلِّمَ السِّبَاعُ الإِنْسَ وَحَتَّى تُكَلِّمَ الرَّجُلَ عَذَبَةُ سَوْطِهِ وَشِرَاكُ نَعْلِهِ وَتُخْبِرَهُ فَخِذُهُ بِمَا أَحْدَثَ أَهْلُهُ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ o
Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri narrated that the Messenger of Allah (s) said:
“By the One in Whose Hand is my soul! The Hour will not be established until predators speak to people and until the tip of a man’s whip and the straps on his sandal (shoe) speak to him, and his thigh informs him of what occurred with his family after he left.”
[Narrated by Tirmidhi in Jami, Chapters on Al-Fitan (Book-33), Chapter: What has been Related About Predators Speaking (Chapter-19), Hadiyth-2181, Grade: Sahih (Darussalam); Ahmad in Musnad, 3:82, 84, 85, and 92; Ħākim in Mustadrak 4:467; and Ibn Kathir in Al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya (The Beginning and the End) or Tarikh (History), in Book of The End: Great Trials and Tribulations, The Dajjaal Will Enter Neither Makkah Nor Al-Madeenah, ‘Signs Which, If They Have Not Yet Occurred, Will Occur Before The Hour’, From The Signs Of The Hour Is That The Trust Will Be Lost, Hadiyth-3 and 4, Page-183, in The Signs Before The Day Of Judgement, Page-64 and 65]
It was reported from Abu Sa’id that the Prophet (s) said: “The Hour will not come until the time when a man will leave his home, and his shoes or whip or stick will tell what is happening to his family.”
[Narrated by Ahmad in Musnad, 3:88 and 89]
Several years back, I read a Hadiyth about a man’s shoes talking to him. I must honestly admit that it did not make much sense to me then.
The ’talking shoe’ is one of the most amazing fulfilment of the prophecies of the Prophet Muhammad (s) which has happened in this age (i.e. our age). This is yet another proof that we are living in the Last Age, and ‘the Hour has already cast its shadow!’ upon us.
This is something that was impossible to be conceived of by the companions, yet they preserved this ‘illogical’ statement for it came from a person who was the Prophet and the Messenger of Allah.
They believed in him, and so they preserved his statements; this was possible only because (or as) they had reached the level of Ihsan.
Indeed, it seemed so far-fetched even 10 years back. And, it continues to seem so strange if you do not know about it already.
Nike innovated ‘a talking shoe’ (what we can refer to as the 1st smart shoe, really) in 2006.
An article was published in The New York Times – ‘These Shoes Are Made for Talking’, on 1-Nov-2006.
Since then, Google and other brands have come up with their own talking shoes.
The talking shoes ‘literally’ talk to you, and pass information and statistics to you in a digital voice.
It is said a picture is worth a thousand (1,000) words, I was tempted to say a video is worth a million words, but research suggests that it is actually worth 1.8 million words.
So, watch the videos about the Talking Shoes by Nike and Google.
Before, the talking shoes were innovated, some tried to explain the Hadiyth thus:
Shoes in this Hadiyth represent what is needed to walk and move about and travel. Today’s cars with GPS (global positioning satellite) technology are able to be located at the touch of a button. The location of one’s plane high above the clouds is known to unknown air traffic controllers around the world. One’s activities on the street are often recorded by security cameras on earth and satellites high in the sky. This Hadiyth is also a warning to Muslims of the Last Days to be pious and virtuous because everything one does today is monitored by unknown people, and everything is exposed.
This is a good attempt (at a metaphorical explanation), but now the Talking Shoes prophecy of the Prophet (s) has been fulfilled literally!
The associated prophecies
Predators speak to people
This is about telecommunications being predicted in the Hadiyth text. In this Hadiyth text predators does not refer to animals, indeed it refers to people. The term predator was never used in the past to refer to people, go back 100 years and this association did not exist, go back just 25 years and you would have not heard about this association, it was popularized only in the last 25 years (since the 1990s). So, this Hadiyth signifies that in the Last Days the predators among the people will speak to the other people to trap them. With technology at the disposal of these predators it will not be difficult for them to trap others. These predators will talk to someone that they do not know with the intention to befriend them and then to trap them (for example, sexual predators).
They will talk about someone they do not know, they will speak about someone they have only heard about somewhere and go into discussions about that person, or his family, or what he has or has not done – they will spread disharmony in society thereby. These are the predators, and they have at their disposal technology – surveillance, CCTV, Internet, GPS, smart-gadgets (smartphones, etc.), smart-equipment, smart-devices, phone tapping, hacking, tracking, etc.
The tip of a man’s whip speak to him
Before, the smartphone was innovated, an attempt to explain the Hadiyth would be as follows:
‘A man speaks to the end of his whip’ indicates that people will speak into something with a cord like speaking into a telephone. Students of physics experiment by oscillating a string to see the resultant waveforms. Also, when one shakes a whip it creates a waveform down the length of the whip. The Prophet (s) is showing through the motion of the whip that people in the Last Days will discover a technology using waveforms by which they will speak. This transmission using wavelengths includes communications – radio, TV, computer, and satellite.
Abu Hurairah said: I heard the Prophet (s) say, “If you live for a while, you will see people go out under the wrath of Allah and come back under His curse, and they will have in their hands whips like the tail of an ox.”
Again, before the smartphone age, an attempt to explain this Hadiyth would be as follows:
The mention of ‘whips like the tail of an ox’ describes the antennas on cell-phones, cars, radios, and televisions.
However, today, in fulfilment of this prophecy, we see people holding on (continuously) to their smartphone like a whip, he speaks to it (the microphone) and it (the speaker) speaks to him (during calls).
His thigh informs him of what occurred with his family after him
An opinion before the Thiphone was innovated in 2009: One’s cellular telephone in his pocket next to “his thigh will tell him about what happened to his family after he left.”
A good attempt (at a metaphorical explanation), but the actual literal fulfilment of the prophecy of the Prophet (s) is amazing! The ‘Thiphone’ is actually a holster that straps your phone to your thigh. The benefit of Thiphone is that your both hands are free to do anything else and you also want to see you phone’s screen for text messages and other things.
His stick will tell what is happening to his family
The stick has an LED display showing the which direction to go
Fujitsu makes ‘smart walking stick’ to help elderly. A walking stick with built-in sat-nav has been developed (in 2013) by Japanese technology giant Fujitsu. The Next Generation Cane is designed to help elderly people find their way, as well as monitor things such as heart rate and temperature. Its location can also be followed online – and can be set up to send email alerts if it thinks the user may have fallen over. The device is equipped with various connection technologies such as GPS, 3G and wifi – and has an LED display on top of the handle. If a change of direction is needed, the walking stick vibrates, and an arrow appears. The stick sends data back to a host computer, so a carer or relative can see the location of the user, with additional data, such as heart rate, being streamed. If the stick detects an irregular heartbeat, it can automatically contact emergency services.
The walls have ears (Hadiyth)
In some places there is a saying that “the walls have ears,” i.e. whatever one says and does is known. In this hadith the Prophet (s) is saying that there is coming a time where everything one does will be exposed. Even as someone “speaks to his whip,” or his shoe, people unknown and unseen will be aware of it. Telecommunications are monitored by computers and people, and every cellular telephone is able to pinpoint its user’s location. One’s cellular phone will relay information and signals or “speak about him” to unknown observers while he calls his family.
A person’s own voice speaks to him
There will be no Judgment… until a person’s own voice speaks to him.
[Mukhtasar Tazkirah Qurtubi]
This Hadiyth is about recorded playback.
These are some of the most amazing fulfilment of the prophecies of the Prophet (s).
