"The Threat of Fitnah"

Abu Huraira -May Allah be pleased with him- has related that the Prophet (Sallahu alaihi wa salam) said,

“Hasten to do good deeds; (there will be) fitnah like a portion of a dark night, wherein an individual wakes up as a believer and begins the night as a disbeliever or he begins the night as a believer and wakes up as a disbeliever. He sells his religion for a portion of the dunya (this worldly life).”

[Imam Muslim ]

The explanation of the hadith.

This hadith is related to fitnah, which is of two types:

The first type is the fitnah of As Shubuhaat (doubts). What is meant by this type of fitnah is that fitnah which is connected to the religion/deen. This type of fitnah is more severe than the fitnah of As shahawaat (base desires) because it (may) expel an individual from the purity of At Tawheed and cause him to enter into the filth of As Shirk (polytheism), Al Kufr (disbelief), Al Ilhaad (atheism or misguidance with regards to Allah’s names and attributes), or Az Zandaqa(hypocrisy) and cause him to exit from the light of the Sunnah and cause him to enter into the darkness of bid’ah and misguidance.

This type of fitnah appears from time to time. It may also increase at one particular point in time and decrease at another. Also, those people who call to this type of fitnah increase and multiply at one particular time or another. This type of fitnah could be present in newspapers, magazines, books, tapes, TV channels, the internet, or from arguing or debating an atheist or with a person of bid’ah.

An individual could be a person who has the correct and unaltered aqeedah, love of at tawheed and as sunnah, honor of the salaf and then draw himself into listening to an atheist or a person of bid’ah or even reading their books, thereby exposing himself to doubts which could essentially misguide him and eventually cause him to be destroyed.

This type of fitnah could be related to Allah the Most High, His names and Attributes or His actions, or it could be concerned with the Messengers and Prophets, the companions, al Qadr (Allah’s divine decree), the Last Day and what happens therein, and affairs of the unseen. Also, it could be concerned with at tawheed and as Shirk, as Sunnah and al Bid’ah or some of the obligatory affairs, prohibitions or even some of the supplications that have been narrated in the Sunnah.

The second type of fitnah: The fitnah of lust and desires.

What is meant by this type of fitnah is the fitnah of the desires which leads to and encourages one to engage in and commit sins or disobedience to Allah.

This type of fitnah is very dangerous especially in our times because of the fact that this type of fitnah is more appealing and closer to those who have weak souls. Thus, the (weak) individual gives in the first time, then gets drawn in to this type of fitnah and establishes a strong foothold in committing sins. Thus, his iman (faith) weakens or even leaves.

Some examples of this type of fitnah are: the desire for wealth, immoralities, amusement, food and drink, clothes, and the desire to imitate the kuffar and sinners. For example, the lust for wealth leads to falling into numerous sins like the bloodshed which emanates between warring countries or between tribes, breaking into people’s homes and businesses or their cars, embezzling people’s money by unlawful means or prohibited means like fraud or selling things which are prohibited.

Lust for immoralities leads to committing unlawful acts like rape, fornication or adultery, homosexuality, masturbation, luring minors or weak minded individuals into committing inappropriate acts. It also leads to watching pornographic channels, videos, on the internet or magazines. It also leads to harassing or following women in shopping malls or with video enhanced networking devices like that are included in mobile phones and computer cameras. In addition to these vices, this type of fitnah leads to lethargy with regards to performing the obligatory actions in addition to leniency with regards to them and even leads to eventually leaving them completely, not performing them at all. An individual may be chaste, have fear of Allah, be religious and then open the door to this type of fitnah and as a result become corrupt and then be destroyed.

Excerpt from source  [http://salaf-us-saalih.com/2012/05/24/hasten-to-do-good-deeds-there-will-be-fitnah-like-a-portion-of-a-dark-night-must-read/]