Page 368 - The Signs of Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) Second Coming

Signs of Jesus’ (pbuh)
Second Coming

120. Increased Life Expectancy

At that time... life spans

will grow longer. (Ibn Hajar
Haythami, Al-Qawl al-
Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-
Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 43)

Fourteen centuries have passed since the Prophet (may God bless him
and grant him peace) said these words. Records clearly show that the aver-
age life expectancy is now the highest in history. There was already a great

difference between the beginning and the end of the twentieth century. For
example, a person born in 1995 can expect to live more than 35 years longer
61
than a person born in 1900. Another striking example is that in the past, peo-
ple rarely lived for a 100 years; today, many people reach that age.
According to the United Nations Department of National Population,
over the past few years the world's population has continued on its remark-
able transition from high birth and death rates to one of low birth and death
rates. As a result, we have seen an increased number and proportion of old-

er people. Such a rapid, large, and pervasive increase is unique to our own
time. 62
One cause for this increase in life expectancy has been the development
of health services due to the advance of medical technology. In addition, de-
velopments in genetics and the rapidly advancing Human Genome Project
are on the verge of ushering in a totally new era in the field of health. No one

living in the past could have imagined such profound advances. Based on all
of these developments, we can say that people living in our time have

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