Re: Are we witnessing the End Times?
Ok, where do I begin.
Lets start with the premise that its always unwise to take an emotional route. Its what has gotten muslims into the mess they are in today. Being emotional will only create a bias in a person to accept the most sensational pop theory out there, and theories like "the world will end tomorrow" are quickly adapted without reproach. So, lets think this through.
Your claim of riba, or interest-based business, creating a financial mess of things as being a sign of the times is no more accurate than claiming a hurricane is the sign of the times. Usury has been around for a long time, and it has led to economic ups and it has led to economic downs. It is not the first time that something like this financial meltdown on wall street has taken place. Speculation caused this problem, and it has caused it in the past. Now is that to say that we don't need some economic regulations to control human properties like greed (which we can all agree would be unIslamic) to prevent another such crisis? No, of course we need to identify problems and, as recent SNL skits emphasize, "identify a problem, fix it, identify another problem, fix it, repeat as necessary". But that's just shaping how we structure our societies, and does not necessarily mean the end of times is near.
As for the number of rapes, killings, etc being at an all-time high. Well, look, it appears that way because you might be on the receiving end of it. In terms of actual numbers, we've had the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, World War I and World War II, and don't even get me started on the vast number of horrific and shameful human mass tragedies speckled throughout history. Humans are not loving creatures, and we continuously throughout history have insisted on periodic times of bloodshed. And the world still keeps ticking. You know why? Because every time someone dies, someone else is born. The human race has continued to survive.
The end of times will happen when you least expect it, and dwelling on signs of the time to come is so medieval Rome. Really, if you are obsessed about it, go paint some tapestries of souls being flung in hell or something. Muslims, historically, have done a pretty good job of staying away from obsessing about "The end of times", and so lets keep it that way.
Each day should be lived as if it would be your last, and if you can stick to that, the particular timing of the End will not really make much of a difference.