The Future..is For Islam..

The Future Is for Islam SA E E D K AU S E R

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CONTENTS Preface | 1

Chapter 1 GOD | 9 Existence of God | 11 Creation of Man | 14 Messengers of God | 17 What Will It Take to Believe? | 18 Does Every Religion Have Its Own God? | 19 The Need to Follow the Rules of the Game | 21 Chapter 2 THE QUR’AN | 25 The Bible, the Qur’an, and Science | 27 Mathematical Miracle of the Qur’an | 29 Number Nineteen | 30 Qur’anic Initials | 31 What the Qur’an Says | 35 Chapter 3 THE PROPHECIES OF THE MESSENGER OF GOD | 41 The Messenger of God Foretold Future Events | 42 Downfall of Muslims and Its Causes | 42 Phases of Muslim Rule | 46 World Wars | 47 Conflicts in the Middle East | 49 Two Roman Armies | 51 Iran-Iraq War | 54 The Gulf War | 54 Sanctions on Iraq and Syria | 56 Arab-Israeli Conflict | 56 Iraq War | 57 Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula | 57 War of the Euphrates | 59 Fight for the Caliphate | 60 The Tyrant | 60 iii

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Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan | 61 Invasion of Saudi Arabia | 63 Signs of the Mahdi | 63 Battles in Mina | 66 The Mahdi | 68 Sinking of the Army in the Desert | 74 Black Banners from Khurasan | 77 Great War (Battle of Kalb) | 84 Seven-Year Peace Agreement | 89 The Hidden Treasures of Antioch | 90 Conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) | 91 Conquest of India | 95 The Dajjal (False Messiah/“Antichrist”) | 96 Details Regarding the Antichrist | 98 Jesus, Son of Mary | 107 Armageddon and the End of the Antichrist | 112 Marriage, Children, and Death of Jesus | 116 Gog and Magog | 117 The Golden Age | 121 The Qahtaani | 122 The Smoke | 123 Sun Rising in the West | 126 The Beast | 127 Breeze from the South (the Rapture) | 128 Loss of Religious Knowledge | 131 Arabia Turns to Idolatry | 132 Abandonment of Medina | 133 Destruction of the Ka’ba | 133 Three Landslides and the Fire in Yemen | 134 End of the World | 135

Chapter 4 INTERPRETATION OF EVENTS | 139 World Wars I and II | 141 Conflicts in the Middle East | 142

Contents

World War III | 144 Attack on Iran | 147 Fighting During Haj | 148 Year One of the Mahdi | 151 Years Two to Five of the Mahdi | 160 Year Six of the Mahdi | 161 Year Seven of the Mahdi | 162 Return of Jesus | 165 Death of the Antichrist | 166 What Happened to Jesus? | 167 Death of the Mahdi | 169 Appearance of Gog and Magog | 169 The Golden Age | 171 Rule of the Qahtaani | 171 Decay of Society | 172 The Smoke and Rising of the Sun from the West | 172 Appearance of the Beast | 173 End of the Believers | 174 The Worst of People Left | 175 Commencement of Doomsday | 176 The Resurrection | 178

Chapter 5 CURRENT STATE OF THE MUSLIM WORLD | 181 The Potential | 182 Challenges | 187 Chapter 6 THE NEW CALIPHATE | 189 The Sovereignty of God | 191 The Structure of the Caliphate | 195 Federal Structure | 195 Gubernatorial Structure | 196 Local Administration | 197 Judiciary | 197 Education | 198 Science and Technology | 199

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Health | 199 Communications | 200 Low Barrier to Entry | 200 Resistance to the Caliphate | 200 Realistic Expectations | 202 New United Nations | 203

Chapter 7 THE WEST | 207 The Cost/Benefit Ratio of Relations with the West | 208 9/11 and Other Black Operations | 211 Shock and Awe Therapy | 213 Crime and Social Disintegration | 214 The Continuing Crusade | 216 Evangelical Christians of America | 217 Christianity | 218 Christian vs. Islamic Prophecies | 223 Ishmael, Hagar, and the Well | 225 The New Jerusalem | 226 Millennialism | 230 The Abomination of Desolation | 232 Tribulation | 234 The Antichrist | 235 Second Coming of Jesus | 236 The Whore of Babylon | 237 Armageddon | 238 Gog and Magog | 238 The Beast | 240 The Rapture | 242 Conclusion | 243 Glossary | 245 Books Cited or Recommended | 247 Web Sites Cited or Recommended | 248 Index | 250

Preface These are interesting times for Muslims. A global crusade has been declared on Islam that is predicted to last for several decades. At the same time, the Islamic world is finally waking up from a deep slumber that has lasted for centuries. Some Islamic countries are being invaded, occupied, and destroyed, while others are making windfall profits from rising oil prices. Even as the former are fighting for their lives, the latter are happily raking in the dollars while they can — before their own turn comes for regime change and democratic reform by means of aerial bombardment. Almost all Muslims are affected in some way. Either they are directly suffering the misfortunes, or they are mourning for those who are. There is confusion in the minds of people about what is going on and how it will all end. Most Muslims would be amazed to know that most of the events that are currently unfolding were predicted by Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of God (God bless him). If we study the sayings of the Messenger of God, we find that a large number of his sayings pertain to current times — which implies that the present days are very important in terms of Islamic history. In fact, the sayings we present in this book cannot apply to any time other than the present as they form part of an interrelated series of events that have either already taken place or are in the process of happening. These prophesied events have not occurred in the past, and the chance of the same set of circumstances arising together with the same set of participants at any other time would be slim or nonexistent. If we read the sayings of the Messenger of God that we have compiled in this book and then watch the news on a major television news 1

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channel like Al Jazeera or CNN, we will see an astonishing correlation. Yet these prophecies were made 1,400 years ago, which makes them truly remarkable. It is almost as if the Messenger of God were talking to Muslims and telling them that what is happening is decreed by God to occur and advising us on how events will turn out. For almost 50 generations, Muslims have been passing down these words of the Messenger of God so that today we are finally able to understand what he was talking about and make use of this information. The bad news is that many of the predicted battles have yet to take place and much death and destruction has yet to be suffered. The good news is that victory has been promised to Islam, and Muslims are on the verge of the establishment of a great Islamic Caliphate that will bring in a golden age with immense wealth and security for all Muslims. Most of the sayings of the Messenger of God that we have here are from the popular books of hadith (sayings of the Messenger of God), such as Bukhari, Muslim, and Abu Dawud that are widely read. We also have some that are less commonly known. All of the information is publicly available, especially over the Internet. However, most of the sayings are scattered about in books and on the Internet and not put together in a coherent way and in proper order so that sense can be made of the information. I have tried to put the available information in context and in the most logical chronological order based on current events. This is like finding fragments of an ancient manuscript and putting them together in the proper sequence and then trying to understand what it says. For several years, I have been scouring around for sayings of the Messenger of God to find prophecies related to current events. While there are many books about Christian prophecies, there are few with Islamic prophecies containing all the information that I have compiled here. The books of Harun Yahya regarding prophecies related to the End Times are very informative, and I have found them to be most inspiring.

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Before I get to the sayings of the Messenger of God, I will discuss issues related to belief in God and His book, the Qur’an. This is for the benefit of those who may not be followers of Islam and also to help Muslims firm up their belief in God and the Qur’an so that they are confident that what the Messenger of God said is true and that the prophecies he made are going to happen. Only then will Muslims believe that those things that we will talk about in this book will truly come about. The need for this reinforcement in belief is necessary, as many Muslims don’t believe that the promised leader, the Mahdi, would appear or that God would send Jesus back. But the Messenger of God said that both these things would happen, and based on current events, it appears that they will happen very soon. We will then look at the sayings of the Prophet that relate to present times. They are sorted in the order that events have happened in the past and how they are most likely to occur in the future based on current world events. We have over 200 sayings of the Messenger of God here; there are many more that I have left out because they are very similar to the ones we have quoted here. Based on these sayings, I have built a narrative that describes how the events will likely play out. We will also briefly look at the current state of the Islamic world, so that Muslims can appreciate the abundance of resources they already have in their possession as raw materials for building the Caliphate. The coming Islamic Caliphate will be a glorious chapter in world history. We will discuss this to give readers a rough idea about what the Caliphate might be like and to get people thinking about it, as plans for it still need to be fully conceptualized and executed. Finally, we will look at the West — led by Israel, America, and Britain — that has taken it upon itself to recolonize the Islamic world, and we’ll discuss Christianity and biblical prophecies. Because God is the Master Planner, the role of these countries is really to play the part that is already predetermined for them: to help facilitate the revival of Islam.

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This book is really one that I had wanted to read myself, and since I was unable to find it, I took it upon myself to write it. The process has been very inspiring because it has made me realize that some truly amazing events are about to occur, and good days are very near. This is why it can be said with confidence that the future truly belongs to Islam. ■ ■ ■

I have quoted extensively from translations of the Qur’an and from books containing the sayings of the Messenger of God. The translation of the Qur’an from which the quotes were taken is by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, while the hadith are from multiple sources. Out of the many translations of the Qur’an that are available, I have chosen to work with the one by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. This particular version is dated, using archaic language and odd punctuation and grammar, but it remains my favorite translation of the Qur’an out of the dozen or more that I have read. If you’re interested in reading the Qur’an, you can find many different translations on the Internet. I have listed several Web sites at the back of this book. The latest and one of the best translations is by Abdel Haleem, but it is only available in book form. There is a generally accepted preference nowadays to leave the name “Allah” in the translated text instead of using the equivalent English word “God.” We have left this unchanged in the translated text, while using the word “God” elsewhere. Similarly, many translations leave several Arabic words in the English text. For example, they use Dajjal instead of Antichrist, and Sufyaani for Tyrant. I have tried to avoid this and changed the words into their English equivalents wherever it is suitable and does not change the meaning in any way. In some cases, however, I’ve left the term unchanged; for instance, I retained the word Mahdi instead of changing it to Leader, as it relates to a person who is generally referenced by that name.

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When mentioning the Prophet, there is a generally accepted tradition of adding a few words of blessing. In Arabic, the words are always the same and translate to “may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him.” In English, there are a variety of phrases that are used, including “peace be upon him,” and “upon whom be blessings and peace,” and many others. This tradition comes from the following narration: In a report related by Abu Zharr, we read, “The Prophet said, ‘The most miserly among people is the one who fails to invoke blessings upon me when my name is mentioned in his or her presence.’” However, blessing the Prophet while verbally mentioning him is different from writing about him, regarding which we find this report: Al Khatib al-Baghdadi said, “I saw the handwriting of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and I found that often he wrote the name of the Prophet, peace be upon him, without invoking Allah’s blessings upon him.” Then he added, “It has come to my knowledge that he used to invoke Allah’s blessings upon the Prophet verbally.” As there is no universally accepted practice for written English, we will set our own rules. I will use the phrase, “God bless him,” as this is the closest term commonly used in English. I will add the blessing only when the Prophet is mentioned by name and omit it when he’s referred to by a title, such as Messenger, Prophet, or Apostle of God. Following the practice of Muslims to also invoke God’s blessing with the mention of other prophets, I will use the same term when mentioning Jesus. However, because Jesus (God bless him) is mentioned directly by name over 200 times in this book, I will only include the blessing if, in the same paragraph, the blessing has been invoked for Prophet Muhammad (God bless him). This is as a show of respect and in keeping with the Qur’anic injunction of not distinguishing between the prophets. This will be a compromise between the preferences of those Muslims who would want the whole phrase used consistently and

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those readers who would prefer none. While we want to keep things simple for the sake of readability, we don’t want to totally do away with a good practice, either. ■ ■ ■

I originally planned to write this book for fellow Muslims, especially those living in the West, but I soon realized that the information contained here might be of interest to non-Muslims as well. After all, the interaction between the West and Islam is an important topic nowadays. But even beyond the current general interest in Islam are the Islamic prophecies regarding the return of Jesus that should be of interest to every Christian in the world, particularly those who are interested in End Time prophecies. There’s much here of interest to Jews also, who, it is hoped, will not get too upset at the negative portrayal of some members of their faith. They should remember that the people condemned in the prophecies are those who support evil, and this by no means includes all Jews. If nothing else, the prophecies quoted here might enable many people to save themselves by getting out of trouble spots before it is too late. It is my hope that by the time the reader finishes reading this book, if they are Muslim, their belief would be reinforced and they would be glad to know that good times are not far away. If they are non-Muslim, then I hope that they would understand Islam better, or have their curiosity aroused enough to want to find out more, or actually decide to jump onto the Islamic ship that, far from sinking, is set to sail high in the near future. I got the inspiration for this book from a Web site with the same name.* This site is run by an enthusiast who prefers to remain anonymous. With the kind permission of the creator of that site, I borrowed material from there and organized and arranged it based on my own understanding and then added many thoughts of my own to put this *Please see “Web Sites Cited or Recommended” at the end of this book.

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book together. Therefore, I consider myself to be only a co-author of this book. I would like to thank my sister, Durdana Ahmed, for contributing her thoughts to the original manuscript, and Simone Gabbay for thoroughly editing the text several times and recommending changes. ■ ■ ■

The Web site connected with this book is at www.thefutureisforislam.com. If you would like to state an opinion or recommend new ideas for a future edition of this book, or if you find mistakes that you would like to point out, then please go to the above site and express your thoughts.

CHAPTER 1

God It is He Who hath sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it). Qur’an 9:33

Islam is built on the foundation of belief in one God, and the expectation of God’s help is the basis of every Muslim’s hope of success in this world as well as in the next. A belief in God is necessary before one will believe in His messengers. A belief that Muhammad (God bless him) was one of the messengers of God is necessary to believe that the Qur’an is the word of God. A belief in the sayings of the Messenger of God (hadith) is necessary to believe that what he prophesied will actually come true. If you don’t believe in the prophet, you’re not likely to believe in his prophecies. When discussing the future of the Muslim world, it is imperative that we start with a discussion of the existence and nature of God before we discuss what is in the Qur’an and before we look at what the Messenger of God said about future events. The question is whether God exists, and if He does, then whether Islam is the religion that He revealed and wants us to follow. If the answer to either of these questions is in the negative, then the Muslim 9

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world may as well give up all hope because the Darwinian theory of the survival of the fittest will apply to them. In that case, with the Muslims currently in the role of the hunted prey, the predators are likely to finish them off in the near future, as they have embarked upon doing. Indeed, the lack of belief in God and lack of belief in Islam as the religion of God are the reasons why its opponents think that they can finish off the Muslims and steal their resources. A shaky belief among many Muslims is the reason why they’ve found themselves in a situation where others think they can do that. However, if God does exist, and Islam is indeed the religion that has been revealed and approved by Him, then the situation changes completely, and God’s promise applies that He will make Islam prevail over all religions, no matter how much the nonbelievers may hate the idea. Indeed, the Islamophobes, who have gained control of many Western countries, are trying to implement a strategy of wiping out Islam and totally subjugating the Muslims. But this has been the declared aim of the enemies of Islam from the lifetime of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (God bless him), so there’s nothing new about it. What is new, however, is that until recently, and ever since the earliest days of Islam, no one dared to embark on such a quest. In fact, some of the techniques and arguments the enemies of Islam used 1,400 years ago are the same as those they are using now. For example, the Jews of Arabia were among the foremost opponents of Islam during the time of the Prophet. They rallied the various nonMuslim Arab tribes and incited them to attack and finish off the newly created Muslim state in Medina, which led to the Battle of the Trench in 627 AD, during which the Muslims came close to being totally annihilated. Fourteen centuries later, we again have the Jews inciting others — this time the West — to attack and finish off the Muslims once and for all. They failed then and, needless to say, they’re going to fail now. The reason they will fail is the same as it was then and boils down to the existence of God and the fact that He has promised victory to those who believe in Him and follow Him.

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EXISTENCE OF GOD The fact is that all the scientists in the world, a large number of whom are atheists, have as of yet not provided any proof that God does not exist. During their extensive investigations, all they have managed to do is discover the laws of nature. They have made remarkable strides in extending human knowledge, for which they deserve great credit. However, nothing amongst the vast accumulated fields of knowledge has proven that God does not exist, nor has it proven that the existence of God is in any way beyond the realm of scientific possibility. Of course, the lack of proof of the nonexistence of God does not prove the existence of God, either. The lack of belief among many scientists raises doubts in the minds of those people who don’t realize that this lack of belief is due to the particular cultural background of these scientists. The real reason that many scientists are atheists is because Western science has its roots in Europe, which was ruled during the Dark Ages by the Christian Church that was very much against scientific inquiry. In 1633, when Galileo, the “father of modern physics,” insisted on the idea that it was the earth that revolved round the sun instead of the other way round, he was declared a heretic by the Church and imprisoned for the rest of his life. This was due to the fact that the Bible is categorical about the earth being in the center and the sun going around it, and any other idea was contrary to what the Bible clearly states. For the next several hundred years, scientists had to struggle with a resistant Church as new discoveries went against something or the other in the Bible. Coming from this background, the scientists in the West developed an aversion to religion and stopped being believers in Christianity or any other religion. This led to the Age of Enlightenment, which was an intellectual movement that proposed that rationality was the means of establishing a system of ethics, aesthetics, and knowledge, and was by and large in conflict with the Church and religion. The reason for this great clash between rationality and religion can be attributed in great part to the political role the Church played

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at that time and to the fact that the Bible is littered with scientific inaccuracies, having been subjected to centuries of editing by groups and individuals to fit their understanding of reality. By contrast, all through the several hundred years during which Muslims were the leaders in science and learning, they never had to go through a similar experience of conflict with a written scripture. The end result of the centuries of tension in the West between rationality and the Church is that rationality won and religion lost, and today in Europe, the traditional heartland of Christendom, Christianity has largely been abandoned and churches are lying empty and being sold off to be converted to dwellings, offices, and nightclubs. Science and rationality have not proven the nonexistence of God, but rather brought down the edifice of Christianity. Nonbelievers in the West assume that exactly the same set of arguments applies against Islam that was used in their battle against Christianity. It is being said that Islam also needs to go through its own age of enlightenment, just like Christianity, before it will catch up with the times. But the main difference is that the Qur’an does not contain a single scientific inaccuracy, so it cannot be judged by the same yardstick as the Bible. However, that is not to say that everything in the Islamic world is perfect, because there is certainly a need for reform in the mountain of traditions that has built up over the centuries beyond the original scriptures. The Muslim world has many pressing problems, but a religious text full of inaccuracies is not one of them, as we will discuss in chapter two, The Qur’an. So, how can the existence of God be proven beyond doubt? There are two ways that this may happen. One is that scientists discover God through their experiments and confirm His presence, and the other is that God reveals Himself. It seems unlikely that scientists will be able to “discover” God either through an experiment or through a mathematical formula, at least with the current state of human knowledge. Increasing knowledge

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in quantum physics, the study of small, subatomic particles, and general relativity, the study of large-scale bodies such as planets, have shown no signs of leading us to God. All discoveries result in either finding smaller and smaller particles or a larger and larger universe, maybe even a multiverse — a vast collection of independent universes. So, a scientifically acceptable proof of God is not within our reach for the foreseeable future. However, a scientific proof is different from a logical understanding, as we shall see later. So, if we can’t find Him, even after trying for thousands of years, could it be that He helps us out by taking the initiative Himself? If God really wants us to believe in Him, then He could certainly prove His own existence. One way to do this would be to reveal Himself by appearing for everyone to see. But apparently He chooses to remain hidden and wants us to be content with figuring things out using our logic. In the past, He sent prophets who proved their truthfulness by performing miracles granted by God. None of the prophets ever saw God, and only one ever spoke to Him directly, and that was Moses. Even Muhammad, the Messenger of God (God bless him), never saw God and received revelation through the angel Gabriel. Muslims have been told that the only time anyone will ever see God is on the Day of Judgment, when God will be as clearly visible to the naked eye as the sun is now. So, we can give up the thought of seeing God in our present lifetime. If someone asks: “But how do we know that Judgment Day will not happen in our lifetime?” the answer is that even if Judgment Day came about tomorrow, you would still have to die and be resurrected before you see God. Let’s make the above statement clearer. We are talking about two events here: Doomsday and the Day of Judgment. Doomsday is when everything on earth will perish and the whole universe will be folded up. The Day of Judgment will happen when God recreates the universe, including the earth, and brings everyone back to life. So, Doomsday and the Day of Judgment are two distinct events separated by possibly billions of years.

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If we cannot see God in this life, then are there other ways for God to prove His existence? God says in the Qur’an that if He wanted to, He could send a sign that would make every single one of us believe in Him: If (such) were Our Will, We could send down to them from the sky a Sign, to which they would bend their necks in humility. Qur’an 26:4 Mankind will never ever be able to confirm or deny God’s existence. Here’s why: If God does not exist, then obviously you cannot prove His existence. However, you cannot prove His non-existence, either, simply because it is impossible to prove a negative. If God exists, as I believe is the case, then the reason that you can’t prove His existence is that from thousands of years of human history, we know that God does not want to prove His own existence. If He did, then the whole world would have believed a long time ago. But God’s purpose does not include proving His existence beyond all reasonable doubt, as then everyone would believe, and there would be no merit left in believing. This would be like everyone in a class getting 100 percent in their exams. How would it be possible to rank them then?

CREATION OF MAN In the Gospel of Barnabas,* Jesus talks about the creation of man. When God decided to create the first human, Adam, a powerful being, *The Gospel of Barnabas was accepted as a Canonical Gospel in the Churches of Alexandria until 325 AD. In 325 AD, the Nicene Council was held, where it was ordered that all original Gospels in Hebrew script that contradicted the decisions of the Council be destroyed. An edict was issued decreeing that anyone in possession of these Gospels be put to death. Please go to http://www. barnabas.net/ for an online copy.

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Satan, was upset and challenged God for authority over the universe. Satan was in the company of angels but was himself a jinn, a different creation. In challenging God, Satan was behaving like some men today who expound the theory that with the exponential growth of knowledge, in the near future, when we have full knowledge of how everything works, we would be able to act like God and be able to create whole universes comparable to the one we have now. These people, with an exaggerated opinion of their own capabilities, feel that they can be equals of God and therefore consider the idea of submitting to God’s will as beneath their dignity.** Because of his arrogance, when Satan found out that God was going to create man and give him a status higher than Satan’s, he decided to rebel and challenge God with the help of those who followed him. God knew about the brewing rebellion and Satan’s disdain for humans, so when He created Adam, He asked all the angels to bow down to Adam, presumably to expose Satan in front of all those present in the heavenly assembly. As expected, Satan refused to bow and argued that he was superior to this “lump of clay,”*** and therefore God cursed him. Satan asked to be allowed respite until the Day of Judgment and said that he would lead most humans astray to defeat the purpose of God. God granted him this respite and said that He would fill hell with Satan and those who follow him, both jinn and men, and also decreed that Satan would have no power over the true believers in God. Thus God made a deal with Satan that Satan could try to mislead whomever he was able to. If God then forced the belief in His existence, He would be breaking this deal. This is because, if God proved His existence beyond all doubt, then everyone would believe in Him and would very likely obey Him, no matter what Satan suggested, and therefore Satan would not get a level playing field. As the saying goes, “a deal is a deal.” **The Singularity Is Near, Ray Kurzwiel ***Gospel of Barnabas

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In fact, if God proved His existence and also meted out instant punishment for wrongs and provided immediate rewards for good, then every human would act like an angel. This would be a complete negation of free will. Would it be correct to say that God entrapped Satan and had preplanned the whole thing? No, because while the angels, created out of light, only follow God’s orders, Satan was a jinn created with fire, or energy, and had the power to choose between right and wrong, just like humans. Free will is just that, free will. If God was going to choose what a being with free will should decide to do, then it would not be free will. Time is just another creation of God, and the past, present, and future are the same from God’s vantage point, and He knows the consequence of everything He does. So, He would have known what Satan was going to do. But should that have stopped God from creating Satan or other beings with free will because He knew the mischief they would cause? If God had chosen to create only those beings that do good deeds and had not created those He knew would do bad deeds, then this would have been tantamount to restricting free will. In effect, free will would not exist. So why did God create beings with free will in the first place? I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. Qur’an 51:56 One answer could be that, since God loves to be appreciated, the love and praise of a sentient being that can choose to love and appreciate God or not, pleases God more than that of a being who can only adore God unceasingly like an angel. In addition, the immense intelligence of humans and the vast amounts of knowledge they have the ability to acquire allow them to marvel at God and appreciate Him more. A top scientist working on

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the frontiers of science can appreciate the wonders of the universe more than anyone else. The creation of man with free will was what God wanted to do, and He was not going to abandon the idea just because He knew that Satan was going to try to spoil things. To abort the idea of creating man would have been to give in to Satan’s will. And the same applies to creating the jinns, because not to create them at all would have been giving in to the will of Satan. To create the jinns, but not to create Satan, would mean that God was being selective with free will by only creating those jinns who were going to be good and not creating those who were going to be bad. This would have meant not free will, but controlled will. Therefore, we can say that God did not desire the situation of the rebellion of Satan, nor did He set up the whole thing deliberately, but rather He went ahead with His plans despite the knowledge that some of the beings He created were going to be mischief makers. The rebellion of Satan and the mischief of humans were the price to be paid for the creation of intelligent beings with free will. Ultimately, when the time for judgment comes, many humans and jinns will be sorry that they even exist, while a good number will be grateful to God for creating them and will live happily ever after. The good ones will praise God for all eternity and will probably be relieved that God did not abandon the idea of creating them. Not to have created anyone because of what the bad ones among them would do would have been unfair to the good ones.

MESSENGERS OF GOD One way God has helped man is by sending prophets to all communities in the world. All the prophets taught that we should believe in one God, but after they passed away, the followers of the prophets started worshipping the prophets themselves instead of God. This is apparently a universal behavior pattern, as the Hindus worship Rama and Krishna, the Buddhists worship Buddha, and the Christians worship Jesus.

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The prophets used every conceivable logical argument to convince people of the existence of God, but most were rejected, abused, tortured, and sometimes even killed. God helped many of the prophets with miracles, but even these were not able to convince most people. Some of those who actually saw a miracle with their own eyes would believe, but those who did not see the miracle were unsure, and later generations were less and less likely to believe at all. Even when the staff of Moses turned into a serpent, not everyone who saw it believed that Moses was a prophet or that he was telling the truth about God. Despite all the miracles that Moses performed, some of his followers demanded yet more, and some even asked to see God Himself.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BELIEVE? So, the reality of human nature is that even miracles don’t convince most people, especially if they don’t see the miracle performed right in front of their eyes. At this point, let us try to figure out what it will take to convince everyone to believe in God. It is likely that the minimum requirement for everyone to believe in God would be to see Him personally, and it would be even better to have a small chat, during which we could ask a few trick questions that we know only God could answer. This would mean that for all people to believe in God, we would need to have a permanent location where God is visible all the time. Nowadays many children don’t even believe what their parents tell them; therefore every child would have to be shown God. When they come of age, let’s say at the age of 18, they would be led to a place where God would be visible. Since there would be millions of people lining up to see God, there would have to be some sort of booking arrangement and crowd-control mechanism, maybe even a moving walkway, so that some people wouldn’t hang around gawking and chatting with God more than their fair share of time.

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What I’m describing here sounds very much like a museum, or rather like a circus, with God as an exhibit. Despite the ridiculousness of the idea, this is what it would take for everyone to believe in God. And, of course, we know that He is not likely to oblige. We have a situation here where, on the one hand, God is not going to show Himself, and on the other, no one has proven that God does not exist. Therefore, everyone is ultimately on their own. Believe if you want to, and don’t if you don’t want to. As far as Muslims are concerned, they choose to believe in One God of absolute power who is in control of the whole universe down to the very last subatomic particle. No religion other than Islam has the same concept of God as part of their fundamental belief.

DOES EVERY RELIGION HAVE ITS OWN GOD? If God exists, does each religion have a different god? And if there are many, then whose god is the most powerful? “I KNEW that my God was bigger than his,” Lieutenant General William G. Boykin said of his Muslim opponent. “I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.” That and other remarks derogatory of Islam caused a stir last week, especially because the general holds a key position in the war on terrorism. The Boston Globe 10/21/2003. You have to marvel at the ignorance displayed in this statement by a man in a position of authority charged with waging the “War on Terror.” Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, judging from the senior positions he has held, likely represents a Christian fundamentalist opinion held by many others in similar positions. When he says that his god is bigger than Allah, then he is implying that there are multiple gods, and he believes that his is bigger. Then he goes on to say that his god is real, and Allah is an idol. But he ignores the fact that churches have

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idols of Jesus that the churchgoers pray to, while mosques do not have any idols, not even any pictures of living things. The fact is that only the Muslims believe in one God, and “Allah” is a generic Arabic term for the Supreme Being equivalent to the English word “God.” In the Qur’an, God has ninety-nine names, each of which describes his qualities. Different words for God in one or many languages do not imply that each god is different. The Christians, who are the main challengers to Muslims for God’s favors, actually believe in the Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. God is one part out of a three-way split. While I don’t know how many Christians pray to the Holy Ghost, it certainly seems that they have divided loyalties between the Father and the Son, while others pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Although Christians claim to be monotheists, they are in reality tri-theists or quad-theists if Mary is taken into account. In actual fact, there is only one God — call Him God, call Him Allah, or call Him by any other name — and He is with those who believe in Him and don’t divide their loyalties. If someone who’s not a Muslim wanted to challenge the statement that only Muslims believe in one God and argue that, in fact, they too believe in one God, then no one would be happier than the Muslims. But the proof of the truth of this claim would be to renounce ascribing any partners with God. If they can’t do that, then they don’t worship one God and are therefore not monotheists. We don’t even want to get into the discussion of whether there’s a chance of there being multiple gods in this universe or beyond it. Suffice it to say that if there were multiple gods, then there would be an almighty row between them for power, and the universe would not be as harmonious as it is. And why would these gods all hang around in the same universe and not create their own? If some humans can talk about creating their own universe some day,* then why wouldn’t each god create his or her own universe? *The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzwiel

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As far as Islam is concerned, not only is there no other god in this universe, but there aren’t any other gods with their own universes, either. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him. Qur’an 112:1-4

THE NEED TO FOLLOW THE RULES OF THE GAME Nothing I’ve said here may convince anyone who does not believe in God to start believing in Him. As I’ve stated, if God exists, then He chooses to remain hidden so no one can possibly provide a formula to prove His existence, although using pure logical reasoning should tell us that the immense complexity and perfection of all that exists couldn’t have been randomly generated out of nothing. If you tell a scientist that a supercomputer sitting on a mountaintop appeared out of thin air, he would never believe you and would then try to come up with a theory of who built it and how it was transported to the top of the mountain, and yet that same man will argue till kingdom come that the whole universe, which is a million times more complex than the supercomputer, actually appeared not only out of thin air but out of absolute nothingness. Some theorize that the right mix of ingredients — a few billion years, a tiny amount of intelligence, and some primeval matter — would have been sufficient to create the universe. The counterargument would ask who created time and matter, and where that tiny bit of intelligence came from in the first place. This may then prompt the atheist to throw his trump card. If God exists, then who created God? At this, the believer would have to give up, as this question has been asked for millennia, and the only answer is: “To you, your belief — and to me, mine.” Another answer would be that wherever God came from, the question is moot because, as far as we’re concerned, we

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come under the domain of one single God, and this is the only God we have to deal with as long as each one of us is alive, and we might as well be on good terms with Him as our scope of existence doesn’t extend beyond this universe and is not likely to in the future. In the term of our existence, we have to deal with this one God in whatever terms He establishes because not only can we not change the rules of the game, but also by not accepting the rules we cannot escape from the consequences of our actions, whether we like the rules or not. The reach of the human mind is vastly greater than the human body. Our eyes can see only for a few miles and our bodies can only go a few hours before needing to eat and drink. Our mind, however, knows no bounds in its capacity to imagine. It is quite easy for us to speculate, as scientists do nowadays, that there may be countless universes out there — a multiverse with billions, zillions of universes. Similarly, it is possible to imagine a gigallion gods out there, all of whom would be totally useless to us if they existed, apart from the one we need to deal with. All the religious texts combined, including the Qur’an, encompass only a small amount of knowledge compared to all there is to know. Therefore, it is given that God has only revealed a tiny fraction of knowledge about Himself and left out most information, including the answer to where He comes from. But while, in human relations, it is considered impolite to ask a lady her age, nevertheless we expect, or rather demand, for God to lay bare His soul to us as a precondition for our believing in Him. Indeed, man has an exaggerated opinion of himself. Most of the world does not believe in God, but as far as Muslims are concerned, they choose to believe. Both the believer and the nonbeliever will die one day, and then all questions will be answered. Denying reality in no way changes the facts. If you’re blind and deny there’s a brick wall because you don’t see it and run into it at full speed, you’ll break your head. Denying the wall’s existence won’t make it go away.

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As the Muslims are the only true believers in one God, then it follows that the Muslims are the rightful claimants to His help. In the high stakes game of life on this planet, the Muslims have placed their bets on the existence of God. If you believe in one God, then you should be with those who believe the same. Islam is the home country of the belief in God.

CHAPTER 2

The Qur’an And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true. Qur’an 2:23 Or do they say, “He forged it”? Say: “Bring then a Sura like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can besides Allah, if it be ye speak the truth!” Qur’an 10:38 Or they may say, “He forged it.” Say, “Bring ye then ten suras forged, like unto it, and call (to your aid) whomsoever ye can, other than Allah! — If ye speak the truth! Qur’an 11:13 Say: “If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support. Qur’an 17:88 25

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Let them then produce a recital like unto it, — If (it be) they speak the truth! Qur’an 52:34 Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “There was no prophet among the prophets but was given miracles because of which people had security or had belief, but what I was given was the Divine Inspiration which Allah revealed to me. So I hope that my followers will be more than those of any other prophet on the Day of Resurrection.” Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 92, Number 379

All through history, prophets performed miracles in order to convince people of their truthfulness. Some people believed in them, but many of those who witnessed the miracles were not convinced and attributed the miracles to magic or trickery. Fewer still believed out of those who were not eyewitnesses, and as time passed, people started doubting whether the event had even occurred. Islam has a permanent miracle in its possession, and that is the Qur’an. Non-Muslims don’t know about it, and it’s not even certain whether all Muslims realize the miraculous qualities of the Qur’an. As the above-quoted verses from the Qur’an state, God Himself has repeatedly challenged mankind to get together and to produce something like the Qur’an or even a tiny part of it, but as of now, fourteen centuries have passed, and no one has been able to meet the challenge, although at various times, many have tried. The layman who reads the Qur’an will not necessarily be able to appreciate it and may wonder what the fuss is all about. This is especially so if a translation is being read that does not convey the poetic beauty of the original Arabic.

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Here, we will discuss only two qualities of the Qur’an: one is its conformity with scientific knowledge, and the other is the numerical code that pervades the book.

THE BIBLE, THE QUR’AN, AND SCIENCE Many in the Muslim world are familiar with the work of French surgeon Dr. Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, the Qur’an, and Science, in which he studied the Bible and the Qur’an from a scientific point of view. In the conclusion of his book, he states: The Qur’an follows on from the two Revelations that preceded it and is not only free from contradictions in its narrations, the sign of the various human manipulations to be found in the Gospels, but provides a quality all of its own for those who examine it objectively and in the light of science i.e. its complete agreement with modern scientific data. What is more, statements are to be found in it (as has been shown) that are connected with science: and yet it is unthinkable that a man of Muhammad’s time could have been the author of them. Modern scientific knowledge therefore allows us to understand certain verses of the Qur’an which, until now, it has been impossible to interpret. The comparison of several Biblical and Qur’anic narrations of the same subject shows the existence of fundamental differences between statements in the former, which are scientifically unacceptable, and declarations in the latter which are in perfect agreement with modern data: this was the case of the Creation and the Flood, for example. An extremely important complement to the Bible was found in the text of the Qur’an on the subject of the history of the Exodus, where the two texts were very much in agreement with archaeological findings, in the dating of the time of

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Moses. Besides, there are major differences between the Qur’an and the Bible on the other subjects: they serve to disprove all that has been maintained-without a scrap of evidenceconcerning the allegation that Muhammad is supposed to have copied the Bible to produce the text of the Qur’an. In view of the level of knowledge in Muhammad’s day, it is inconceivable that many of the statements In the Qur’an which are connected with science could have been the work of a man. It is, moreover, perfectly legitimate, not only to regard the Qur’an as the expression of a Revelation, but also to award it a very special place, on account of the guarantee of authenticity it provides and the presence in it of scientific statements which, when studied today, appear as a challenge to explanation in human terms. The Qur’an is free of all scientific error, even though it mentions many natural phenomena. For example, regarding the movement of the sun and moon, it says: It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course. Qur’an 21:33 It says that both the sun and moon follow a circular orbit. Anyone reading it in olden times would continue to believe that the sun goes around the earth, but someone reading it now will know that the sun follows a circular orbit not around the earth but around the Milky Way galaxy. This is an example of the Qur’an masterfully sidestepping making a statement that is factually incorrect. Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation),

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before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? Qur’an 21:30 Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: “Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly.” They said: “We do come (together), in willing obedience.” Qur’an 41:11 The above two verses from the Qur’an state the following facts: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The universe was one singular piece of matter. “Clove” them asunder suggests an explosion. The early universe consisted of smoke or vapor. The earth was created from this smoke collecting together. All living things are made from water.

The first four points describe the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe, and the last one describes the creation of life. All these facts have been confirmed only recently. Today, scientists looking for life on other planets always try to find out if there is water on those planets. These are just a few examples of the Qur’an mentioning natural phenomena. There are many more, and they’re all scientifically correct.

MATHEMATICAL MIRACLE OF THE QUR’AN While many Muslims are familiar with the work of Dr. Bucaille, far fewer know about the work done by the late Dr. Rashid Khalifa to discover the Mathematical Miracle of the Qur’an. This is totally different from the “Bible Code,” which extracts hidden messages from the text of the Bible.

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Dr. Khalifa entered the text of the Qur’an into a computer and found that there is a code that permeates the whole book that is based on the number 19. This discovery explains the meaning of the mysterious letters at the beginning of many Qur’anic chapters, which have been found to play a role similar to checksums that are widely used in computer science to validate the accuracy of data. The end result of this is to prove that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved down to the last letter, confirming God’s promise that: We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption). Qur’an 15:9

NUMBER NINETEEN Here are some verses from Chapter 74 of the Qur’an, where God is talking about someone not believing in the divine nature of the Qur’an: Then said he: ‘This is nothing but magic, derived from of old; ‘This is nothing but the word of a mortal!’ Soon will I cast him into Hell-Fire! And what will explain to thee what Hell-Fire is? Naught doth it permit to endure, and naught doth it leave alone! — Darkening and changing the colour of man! Over it are Nineteen. And We have set none but angels as Guardians of the Fire; and We have fixed their number only as a trial for Unbelievers, — in order that the People of the Book may arrive at certainty, and the Believers may increase in Faith, — and that no doubts may be left for the People of the Book and the Believers, and that

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those in whose hearts is a disease and the Unbelievers may say, ’What symbol doth Allah intend by this?’ Thus doth Allah leave to stray whom He pleaseth, and guide whom He pleaseth: and none can know the forces of thy Lord, except He and this is no other than a warning to mankind. Nay, verily: By the Moon, And by the Night as it retreateth, And by the Dawn as it shineth forth, — This is but one of the mighty (portents), A warning to mankind,— Qur’an 74:24-36 Verse 74:31 quoted above gives five reasons for the miracle of the Qur’an based on the number 19: 1. As a trial for disbelievers. 2. To convince the people of the book (a reference to Christians and Jews) that the Qur’an is divine scripture. 3. To strengthen the faith of the faithful. 4. To remove all traces of doubt from the hearts of Christians, Jews, as well as the believers; and 5. To expose those who harbor doubt in their hearts, and the disbelievers, who will say, “What did God mean by this allegory?” or “So What?”

QUR’ANIC INITIALS Until recently, no one knew the reason for the mysterious initials at the beginning of many chapters of the Qur’an, but now the puzzle has finally been solved. When a Qur’anic chapter starts with those letters, and you count the number of times those letters occur in that chapter, it is always a multiple of 19.

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There are 29 chapters in the Qur’an with prefixed initials. All the initials are linked to the common denominator — 19. • “Q” (Qaaf) is initialed in surahs 42 and 50. In both the surahs, “Q” is repeated 57 times, or 19 × 3. • “N” (Noon) is initialed in surah 68, and the total count of “Noon” is 133 or 19 × 7. • “S” (Saad) is initialed in surahs 7, 19, 38, and the total occurrence in the three surahs is 152, or 19 × 8. • “Y.S” (Ya Seen). These two letters are prefixed in surah 36 and the total occurrence for both of them is 285, or 19 × 15. • “H.M” (Ha Mim). These letters prefix surahs 40 through 46 and their total occurrence in the seven “H.M”-initialed surahs is 2147, or 19 × 113. • “A.S.Q” (‘Ayn Seen Qaf). These initials constitute verse 2 of surah 42 and are repeated in the surah 209 or 19 × 11 times. • “A.L.M” (Alef Laam Mim). These most frequently used letters in the Arabic language are prefixed in six surahs — 2, 3, 29, 30, 31 and 32, and the total occurrence of the three letters in each of the six surahs is 9899 (19 × 521), 5662 (19 × 298), 1672 (19 × 88), 1254 (19 × 66), 817 (19 × 43), and 570 (19 × 30), respectively. All other Qur’anic initials, without exception, show similar patterns of being multiples of 19. Some other basic facts of the Mathematical Miracle of the Qur’an: 1. There are 114 chapters in the Qur’an, or 19 × 6. 2. The total number of verses in the Qur’an is 6346, or 19 × 334. 3. If you add the 30 different numbers that are mentioned in the Qur’an’s text (i.e., one God, two brothers, etc.), the total is 162146, or 19 × 8534. 4. The first statement in the Qur’an, “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,” consists of 19 Arabic letters. Known as the “Bismilah,” it prefaces every chapter, except chapter 9.

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5. Though missing from chapter 9, exactly 19 chapters later, the Bismilah occurs twice. Chapter 27 has this statement at its beginning and in verse 30. This makes the total number of times the Bismilah occurs in the Qur’an 114, or 19 × 6. Up to now, no one knew why there is no Bismilah in chapter 9. 6. Since there are 19 chapters between the missing Bismilah and the extra one, the sum of those chapter numbers is a multiple of 19. (The sum of any 19 consecutive numbers is a multiple of 19.) But the total, 342, is also the exact number of words between the two occurrences of the Bismilah in Chapter 27. This number, 342, is 19 × 18. 7. Every word in the Bismilah occurs throughout the Qur’an a number of times, and each time it is a multiple of 19. 8. The very first revelation that was given to the prophet of Islam, Muhammad (God bless him), came as 19 words. 9. The total number of letters making up the 19 words of the first revelation is 76, 19 × 4. 10. Though they were the first revelation, these verses are placed at the beginning of Chapter 96. This chapter is atop the last 19 chapters. 11. Chapter 96 consists of 304 Arabic letters, or 19 × 16. 12. The last chapter revealed (Chapter 110) has 19 words, and its first verse is 19 letters. 13. God’s name in Arabic, “Allah,” occurs in the Qur’an 2698 times, or 19 × 142. 14. If you add the numbers of the verses where “Allah” occurs, the total is 118123, or 19 × 6217. 15. The main message in the Qur’an is that there is only One God. The number of times that the word “one” is used to refer to this concept of One God is 19. 16. The word “Qur’an” occurs in 38 different chapters, or 19 × 2. 17. The total number of times “the Qur’an” is mentioned is 57, 19 × 3. 18. Within the 114 chapters of the Qur’an, 29 of them begin with the Qur’anic initials discussed earlier. Intermixed between the first initialed chapter (Chapter 2) and the last initialed chapter (Chapter 68) are 38 non-initialed chapters, or 19 × 2.

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19. In that same group of chapters, from Chapter 2 to Chapter 68, there are 19 alternating sets of initialed and non-initialed chapters. 20. The total number of verses making up this group of chapters is 5263, 19 × 277. 21. Within this group of chapters, there are also 2641 occurrences of the word “Allah,” or 19 × 139. Of course, that leaves 57, or 19 × 3, occurrences of that word outside of this group. 22. If you add the chapter and verse numbers of the 57 occurrences of “Allah” outside the initialed section, the total is 2432, or 19 × 128. This is just a sample, and there are a great many more 19-based facts, most of them more complex than the ones presented above. Additional discoveries continue to be made as Dr. Khalifa’s work is carried on by the many dedicated students of the Qur’an that he left behind. As far as God’s challenge to create comparable verses of the Qur’an is concerned, the rules for the competition would include adding verses to the Qur’an that don’t break the code that pervades the whole book or to produce another book that has a similar mathematical structure, while telling stories, providing moral guidance, and talking about natural phenomena that cannot be challenged by science. The above certainly proves beyond reasonable doubt that the Qur’an is a miraculous book revealed by the creator of the universe. Furthermore, it proves that every single letter in the Qur’an is exactly in the correct order as God meant it to be and has not been added to, deleted, or moved about in any way. This is so, apart from two verses that, according to the formula of the mathematical miracle, should not be there. These two verses did not occur in some early versions of the Qur’an, but appeared in later ones. These are verses 128 and 129 in chapter 9.

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Unfortunately, Dr. Khalifa went off on a bit of a tangent and started making some controversial claims, even beyond stating that two verses should not be in the Qur’an. He claimed to be a messenger sent by God. Either because of the controversy or because someone was unhappy with the good work he was doing, Dr. Khalifa was assassinated in 1990. The controversy does not change the facts of what he discovered, and some of his dedicated followers continue his work, while much more remains to be discovered. However, his detractors have tried to undermine his discoveries by citing his contentious claims, and that may be a reason that most Muslims remain uninformed about his research.

WHAT THE QUR’AN SAYS Having argued that the Qur’an is a supernatural book given to humans by the creator of the universe, we can move on to look at what it says. What does the Qur’an say on matters that are of relevance to the future of the Muslim world? To each is a goal to which Allah turns him; then strive together (as in a race) Towards all that is good. Wheresoever ye are, Allah will bring you together. For Allah Hath power over all things. Qur’an 2:148 And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah’s favour on you; for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren; and ye were on the brink of the pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus doth Allah make His Signs clear to you: That ye may be guided. Qur’an 3:103

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The above verses talk about God uniting the Muslims. Each Muslim has a role to play in the overall scheme of things and should compete in doing good works and fulfilling their role, and God will bring unity among Muslims. One of the greatest issues facing the Muslims is a lack of unity, which occurred because of their not following God’s will, as a result of which the Muslim world went into a catastrophic decline. However, if Muslims come back to God, as they’re in the process of doing now, God will restore their unity. The Muslim community is a very diverse group spread over multiple continents with great diversity in race, ethnicity, language, culture, etc., but everyone knows how, even at the worst of times, they always maintain an almost mystical sense of interconnectedness. This is explained by the saying of Prophet Muhammad (God bless him) that the Muslim community is like a single body in which, if any part feels any pain, then the whole body feels the pain. The Religion before Allah is Islam (submission to His Will): Nor did the People of the Book dissent therefrom except through envy of each other, after knowledge had come to them. But if any deny the Signs of Allah, Allah is swift in calling to account. Qur’an 3:19 If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good). Qur’an 3:85 In the above two verses, God states quite categorically that the religion acceptable to him is Islam, and if anyone follows another religion, then it will not be acceptable. This is not only because

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Muslims are the only ones who believe in one God, but also because once God sends a new message, the assumption is that the old one is beyond repair, and if someone insists on following the old contaminated, and thus discarded, message then he is in a state of rebellion against God. This implies that God has rejected the concept of “multiple paths to God” — the idea that you can do pretty much anything you want and believe whatever you wish and everything is acceptable to God. Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion — the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: “They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with Me.” If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked. Qur’an 24:55 Here, God has promised that if Muslims believe and also put their religion into practice, then God will establish them and their religion securely in the land. Previously, the state of security for the Muslims lasted well over a thousand years, during which no one could seriously challenge them, at least in the core Islamic lands. As they are again living in a state of fear and insecurity at the present time, it follows that if they come back to the correct way, then their power and security will be reestablished. The thing to notice here is that the promise is made only to those who believe in God and practice Islam — in other words, those who follow the Qur’an and Sunnah. The promise does not apply to those who only believe in God but don’t follow up with good actions, or to

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those who are weak of faith. It also does not apply to those who are Muslims in name only because they were born as such. It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion: and enough is Allah for a Witness. Qur’an 48:28 We will, without doubt, help our apostles and those who believe, (both) in this world’s life and on the Day when the Witnesses will stand forth, — Qur’an 40:51 God has very clearly promised here that Islam is going to be universally acknowledged as the premier religion, and God has made Himself as the witness to this promise. This is a very powerful promise, and it has been realized on a localized basis in territories under Muslim rule, but the Qur’anic verse hasn’t got any restrictive clause, which means that at some time, it will apply to the whole world, if not the whole universe. That’s an interesting idea. Does it mean that the whole universe will follow Islam? If there are other planets with intelligent beings, then maybe. However, elsewhere in the Qur’an it is stated that this message is for man and jinn, so there are at least two types of intelligent beings for whom this promise holds true. They will not fight you (even) together, except in fortified townships, or from behind walls. Strong is their fighting (spirit) amongst themselves: thou wouldst think they were united, but their hearts are divided: that is because they are a people devoid of wisdom. Qur’an 59:14

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This is an amazing verse because you can witness the truth of what is says right now, in the present. Check out the security wall the Israelis are building around themselves to which they withdraw after attacking the Palestinians, just like the crusader castles that are still in existence from times long past. The Green Zone in Baghdad is another example of the enemies of Islam fighting from behind fortified walls. The Qur’an is not a book of prophecies, and there are very few verses regarding actual worldly events. For this, we need to turn to the sayings of the Messenger of God.

CHAPTER 3

The Prophecies of the Messenger of God Muhammad, the Messenger of God (God bless him), foretold events pertaining to the Muslims that will occur until the end of time. But of all the things that he must have said, only a small fraction is available to us through the hadith (sayings of the prophet) that were meticulously collected by great scholars such as Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and others. Most Muslims believe in, and follow, the sayings of the Messenger of God and do not have any doubt about the veracity of the hadith, especially the ones collected and verified by the most distinguished of scholars. However, as the hadith were collected several generations after the time of the Messenger, they are not considered in the same league as the Qur’an for authencity and lack of error. Here, we have compiled sayings of the Messenger of God from multiple sources, including those hadith that are sound, those that are weak, and even those that are examples of doubtful hadith. The doubtful hadith that have been included are those that are popularly known and were added for the sake of completion, and in order to refute them. The sayings of the Messenger are listed in the order in which events have already happened or are expected to happen. The most striking thing is that if you read these sayings of the Messenger, it seems as if they were being narrated by someone who is present 41

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in the world today and who is looking at current events and making predictions for the future. Yet, these sayings are almost 1,400 years old. The extraordinary correlation of these prophecies with today’s events points to the fact that the current era is one of the most important times in Islamic history, and some truly amazing things are happening already or are due to happen in the near future. It is almost as if the Messenger of God were sending us the message that Muslims going through this time of tribulations should keep up their spirits as the events happening to them are destined to happen. God is with them, and ultimate victory will be theirs. The narratives we have included here start from the time of the First World War in 1914 and end with the end of the world. To look up the sources of the following hadith, please go to the Hadith References at the back of the book.

THE MESSENGER OF GOD FORETOLD FUTURE EVENTS 1. Hudhaifa reported that Allah’s Messenger stood before us one day, and he did not leave anything unsaid (that he had to say) at that very spot which would happen (in the shape of turmoil) up to the Last Hour. Those who had to remember them preserved them in their minds, and those who could not remember them forgot them. My friends knew them, and there are certain things that slipped from my mind, but I recapitulate them when anyone makes a mention of them, just as a person is lost from one’s mind but is recalled to him on seeing his face.1

DOWNFALL OF MUSLIMS AND ITS CAUSES 2. Narrated Thawban: The Prophet said: The people will soon summon one another to attack you as people, when eating, invite others to share their dish. Someone asked, “Will that be because of our small numbers at that time?” He replied, “No, you will be numerous Muslim Book 041, Number 6909

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at that time, but you will be scum and rubbish like that carried down by a torrent, and Allah will take fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and instill enervation into your hearts. Someone asked, “What is enervation?” The Apostle of Allah replied, “Love of the world and dislike of death.”2 3. Thawban reported that Allah’s Messenger said: Allah drew the ends of the world near one another for my sake. And I have seen its eastern and western ends. And the dominion of my Ummah (Muslim community) would reach those ends which have been drawn near me and I have been granted the red and the white treasure and I begged my Lord for my Ummah that it should not be destroyed because of famine, nor be dominated by an enemy who is not amongst them to take their lives and destroy them root and branch, and my Lord said, “Muhammad, whenever I make a decision, there is none to change it. Well, I grant you for your Ummah that it would not be destroyed by famine and it would not be dominated by an enemy who would not be amongst it and would take their lives and destroy them root and branch, even if all the people from the different parts of the world join hands together (for this purpose), but it would be from amongst them, viz, your Ummah, that some people would kill the others or imprison the others.3 It is clear from studying Islamic history that Muslims mostly lose when they have internal rifts and some of them support their enemies against each other. Here the “red and the white treasure” sounds like a valuable physical commodity, but elsewhere it is referred to as the “red and white death,” where the red death refers to death through war and killing, and the white death refers to death through disease and plague. For this to be called a treasure may imply that those who wish to harm Muslims will suffer these punishments.

Abu-Dawud Book 37, Number 4284 Muslim Book 041, Number 6904

2 3

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4. Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said: The Jews were split up into seventy-one; the Christians were split up into seventy-two sects; and my community will be split up into seventy-three sects.4 This is the current situation, with the Muslims divided in a plethora of nations, sects, ethnic groups, political parties, and every other conceivable subgroup. 5. Auf bin Malik reported that the Prophet said: “The Jews split into seventy-one sects; one will enter Paradise and seventy will enter Hell. The Christians split into seventy-two sects; seventy-one will enter Hell and one will enter Paradise. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, my Ummah will split into seventy-three sects; one will enter Paradise and seventy-two will enter Hell.” Someone asked, “O Messenger of Allah, who will they be?” He replied, “The main body of the Muslims.”5 The mainstream Muslims are the good people, and the sects and splinter groups with their strange extremist ideas are the ones destined for hell. This saying of the Messenger of God tells us that the only righteous Muslim is one who does not belong to any subdivision of Islam. He is neither a Sunni nor a Shia, nor is he a Wahabi or a Hanafi, nor anything else. He is simply a Muslim and follows the commandments of God and leads a righteous life. 6. Narrated Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman: The people used to ask Allah’s Apostle about good, but I used to ask him about evil for fear that it might overtake me. Once I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! We were in ignorance and in evil and Allah has bestowed upon us the present good; will there by any evil after this good?” He said, “Yes.” I asked, “Will there be good after that evil?” He said, “Yes, but it would be Abu-Dawud Book 40, Number 4579 Ibn Kathir

4 5

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tainted with Dakhan (i.e., a little evil).” I asked, “What will its Dakhan be?” He said, “There will be some people who will lead (people) according to principles other than my tradition. You will see their actions and disapprove of them.” I said, “Will there be any evil after that good?” He said, “Yes, there will be some people who will invite others to the doors of Hell, and whoever accepts their invitation to it will be thrown in it (by them).” I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Describe those people to us.” He said, “They will belong to us and speak our language.” I asked, “What do you order me to do if such a thing should take place in my life?” He said, “Adhere to the group of Muslims and their Chief.” I asked, “If there is neither a group (of Muslims) nor a chief, what shall I do?” He said, “Keep away from all those different sects, even if you had to bite (i.e., eat) the root of a tree, till you meet Allah while you are still in that state.”6 7. Abdullah, son of Umar, said: The Prophet came to us and said, “0 Muhajirun (emigrants from Mecca to Medina), you may be afflicted by five things; God forbid that you should live to see them. If fornication should become widespread, you should realize that this has never happened without new diseases befalling the people, which their forebears never suffered. If people should begin to cheat in weighing out goods, you should realize that this has never happened without drought and famine befalling the people, and their rulers oppressing them. If people should withhold Zakat (tithing and alms), you should realize that this has never happened without the rain being stopped from falling; and were it not for the animals’ sake, it would never rain again. If people should break their covenant with Allah and His Messenger, you should realize that this has never happened without Allah sending an enemy against them to take some of their possessions by force. If the leaders do not govern according to the Book of Allah, you

Bukhari Book 56, Number 803

6

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should realize that this has never happened without Allah making them into groups and making them fight one another.”7

PHASES OF MUSLIM RULE 8. Hudhaifa, son of Al-Yaman, reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “Prophethood (meaning himself) will remain with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain, then Allah will raise it up whenever he wills to raise it up. Afterwards, there will be a Caliphate that follows the guidance of Prophethood remaining with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, he will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Afterwards, there will be a reign of oppressive rule (the reign of Muslim kings who are partially just), and it will remain with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, there will be a reign of tyrannical rule, and it will remain for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, Allah will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Then, there will be a Caliphate that follows the guidance of Prophethood.” Then Hudhaifa said, “The Prophet stopped speaking.”8 The phases are as follows: • The time of the Prophet; • The time of the Righteous Caliphs that lasted about 30 years from 632 until 661 AD; • The rule of kings. This period lasted for over 1200 years until the 20th century and ended with the end of the Ottoman Sultanate. • The rule of tyrants. This is the existing situation. • The new Caliphate established by the Mahdi. 9. The Prophet declared: “This affair began with Prophethood and as a mercy; then it will be mercy and Caliphate; afterwards it will Ibn Kathir, Ibn Majah As-Sililah As Sahihah, vol. 1, number 5. The same hadith without any changes is also narrated by Hadhrat Nauman Ibn-e-Basheer in Musnad-e-Ahmad Ibn-e-Hanbal 7 8

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change into a cruel monarchy, and finally into an iniquity and tyranny.” He also prophesied: “Surely, the Caliphate after me will last thirty years; afterwards, it will be a cruel monarchy.”9

WORLD WARS 10. A hadith reported by Imam Ali, Abu Huraira, and Ibn Abbas states: The war of the end of time is the war of the world. There will be a third war after two great wars in which many are killed. He who will light the fires of the Second World War will be known as the “Great Leader.”10 Thirteen hundred years after the Hijra, count a few decades. At that time, the Greek King wants to wage a war against the entire world. Meanwhile, Allah commands the war for that man.

Abu Dawud, At’ıma, 11; Tirmidhi, At’ıma, 39; I. Hanbal, 5.441 Al-Mahdi-ul Munthazar, Asmal Masalik Lieyyam Mahdiyy Maliki Li Kull-id Dunya Biemrillah-il Malik (“The Best ways to know the time of the Mahdi, King of the World, by Allah’s command”) by Qalda ibn Zayd. The source mentioned for this narration is a rare hand-written book (manuscript), dated some 300 years after the Hijra, which today is kept in Istanbul, Turkey, in the Süleymaniye Library, under the section listed as “Islamic manuscripts 3664/Al Medina Al Munawara.” It contains an amazing collection of narrations, compiled by its author, Qalda ibn Zayd. It is said in another book, “Kitab Al-Fitan” by Abu ‘Abdullah Nu’aim bin Hammad, that Abu Huraira had two areas of knowledge he gained from the Prophet; one of them he imparted, while he hid the other. Abu Huraira commented on that saying that if he had imparted the other area of knowledge, he would have been slaughtered (and he pointed to his neck when saying so). The same hadith of Abu Huraira’s “hidden knowledge” is also confirmed in Sahih Bukhari: Narrated Abu Huraira: “I have memorized two kinds of knowledge from Allah’s Apostle. I have propagated one of them to you and if I propagated the second, then my throat would be cut (i.e., he would be killed).” (Bukhari, Book 3, Number 121) This prophetic narration is obviously from the area of knowledge Abu Huraira “hid.” He is said to have disclosed this information on his death bed (he died in 59 AH/681 AD), and this is an esoteric narration that was compiled in Medina by Qalda ibn Zayd in a manuscript dated to around 300 AH/922 AD. The ellipses (…) represent those parts where the text has eroded. 9

10

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A short while later, that is, in two decades, a man whose name is associated with a cat name from the German lands appears as a scourge on the Romans. He starts to bother people and wants to hold control over the world. He wages war against the entire world, both the warm and cold lands. After years filled with severe war fires, he meets Allah’s punishment. Then, he is killed as the Russians’ mystery. As is quite evident from this hadith, there would be two major world wars in the End Times. The world wars in the first half of the 20th century were indeed two of the most momentous events in history. Again, as revealed in the hadith, Hitler, who started the Second World War and virtually declared war on the whole world, was known as the “Führer,” meaning leader, guide, commander. Under National Socialism, this word took on a new significance: the Führer was the “undisputed leader,” or even the “deified leader.” The German people regarded Hitler, who initiated World War II, as their undisputed and great leader. In this part of the narration, the expression, “the Greek King wants to wage a war against the entire world,” calls attention to a great war that would spread all over the world. The Arabic word for the “decades” is “ukud,” the plural form of the Arabic word “akd,” which implies the meaning of “at least three.” In this case, when we add three decades to the 1300 of the Hijra, we have 1330. The First World War started in 1332 of the Hijra, that is 1914, in the Gregorian calendar. In early Islamic times, the Byzantine Empire was ruled from Constantinople, which was part of ancient Greece. All European Christians were referred to as Romans, and “Greek King” would also mean a European Christian — probably Emperor Franz Joseph of the Habsburg Dynasty whose country, Austria, initiated World War I by declaring war on Serbia in 1914. To say that “Allah commands war for that man” implies that God may make use of the wars that men start to further His own purpose. This idea is confirmed in the Qur’an, where it states that God sent His

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“servants” — Nebuchadnezzar and his forces — against the disobedient people of Jerusalem. So, even though Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t a believer, he was nevertheless used by God for His purpose. The same may hold true for Hitler, who broke the backs of the colonial powers and forced them to give freedom to their colonies as a consequence of the Second World War. The man from the German lands is obviously Adolf Hitler. However, to refer to him as someone with a “cat name” is not as apt as referring to him as someone with a “wolf name” because the name Adolf is derived from the old German name Adalwuf, which means “noble wolf.”

CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST 11. Another portent of the Mahdi’s coming is the killing of a senior member of the Hashemites.11 Jordan is known as the Hashemite Kingdom. After the Ottoman Empire, it came under British control. Great Britain recognized Jordanian independence in 1946, as part of the Treaty of London. The monarchy was given to Abdullah, head of the principality of Jordan. The British later killed King Abdullah in 1951. Thus, the incident indicated in the hadith came to pass. 12. The inhabitants of Egypt and Sham will kill their ruler and his commands…12 This hadith predicts that the rulers of Egypt and Syria will be killed before the coming of the Mahdi. When we examine Egypt’s recent history, we see that a ruler was killed: Anwar al-Sadat, who ruled Egypt

11 12

Risalat al-Khuruj al-Mahdi, p. 12 Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 49

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from 1970-81, was killed by his opponents during a military review in 1981. Other Egyptian leaders who have been killed include Prime Ministers Boutros-Ghali (1910) and Mahmoud Nukrashy Pasha (1948). Many leaders have been killed in the region of Sham (left of Hijaz), among them former Syrian prime ministers Salah al-Deen Beetar (1920), Droubi Pasha (1921), and Muhsin al-Barazi (1949), King Abdullah of Jordan (1951), and Lebanese Phalange leader Bashir Gemayel (1982). 13. The people of Sham will take prisoner the tribes of Egypt…13 Sham (Syria) is where Israel is located. During the 1967 Six-Day War, the Israelis defeated the Egyptians and captured the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula. With the Camp David peace treaty, Egypt came under the U.S./Israeli sphere of influence. 14. Count five or six or seven or eight decades after 1300 of Hijra. At that time, a man “Nasser” rules Egypt. Arabs call him “succa-ul Arab,” the “brave of the Arabs.” Allah despises him twice, once in a war, and then in another one. That “Nasser” can never attain victory…”14 The dates related in this particular hadith are between 1350 and 1380 Hijra. This is the time Gamal Abdul-Nasser came to power in Egypt. In 1952, Abdul-Nasser came to power and led the movement of Arab Nationalism. During the period of Nasser, two wars erupted between Arabs and Israelis, and in both cases, Arabs were defeated. 15. …Upon this, Allah, the Lord of the House, makes a dark-colored person, whose father is more enlightened than himself, the leader of the Egyptian people and the Arab nation. But, he makes an agreement with the thieves of the Masjid al-Aqsa…15 Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 49 Asmal Masalik. See note 10. 15Asmal Masalik. See note 10. 13 14

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Continuing with the hadith, it now calls attention to Anwar Sadat’s coming to power. One of the most telling turning points of Anwar Sadat’s time was the Arab-Israel peace talks, to which the hadith draws our attention. As the hadith reveals, the lands of Masjid al-Aqsa would not be under Muslim control, and the leader of Egypt would hold peace talks with the country that exercises control over Masjid al-Aqsa. It is possible that this hadith refers to the Arab-Israeli peace talks held at Camp David in 1978 and 1979.

TWO ROMAN ARMIES 16. Narrated Auf bin Malik: I went to the Prophet during the expedition of Tabuk while he was sitting in a leather tent. He said, “Count six signs that indicate the approach of the Hour: 1. My death (which occurred in 632 AD); 2. The conquest of Jerusalem (this occurred in 638 AD at the hands of the second Caliph; Umar ibn al-Khattab); 3. A plague that will afflict you and kill you in great numbers as the plague that afflicts sheep (This epidemic disease spread immediately after the conquest of Jerusalem by Umar ibn alKhattab around 640 AD, at Anwas region in Syria-DamascusPalestine, which resulted in the deaths of 25,000 Muslims.); 4. The increase of wealth to such an extent that even if one is given one hundred Dinars, he will not be satisfied (this is what the situation is today in Arabia); 5. Then an affliction, which no Arab house will escape (this has happened, is happening, and is intensifying as a result of the declared “War on Terrorism”); 6. Then a truce between you and Bani Al-Asfar (the Byzantines), who will betray you and attack you under eighty flags. Under each flag will be twelve thousand soldiers.”16

16

Bukhari Book Number 53 Number 401

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The last prediction may be in reference to the Gulf War, Great War, or the current crusade of conquest in the Middle East. The number of nations that were part of the coalition against “terrorism” after the September 11 attacks was 80. However, if the “truce” is the seven-year peace treaty between these nations and the Mahdi, then it obviously is yet to happen. 17. Dhu Mukhammar said: The Prophet said: “You will make a peace treaty with the Romans, and together you will invade an enemy beyond Rome. You will be victorious and take much booty. Then you will camp in a hilly pasture; one of the Roman men will come and raise a cross and give victory to it, so one of the Muslims will come and kill him. Then the Romans will break the treaty, and there will be a battle. They will gather an army against you and come against you with 80 flags, each flag followed by 12,000 men.”17 This is the U.S. (allied Romans) supported war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union (enemy Romans). The mountains refer to the Hindu Kush Mountains. 18. Narrated with sound chains from Dhu Mikhbar al-Najashi: You will make a firm truce with the Romans until you and they wage a campaign against an enemy that is attacking them. You will be granted victory and great spoils. Then you will alight in a plain surrounded by hills. There, someone among the Romans shall say, “The Cross has overcome!” Whereupon someone among the Muslims shall say, “Nay, Allah has overcome!” and shall go and break the cross. The Romans shall kill him, then the Muslims shall take up their arms, and the two sides shall fall upon each other. Allah shall grant martyrdom to that group of Muslims. After 17

Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah

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that, the Romans shall say to their leader, “We shall relieve you of the Arabs,” and they shall gather up for the great battle. They shall come to you under 80 flags (nations), each flag (nation) gathering 12,000 troops.18 This could be a reference to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, in which America (allied Roman force) formed an alliance with the Muslims to fight the Russians (enemy Roman force). In 1989, the Russians lost and retreated from Afghanistan. In 1990, the Soviet Union fell, and America, along with its Muslim allies, gained victory over them. Following that, the Roman forces invaded the Islamic world in the Gulf War. What the cross is can only be based on speculation. The area of “hilly pastures” is obviously Afghanistan, since the description fits well. The battle could be referring to the Gulf War. Also, each of the 80 flags represents one nation, so there would be 80 different nations involved in invading Muslim lands. 19. Na’im, son of Hammad, reported on his chain of narration on the authority of Abdullah Ibn Masood, that the Messenger of Allah said: The Romans will attack those Arabs who reside in their land, until not a single Arab man or woman or child remains in their land but that they shall be killed by the Romans.19 This hadith mentions Arabs residing in the Roman lands (North America and Europe), not Muslims, and today Muslims are racially stereotyped and profiled as being “Arabs.” This does not bode well for the Muslims living in America and Europe. The Japanese were interned in camps during World War II, and after 9/11, there was much discussion in the American media and thinktanks about doing the same to Muslims.

18 19

Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah Kitab Al Fitan, Bab Al Aamaq wa fath al Constantiniya, p. 260

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IRAN-IRAQ WAR 20. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger’s many hadith and one of them was this: The last Hour will not come until the two parties (of Muslims) confront each other and there is a largescale massacre amongst them and the claim of both of them is the same.20 21. A nation/tribe will be coming forth from the Farsi direction, saying, “You Arabs! You have been too zealous! If you don’t give them their due rights, nobody will have alliance with you… It must be given to them one day and to you the following day, and mutual promises must be kept…” They will be going up Mutekh; Muslims will be coming down to the plain… Hypocrites (non-believing “Muslims”) will be standing over there on the bank of a black river called Rakabeh on the other side. There will be a war between them. Allah will deprive both armies of a victory…”21 Farsi means Persians or Iranians. Rakabeh is a region where oil wells are concentrated. This hadith draws attention to a racial dispute that would break out. Because of this dispute, the sides would come down to the Iranian plains and then a war would get underway. As noted by the hadith, the Iran-Iraq War lasted for eights years, and despite thousands of casualties, no result was forthcoming for both sides. Neither side could have a decisive victory.

THE GULF WAR 22. Then a cruel man appears in Iraq, which is located in the Damascus region. This man, with a slight injury in his eye, is a Sufyaan. He 20 21

Muslim Book 041, Number 6902 Asmal Masalik. See note 10.

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is Saddam. He is saddam against his opponents. All the world gathers for him in small Kut, the region to which he came previously because he was deceived.”22 In the final part of the hadith, attention is called to a “saddam” person who would emerge from Iraq. The dictionary meaning of “saddam” is “the one who strikes violently, assaults.” The hadith says that this person would invade Kut; one of the names given to the region that also includes Kuwait. Saddam Hussein was a dictator notorious for the violence he exercised against his people during his reign. He was deceived into invading Kuwait in 1990, and this invasion became the pretext for Gulf War I. 23. Reported on a chain of transmission on the authority of Ka’b: The sign of the Mahdi’s appearance will be war banners coming from the west, lead by a man with a disability from “Kinda.”23 Kinda was a pre-Islamic kingdom in central Arabia that converted to Judaism in the late 4th century. 24. And war in a country smaller than the end bone of the spinal cord, the world will gather for its sake, as if it were the richest nation in the world for which the world has gathered to feast around. Its leader will surrender the banner to the leader of all evil, who will come from the furthest Western shores, then the beginning of the end as it wails to all the world to come to its aid. The leader will regain his throne, and Iraq will be destroyed in the confrontation at the end of time. The leader of the tiny nation will fight the Army of the Mahdi, and the same tiny nation is again threatened with destruction because its leader is the cause of its corruption…the Mahdi 22 23

Asmal Masalik. See note 10. Nuaym son of Hammad, Al-Fitan, p. 205

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orders his execution and the small bone returns to the main body again.24 The tiny nation mentioned in this hadith can be said to be Kuwait.

SANCTIONS ON IRAQ AND SYRIA 25. Abu Nadhrah says: “We were sitting in the company of Jabir, son of Abdullah, when he said, ‘Soon the people of Iraq will neither receive any food (grain) nor any money.’” We asked, “Why would such a thing happen?” He replied, “Because of the non-Arabs.” He then said, “Soon the people of (Syria) will neither receive any money nor grain.” We asked as to why this would happen. He replied, “Because of the Romans.”25 The Romans (Americans) did indeed prevent food from going into Iraq, in the form of “sanctions,” which started after the Gulf War I. Also, this hadith says that Syria would suffer the same fate. Syria most likely means Palestine, as it was part of historical Syria.

ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT 26. Son of Hajr Al-’Asqalani related that Abu Idris Al-Khaulani heard from Nahik son of Surim Al-Sakuni that the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (God bless him), said: “You will fight the unbelievers until the remnant of you fights on the River Jordan, you to the east of it and they to the west of it.” Al-Sakuni said that at that time he did not know where the River Jordan was.26 What are the odds that the State of Israel would arise and have as its eastern border the very dividing line of the River Jordan that Asmal Masalik. See note 10. Muslim, Book 41, Number 6961 26Ahmad 24 25

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the Prophet said would be the demarcation line between the Muslim armies and the Judeo-Christian armies! This is a prophecy fulfilled indeed!

IRAQ WAR 27. Baghdad is destroyed by fire in the End Times…27 28. The people of Kufa will be divided into three parts. One part will join the Tyrant’s army. These are the most wicked people Allah created. Another group will wage war against them, and these people are the honorable servants of Allah. Another part will join the pillagers, and they are sinners.28 Iraq has indeed been divided into three parts as part of the divideand-conquer strategy. As far back as the 1970s, the Bernard Lewis map of the Middle East had proposed that Iraq be split into three parts. 29. Doomsday will not come until Iraq is attacked and innocent people in Iraq will seek shelter in (Syria). (Syria) will be reconstructed and Iraq will be reconstructed.29 Nowadays, as a result of the American military occupation of Iraq, over a million Iraqis are living as refugees in Syria.

IRAQ, SYRIA, EGYPT, AND THE ARABIAN PENINSULA 30. Our Prophet said: There will be such troubles and calamities that nobody will be able to find a place of shelter. These woes will move around Syria, fall upon Iraq, and tie the hands and feet of Risalat al-Khuruj al-Mahdi, vol. 3, p. 177 An-Najmu’s Sakib Fi Beyanı Anna’l Mahdi Min Evlad Ali B. Abu Thalib 29Muntakhab Kanzul Ummal, vol. 5 p. 254 27 28

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the Arabian Peninsula. The Community of Islam will fight against troubles in the steppes. Nobody will feel any sympathy for them or even say, “Alas!”As they try to remedy their woes on the one hand, these will emerge again on the other.30 31. Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said: Iraq will withhold its dirham and qafiz; Syria will withhold its mudd and dinar and Egypt will withhold its irdab and dinar and you will recoil to that position from where you started and you will recoil to that position from where you started and you will recoil to the position from where you started, the bones and the flesh of Abu Huraira will bear testimony to it.31 The triple repetition of “you will recoil…” is to emphasize that this event will surely occur. Compare the map of the Zionist empire. It includes Iraq, Egypt, and Syria, as well as parts of Saudi Arabia, all mentioned in prophetic narrations as countries that would get into difficulties. Egypt can already be considered to be cut off from the Muslim community. After the Camp David agreement with Israel, Egypt was ostracized by the Arab world. 32. There will be ruins all around the world. Ultimately, Egypt will also be ruined, but until Basra is destructed, Egypt will remain secure. Basra will be in ruins because of Iraq’s destruction. Meanwhile, the downfall of Egypt will come with the drying of the Nile…32 33. The tribulation in Sham will calm down on the one hand and flare up again on another. This corruption will not end until an Muntakhab Kanzul Ummal, vol. 5, p. 38-39 Muslim Book 41, Number 4923 32Mukhtasar Tazkirah Qurtubi, p. 530 30 31

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angel from the sky calls, ‘The Mahdi is your leader. The Mahdi is your caliph.”33 Sham — Syria — has historically consisted of the area that makes up the present-day states of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.

WAR OF THE EUPHRATES 34. The halting of the Euphrates is one of the portents of the Mahdi. 34 The above hadith indicates that the Euphrates incident occurs before the Mahdi, near the time of his emergence. Many respected books of hadith mention both of these events. The Muslim scholar Imam Al-Suyuti refers to this hadith as “the stopping of water.” In fact, the Keban Dam has stopped the flow of this river’s water. Thus, this part of the Euphrates prediction has already come to pass. 35. Abu Huraira said: The Prophet said: “The Hour will not come before the Euphrates uncovers a mountain of gold, for which people will fight. Ninety-nine out of one hundred will die, but everyone among them will say that perhaps he will be the one who will survive (and thus possess this gold).”35 36. Narrated Ubayy ibn Ka’b: I heard Allah’s Apostle say: The Euphrates will soon uncover a mountain of gold, and when the people will hear of it, they will flock towards it, but the people who will possess that treasure will say: If we allowed these persons to take out of it, they would take away the whole of it. So, they will fight, and ninety-nine out of one hundred will be killed.36

Risalat al-Khuruj al-Mahdi, p. 63 Al-Muttaql al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman, p. 39 35Muslim Book 41, Number 6918 36Muslim Book 41, Number 6922 33 34

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This can be construed to be the invasion of Iraq to capture its oil resources, although the meaning may be literal, and perhaps there really are gold deposits there.

FIGHT FOR THE CALIPHATE 37. Reported by Hadhrat Ali: So do not rebuke the people of Syria, but rebuke the evil people among them because amongst them are Al Abdal (pious saints). A flood is about to be sent down upon the people of Syria, which will disperse their groups in such a way that if foxes attacked them, they would be beaten. At that time, a man from the Family of my House will come under three banners; with 12-15,000 men and their password is, “Die, die.” Then, there will come seven banners, and under each will be one man seeking the kingdom. Allah will kill all of them and restore unity and favors upon the hearts of Muslims, and those who were far will come close.37 The fight between one group with three banners and another group with seven banners seems to refer to a civil war between Muslim antagonists, none of whom will win, and it is only when both groups are destroyed that Muslim unity will be restored.

THE TYRANT The Arabic term Sufyaani refers to a Muslim ruler who is a tyrant. Abu Sufyaan was a determined and bitter enemy of the Messenger of God who accepted Islam at a late date. His son Muawiyah went on to become the caliph after the four rightly guided caliphs and founded the Umayyad Dynasty in Damascus. Because of political conflict during the time of Muawiyah and his son Yazid, the Islamic world was split into the Shia and Sunni factions.

37

Found in references of Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah and At-Tabarani

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In this book, we will use the word Sufyaani interchangeably with the term “Tyrant.” 38. “The Mahdi will not come until The Sufyaani is established.”38 39. Reported by Abu Huraira: “A man named the Sufyaani will come from the center of Damascus. The majority of his followers will be from the tribe of Kalb. He will kill until he rips women open and kills children. So, the tribe of Kays will rise up in retaliation, and he will slaughter all of them! Then, a man from the Family of my House will come in Al Hirrah and the news will reach the Sufyaani. Then he will send his army, but it will suffer defeat. The Sufyaani will march with his followers to him until they reach a desert, and the ground will swallow them up. None will be saved, except the one bearing the news.”39

INVASIONS OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN 40. Imam Ali said: “The horses of the Tyrant will go to Kufa (Iraq), and he will send his army against the dwellers of Khurasan. (At that time) the people of Khurasan will demand the Mahdi. He that meets with the Hashimi with the Black Banners at his front is Shuayb, the son of Salih, who will engage the Tyrant at the Gate of Istakhr (Shiraz in Iran) — between them, there will be a tremendously fierce battle and the Black Banners will win, but the horses of the Tyrant will escape. It is at that time that the people will wish for the Mahdi, because they will need him.”40 This saying of the Messenger refers to both Iraq and Afghanistan being invaded at the same time. This matches the current circumstances. Al Walid, son of Muslim Son of Hibban, At-Tirmizi, Abuya’li, At-Tabarani, Al Bazaar, Abu Nuaym and Al Hakim 40Unconfirmed source. 38 39

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It also mentions a failed attack on Iran (Istakhr), and that this will be the time when people start wishing for the Mahdi. Khurasan is an ancient name for an area that includes northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. There is a province nowadays in Iran called Khurasan that borders on Afghanistan. If Khurasan refers to Iran, then it means that after the invasion of Iraq, there will be an attack on Iran, which, as of this writing, is being talked about in the media. 41. Imam Ali said: “The Tyrant will overcome Syria, then between them, there will be a battle in Kurkisa until the birds of the air are filled and the savage animals of the earth are filled from their perishing. Then, an opening will occur at their rear, and a group will come from them until they enter the land of Khurasan. The horses of the Tyrant will come demanding the people of Khurasan, and they will slay the followers of the Family of Muhammad in Kufa; then the people of Khurasan will come seeking the Mahdi.”41 It is interesting to note that, according to this narration, the Tyrant would come to Afghanistan demanding that some people be handed over to him. The Americans went to Afghanistan asking for Osama Bin Laden and his followers. During the time of the Messenger of God, the borders of Syria and Iraq would have been very different from what they are now, so it may be safe to assume that the references to Syria could, in fact, point to the present-day Iraq. 42. “There will be a city called Zawra between the Tigris and the Euphrates. There will be a great battle there. Women will be taken prisoner, and men will have their throats cut like sheep.”42 41 42

Unconfirmed source. Muntakhab Kanzul Ummal, vol. 5, p. 38

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Zawra is an ancient name for Baghdad. 43. “Between the Tigris and the Euphrates, a city will be built where the children of Abbas will reign. It is called Zawra (Baghdad)…” “O leader of the believers, why is it called Zawra?” “It is called Zawra because the war surrounds it, expanding to the borders.”43 During the Abbasid Dynasty, the seat of the caliphate was shifted from Damascus in Syria to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was purpose-built by the Abbasids as the capital city.

INVASION OF SAUDI ARABIA 44. Narrated Abdullah, son of Umar: The Prophet said: “The Muslims will soon be besieged up to Medina, so that their most distant frontier outpost will be Salah.”44 Salah is a town about 200 miles north of the city of Medina. This will be how close the anti-Islamic armies will come to the heart of the Muslim world. This also suggests that Saudi Arabia will be invaded — a possibility that is being very openly and casually discussed by some neoconservative thinktanks in the West.

SIGNS OF THE MAHDI 45. Narrated Na’im, son of Hammad: Allah Almighty will send the Mahdi after despair has reached the point that people will say, “There is no Mahdi.”45

Mukhtasar Tazkirah al-Qurtubi, p. 426, Number 776 Abu Dawud Book 35, Number 4237A 45Jesus Will Return by Harun Yahya, p. 53 43 44

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46. Ammar, the son of Yasir, said: “When the Tyrant reaches Kufa and kills the supporters of the family of Muhammad (God bless him), the Mahdi will come and the bearer of his Banner will be Shuayb, the son of Salih.”46 Kufa is a city in Iraq. The war in Iraq will be a prelude to the coming of the Mahdi. 47. A star with a luminous tail will rise from the east before the Mahdi emerges.47 48. The rise of that star will occur after the eclipse of the sun and the moon.48 49. A comet appears when kings go on the pilgrimage to Mecca for travel, the wealthy for commerce, the poor for rest, and the hafiz (reciter of the Qur’an) to show off.49 50. “When this comet first appeared, the people of Prophet Noah perished, Prophet Abraham was cast into fire, Pharaoh and his people who fought against Prophet Moses perished, and John (Yahya) passed away. When you see that comet, take refuge in God from the evil of tribulation.”50 51. In its section on the signs of the Mahdi’s emergence, the book Iqd al-Durar states: “There will be the emergence of a big flare, which is seen in the east, in the sky for three nights; the sighting of an extraordinary redness, not as red as the usual color of the dawn, and it is spread over the horizon.”51 Unconfirmed source. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha’ah li Ashrat as-Sa’ah, p. 200 48Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 32 49Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha’ah li Ashrat as-Sa’ah, p.123 50Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 32 51Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 32 46 47

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The flares could be from huge fires ignited by bombing of the oil fields. The oil-producing region of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia is directly east of Medina, where the Messenger used to live. 52. Amr, son of Shamer, quoted Jabir, who quoted Muhammad, son of Ali, to have said: “For our Mahdi, there are two signs. Since the birth of the Universe, these events have never taken place. Those two signs are that there will be a lunar eclipse on the first night of Ramadan and a solar eclipse in the middle of Ramadan.”52 This narration is not attributed to the Messenger of God, but attributed to Muhammad, son of Ali. No other person has substantiated this alleged statement of Muhammad, son of Ali. Muslim scholars have always rejected this and other narrations of Amr and Jabir, as both have been known to transmit unreliable and forged narrations. We have included the statement here, as it is a commonly quoted hadith. 53. Reported by a companion, who informed Mujahid: “Surely, the Mahdi will not come until the purified soul has been killed. When this occurs, those in the heaven and those on earth will be angry. So, people will come in a procession to the Mahdi; like the procession of a bride to her husband on their wedding night, and he will fill the earth with fairness and justice, and the earth will produce its plants and the heaven will pour its rain, and my nation will enjoy his government and favors never before enjoyed.”53 54. When an innocent child of the community of Muhammad is killed, an angel from the sky will cry: “God is with him (the Mahdi) and with those who are with him.”54

Dar-e-Qatni, Vol. 1, p. 188 Found in reference to son of Abu Shaybah 54Muhammad bin Ali Sabban, Ishaf ar-Raghibin, p. 154 52 53

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The Mahdi will come when innocent Muslim children are being killed. This is happening now and is referred to as “collateral damage.” This is clearly angering those on earth, and it would certainly anger those in heaven. 55. The Mahdi will only appear at a time when people are experiencing great fear and are afflicted by disturbances, civil war, and other disasters.55 Most of the Muslim world is being roiled by the above problems.

BATTLES IN MINA Although in the past, some incidents of violence have occurred during and after Haj in Mecca at the Ka’ba and in Mina, these may not be the ones that are implied here as the hadith appears to be saying that there will be battles in Mecca during or just after Haj and the Mahdi will appear while this is still going on. 56. The year in which he (the Mahdi) will emerge, people will perform Haj together and gather without an imam. The Hajis will be looted, and there will be a battle at Mina, in which many will be slain and blood will flow until it runs over the Jamra al-’Aqaba.56 Jamra: a stone pillar representing Satan that is stoned during the pilgrimage. In this location, there will be a conflict that will result in many deaths. This area of Mecca has in recent years suffered many deaths from stampedes because of the large crowds. However, what is being talked about in the hadith is warfare. 57. “People pay pilgrimage without an imam leading them. Big wars break out when they come down to Mina, and they are entwined 55 56

Narrated by Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali Narrated by ‘Amr ibn Shu’ayb, al-Hakim and Nu’aym ibn Hammad

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just the way dogs entwine and tribes will attack each other. It is to such an extent that legs are buried in lakes of blood.”57 58. “There come the cries of war in Shawwall (tenth Islamic month) with the outbreak of a war and massacre and carnage in Dhu alHijja (twelfth Islamic month) and again the plundering of pilgrims in Dhu al-Hijja, and the crossing of streets is not even possible because of bloodshed, and religious prohibitions are violated. Big sins are committed near Beyt-ül Muazzam (Ka’ba).”58 An incident occurred in the month of Dhu al-Hijja (twelfth Islamic month) in the 1407 (1987) pilgrimage season, which actually took place near the Ka’ba. More than 400 people, mostly Iranian pilgrims, were killed and 649 wounded in Mecca when security forces clashed with Iranians over an anti-U.S. demonstration. 59. There will be tumult in Shawwal (tenth Islamic month), talks of war in Dhu al-Qi’dah (eleventh Islamic month), and the outbreak of war in Dhu al-Hijja (twelfth Islamic month).59 60. Reported by Abdullah son of Amr: “In the month of Dhu-Qi’dah (eleventh Islamic month), the tribes will start to fight, and pilgrims will be robbed. There will be a fierce battle at Mina until their companion escapes and he will be pledged allegiance between Al Rukn and Al Makam although he dislikes it. The allegiance will be pledged by the same number of fighters at Badr, and the inhabitants of the Heaven and Earth will be pleased with him.”60

Kitab-ül Burhan Fi Alameti-il Mehdiyy-il Ahir Zaman, p. 35 Kitab-ül Burhan Fi Alameti-il Mehdiyy-il Ahir Zaman, p. 37 59Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha’ah li-Ashrat as-Sa’ah, p. 166 60Al Hakim, Nuaym son of Hammad’s book ‘Al Fitan’ 57 58

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The Battle of Badr was the first armed conflict that the Muslims fought, and there were 313 people in the Muslim army, apart from the Prophet. 61. There will be a voice in Ramadan (ninth Islamic month), and a voice in Shawwal (tenth Islamic month). In Dhu al-Qi’dah (eleventh Islamic month), the tribes will fight one another. In Dhu al-Hijja (twelfth Islamic month), pilgrims will be despoiled. In Muharram (first Islamic month), there will be a shout from the sky: “Take heed. Such a person is of the auspicious ones of the people of God. Listen to and obey him.”61 This saying seems to connect the events at Mina during the Dhu al-Hijja (twelfth Islamic month) with the coming of the Mahdi the following month in Muharram (first Islamic month). So, the Mahdi appears after a Haj during which there will be much violence.

THE MAHDI 62. Ibni Munavi said that Danyal (Daniel) reported in his book that “There are 3 Tyrants and 3 Mahdis. When the first Tyrant appears and his name and fame become widespread, the first Mahdi will confront him, the second Mahdi will confront the second Tyrant, and the third Mahdi will confront the third Tyrant, and Allah, the Exalted, will send him (the third Mahdi) to save the ones who have suffered mischief, and the believers. The Sunnah will be revived through him, and oppression, injustice, and cruelty will come to an end through him. The people will be highly prized and become victorious over their opponents at his time. A beautiful life will be lived, and the earth and the heavens will increase their blessing.62 Ramuz al-Ahadith, vol. 2, p. 518, number 5 This hadith exists in a handwritten copy of the book titled Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman held in the Suleymaniye Library, Istanbul, Turkey.

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63. Son of Masood said: When commerce and roads are blocked and trials increase, seven knowledgeable people will come from different directions without previous appointment. Each will receive the allegiance of over three hundred men until they meet in Mecca. The seven will meet and ask one another; “What brought you here?” They will reply, “We are in search of the man upon whose hand the trials will be calmed, and for whom Constantinople will be opened. We know him by his name, his father’s name, his mother’s name, and his army.” So, the seven will agree upon this and search for him, then find him in Mecca. They will ask him, “Are you so and so, son of so and so?” He will reply, “No, I am a man from the supporters.” He will escape from them, so they will describe him to people in their midst that are both righteous and knowledgeable, and it will be said to them: “The one whom you seek was in your company, and he went to Medina.” So, they will search for him in Medina, but at that time, he will be in Mecca. They will search for him in Mecca and say to him: “You are so and so, son of so and so, and your mother is so and so, daughter of so and so, and in you are the signs of such and such, and such and such. You escaped from us once, so stretch out your hands, and we will pledge our allegiance to you.” But he will say, “I am not your companion.” Then he will escape from them, and they would search for him in Medina while he would have returned to Mecca, then they will find him in Mecca beside Al Rukn and say to him: “Our sins will be upon you and our blood upon your neck if you do not stretch out your hand so that we may pledge our allegiance! The army of the Tyrant is coming demanding from us a man from Jurm.” So, he will sit between Al Rukn and Al Makam and stretch out his hand, and allegiance will be pledged to him. Allah will sow love of him in the chests of the people, and he will lead a nation of those who are lions during the day and worshippers at night.63

63

Found in reference to Ali, son of Abu Talib

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There is an area around Mecca that is called Umm al Jurm, where the tribe of Jurm lived. Jurm could also refer to Jurm District in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, where the people of the Jurm tribe of Arabia may have settled. The people who will forcibly pledge allegiance to the Mahdi could be the “Afghans,” as those Arabs who fought in Afghanistan are called. 64. “People will gather around the Mahdi in 1400.”64 65. “Count two or three decades after the year/decade of Hijri 1400. At that time, the Mahdi emerges…”65 The second decade of 1400 hijri is 1411–1420, which spans from 1990–2000. The third decade of 1400 hijri is 1421–1430, which spans from 2000–2009. If we are counting after the decade of 1400 instead of the year 1400, then that would mean the second decade is 1421-1430, and the third decade is 1431-1440, which spans from 2009-2019. 66. Son of Asakir quoted Yunus, son of Maysara, son of Halbas, as saying that the Prophet had stated: “This matter (namely the Caliphate) will be after me in Medina, then in Syria, then in the Jazeera, then in Iraq, then in Medina, then in Jerusalem. If it is in Jerusalem, its home country is there, and if any people expel it, it will not return there forever.”66 The caliphate’s first location was in Medina during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Then it moved to Damascus, where the Umayyad Dynasty was based. Later, during the time of the Abbasids,

Risalat al-Khuruj al-Mahdi, p. 108 Asmal Masalik. See note 10. 66Ibn Asakir, Tahdhib Tarikh Dimashq al-Kabir, Volume 1, p. 42 (Dar al-Masiyrah, Beirut, 1979) 64 65

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the seat of government was moved to the area of Iraq referred to as the “Jazeera,” and once Baghdad was built, the capital was moved there. The Abbasid Caliphate was abolished in 1258, when the Mongols sacked Baghdad. After that period, various dynasties have laid claim to the title of the caliphate, but none have been universally acknowledged by Muslims. When the new caliphate returns with the appearance of the Mahdi, it is going to be based in Medina. At some point during his rule, the Mahdi is predicted to migrate to Jerusalem and would thus fulfill the prophecy for the final location of the Caliphate. 67. Narrated by Hudhaifa, The Prophet said: “Woe to this nation from the dictatorship of kings! Why do they kill and make pious people fear except those who obey them, and the pure believer soothes them with his tongue but resists them with his heart? If Allah wishes to revive Islam in might, He will break the back of every stubborn tyrant — He is able to do anything and can reform the nation after its corruption. O Hudhaifa, if there remains but one day left in the world, Allah will prolong that day until a man from the Family of my House will govern and fierce battles will be in his hands, and Islam will spread. Allah does not change His Promise, and He is quick to recompense.”67 68. Reported by Abu Sa’id al-Khudri: “A man from my nation will come who speaks with my Sunnah, and Allah, the Mighty, the Glorified, will send showers of rain from the heavens so that the earth will produce its blessing. Through him, the earth will be filled with fairness and justice, just as it had been filled by oppression and injustice. He will govern this nation for seven years, and go to Jerusalem.”68 Abu Nuaym, At-Tabarani, and Abu Amru Ad Dani Abu Dawud, Al Hakim, At-Tirmizi, Ahmad, son of Hibban, Muslim, Al Tabarani, Al Barudi and Abu Nuaym

67 68

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69. Ali said that The Prophet said, ‘The Mahdi is one of us, from among the people of my household. In one night, Allah will inspire him and prepare him to carry out his task successfully.69 70. Ali said that the Prophet said: “The birth place of the Mahdi will be in Medina. He is from the family of the House of the Prophet, and his migration is to the House of Jerusalem. His beard is thick, his eyes naturally mascaraed, his teeth are radiant, and upon his face is a mole, and upon his shoulder is the Sign of the Prophet. And he will come out under the Banner of the Prophet made from a marked woolen black square that will not have been unfolded since the Messenger, and it will not be unfolded until the Mahdi comes. Allah will support him with three thousand angels who will beat the faces and buttocks of those that oppose him. He will be sent between the age of thirty and forty.”70 71. Abu Is-haq told that Ali, son of Abu Talib, looked at his son Hassan and said: “This son of mine is a sayyid (chief) as named by the Prophet, and from his loins will come forth a man who will be called by the name of your Prophet and resemble him in conduct, but not in appearance. He then mentioned the story about his filling the earth with justice.”71 72. Hadhrat Abdullah, son of Masood, reports from the Prophet, who said: “The world will not come to pass until a man from among my family, whose name will be my name, rules over the Arabs.”72 73. Hadhrat Ali narrates that the Messenger of Allah said: “Even if only a day remains for doomsday to come, yet Allah will surely send a Ahmad and son of Majah Nu’aym ibn Hammad, Kitab al-Fitan, Number 73 71Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 36, Number 4276A 72Tirmidhi Sahih, Vol. 9, P. 74; Abu Dawud, Sahih, Vol. 5, p. 207; also narrated by Ali, son of Abu Talib, Abu Sa’id, Umm Salma, Abu Huraira 69 70

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man from my family who will fill this world with such justice and fairness, just as it initially was filled with oppression.”73 74. Umme Salmah, the Prophet’s wife, narrates that she heard the Prophet say: “The promised Mahdi will be among my progeny, among the descendants of Fatima.”74 75. The Messenger of Allah announced: “The Mahdi will be of my family, of the descendants of Fatima (the Prophet’s daughter).”75 76. Narrated Abu Sa’id al-Khudri: The Prophet said, “The Mahdi will be of my stock, and will have a broad forehead and an aquiline nose. He will fill the earth will equity and justice, as it was filled with oppression and tyranny, and he will rule for seven years.”76 77. Narrated by Hudhaifa, The Prophet said: “The Mahdi is a man from my children. His face is like a glittering star, his skin is the color of an Arab, and his body is like that of Israel. He will fill the earth with justice just as it will have been filled by injustice, and the dwellers of Heaven and Earth will be pleased with his Caliphate.”77 78. “There have been four great kings on the Earth: Two were believers and two were unbelievers. The believers were Dhu’l-Qarnayn (thought to be Alexander the Great) and Solomon, and the unbelievers were Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar. There will be a fifth king to rule the world, who will be from the people of my House.”78

Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 36, Number 4270 Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 36, Number 4271 75Sunan Ibn Majah, Vol. 2, Tradition Number 4086 76Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 36, Number 4272 77Abu Nuaym, At-Tabarani, and Abu Amru Ad Dani 78Ibn al-Jawzi, Mektubat-i Rabbani, 2/1163 73 74

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79. “The Mahdi will rule the world like the Prophet Dhu’l-Qarnayn and the Prophet Solomon.”79 The great scholar of Islam, Imam Al-Suyuti, is considered by many to have been one of the reformers of Islam that the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him) said God would send every one hundred years to renew the religion. He lived more than 400 years ago at a time of the 1,000-year millennial of the Hijra, when, for subjective reasons, many common Muslims thought the Imam Mahdi was to come to usher in the Kingdom of God. The Imam wrote a book refuting any significance to the year 1000 A.H. (Hijri on the Islamic calendar). He also wrote that, according to his knowledge and all his understanding of the Hadith and the Qur’an, the year of the Imam Mahdi will be some time in the 15th Islamic century. We are now in the early part of the 15th Islamic century. What is also significant is that the Mahdi is expected to appear in the second or third decade of this Islamic century (where we currently are). It should also be noted, however, that according to the Qur’an, no one can predict when exactly the Day of Judgment itself will occur. 80. “The Mahdi will own the entire world.”80 81. “The Mahdi will invade all the places between East and West.”81 The above two hadith demonstrate that the Mahdi’s rule will span the entire world, and previous hadith show that his rule will be like that of the Prophet and King Solomon.

SINKING OF THE ARMY IN THE DESERT 82. Aisha reported that Allah’s Messenger was startled in the state of sleep. We said: “Allah’s Messenger, you have done something in Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 29 Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman, p. 10 81Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 56 79 80

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the state of your sleep which you never did before?” Thereupon he said: “Strange it is that some people of my Ummah (community) would attack the House (Ka’ba) (to kill) a person who would belong to the tribe of the Quraish, and he would try to seek protection in the House. And when they would reach the plain ground, they would be sunk.” We said: “Allah’s Messenger, all sorts of people throng the path.” Thereupon he said: “Yes, there would be amongst them people who would come with definite designs and those who would come under duress, and there would be travelers also, but they would all be destroyed through one (stroke) of destruction, though they would be raised in different states (on the Day of Resurrection). Allah would, however, raise them according to their intention.82 According to this narration, when the Mahdi appears, the army that comes to kill him but sinks in the desert will be Muslim, or it could be a foreign-led army, with Muslims making up the rank and file. 83. Umm Salamah reported that the Prophet said: “Disagreement will occur at the death of a ruler, and a man from the people of Medina will flee to Mecca. Some of the people of Mecca will come to him, bring him out against his will, and swear allegiance to him between the corner (of the Ka’ba) and the Station of Abraham. An army will then be sent against him from Syria, but will be swallowed up in the desert between Mecca and Medina. When the people see that, the Al-Abdal (eminent saints) of Syria and the best people of Iraq will come to him and swear allegiance to him.83 Then, a man from Quraish whose mother is from Kalb will appear and send against them an army, which will be overcome by them, and that is the Battle of Kalb. Disappointed will be the one who does not receive the booty of Kalb. He will divide the 82 83

Muslim Book 041, Number 6890 Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 36, Number 4273

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property, and will govern the people by the Sunnah of the Prophet. He will remain seven years, then die, and the Muslims will pray over him.” This hadith appears to suggest that the ruler of Syria at the time and the Tyrant are two different people. This hadith is considered to be “weak,” so the actual differentiation between the ruler of Syria and the Tyrant may not be accurate. However, it mentions that, prior to the Madhi, a disagreement will occur after the death of a ruler. This is significant, as we have seen in other hadith that people would be fighting over the (possibly Saudi) kingdom before the Mahdi comes, so this part of the hadith is relevant, especially in relation to current events. Therefore, the weakness of this hadith may not mean it is “fabricated” as much as that it was simply not narrated correctly. 84. An army comes to fight. Once they enter the desert, the one in the front and the back disappear, and the ones in the middle cannot save themselves.84 85. Tubay said: “A man will seek refuge in Mecca and will be killed, then after that, a long period of time will pass, then another man (the Mahdi) will seek refuge in Mecca, but if you meet him, do not fight him, for if you do, you will be part of the army that will be sunk and destroyed.”85 The first incident occurred in the Grand Mosque of Mecca in November 1979, when hundreds of Saudi dissidents led by Juhaiman al Utaiba seized control of the Ka’ba, and they were killed after heavy fighting. Tirmidhi, Sunan Ibn Majah, Sunan Abu Dawud Nu’aym ibn Hammad, Kitab Al Fitan, “Sinking and Destruction of the Army of the Sufyaani”, p. 202

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BLACK BANNERS FROM KHURASAN “The army from Khurasan” that will come to help the Mahdi has developed a legendary status in Islamic prophecy circles. Khurasan is most likely to be Iran, but can also be Afghanistan or, as an outside chance, even Pakistan, as ancient Khurasan may have included parts of northwestern Pakistan. When the black banners — the army — from Khurasan are referred to, it does not necessarily mean that they will constitute the whole fighting force of the Mahdi, but that they will be among its constituents. Their coming to support the Mahdi will be one of the signs that the Mahdi is here. The historical region of Khurasan extended along the north from the Amu Darya (Oxus River) westward to the Caspian Sea and, along the south, from the fringes of the central Iranian deserts eastward to central Afghanistan. Arab geographers even spoke of its extending to the boundaries of India. The people from Khurasan could be Iranians, Afghans, or even Arabs, as a large number of Arabs went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet invasion, and they are known as the “Afghans.” In addition, almost half a million Pakistanis fought in the Afghanistan war at various times and would support the Mahdi. In short, there will be far more people rushing to support the Mahdi than he would be in need of. 86. Abdullah, son of al-Harith, son of Juz’ al-Zubaydi, said: The Prophet said: “A people will come out of the East who will pave the way for the Mahdi.”86 87. “Pity poor Taliqan (a region in Afghanistan) that at that place are treasures of Allah, but these are not of gold and silver. There are people who have recognized Allah, as they should have. They are the supporters of the Mahdi in the End Times.”87 86 87

Ibn Majah Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 59

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88. On the authority of Thawban, the Messenger of Allah said: “Before your treasure, three will kill each other — all of them are sons of a different caliph, but none will be the recipient. Then the Black Banners will appear from the East, and they will kill you in a way that has never before been done by a nation.” Thawban, a companion, said: “Then he said something that I do not remember by heart.” Then he continued to say that the Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, said: “If you see him, give him your allegiance, even if you have to crawl over ice, because surely he is the Caliph of Allah, the Mahdi. If you see the black (meaning war) flags coming from Khurasan, join that army, even if you have to crawl over ice, for this is the army of the Caliph, the Mahdi, and no one can stop that army until it reaches Jerusalem.”88 89. Related by Abu Huraira: The Prophet said: “(Armies carrying) black flags will come from Khurasan. No power will be able to stop them, and they will finally reach Jerusalem, where they will erect their flags.”89 90. Narrated Ali, son of Abu Talib: The Prophet said: “A man called al-Harith ibn Harrath will come forth from Transoxiana. His army will be led by a man called Mansur, who will establish or consolidate things for Muhammad’s family as Quraish consolidated them for the Apostle of Allah. Every believer must help him, (or he said: respond to his sermons).90 Transoxiana refers to an area that includes Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and parts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and is roughly equivalent to what is referred to as Khurasan, including Afghanistan and parts of Son of Majah, Al Busiri, Al Hakim, Ahmad Nuaym, Ad-Daylami, Hasan, son of Sufyaan, and Abu Nuaym 89Tirmidhi 90Abu Dawud Book 36, Number 4277 88

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Iran. The person referred to as al-Harith would be located in this area and would be sermonizing to the Muslims, and they are asked to listen and act on his advice. The Tamimi Shuayb, son of Salih, the bearer of the Mahdi’s flag, is variously referred to as coming from Khurasan or Ar-Ray. Because Ar-Ray is Tehran in Iran, then Shuayb, son of Salih, could be described as an Arab who travels from Afghanistan via Iran and Iraq to Mecca. Or he could be an Iranian leader. Similarly, al-Harith will be part of this group, along with Mansur leading the army. 91. Abu Abdullah Na’im, son of Hammad, on a chain of transmission on the authority of Al Zuhari, who said: “The black flags will come from the East, led by mighty men, with long hair and beards; their surnames are taken from the names of their hometowns (i.e., Khosti or from Khost, etc.), and their first names are from a Kunya (title or surname). If the people of the black flag divide, then the people of the yellow banner will attack; they will gather in the canal of Egypt, and the people of the East and the West will fight for seven (days or months or years)…91 92. Narrated Abdullah ibn Hawalah al-Azdi: The Apostle of Allah sent us on foot to get spoil, but we returned without getting any. When he saw the signs of distress on our faces, he stood and said: “O Allah, do not put them under my care, for I would be too weak to care for them; do not put them in care of themselves, for they would be incapable of that; and do not put them in the care of men, for they would choose the best things for themselves.” He then placed his hand on my head and said: “Ibn Hawalah, when you see the Caliphate has settled in the holy land (i.e., Palestine), earthquakes, sorrows, and serious matters will have drawn near,

91

Asmal Masalik. See note 10.

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and on that day, the Last Hour will be nearer to mankind than this hand of mine is to your head.92 According to this saying of the Messenger of God, the caliphate established by the Mahdi will be based in Jerusalem. 93. Muhammad, son of Al Hanaffia, said: “The Black Banners will come out for the children of Al Abbas. The other black banners will come from Khurasan. Their turbans will be black and their clothes white. At their front will be a man named Shuayb, the son of Salih, from Tamim. They will defeat the companions of the Tyrant until he comes to the House of Jerusalem, where he will establish his power for the Mahdi, and he will be supplied with three hundred (men) from Syria after his arrival, and the matter will be settled for the Mahdi in seventy-two months (six years).”93 94. Said son of Al Musayyab reported: “The Black Banners will come from the East from the children of Al Abbas. Then there will remain whatsoever Allah wishes. Then, small Black Banners will come to fight a man from the children of Abu Sufyaan from the East. They will give their allegiance to the Mahdi.”94 The “children of Al Abbas” are the Iraqis, descendants of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, who was the uncle of the Messenger of God and after whom the Abbasid dynasty of Baghdad was named. The group with the large black banners will be Iraqis and the people with the small black banners will be from Afghanistan. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are currently under U.S. occupation. This occupation has created resistance movements that will benefit the most from the appearance of the Mahdi, hence these resistance movements are likely to be among the first to support him. Sunan Abu-Dawud, Jihad (Kitab Al-Jihad), Book 14, Number 2529 http://www.muhammadanreality.com/ImamMahdiSignsfortheSavoir.htm 94Reported by Said ibn Al Musayyab in the reference of Nuaym ibn Hammad 92 93

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95. Al Hasan Al Basri said: “A man of medium stature will come from Ar-Ray (Tehran, Iran). He will be dark and from the children of Tamim — a Wasaj, named Shuayb, son of Salih, with four thousand men. Their clothes will be white and their banners black, and in front of Shuayb is the Mahdi. He meets no one that he does not defeat and scatter.”95 As the hadith says, Ar-Ray refers to Tehran, Iran. Ray was an ancient town that was located near present-day Tehran. It was a great center of learning that produced many illustrious figures during the golden age of Islam. The town was severely damaged during the Mongol invasions and was subsequently supplanted by Tehran. The person coming from Tehran is likely to be an Iranian leader who may be a descendant of the Tamim tribe. The “children of Tamim” refers to the Bani Tamim tribe who are one of the famous Arab tribes. The Bani Tamim are located primarily in Najd (central Saudi Arabia), central and southern Iraq (Basra and Diyala), and the Iranian province of Khuzistan. A prominent member of the Bani Tamim was Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab alTamimi, the founder of the Wahhabi school of thought that is followed in Saudi Arabia. “Wasaj” probably refers to a sub-tribe. 96. The Messenger of Allah was among a group of migrants and supporters. Ali, son of Abu Talib, was on his left side and Abbas on his right side, when Abbas and a man from the supporters started to debate with one another. The supporter spoke harshly to Abbas, then the Prophet took the hand of Abbas and the hand of Ali and said: “From the loins of this (indicating Abbas) will come a youth who will fill the earth with transgression and injustice and from the loins of this (indicating Ali) a man who will fill the earth with fairness and justice. If you see this, pay attention to the Tamimi

95

http://www.muhammadanreality.com/ImamMahdiSignsfortheSavoir.htm

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youth who will come from the direction of the east — he is the owner of the Banner of Al Mahdi.”96 97. Abdullah, the son of Shuraykh, said: “With the Mahdi is the marked Banner of the Messenger of Allah.”97 98. Ammar, the son of Yasir, said: “The bearer of the Banner of the Mahdi is Shuayb, the son of Salih.”98 99. “When the Ethiopians come after the Arabs, they will be defeated and thrown into the lowest part of the earth. While these circumstances exist, the Tyrant will come with three hundred and sixty riders until he reaches Damascus. After a month, he will be followed by thirty thousand from Kalb, so he will send an army to Iraq and kill a hundred thousand in Az-Zawra (Baghdad). Then they will go to Kufa (Iraq) and pillage. When this occurs, a banner will come from the east led by a man from Tamim called Shuayb, the son of Salih, who will restore what is in their hands from the captured people of Kufa, and he will kill them. Then, another army from the Tyrant will go to Medina and pillage it for three days and thereafter proceed towards Mecca until they find themselves in a desert. Then, Allah will send Gabriel and say to him, ‘Chastise them!’ So, he will beat them with his leg once and Allah will cause them to be swallowed up. None will remain except two men who will return to the Tyrant to inform him of the swallowing-up of his army, but this will not scare him. Several men from the Quraish will escape to Istanbul and the Tyrant will send to the leader of the Romans who will return them to him and he will slit their throats together with their followers. At that time, a voice will Reported by Abdullah, the son of Omar ibn Al Khattab and found in the references of At-Tabarani, Abu Nuaym, Al Kidji and Al Khatib 97http://www.muhammadanreality.com/ImamMahdiSignsfortheSavoir.htm 98http://www.muhammadanreality.com/ImamMahdiSignsfortheSavoir.htm 96

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come from Heaven saying: ‘O people, surely Allah prevents dictatorship, tyrants, and their followers for you and gives leadership to the best of the nation of Muhammad. So join him in Mecca — he is the Mahdi!” Then, Hudhaifa asked: “O Messenger of Allah, how shall we know him?” He replied: “He is a man from my children; he looks like the men from the children of Israel, upon him are two white cloaks with frayed edges. His face is like a colorful, glittering star; upon his right cheek there is a black mole and he is forty years old. Al Abdal and those looking like them will come to him from Syria. An-Nujaba will come to him from the dwellers of Egypt and groups of dwellers from the East, and those looking like them until they all gather together in Mecca, and so they will pledge their allegiance to him between Al Rukn and Al Makam. Then, he will direct himself towards Syria, with Gabriel at his front and Michael at his middle, and the dwellers of Heaven and Earth will be joyful because of him. Water will be plentiful in his country, and the river will be spread and treasures found. When he reaches Syria, he will slay the Tyrant under the tree, the branches of which grow in the direction of Lake Tiberias, and he will kill Kalb. So, the loser of that Day of Kalb is he who does not gain even a rein (strap fastened to horse, here meaning war booty).” Hudhaifa asked: “O Messenger of Allah, how is it that we are permitted to kill them when they believe in the Oneness?” The Messenger of Allah replied: “O Hudhaifa, they are at that time apostates; they claim that wine is permitted and do not pray.”99 The children of Kalb or Bani Kalb are a Syrian tribe. The Nahr alKalb is a river located in Lebanon. The Tyrant and his followers, the

99

Found in the references of Abu Nuaym, At-Tabarani, and Abu Amru Ad Dani

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Bani Kalb, are those local collaborators of outside powers who are helping to crush the Iraqi resistance. An army consisting of the same people who are killing and pillaging in Iraq is expected to attack Medina and then proceed to Mecca to try to catch the Mahdi, but will sink into the earth just like the elephants of Abraha were annihilated by God before they could reach Mecca during the year that the Messenger of God was born. Az-Zawra is Baghdad. Kufa is a city in Iraq, about 170 km south of Baghdad. There is a war going on in Darfur, Sudan, and the West, along with the Ethiopians, is supporting the rebels against the Muslim Arab North.

GREAT WAR (BATTLE OF KALB) This war, also called the Battle of Kalb, is different from the final conflict (Armageddon), as this battle will be fought soon after the Mahdi appears and will be meant to fend off an assault on the Muslims by the Romans. The Muslims will win, and then the Mahdi will spend the next few years consolidating the new caliphate. Armageddon will occur near the end of the Mahdi’s term after the Antichrist has appeared and God has sent Jesus to destroy the Antichrist. According to a previously noted saying: “…Then a man from Quraish, whose mother is from Kalb, will appear and send against them an army, which will be overcome by them, and that is the Battle of Kalb. Disappointed will be the one who does not receive the booty of Kalb. He will divide the property, and will govern the people by the Sunnah of the Prophet. He will remain seven years, then die, and the Muslims will pray over him.” (Abu Dawud) 100. Reported by Abu Huraira: The Prophet said: “The Romans will surround a leader from my pure-musked children (i.e., the Mahdi). His name will be the same as mine. They will fight each other at a place called Al-A’maq (near Aleppo in Syria) and one third, or

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thereabouts, of the Muslims will be killed. They will fight again on another day, and again one third or thereabouts of the Muslims will be killed. On the third day, they will fight again, and the Romans will be defeated. And they will remain there until they open Constantinople. It is whilst they are distributing the spoils of war that a messenger will come, informing them that the false messiah is in their hometown with their children.”100 The above can be seen as evidence supporting the fact that during the Mahdi’s reign, the Romans will be defeated and Istanbul will be re-conquered, the Antichrist will appear, and Jesus will descend. This further supports the fact that the Antichrist emerges after the Mahdi and not before. 101. Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said: The Last Hour will not come until the Romans land at al-A’maq or in Dabiq (two cities near Aleppo in Syria). An army consisting of the best (soldiers) of the people on the earth at that time will come from Medina (to oppose them). When they arrange themselves in ranks, the Romans will say, “Do not stand between us and those (Muslims) who took prisoners from among us. Let us fight them.” The Muslims will say, “Nay, by Allah, we shall never turn aside from you and from our brethren so that you may fight them.” They will then fight and a third (part) of the army, whom Allah will never forgive, will run away. A third (part of the army), which will be constituted of excellent martyrs in Allah’s eyes, will be killed. The third, who will never be put on trial, will win, and they will be the conquerors of Constantinople. As they are busy in distributing the spoils of war (amongst themselves) after hanging their swords by the olive trees, Satan

Son of Hibban, At-Tirmizi, Abuya’li, At-Tabarani, Al Bazaar, Abu Nuaym and Al Hakim

100

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will cry: The Antichrist has taken your place among your families. They will then come out, but it will be of no avail. When they reach Syria, he will come out while they are still preparing themselves for battle, drawing up the ranks. Certainly, the time of prayer will come and then Jesus, son of Maryam, descends and will lead them in prayer. When the enemy of Allah sees Jesus, he will disappear, just as salt dissolves in water, and if he (Jesus) were not to confront them (the Antichrist and his forces) at all, even then he would dissolve completely. Allah would kill them by his hand, and he (Jesus) would show them their blood on his lance.101 102. Yusair, son of Jabir, reported: Once there blew a red storm in Kufa, and there came a person who had nothing to say but (these words): “Abdullah, son of Mas’ud, the Last Hour has come.” He (Abdullah, son of Mas’ud) was sitting reclining against something, and he said: “The Last Hour will not come until the people no longer divide inheritance and rejoice over booty. Then He said, pointing towards Syria, with a gesture of his hand: “The enemy will muster strength against the Muslims, and the Muslims will muster strength against them (Syrians).” I (Yusair) said: “You mean Rome?” He said: “Yes, and there will be a terrible fight. The Muslims will prepare a detachment (for fighting unto death), which will not return unless victorious. They will fight until darkness intervenes. Both sides will return without being victorious, and both will be wiped out. The Muslims will again prepare a detachment for fighting unto death, so that they may not return unless victorious. When it is the fourth day, a new detachment from the remnant of the Muslims will be prepared, and Allah will decree that the enemy will be routed. They will fight such a fight, the like of which has not been seen, so fierce that even if 101

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a bird were to pass their flanks, it would fall down dead before reaching the other end. (There will be such a large scale massacre) that, when counting will be done, (only) one out of a hundred men related to one another would be found alive. So what can be the joy at the spoils of such war, and what inheritance can be divided? They will be in this very state when they will hear of a calamity more horrible than this. A cry will reach them: The Antichrist has taken your place among your offspring. They will therefore throw away what is in their hands and go forward, sending ten horsemen as a scouting party.” Allah’s Apostle said: “I know their names, the names of their forefathers and the color of their horses. They will be the best horsemen on the surface of the earth on that day, or among the best horsemen on the surface of the earth on that day.”102 This narrative implies that the Antichrist will appear after the Battle of Kalb; therefore this battle is not the final one during which Jesus will appear. After this battle, there will be a gap of a few years and then Turkey will be liberated from anti-Islamic forces, followed soon after by the arrival of Antichrist and finally Jesus. 103. Narrated Mu’adh, son of Jabal: The Prophet said: “The Great War, the conquest of Constantinople, and the coming forth of the Antichrist (False Messiah) will take place within a period of seven months.”103 The above hadith is considered fabricated due to the hadith that appears below. This is because of the discrepancy between the length of time being seven months or seven years.

102 103

Muslim Book 41, Number 6927 Sunan Abu Dawud: Book 37, Number 4282

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104. Narrated Abdullah, son of Busr: The Prophet said: “The time between the Great War and the conquest of the city will be six years, and the Antichrist (False Messiah) will come forth in the seventh.”104 The “city” mentioned in this hadith is not specifically identified as referring to either Rome or Constantinople. If it is neither city, then it is possible that both narrations above are compatible with each other. It is possible that the city referred to in the above-mentioned hadith may be Jerusalem. In that case, the “Great War” mentioned here could be the “Day of Wrath” referred to in the prophecy of Daniel (biblical source). It puts the time between Jerusalem’s “distress” and “relief” as 45 years. Its distress would be its occupation in 1387/1967, and its relief would therefore be in 1432/2011, according to this source. Therefore, Jesus would descend in 1432/2011. 105. Narrated son of Hawalah: The Prophet said: “It will turn out that you will consist of armed troops; one in Syria, one in the Yemen, and one in Iraq. Son of Hawalah said: “Choose for me, Messenger of Allah, if I reach that time.” He replied: “Go to Syria, for it is Allah’s chosen land, to which his best servants will be gathered, but if you are unwilling, go to your Yemen, and draw water from your tanks, for Allah has on my account taken special charge of Syria and its people.”105 106. A section of my community will continue to fight at the gates of Damascus and around it and at the gates of Jerusalem and around it. The desertion of people who abandon them does not affect them. They (will continue to) hold the truth till the Judgment Day occurs.106 Sunan Abu Dawud: Book 37, Number 4283 Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 14, Number 2477 106al-Hafiz al-Haithami 104 105

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107. Narrated Imran, son of Husain: The Prophet said: “A section of my community will continue to fight for the right and overcome their opponents till the last of them fights with the Antichrist.”107 The Palestinians are fulfilling this prophecy by continuing their resistance despite heavy odds.

SEVEN-YEAR PEACE AGREEMENT 108. Hadhrat Abu Umamah says that the Messenger of Allah said: “There will be four peace agreements between you and the Romans. The fourth agreement will be mediated through a person who will be from the progeny of Hadhrat Haroon (Aaron) and will be upheld for seven years.” The people asked: “O Messenger of Allah, who will be the Imam (leader) of the people at the time?” The Messenger of Allah said: “He will be from my progeny and will be forty years of age. His face will shine like a star, and he will have a black spot on his left cheek. He will don two “Qutwaani” cloaks and will appear exactly as a person from the Children of Israel. He will rule for 20 years and will conquer the cities of the Idolaters.”108 In the above hadith, it says that the Mahdi will rule for 20 years, instead of the traditional seven years. The hadith mentioning the seven-year rule are far more numerous and more authentic than this one, so, if the 20-year rule cannot be reconciled with the seven-year rule, then the seven-year rule should be the accepted term. It is interesting to note that the Mahdi is predicted to resemble the “children of Israel,” that is, he will look Jewish. In addition, he will be wearing a ‘Qutwaani” cloak that is supposed to look like the Jewish Tallit prayer shawl.

107 108

Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 14, Number 2478 Tabrani, Ref: Kanz-ul-Aamal, p. 268, Hadith Number 3868

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109. There will be a peace agreement in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem).109

THE HIDDEN TREASURES OF ANTIOCH 110. Ka’b al-Ahbar says: “He will be called ‘Mahdi’ because he will guide to something hidden and will bring out the Torah and Gospel from a town called Antioch.”110 “Mahdi” means “the guided one.” 111. I said, “O Messenger of Allah, I have never seen a Roman city like the city of Antioch, and I have never seen more rain than it has.” Whereupon the Messenger of Allah said: “Yes, that is because the Torah, Staff of Moses, Tablets, and the Table of Solomon, the son of David, are in its caves. There is not a single cloud that comes from any direction to it that does not pour its blessing in that valley. And the days and night will not pass until a man from my musked children lives in it. His name is like my name and his father’s name is like my father’s name; his manners are like my manners. He will fill the world with fairness and justice, just as it had been filled by harm and transgressions.”111 Antioch’s ruins are located in present-day Antakya, Turkey, near the Syrian border. It was the original cradle of gentile (non-Jewish) Christianity, the location where Christianity parted ways from Judaism and where Romans started to convert to Jesus’ message. The word “Christian” was first used there. 112. The Messenger of Allah said: “He is called the Mahdi because he will guide people to a mountain in Syria, from which he will bring Risalat al-Khuruj al-Mahdi, vol. 3, p. 184 Abu Nu’aym 111Reported by Tamin Ad-Dari, in the reference of Ibn Hibban Ad-Du’fa 109 110

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out the volumes of the Torah to refute the Jews. At the hands of the Mahdi, the Ark of the Covenant will be brought forth at Lake Tiberias and taken and placed in Jerusalem.”112 Lake Tiberias is located on the Syrian-Israeli border. 113. Ad-Dani said: “He is called the Mahdi because he will be guided to a mountain in Syria, from which he will bring forth the volumes of the Torah with which to argue against the Jews, and at his hand, a group of them will become Muslim.113 114. The reason he will be known as the Mahdi is that he will go to one of the mountains in Sham. From there, he will unearth the (true) books of the Torah and bring forth evidence against the Jews.114 According to commentaries on these hadith, the fire of Zionism spurred on by some Jews will come to an end at the time of the Mahdi, and Islamic tolerance and Qur’anic moral values will spread among them. Islamic scholars regard the place described as “near Lake Tiberias” in the hadith as a figure of speech. Tiberias is near Syria, and Syria, in accounts of the End Times in the hadith, means somewhere far distant, far from Mecca and Medina. This figure of speech applies to Tiberias. Indeed, some commentators and researchers have taken this to indicate that the Ark may be in Jerusalem, Mecca, Tiberias, Antioch, or even in Istanbul.

CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE (ISTANBUL) 115. Reported by Abu Huraira: The Prophet said: “If there only remains but one day left in the world, Allah will prolong it until a man Al-Suyuti, al-Hawi li’l Fatawa Abu Amru Ad Dani 114Al-Suyuti, al-Hawi li’l Fatawa, II, 81 112 113

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from my house governs. He will open Constantinople (Istanbul) and the Mountain of Al-Daylam (Northern Iran).”115 116. Nafi’, the son of ‘Utbah, said, “You will attack Arabia and Allah will enable you to conquer it; then you will attack Persia and He will make you to conquer it. Then you will attack Rome and Allah will enable you to conquer it; then you will attack the Antichrist and Allah will enable you to conquer him.”116 Rome means Byzantine territories, which included the greater Syrian area and all the way up to Istanbul and beyond; territories that Muslims, in fact, did go on to occupy. 117. Narrated Mu’adh son of Jabal: “The Prophet said: The flourishing state of Jerusalem will be when Yathrib is in ruins, the ruined state of Yathrib will be when the Great War comes, the outbreak of the Great War will be at the conquest of Constantinople, and the conquest of Constantinople when the Antichrist comes forth.” He (the Prophet) struck his thigh or his shoulder (a gesture of exclamation) with his hand and said: “This is as true as you are here or as you are sitting (meaning Mu’adh son of Jabal).”117 The above hadith suggests the following sequence of events: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

The appearance of the Antichrist The reconquest of Constantinople The Great War The destruction of Medina The flourishing of the state of Jerusalem

Ibn Hibban, At-Tirmizi, Abuya’li, At-Tabarani, Al Bazaar, Abu Nuaym and Al Hakim Muslim Book 41, Number 6930 117Sunan Abu-Dawud, Battles (Kitab Al-Malahim), Book 37, Number 4281 115 116

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118. “The flourishing of Jerusalem will mark the desertion of Yathrib (Medina). The desertion of Yathrib will mark the start of AlMalhamah (the Great War that will start between the Romans and the Muslim forces before Muslims conquer Constantinople for the second time). The start of Al-Malhamah will mark the conquering of Constantinople. The conquering of Constantinople will mark the appearance of Dajjal.”118 Here, the sequence of events is: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

The flourishing of the state of Jerusalem The destruction of Medina The Great War The reconquest of Constantinople The appearance of the Antichrist

This sequence is the exact opposite of the last one and fits better with other hadith. Again, we see here that in the sequence of events, the Great War is not the one in which Jesus kills the Antichrist and his supporters, but takes place before the liberation of Turkey and the appearance of the Antichrist. The Great War referred to here is the Battle of Kalb that occurs soon after the appearance of the Mahdi, when the Romans attack him. 119. When the Great War occurs, a group from the masters will come from Damascus. They are the most honorable horses (horse is the symbol of honor) among Arabs, and they have the best weapons among them (Arabs). Allah will support The Religion (Islam) with them.119

118 119

Sahih Al-Jami’ as-Saghir, Number 4096 Son of Majah, Hakem, Ibn-asaker

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120. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Apostle saying: “You have heard about a city, the one side of which is in the land and the other is in the sea (Istanbul).” They said: “Allah’s Messenger, yes.” Thereupon he said: “The Last Hour will not come unless seventy thousand persons from Bani, Israel, will attack it. When they will land there, they will neither fight with weapons nor shower arrows, but will only say: ‘There is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest’ then one side of it will fall.” Thaur (one of the narrators) said: I think that he (the Prophet) said: “The part by the side of the ocean. Then they would say for the second time: ‘There is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest’ that the second side would also fall, and they would say: ‘There is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest’ that the gates would be opened for them and they would enter therein and they would be collecting spoils of war and distributing them amongst themselves that a noise would be heard and it would be said: ‘Verily, Antichrist has come.’ And thus they would leave everything there and would turn to him.”120 Some believe that these narrations actually refer to the city of Rome and that before the Antichrist’s appearance, the city of Rome in Italy would be conquered. However, it can also be said (and this is probably more correct) that Istanbul would be conquered for a second time because the Romans would have gained control of it from the Muslims. So, in fact, there would be a second conquest of Istanbul and the liberation of Turkey from anti-Muslim forces. The “Bani Israel” — children of Israel — are descendants of the original Jewish tribes who were exiled to Khurasan after the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. The Pathans of Afghanistan claim to be “Bani Israel,” though not Jewish.

120

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CONQUEST OF INDIA 121. Thawban narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “Two groups of my Ummah (community) Allah has protected from the hellfire — a group that will conquer India and a group that will be with Jesus, son of Mary.”121 122. Na’im, son of Hammad in al-Fitan, reports that Abu Huraira said that the Messenger of Allah mentioned India and said: “A group of you will conquer India. Allah will open (India) for them until they come with its kings chained — Allah having forgiven their sins — when they return (from India), they will find the son of Mary in Syria.”122 123. While Abu Huraira said: “The Messenger of Allah promised us the conquest of India. If I was to come across that event I will spend my soul and wealth. If I am killed, then I am among the best of martyrs. And if I return, then I am Abu Huraira, the freed.”123 It may be argued by some that the Muslims already conquered India over a thousand years ago, so this prophecy has already been fulfilled, but in these sayings of the Messenger of God, there is a clear link between the conquest of India and the arrival of Jesus. Today, the problems between India and Pakistan have not been resolved, and India continues to occupy Muslim territory in Kashmir, treats its Muslims citizens unfairly, and is also increasing its relations with those countries who are extremely hostile to Islam, including Israel. So, it would not be beyond the realm of possibility that after the Mahdi appears, India will be part of the coalition lined up against Islam, with the result that there will be a war between India and Pakistan. Ahmad, Nisa’i, Kitab ul-jihad; at-Tabarani Kitab Al Fitan 123Ahmad, an-Nisa’i, and al-Hakim 121 122

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Another interpretation of this hadith is that instead of India being reconquered, it is actually Pakistan that is liberated from an antiIslamic ruling class. The reason for this theorey is that present-day Pakistan, east of the Indus river, is made up of territory that was considered part of India since ancient times. The name India is derived from the river Indus that is as much an integral part of Pakistan as the river Nile is an integral part of Egypt. Pakistan has a ruling class, especially the military, which is as anti-Islamic as the Turkish military. The Pakistan army has the dubious record of killing far more Muslims than the Indian army. Therefore, just as the conquest of Rome really means the liberation of Turkey from inimical forces, the conquest of India may mean the liberation of Pakistan.

THE DAJJAL (FALSE MESSIAH/”ANTICHRIST”) The Masih Ad-Dajjal (Deceiver, False Messiah) that is referred to by the Messenger of God is most certainly the same person as the Antichrist; therefore we will use the word Antichrist interchangeably with Dajjal. Are they waiting to see if the Angels come to them, or thy Lord (Himself), or certain of the Signs of thy Lord! The day that certain of the Signs of the Lord come, no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its Faith. Say: “Wait ye: we too are waiting.” Qur’an 6:158 124. Narrated Ibn Umar: Once Allah’s Apostle stood amongst the people, glorified and praised Allah as He deserved, and then mentioned the Antichrist saying: “l warn you against him (the Antichrist), and there was no prophet but warned his nation against him. No doubt, Noah warned his nation against him, but I tell you about him something of which no prophet told his

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nation before me. You should know that he is one-eyed, and Allah is not one-eyed.”124 125. Narrated Abdullah: The Prophet mentioned the Antichrist in front of the people saying: “Allah is not one-eyed, while the Antichrist is blind in the right eye and that eye looks like a bulging-out grape. While sleeping near the Ka’ba last night, I saw in my dream a man of brown color, the best one can see amongst brown color, and his hair was long that it fell between his shoulders. His hair was lank and water was dribbling from his head and he was placing his hands on the shoulders of two men while circumambulating the Ka’ba. I asked, ‘Who is this?’ They replied, ‘This is Jesus, son of Mary.’ Behind him, I saw a man who had very curly hair and was blind in the right eye, resembling Ibn Qatan (an infidel) in appearance. He was placing his hands on the shoulders of a person while performing tawaf around the Ka’ba. I asked, ‘Who is this?’ They replied, ‘The Masih, Ad-Dajjal (False Messiah, Antichrist).’”125 126. It was reported from Abu Huraira that the Prophet said: “There are three things, which, if they appear, ‘No good will it do to a soul to believe them then, if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its faith.’ They are: the rising of the sun from the west, the Antichrist, and the Beast from the Earth.”126 Although the Antichrist is not mentioned specifically in the Qur’an, the above hadith clearly interprets verse 6:158 as a reference to the Antichrist’s appearance as one of the signs that will appear when faith will not be accepted of anyone who did not have it before. Bukhari Book 55, Number 553 Bukhari Book 55, Number 649 126Ahmad, Musnad, 2/455 — Muslim, Kitab al-Iman 1/96 — Tirmidhi, Abwab al-Tafsir (Hadeeth 5097), 8/449,450 124 125

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For that reason, I have decided to add that verse from the Qur’an in reference to the Antichrist, as well as in reference to the sun’s rise from the west. 127. Narrated Umm Sharik: I heard Allah’s Apostle say that the Antichrist would be followed by seventy thousand Jews of Isfahan (Iranian Jews) wearing Persian shawls.127

DETAILS REGARDING THE ANTICHRIST 128. Abu Qatada reported: We used to go to Imran, son of Husain, passing in front of Hisham bin Amir. He, one day, said: “You pass by me (in order) to go to some persons, but (amongst the living persons) none remained in the company of Allah’s Messenger more than I, and none knows more hadith than I. I heard Allah’s Messenger as saying that there would be no creation (creating more trouble) than the Dajjal, right from the creation of Adam to the Last Hour.128 129. The wife of the Messenger of Allah, Hafsah, daughter of Umar, said that the Messenger of Allah said: “He (the Antichrist) will appear driven by a fit of rage.” He also said, “He (the Antichrist) will first appear to people, driven in a fit of rage.”129 130. Jabir, son of Abdullah, said: The Prophet said: “The Antichrist will appear at the end of time, when religion is taken lightly. He will have 40 days in which to travel throughout the earth. One of these days will be like a year, another will be like a month, and another will be like a week, and the rest will be like normal days. He will be riding a (white) donkey (an airplane); the width Muslim Book 41, Number 7034 Muslim Book 41, Number 7037 129Muslim 127 128

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between its ears (possibly wings) will be 40 cubits (60 feet). He will say to the people, ‘I am your lord.’ He is one-eyed, but your Lord is not one-eyed. On his forehead will be written the word Kafir (unbeliever), and every believer, literate or illiterate, will be able to read it. He will go everywhere, except Mecca and Medina, which Allah has forbidden to him; angels stand at their gates. He will have a mountain of bread, and the people will face hardship, except for those who follow him. He will have two rivers, and I know what is in them. He will call one Paradise and one Hell. Whoever enters the one he calls Paradise will find that it is Hell, and whoever enters the one he calls Hell will find that it is Paradise. Allah will send with him devils that will speak to the people. He will bring a great tribulation; he will issue a command to the sky, and it will seem to the people as if it is raining. Then he will appear to kill someone and bring him back to life. After that, he will no longer have this power. The people will say, ‘Can anybody do something like this, except the Lord?’ The Muslims will flee to Jabal al-Dukhan (mount of smoke) in Syria, and the Antichrist will come and besiege them. The siege will intensify, and they will suffer great hardship. Then Jesus, son of Mary, will descend, and will call out to the people at dawn: ‘O people, what prevented you from coming out to fight this evil liar?’ They will say, ‘He is a jinn.’ (They will mistake Jesus for a jinn.) Then they will go out and find Jesus, son of Mary. The time for prayer will come, and the Muslims will call on Jesus to lead the prayer, but he will say, ‘Let your Imam lead the prayer.’ Their Imam (the Mahdi) will lead them in praying (the morning prayer), and then they will go out to fight the Antichrist. When the liar sees Jesus, he will dissolve like salt in water. Jesus will go to him and kill him, and he will not let anyone who followed him live.”130

130

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In the above narration, we are informed of a “white donkey” that’s made of iron, and where the width between its ears is 40 cubits. Undoubtedly, one can say this is a white airplane made of iron and which has a wingspan of 60 feet. 131. Abu Huraira narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “The False Messiah will appear from the east heading towards Medina until he reaches (the area) behind (the mount of) ‘Uhud. Afterwards, the Angels will (force him to) turn his face towards al-Sham (Syria, Israel), and there he will perish.”131 132. Abu Huraira narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “On every pass near Medina, there are Angels (guarding it). Plagues and the Antichrist will not enter Medina.”132 133. Anas, son of Malik, said that the Messenger of Allah said: “There is not a city but will be overwhelmed by the Antichrist, except Mecca and Medina. Every pass that leads to them will be surrounded and guarded by Angels. He (Antichrist) will make camp close to the Sabkhah (salty marsh). Then, Medina will experience three earth tremors, after which every disbeliever and hypocrite will leave Medina to join the Antichrist.”133 Many so-called Muslims, who are in reality hypocrites, will join the Antichrist. 134. Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: The Dajjal will come forth, and a person from amongst the believers will go towards him, and the armed men of the Dajjal will meet

Ahmad and Sahih Muslim, Book 7, Number 3187 Malik, Ahmad, Bukhari, Muslim; see Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim, Number 781 133Bukhari and al-Nasa, Ibid. Number 2055 131 132

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him and they will say to him, “Where do you intend to go? “ He will say, “I intend to go to this one who is coming forth.” They will say to him, “Don’t you believe in our Lord?” He will say, “There is nothing hidden about our Lord.” They will say, “Kill him.” Then some amongst them will say, “Has your master (Dajjal) not forbidden you to kill anyone without (his consent)?” And so they will take him to the Dajjal, and when the believer will see him, he will say, “O people, he is the Dajjal about whom Allah’s Messenger has informed (us).” The Dajjal will then order to have his head broken and utter (these words), “Catch hold of him and break his head.” He would be struck even on his back and on his stomach. Then the Dajjal would ask him, “Don’t you believe in me?” He will say, “You are a false messiah.” He will then order him to be torn (into pieces) with a saw from the parting of his hair up to his legs. After that, the Dajjal will walk between the two pieces. He will then say to him, “Stand!” and he will stand erect. He will then say to him, “Don’t you believe in me?” And the person will say, “It has only added to my insight concerning you (that you are really the Dajjal).” He will then say, “O people, he would not behave with anyone amongst people (in such a manner) after me” (the Antichrist will not be able to perform this trick anymore). The Dajjal would try to catch hold of him so that he should kill him (again). The space between his neck and collar bone would be turned into copper and he would find no means to kill him. So he would catch hold of him by his hand and feet and throw him (into the air) and the people would think as if he had been thrown in the Hell-Fire whereas he would be thrown in Paradise. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger said: “He will be the most eminent amongst persons in regard to martyrdom in the eye of the Lord of the world.”134

134

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The Antichrist’s cutting a person in half and then bringing him back to life sounds like an impossible thing — until you realize that there’s a magician in America with his own TV series who does exactly that. His name is Criss Angel, and he cuts a person (usually himself) into two with an electric saw in front of everyone and then makes members of the audience walk in between the two pieces. Then he restores the person back to one piece. The spectacle is so convincing that no one can figure out how he does it. If you read this prophecy and then watch this trick being performed, you can’t help but wonder. 135. Narrated Umm Sharik: I heard Allah’s Apostle say: “The people will run away from the Antichrist, seeking shelter in the mountains.” She (Umm Sharik) said, “Where would the Arabs then be on the day?” He said, “They would be small in number.”135 136. It was reported that Ibn Umar said: The Prophet said: “The Antichrist will come to this pond in Marriqanaat — a valley in Medina — and most of those who go out to him will be women, until a man will come to his mother-in-law, his mother, his daughter, his sister, and his aunt, and will tie them up strongly for fear that they will go out to him.”136 137. Abu Umamah al-Bahili said: The Prophet delivered a speech to us, most of which dealt with the Antichrist and warned us against him. He said, “No tribulation on earth since the creation of Adam will be worse than the tribulation of the Antichrist. Allah has never sent a Prophet who did not warn his Ummah against the Antichrist. I am the last of the Prophets, and you are the last Ummah. The Antichrist is emerging among you, and it is inevitable. If he appears while I am still among you, I will contend with him on

135 136

Muslim Book 41, Number 7035 Narrated by Ahmad, Number 5099

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behalf of every Muslim. But if he appears after I am gone, then every person must contend with him on his own behalf, and Allah will take care of every Muslim on my behalf. He will appear on the way between Syria and Iraq, and will spread disaster right and left. O servants of Allah, adhere to the path of Truth. I shall describe him for you in a way that no Prophet has ever done before. “He will start by saying that he is a Prophet, but there will be no Prophet after me. Then he will say, ‘I am your Lord,’ but you will never see your Lord until you die. The Antichrist is one-eyed, but your Lord, glorified be He, is not one-eyed. On his forehead will be written the word Kafir (unbeliever), which every Muslim, literate or illiterate, will be able to read. Among the tribulations he will bring will be the Paradise and Hell he will offer; but that which he calls Hell will be Paradise, and that which he calls Paradise will be Hell. Whoever enters his Hell, let him seek refuge with Allah and recite the opening verses of Surah alKahf (Qur’an, chapter 18), and it will become cool and peaceful for him, as the fire became cool and peaceful for Abraham. “He will say to a Bedouin, ‘What do you think if I bring your father and mother back to life for you? Will you bear witness that I am your lord?’ The Bedouin will say yes, so two devils will assume the appearance of his father and mother, and will say, ‘O my son, follow him, for he is your lord.’ “He will be given power over one person, whom he will kill and cut in two with a saw. Then he will say, ‘Look at this slave of mine, now I will resurrect him, but he will still claim that he has a Lord other than me.’ Allah will resurrect him, and this evil man (the Antichrist) will say to him, ‘Who is your Lord?’ The man will answer, ‘My Lord is Allah, and you are the enemy of Allah. You are the Antichrist. By Allah, I have never been surer of this than I am today.’” Abu Sa’id said: The Prophet said: “That man will have the highest status among my Ummah in Paradise.” Abu Sa’id said:

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“By Allah, we never thought that that man would be any other than Umar ibn al-Khattab, until he passed away.” Al-Muhdribi said: Then we referred to the Hadith of Abu Rafi’i, which said, “Part of his tribulation will be the fact that he will pass through an area whose people will deny him, and none of their livestock will remain alive. Then he will pass through a second area whose people will believe in him; he will order the sky to rain and the earth to bring forth crops, and their flocks will return from grazing fatter than they have ever been, with their flanks stretched, their udders full. He will pass through every place on earth, except Mecca and Medina, which he will never enter, for there are angels guarding every gate of them with unsheathed swords, until he reaches al-Zarib al-Ahmar and camps at the edge of the salt-marsh. Medina will be shaken by three tremors, after which every hypocrite will leave it, and it will be cleansed of evil, as iron is cleansed of dross. That day will be called Yawm al-Khalas (The Day of Purification).” Umm Sharik bint Abi’l-’Akr said: “O Messenger of Allah, where will the Arabs be at that time?” He said: “At that time they will be few; most of them will be in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), and their Imam will be a righteous man. Whilst their Imam is going forward to lead the people in praying Salat al-Subh (the morning prayer), Jesus, son of Mary, will descend. The Imam will step back, to let Jesus lead the people in prayer, but Jesus will place his hand between the man’s shoulders and say, ‘Go forward and lead the prayer, for the call for prayer was made for you.’ So the Imam will lead the people in prayer, and afterwards Jesus will say, ‘Open the gate.’ The gate will be opened, and behind it will be the Antichrist and a thousand Jews, each of them bearing a sword and shield. When the Antichrist sees Jesus, he will begin to dissolve like salt in water, and will run away. Jesus will say, ‘You will remain alive until I strike you with my sword.’ He will catch up with him at the eastern gate of Ludd (near Tel Aviv,

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Israel) and will kill him. The army of the Antichrist will be defeated with the help of Allah. There will be no place for them to hide; they will not be able to hide behind any stone, wall, animal or tree — except the boxthorn — without it saying, ‘O Muslim servant of Allah! Here is a Jew, come and kill him!’” The Prophet said: “The time of the Antichrist will be forty years; one year like half a year, one year like a month, and one month like a week. The rest of his days will pass so quickly that if one of you were at one of the gates of Medina, he would not reach the other gate before evening fell.” Someone asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how will we pray in those shorter days?” He said, “Work out the times of prayer in the same way that you do in these longer days, and then pray.” The Prophet said: “Jesus, son of Mary, will be a just administrator and leader of my Ummah. He will break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizyah (tax on non-Muslims). He will not collect charity, so he will not collect sheep and camels. Mutual enmity and hatred will disappear. “Every harmful animal will be made harmless, so that a small boy will be able to put his hand into a snake’s mouth without being harmed, a small girl will be able to make a lion run away from her, and a wolf will go among sheep as if he were a sheepdog. The earth will be filled with peace as a container is filled with water. People will be in complete agreement, and only Allah will be worshipped. Wars will cease, and the authority of Quraish will be taken away. The earth will be like a silver basin, and will produce fruit so abundantly that a group of people will gather to eat a bunch of grapes or one pomegranate and will be satisfied. A bull will be worth so much money, but a horse will be worth only a few dirhams.” Someone asked, “O Messenger of Allah, why will a horse be so cheap?” He said, “Because it will never be ridden in war.” He was asked, “Why will the bull be so expensive?” He said, “Because it will plough the earth. For three years before the Antichrist emerges, the people will suffer severe hunger. In the first

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year, Allah will order the sky to withhold a third of its rain, and the earth to withhold two-thirds of its fruits. In the third year, He will order the sky to withhold all of its rain, and the earth to withhold all of its fruits, so that nothing green will grow. Every cloven-hoofed creature will die, except for whatever Allah wills.” Someone asked, “How will the people live at that time?” He said, “By saying La ilaha illa Allah, Allahu Akbar, Subhan Allah, and Al-Hamdu-li’llah (praising God). This will be like food for them.”137 The implication of “breaking the Cross” and “killing of the swine” is that Christianity will become defunct as a religion. The whole edifice of the Christian religion is based on the belief that God crucified His only son on the Cross and caused him to suffer this “accursed” death so that he might thus expiate for the sins of man. However, when Jesus proclaims on his appearance, “I am not the Son of God; I did not die on the Cross, nor did I expiate for the sins of anyone,” the whole basis of Christian belief will be demolished. All the Prophets have declared the swine unlawful, but the Christians have made them lawful. This distinctive characteristic of Christianity will vanish when Jesus will say: “I never declared the swine lawful for my followers, nor did I proclaim them free from the restraints of Divine Law.” Eating pork was allowed many years after the time of Jesus in order to make Christianity more appealing to the pagan Romans, and no one can claim that Jesus permitted it. The reason for Jesus’ destroying the cross will be that he never died on it, so it is an invalid symbol for the religion of Jesus. The Qur’an states that Jesus did not die on the cross, although it appeared so to the people. The Gospel of Barnabas says that it was really Judah who died on the cross, as he was made to appear like Jesus, and it was he who suffered the torture and crucifixion that Jesus is supposed to have suffered. 137

Ibn Majah, Kitib al-Fitan, (Hadith 4077), 2: 1363

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Lod (Arabic al-Ludd, Greco-Latin Lydda) is a city in the Center District of Israel with a population of 66,000. Nearby Lod is Ben Gurion International Airport, which serves Tel Aviv. So, the Antichrist will be trying to escape on an airplane when Jesus will catch up with him and kill him. 138. Narrated Al-Mughira bin Shu’ba: Nobody asked the Prophet as many questions as I asked regarding the Antichrist. The Prophet said to me, “What worries you about him?” I said, “Because the people say that he will have a mountain of bread and a river of water with him (i.e., he will have abundance of food and water).” The Prophet said, “No, he is too mean to be allowed such a thing by Allah” (but it is only to test mankind whether they believe in Allah or in the Antichrist).138

JESUS, SON OF MARY And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; And on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them; Qur’an 4: 159 61. And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no doubt about the (Hour), but follow ye Me: this is a Straight Way. Qur’an 43: 61 139. Some members of my community will be reunited with Jesus, son of Mary, and will witness his war against the Antichrist.139

138 139

Bukhari Book 88, Number 238 Al-Hakim, Al-Mustadrak, hadith number 8634, 4:587

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The white minaret of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, where Jesus will descend. It is called the “Minaret of Jesus.” 140. Jesus, son of Maryam, will descend, rule for 40 years with the book of Allah and my Sunnah, and die.140 141. “In the meantime, when the Antichrist will be busy doing this and this, Allah will send down the Messiah, son of Maryam, and he will descend in the eastern part of Damascus, near the white minaret (tower), dressed in the two yellow garments, with his hands resting on the arms of two angels. When he will bend down his head, water drops will appear trickling down; and when he will raise it, it will appear as though pearl-like drops are rolling down. Any disbeliever whom the air of his breath reaches — and it will reach up to the last limit of his sight — will fall dead. Then the son of Maryam will go in pursuit of the Antichrist, and will overtake him at the gate of Lod, and will kill him.”141 Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman Muslim, Dhikr Dajjal; Abu Dawud, Kitab ul-Malahim, Bab Khuruj Dajjal; Tirmidhi, Abwab-ul-Fitan, Bab Fi Fitna al-Dajjal; Ibn Majah, Kitab ul-Fitna, Bab Fitna al-Dajjal

140 141

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142. “The Antichrist will appear in my community, and will live for forty (I do not know whether he said 40 days, or 40 months, or 40 years). Then Allah will send Jesus, son of Mary. He will closely resemble Urwah, son of Masud (a companion). He will pursue the Antichrist and kill him. Then, for seven years, the people will live in such a state that no ill-will and enmity will exist between any two of them.”142 143. “How will you be when the son of Mary (Jesus) descends amongst you, and he will judge people by the law of the Qur’an and not by the law of Gospel?”143 144. It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that he heard the Messenger of Allah as saying: “What would you do when the son of Mary would descend and lead you?”144 145. “Since the world came into existence, at the beginning of every century, an important event occurred. At the beginning of one century, the Antichrist will emerge and Jesus, the son of Mary, will descend and kill him.”145 146. “Jesus, son of Mary, shall descend; then he will kill the swine and destroy the Cross; and a congregation will be held for him for the Prayer; and he will distribute so much wealth that people will be satiated with it; and he will abolish the tribute; and he will encamp at Rauha, and from there will go to perform Haj or Umrah, or both.”146 Rauha is located 36 miles from Medina on the road to Mecca.

Muslim Book 41, Number 7023 Bukhari Book 55, Number 658 144Muslim Book 1, Number 291 145Ibn Abi Hatem 146Ahmad, Silsila Marwiyat Abi Huraira; Muslim, Kitab-ul-Haj 142 143

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147. By Him in Whose Hand is my life; son of Mary (Jesus) would certainly pronounce Talbiyah (intention) for Haj or for Umrah (minor Haj), or for both in the valley of Rauha.147 148. Allah’s Apostle said, “By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims) as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pigs and abolish the Jizya (a tax taken from the non-Muslims who are in the protection of the Muslim government). Then there will be abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts.”148 In all the sayings of the Messenger of God confirming the coming of Jesus, this one must be the most powerful. Here, the Messenger of God swears in the name of God, the most powerful oath that a Muslim can utter, that Jesus will come as the ruler of the Muslims. The two most respected hadith scholars, Bukhari and Muslim, confirm the authenticity of this hadith. For any believing Muslim, this should be proof enough and cause for the removal of any lingering doubt about the second coming of Jesus. This hadith and the statement in the Qur’an that “Jesus will be a sign for the coming of the last hour” leave no room for any skepticism. 149. “There is no prophet between me and him (i.e., the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary), and he shall descend. So, recognize him when you see him. He is a man of medium height, of ruddy and fair complexion; he will be dressed in two yellow garments; the hair of his head will appear as though water was going to trickle down from it, whereas it will not be wet. He will fight people in the cause of Islam, will break the Cross and kill the swine and will abolish jizyah (tax on non-Muslims); and Allah will put an end to all communities in his time except Islam; and he will slay the 147 148

Muslim Book 7, Number 2877 Muslim Book 1, Number 287; Bukhari Book 34, Number 425

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Antichrist; and he will stay in the world for forty years; then will die, and the Muslims will offer the funeral Prayer for him.”149 Keep a note that he will bring an “end to all communities in his time except Islam.” There is a good chance that the tremendous upheavals that will occur will shake the very foundations of people’s belief. The appearance of Jesus will cause any Christian who accepts that this is really Jesus to convert to Islam. If most Christians do that, then the population of Muslims will double immediately. If that happens, it is conceivable that a lot of people that belong to other religions will also join the bandwagon. 150. Prayer behind the Mahdi: “What will be your reaction when the son of Mary (Jesus) descends and your Imam is from among yourselves?”150 151. “What would be your situation if the son of Mary (Jesus) descends upon you and your Imam is from among you?”151 152. “Jesus, son of Mary, will descend. The leader of the Muslims will say to him, ‘Come, lead us in the prayer,’ but he will say, ‘No; you yourselves are leaders over one another.” This he will say in view of the honor that Allah has bestowed on this community.”152 This refers to the moment Jesus will first appear. The Muslims would be about to begin the morning prayer led by the Imam Mahdi. Jesus will ask them to continue, and he will join the prayer as a participant, although his rank would be higher than that of the Mahdi. Muslims will consider this as a great honor.

Abu Dawud Book 37, Number 4310; Ahmad; Abu Dawud Muslim Book 1, Number 291 151Muslim Book 1, Number 290 152Muslim Book 1, Number 293; Ahmad 149 150

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153. Narrated by Hudhaifa, The Prophet said: “The Mahdi is a man from my children; his color is that of the Arab, and his body is like that of Israel. On his right cheek, there is a mole that glitters like a star. The Mahdi will glance to the side as Jesus, the son of Mary, descends with water dripping from his hair. So the Mahdi will say to him: ‘Come forward and lead the people in prayer.’ But he will answer: ‘The Call to Prayer has been made for you to lead.’ So he will pray behind a man from my children.”153

ARMAGEDDON AND THE END OF THE ANTICHRIST 154. “He (the Mahdi) will fight the whole world, and both the ones who have gone astray (Christians) and the ones who have earned Allah’s anger (Jews) will join against him with the hypocrites in the land of Isra and Miraj at Mount Megiddo, and there will come out against him the Queen of the world and deception, an adulteress called America, who will incite the world to deviation and infidelity…and the Jews of the world at that time will have the upper hand and will rule Jerusalem, the holy city. And all nations will come to fight by sea and air, except those in the land of extreme cold and the land of extreme heat. And the Mahdi will see that all the world does plot against him, but he will see that Allah’s plan is stronger than all, and he will see that the World belongs to Allah and to Him it will return, and that the World is but a tree that Allah wills him to rule from its roots to its branches… and Allah will throw down on them (unbelievers) with a disastrous punishment and burn their land and seas and skies and the sky will rain down a harmful shower; the people of the Earth will curse the infidels, and Allah shall will the defeat of the unbelievers.”154 153 154

Abu Nuaym; Tabarani; Abu Amru Ad Dani Asmal Masalik. See note 10.

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In this prophecy, it says that the battle between the Mahdi and the Romans takes place on the plain of Megiddo, which implies that it may be the same as the battle of Armageddon mentioned in biblical prophecy. Megiddo is a kibbutz in Israel. It is located on the route going south from Haifa to Samaria. Traveling from Syria to the Tel Aviv airport (Al Ludd), one would pass by Megiddo. 155. The Prophet said: “The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the Great War (Armageddon) will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Syria.”155 156. Exactly at the time when the Imam (leader) of the Muslims will have stepped forward to lead them in the Morning Prayer, Jesus, son of Mary, shall descend upon them. The Imam will step back, so that Jesus may step forward (to lead the prayer), but Jesus, placing his hand between his two shoulders, will say, “No, you should lead, for the congregation has assembled to follow you.” So, the Imam will lead the Prayer. After the salutation, Jesus will say, “Open the gate”; so the gate will be opened. Outside there will be the Antichrist along with 70,000 of the armed Jews. As soon as he will look at Jesus, he will start melting like the salt in water, and will flee. Jesus will say, “I shall strike you a blow which will not let you live.” And he will overtake him at the eastern gate of Lod, and Allah will cause the Jews to be defeated… And the earth will be as filled with the Muslims as a vessel is filled with water. The entire world shall recite and follow one and the same Kalimah (word), and none shall be worshipped except Allah.”156

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The Antichrist will be supported by an army of Jews and will be killed at Lod, which is near the Tel Aviv airport. This tells us that Israel will be the location from which the Antichrist will operate, and the Israeli army will be the army of the Antichrist. 157. The Holy Prophet (while relating the story of the Antichrist) said: “At that time, suddenly, Jesus, son of Mary, shall appear among the Muslims. Then the people will stand up for the prayer, and he will be asked, ‘Step forward, O Spirit of Allah (and lead us in the prayer)’; but he will say, ‘No. Your own leader should step forward and lead the prayer.’ Then, after offering the morning prayer, the Muslims shall go forth to fight the Antichrist.” He said, “When the liar will see Jesus, he will start dissolving like salt in water. Then Jesus will advance towards him and will slay him; and it will so happen that the trees and the stones will cry out: ‘O Spirit of Allah, here is a Jew (and/or disbeliever) hiding behind me.’ None will be left from among the followers of the Antichrist, whom he (Jesus) will not kill.”157 What we can now conclude about Jesus’ return to earth is that: • He will descend during the morning just before Fajr Prayer (the morning prayer); • He will bring an end to all communities except Islam (thus beginning a new age). What I’m about to say is pure conjecture, but, couldn’t it be possible that Jesus’ return to earth is synonymous with the new age that, according to the Mayans, would begin around this same time frame? Although we can’t be one hundred percent certain about exact dates with regard to future events, we can be more certain about 157

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these events in relation to each other. So, here is what we know so far: The Mahdi emerges in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah or Muharram (twelfth or first month of Islamic calendar). His rule is therefore established the following year, which is the same year of the initiation of the “Great War.” Then, six years later, is the Muslim conquest of Constantinople. In the seventh year, the Antichrist appears, and remains for 40 days (one year, two months, and 14 days, see hadith 130), and on the 40th day, Jesus descends and kills him. This would, by normal standards, be on the ninth year of the Mahdi’s term, but still the seventh, if counting the 40 days as 40 days instead of 439 days. 158. Then, in the morning, Jesus, son of Mary, will join the Muslims, and Allah will cause the Antichrist and his hosts to be routed, until the walls and the roots of the trees will call out: “O believer, here is a disbeliever hidden behind me; come and kill him.”158 159. Then Jesus will descend, and Allah will cause the Antichrist to be killed near the mountain pass of Afiq.159 Afiq, known as Fiq in modern times, is a city in Syria situated on the border between Syria and Israel. There is a lake called Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) a few miles toward the west of the city. This lake is the source of the river Jordan. Towards the southwest of this lake, there is a path between the mountains, which descends two thousand feet to the point in the lake of Tiberias where the river rises. This mountainous path is called the slope of Afiq. Afiq and Megiddo are on the way from Syria to Lod near Tel Aviv. As Jesus will appear in Damascus, Syria, and he will kill the fleeing Antichrist near Tel Aviv, it means that Jesus and his followers will 158 159

Ahmad, Hakim Ahmad

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be chasing the Antichrist all the way from Damascus to Tel Aviv, and on the way they will pass through the mountain pass of Afiq. 160. Abu Huraira said: The Prophet said: “The Last Hour will not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims will kill them until the Jews will hide themselves behind a stone or a tree, and a stone or a tree will say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad (boxthorn) will not say that, for it is the tree of the Jews.”160 Anyone who considers this as too “anti-Semitic” should know that Jews lived in Jerusalem for over 13 centuries under Muslim rule without a problem until Israel was created. The only time Jews were killed in the Holy Land during Muslim rule was during the Crusades, when European Christians came and killed both Muslims and Jews. AntiSemitism is a uniquely European problem. This saying of the Messenger of God refers to a period when the Jews and Muslims will be at war at the time of the Antichrist, who will be supported by the Israeli army, while the Muslims will be fighting on the side of Jesus. The killing of Jews that takes place is that of the Israeli soldiers during the course of a war. Civilians, men, women, and children will most probably not be harmed because Jesus, who will be leading the Muslim army, will apply Islamic rules of war, in contrast to the Judeo-European rules of war, according to which large-scale killing women and children is considered quite acceptable.

MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, AND DEATH OF JESUS 161. Allah’s Apostle said: After his descent on earth, Jesus will marry. He will have children, and he will remain on earth 19 years after marriage. He will pass away, and Muslims will perform his (funeral 160

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prayers) and bury him next to the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad, God bless him, referring to himself).161 162. Allah’s Prophet said: The Messiah will die after completing the duration he was destined to pass in the world and that Muslims would offer his funeral prayers and bury him next to the grave of the holy Prophet and his companions Abu Bakr and Umar.162 Jesus (God bless him) will then be buried right alongside Muhammad, the Messenger of God (God bless him), in Medina in a space that is permanently reserved for him to this day.

GOG AND MAGOG “Until the Gog and Magog (people) Are let through (their barrier), And they swiftly swarm From every hill. Then will the True Promise Draw nigh (of fulfillment): Then behold! the eyes Of the Unbelievers will Fixedly stare in horror: ‘Ah! Woe to us! we were indeed Heedless of this; nay; we Truly did wrong!’ Qur’an 21:96-97 Who the Gog and Magog are is a subject of speculation. Gog and Magog are generally believed to be the wild tribes of Central and Northeastern Asia, including the Tartars, Mongols, Huns, and Scythians. Some believe them to be Russians, while others think that they may be extraterrestrials. We’ll find out who they are when they invade the holy land while Jesus is present there. 163. Narrated Zainab bint Jahsh: The Prophet got up from his sleep with a flushed red face and said: “None has the right to be worshipped

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but Allah. Woe to the Arabs, from the Great evil that is nearly approaching them. Today a gap has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this.” (Sufyaan illustrated this by forming the number 90 or 100 with his fingers.) It was asked, “Shall we be destroyed though there are righteous people among us?” The Prophet said, “Yes, if evil increased.”163 164. On the authority of Jabir: Gog and Magog would walk until they would reach the mountain of al-Khamar, and it is a mountain of Jerusalem, and they would say: “We have killed those who are upon the earth. Let us now kill those who are in the sky and they would throw their arrows towards the sky and the arrows would return to them besmeared with blood.”164 165. Narrated An-Nawwas, son of Sam’an: Allah’s Apostle mentioned of the Antichrist one day in the morning. He sometimes described him as insignificant and sometimes described (his turmoil) as very significant (and we felt) as if he were in the cluster of the date-palm trees. When we went to him (to the Holy Prophet) in the evening and he read (the signs of fear) on our faces, he said: “What is the matter with you?” We said: “Allah’s Apostle, you mentioned the Antichrist this morning (sometimes describing him) as insignificant and sometimes very important, until we began to think he was present in some (nearby) part of the cluster of the date-palm trees.” So he said: “I harbor fear in regard to you in so many other things besides the Antichrist. If he comes forth while I am among you, I shall contend with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth while I am not among you, a man must contend on his own behalf, and Allah will take care of every Muslim on my behalf (and safeguard him against his evil). He

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(the Antichrist) will be a young man with twisted, cropped hair, and a blind eye. I compare him with Abdul Uzzak son of Qatan. He who among you will survive to see him should recite over him the opening verses of Surah al-Kahf (Chapter 18 of the Qur’an). He will appear on the way between Syria and Iraq and will spread mischief right and left. O servant of Allah! Adhere (to the path of Truth).” We said: “Allah’s Apostle, how long will he stay on earth?” He said: “For forty days, one day like a year, one day like a month, one day like a week, and the rest of the days will be like your days.” We said: “Allah’s Apostle, will one day’s prayer suffice for the prayers of the day equal to one year?” Thereupon he said: “No, but you must make an estimate of the time (and then observe prayer).” We said: “Allah’s Apostle, how quickly will he walk upon the earth?” Thereupon he said: “Like cloud driven by the wind. He will come to the people and invite them (to a wrong religion); they will affirm their faith in him and respond to him. He will then give a command to the sky: there will be rainfall upon the earth, and it will grow crops. Then, in the evening, their pasturing animals will come to them with their humps very high, their udders full of milk, and their flanks distended. He will then come to another people and invite them. But they will reject him, so he will go away from them; they will have a drought and nothing will be left with them in the form of wealth. “He will then walk through the desert and say to it: ‘Bring forth your treasures.’ The treasures will come out and gather before him like a swarm of bees. He will then call someone in the flush of youth, strike him with a sword and cut him into two pieces, and then place these pieces at a distance equivalent to that between an archer and his target. “He will then call (that young man), and he will come forward laughing with his face gleaming (with happiness). It will be at this very time that Allah will send Christ, son of Mary. He will

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descend at the white minaret on the eastern side of Damascus, wearing two garments lightly dyed with saffron, and placing his hands on the wings of two Angels. When he lowers his head, there will fall beads of perspiration from his head, and when he raises it up, beads like pearls will scatter from it. Every non-believer who smells the odor of his body will die and his breath will reach as far as he is able to see. He will then search for him (Antichrist) until he catches hold of him at the gate of Lod and kills him. Then a people whom Allah had protected will come to Jesus, son of Mary, and he will wipe their faces and inform them of their ranks in Paradise. It will be under such conditions that Allah will reveal to Jesus these words: ‘I have brought forth from among My servants such people against whom none will be able to fight; you take these people safely to Tur (Mount Sinai), and then Allah will send Gog and Magog, and they will swarm down from every slope. The first of them will pass the lake of Tiberias and drink out of it. And when the last of them passes, he will say: ‘There was once water there.’ “Jesus and his companions will then be besieged here (at Tur, and they will be so hard pressed) that the head of the ox will be dearer to them than one hundred dinars. Allah’s Apostle, Jesus, and his companions will supplicate Allah, Who will send to them insects (which will attack their necks), and in the morning they will perish as one single person. Allah’s Apostle, Jesus, and his companions, then come down to earth and they will not find on Earth as much space as a single span that is not filled with putrefaction and stench. Allah’s Apostle (Muhammad, God bless him) said, Jesus (God bless him), and his companions will then beseech Allah, who will send birds whose necks would be like those of Bactrian camels, and they will carry them away and throw them where Allah wills. “Then Allah will send rain, which no house of mud-bricks or (tent of) camelhair will keep out and it will wash the earth until it resembles a mirror. Then the earth will be told to bring

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forth its fruit and restore its blessing and, as a result thereof, there will grow (such a big) pomegranate that a group of people will be able to eat it and seek shelter under its skin, a dairy cow will give so much milk that a whole party will be able to drink it. The milking camel will give such (a large quantity of) milk that the whole tribe will be able to drink from it, and the milking-sheep will give so much milk that the whole family will be able to drink from it. At that time, Allah will send a pleasant wind, which will soothe (people) even under their armpits. He will take the life of every Muslim and only the wicked will survive who will commit adultery like asses and the Last Hour would come to them.”165 Tur means “mount” in Arabic and most likely refers to Mount Sinai, where Jesus and his followers will go in order to escape Gog and Magog. It could, however, be another mountain. 166. The Messenger of Allah said: “For seven years, Muslims will build fires with Gog and Magog’s bows and arrows.”166 167. Narrated Abu Sa’id al-Khudri: The Prophet said: “The people will continue performing the Haj and Umrah to the Ka’ba, even after the appearance of Gog and Magog.”167

THE GOLDEN AGE 168. During this (period), my Ummah (community) will lead a kind of comfortable and carefree life that they have never known before. (The land) will bring forth its yield and will not hold anything back.168

Muslim Book 41, Number 7015 Muslim; Tirmidhi; Silsilah al-Sahihah, Number 1924; Al-Jami Al-Saghir, Number 3673 167Bukhari Book 26, Number 663 168Ibn Majah 165

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169. Then my Ummah, be its members good or wicked, will be blessed with a blessing the like of which they have never heard before. Allah sends them an abundance of rain, the land will produce a great abundance of crops, and possessions will be commonplace.169 170. Allah will give so much power to the Mahdi. He will remove cruelty from the world overnight, religion will be established, and Islam will be revived. The Mahdi will restore its lost value to it, and it will come to life after its apparent demise. Ignorant people, misers and cowards alike, will be very knowledgeable, generous, and brave. They will practice religion as in the time of Prophet Muhammad (God bless him).170 171. Like the cup fills with water, so will earth fill with peace. There will be no enmity left between any people. All hostility, fighting, and envy will disappear.171 172. The warriors will abandon their weight (weapons and kits).172

THE QAHTAANI 173. The Prophet said, “The Hour will not come until a man from Qahtan (Yemen) appears and rules the people.”173 174. Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said: “The Hour will not be established till a man from Qahtan appears, driving the people with his stick.”174 Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan, p. 16 Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, Al-Futuhat al-Makkia, p. 66; Allamah Muhaqqiq Ash-Sharif Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul, Al-Isaatu li Asrat’is-saat, p. 186 171Muslim 172Sunan Ibn Majah, vol. 10, p. 334 173Muslim Book 41, Number 6954 174Bukhari Book 88, Number 233 169 170

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175. Reported by Jabir, son of Majid As Sadafi: The Prophet said: “After me there will be caliphs, and after the caliphs, princes, and after princes, kings, and after kings, tyrants. Then, a man from the Family of my House will come and fill the earth with justice, just as it had been filled with transgression. Then, the Prince after him is the Qahtaani and by He who sent me with the Truth, he is not lesser than him.”175 The above narration clearly establishes that the Qahtaani appears and rules after the Mahdi, and thus after Jesus, son of Maryam. This should remove any doubts about when the Qahtaani would appear and rule in relation to the other events. 176. Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of Dhi Mikhbar, the son of the brother of an-Najaashi, that the Prophet said: “This matter used to be amongst the red-skinned people, but Allah removed it from them and placed it amongst the Quraish, but it shall return to them.”176 177. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: The day and the night would not come to an end before a man called al-Jahjah would occupy the throne.177 The Qahtaan are a tribe from Yemen. It is they who are probably referred to as a red-skinned people. The caliphate will go to them after the time of the Mahdi and Jesus.

THE SMOKE There is no deity save Him: It is He Who gives life and gives death — the Lord and Cherisher to you and your earliest ancestors. At-Tabarani (in his large dictionary), Ibn Mandah, Abu Nuaym and Ibn Asakir Ahmad 177Muslim Book 41, Number 6955 175 176

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Yet they play about in doubt. Then watch thou for the Day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke (or mist) plainly visible, Enveloping the people: this will be a Penalty Grievous. (They will say:) ‘Our Lord! remove the Penalty from us, for we do really believe!’ How shall the Message be (effectual) for them, seeing that a Messenger explaining things clearly has (already) come to them,— Yet they turn away from him and say: ’Tutored (by others), a man possessed!’ We shall indeed remove the Penalty for a while, (but) truly ye will revert (to your ways). Qur’an 44:8-15 178. Hudhaifa, son of Usaid, reported: Allah’s Apostle was in an apartment, and we were downstairs, when he peeped in and said to us: “What are you discussing about?” We said: “(We are discussing about the Last) Hour.” Thereupon he said: “The Last Hour would not come until the ten signs appear: landsliding in the east, and landsliding in the west, and landsliding in the peninsula of Arabia, the smoke, the Antichrist, the beast of the earth, Gog and Magog, the rising of the sun from the west, and the fire which would emit from the lower part of ‘Adan. Shu’ba said that ‘Abd al-’Aziz b. Rufai’ reported on the authority of Abu Tufail, who reported on the authority of Abu Sariha a hadith like this that Allah’s Apostle did not make a mention of (the tenth sign) but he said that out out of the ten (signs) one was the descent of Jesus Christ, son of Mary, and in another version it is the blowing of the violent gale which would drive the people to the ocean.178 178

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179. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as having said: Hasten to do good deeds before six things happen: the rising of the sun from the west, the smoke, the Antichrist, the beast and (the death) of one of you or the general turmoil.179 180. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: “Hasten in performing these good deeds (before these) six things (happen): (the appearance) of the Antichrist, the smoke, the beast of the earth, the rising of the sun from the west, the general turmoil (tribulation, leading to large-scale massacre), and death of masses and individuals.180 There are several narrations, especially in Sahih Bukhari, where one of the companions of the Messenger of God says that the smoke has already appeared during an event where a tribe that refused to believe suffered from a famine and saw smoke in front of their eyes from hunger. This was not a saying of the Messenger of God, but rather an interpretation of one of his companions. However, the Qur’an says that this will be a kind of smoke that will be clearly visible and not an optical illusion. We can assume that it will be a very severe event, likely to envelop the whole world. Scientists predict such an outcome from a comet impact or the eruption of a super-volcano. Some believe that the smoke will last for 40 days and then there will be a “night of three nights” (i.e., the earth stops rotating on its axis) before the rising of the sun from the west. An authentic source for this belief cannot be located, although if it is true, then it will make sense as the calamity that causes the smoke could tip the earth’s axis, which would first stop spinning and then restart in the opposite direction. The sayings are:

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“Fog or smoke will cover the skies for forty days. The nonbelievers will fall unconscious while Muslims will fall ill (develop colds). The skies will then clear up.” “A night three nights long will follow the fog. It will occur in the month of Zil-Haj after Eidul-Adha (end of Haj celebration), and cause much restlessness among the people.” “After the night of three nights, the following morning the sun will rise in the west. People’s repentance will not be accepted after this incident.”

SUN RISING IN THE WEST Are they waiting to see if the angels come to them, or thy Lord (Himself), or certain of the Signs of thy Lord! The day that certain of the Signs of thy Lord come, no good will it do to a soul to believe then if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its Faith. Say: ‘Wait ye: we too are waiting.’ Qur’an 6:158 181. Abu Huraira said: The Prophet said: “The Hour will not come until the sun rises from the west. When the people see it, whoever is living on earth will believe, but that will be the time when, ‘No good will it do to a soul to believe in them then, if it believed not before.’”181 182. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: “He who seeks repentance (from the Lord) before the rising of the sun from the west (before the Day of Resurrection), Allah turns to him with Mercy.”182

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183. “The hijra (Islamic calendar) will not stop until the end of repentance, and repentance will not stop until the sun rises in the west.”183 184. Abdullah, son of Amr, said, “I memorized a saying from the Prophet, which I have not forgotten since. I heard the Prophet say, ‘The first of the signs (of the Hour) to appear will be the rising of the sun from the west and the appearance of the Beast before the people in the forenoon. Whichever of these two events happens first, the other will follow immediately.’”184 This is to say, these will be the first of the extraordinary signs to appear.

THE BEAST And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), We shall produce from the earth a Beast to (face) them: it will speak to them because mankind had no faith in Our Signs. Qur’an 27:82 The Beast is also a figure of biblical prophecy, and is also given the title “Antichrist” in some passages of the Bible; however, the characteristics between the two seem to be very different, as the Biblical Beast, the “Antichrist,” is very much like the “Dajjal” mentioned in the prophetic hadith. The similarity between the two is that they both lay claim to divinity at some point. At the same time, the other Biblical figure, the “False Prophet,” is also very much like the Antichrist, as they both travel through the earth, performing miracles to mislead the people. Al-Musnad”, Vol.4/99; Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Jihad, Vol.3/7, Hadith 2479; ad-Darami, Kitab as-Siyyar, Vol.2/239 184Muslim Book 41, Number 7025 183

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185. Baridah said: “The Prophet took me to a place in the desert, near Mecca. It was a dry piece of land surrounded by sand. The prophet said, ‘The Beast will emerge from this place.’ It was a very small area.”185 Here, the Messenger of God specified an exact location near Mecca for the emergence of the Beast. In addition, he calls the figure “the Beast” and not “Dajjal.” Therefore, the Beast is a different creature and not the Antichrist. In an unknown saying, the Beast would emerge seven days after the sun initially starts rising in the west and setting in the east. 186. It was reported from Abu Huraira that the Prophet said: “The Beast of the Earth will emerge and will have with it the rod of Moses and the ring of Solomon.”186 It was also reported that he said: “(The Beast) will destroy the noses of the unbelievers with the ring, so that people seated around one table will begin to address one another with the words “O Believer!” or “O Unbeliever!” It should be noted that in the very brief description of the Beast in the prophetic narrations above, the actual fate of the Beast is not mentioned, and there seems to be a similarity between the beast in the Bible and in the Qur’an — they both mark people on their foreheads. The Antichrist, according to some narrations, has a mark on his own forehead, which says “Kaffir” (Disbeliever).

BREEZE FROM THE SOUTH (THE RAPTURE) 187. “Smoke will appear all over the earth which will cause believers to catch something similar to a slight cold, whereas the unbelievers 185 186

Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Fitan Ahmad 2 — 295; Similar hadith narrated by Ibn Majah in Kitab al-Fitan

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will be hit harder by it. Finally, a cold wind will come and kill all believers, leaving only unbelievers on the earth, who will then witness the last hour. The angel Israfil will blow a trumpet, and the resurrection of all human beings will begin.”187 188. It was reported from Abdullah, son of Amr, that the Prophet said: “The Hour will not come until Allah takes away the best people on earth; only the worst of people will be left; they will not know any good or forbid any evil.”188 189. Abdullah, son of Amr, said: “The Hour shall come only when the worst type of people are left on the earth. They will be worse than the people of pre-Islamic days. They will receive whatever they ask of Allah.” Uqbah said: “He knows better; so far as I am concerned, I heard the Messenger of Allah say: ‘A group of people from my Ummah (community) will continue to fight in obedience to the Command of Allah, remaining dominant over their enemies. Those who oppose them shall not do them any harm. They will remain in this condition until the Hour overtakes them.’” (At this) Abdullah said: “Yes. Then Allah will raise a wind, which will be fragrant like musk and whose touch will be like the touch of silk; (but) it will cause the death of all (faithful) persons, not leaving behind a single person with an iota of faith in his heart. Then only the worst of men will remain to be overwhelmed by the Hour.”189 190. Abdullah, son of Amr said: The Prophet said: “The Antichrist will appear in my Ummah, and will remain for forty — I cannot say whether he meant forty days, forty months, or forty years — then

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/pillars/signsofthelasthour.html Ahmad 189Muslim Book 20, Number 4721 187 188

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Allah will send Jesus, son of Mary, who will resemble Urwah, son of Masud. He will chase the Antichrist and kill him. Then the people will live for seven years, during which there will be no enmity between any two persons. Then Allah will send a cold wind from the direction of Syria, which will take the soul of everyone who has the slightest speck of good or faith in his heart. Even if one of you were to enter the heart of a mountain, the wind would reach him there and take his soul. Only the most wicked people will be left; they will be as careless as birds, with the characteristics of beasts, and will have no concern for right and wrong. Satan will come to them in the form of man and will say, ‘Don’t you respond?’ They will say, ‘What do you order us to do?’ He will order them to worship idols, and in spite of that, they will have sustenance in abundance, and lead comfortable lives.’”190 Christian prophecy predicts a similar event, referred to as “the Rapture.” Its anticipated effect is almost identical to that of the “cold wind from Syria,” except that Christians believe the rapture to occur upon the believers to save them from the tribulation of the Antichrist before the return of Jesus, while Muslims believe the rapture will occur upon the believers to save them from the destruction of the world on the Day of Judgment after the return of Jesus. 191. Hafiz Ibn-i-Hajar has alluded to a tradition from the Prophet, saying: “The Doomsday shall not come until things come to such a pass that a woman shall pass through a crowd of men and one of the men will rise and lift her undergarment and engage in copulation with her. Seeing such a happening, one of the men will say: ‘It would have been better if you had engaged in intercourse with her in privacy behind a wall.’” “Then,” said the Prophet, “such

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a man will be as virtuous among those people as Abu Bakr and Umar are the most righteous among you.”191

LOSS OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE 192. Hudhaifa said: The Prophet said: “Islam will become worn out like clothes are, until there will be no one who knows what fasting, prayer, charity, and rituals are. The Qur’an will disappear in one night, and no Ayah (verse) will be left on earth (in the hearts of the people). Some groups of old people will be left who will say, ‘We heard our fathers saying La ilaha illa Allah (there is no god but Allah), so we repeat it.’” Silah asked Hudhaifa, “What will saying La ilaha illa Allah do for them when they do not know what prayer, fasting, ritual, and charity are?” Hudhaifa ignored him; then Silah repeated his question three times, and each time Hudhaifa ignored him. Finally he answered, “O Silah, it will save them from Hell,” and said it three times.192 193. Narrated Abdullah: The Prophet said: “Near the establishment of the Hour, there will be the days of Al-Harj, and the religious knowledge will be taken away (vanish, i.e., by the death of religious scholars) and general ignorance will spread.” Abu Musa said, “Al-Harj, in the Ethiopian language, means killing.” Ibn Mas’ud added: “I heard Allah’s Apostle say (it will be) from among the most wicked people who will be living at the time when the Hour will be established.”193 194. Narrated Abu Sa’id al-Khudri: The Prophet said: “The people will continue performing the Haj and Umrah to the Ka’ba, even after the appearance of Gog and Magog.” Shu’ba added: “The Hour Tabrani in Fath-ul-Bari Ibn Kathir, Ibn Majah 193Bukhari Book 88, Number 187 191 192

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(Day of Judgment) will not be established till the Haj (to the Ka’ba) is abandoned.”194 195. “What will become of you when you do not enjoin the right and forbid the wrong?” he asked. Those around him asked in amazement: “Will that truly happen?” “Yes, and even worse!” he replied, and went on to ask: “What will become of you when you enjoin the wrong and forbid the good?” Those around him were astonished: “O Prophet! Will that also happen?” “Yes, and even worse!” he replied, and continued: “What will become of you when you regard good as evil and evil as good?” The people around him asked: “O Prophet! Will that also come to pass?” “Yes, it will,” he replied.195

ARABIA TURNS TO IDOLATRY 196. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: The Last Hour would not come until the women of the tribe of Daus would be seen going round Dhi al-Khalasa (for worship), and Dhi al-Khalasa is a place in Tabala, where there was a temple in which the people of the tribe of Daus used to worship the idol.196 197. Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said: “The Hour will not be established till the buttocks of the women of the tribe of Daus move while going round Dhi al-Khalasa.” Dhi al-Khalasa was the idol of the Daus tribe, which they used to worship in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.197 198. Aisha reported: I heard Allah’s Messenger as saying: “The (system) of night and day would not end until the people have taken to the worship of Lat and Uzza.” I said: “Allah’s Messenger, I think Bukhari Book 26, Number 663 Ibn Abi Ya’la, Musnad; al-Tabarani, al-Awsat 196Muslim Book 41, Number 6944 197Bukhari Book 88, Number 232 194 195

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when Allah revealed this verse, ‘It is He Who hath sent his Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it)’ (Qur’an 9:33), it implies that (this promise) is going to be fulfilled.” Thereupon he (Allah’s Apostle) said: “It would happen as Allah would like. Then Allah would send the sweet fragrant air by which everyone who has even a mustard grain of faith in Him would die and those only would survive who would have no goodness in them. And they would revert to the religion of their forefathers.”198

ABANDONMENT OF MEDINA 199. “People will leave Medina in good condition; no one will inhabit it except for wild beasts and birds. Then, two shepherds from the tribe of Muzainah will come hoping to enter Medina with their goats, but upon finding it full of wild beasts, they will turn away. When they arrive at Thaniat Al Wada, they will fall on their faces (die).”199

DESTRUCTION OF THE KA’BA 200. Abdullah, son of Amr, said: I heard the Prophet say: “Dhu’lSuwayqatayn from Abyssinia will destroy the Ka’ba and steal its treasure and Kiswah (cloth covering). It is as if I could see him now: he is bald-headed and has a distortion in his wrists. He will strike the Ka’ba with his spade and pick-axe.”200 201. Son of Abbas narrated that the Prophet said: “It is as if I can see him now: he is black and his legs are widely spaced. He will destroy the Ka’ba stone by stone.”201 Muslim Book 41, Number 6945 Muslim Book 7, Number 3203 200Ahmad 2/220 201Ahmad 1/227 198 199

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202. It is reported from Abdullah, son of Umar, that the Prophet said: “Leave the Abyssinians alone so long as they do not disturb you, for no one will recover the treasure of the Ka’ba except Dhu’lSuwayqatayn from Abyssinia.”202 203. Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said: “Dhu’l-Suwayqatayn (the thin-legged man) from Ethiopia will demolish the Ka’ba.”203 204. Umar ibn al-Khattab, reported that he heard the Prophet say: “The people of Mecca will leave, and only a few people will pass through it. Then it will be resettled and rebuilt; then the people will leave it again, and no one will ever return.”204

THREE LANDSLIDES AND THE FIRE IN YEMEN 205. Narrated Hudhaifa, son of Usaid Ghifari: Allah’s Messenger came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He said: “What are you discussing?” (The Companions) said: “We are discussing the Last Hour.” Thereupon he said: “It will not come until you see ten signs before, and (in this connection) he made a mention of the smoke, Antichrist, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus, son of Mary, the Gog and Magog, and landslides in three places, one in the east, one in the west, and one in Arabia, at the end of which fire would burn forth from the Yemen, and would drive people to the place of their assembly.”205 The fire in Yemen could be the result of a large volcanic eruption or a comet strike. Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Malahim Hadith 4287 Bukhari Book 26, Number 666 204http://www.islamworld.net/hour/Nine.txt 205Muslim Book 41, Number 6931 202 203

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206. Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said: “The Hour will not be established till a fire will come out of the land of Hijaz, and it will throw light on the necks of the camels at Busra (in Iraq).”206 207. Narrated Abu Huraira: The Apostle of Allah said: “The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday; on it Adam was created, on it he was expelled (from Paradise), on it his contrition was accepted, on it he died, and on it the Last Hour will take place. On Friday, every beast is on the lookout from dawn to sunrise in fear of the Last Hour, but not jinn and men, and it contains a time at which no Muslim prays and asks anything from Allah, but He will give it to him.” Ka’b said: “That is one day every year.” So I said: “It is on every Friday.”207

END OF THE WORLD And the Day that the Trumpet will be sounded — then will be smitten with terror those who are in the heavens, and those who are on earth, except such as Allah will please (to exempt): and all shall come to His (Presence) as beings conscious of their lowliness. Qur’an 27:87 The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books (completed) — even as We produced the first creation, so shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly shall We fulfil it. Qur’an 21:104

206 207

Muslim Book 41, Number 6935 Abu Dawud

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208. “The Hour will not come upon anyone who says, ‘Allah, Allah’; it will only come upon the most evil of men.”208 At the time of the last hour, there will be no one who believes in God. 209. It was reported from Abu Huraira that the Prophet said: “The hour will not come until there has been rain which will destroy all dwellings except tents.”209 210. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: “The earth would consume every son of Adam except his spinal chord from which his body would be reconstituted (on the Day of Resurrection).”210 211. Abu Huraira reported so many hadith from Allah’s Apostle, and amongst them was that Allah’s Messenger said: “There is a bone in the human being that the earth would never consume and it is from this that new bodies would be reconstituted (on the Day of Resurrection).” They said: “Allah’s Messenger, which bone is that?” Thereupon he said: “It is the spinal bone.”211 212. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: “Between the two blowings of the trumpet, (there would be an interval of forty).” They said: “Abu Huraira, do you mean forty days?” He said: “I cannot say anything.” They said: “Do you mean forty months?” He said: “I cannot say anything.” They said: “Do you mean forty years?” He said: “I cannot say anything.” Then he said: “Then Allah would cause the water to descend from the sky, and Ibn Kathir Ahmad, 2/262 210Muslim Book 41, Number 7056 211Muslim Book 41, Number 7057 208 209

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they (people) will sprout like vegetables. The only thing in a man which would not decay would be one bone (spinal chord) from which the whole frame would be reconstituted on the Day of Resurrection.”212 213. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, would fold the Heavens on the Day of Judgment and then He would place them on His right hand and say: “I am the Lord; where are the haughty and where are the proud today?” He would fold the Earth, placing it on the left hand and say: “I am the Lord; where are the haughty and where are the proud today?”213 214. It was narrated that Sahl, son of Sa’d, said: I heard the Prophet say: “The people will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection on reddish white land like a pure loaf of bread (made from pure fine flour).” Sahl or someone else said: “It will have no landmarks for anyone (to make use of).”214 215. Aisha reported that she beard Allah’s Messenger as saying: “The people would be assembled on the Day of Resurrection barefooted, naked, and uncircumcised.” I said: “Allah’s Messenger, will the male and the female be together on the Day and would they be looking at one another?” Upon this Allah’s Messenger said: “Aisha, the matter would be too serious for them to look at one another.”215

Muslim Book 41, Number 7055 Muslim Book 39, Number 6704 214Muslim Book 39, Number 6708 215Muslim Book 40, Number 6844 212 213

CHAPTER 4

Interpretation of Events This chapter compiles the sayings of the Messenger of God and endeavors to arrange them in the chronological sequence in which events are likely to occur. Because we are mostly working with the same material as in the last chapter, almost everything here is a repetition. The main difference is that instead of dividing the text between the sayings of the Prophet and the explanations, we are presenting the same information in one continuous narrative. Since this chapter offers my own personal interpretation of the prophecies, the hadith being quoted and the opinions regarding their meaning all appear together, and the fine line between what is in the hadith and what is my opinion has intentionally been blurred. Please note that whenever the Messenger of God mentioned a person or a group, he would usually refer to the tribe that they came from, as was the custom in Arabia at that time. Everyone belonged to one tribe or the other, and when reference was made to someone, the tribe to which they belonged was also mentioned. Since that time, over 1,400 years and nearly 50 generations have passed, and people have moved around from the original location of their tribe. For the purpose of identifying these people or groups in the present context, we must assume that whenever the tribe of a person or group is mentioned, it is the tribe from which they originally 139

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descended and not necessarily the current location of where they live. For example, the tribe of Bani Kalb was originally from Syria, but may now be living in Iraq. The term “Children of Israel” could refer to Jews no matter where they are, but could also refer to Muslims who are descended from those Jews who converted to Islam and are still living in Palestine and the surrounding areas. The Pathan people of Afghanistan and Pakistan claim to consist of several of the ten lost tribes of Israel and could correctly be referred to as Children of Isaac or Children of Israel. Aramaic inscriptions have been found in Afghanistan, and many customs among the Pathans predate Islam and are more akin to the laws of Moses. Names of locations have also changed over time. For example, what was called Ar-Ray in the seventh century would refer to Tehran in Iran now. Ray was an ancient town that was located near presentday Tehran. It was a great Islamic center of learning during the golden age of Islam. The town was severely damaged during the Mongol invasions and supplanted by Tehran. Therefore, when Ar-Ray is mentioned in the sayings of the Messenger of God, we can assume that it refers to today’s Tehran. Syria is one country that is mentioned frequently in relation to prophecies that pertain to current times. However, when the Messenger of God refers to Sham (Syria), it is obviously the area known as Syria during his time, and this area would now include present-day Syria as well as Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and parts of Turkey and Iraq. So, when he refers to “Antioch in Syria,” he obviously means presentday Antioch in Turkey. When he says that Syria will take the tribes of Egypt prisoner, he is likely to mean that the Israelis will take Egyptian prisoners. When he says that the people of Syria will get no food because of the Romans, he means that the Palestinians will get no food because of the Americans. Syria could mean any of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, etc., depending on the context in which it is referred to. We will start the narrative from the time of the First World War, as the prophecies that can clearly be matched with present-day

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conflicts appear to start at the beginning of the 20th century. And this is indeed a very valid starting point as, after all, the root cause of the present clash between the West and Islam is the creation and perpetuation of the state of Israel, the seeds of which were laid when, as an aftermath of the First World War, the Muslim Ottoman Empire was disbanded and Britain pledged Palestine to the Zionists in the infamous Balfour Declaration. I have arranged the prophecies in chronological order. The starting point of events mentioned in this chapter lies in the past, and we subsequently move on to events that have not occurred yet and consequently will be occurring in the future. Therefore, it is logical that at some stage in the narrative, we should arrive at a point in time that represents the present days. When this occurs, I will mention it. So, until you see the marker, you may assume that the events being discussed have already occurred, and events after the marker have yet to occur and represent the future prophecies.

WORLD WARS I AND II It was prophesied that a great war near the end of time (the Third World War) would be preceded by two other great wars during which many people would be killed. The first of the three major wars would start a few decades after the year 1300 AH (1883 AD), when God would incite a Greek king (a Christian European) to make war on the world. This was the First World War. A short while later, that is, two decades after the first war, a man whose name would be associated with a cat name* from the German lands would start to bother people and would want to seize control *The man from the German lands is obviously Adolf Hitler. However, to refer to him as someone with a “cat name” is not as apt as referring to him as someone with a “wolf name,” because the name Adolf is derived from the old German name Adalwuf, which means “noble wolf.” This mistake may have occurred because of an error in the transmission of the hadith.

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over the whole world. He would light the fires of the Second World War and would be known as the “Great Leader.” He would wage war against the entire world, both the warm (southern) and cold (northern) lands. After years filled with severe war fires, he would meet God’s punishment.

CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST It was prophesied that some Muslims would be fighting the unbelievers until the remnant of them would fight along the River Jordan — Muslims to the east of it and the unbelievers to the west of it. Today, it so happens that the border between Jordan and Israel lies along the River Jordan, and this is the fault line along which the conflict between the Muslims and the Zionists is being fought. It was predicted that the inhabitants of Egypt and Syria would kill their rulers. Then there would be the killing of a senior member of the Hashemite. Many rulers of Egypt have been killed in the last century, the last one being Anwar Sadat in 1981. Jordan is known as the Hashemite Kingdom, and King Abdullah was killed in 1951. Between five to eight decades after the year 1300 AH (1883 AD), a man, “Nasser,” would rule Egypt. Arabs would call him “succa-ul Arab,” meaning “the brave of the Arabs.” God would punish him twice, once in one war, and then in another one and Nasser would never attain victory. Around this time the flow of the river Euphrates would be halted, an event that could be said to have occurred when the Keban Dam was built on the river. God would make a dark-colored person (Anwar Sadat), whose father would be more enlightened than he would be, the leader of the Egyptian people and the Arab nation. But he would make an agreement with the thieves of the Masjid al-Aqsa (the Israelis). The Muslims would make a firm truce with the Romans (America), and they would both wage a campaign against an enemy that is attacking

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them (Russia). The Soviets invaded Afghanistan and there was subsequent collaboration between Muslims and America to evict them. During this time, a nation/tribe would come forth from the direction of Iran. Muslim armies would be coming down to the Iranian plains. Hypocrites (Muslims of weak or no faith, probably the Iraqi army) would be standing on the bank of a black river called Rakabeh on the other side in an area where oil wells are concentrated. There would be a war between them. God would deprive both armies of victory. This was, of course, the Iran-Iraq war that lasted from 1980 to 1988 and ended inconclusively. Meanwhile, the Muslims, as well as their Roman ally (America), would be granted victory and great spoils, and they would alight in a plain surrounded by hills (Afghanistan). Then a cruel man would appear in Iraq. This man, with a slight injury in his eye, would be a tyrant and would be violently aggressive against his opponents. The Byzantines and the Franks (the West) would gather their forces together against this man, whose name would be Saddam, to fight over a wasteland. This wasteland region would be small Kut (which includes Kuwait), the region to which he had come previously because he was deceived. This deception actually occurred when, before Iraq’s invasion, Saddam was told by the Americans that they didn’t care what he did against Kuwait. A country smaller than the end bone of the spinal cord (Kuwait) would wail for the world to come to its aid. Its leader would surrender the banner to the leader of all evil, who would come from the furthest western shores. The leader would regain his throne, and Iraq would be destroyed in the confrontation. The leader of this nation would also fight the army of the Mahdi and would be ordered by the Mahdi to be executed and then the country would return to the main body of Islam. Iraq would be sanctioned thereafter, causing its people to receive neither food nor money because of the non-Arabs, and the Romans (Americans) would start installing their bases up to Khaiber, near Medina.

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WORLD WAR III When Saddam emerges, the war between him and America will be the beginning of World War III. Iraq will be destroyed and withhold its currency (be occupied or cut off from the Muslim community). Then a Tyrant who descends from Abu Sufyaan, and whose mother is from the tribe of Kalb, will come from Damascus. This implies that the corroborators helping the U.S. in Iraq are descendants of people from the greater Syria region. This Tyrant will probably be a post-Saddam ruler of Iraq who will be installed by the foreign-occupation forces. The Tyrant and his forces will move on to Kufa (Iraq) and pillage it, killing the descendants of the Prophet and attacking to the point where they will kill children and rip open women. There will then be a great battle, killing 100,000 in the city of Az-Zawra (Baghdad), located between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Basra will be ruined. In retaliation, the tribe of Qays will rise up against the Tyrant, but they will be defeated by him, and he will slaughter them in Kurkisa. Kurkisa is present-day Kirkuk in Iraq, and the Qays is an Iraqi tribe living in the Kirkuk region. The people of Iraq will then be divided into three parts. One part will join the Tyrant’s army. These will be the most wicked people God created. Another group will wage war against them, and these people are the honorable servants of God. Another part will join the pillagers (those who fight and kill), and they are sinners, while the innocent people in Iraq will seek shelter in Syria. The Mahdi will come while this is occurring, and he will restore what had been stolen from the people of Iraq, and the country will be rebuilt. As predicted, Iraq has been divided into three parts by the occupation forces — Shia, Sunni and Kurd and made to fight each other as part of a policy of divide and rule. Also, as was prophesied, the American invasion of Iraq has led to over a million Iraqis to seek refuge in Jordan and Syria. There are also

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hundreds of thousands in other countries, and they continue to flee in large numbers. The flow of the Euphrates River would be stopped, revealing a treasure of gold (possibly oil), and when the people will hear of it, they will flock towards it, but the people who would possess that treasure would say: “If we allow these persons to take from it, they would take away the whole of it.” So, they will fight, and 99 out of 100 of them will die in the process. The aftermath of the Euphrates’ War would give rise to anarchy. The disbelievers would be united under one leader against the Muslims, while the Muslims would be completely divided. A man from the descendants of the Messenger of God will come under three banners with 12-15,000 men who are willing to fight to their deaths. Then, there will appear another group with seven banners, underneath each of which will be a man seeking the kingdom. There will be a civil war between these groups, and God will kill all of them, thereby restoring unity and favors upon the hearts of Muslims, and the rift between Muslims will be healed. At the same time as the Tyrant will be killing people in Iraq, he will send his army against the dwellers of Afghanistan, demanding that some people be handed over to him. Harith, son of Hirrath, would then emerge from Transoxiana (Afghanistan), and another man named Mansur would lead his army. The former (Harith) will be preparing the minds of Muslims to accept the Mahdi when he comes. Muslims will be asked to listen to his advice. He will provide protection to the Mahdi like the Quraish provided protection for the Messenger of God in Medina before the Hijrah. Mansur, along with his army, will aid him. The man from Tamim, Shuayb, son of Salih, a dark man of medium stature, and the bearer of the Mahdi’s flag, will appear at this time and is variously mentioned as coming from Khurasan or Ar-Ray. Because Ar-Ray is likely to be Tehran, he could be described as an Arab, or a descendant of an Arab, who travels from Afghanistan via Iran to Iraq

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and then to Medina. Similarly, al-Harith will be part of this group, along with Mansur, who will be leading the army. Or Shuayb could possibly be an Iranian leader. The black flags that come from the east will be carried by mighty men with long hair and beards who wear black turbans and white clothes and whose surnames are taken from the names of their hometowns. Palestine will also be sanctioned, causing its people to receive neither any money nor grain because of the Romans, and the Palestinians will be conquered and then be cut off from the Islamic mainstream (or, as the hadith says, “withhold their currency”). Muslims are told not to rebuke the people of Syria (Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon) because there are Al Abdal among them. The Al Abdal (servants of God) are a group of eminent saints, said to be 40 in number, known only to God and appointed by Him. It is through their goodness that the world continues to exist. A flood of troubles will come upon the people of Syria (Palestine or Iraq), which will disperse their groups in such a way that if foxes attacked, they would be beaten. The people from Syria (probably meaning Israel) will take prisoner the tribes of Egypt. Egypt will be conquered and will be cut off from the Muslim mainstream, and the Muslims will then recoil to the position from which they came (i.e., Arabia). Following Iraq’s destruction, the Nile River will dry up, and Egypt will also be ruined. Then the Ethiopians will come after the Arabs, and they will be defeated and thrown into the lowest part of the earth. There is a conflict underway in Darfur, Sudan, between the northern Muslim Arabs and the animist rebels in the south, who are supported by the Ethiopians and the West. These same Ethopians are also attacking Somalia under western supervision. Meanwhile, severe trials and tribulations will befall all the Muslims. Their rulers will cause them severe trouble in such a way that there will be no comfort for Muslims anywhere. These cruel rulers will

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frighten even the silent and submissive ones, in addition to those who disobey them. There will be no home that strife will not enter, and no Muslim will remain untouched by it. This will continue until a man of gnosis and illumination from the household of the Prophet appears (i.e., the Mahdi).

In terms of the order of the timing of events, we are approximately at this stage as of May 2007. Events that we have discussed up to now have mostly already occurred, and those beyond this point are predicted to happen.

ATTACK ON IRAN The forces of the Tyrant will attack Iran. Shuayb, the son of Salih, will engage the Tyrant in Shiraz, Iran. Between them, there will be a tremendously fierce battle, and the black banners of Shuayb with his 4,000 men will win, but the forces of the Tyrant will escape. This obviously sounds like an attack on Iran that is nowadays (as of May 2007) being publicly debated in the West, urged on by the rulers of Israel. This attack is destined to fail in achieving its objectives. Around that time, the people of Khurasan will cry for the Mahdi because they need him. There will be an alliance between the black banners of the Children of Al Abbas from Iraq and the black banners of the people of Khurasan. The Muslim forces in Iraq and Afghanistan will link up with each other, and Iran will be the facilitator or a party to this alliance. The “Children of Al Abbas” are descendants of Abbas ibn Abd alMuttalib, uncle of the Messenger of God and founder of the Abbasid dynasty of Baghdad. The group with the large black banners will be Iraqis, and the people with the small black banners will be from Khurasan, two countries that are currently under U.S. occupation.

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This occupation has created resistance movements that will benefit the most from the appearance of the Mahdi; hence they are likely to be among the first to support him. Khurasan is an ancient name for an area that includes northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. There is a province nowadays in Iran called “Khorasan” (spelled in this manner) that borders Afghanistan. So, the prophecies concerning Khurasan are likely to mean Afghanistan, but may also mean Iran. Whichever it is is immaterial because the Muslims of the whole region stretching from northwest Pakistan to Iraq are likely to be involved in the struggle. If the people of the black flag divide and fail, then the people of the yellow banner (Egyptians) will attack; they will gather in the canal of Egypt (Suez Canal), and the people of the East and the West will fight.

FIGHTING DURING HAJ Disagreement will occur at the death of a ruler, and three groups will be fighting over the (possibly Saudi) kingdom before the Mahdi appears. None of these three will win. The year in which the Mahdi will emerge, people will perform Haj together and gather without a leader. There will be tumult in Shawwal (tenth Islamic month), talk of war in Dhu al-Qi’dah (eleventh Islamic month), and the outbreak of war, massacre, and carnage in Dhu al-Hijja (twelfth Islamic month), as well as the plundering of pilgrims in Dhu al-Hijja, and it will not be possible to cross a street because of bloodshed. Religious prohibitions will be violated, and big sins will be committed near the Ka’ba. There will be battles at Mina, during which many will be slain, and blood will flow until it runs over the Jamra al-’Aqaba (pillar representing Satan that the pilgrims stone), and legs will be buried in lakes of blood. In Muharram (first Islamic month), when an innocent child (or children) of the community of Muhammad will be killed, those in the

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heavens and those on earth will be angry, and an angel from the sky will cry: “God is with him (the Mahdi) and with those who are with him. Take heed. Such a person is of the auspicious ones of the people of God. Listen to and obey him.” Nowadays, the large-scale killing of innocent Muslim children is an almost daily occurrence in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan and is considered absolutely justifiable by some countries and is referred to as “collateral damage.” Signs of the appearance of the Mahdi include: 1. The Tyrant reaches Iraq and kills the supporters of the family of Muhammad. The Children of Al Abbas appear with black banners in Iraq. 2. The Tyrant attacks Afghanistan. Harith appears with Mansur leading the army. 3. The Tyrant attacks Iran. Shuayb, son of Salih, appears. 4. A comet with a luminous tail will rise from the east. 5. The emergence of a big flare, which is seen in the east, in the sky for three nights. Sighting of an extraordinary redness, not as red as the usual color of the dawn, and it is spread over the horizon. This may be the result of oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia being ignited. 6. The purified soul, that is one or more innocent children, are killed. 7. Muslims will be experiencing great fear, disturbances, civil war, and other disasters. 8. Chaos and violence during Haj, with fighting in Mina. Most the above things have already happened or are in the process of occurring. As of this writing, the attack on Iran is being talked about, and when that happens, it would only leave the violence during Haj as the last sign of the coming of the Mahdi. During the Haj in 1987, there was a conflict when Iranian pilgrims held a demonstration in which over 400 people died. But this did not

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happen in Mina, and it was not a conflict for control of the country, so that event is not the one that is predicted. The messenger of God said regarding the comet that will be a sign of the coming of the Mahdi: “When this comet first appeared, the people of Prophet Noah perished, Prophet Abraham was cast into fire, Pharaoh and his people who fought against Prophet Moses perished, and John the Baptist passed away.” This could refer to Halley’s Comet that last appeared in 1986, or to another comet. We are advised to count two or three decades after the year/decade of Hijri 1400 before the Mahdi emerges. While there is fighting going on in Mina during Haj, seven knowledgeable men from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia will search for the Mahdi. The Imam Mahdi (the guided one) Muhammad., son of Abdullah (this will be the Mahdi’s name), the promised deliverer, will be inspired by God, and preparations will be made for him in one night to carry out his task successfully. God will assure him of his goal and importance. He will be tall with a medium complexion, having a broad forehead and a prominent nose, with a mole on his right cheek. He will have been born and raised in Medina and will be 40 years old or less at the time of his appointment. He will be of the family of the Messenger of God, from the descendants of his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali, and their sons Hassan and Hussein. During that night, when the seven men meet, they will ask one another what brought them to Mecca, and each will say they have come seeking the Mahdi. Their followers will search for him in Mecca, and when they find him, they will ask if his name is Muhammad, son of Abdullah. However, he will be overcome by the implications, and through sincere humility he will say no, and then leave Mecca for Medina. The followers will return to their knowledgeable leaders and describe the man they met, whereupon these leaders will confirm that the person with whom they spoke was the one they were searching for. By then, however, the Mahdi will have left for Medina, and so they will go to Medina to look for him, but he will already have returned to Mecca.

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Upon their return to Mecca, they will search for him and will catch up with him whilst he is standing beside Al Rukn, near the Ka’ba, and say: “Our sins will be upon you and our blood upon your neck if you do not stretch out your hand so that we may pledge our allegiance! The army of the Tyrant is coming demanding us because there is a wanted person (man from Jurm) amongst us.” So, he will humbly sit between Al Rukn and Al Makam and receive their allegiance, even though he will dislike the idea of being put in this situation. There is an area around Mecca that is called Umm al Jurm, where the Jurm tribe lived. Jurm could also refer to Jurm District in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, where people from the Jurm tribe could have settled. The people who forcibly pledge allegiance to the Mahdi may be the “Afghans,” as those Arabs who fought in Afghanistan are called. At this time, God will sow love of the Mahdi in their chests, and he will lead a nation, the people of which are like lions during the day, but worshippers at night. They will lead him by the hand towards the Hajare Aswad (the Black Stone attached to the Ka’ba), where people will then formally pledge their allegiance to him as the Caliph. This pledge will take place in front of The Holy Ka’ba, between the Black Stone and the Maqaame Ibraheem (Station of Abraham, adjacent to the Ka’ba), during or just after the days of Haj. Initially, the number of people to pledge allegiance to the Mahdi that night will be 313, which is the number of the companions of the Messenger who took part in the Battle of Badr. This will all take place in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, the month of Haj (or the next month in Muharram).

YEAR ONE OF THE MAHDI The Mahdi will then emerge as the new Caliph of the Muslim community in the following year. Shuayb, son of Salih, Harith, and Mansur will learn of the coming of the Mahdi and will march to join him from Talakaan, Afghanistan, or from Iran under three black banners, under

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which will be 4,000 warriors ready to pledge their allegiance to the Mahdi. This will be the army of the Mahdi. Their clothes will be white and their turbans will be black. Every land they pass over, they will conquer, establishing Islam. Muslims from Kufa, Iraq, Yemen, and Tunisia will also march to join him. When the Tyrant in Iraq hears of the Mahdi, he will immediately dispatch an army towards Medina to kill him, and they will pillage Medina for three days. A great battle will be fought at Ahjar Al Zayt — The Stone of Oil — between the army of the Tyrant and the Muslims of Medina, in which the people of Medina will suffer and those who escape will flee to Mecca, amongst whom will be the Mahdi. Several men from the Quraish will escape to Istanbul in Turkey, and the Tyrant will send an extradition request to the leader of the Romans, who will return them to the Tyrant, and he will slit their throats, as well as the throats of their followers. Afterwards, the army of the Tyrant will march towards Mecca, where the Mahdi will be. This army will be destroyed by an enormous earthquake at Baidaa, a place on the way from Medina to Mecca, and will then be swallowed up by the ground. First, the rear of the army will be devastated, and when those in front go back to see what has happened, they, too, will meet the same fate. All but two members of this army will perish, and these sole survivors will take back the news of this disaster to the Tyrant. Up until that time, Muslims around the world would have been skeptical about the news of the Mahdi. The sinking of the army in the desert will be the signal that the Mahdi is really here, and Muslims from everywhere will rush to support him. When the story of divine help being granted to the Mahdi spreads throughout the Muslim world, over 300 of the Al Abdal (pious people) of Syria will come to pledge allegiance to the Mahdi and join his ranks. Similarly, other Muslims from Syria, Egypt, and the east (maybe Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) and elsewhere will also come to Mecca and offer their support and allegiance to the Mahdi. The Imam will then

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leave Mecca for Medina, where he will offer respects at the grave of the Messenger of God. Then the Mahdi will come out with the Banner of the Prophet made from a marked woolen black square that will not have been unfolded since the Messenger, and it will not be unfolded until the Mahdi comes. Shuayb, son of Salih, will become the bearer of the banner. The Mahdi will say his prayer and when he finishes, he will go out and say: “O people, continuous trials came to the nation of Muhammad, especially to the family of his House, and we have been conquered and wronged.” The supporters of the Mahdi will then seize control of Arabia instead of the three claimants who were fighting over it. When this happens, an unprecedented amount of bloodshed will occur. Muslims are advised to support the army from Khurasan, as this is the army of the Mahdi, and no one will be able to stop them until they have captured Jerusalem.

Here, let us step aside from the narrative and discuss an issue that is critical towards understanding the sayings of the Messenger of God and to put them in the correct context. When the Messenger of God mentions “The Great War” (AlMalhamah Al-Kubrah), is he talking about what is referred to as Armageddon or is he talking about the Battle of Kalb? Or are they all the same? There are clearly two distinct battles, as the Battle of Kalb happens soon after the Mahdi appears and another final conflict takes place near the end of his Caliphate, when Jesus kills the Antichrist and destroys his army. In all the sayings of the Messenger of God, the bigger war by far appears to be the Battle of Kalb, for which the Muslims gather in Damascus and the Romans gather troops from all over the world, including the tribe of Kalb from Iraq under the Tyrant. This battle is fierce and devastating for both sides, with the Muslims eventually prevailing.

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By contrast, the showdown with the Antichrist is comparatively a walkover, as Jesus pursues the fleeing Antichrist all the way from Damascus to near Tel Aviv, where he slays him. The Antichrist is depicted as melting away or losing his power on the appearance of Jesus. His army is then hunted down and totally annihilated. In Christian prophecy, Armageddon is the war during which the whole world gathers to destroy the believers. In Muslim prophecy, a very similar battle is referred to as the Great War or the Battle of Kalb. Therefore, it is most likely that The Great War, the Battle of Kalb, and Armageddon refer to the same event and that this happens before the Antichrist and Jesus appear. The believers are, of course, the Muslims, not their opponents. Another viewpoint is that “The Great War” is a term for the Third World War that starts with the invasion of Iraq and ends with the killing of the Antichrist. The Battle of Kalb is one battle of many during this war, and what is referred to as Armageddon is either the Battle of Kalb or another battle, perhaps the final one, during which the Antichrist is killed. Since Armagaddon refers to an exact location in presentday Israel (Har Megiddo), and since this location is on the road from Damascus to Tel Aviv, a route along which Jesus will be chasing the Antichrist, it is quite likely that Armagaddon may be the battle between Jesus and the Antichrist. Therefore, it will not be the biggest battle, but the final one. By whatever name we refer to individual battles, what is clear is that World War Three or the Great War (Al-Malhamah Al-Kubrah) is now well and truly underway and will not end until the total victory of Islam. According to Islamic prophecies, there will be two great battles that the Mahdi will fight. One will be with the Romans and their allies who attack the Mahdi, and the second is the

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one against the Antichrist, during which Jesus will appear. During both these battles, the base of operations for the Muslims will be Damascus in Syria. The following saying of the Messenger of God should clear a point regarding the sequence of events: • Narrated Abdullah, son of Busr: The Prophet said: “The time between the Great War and the conquest of the city will be six years, and the Antichrist (False Messiah) will come forth in the seventh.” (Sunan Abu Dawud: Book 37, Number 4283) The sequence of events is: 1) The Great War; 2) Conquest of Constantinople six years later; 3) The Antichrist appears the year after. Consequently, the Great War happens before the Antichrist or Jesus appear and is therefore not the final battle during which the Antichrist is destroyed. Israel will continue to exist until the final battle and will only be wrapped up after Jesus has killed the Antichrist and his supporters, the Israeli army.

Soon after the Mahdi appears and Muslims gather to support him, and they’ve taken control of Arabia, the Mahdi and the forces with him will march from Medina towards Damascus in Syria with the archangels Gabriel, at his front, and Michael, at his middle. In other words, they will have the support of God in their mission. The Romans will muster strength against the Muslims. The Roman coalition will consist of Christians and Jews and all anti-Islamic nations of the world who will come to fight by land, sea, and air. The exceptions

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will be countries with climates of extreme cold and extreme heat. This will be very much like Gulf War I, when the Americans gathered the whole world to fight against Iraq. The difference between the two is that God did not support a secular Iraq at that time, whereas now, He will be supporting the Muslims. The Muslim army consisting of the best soldiers of the people on earth at that time will gather in Damascus to oppose the Romans. Muslim troops will also be gathered in Iraq and Yemen. The Messenger of God advised Muslims to go to Syria at that time as it is God’s chosen land, to which His best servants will be gathered, armed with the best weapons. The Mahdi will see the whole world plot against him, but he will see that God’s plan is stronger than all, and he will see that the world belongs to God and to Him it will return, and that the world is but a tree that God wills him to rule from its roots to its branches. It is predicted by the Messenger of God that all Muslims in the land of the Romans will be killed, or that hardships will befall them. It may be around this time in the narrative that this would happen. This means that Muslims in America and Europe will be severely persecuted, so Muslims would be better off leaving before things get really bad. Persecution of Muslims is already happening and will only get worse once the serious battles get underway in the Middle East. Muslims living in those countries that have the most anti-Muslim sentiments should make plans to move to safe locations. The lesson of recent European history is that once an ethnic group is vilified, then concentration camps and large-scale massacres are not far behind. In America, the Japanese were transferred to concentration camps during the Second World War, and after the events of 9/11, there was open talk of doing the same to Muslims. There are rumors of very large concentration camps being built in America. The Romans will surround the Mahdi and his followers and say: “Do not stand between us and those Muslims who took prisoners from among us. Let us fight them.” The Muslims will say: “No, by God, we

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shall never hand you our brethren so that you may fight them.” In other words, they will refuse to hand over fellow Muslims to be transferred to Guantanamo Bay, unlike what the present-day rulers have been doing. Thus, the battle will begin near Aleppo in Syria. The Muslims will prepare a detachment for fighting to the death, which will vow not to return unless victorious. They will fight until darkness intervenes. Both sides will return without being victorious, and one third of the Muslims will be killed. They will fight again on the second day, and again one third or thereabouts of the Muslims will be killed. On the third day, they will fight again, and there will still be no result. On the fourth day, a new detachment from the remnant of the Muslims will be prepared and God will decree that the enemy will be routed. They will fight a fight the like of which has not been seen, so fierce that even if a bird were to pass their flanks, it would fall down dead before reaching the other end. The Roman forces will be decimated and the Muslims will be victorious, but there will be little joy because so many will have fallen in battle. The Muslim fighters under the Mahdi will capture the Tyrant and execute him under a tree, the branches of which grow in the direction of Lake Tiberias. The tribe of Kalb will suffer the same fate. Syria (maybe Palestine) and Iraq will thus be liberated from the tyrannical rule of the Tyrant. It is possible that the Muslims will capture all or part of Jerusalem during this battle, as it is predicted that Jerusalem will be captured some time during the Great War. The city of Medina will be in great danger, as it has been prophesied that it will be damaged or destroyed during the Great War after Jerusalem comes into the hands of Muslims. It is possible that the enemies of Islam will attack Medina with weapons of mass destruction, possibly nuclear. Whatever happens to Medina, it will be rebuilt, as the later prophecies talk of Jesus being buried besides the grave of the Prophet, so at least that area would survive intact. During the battle, one-third of the Muslim army will run away, whom God will never forgive. Another third of the army will fall in

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battle and consist of excellent martyrs in God’s eyes. The remaining third, who will never be put on trial on the Day of Judgment, will win, and they will go on to conquer Istanbul and liberate Turkey. Following this battle, an agreement will be made between the Mahdi and the Romans, which will be signed in Jerusalem and mediated by an Israelite descending from the prophet Aaron. This specific agreement will be upheld for seven years until the appearance of the Antichrist. As part of this agreement, the Muslims will gain access to at least part of Jerusalem, where the Mahdi will travel to, if they will not have captured it earlier. It would be interesting at this point to speculate about what happens to the “Romans” over the next few years of the narrative. During the time of the Messenger of God, the Christians that he interacted with belonged to the entity that was known as the Byzantine Empire, with Byzantium (Constantinople) as its capital. This is also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire and had split off from the Western Empire that had the city of Rome as its capital. So, the Messenger of God referred to the Byzantine Christians as Romans, and this description would have applied to any European Christian. When he mentioned Rome, he would have been referring to Constantinople or present-day Istanbul in Turkey, and not to Rome in Italy. This issue has been a cause of some confusion among many Muslims, as according to their interpretation of the prophecies, Rome in Italy would be conquered. But this is most likely a misreading, and in reality, Muslims will be defending and liberating their own lands and will not be attacking or occupying any place else. There are no sayings of the Messenger of God that support the contention that any place in Europe other than Istanbul will be conquered, and Istanbul is an Islamic city that happes to be controlled by forces hostile to Islam. The modern-day descendants of the Romans are the Europeans and Americans. In the context of the prophecies as they apply to present times, the Romans are most likely to be the Americans and their

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allies, who are deeply involved in the struggle against Islam and are the main supporters of Israel. After the Battle of Kalb, there is no more mention of the Romans in the sayings of the Messenger of God, although there is a lot of mention of them before this battle. After the peace treaty is signed between the Mahdi and the Romans, they cease to be in any way involved in any further conflict with the Muslims until the end of the world. Maybe they will keep up their support of Israel, but are unlikely to continue fighting on its behalf as they’re doing now. There could be many reasons for the Romans (America and Europe) no longer being mentioned: • It may be that all the sayings of the Messenger of God in which he mentioned Roman involvement in subsequent events have been lost. • The Mahdi will bring out the original Torah and convince many of the Romans of the truth of Islam, so they will lose their hostility towards Islam. • Jesus will appear to destroy the Antichrist, and Jesus will be on the side of the Muslims. Therefore, the Americans will no longer fight them. • The Americans will suffer such devastating losses in the war that they will lose the will to continue fighting and will become tired of getting involved in the area. • They will suffer economic and natural calamities in their lands, rendering them incapable of undertaking any more adventures in the Middle East. The truth is likely to be a combination of all of the above, and the end result will probably be that America and its allies will abandon the Middle East and leave Israel to its fate to deal with the consequences of its actions. America will cease to be a major player in the Middle East.

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YEARS TWO TO FIVE OF THE MAHDI The Mahdi is expected to stay for seven to nine years. If it is seven years that he will stay, then the events discussed here will happen at a quicker pace; otherwise they will follow the timetable we predict. The Mahdi will become the supreme leader and reformer of the Muslim Ummah (community), filling the earth with equity and justice, just as it had been filled with tyranny, oppression, and injustice. He and his companions will liberate Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, possibly along with the rest of the Muslim world, from their respective tyrants. The Mahdi will then distribute wealth without count until he sends a messenger saying: “Who is in need of wealth?” None except one man will stand and say, “me.” So he will say: “Go to the treasurer and tell him that the Mahdi orders you to give me wealth.” So the treasurer will say to him: “Fill with your hands!” And he will put it in his clothing, then tie it. Then he will become contrite and say: “I was the greediest among the nation of Muhammad,” and he will attempt to return it, but it will not be accepted, and it will be said to him: “We do not accept what we have given.” Upon releasing Syria (Palestine) and Iraq from the oppressive rule of the Tyrant, the Imam will then send his forces to Antioch to rest. Syria will then be reconstructed, and Iraq will be reconstructed. This will all happen within the beginning to the middle of the Mahdi’s second year as the Caliph, and his capital will be in Medina. The caliphate encompassing most, if not all, the Muslim countries will be established. There will be massive economic and technological development, and the Islamic world will again become one of the major civilizations of the world after a lapse of several hundred years. The Mahdi will go to Jerusalem and will guide the people to the location in Antioch, where the Ark of the Covenant has lain hidden for over 2,500 years. The Ark of the Covenant will be brought forth at Lake Tiberias and will be carried and placed before the Mahdi in Jerusalem.

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Its contents will include the Torah, Staff of Moses, Stone Tablets with the Ten Commandments, and the Table of Solomon. The Mahdi will hold a debate with the Jews based on this original copy of the Torah, and many of them will become Muslims, and they will pledge allegiance to the Mahdi in Jerusalem. The remaining Jews will later become followers of the Antichrist when he appears. Under the Mahdi, the city of Jerusalem will flourish, and the Temple Mount (Bayt al-Maqdis/Masjid al-Aqsa) will be repaired and rebuilt. The rebuilding of the mosque on the Temple Mount implies that it will have been damaged or destroyed during the Great War.

YEAR SIX OF THE MAHDI In the sixth year of the Mahdi, he will dispatch 70,000 soldiers of the clan of the Bani Israel (new converts or Muslim descendants of Jews) to re-conquer Istanbul, liberating it from Roman rule. They will enter Turkey, and Istanbul will fall without a fight. The Muezzins of the Muslims will then establish the five-times-daily calls to prayer throughout the city. The Mahdi will also arrive at Istanbul and set up the structure for his rule, appoint people to govern there, and, most importantly, make arrangements for the implementation of Islamic law. This liberation will deliver untold fortunes into the hands of the Muslims. As the Madhi and his men are busy celebrating the liberation of Istanbul, a rumor will spread that “the Antichrist has broken loose in Syria (Israel) and is wreaking havoc among your families.” This news will be very disturbing to the Imam, and consequently, he will hurriedly leave for Syria. In the meantime, 10 scouting parties will be sent ahead to ascertain the truth. One of them will report that the story is false. The Antichrist has not yet emerged. This was a lie fabricated by Satan to try and disrupt the progress of the Muslims. The Mahdi will resume his return journey to Syria with greater ease and comfort once he learns that the Antichrist is not yet loose. He will stop over in all the

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towns and cities along the route to survey the situation and make the necessary arrangements for government. Around this same time, a group of Muslims will be involved in a war with either India or Pakistan, which they will conquer, and liberate the Muslims from the oppressive rulers. The ending of this war is predicted to coincide with the arrival of Jesus.

YEAR SEVEN OF THE MAHDI Seven years after the war with the Romans will have begun in Syria, in the seventh year of the Mahdi, after he returns to Damascus, the great imposter, the Masih-ad-Dajjal (False Messiah/Prophet, “Antichrist”), will now truly emerge from the east and begin his campaign of mischief and corruption between Syria and Iraq (probably Israel). He will remain to do his mischief for forty days, one day like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and the rest like regular days, so these days will, in fact, cover the length of 428 normal days. The Dajjal will have a large following of mainly Iranian Jews, Bedouins, and illegitimate people (those born outside of marriage). He will be a young man, short and stocky, with twisted, cropped hair and a bulging (maybe glass) eye. He will appear to be driven by a fit of rage. The same interests that promote the New World Order and who would be witnessing their dreams of world domination being ruined by the Mahdi will likely bring the Antichrist forth. It is also likely that they will try to depict the Mahdi as the Antichrist or the False Prophet of Judeo-Christian prophecies, while the real Antichrist will be presented as the Jewish Messiah. It is very easy to imagine the Western media depicting the Mahdi as a terrorist and the Antichrist as the great savior. In fact, many websites run by the pro-war elements in America are already claiming this. Later, in order to bring the Christians on side, the Antichrist may be elevated to the status of being either Jesus Christ himself or a god. He will start by saying that he is a prophet, and then he will say,

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“I am your Lord.” Not only will he claim to be the Messiah of the Jews, but maybe also that of the Christians. Since the Christians worship Jesus, therefore the Antichrist would expect to be worshipped. To back up his claims, he will perform miracles, either by technological or supernatural means. The Antichrist will know about his own reality as an imposter, but will be putting on a show on behalf of the people behind the scenes that will be his sponsors. He will be an actor putting on a big-budget media extravaganza backed up by some very good special effects. The special effects team that gave us the 9/11 spectacular will also bring us the Antichrist Superstar show. The evangelical Christian crowds in America are likely to be ecstatic supporters of the Antichrist. As the Messenger of God said, most of the followers of the Antichrist will be Jews, at least his army will be, and therefore the strategy of bringing in outside powers may not entirely work, leaving the Israelis alone to fight on behalf of the Antichrist. To cut off the Antichrist and his followers from the mainstream Christian world and to neutralize and destroy him, God will send the real Jesus. The Antichrist will build up his power insidiously, rather than with a dramatic appearance. His power and arrogance will rise in stages as he builds himself up from a prophet to a god. According to the Messenger of God, no tribulation on earth since the creation of Adam will be worse than the tribulation of the Antichrist. Every prophet since Noah has warned his people about him. He will be a test by God to see if they believe in Him or in the Antichrist. He will go everywhere except Mecca and Medina, which have been forbidden to him by God. Medina will be shaken by three tremors, after which every person of weak faith will leave, and it will be cleansed of evil, as iron is cleansed of dross. That day will be called Yawm al-Khalas (“The Day of Purification”). His influence will enter into Muslim homes and especially affect the women who are disbelievers or weak of faith to the point that people will have to tie up their women to stop them from following

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the Antichrist. However, the vast majority of Muslims will be able to recognize him for what he is and will not be fooled by him. Like a cloud driven by the wind, he will come to the people and invite them to a wrong religion; they will affirm their faith in him and respond to him. He will be riding a white airplane with a wingspan of 60 feet. God will send with him devils (jinns) that will speak to the people. This means that he will have supernatural powers. He will bring a great tribulation and will spread disaster right and left. For those who support him, he will give a command to the sky, and there will be rainfall upon the earth and it will grow crops. He will then come to another people and invite them. But they will reject him, so he will go away from them; they will have a drought and nothing will be left with them in the form of wealth. He will then walk through the desert and say to it: “Bring forth your treasures.” The treasures will come out and gather before him like a swarm of bees. He will say to the people: “I am a Prophet.” Then he will give praise and say, “I am your Lord.” In reality, he would be neither because the Messenger of God said, “I am the last prophet and no one will see the Lord till they die.” The Antichrist will be given power over a person whom he will kill and cut into two with a saw. Then he will say, “Look at this slave of mine; now I will resurrect him, but he will still claim that he has a Lord other than me.” After this, the Antichrist will step between the two parts of his body and address them saying, “Rise up!” whereupon the man will become whole and stand up and the Antichrist will say to him, “Who is your Lord?” The man will answer, “My Lord is God, and you are the enemy of God. You are the Antichrist. By God, I have never been surer of this than I am today.” The Antichrist will then try to throttle him, but will be unable to do so, so he will fling him to his death, and this man will be one of the greatest martyrs in rank before the Lord of the Worlds. After that, the Antichrist will no longer have the power to kill and bring people back to life. Meanwhile, the people will say, “Can anybody do something like this except the Lord?”

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The Muslims, along with the Mahdi, will flee from Jerusalem to Damascus in Syria, and the Antichrist with his followers will come and besiege them. The siege will intensify, and they will suffer great hardship.

RETURN OF JESUS The Muslims will make preparations to fight the Antichrist and his army in Damascus under the Mahdi. After the 40th day of the Antichrist (near the end of his term), at the end of the eighth year of the Mahdi, exactly at the time when the Mahdi will have stepped forward to lead them in the morning prayer, the Messiah (Anointed One), Jesus, son of Mary, shall descend upon them near the white minaret in the eastern part of Damascus, Syria. The location of Jesus’ expected appearance is the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, an impressive structure with three minarets (towers), one of which is called the Minaret of Jesus, so named because this is where Jesus is expected to appear. He will be of medium height, ruddy-fair/brown complexion with straight hair (not curly or wavy) and a broad chest, wearing two yellow garments dyed with saffron, with his hands leaning on the arms of two angels. The hair of his head will appear as though water was going to trickle down from it, whereas it will not be wet. He will descend on a group that will be righteous at the time and be comprised of 800 men and 400 women. He will call the people at dawn: “O people, what prevented you from coming out to fight this evil liar?” They will say about Jesus, “He is a jinn.” Then they will go out, and find Jesus, son of Mary. Upon his reaching the congregation of the Muslims who are about to begin the morning prayer, the Imam Mahdi will step back, so that Jesus may step forward to lead the Prayer, but Jesus, placing his hand between his two shoulders, will say, “No, you should lead, for the congregation has assembled to follow you.”

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DEATH OF THE ANTICHRIST So, the Imam Mahdi will lead the Prayer. After the salutation, Jesus will say, “Open the gate”; so the gate will be opened. Outside, there will be the Antichrist along with 70,000 of the armed Jews (Israeli army). He will indicate with his hand to move away between him and the Antichrist. The Antichrist will then see Jesus. The Muslims will then come down from the mountains and break loose on the army of Antichrist, and an intense battle will erupt. During the battle, any disbeliever whom the air of Jesus’ breath reaches — and it will reach up to the last limit of his sight — will fall dead. As the Antichrist will look at Jesus, he will start melting like the salt in water, and will flee. Jesus will pursue the Antichrist. He will have two flexible swords and one shield with him. Jesus will overtake the Antichrist at the eastern gate of Lod, near Tel Aviv airport, and then say to him, “I shall strike you a blow which will not let you live,” and will then kill him. That day will be known as the “Day of Salvation.” Thus God would cause the Antichrist and his followers to be defeated and killed. The Israeli soldiers fighting for the Antichrist will have no place to hide, and they will be hunted down and annihilated. Jesus will go and show the blood of the Antichrist on his sword to the Muslims. Then people whom God had protected will come to Jesus, son of Mary, and he will wipe their faces and inform them of their ranks in Paradise. Following this, Jesus will “break the cross” and “kill the swine,” calling everyone back to Islam. The implication of “breaking the cross” and “killing the swine” is that Christianity will become defunct as a religion. The whole edifice of the Christian religion is based on the belief that God crucified His only son on the cross and caused him to suffer this “accursed” death, so that he might thus expiate for the sins of man. However, when Jesus proclaims, “I am not the Son of God; I did not die on the cross, nor did I expiate for the sins of anyone,” the whole basis of Christian belief will be demolished.

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All the prophets have declared the swine unlawful, but the Christians have made it lawful. The consumption of pork was allowed hundreds of years after Jesus in order to make Christianity more palatable to the pagan Romans, and no one can claim that Jesus permitted it. This distinctive characteristic of Christianity will vanish when Jesus will say: “I never declared the swine lawful for my followers, nor did I proclaim them free from the restraints of Divine Law.”

WHAT HAPPENED TO JESUS? According to the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him. On the day this was going to take place, Jesus and the apostles were at a remote cottage belonging to Nicodemus, the scribe. At night, Judas left them to report Jesus’ whereabouts to the high priest, while Jesus was outside praying. When Judas returned with the soldiers, Jesus ran inside, where the eleven other apostles were sleeping. Then Jesus exited through the rear window and was taken away by angles. Then Judas entered the room and was immediately transformed to look like Jesus. He started to wake up the others to ask where Jesus was and they said: “Thou, Lord, art our master; hast thou now forgotten us?” Just then, the soldiers entered the room and caught hold of Judas and arrested him. After that, everything that is supposed to have happened to Jesus actually happed to Judas, and even his mother Mary thought that it was Jesus. Some followers of Jesus later stole the body of Judas from the grave and hid it. This gave rise to the idea of the resurrection of Jesus.

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A few days later, Jesus came back to see his mother and his followers to confirm to them that it really was not him on the cross. Then he left again in plain sight of his companions, accompanied by angels and with the promise that he would return near the end of time. This information is in conformity with the Qur’an, which states that Jesus did not die although it appeared so.

While Jesus is on earth, every harmful animal will be made harmless, so that a small boy will be able to put his hand into a snake’s mouth without being harmed, a small girl will be able to make a lion run away from her, and a wolf will go among sheep as if he were a sheepdog. The earth will be filled with peace as a vessel is filled with water. People will be in complete agreement, and only God will be worshipped. A congregation will be held for Jesus for prayer; and he will distribute so much wealth that people will be satiated with it; and he will abolish the jizyah tax, and bring an end to all war. The Messenger of God said: “The earth will be like a silver basin, and will produce fruit so abundantly that a group of people will gather to eat a bunch of grapes or one pomegranate and will be satisfied. A bull will be worth so much money, but a horse will be worth only a few dirhams.” Someone asked, “O Messenger of God, why will a horse be so cheap?” He said, “Because it will never be ridden in war.” He was asked, “Why will the bull be so expensive?” He said, “Because it will plough the earth.” This implies that all weapons will become worthless because they will no longer be needed, while the means of production will increase in value. People will then return to their respective countries, while one group of Muslims will remain in the service and companionship of Jesus. At this same time, a group of Muslims will be returning from their conquest of India (or Pakistan), with its kings chained, and find Jesus

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in Syria. Jesus will then travel to Mecca, and perform Haj (pilgrimage) or Umrah or both.

DEATH OF THE MAHDI A few months will elapse and the great Imam, the Mahdi, will pass away in Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis/Masjid al-Aqsa) at the age of between 47 and 49. The Muslims will perform his funeral prayers, which Jesus the Messiah leads, and then they will bury him there. The Messiah, son of Mary, will then become the Caliph of the Muslims, and thus the Caliphate authority will be taken away from the Quraish. He will rule in accordance with, and judge people by, the law of the Qur’an and the Sunnah (traditions of the Messenger of God). Then, for seven years, the people will live in such a state that no ill will and enmity will exist between any two of them.

APPEARANCE OF GOG AND MAGOG Then God will reveal to Jesus these words: “I have brought forth from among My servants such people against whom none will be able to fight; take these people safely to Mount Sinai,” and then God will send Gog and Magog, and they will swarm down from every slope. The first of them will pass Lake Tiberias and drink out of it. And when the last of them passes, he will say: “There was once water there.” They will drink all the water, and the people will entrench themselves in their fortresses. Gog and Magog will fire their arrows into the sky, and they will fall back to earth with something like blood on them. Gog and Magog will say, “We have defeated the people of earth, and overcome the people of heaven.” They will rush out in all directions, spreading corruption, uprooting plants, and killing people. The Haj at Mecca will continue during the time of Gog and Magog; therefore, at least Mecca will be safe, and life in many places will go on as usual, while Gog and Magog are rampaging in the Holy Land.

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It is possible that God would set Gog and Magog loose as punishment for those people who had been supporters of the Antichrist but may have been forgiven by Jesus and allowed to remain in the Holy Land. The reason for this thought is that the Qur’an says that when the Gog and Magos are let loose, then the unbelievers will “stare in horror” and be sorry for their lack of belief. It does not say that the Muslims will “stare in horror.” It is likely that the remnants of the supporters of the Antichrist will be wiped out by the Gog and Magog. Jesus and his companions will then be besieged at Mount Sinai, and they will be so hard pressed that the head of the ox will be dearer to them than 100 dinars. God’s Apostle, Jesus, and his companions will supplicate to God, Who will send to the armies of Gog and Magog insects or worms, which will attack their necks, and in the morning they will perish as one single person. Jesus and his companions will then come down from the mountains, and they will not find on earth as much space as a single span that is not filled with putrefaction and stench. God’s Apostle Jesus and his companions will then beseech God, who will send birds whose necks would be like those of Bactrian camels, and they will carry the corpses away and throw them where God wills. This seems to imply that cargo aircraft will take the bodies and drop them somewhere, maybe at sea. It is unclear who the Gog and Magog are. Some say that they are wild tribes of Central and Northeastern Asia, including the Tartars, Mongols, and Huns, or maybe even the Chinese. Some say they are Russians. A wild guess could be that, because the Antichrist is said to have supernatural beings with him, the Gog and Magog may be extraterrestrials or jinns coming to avenge his death. However, jinns do not have physical bodies. Whatever the truth is, we’ll find out when they come. What we can say for sure is that whoever it is that invades Palestine after Jesus has killed the Antichrist will be Gog and Magog. Obviously, someone will be unhappy about Jesus’ being around, and Jesus may be the target of Gog and Magog, or they may want to steal the oil resources of the region for themselves.

Interpretation of Events

171

THE GOLDEN AGE Then, the people will be burning the weapons of Gog and Magog for seven years. Large cargo airplanes will be used to remove the dead bodies of the Gog and Magog and dump them in the ocean. God will send rain, which no house of mud-bricks or tent of camel hair will keep out, and it will wash the earth until it resembles a mirror. Then the earth will be told to bring forth its fruit and restore its blessing and, as a result thereof, there will grow such big pomegranates that a single one will be sufficient for a group of people and they would be able to take shelter under its skin; a dairy cow will give so much milk that a whole party will be able to drink it. The milking-camel will give such a large quantity of milk that the whole tribe will be able to drink from it, and the milking-sheep will give so much milk that the whole family will be able to drink from it. Another seven years of peace will elapse. After this, Jesus the Messiah will marry, and have children. Another 19 years of peace will pass, and then Jesus will pass away after completing his 40-year term on earth, and the Muslims will perform his funeral prayers and bury him next to the Messenger of God in Medina. For this very purpose, during the last 1,400 years, a space has been reserved for Jesus right next to the grave of the Messenger of God inside the Masjid Nabvi (the Prophet’s Mosque).

RULE OF THE QAHTAANI Following the death of Jesus, after many years have passed, the people of Mecca will leave, and only a few people will go there anymore. The Caliphs will fail to maintain the religion (possibly coupled with the discontinuation of the Haj), and consequently a man named Jahjah from the tribe of Qahtaan in Yemen will seize control of the Caliphate from them, thus restoring the authority of religion to the Qahtaan tribe from Yemen (red-skinned people). The city of Mecca will then be

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resettled and rebuilt. He will rule the people, driving them with a stick. His rule as the Caliph of the Muslims will be with great justice and piety. Eventually, he will pass away, and several more Caliphs will succeed him.

DECAY OF SOCIETY Islam will remain dominant for a while, and Muslims will try to maintain the situation. However, as years go by, the situation will deteriorate, and disbelief will start to settle back into the hearts of the people. The people will leave the city of Mecca again, and never return to it. Islam will have become worn out like clothes are, until there will be no one who knows what fasting, prayer, charity, and rituals are and the Haj pilgrimage will be abandoned. The Qur’an will disappear in one night, and no verse of the Qur’an will be left in the hearts of the people. Some groups of old people will be left who will say, “We heard our fathers saying ‘La illaha illa Allah’ (there is no God but Allah), and so we repeat it.” A man named Dhu’l-Suwayqatayn from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) will emerge at the time of Caliph Muquad, and come against the Ka’ba. He will climb onto the top of the Ka’ba and tear it down brick by brick, and there will be no one to stop him.

THE SMOKE AND RISING OF THE SUN FROM THE WEST A Smoke will appear all over the earth lasting for 40 days, which will cause the believers to catch something similar to a slight cold, whereas the unbelievers will be hit harder by it and fall unconscious. Then there will be a night that is unusually long, and it will cause much restlessness among the people. Travelers will become frustrated, while children and adults will be overtaken by extreme anxiety, and they will resort to repentance. Even the animals will become restless. After a length of three nights, this night will finally come to an end. The

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173

following morning, the Sun will rise from west, with its rays being extremely dull, and then set in the east. When the people see it, they will all believe in God, but it will do them no good to believe now if they did not believe before. God will not accept repentance anymore. It is reported in the sayings of the Prophet that the two events — the appearance of the smoke and the rising of the sun from the east — will happen in short consecutive sequence. It is easy to speculate that the smoke may occur because of a large meteor hitting the earth. According to scientists, a meteor impact 65 million years ago caused dust to envelop the whole planet and the sun to be blocked for a period of time long enough to cause a severe drop in temperature and crops to fail; this led to the extinction of dinosaurs all over the world. Similarly, a meteor strike in the future may cause the whole world to be enveloped by dust/smoke again and may also disturb the rotation of the earth and cause it to reverse its direction of spin. If this happened, then the sun would appear to rise from the west.

APPEARANCE OF THE BEAST Some time later, at the forenoon, the word will be fulfilled against the unjust; the Beast will come from the Earth, between Safaa and Marwaa in Mecca. It will speak to mankind because they had no faith in the signs of God. It will proceed towards the area between Hajr-ul Aswad and Maqaam-ul Ibraheem by the Ka’ba. The people, on seeing it, will flee in all directions, except for one group of people. It will approach this group and illuminate their faces like shining stars. Thereafter, it will set out and travel throughout the world at a great speed. It will mark the foreheads of the believers with “Believer” and will mark the foreheads of the unbelievers with “Unbeliever.” The significance of the Beast is that it is mentioned in the Qur’an, whereas the Antichrist is not. God will send the Beast as some kind of punishment for the unbelievers; it will speak to them such that they will regret not believing in God. But, as is mentioned in the hadith, the

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The Future Is for Islam

Beast is one of those signs after the appearance of which it will do no good to believe, if someone did not do so before. The Messenger of God specified an exact location near Mecca for the emergence of the Beast. Just what kind of creature this will be we can only speculate. The appearance of the Beast in Mecca also implies that in the year that it appears, there will be relatively few true Muslims around. So it would be fair to assume that this will be a few hundred years from now.

END OF THE BELIEVERS God will send a fragrant wind (the “Rapture”) from the direction of Syria, which will take the souls of everyone who has the slightest speck of faith in his heart. Even if a believer were to enter the heart of a mountain, the wind would reach him there and take his soul, leaving only the disbelievers on the earth. Thus, the few Muslims who will be scattered all around the world at that time will be taken away by God once He is convinced that there is no more chance of the revival of faith in God. The removal of the last remaining believers will save them from witnessing the horrors of the destruction of the earth and the whole universe by God. The logic of the “Rapture” is easy to figure out. Throughout history, God has destroyed those people who were totally evil, while saving the good believers. In the past, the punishment was usually a localized affair; however, in the future, when there are only a few scattered believers in an overwhelming majority of billions of unbelievers, then any punishment meted out to them will necessarily entail the destruction of the whole earth. In that case, it would be more convenient for God to first remove the believers in a more gentle manner by way of a “pleasant musk-scented wind” and then to let the evildoers experience the full horror of the subsequent destruction of the earth.

Interpretation of Events

175

THE WORST OF PEOPLE LEFT Now only the most wicked people will be left; they will be as careless as birds, with the characteristics of animals, and will have no concern for right and wrong. Satan will come to them in the form of a man and will say, “Don’t you respond?” They will say, “What do you order us to do?” He will order them to worship idols, and in spite of that, they will have sustenance in abundance, and continue to lead comfortable lives. The people will have reverted to the pre-Islamic days; worshipping the idols Lat and Uzza, women of the tribe of Daus will be seen once again going around Dhi al-Khalasa, and people will once again engage themselves in the worship of multiple gods. There will be abundant wealth at that time but also widespread killing, corruption, and treachery. There will be commerce, but people will not trust each other. There will be warfare, during which once great cities will cease to exist. Earthquakes and other natural calamities will occur with increasing frequency. Illegal sexual intercourse will be practiced openly in public. Homosexuality will be widespread. Cross-dressing will be common. It is predicted that the number of men would decrease and males would be a tiny fraction of the population. These and other signs of the last days seem to be very much like what is already happening in many places around the world. The difference at that time compared to today would be that nowadays there are millions of believers in God, and there is still potential of good triumphing over evil, whereas at that time, there won’t be a single believer in God left on earth, and there will be no hope of improvement. Whatever evil will be happening will be getting worse, not better. A few decades later, there will be landslides in three places; one in the east, one in the west, and one in Arabia, at the end of which fire will burn forth from the Yemen. Then the fire, which could be a super volcano eruption, will stop.

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The Future Is for Islam

COMMENCEMENT OF DOOMSDAY According to the Qur’an, the exact time of doomsday is known only to God. Even the Prophet didn’t know its exact timing. Therefore, the years mentioned here for the end of the world are speculative. When it comes, it will be very sudden, at a time when no one will be expecting it. However, if you believe in God, then you have nothing to worry about, because doomsday will not happen while there’s even one believer on earth. An interesting thought about doomsday is that what we consider to be the end of the world may not necessarily be the end of the planet earth and the universe. It may just be the end of the present species of humans. The reason for this thought is that while the earth is billions of years old, human civilization as we know it has existed for only a bit more than 10,000 years; and we may be gone within the next 1,000 years. In that case, the whole term of our existence would represent a tiny fraction of the time that the earth is capable of supporting human life. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assume that God may have created, or may create, many human, or human-like, civilizations on this very earth, apart from us. Indeed, this is an idea supported by some Muslim sects. According to them, there have been other civilizations before us, and there will be more after we’re gone. Even some archeological finds lead to the speculation that advanced civilizations have existed on earth millions of years ago. However, this idea is not part of mainstream Muslim belief. However, the Qur’an does state that there are multiple heavens and multiple earths. If “heaven” means “universes,” then it implies that there are many universes and many earth-like planets with many species of beings. Perhaps God didn’t tell us when doomsday and the the resurrection would take place because if people were told that the Day of Resurrection would be 10 billion years from now, they would think that it’s so far into the future that they needn’t worry about it too much.

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177

What they may not appreciate is that the resurrection will appear to occur no more than a few hours after they die. Even if our doomsday is a localized affair and the earth survives, at some point in the future, the whole universe will be destroyed by God and recreated. In this case, the people who experience the destruction may not even be our descendants, but an entirely different species of humans. So, after 100 years from when the believers’ souls were taken, 130 years after the sun rose from the west, and possibly around 530 to 930 years after the death of Jesus, the Messiah, when no one will remain on the earth who says “Allah” or worships Him, and about four to five years after the fire, Doomsday will begin, and it will occur on a Friday. Some will be busy plastering the walls, some eating food; in brief, people will be busy with their chores when the angel Israfil will receive the command to blow the Soor (Trumpet). Initially, its sound will be very faint, but gradually it will become louder. All the people will hear the sound everywhere at the same time, and there will be nowhere to escape from it. As it grows louder, people will become increasingly terrified and fearful. They will appear to swoon as if drunk. Soon it will be louder than thunder, causing a great convulsion, and people will flee from their homes out into the jungles in the hope of escaping from it, while the animals of the jungle, who will also be terrified of it, will come into the living areas of the people to escape it. Soon all the creatures, large and small, will die because of the sound. It will destroy everything and cause the earth to split all over. The seas will burst forth, covering the nearby mountains in water, and it will not be long that the mountains, too, will break up, and the pieces thereof will crash against each other, totally disintegrating and flying into the air. As the sound grows louder yet, the skies will split and the heavenly bodies, the stars, the moon, and the sun will all crumble. When all of mankind is destroyed, the Angel of Death will now proceed towards Satan, who will be running helter-skelter, because that

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life which he had requested from God will now have finally come to an end. The Angels will apprehend him and beat him up with fiery rods, and thus extract his soul. The extent of pain suffered by Satan in his agonizing moments of death will be the sum total of all the pain that was suffered by all of mankind during their respective moments of death. The Soor will be blown for a period of time, after which nothing will remain, except for eight things: The Arsh (Throne), Kursi (Chair), Lowh (Tablet/Database), Qalam (Pen), Jannat (Paradise), Jahannam (Hell), The Soor (Trumpet), and the Souls. The souls will lapse into a state of unconsciousness. One by one, all of these things, including the angels, will also be annihilated until they’re all gone. Finally the last remaining angel — Israfil — too, will die. Nothing will then exist anymore but the Face of the One and Only God the Almighty. He will then say: “Limanil Mulkul Yaum” (Whose is the Kingship today? — where are the oppressors, the arrogant?) There will be no one to answer Him. He Himself will say: “Lillaahil Waahidil Qahhaar” (Only [that of] God the One and Only the ever Dominating One). One bit of information for scientists to ponder is that the destruction of the universe and its subsequent resurrection appear very similar to the Big Bang theory of the universe. According to this theory, the universe is expanding and will one day collapse back to nothingness and then (some say) a new Big Bang will occur and a new universe will emerge out of the resultant singularity. The sound of the Soor (trumpet) is mentioned as the means of the destruction of the present universe and the creation of a new one. Therefore, it is implied here that sound is the basic building block of everything, including matter. This is something for scientists to investigate further.

THE RESURRECTION After a period known to God alone, He will bring Israfil and the Soor back to life, and the command will be given to blow the Trumpet

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179

a second time, through which God will repeat creation and bring everything back into existence, including the angels and the whole universe. After a period of time, that may be billions of years from now, the earth will be recreated. It will be flat, pink, featureless, plain, and there will be no trees, mountains, or seas. Then it will rain, and the bodies of humans will grow in the ground from cells containing their DNA taken from their spinal columns. Then, in one blast, everyone will come back to life and rise up from the earth naked and in a state of fright. People will begin to talk to each other; some will say that they’ve woken up after sleeping for a day, while others will say that they’ve slept only for a few hours. The wise among them will guess correctly that they have slept till the Day of Judgment. For those who try to figure out when the Day of Resurrection will be, they should know that, as far as any individual person is concerned, the Day of Resurrection occurs on the day that they die. This is because when they wake up, after what would seem like a few hours of sleep, it would be the Day of Judgement. On that day, good people will be nervous, but will not suffer pain; however, for evil people, it will be the most horrible experience imaginable. The beloved of God, Prophet Muhammad (God bless him), will be the first to come out of his blessed grave, followed by Jesus (God bless him), and then the Prophets, the martyrs, and the pious, who will be followed by the believing sinners and finally the unbelievers. The Messenger of God will lead all the Muslims to the Plain of Hashr (The Plain of Judgment), upon which all others will also assemble. The Messenger of God was shown a vision in which he saw that his followers on that day would be so many that they would fill the plains as far as the eye could see. People will be in groups, and the true followers of other prophets will follow them, and unbelievers will follow their own leaders. The sun will be low overhead, causing people to drown in their own sweat according to their sins, and thus the sky would be red like

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molten brass, cleft asunder. God will be as plainly visible to the good people as the sun is to us. God will gather all of creation there for their reckoning on that day, the length of which is 50,000 years.

CHAPTER 5

Current State of the Muslim World In discussing the Islamic World today, one of the contentious issues has been about how many Muslims there are in the world today. Some people say that there are over 1 billion, while others say that there are over 1.2 billion. So, let us start by clarifying this point. There are 57 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC,) with a total population of 1,471 million. If you take away the non-Muslims from this population, then you’re left with 1,190 million Muslims living in all the OIC member countries. Then, if you count the number of Muslims living in non-OIC countries, you will get a number of 315 million, and adding this figure to 1,190, you get a number of 1,505 million, which makes up over 23 percent of the world population. Therefore, there are definitely over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. These figures were obtained from the CIA World Factbook website and are supposedly current and, if anything, on the conservative side. For example, we have counted only 26 million Muslims in China, even though it is said that there are over 50 million, and we have only counted 146 million in India, while some report a figure of over 200 million. So, there are potentially 80-100 million that we have not even included, which if we did, would tip the total to almost 25 percent of the world population — one person out of every four. 181

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The Future Is for Islam

OIC member states

57

Muslim majority states

47

Muslims in OIC states (million)

1,190

Muslims in other countries (million)

315

Total number of Muslims (million)

1,505

THE POTENTIAL The 57 OIC countries in the world have a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 5.3 trillion dollars based on purchasing power parity. That is a very healthy amount by any measure. This compares very favorably with the figures of the newly emerging powers with similar billion-plus populations — China with 8.2 trillion and India with 3.7 trillion. On a non-adjusted basis, the GDP of Islamic countries is higher than China’s at 2.3 trillion compared to 1.8 trillion. As a hypothetical exercise, if we project that Muslim countries in the future will invest their resources within the Muslim world and achieve a growth rate of 7 percent for 30 years, then their GDP will grow by a factor of 8 to 40 trillion dollars by the year 2036 in today’s dollars. This is not an impossible achievement, given that China has sustained a growth rate of 9.5 percent for over 25 years. In fact, at a 7 percent growth rate, the Islamic world would have a GDP larger than the United States in 15 years or so, based on purchasing power parity. This is not just a fantasy because up to now, wealthy Muslims have not been investing in their own countries or in other Muslim countries and have transferred most of their countries’ funds to the West. If this money had been invested in Muslim countries, then the whole Islamic world would have been at an advanced stage of development by now. China is developing at breakneck speed because

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183

it is getting foreign direct investment (FDI) of about $50-60 billion per year. By contrast, Muslim countries have transferred over $1,000 billion to the West. If you count the money held abroad by private individuals, in addition to official sources, then the total could be double that. Meanwhile, Muslim countries are getting barely any investment at all. In the future, if the funds currently held abroad and newly generated funds are invested in the Muslim world, not only would these monies be more secure from being confiscated, but they would also generate far higher profits than the meager returns they get in the stagnant Western economies. In addition, an economic boom would occur that would have no precedent and would lift up the whole Islamic world to the status of a world economic power and make it an engine of growth benefiting the whole world economy. The combined landmass in the control of Muslim countries is over 30 million square kilometers. Russia, which is the world’s largest country, has 17 million square kilometers, China and the U.S. control just under 10 million square kilometers each, the European Union has under 4 million square kilometers, and India about 3 million square kilometers. This gives the Muslim world 21.5 percent of the world’s landmass and all the natural resources that are contained within it. Oil reserves in Muslim countries are 950 billion barrels out of the world total of 1,350 billion barrels, or over 70 percent of all the known oil reserves in the world. This certainly counts as one of the greatest miracles that have ever occurred in world history. At the very time when they needed it most, God has given Muslims, wherever they happen to be, a resource that can enable them to rise out of the difficult situation they had placed themselves in, and this is a cause of much ill feeling among those who are hostile towards Islam. At today’s oil prices of $60 a barrel, these reserves are worth over 56 trillion dollars. If inflation and price escalation are taken into account, this figure may well be over 100 trillion dollars.

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The Future Is for Islam

Figure 2. Countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Country

Population (million)

Area (sq km)

GDP PPP ($billion)

GDP ($billion)

1 Afghanistan

31

647,500

21.5

n/a

2 Albania

3.6

28,748

18

8.5

3 Algeria

33

2,381,740

234

86.4

8

86,600

37

10.7

5 Bahrain

0.7

665

14

11.3

6 Bangladesh

147

144,000

301

63

7 Benin*

8

112,620

8.7

4.3

8 Brunei

0.4

5,770

6.8

n/a

9 Burkina-Faso

14

274,200

16.8

5.4

17.3

475,440

31.8

15.3

4 Azerbaijan

10

Cameroon*

11

Chad

10

1,284,000

17.7

5

12

Comoros

0.7

2,170

0.44

0.4

13

Côte d’Ivoire*

17.6

322,460

26

16

14

Djibouti

0.5

23,000

0.6

n/a

15

Egypt

79

1,001,450

340

92

16

Gabon*

1.4

267,667

8

7.1

17

Gambia

1.64

11,300

3

0.43

18

Guinea

9.7

245,857

20.1

3.7

19

Guinea Bissau*

1.45

36,120

1.1

0.28

20

Guyana*

7.67

214,970

3.8

0.78

21

Indonesia

245

1,919,440

901

270

22

Iran

69

1,648,000

552

178

Current State of the Muslim World

185

Figure 2 (continued) Country

23

Iraq

24

Jordan

25

Kazakhstan

26

Population (million)

Area (sq km)

GDP PPP ($billion)

GDP ($billion)

28

437,072

94

46

6

92,300

27.8

44.6

15.2

2,717,300

133

43

Kuwait

2.4

17,820

53

56

27

Kyrgyzstan

5.2

198,500

9

2

28

Lebanon

3.88

10,400

20

20

29

Libya

5.9

1,759,540

48

33

30

Malaysia

24

329,750

248

121

31

Maldives

0.36

300

1.25

n/a

32

Mali

11.7

1,240,000

11.8

5.4

33

Mauritania

3.2

1,030,700

6.2

1.36

34

Morocco

33

446,550

141

52

35

Mozambique*

20

801,590

25.66

5.8

36

Niger

12.5

1,267,000

10.22

3.43

37

Nigeria

132

923,768

133

96

38

Oman

3.1

212,460

40.22

25.42

39

Pakistan

166

803,940

385

120

40

Palestine

3.9

5,641

5.8

4.5

41

Qatar

0.86

11,437

22.5

30

42

Saudi Arabia

27

1,960,582

340

273

43

Senegal

12

196,190

20

8

44

Sierra Leone

6

71,740

5

1.1

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The Future Is for Islam

Figure 2 (continued) Country

Population (million)

45

Somalia

8.86

46

Sudan

47

Suriname*

48

Area (sq km)

GDP PPP ($billion)

GDP ($billion)

637,657

4.8

n/a

41

2,505,810

85

22

0.44

163,270

2

1.35

Syria

19

185,180

63

25

49

Tajikistan

7.3

143,100

8.8

2

50

Togo*

5.5

56,785

9

2

51

Tunisia

10

163,610

77

31

52

Turkey

70

780,580

553

336

53

Turkmenistan

5

488,100

30

14

54

UAE

2.6

82,880

74

101

55

Uganda*

28

236,040

46

8.2

56

Uzbekistan

27

447,400

53

10

57

Yemen

21.5

527,970

17.23

13.74

32,081,038 5360.82

2332

OIC TOTAL

1,471

China

1,314

9,596,960

8182

1790

India

1,095

3,287,590

3699

720

Russia

143

17,075,200

1539

740

EU

457

3,976,372

12,180

13,310

USA

298

9,631,418

12,410

12,470

6,525

148,940,000

43,920

43,920

WORLD

*Countries with Muslim minorities

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Of the 57 OIC member countries, 47 have Muslim majorities, while 10, mostly small sub-Saharan African countries, have substantial Muslim minorities. Excluding the GDP and land area of these 10 does not make a major difference to the total figures and still leaves the Islamic World with a GDP of around 5.3 trillion and a land mass of almost 30 million square kilometers. Some pessimists contend that the Muslims are 1,000 years behind in technology, while others say 100. The reality is that most of today’s technology was developed only in the last century or so, and the time it now takes for a new entrant to catch up is diminishing all the time. China has nearly caught up with the West within the span of a couple of decades. If they put forth a concerted effort, the Islamic world can catch up with the most advanced societies within 30 years in all areas of science and technology, and even sooner in most other fields. The 30-year figure represents the maximum time frame that may be required to master the most difficult technical challenges. For example, if seven major Islamic countries, namely Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia get together, they could conceivably launch a space program that will put a man on the moon and build a permanent station there within 30 years or sooner.

CHALLENGES As we can see in this chapter, the Muslim countries are in possession of tremendous human and material resources. But this blessing from God is being squandered by the incompetence and personal interests of a small number of people making up the ruling class. Because they’re greedy, they don’t want to share resources with their own people, let alone with Muslims in less fortunate countries. Because they’re incompetent, they mismanage their countries and keep them backward. If the current crop of rulers had been a bit more efficient in running their countries, then it would have been a matter of some consolation.

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But instead, most Muslim countries suffer from bad administration, with a few exceptions. One country that deserves honorable mention is, of course, Malaysia, which started from a low level of development and transformed itself into one of the most advanced countries of East Asia within a few decades. By contrast, Muslim countries with far more resources are still lacking in technological development and have weak economies. This shows that maladministration is the biggest problem in the Muslim world. Apart from a lack of investment in economic activity, the greatest issue facing Muslim countries is the lack of education, especially higher education that can lead to advancement in science and technology. But we won’t dwell on the negatives here, as most people are familiar with the problems; in fact, they often get an overexaggerated view of the problems in the Islamic world. Instead, we want to focus on the good things and how these can be utilized to start the biggest economic boom known to man.

CHAPTER 6

The New Caliphate The Messenger of God predicted that after him the first true caliphate would last for 30 years and would be followed by semi-just monarchies, after which there would be tyrannical rulers, and then in the last days, there would again be a caliphate that followed the true guidance of Islam. While many forms of government during Islamic history have been called caliphates, especially the Ottoman Empire, in reality they were monarchies masquerading as caliphates. The caliphate of the first 30 years was more akin to a republic than a monarchy. Since even these pseudo-caliphates are now gone, what we presently have is the era of tyrannical rulers that preside over much of the Muslim world. However, their time is nearly up, and we’ll soon be entering the time of the first real caliphate ever since the time of the rightly guided Caliphs of the first 30 years of Islam. Most Muslims have only a vague idea of what a caliphate would be like, and some think that it is just a fantasy that will never materialize. However, hostile non-Islamic powers are already taking the Caliphate much more seriously than most Muslim rulers. They fear it and have already started taking preventative measures to stop it from materializing, even before there are any signs of it. For example, many western leaders, including the President of the United States, have mentioned in their speeches the danger a caliphate poses to them and how they intend to do do everything they can to stop it from becoming a reality. 189

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In the Islamic world, there is much confusion about what the Caliphate is. Some fear that it would be a dysfunctional rule of Talibanlike mullahs. Others see it as some kind of paradise on earth that will be brought about in the vaguely distant future by the promised Mahdi, and they believe they really don’t need to do anything apart from sitting back and waiting for it to happen. Most people have probably not even heard about it, and even if they have, they have no idea what it would be like and how it would come about. The reality is that the Caliphate is not a supernatural entity that will descend from heaven or materialize spontaneously out of thin air, but rather it is a form of government that will include all or most Muslim countries that will have to be conceptualized from scratch by humans and brought into being with blood, sweat, and tears. There is no fixed form that it will take, and it can be anything that the people want it to be. The things that will make it an improvement over the current state of affairs are: • It will be based on the concept that God exists and there is only one God, and all His commands as revealed in the Qur’an and explained by the Messenger of God in the Sunnah must be obeyed. • It will unite all Muslims and allow them to pool their resources for their common good. • It will provide good government. • It will ensure justice. • It will result in massive economic and technological development. • It will ensure the security of Muslims. It will be a man-made structure that will be based on the current state of human knowledge that allows Muslims to be united, preserve their values and culture, and benefit from good government and economic and technological development. This is no different from what all cultures and civilizations strive for.

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The Caliphate will not aspire to develop massive military power and conquer the rest of the world. The fact is that the Caliphate will be a benign entity, which everyone will be welcome to visit and do business with and will have no plans to invade and conquer other countries, convert or kill their people, or steal their wealth. This will make it much less of a danger to the world compared to some countries that are openly committing all of the above crimes in the present times.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD The notion of the Sovereignty of God is that God’s words have to be obeyed in those matters where He has explicitly given instructions in the Qur’an. Any deviation from this constitutes a coup d’état against God and is tantamount to rebellion against God’s will. The will of God is laid out in the Qur’an. The reality is that the Qur’an has very few instructions. Most matters of human organization are actually left to people to work out for themselves. While Judaism may have hundreds of instructions on how to conduct daily life, in the Qur’an, all the rules that God wants Muslims to follow can be summarized into a few pages. In fact, in the Qur’an, God specifically mentions that the followers of the Messenger should not ask too many questions, as answering these questions will cause increased hardship. This is because once instructions are given by God, then they have to be obeyed under all circumstances, and this increases the burden on people and decreases their flexibility of action. God says: O ye who believe! Ask not questions about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble. But if ye ask about things when the Qur’an is being revealed, they will be made plain to you, Allah will forgive those: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Forbearing. Qur’an 5:101

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Obviously, God intended Islam to be an undemanding religion that is easy to follow, requiring only a few minutes of time a day, and does not burden its adherents with tons of rules, regulations, and rituals, even though some zealots have made it seem so. The Caliphate that will be established as a modern state of the twenty-first century will rely for the bulk of its rules and regulations not on the Qur’an, but on current human knowledge. This is simply because the Qur’an has nothing to say about most areas that require legislation in a modern state, such as building regulations, telecommunication policies, traffic rules, etc. Most of the instructions in the Qur’an are actually general rules like: be just, be kind to others, etc. Some specific instructions include rules on inheritance, for example, that were revealed on the questioning of followers, and that was why the above verse was revealed by God to stop people from asking too many questions. The way the Caliphate differs from other systems is that on those matters where God has given instructions, they have to be obeyed, and no one is allowed to change those rules. For example, as opposed to the Western version of democracy, in an Islamic democratic system, a majority of voters cannot overturn a Qur’anic injunction. However, if there is more than one interpretation, then a majority can decide on which interpretation to follow. For the over 90 percent of laws that exist or will exist that are not mentioned in the Qur’an, citizens of the Caliphate will have total freedom to choose, provided that they don’t violate the general principles that are laid down in the Qur’an. It is true that over the course of their history, Muslims have developed multiple layers of laws based on the Qur’an, the Sunnah (traditions of the Messenger) and Ijtehad, the interpretations of various schools of thought. In the New Caliphate, it would probably be better to start from scratch and discuss everything in the light of current circumstances. However, dexterity would be required to sidestep controversial issues on which people have very strong views, as long as there are

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people who have not evolved to a level where they would not make some matters into issues of life and death. The major dilemma is that if much of the organization of the Caliphate has yet to be decided, and if the same people that run Muslim countries now are the ones who create this structure, what will prevent them from running it to the ground before it even takes off? There are ways of ensuring a successful outcome. The Caliphate structure has to be visualized and created by people who have the following basic qualities: 1. Belief. An unflinching belief in the one and only God and Muhammad (God bless him) as the messenger of God and the Qur’an as the Word of God. 2. Virtue. A clean heart uncompromised by conflict of interest between their duties to the Islamic community and their personal interests. 3. Skill. Knowledge and skills to create a world-class transcontinental super-state. 4. Vision. The vision to conceptualize a system that will last for hundreds of years. There is an abundance of Muslims who would meet these criteria. There are already many good people who are working on figuring out the basics of the Caliphate structure. One of the resources available online is the website www.caliphate.co.uk, run by Mr. Abdul-Kareem Newell, who has put together a proposal for the organizational structure of the Caliphate. However, producing a workable plan would require an organization like a think-tank to be put in place and to be provided with resources for drawing together all the collective wisdom and knowledge of the Islamic world in order to come up with proposals. This organization would study the circumstances of each country, its history, current situation, and future potential. It would bring in Islamic scholars from

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all over the world, as well as specialists from many fields of expertise. Together, they would come up with a recommendation for how to move forward. As progress is made, ideas would need to be publicized and opened to public debate, as general acceptance by the public will be critical to the successful implementation of the Caliphate. The planning would not need to be secret or conspiratorial in any way, as there will be nothing to hide, and it would be for the benefit of all Muslims, including the ruling classes, and would not be a threat to anyone else. The benefit of publicizing the plans for the Caliphate and getting public opinion to back the idea outweighs the danger of inimical forces trying to subvert the process. This organization needs to be privately funded and independent of governments, as that would give rise to conflicts of interest. In addition, all methodologies outlined for the establishment of the Caliphate would need to be based on entirely peaceful and just means, as Islamic values don’t allow for unjust means to be employed, even for just ends. Having the master plan of the Caliphate ready and waiting to be implemented will have the beneficial result that when the fortune of the Muslims turns, which, as we have seen, is very close to happening, then the blueprint will be in place for bringing the Caliphate into existence very quickly. Based on the sayings of the Messenger of God, the time for the establishment of the Caliphate is almost here, and time is of the essence in completing preparations for it. While the first new Caliph, the Mahdi, would be able to make many major decisions, there is nevertheless an immense amount of work that still needs to be done to ensure a smooth transition. The detractors will do everything they can in order to stop it, but we don’t need to worry too much about them as they cannot beat God and can do absolutely nothing to prevent the new Caliphate from coming into existence on the schedule planned by God and prophesied by His Messenger.

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Here, we will speculate on the structure of the Caliphate.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE CALIPHATE The Caliphate will be a political system based on the ideology of Islam and will enshrine the rule of law, representative government, accountability by the people through an independent judiciary, and the principle of representative consultation. It will be a government built upon a concept of citizenship regardless of ethnicity, gender, or creed and will be totally opposed to the oppression of any religious or ethnic grouping.

Federal Structure. The highest executive post will be that of the Caliph, who will be elected for a specific term by an electorate consisting of all adult citizens of the territories in the jurisdiction of the Caliphate. One innovative idea may be to extend the voting rights of the Caliph to all the Muslims in the world. This will ensure that the Caliph is looked upon not only as a secular chief executive, but also as the spiritual head of all Muslims in the world. This would make him a combination of both Caesar and the Pope. There will be one or more legislative assemblies elected from throughout the territories. Whether to have a single or bicameral legislature is open to debate. The Caliphate will be based on a federal structure with a division of responsibilities between three tiers of government. The central government will be in charge of guaranteeing the correct application of Islamic laws, foreign policy, monetary policy, and defense. The first and foremost responsibility of the Caliphate would be to ensure that God’s laws, as revealed in the Qur’an, are followed. The Caliphate will be responsible for conducting a unified foreign policy on behalf of all the territories. However, different territories may be given the flexibility of establishing economic relations with foreign entities, as long as these don’t contradict or clash with the policies of the central government.

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There will be a unified monetary policy with a single currency that may be based on a gold standard. All business will be conducted on Islamic principles, especially those related to the prohibition on interest. This is an area where a tremendous amount of work has been done, and Islamic principles of finance have been found to be quite robust and are already in widespread use and rapidly gaining in popularity. There will be a single unified command authority for all the defense capabilities of the Caliphate, and the Caliph will be the commander in chief of the armed forces. The military will be under civilian control, and the personnel will be rotated throughout the territories. The defense policy of the Caliphate will be based on a non-aggressive posture of minimum deterrence. It will have an avowed policy of striving for complete disarmament in the world, with the objective of eliminating the need for militaries and leaving only police forces to ensure security. The resulting savings of hundreds of billions of dollars would make funds available for the complete elimination of poverty and disease from the world. It is prophesied that the headquarters of the new Caliphate will be based in Jerusalem after it is liberated. Until that happens, it will be based in Medina. The official language of the Caliphate will be Arabic, which will serve as the lingua franca among Muslims, and the people of all the territories will be required to learn Arabic as a first or second language. However, all territories will be free to conduct their affairs in their preferred language. No language will be discouraged, and everyone will have freedom to develop their local culture and language according to their aspirations.

Gubernatorial Structure. The second tier of government will consist of what are now individual countries. In the Caliphate, the existing countries will become states ruled by governors and assemblies elected by the local people. Where a country joining the Caliphate has an existing federal structure and the current federating units are colonial or unstable,

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artifacts that are not reflective of ethnic, linguistic, or other ground realities, then their boundaries would be redrawn according to the preferences of the people living there. The government of these redrawn and stabilized units will then constitute the second tier of government and will report directly to the Caliphate, and the existing federal government structures would be abolished. Redrawing the borders of untenable and unjust administrative units will help in removing a major source of conflict and lead to greater stability. This formula will be applied with the consent of the people involved, and if they prefer to stay together in a larger state, then they will be allowed to do so. The method for an independent country to join the Caliphate would be by holding a referendum. If the majority votes to join, then the Caliphate will accept it as a constituent federating unit subject to the Caliphate’s authority. The country will be subject to a series of administrative measures and adjustments that allow the new member to be incorporated smoothly into the Caliphate structure.

Local Administration. The third tier of the Caliphate structure will be at the local level, consisting of elected city, town, and rural councils. Judiciary. The Caliphate will be based on the rule of law and an independent judiciary. This will be the cornerstone upon which the state structure will be built. The laws will be based on the will of God as expressed in the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Messenger of God. On those matters where there is more than one religious interpretation, a majority vote in the legislature will decide. Secular laws will be enacted by the legislatures at the various levels of government and enforced by the courts at the appropriate level. The Supreme Islamic Court will be at the federal level and will be the final arbitrator for all judicial decisions. The provision of justice is the most important element for the longterm survival of any form of government. The Ottoman Empire that

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lasted for over 500 years owed its longevity in large part to the fact that it provided impartial justice to all its citizens. Laws in the Caliphate will be uniformly applied regardless of ethnicity, gender, creed, or social or economic status of a person.

Education. Education is a fundamental building block for any society, and no country has yet achieved success without an educated population. The countries that are the most successful are invariably the ones with the best education. In the Caliphate, education would be one of its foremost priorities. It would provide the required resources to ensure the availability of education for all its citizens. It would be mandatory for all children, male, and female, to attend school up to the age of 16. Any interference in this matter would be a punishable offence. As a matter of state policy, the Caliphate would strive for the provision of college level education to a maximum percentage of the population. To achieve this aim, a significant amount of resources will be invested, and the establishment of private universities would be encouraged. The acquisition of higher education would be encouraged, and several hundred additional universities and colleges may be required, including many centers of excellence. Science and Technology. The Caliphate would have a strategic decision to invest heavily in catching up with the most advanced societies in science and technology and to pull ahead of them. The plan would begin with the creation of world-class universities that would then become the bases around which research and development facilities would be built. The Caliphate would try to leapfrog into the forefront of science by investing in cutting-edge areas of science like nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology.

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Once the laboratories start generating new research, it would result in the formation of new companies that will introduce innovative new products for the world market. The Caliphate will also start a space program for the purpose of exploration and to exploit outer space for material resources.

Health. One of the first tasks to be undertaken upon the formation of the Caliphate would be to assuage the negative effects of the wars imposed on Islamic countries. This would include clearing up the radioactive fallout from depleted uranium that has been extensively used on civilians, resulting in severe diseases and birth defects in babies. The mines that have been laid have to be cleared. The injuries to tens of thousands of people have to be attended to, and psychological damage from torture and abuse will have to be addressed. Beyond dealing with the effects of the invasions, the Caliphate would provide universal medical coverage to all its citizens. Communications. An integrated network of road and rail links would be built to connect all the territories and to ensure the free flow of people and trade. Modern interconnected highways will be built to interconnect the Islamic world. It would be possible to drive from Islamabad to Cairo and from Jeddah to Tashkent. A tunnel under the Straits of Hormuz would shorten the distance to drive from Karachi to Dubai via Iran. A high-speed rail network will be built to connect all major cities in the Caliphate. This will be a cost-effective way for people to travel and for the transport of goods. A parallel Internet infrastructure will be built for the Caliphate to make it independent of rival powers and to ensure that insidious material like pornography is kept out.

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LOW BARRIER TO ENTRY The Caliphate will be the most cosmopolitan, wealthy, and hopefully the most scientifically advanced civilization of the future. In it, people from the whole world will be welcome, and it will have the lowest barrier to entry. It may take an African several generations to be accepted in the West, if ever, and it may take a Russian several generations to be accepted as a Japanese. But it will take only a few minutes for someone to accept Islam and become a member of the Muslim community, which is already the most diverse of all civilizations.

RESISTANCE TO THE CALIPHATE Internal Opposition. The establishment of the Caliphate will be construed as a threat by most, if not all, the ruling classes in the Islamic world and will be even more fiercely resisted by them than by hostile foreign powers. What they need to realize is that at the pace at which events are currently happening, it will not be long before they’re all swept aside anyways to make room for the whole Islamic world to be remodeled according to the plans of inimical forces. If that happens, not only would the current rulers lose whatever they have at present, but their future generations would be condemned to a bleak and hopeless future. They should remember the example of Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed as part of the strategy of “creative destruction,” according to which a country has to be first reduced to rubble to break the will of the people before it can be remodeled to suit the requirement of subservience to Israel and the Western hitmen working for it. Another thing to keep in mind is that the Islamic world is not being invaded to bring about prosperity for its people, but to recolonize it and loot it. Once the spoils are divided amongst the conquerors, there will be nothing left for the Muslims, including the current elites. A few years ago, the direct descendants of the Great Moguls of India were found living in a shack on a railway platform in Delhi. This

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was the state of penury to which the British had reduced them. The current rulers and their future generations will fare no better once the present-day neocolonialists are finished with them. The final thing to understand is that by cooperating with the establishment of the Caliphate, the ruling classes would ensure their place within it and preserve their wealth, and would be able use their funds as investment capital in the unprecedented economic boom that will occur once the Caliphate is established. They would then be able to create far more wealth than they would have otherwise been able to generate. On the other hand, if they resist, then they would either cause resentment among the people and risk violent overthrow or face being gobbled up by hostile foreign powers. In both cases, they would stand to lose everything. Another vital reason for the need for the existing establishments to cooperate is that they are often the most educated and experienced people in the Muslim world. If there is revolution and chaos, then the services of these people may be lost. In addition, a chaotic change would cause unnecessary destruction and allow inept and overzealous radicals to fill the gap. These radicals are often as destructive as the Islamic world’s worst enemies.

External Opposition. A CIA report published in 2005 entitled “Mapping the Global Future” had predictions about the state of the world in the year 2020. It paints a negative picture of a struggling newly formed caliphate as a malignant terrorist entity ruled by Al Qaeda-type figures. This report started the tendency of some Western leaders to begin mentioning in their speeches that an evil caliphate is being planned and they need to stop it in its tracks. That is why they renamed the “War on Terror” as “The Long War” and started saying that the struggle against Islam will last for over 30 years. The opposition of external powers will be less of a hindrance to the establishment of the Caliphate than that of the local establishments. If there is a consensus among Muslims to go ahead with it,

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then outsiders will not be in a position to do much about it. They will try their best, though, and Muslims will need to come up with a plan to resist their interference. The pressure that America, Britain, and Israel are applying on Islamic countries is having an effect that is exactly the opposite of what they desire. This has become the major reason for increasing Muslim unity. The more they try to thwart the establishment of the Caliphate, the sooner it will materialize with the will of God. And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah. Qur’an 3:54

REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS It can be said with a fair measure of certainty that if today there were referenda in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia for the establishment of the Caliphate, overwhelming majorities of people would vote in favor of it and so would the people in most other Islamic countries. On the other hand, the likelihood of the rulers of these countries giving their people this choice is near zero. That the ruling elites will see the futility of resisting what is inevitable is unlikely in the current circumstances. In their minds, the short-term loss of power, wealth, and privilege overrides any gains that they can imagine. That is why they would rather wait out the current world situation with the hope that their turn for regime change will never come, and they imagine that even if it does, they could try to escape at the very last moment, leaving the public to enjoy the fruits of democracy that the foreign invaders bring. There is currently a wide gap between the aspirations of the people and the interests of the rulers. The situation is therefore primed for sudden and explosive change.

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This change will occur when God sends a man who will become the leader of the Muslims as promised by the Messenger of God. This will fulfill the following promise of God: Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion — the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: ‘They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with Me. ‘If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked. Qur’an 24:55

NEW UNITED NATIONS The Caliphate will sponsor a new and democratic international organization that will replace the current colonial-based United Nations. The current United Nations is an obsolete relic of the colonial era that was created by Western powers with the intention of maintaining their influence over world affairs. These same nations have resisted change in its organizational structure to reflect new realities and have used it as a means of providing cover to justify their aggressive policies around the world. This institution has therefore lost all legitimacy, especially as long as it is controlled by narrow self-interests benefiting a tiny elite within a handful of countries. Therefore, the time has come for restructuring this organization or creating an alternate one. The countries that currently control the United Nations are involved in some way or the other in practically all major and minor conflicts that have killed over a hundred million people since the Second World War. They have caused the spread of wars, poverty,

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disease, pollution, and drugs. They are the major cause of environmental degradation, but have taken no significant steps towards fixing this problem. No major conflict in the world has been fairly resolved, while new wars are being threatened and massive military buildups are occurring. These countries have very clearly failed in their duty to the international community, and the world has to start looking elsewhere. The Caliphate will sponsor, host, and fund a new United Nations organization that will either take over the functions of the current one or be built from the ground up with international consensus. The new United Nations will be democratic, and every country will have equal voting rights without anyone having the right to overrule the majority. Each member state will get one vote per citizen, giving each country voting power in proportion to its population. All international laws will be reviewed, amended, and voted on based on the new voting rights, thereby removing all anomalies that exist in order to protect the interests of past powers. The foremost priority of the new United Nations would be to resolve all conflicts in the world by means of sponsoring the just resolution of disputes and the vigorous enforcement of peace treaties that are decided upon. Implementation would be ensured by means of forces drawn from neutral countries. The other priority would be to help in complete military disarmament, not just nuclear disarmament. A 10-20 year plan would be agreed upon for all countries to systematically reduce their military spending, disband personnel, and decommission weapons to near zero by the end of the term. After that, no weapons would be allowed apart from the minimum required for law enforcement. All weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons and all heavy armaments, will subsequently be banned, and a joint force of the United Nations would enforce this. Any country that resists would be declared a rogue nation, and the international community would be required to cease all dealing with such a country, regardless of cost, until it complies.

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The new United Nations will also have environmental protection as a primary objective. In the present system, the most serious polluters are the very same countries that wield the most power. Because of their narrow short-term interests, they have no desire to take the environment seriously. In the new system, a combined effort by all of mankind will be organized to avert environmental disaster. The new United Nations would sponsor a new universal declaration of human rights that would ensure that the interests of all people in the world are protected and they have access to a minimum acceptable level of education and health care. An international fund would be created, into which all countries would contribute, that would ensure the delivery of basic services to every single man, woman, and child in the world. While the existing United Nations has similar goals, the problem is that the self-interests of the controlling powers do not allow them to implement any meaningful policy. With the new United Nations that the Caliphate will sponsor, there will be no vested interests and all policies will be based on what is of the maximum benefit to the whole international community. Once the new United Nations comes into being, the Caliphate would be a member state within it with voting rights in proportion to its population and would not have any controlling power over it.

CHAPTER 7

The West To begin with, we need to define what constitutes “the West.” In Samuel Huntington’s book The Clash of Civilizations, the West is defined as the countries of the European Union and North America, minus Mexico. What these countries have in common is the West European ancestry, classical heritage of ancient Rome, and the religion of Catholic or Protestant Christianity. They were part of the European renaissance and are now western liberal democracies. In terms of religion, most of these societies, especially European ones, are now “post-Christian,” as they’ve become mostly secular and are reverting to the ancient Roman freewheeling hedonistic lifestyle of a time they consider to have been a golden age. In non-politically-correct terminology, they’ve dumped Christianity. In Huntington’s view, the Eastern European Slavic countries are not part of the West, as they have a different history and are thus part of the Orthodox Christian civilization led by Russia. Latin America, which is mainly Catholic, has gone its separate way and is now only loosely affiliated with the West. In addition, they have too much Native American blood to be considered truly western anymore. This way, three out of eight current civilizations identified by Huntington are Christian. The other five are Islamic, Sinic (Chinese), Hindu, African, and Japanese. Even though an ocean divides America and Europe, nevertheless they share the same culture and racial background, since America consists mainly of West European immigrants. 207

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In looking at the current struggle between the West and Islam, the thing to remember is that it would be wrong to say that the whole Christian world is attacking the Islamic world, as in reality the vast majority of the Christian world is actually neutral, if not opposed to, what is going on. The only people who use Christianity to justify the assault on the Islamic world are a hard-core group of evangelical Christians in America, whom we will discuss later. On the other hand, it is equally true that the countries that are leading the assault on Islam are Judeo-Christian. In fact, there are only three countries that are at the forefront of the current crusades. We can refer to them as the unholy trinity consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, with the Father being Britain, the Son being America, and the Holy Ghost leading them both being Israel. It is really these three that have declared a fight to the finish with the Islamic world and are inciting other countries to come and join them in their campaign. Without this unholy trinity, it is doubtful if the rest of the West would have the inclination or the capacity to do what is being carried out in their name.

THE COST/BENEFIT RATIO OF RELATIONS WITH THE WEST There are still many Muslims who cling to the view that somehow they cannot survive without the West and are willing to forget or ignore every insult and forgive every injury. However, what the West has given the Islamic world in the past or what it can give the Islamic world in the future is highly debatable. Also debatable is whether the negative consequences outweigh the benefits from the relationship in the past and whether they will do so in the future. While discussing the past, the answer to this question will be based on a lot of “what if” questions, such as, What if the British had not subverted the Mogul Empire, would the Muslims have imported

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technology and good business practices from outside, like Japan, and maintained parity with the developed world? What if the West had not destroyed the Ottoman Empire, would there have been an advanced and united Islamic Caliphate today? The answers to these questions would be based on hypothetical scenarios about what may have happened if the Muslims had been left to their own devices to develop peacefully at their own pace. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the Muslims have lost more than they have gained. Their countries have been invaded and occupied, colonized, and robbed. The Muslims have been divided into tiny countries, and worst of all, have suffered a loss of self-respect and pride in their own culture. As if the job had not been properly finished previously, the West has taken it upon itself to apply more of the same medicine to the Islamic world. Again they are on the move, invading Muslim countries to reoccupy and recolonize them, rob their resources, divide them into even tinier factions, destroy their culture, and make them lose any remaining sense of self-confidence or self-respect. Iraq is a classical example of all these methods being applied. It was occupied, its infrastructure was destroyed, its museums were systematically stripped of artifacts, its communities were made to fight each other, its people were deliberately and publicly humiliated in the infamous Abu Gharib prison so as to shame and frighten the population. These are examples of methods that have not been invented recently, but are tried and tested and have been used effectively for the last couple of centuries by the British and other Western powers all over the world. There should now be little doubt that if the West is not stopped, it will apply these methods to whatever remains of the Islamic world until it consists of an ever larger series of tiny squabbling states totally dependent on the West for protection from outsiders and from each other. When its people are totally helpless, they will be informed that the Islamic God — Allah — is an idol that cannot help them and that

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they should now choose to become westernized and accept changes in the Qur’an, as it’s too anti-Semitic to be acceptable in its current form. If the Muslims agree to do that, then they will be given the status of second-class citizens of the empire. No one likes losers, and losers are never treated as equals. Within weeks of the occupation of Afghanistan, an Afghan woman was paraded in a beauty contest wearing a bikini, and burka-burning events were televised to show how the Americans had liberated the women of Afghanistan. The Christian preachers in America say that Allah is an idol, and Muslim organizations in America have already started censoring themselves to remove any negative references to the Jews. The Jews, however, feel no compulsion to stop denigrating Muslims, and they do so with wild abandon. All this is already happening, and it will be more so in the future if the West is totally triumphant over the Islamic World. The real question is that if the West does not completely subjugate the Muslims and take away their choices from them, then to what extent is the West essential for the advancement of the Islamic World? The answer to this question is: not much. Today, almost everything that is required is available from multiple sources. Science and technology, education, infrastructure, medicine, and defense and consumer products are all available to anyone with the money to buy them. In fact, the West does not give anything to the Muslims for free anyways; everything has to be paid for in hard cash. It is a fallacy that the West or anyone else will not sell their products to Muslims who are willing and able to pay for it, just as it is a false belief spread by some that Muslims will not sell oil unless they are occupied. The reality is that the two situations where Western countries could have helped Muslims would have been to allow access to their markets for export of goods from Muslim countries, and for the West to invest in the economies of Muslim countries. On both counts they have failed. They don’t allow free market access, and they don’t invest anything. Western countries invest hundreds of billions of dollars

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abroad, but none of that comes to any Muslim country where it could help in developing the economy. Rather, the Muslims are net exporters of investments into the West that keep their factories running and their workers employed, while Muslim workers sit jobless. Whatever foreign investments the West makes go to East Asia, Latin America, and now India, while Muslims sit twiddling their thumbs waiting for crumbs to be tossed their way. Whatever benefits were doled out in the past have been severely restricted further, and Muslims have found themselves unwelcome to even invest in the West anymore, or to go there for an education or even to visit. Apparently, most Arab businessmen who want to do business in America have to conduct it from London, England, as that is the nearest to America that they’re allowed to come. Muslims don’t need to obsess too much about these people, as they don’t have anything to give to the Muslims that is not available elsewhere. In fact, if tomorrow there were a grand rapture and everyone in the U.S. and its allies were lifted up to heaven in bodily form, leaving their clothes behind, then no one would miss them, and if anything, there would be a collective sigh of relief by everyone who is left behind. There would probably be a big party with lots of used clothes to give away as presents. The only relevance the West has for the Islamic world today is for Muslims to figure out how to get rid of Western influences from their midst and protect themselves from their violence.

9/11 AND OTHER BLACK OPERATIONS It is high time that Muslims get over their guilt about what happened on September 11th, 2001. This was an inside job carried out by rogue elements of the American government and had nothing to do with Muslims, apart from their being the chosen scapegoats for it. The purpose of this book is to talk about the future of the Muslim world and not about the West or America or how these countries

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are organized or how they operate, so we will not spend too much time on this topic. However, we have briefly discussed those countries that have had some negative impact on the Muslims in the past and will do so again in the near future. In the longer run, they will be of no relevance. 9/11 was an event organized by those with twisted dreams of an Israeli-controlled American World Empire with a secure Israel in control of Middle Eastern resources. The prime purpose of this event and the series of events that followed was to provide everlasting security to Israel. Control of oil is only a secondary benefit that is being used to justify things to those who do not believe that America is occupying countries to free them. If there had not been a single drop of oil in the Middle East, the whole scenario would nonetheless have unfolded just as it did, as long as Israel was under threat from the surrounding countries. Afghanistan’s lack of oil did not save it. Suffice it to say here that the official version of the 9/11 tale has holes big enough to fly a jumbo jet through, piloted by a nine-year-old. The only people who still believe this fairy-tale are the diehard fans of CNN and FOX News who have no knowledge of the fact that the mainstream Western media, particularly the American media, is more highly controlled than the media in the former Soviet Union was. These kinds of acts are called Black Operations, “black-ops” for short, and they are conducted by one group and set up to look as if another group were responsible. The West, particularly Israel, is a master of carrying out black-ops, and surely has many more planned for the future. Similarly, the underground bombings in London, the train bombs in Madrid, and the killing of Australians in Fiji all served the purpose of shoring up public opinion in these countries to support the War on Terror and commit their troops for various invasions. These and many other terrorists acts blamed on Muslims fall under the category of black-ops.

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There is enough material available for those who want to carry out their own research on this topic, and they’re invited to look it up themselves if they’re interested. The main source of extensive information is, of course, the Internet, which is still relatively free of control, although for how long it will remain so is difficult to say.

SHOCK AND AWE THERAPY A discussion of the West would be incomplete without mentioning this verse from the Qur’an: And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah. Qur’an 3:54 Until recently, the Islamic world was a comatose and near-dead civilization that the West probably thought it could finish off quickly with a little bit of shock and awe. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and instead of killing Islam, the West’s tactics are serving as electric shocks to wake up the patient. The status quo is the worst enemy of the Muslims, as the existing situation had too many odds stacked up against their being able to make any meaningful progress. The West exerted tremendous influence indirectly through the the fascination of the ruling and middle classes with everything Western and the overall indifference of the general public. However, the West led by Israeli interests managed to blow away its advantage and completely destroyed its credibility and exposed its dark reality for the entire world to see. America managed to reduce itself from a giant in the eyes of the Muslims to a dwarf that few take seriously anymore, apart from its capacity to bomb. Every provocation it commits leads to a renewed commitment of the Muslims to the Islamic cause. Now if the West leaves the Muslims alone, they will feel free to establish the Caliphate without let or hindrance, but if the West tries

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to prevent it, then the Muslims will establish the Caliphate even sooner as a backlash against the West’s mechanizations. Indeed, God also plans and His plans are the best.

CRIME AND SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION Civilizations rise and fall, and the West is in a state of terminal decline in relation to the rising powers of tomorrow. China and India are generally accepted as countries of the future, but the purpose of this book has been to show that the Islamic world will become the foremost civilization of the future. The West’s greatest power in relation to the rest of the world was at the end of the First World War. At that time, a few old men from Europe could sit down and decide the fate of the whole world, including drawing up boundaries of countries they created. Since then, their relative power has been declining, as other nations of the world have caught up. Now the West is facing a dead end as their mature economies stagnate, their population ages, and social deterioration sets in. As the people in the West have lost their faith in Christianity, they seem to have lost their moral compass. Where Christianity used to provide answers to questions about what was right and what was wrong, now everything is up for debate. Extramarital sex, abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, pornography — it is all acceptable. No wonder, then, that no one blinks an eye at killing women and children, as long as it saves them a few dollars in gasoline prices. The Western propaganda against Islam is mostly based on lies, the chief one being that Muslims attacked America on 9/11. Another one is that somehow the people in the West are more civilized, precisely because they have gone beyond primitive religious belief. However, if crime figures are a measure of being civilized, then the reality shows otherwise.

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Country

Population

Murder

Rape

Car Theft

Prison Population

USA (2004)

292,000,000

16,137

94,000

1,237,114

2,000,000

Indonesia (2000)

245,000,000

2,200

1,372

29,000

62,886

Britain

60,600,000

850

12,350

290,600

64,379

Saudi Arabia

27,000,000

105

87

5,573

23,720

As can be seen in the above figures, compared to Muslim countries, the crime rate in the West is very high. For example, if we compare Indonesia and the U.S., two countries with relatively similar populations, we find that the U.S. has over seven times more murders, 68 times more rapes, and 42 times more car thefts, and there are 32 times more people in prisons. The conclusion that can be drawn from these figures: The rate of crime in Muslim societies is a fraction of what it is in the West. In a country like Saudi Arabia, where Islamic laws are strictly enforced, the crime rate is near zero. Over 20-30 percent of women in the U.S. experience rape at least once in their life. Men, too, are not spared, and 10 percent of men in the U.S. will be raped in their lifetime. Including unreported crimes, the number is 683,280 women raped every year in the U.S. In Canada, it is estimated that at least 40 percent of women will be raped or sexually abused at least once in their lifetime. Nearly 50 percent of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce, while in the UK, the figure is around 40 percent. In the U.S., over 33 percent of all children are born out of wedlock, and in the UK, the figure is 42 percent. While these things also happen in Muslim countries, the figures are negligible in comparison. To be a woman in the West is particularly disadvantageous. Not only are women more likely to be robbed, raped, and abused, but they also have a slim chance of getting married before having children, and

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if they do get married, there is a high likelihood of getting divorced and being forced to raise children alone. Because of extramarital births and divorce, a large percentage of children live in single-family homes and grow up to become dysfunctional adults, which keeps the cycle repeating itself. Despite their own shortcomings, Westerners lecture Muslims to do things their way, but the Muslims need to ask why any country or society would want to go down this road. If the above figures prove anything, it is that Muslim countries should be running in the opposite direction.

THE CONTINUING CRUSADE “This crusade, this war on terrorism, is gonna take a while. And the American people must be patient. I’m gonna be patient.” George Bush, September 16, 2001 The First Crusade was launched 1095 AD, and for the next 200 years, the European Christians kept invading Islamic lands, despite being defeated repeatedly. In 1099 AD, the Christians managed to seize control of Jerusalem. In one day, the crusaders murdered almost every inhabitant of Jerusalem — Muslims, Jews, and even Eastern Christians. In 1187, Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, recaptured Jerusalem after 88 years of crusader rule. In contrast to the Christian slaughter of Muslims, Saladin spared the lives of the Europeans and allowed them to go home. This European Christian tendency to invade other countries and kill women and children never really ended throughout history and continues to this day, as can be witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan. When he marched into Jerusalem captured from the Turks in 1917, a British general, Sir Edmund Allenby, put his foot on Saladin’s grave and proudly declared: “Today the wars of the Crusaders are completed,” and the British press celebrated his victory with cartoons of Richard

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the Lion-Hearted looking down at Jerusalem above the caption, “At last my dream come true.” It is as if history were repeating itself. Then, too, they occupied Jerusalem for 88 years, and today they have again partially occupied Jerusalem for 55 years, and all of it for the last 29 years. Then they lost and were thrown out, and it will be no different in the near future, as prophesied by the Messenger of God.

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS OF AMERICA Of the nearly two billion Christians in the world, most have a benign, if not positive, attitude towards Islam in accordance with God’s message in the Qur’an that of all the people in the world, the Christians will prove to be the best friends of Muslims. However, the evangelical Christians of America that make up the Christian Right are among the bitterest enemies of Islam. They make up the core support for the Republican Party, and the President of America, George Bush, holds values that reflect core evangelical beliefs. The evangelicals give great importance to biblical prophecies and are diehard supporters of Zionism and Israel. It is their belief that turmoil leading up to Armageddon will trigger the Second Coming of Christ, so they are very enthusiastic backers of all wars in the Middle East. They would like to speed up events if it seems to them that they are not unfolding fast enough. The main evangelical preachers, or televangelicals as they’re called, have huge audiences running into tens of millions, and they all preach hatred towards Islam. On their websites, inflammatory material can be found against Allah, whom they call in idol, and against the personality of the Messenger of God. Billy Graham, who is close to the President of the United States, publicly called Islam an “evil religion.” What he may have been telling the President in private may be even worse. The actual knowledge that these preachers have about Islam is very limited — actually almost none. Jerry Falwell, one of the big-ticket

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evangelical preachers, was once talking on a television news show against Islam and was asked if he had read the Qur’an. He said that he hadn’t. Although he is a person with a large following of people who rely on his advice, which he freely dispenses, he had never bothered to read the Qur’an before forming his own opinion and publicizing it. Incidentally, Tony Blair of Britain, another great backer of Middle Eastern wars, is also driven by values similar to those of the evangelicals. The evangelical Christians of America have had great influence on American attitudes towards Islam and will continue to do so until Armageddon has been fought and Jesus is here. It is then that their balloon will burst. In a way, the evangelicals are right about Jesus’ coming during the present-day turmoil. However, they will be disappointed when Jesus turns his back on them and disowns them. Because of the closeness of the evangelical movement to Zionism and Israel, they are likely candidates to fall for the Antichrist and support him. Because the people who will sponsor the Antichrist are very clever, they will manipulate the Antichrist, who will be a fraud, to fit in with the evangelicals’ view of Jesus and fool them. To the evangelicals, the Mahdi will be sold as the Antichrist, and the Antichrist as Jesus.

CHRISTIANITY A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demonpossession.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

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The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. NIV Bible, Matthew 15:22-28 In the above verses from the Bible, a non-Jewish woman from Canaan pleads to Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus refuses to do so at first, but then relents and helps her out. He later explains to his disciples that the powers bestowed to him are a gift of God for the benefit of the believers in God (Jews), and he did not want to distribute this favor to non-believers. In the Gospel of Barnabas, it is stated that when his disciples enquired as to why he called non-believers “dogs,” Jesus explained that in his view, they were worse than dogs because dogs are at least loyal to their masters who feed them, while non-believers are ungrateful to God, who gives them everything. The significance of the story is that Jesus plainly says that he was sent to the “lost sheep of Israel,” in other words, to the Jews. During his time in the Holy Land, Jesus spent all his efforts in preaching to the Jews and did not try to convert the non-Jews that lived in adjoining towns and villages. Jesus was himself a Jew and did not claim that he had come with a new religion. He had come as a reformer of the Jews and strictly followed the commandments of God as laid down in the Laws of Moses. But the Jews of his time had already made amendments to the Torah and did not follow it as much as they followed the traditions

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and customs, known as the Talmud, which the priests had developed over time. Therefore, anything that Jesus taught that was different from the teachings of the Jewish priests was because he was following the correct form of Judaism, as opposed to the priests who were following the corrupted form. Even during the time of Jesus, his disciples had differing views about his teachings, but after his time, a great variety of opinions developed in the way Jesus’ teachings were interpreted and taught. The founder of Western Christianity was a Jew by the name of Saul, who had never met Jesus, was initially opposed to his teachings, and had, in fact, persecuted the followers of Jesus. Later, he converted and became known as Paul and went on to establish many of the ideas that Christians follow today. It is considered that many beliefs about Jesus later adopted by Christianity came from the writings of Paul: Jesus’ being a descendant of King David, the Resurrection of Jesus, the Ascension of Jesus after his crucifixion, original sin, and Jesus’ return from heaven, all make their first appearance in the letters of Paul. One of the contemporaries of Paul, who was an actual companion of Jesus, and one of the apostles, Barnabas, developed a dispute with Paul about his teachings, and they parted ways. According to the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus rejected the idea that he was the Son of God, but predicted that people would believe this after him. Christians reject the Gospel of Barnabas, as it goes against their Pauline beliefs. It was perhaps more than 200 years after Jesus that his followers began calling themselves Christians and started establishing a separate religion. By the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine, around 300 AD, there was still neither a single Christian text nor a single opinion about Christian theological beliefs. Rather, there were pockets of Christians scattered in many places throughout the Roman Empire, and there was a wide variety of opinions amongst them about Jesus

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and his teachings. Some thought that he was a man and a prophet of God; some thought he was the Son of God, and some thought that he was God. There were dozens of gospels and writings about the life of Jesus that existed at that time, and different groups taught different versions of the story of Jesus. Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian in 312 AD after he won a critical battle and associated it with the vision of the cross that he had seen in the sky. He proclaimed Christianity to be the state religion and decided to codify a Christian text and adopt one version out of the many opinions being propagated about Jesus. For this purpose, Constantine called all 1,800 bishops of the Christian Church to the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements over the nature of Jesus in relationship to the Father; in particular whether Jesus was of the same or of similar substance as God, the Father. Nicaea is a town in present-day Turkey. There was a great debate, during which some argued that Jesus was a man and a prophet of God, while others argued that he was the Son of God. The argument at times got so heated that it is said that hundreds of bishops were killed in the combat that followed. Ultimately, this council and the subsequent ones decided that Jesus was the Son of God and gave official endorsement to the concept of the Trinity. They also decided on what content was to be included in the New Testament and chose four Gospels out of the dozens that existed at that time. Christianity as it exists now was therefore codified during this time into an approved official version and any opinion or text that differed from the consensus was banned under pain of death. Thus, Christianity as we know it today came into being as a new religion independent of Judaism and subsequently spread all over the Roman Empire that controlled most of Europe. Since Jesus never claimed to have brought a new religion, it would be correct to state that Christianity was really an artificial creation that

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took Judaism as its foundation and then added layers of new ideas on top to create a new religion. The Christian Bible includes the Hebrew Scriptures as the Old Testament and adds the New Testament that was finally compiled during the Third Council of Carthage in 397. Even this council did not settle the matter, however, and certain books continued to be questioned until the late 16th century. Even though Christians claim to be monotheists, the strangest concept in Christianity is the claim that Jesus is the Son of God and worthy of worship in addition to, or instead of, God. This raises more questions than can ever be answered. Is the son a replica of God who would one day become as great as God? Will the son ever grow up? Would the father god be supplanted? If so, then would there be two gods? Does God have more than one son, and if not, will He have more in the future? These and a hundred other questions come to mind that no one can answer, and there is no logic in them. Many Christians agree, and that’s why Western scientists and philosophers gave up Christianity a long time ago, and most Europeans gave it up more recently. It is suggested by some Muslim scholars that if the Christians had only believed in one God, as originally taught by Jesus, then God would have never sent another prophet after Jesus. In that case, Christianity would have been the final religion of God. Islam teaches that there is only one God who is beyond comprehension and is not made from anything that we can imagine, as all matter is a creation of God, including light, time, and subatomic particles. Anything that humans are capable of touching, sensing, seeing, or imagining is a creation of God, and therefore God is not made of that substance. In addition, God does not tolerate any competition to His power and is unlikely to create a being that will one day challenge him. Satan challenged Him and will suffer the consequences when the time granted to him runs out. According to the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus knew that he would be called the Son of God and said that he would be answerable to God

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about it, even though God knows that Jesus is innocent of this claim. To refute this point is one of the reasons that he will be sent back to earth one day. And behold! Allah will say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah?” He will say: “Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden. Qur’an 5:116 Behold! Allah said: “O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute. Qur’an 3:55 Those who follow Jesus are the Muslims as they hold him in the highest honor and don’t attribute to him things that he did not claim. When he comes back in the near future, he will make this point clear, and it will be the Muslims who will be his supporters.

CHRISTIAN VS. ISLAMIC PROPHECIES Compared to Christians, especially evangelicals, Muslims don’t have a huge body of ancient or recent literature on prophecies, nor do they have a vast prophecy industry with a multitude of organizations and

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publishing houses churning out periodicals, books, films, and other material based on apocalyptic predictions. As the study of Christian prophecies is a very extensive subject, we won’t cover everything, but we will briefly look at some ideas that Christianity has in common with Islam. According to Islamic belief, the central message that every single prophet brought was the same. This message was that God exists and created the universe and there is only one God. Beyond this, the prophets had different instructions on how to worship God and what rules to follow based on circumstances. Prophets came to all cultures and peoples at all times until the last prophet Muhammad (God bless him). They spoke different languages and belonged to the different nations that they were sent to. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the major personalities of China, India, and other cultures were prophets. This would include Confucius, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, etc. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all Abrahamic religions because their prophets are all descendants of Abraham, including Muhammad (God bless him). He was a descendant of Abraham’s son Ishmael, just as the Jewish prophets, including Jesus, were descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac (God bless them all). Because all the prophets got their inspiration from the same source, namely God, therefore it follows that the prophecies they made about the future would have been the same. Just as the teachings of the prophets got lost or were corrupted, similarly their prophecies also got jumbled up. This is why God had to keep sending more prophets to keep renewing the message until the time of Muhammad (God bless him), the final Messenger of God, whose teachings survive to this day. Another Islamic belief is that messengers of God made predictions about those prophets that would follow them in order to enable the righteous people of later time to recognize them when they came. This has led to another thing in common between Judeo-Christianity and Islam — they all expect a savior to come at some time in the future. Muslims, in fact, believe in two: the Mahdi (Guided One) and

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Jesus (God bless him). Because Muhammad (God bless him) was the last prophet, therefore the Mahdi would not be a prophet but a leader, and Jesus will be a previous prophet who will reappear and follow Islam, the religion of the last prophet. The expectation of the coming of the Antichrist is common to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to the Messenger of God, all prophets, including Noah, warned their followers about him. Similarly, there are several other ideas like Armageddon, The Beast, and the Rapture that are common to Judeo-Christianity and Islam. However, their interpretations are different.

ISHMAEL, HAGAR, AND THE WELL We will look at a few things from the past starting with the biblical account of Abraham and what happened to Ishmael and his mother Hagar when Abraham left them in the desert, according to the Bible. Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob. God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

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Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. NIV Bible, Genesis 21:14-19 The well of water that Hagar found is still flowing and is called the well of Zamzam located in the Ka’ba complex in Mecca. In Islamic tradition, Hagar ran seven times between two hills, Safa and Marva, to see if she could spot anyone who could help her and her son. It was then that the well appeared. In commemoration of this event, Muslims run between these same two hills as part of the Haj rites every year and also during the lesser Haj, the Umrah that happens all year round. After the appearance of the well, a tribe that was passing by settled in the locality, and Hagar and Ishmael lived with them. Abraham used to visit his wife and son in Mecca, and he and Ishmael built the Ka’ba that is the center of Islamic worship. The great nation that is mentioned in the Bible consists of the Arabs who are the descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael.

THE NEW JERUSALEM And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. NIV Bible Revelation 21: 10-11 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and

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The Bible’s description of the “New Jerusalem” sounds very much like the Ka’ba found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. NIV Bible Revelation 21: 15-16 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. NIV Bible Revelation 21: 22-27

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The prophecies regarding the New Jerusalem are thought by many to be about Paradise in the next world, but on closer examination, it seems like the Ka’ba is being described in this vision as reported by John. To start with, the name New Jerusalem implies that it is a holy city that is a new version of Jerusalem. In fact, the Muslims started off facing Jerusalem for prayers and then were told to switch to face the Ka’ba that subsequently represented the new center for the worship of the One God, just like Jerusalem did previously. Verse 21:16 states that it is a cube just like the Ka’ba. A normal city would not be a cube, but the Ka’ba is. These are some of the descriptions of the Ka’ba, the House of God, and Mecca, the land of sanctuary, from the Bible. We will cite some of them word for word, and summarize others: 1. The New Jerusalem = the Messianic Jerusalem during the age of the promised savior. 2. In the wilderness or mountains of Paran, where Ishmael and his mother lived, God brought forth a spring to save them. 3. It is a city towards which Abraham would turn in longing. In fact, Abraham is said to have originally built the Ka’ba, along with his son Ishmael. 4. Its residents are the tribe of Kedar (Arab descendants of Ishmael). 5. It is the city of the trustworthy and truthful one, the leader of humanity. 6. There is no temple therein. 7. The Temple of Solomon in all its glory cannot compare to the new house. 8. The new house is in the shape of a cube. 9. The cubical house contains a valuable stone. The Ka’ba has a black stone fixed to one corner. 10. It is festooned with garlands and jewels like a bride. 11. Everyone who opposes it is filled with dread. Fear does not approach it.

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12 The health-giving water of life springs from the vicinity of the cube-shaped house, free for all who desire to drink. The Ka’ba has the well of Zamzam within its precincts. 13. Its gates are open day and night and never close. 14. Every knee in the world bends before it. 15. There is a road there called the Holy Road, on which no unclean person may pass. 16. No unclean thing may enter it. 17. Its children are greater in number than the children of Jerusalem. 18. It is crowded with residents and worshippers. 19. Kings bow down before it and lick its dust. 20. The mountains and hills may pass away, but God’s kindness and peace towards it do not pass away. 21. The treasures of the sea are sent there, and the wealth of the nations is brought to it. 22. The people gather there from afar. 23. Its land is crowded from the camels and sheep brought there from East and West, Sheba, Midian, Paran, and Kedar. The men of Maarib serve it. 24. There is a holy mountain there to which the nations come to worship God. 25. Everyone there is equally free to worship God. 26. The name of God is written on the foreheads of its people. 27. The people gathered around the house restrain themselves from the call of nature. 28. The man bares his head, and the woman covers her head. They cover from their loins to their legs, and shave the hair of their heads (the clothing worn during the state of ritual dress and the shaving of the head upon completion of the rites of pilgrimage). All the above descriptions fit the Ka’ba, where the one and only God is worshipped 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and this has never come to a stop for the last 1,400 years. And today, almost a

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quarter of humanity faces the Ka’ba every day when praying to God in every corner of the world.

MILLENNIALISM Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. NIV Bible Revelation 20:6 Millennialism is a belief expressed in some Christian denominations and literature, that there will be a thousand-year-long Golden Age or Paradise on Earth, where “Christ will reign” prior to the final judgment and future eternal state. This belief is primarily derived from the Book of Revelation 20:1-6. In Christianity, this is not the “end of the world,” but the penultimate age, prior to which it is believed that the world will end. Some believe that between the millennium and the final end of the world, there will be a brief period to allow a final battle with Satan, or a time of the Antichrist, followed by the last judgment. There is a difference of opinion about Christ’s thousand-year rule on earth regarding whether it directly precedes or immediately follows the Second Coming of Jesus and the Day of Judgment. Premillennialists see Christ’s Second Advent as preceding the millennium, thereby separating the second coming from the final judgment. Postmillennialists see Christ’s second coming as subsequent to the millennium and concurrent with the final judgment. Most current-day evangelical Christians support Premillennialism and believe that once Jesus appears, he will usher in a golden age lasting a thousand years. In fact, even Adolf Hitler was a subscriber to this viewpoint, and this was the basis of his claim for establishing a Thousand Year Reich. Similarly, the present-day evangelicals in

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America are bent on starting wars that will bring about the second coming of Jesus and start the thousand-year-long reign of Christ. An Islamic viewpoint on Millennialism would support the idea of Postmillennialism, as Muslims would argue that the Islamic empire lasted over 1,000 years and this was, in fact, the golden millennium referred to. The worship of God in the New Jerusalem in Mecca has lasted over a thousand years, and now Jesus is due back at the end of that to fight the final conflict with the Antichrist. In Islamic belief, no one can know for sure the date of the end of the world, except God, but it is predicted that when Jesus appears, there will be very little time left. Because advances in technology are causing the world to shrink, time is passing ever faster and events are happening ever more quickly; ideas and technologies that may have taken hundreds of years before now take days to spread all over the world. As a result, not only do good things happen at a faster pace, but bad things do as well. According to Muslim belief, the end of the world will come neither because of a natural nor man-made disaster, but it will happen when there is no longer anyone left who believes in God, and people will have become evil. The remaining humanity will be of no more use for God, and He will then finish off the world. God expects people to worship Him as the one and only God. Today, Muslims are the only people who meet this criterion, therefore it follows that the earth will continue to exist until no more Muslims remain, and then God will put an end to it. Since there are over 1.5 billion Muslims today and they are increasing in number, we may have a few hundred years left before they all lose their faith. But because Muslims have as much of a propensity as anyone else to degenerate and lose their belief, especially if given a long-enough period of prosperity, we are most likely to have much less than 1,000 years left. This is especially so because time is passing at a faster pace. Therefore, the millennium of the golden age can be said to have passed already, and it was the thousand-year-long golden age of Islam.

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Islamic prophecies have no mention of a thousand-year period after the coming of Jesus.

THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand — then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” NIV Bible Matthew 24:15-16 Jesus spoke of the abomination of desolation in answer to the disciples’ question, “When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” There is difference of opinion among Christians about what the abomination of desolation is and when it will occur. The thing that is generally agreed upon is that it refers to the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem that was dedicated to the worship of God. The thing that is most abominable to God is the worship of anything or anyone other than Him. Some think that the abomination is the placing of an idol in the temple or the worship of false gods there. Some Christians believe that the abomination of desolation already occurred during the Roman occupation of Jerusalem prior to its destruction, and some believe that it will occur before the Second Coming of Christ. Muslim prophecies don’t have anything to say about the abomination of desolation. However, if they were to have an opinion on this matter, then it would be that the abomination of desolation refers to the occupation of Jerusalem by the Israelis and their interference in the worship of God at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In Islamic belief, Solomon was one of the great prophets of God. The Temple of Solomon was dedicated to the worship of God, and it

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is considered to be venerable to Muslims who look upon the good people of that time as brothers in faith. When the Jews did not keep their commitments to God, He allowed the temple to be destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 AD. Later, He relented and allowed the Second Temple to be built. When the Jews again became corrupt, the Romans destroyed it for the second time in 70 AD. When the Muslims arrived in Jerusalem in 638 AD, they found nothing at the site but rubble and heaps of rubbish because of which Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab was very distressed. The Al-Aqsa Mosque was constructed, and God has been worshipped there ever since. This is the same God to whom the First and Second Temples were dedicated, although the method of worship is different based on God’s instructions to the Messenger of God. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is, therefore, the Third Temple and has been on the site for the last fourteen centuries. Since the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem, all sorts of abominations have been occurring in and around the holy places. Worshippers of God are being persecuted and killed in the mosque and its vicinity, and access to the mosque is severely restricted based on Israeli preference. Prayer services are held in the shadow of jack-booted Israeli soldiers toting machine guns. In addition, the Zionists are continuously planning to demolish the mosque and build what they call the Third Temple on the site. There are several organizations dedicated to this, and they have the designs and material ready to start work as soon as they can gain control of the site. Consider the city of Mecca. In deference to God, there are no brothels there, no nightclubs with drinking and dancing; nor are gay rallies held on the streets of Mecca. Yet all these things are happening in Jerusalem. To Muslims, these are abominations. The worst possible abomination, however, is to restrict people from worshipping God. According to Muslim prophecy, when the Mahdi comes and Jesus returns, then Al-Aqsa Mosque will be repaired and rebuilt, and God will again be freely worshipped there.

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TRIBULATION For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again. NIV Bible, Matthew 24:21 Christians believe that the tribulation will be a seven-year-long period of time during which believers will experience worldwide persecution and be purified and strengthened by it. There are a variety of opinions on when the tribulation will occur. Some believe that it already happened when Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem. Others believe that it will happen in the future. Pretribulationists believe that all Christians then alive will be taken bodily up to Heaven (called the Rapture) before the Tribulation begins. Posttribulationists believe that Christians will not be taken up into Heaven until Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation. There are many other opinions as well. From the Islamic viewpoint, the time of tribulation is already here and the Muslims, as the true believers, are the victims. Every depredation known to man is being inflicted upon them, especially on the people of the Holy Land, the Palestinians. Muslims are having their lands invaded, and men, women, and children are being killed without mercy. Future generations are being poisoned by the use of depleted uranium ordinance. People are having their countries and their livelihoods destroyed. They are being persecuted everywhere, and abuse is being heaped upon their religion. The list goes on and on. The Messenger of God predicted that a time would come when Muslims would be severely persecuted and no home would be left untouched by this. It would be hard to imagine a tribulation that could be worse than what the Muslims are going through during the present time. It is likely,

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however, that their tormentors have even worse torments planned. God also has a showdown planned to put an end to this, and relief is now likely to be very near.

THE ANTICHRIST In Christianity, the Antichrist has come to mean a person, image of a person, or other entity that is the embodiment of evil and utterly opposed to truth, while convincingly disguised as wholly good and a bringer of truth. The Antichrist is variously understood to be an individual, an organization, or a system of government that is evil and will introduce a false religion. Many who consider the Antichrist to be an individual believe that he will set himself up in the temple of God, on the false pretense that he is God Himself. He will come in the End Times during the tribulation before the appearance of Jesus and will be destroyed by Jesus in the battle of Armageddon. Islamic prophecies agree with Christianity on this matter. The Messenger of God said that every prophet since Noah has warned his people about the Antichrist. Muslims refer to the Antichrist as the Masih Ad-Dajjal (false Messiah). Like the Christian belief that there will be many false prophets, the Messenger of God talked about many deceivers (dajjals) who will come and claim to be prophets. However, the worst trial will be the Antichrist, who will come in the last days and invite people to a false religion and claim to be God and demand to be worshipped. The Antichrist was described in the sayings of the Messenger of God in great detail. His physical appearance was described, and it was foretold that he would have great powers, including the ability to bring a dead person back to life. The Antichrist is described as having a large group of Jewish followers fighting on his behalf, while the Muslims will be fighting

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alongside Jesus. The Antichrist will ultimately be killed by Jesus in Lod, a city that is located near the Tel Aviv airport in Israel. The Antichrist is likely to be brought forward by the same interests that brought us 9/11 and the War on Terror, and which are planning the New World Order. The same movie production studios that are busy producing special effects, such as videos depicting beheading, speeches by dead people, etc., attributed to Muslims, will be the support team for the Antichrist, who is likely to be no more than a good actor selected for the job. The Israeli army will be the army of the Antichrist supported by whichever country chooses to back him, and it will be the Muslims with Jesus as their leader who will destroy them.

SECOND COMING OF JESUS The passages in the Bible that are cited for the belief in the Second Coming of Christ refer to the “Son of Man” coming in latter times and reviving the Kingdom of God. There is ambiguity in this term, as Jesus was born without a father, so the description of “Son of Man” does not appear suitable. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Christians believe that Jesus will return in the End Times. Many Muslims would argue that the Son of Man that Jesus referred to was the next great prophet that was due, and it was the Messenger of God. This would be in keeping with the belief that every prophet described the next prophet that is due to appear, in order to enable people living at the later time to recognize him. In the Gospel of Barnabas, which is rejected by Christians, it is very clearly stated by Jesus that a great Messenger of God is due after him, and that near the end of time, he himself will return. In quite a few authentic sayings of the Messenger of God, it is declared very unambiguously that Jesus will be coming back in the last days, and he will kill the Antichrist. The main twist in the Muslim version of the second coming of Jesus is that he will be a Muslim and become the leader of the Islamic

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community, the Caliph. He will refute the belief that he is the son of God and invite the Christians to Islam.

THE WHORE OF BABYLON One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” NIV Bible Revelation 17:1-2 Chapter 18 in the Book of Revelation describes in spine-chilling detail the destruction of a great and wealthy kingdom that will rebel against God. The kings and merchants of the world will cry for the great loss they will suffer, while the saints, apostles, and prophets will rejoice as God judges the Whore of Babylon for the way she treated them. This great country will be brought down by God sending a mighty angel to slam a boulder into the sea, and it will suffer plague, death, mourning, and famine and will be consumed by fire. The end will be sudden, and people will cry, “In one hour your doom has come!” Some Christians believe that the Bible here refers to Iraq because that is where ancient Babylon was located. But this certainly cannot apply to Babylon, or Iraq, as its destruction wasn’t a cause of nearly as much grief to the world as is described for the Whore of Babylon. In addition, Iraq’s destruction didn’t come about at the hands of God, as is stated in the Bible. While Islam has no equivalent prophecies, there are many Christians, including Americans, who believe that the Whore of Babylon refers to America. It is certainly a sufficiently important country in world history to merit mention in the Bible, but maybe not indispensable enough to escape the wrath of God if it goes astray.

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ARMAGEDDON The word Armageddon comes from the Hebrew name Har-Magedon, which literally means “Mountain of Megiddo,” and can also be translated as “the mountain of assembly of troops.” This place is located in Israel south of the city of Nazareth. In Christian prophecies, Armageddon is anticipated as the final battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. During the battle, the kings of the earth will unite against God’s appointed king, Jesus, and will be defeated by him. Evangelical Christians believe that the righteous believers are the Israelis and their Christian American supporters who will fight the evil people, presumably Muslims, who will come to destroy Israel. However, Muslims believe that it is they who are the righteous believers and will be fighting on the side of Jesus, and it is they who will win this battle. While Muslims do not use the term “Armageddon,” the sayings of the Messenger of God mention that there will be a great battle during which the Romans (European Christians) will besiege the Muslims along with their leader, the Mahdi, and will be defeated. In the same battle or a later one, the Muslims will witness the appearance of Jesus, who will lead them to destroy the Antichrist and his Jewish army.

GOG AND MAGOG Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth — Gog and Magog — to gather them for battle. In number they are like the

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sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. NIV Bible Revelation 20:6-10 There is much confusion in Christianity about who or what the Gog and Magog are. They are variously presented as humans, supernatural beings (giants or demons), nations, or as lands. They will attack Israel in the End Times and will be destroyed there by God. The Islamic view of Gog and Magog is very much the same. They are mentioned in the Qur’an: But there is a ban on any population which We have destroyed: that they shall not return, Until the Gog and Magog (people) are let through (their barrier), and they swiftly swarm from every hill. Then will the true promise draw nigh (of fulfilment): then behold! the eyes of the Unbelievers will fixedly stare in horror: “Ah! Woe to us! we were indeed heedless of this; nay, we truly did wrong!” Qur’an 21:95-97 There is just as much uncertainty among Muslims about who these people are as there is among Christians. The sayings of the Messenger of God state that they will emerge at the time that Jesus is present in Jerusalem, and God will inform Jesus to take his followers to Mount Sinai to save them. Then Gog and Magog will invade the Holy Land, and Jesus will pray to God to rid his followers of this problem,

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upon which God will send a disease or insects to attack the Gog and Magog, and they will all die as one. After that, their bodies will be taken away by birds (or cargo planes) and thrown away. The interesting thought here is that the Qur’an says that the unbelievers will stare in horror when Gog and Magog appear. Based on this Qur’anic verse and the hadith mentioned earlier we know: 1) Gog and Magog will invade Palestine after Jesus has returned and defeated the Antichrist. 2) Jesus will take his followers to Mount Sinai. 3) Gog and Magog will not be attacking Muslims in general, as the pilgrimage in Mecca will continue as normal. 4) It is the unbelievers who will stare in horror when the Gog and Magog attack, and will wish that they had taken heed and not done wrong. Based on the above information, it is possible to surmise that the sequence of events is that once Jesus defeats the Antichrist and his Jewish followers, which would be the Israeli army, then Jesus will apply the Islamic principles of war to the defeated Israeli population, and pardon them. Despite everything, these people will still be refusing to believe in Jesus and will not believe in Islam, which Jesus will be preaching. Therefore, they will be punished by God Himself, who will unleash Gog and Magog on them.

THE BEAST He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for

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wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666. NIV Bible Revelation 13:16-18 The Beast, also called “The Beast from the Earth,” is believed to refer to an entity controlled by the Antichrist. Beyond this, speculation about who or what the Beast is, is a debatable subject open to conjecture, as is the meaning of the number 666. In the Qur’an, the Beast is mentioned; it is uncertain whether the reference points to the same thing as Christian prophecies do.. And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), we shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them: He will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in Our Signs. Qur’an 27:82 There is also mention of the Beast in the sayings of the Messenger of God. He pointed out an exact location near Mecca where it would emerge and said that it would have the rod of Moses and the ring of Solomon. With the ring, it will mark people as believers or unbelievers and they will start addressing each other as “O Believer,” and “O Unbeliever.” The appearance of the Beast will occur a very short time before or after the rising of the sun from the west, and it will be one of the signs of God upon seeing which repentance will no longer be accepted. In Islamic prophecies, there is no direct connection between the appearance of the Beast and the second coming of Jesus or the Antichrist. Rather, the prophecies seem to imply that the Beast will appear at a time when there are very few people left who continue to believe in God. This will probably be a time many hundreds of years after the Second Coming of Jesus.

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THE RAPTURE The Rapture is an event in certain systems of Christian eschatology (the study of the End Times), whereby it is believed that all Christians will be taken from earth by God into heaven. Although almost all forms of Christianity believe that those who are “saved” will enter Heaven, the term “Rapture” is usually applied specifically to the belief that Christians will be taken into heaven prior to the Second Coming of Christ, and there will be a period of time where non-Christians will still be left on earth before Christ arrives to set up his earthly kingdom. There are many opinions on when the Rapture will occur. In the pre-tribulation view, it will happen before the tribulation befalls the Christians just prior to the coming of Jesus. The post-tribulation view is that the rapture will happen after Jesus comes, and all good Christians will suffer the tribulation together. There are many other variations of opinion on this subject. Many Christians believe that they will be lifted up to heaven in bodily form during the Rapture. In Islamic prophecies, an event is predicted that is very much like the Rapture. It is not mentioned in the Qur’an, but is mentioned in the sayings of the Messenger of God, which state that right before the end of the world, God will send a fragrant wind that will take the life of all believers who have even a speck of faith in their hearts, after which only evil people will be left on earth. This will save the believers from witnessing the horrors and turmoil that will follow, leading up to the folding up of the heavens and earth by God.

Conclusion The main point of this book has been to show that the followers of Islam have a few extremely tough years ahead of them, but once they are past this period, there’s a glorius future to look forward to. The reason for the optimism is that there are sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him) that almost exactly match up with current events and predict that the Muslims will emerge out of their troubles as the victors. Out of all the information that has been presented in this book, people may debate the correctness of some point of detail or the other, but it is to be hoped that most, if not all, readers will agree on the major points: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

The Mahdi is a leader that God will send; The Antichrist will appear; Jesus will come to defeat the Antichrist and lead the Muslims; A united Muslim Caliphate will be established; These events will occur very soon.

Beyond these main points, we are free to debate the details, such as which battle will be fought first, which country will play what role, in what year exactly the events will occur, etc. It is safe to say that the most exciting thing that the Muslims look forward to is the coming of the Mahdi. Once that happens, then all the rest of the prophecies will fall into place, and the light at the end of the tunnel will become visible. 243

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So when will the Mahdi come? While God says that no one knows the exact time of the end of the world, the Prophet did say that some Muslims would, in fact, know the exact time and location for the coming of the Mahdi. That is why they will travel to Mecca looking for him, and will forcibly pledge allegiance to him. My own conclusion is that the state of the Muslim world will deteriorate much beyond what it is now, if that is at all possible. The final piece of news to watch out for is massive violence during the Haj pilgrimage in one particular year. Once that happens, then expect the Mahdi to be revealed and the rest of the events to unfold.

GLOSSARY Al-Malhamah Al-Kubrah Ayah Bayt al-Maqdis Dajjal Dhu al-Hijjah Dinar Dirham Eidul-Adha Fajr prayer Hadith

Haj Hajare Aswad Hijri Imam Irdab Ijtehad Jizyah Ka’ba

Kafir Kalimah Kiswah Kunya Maqaame Ibraheem Mahdi

The Great War Verse Tomb of the Rock in Jerusalem Deceiver, Antichrist Twelfth month of Islamic calendar, month of Haj pilgrimage Form of money Form of money Celebration at end of Haj pilgrimage on the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar Morning prayer The sayings of the Prophet (the same spelling is used for both singular and plural) The yearly Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca Black Stone attached to the Ka’ba Islamic calendar Leader, prayer leader A measure A consensus of Islamic scholars on an issue of law Tax on non-Muslims The cubic structure within the Grand Mosque in Mecca that Muslims turn towards during prayer Unbeliever Word Cloth covering Honorific title, surname Station of Abraham, adjacent to the Ka’ba Leader, the promised leader of the Muslims 245

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Masih-ad-Dajjal Minaret Mudd Muezzin Muharram Munafiq Qafiz Qiyamah Soor Sufyaani Sunnah Surah Shawwal Talbiyah Tawaf Ummah Umrah Yawm al-Khalas

The false messiah, Antichrist Tower of a mosque Form of money The person who calls to prayer First month of Islamic calendar Hypocrite Muslim who does not really believe A measure Doomsday, Day of Judgment Trumpet that will be blown at the End of the World Tyrannical ruler, descendant of Abu Sufyaan The way of the Prophet Chapters of the Qur’an Tenth Islamic month Intention Walking around the Ka’ba Muslim community A shortened version of the Haj pilgrimage that is performed in Mecca all year round Day of Purification

BOOKS CITED OR RECOMMENDED The Gospel of Barnabas (1993) New York: A&B Publishers Group NIV Study Bible (2002) Grand Rapids: Zondervan The Holy Qur’an, Abdullah Yusuf Ali (2000) UK: Wordsworth The Bible, The Qur’an and Science, Maurice Bucaille (2003) New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzweil (2005) New York: Viking The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil (2000) New York: Penguin The Sahih Al-Bukhari The Sahih Al-Muslim The Venture of Islam (Volumes 1, 2 & 3), Marshall G. H. Hodgson (1977) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press A History of Islamic Societies, Ira M. Lapidus (2005) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel P. Huntington (1997) New York: Touchstone Jesus Will Return, Harun Yahya (2001) London: Ta-Ha Publishers Signs of the Last Day, Harun Yahya (2004) McLean: Global Publishing The End Times and Mahdi, Harun Yahya (2004) McLean: Global Publishing A Call to an Islamic Union, Harun Yahya (2006) McLean: Global Publishing Jesus Did Not Die, Harun Yahya (2006) McLean: Global Publishing The Qur’an, M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (2005) New York: Oxford The Holy Qur’an, Abdullah Yusuf Ali (2000) Hertfordshire: Wordsworth

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WEB SITES CITED OR RECOMMENDED Islamic Sites Harun Yahya : http://www.harunyahya.com/ The Future is for Islam (The inspiration for this book): http:// www.geocities.com/muslimapocalyptic/future_is_for_islam.htm Sufi interpretation of End Time events: http://www.muhammadan reality.com/ The Caliphate: http://www.caliphate.eu/ Dinar Standard: http://www.dinarstandard.com/ Islamic City: http://www.islamicity.com/ Online Bookstores http://islamicbookstore.com/ http://soundvisioncanada.com/ http://www.astrolabe.com/ Qur’an MP3 Arabic Recitation: http://www.al-quran.ca/en_index.html Three different English translations: http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/ Translations in various languages: http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/Quran/ Translation in English by Abdullah Yusuf Ali: http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/surai.htm Hadith A searchable database of Hadith: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html Christian Sites Gospel of Barnabas: http://www.barnabas.net/ Christian Writings: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ Bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/ 248

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Christian Prophecies Rapture Ready: http://www.rr-bb.com/ Lampholder publications: http://www.lampholderpub.com/ Mission of Maitreya: http://www.maitreya.org/ Texe Marrs: http://www.texemarrs.com/ Alternative News Sites Jeff Rense: http://www.rense.com Michael Rivero: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com Alex Jones: http://www.prisonplanet.com/ Justin Raimondo: http://www.antiwar.com/ Israeli Sites http://www.templemountfaithful.org/ http://www.templeinstitute.org/ http://www.donmeh-west.com/ Information Sites CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html Mapping the Global Future: http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_globaltrend2020.html Bernard Lewis map of the Middle East: http://cloakanddagger.de/media/Tarpley/lewis%20plan%20map.htm

INDEX A Abdul-Nasser, Gamal Egyptian leader referenced in hadith, 50 Abu Dawud: hadith scholar, 41 Adam: creation of, discussed in Gospel of Barnabas, 15 Afghanistan, invasion of, possibly referenced in hadith, 53, 61-63 Al Abdal (servants of God), 146 Allah. See God Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the Third Temple, 233 Antichrist, the: appearance of, 85, 129, 162 in sequence of events, 92-93 army of, 114 in Islamic and Christian prophecy, 235-236 killing of, by Jesus, 104-105, 114, 130, 166, 236 cutting a person in half and restoring to one piece, 101-102, 164 deceptive actions employed by, 99 details regarding, 96-107 physical description, 97, 99, 103, 119, 162 possessing supernatural powers, 164 pursuit of, by Jesus, 154 referenced by the Prophet Muhammad, 118-120 time of appearance of, 88 tribulation of, 163

Antioch: caves in, location of Muslim treasures referenced in hadith, 90 Arab-Israeli conflict, referenced in hadith, 56-57 Ark of the Covenant: contents of, 161 to be brought forth by the Mahdi, 91, 160 Armageddon: end of the Antichrist, 112-116 in Christian prohecy, 238 Ar-Ray. See Tehran B Babylon, Whore of: referring to America, 237 Baghdad: destruction of, referenced in hadith, 57 Bani Israel. See Children of Israel Barnabas, Gospel of: report of Jesus’ discussing the creation of man, 14-15 rejected by Christianity, 236 Battle of Kalb: different from Armageddon, 84, 153 See also Great War Beast, the, 127-128 appearance of, 173-174 in Christian and Islamic prophecy, 240-241 mentioned in Qur’an, 173 different from Antichrist, 127-128 marking foreheads of believers and unbelievers, 173

Index

Bible, the: scientific inaccuracies in, 12, Big Bang theory: similarities to destruction and subsequent resurrection of universe, 178 Bin Laden, Osama, 62 Black Operations, 211-213 September 11, 2001, attack, 211, 236 Boutros-Ghali, Boutros Egyptian ruler referenced in hadith, 50 Breeze from the south, 128-131, 174 See also Rapture Bukhari hadith scholar, 41, 110 C Caliphate (The New Caliphate): as benign entity, 191 as form of government for Muslim countries, 190 based on belief in one God, 190 communications system, 199 educational system, 198 expected opposition to: internal, 200-201 external, 201-202 federal structure, 195-196 fight for, 60 gubernatorial structure, 196-197 health care system, 199 judiciary of, 197-198 local administration, 197 new United Nations established under, 203-205 scientific and technological programs, 198-199

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Children of Israel (Bani Israel), 94, 140 as new converts or Muslim descendants of Jews: soldiers of, dispatched by the Mahdi to re-conquer Istanbul, 161 Christianity: becoming defunct as a religion, 106 evangelical Christians of America, 217-218 backers of wars in Middle East, 217 First Council of Nicaea: decreed Jesus’ status as Son of God, 221 founded by Saul/Paul, 220 Christian vs. Islamic prophecies, 223-225 Millennialism, 230-232 Constantinople. See Istanbul D Dajjal. See Antichrist Day of Judgment. See Judgment Day Day of Resurrection, 137 Doomsday: blowing of trumpet on, 136 commencement of, 176-178 different from Judgment Day, 13 events preceding, 130 occurring on a Friday, 177 E Euphrates: halting of, 145 as portent of the Mahdi, 59 F Fire in Yemen, 175

252

The Future Is for Islam

as one of the signs of the Last Hour, 134-135 G God: existence of: discussion regarding, 11-14 God not wanting to prove His existence, 14 ninety-nine names for, featured in Qur’an, 20 putting end to all communities except Islam, 110-111 sovereignty of, 191-194 Gog and Magog 117-121, 171 appearance of, 169-170 besieging Jesus and his companions, 120 invading Palestine after killing of Antichrist by Jesus, 170 Great War (Al-Malhamah Al-Kubrah): different from Armageddon, 84, 153 in Christian and Islamic prophecy, 238-239 in sequence of events, 92-93 place of assembly of Muslims during, 113 See also Battle of Kalb See also World War III H Hadith: age of, 42 Harith, son of Hirrath: preparing Muslims to accept the Mahdi, 145 providing protection to the Mahdi, 145

Hitler, Adolf: referenced in hadith, 141-142 Hussein, Sadam: Iraqui dictator referenced in hadith, 54-55 I Idolatry: as one of the signs of the Last Hour, 132-133 India: conquest of, 95 concurring arrival of Jesus, 95 Iran: attack on, referenced in hadith, 147-148 Iran-Iraq War, referenced in hadith, 54, 143 Iraq: example of destructive methods employed by the West, 209 invasion of, referenced in hadith, 61-63 sanctions against, referenced in hadith, 56 Islam: belief in one God, 9, 19 God’s promise of Islam’s acknowledgment as premier religion, 38 Islamic vs. Christian prophecies, 223-225 Israel, state of: as root cause of clash between Islam and the West, 141 Israfil, angel, the: blowing trumpet (Soor): initiating destruction of universe, 177-178

Index

initiating resurrection of humans, 129 Istanbul (Constantinople): conquest of, referenced in hadith, 91-94 in sequence of events, 92-93 J Jerusalem: capture of, during Great War, 157 flourishing of, in sequence of events, 92-3 headquarters of new Caliphate, 196 New Jerusalem, The, 226-230 similarities with Ka’ba, 228-229 Jesus, son of Mary, 97, 99, 107-112 Antichrist dissolving at sight of, 86, 99, 104 return of, 162, 165 breaking cross, killing pigs, abolishing Jizyah, 105-106, 109-110, 166-167 bringing end to all communities except Islam, 114 burial place of, 117 death of, 171 descent of, 85, 86 as sign of coming of the Last Hour, 110 did not claim to be the Son of God, 220 did not die on the cross, 106 expected time of descent of, 88, 114, 119 killing the Antichrist, 104-105, 114, 115 marriage, children, and death of, 116-117

253

physical description, 108, 110, 120, 130, 165 second coming of, 236-237 stepping back to let the Mahdi lead in prayer, 99, 104, 111, 113, 165 story of, as told in Gospel of Barnabas, 167-168 time of peace established by, 105-106 See also Judas Judas: died on cross instead of Jesus, 106, 167 Judgment Day: different from Doomsday, 13 length of, 180 See also Resurrection K Ka’ba (center of Islamic worship): black stone attached to (Hajare Aswad), 151 built by Abraham and Ishmael, 226 destruction of, 133-134 similarities with New Jerusalem, 228-229 Khalifa, Rashid, Dr: discovery of Qur’an code based on number nineteen, 29-35 Khurasan: army from, constituents of the Mahdi’s army, 77-79 geographical area referenced in hadith, 62, 148 Kuwait: leader of, fighting army of the Mahdi, 143 referenced in hadith, 143

254

The Future Is for Islam

L Landslides: as one of the signs of the Last Hour, 134 in three places, 175 Lod: city near Tel Aviv where Jesus kills the Antichrist, 107, 115 M Mahdi, the (Muhammad, son of Abdullah), 62-74, 147 as supreme leader and reformer of Muslim community, 160 banners from the west, as signs of appearance of, 55 caliphate established by, 80, 160 death of, 169 emerging with banner of the Prophet, 153 expected length of rule, 89, 160 golden age during reign of, 121-122 physical description, 72, 73, 89, 112, 150 meaning of name, 90 peace treaty signed by, with Romans, 159 signs of coming of, 63-66, 148-150 sinking of the army that comes to kill him in the desert, 74-75 time of appearance, 115 wars to be fought by, 154-155 year one of, 151-159 years two to five of, 160-161 year six of, 161-162 year seven of, 162-165 Mecca: free of abominations, 233 safe from the Antichrist, 100

Medina: abandonment of, 13 cleansed of evil on Yawm al-Khalas (Day of Purification), 163 destruction of, in sequence of events, 92-93 experiencing earth tremors, 100, 104, 163 safe from the Antichrist, 100 Messenger of God: sayings of, See Hadith See also Muhammad, Prophet Middle East: conflicts in, discussed in hadith, 49-51 Millennialism (in Christianity), 230-232 Mina: battles in, during year of appearance of the Mahdi, 66, 148 Minaret of Jesus: location of expected descent of Jesus, 108 white minaret of Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, 108 Miracles: failure to convince people to believe in God, 18 performed by prophets through history, 26 Muhammad, Prophet, the: confirmed the coming of Jesus, 110 received revelation through the angel Gabriel, 13 referenced Gog and Magog, 117-118 sayings of, See hadith Multiple heavens and earths: mentioned in Qur’an, 176

Index

Muslim: hadith scholar, 41, 110 Muslim countries: challenged by maladministration, 187-188 GDP statistics, 184-186 population statistics, 181-182 potential economic power of, 182-187 Muslims: only true believers in one God, 23 internal rifts as cause of downfall for, 42-46 lack of unity as greatest challenge for, 36 mainstream Muslims as righteous Muslims, 44 N Nukrashy Pasha, Mahmoud: Egyptian leader possibly referenced in hadith, 50 P Prophet, the (see Muhammad, Prophet) Prophets: messengers sent by God, 17-18 Q Qahtaani, the: holder of the caliphate after the Mahdi and Jesus, 122-123, 171-172 Qur’an, the: as the Word of God, 9 code based on number nineteen, 29-35 initialed chapters in, 31-34 mathematical miracle of, 29-35

255

miraculous qualities of, 26 providing sequence of events in creation, 29 scientific accuracy of, 12, 28 R Rapture, the, 128-131, 174 in Christian and Islamic prophecy, 130, 242 See also Breeze from the south Religious knowledge: loss of, 131-132, 172 as sign of the Last Hour, 131 Resurrection: recreation of the earth by God, 179 recreation of humans from spinal column DNA cells, 179 See also Judgment Day S Sadat, Anwar: Egyptian ruler referenced in hadith, 49, 51, 142 Satan: creation of, discussed in Gospel of Barnabas, 15 stone pillar representing, 66 September 11, 2001, attack, 236 See also Black Operations Saudi Arabia: possible invasion of, referenced in hadith, 63 Sham (See Syria) Shuayb, son of Salih, 61 appearance of, 145, 151 bearer of the Mahdi’s banner, 64, 79, 82, 153 fighting the Tyrant, 147 leading army from Khurasan, 80, 81

256

The Future Is for Islam

Smoke, the: as one of ten signs of the Last Hour, 124 creating the “night of three nights,” 126, 172-173 possible scientific explanations of, 124 Sound, as building block of matter, 178 Spinal bone: from which bodies are reconstituted on Day of Resurrection, 136-137 Sun: rising from the west, 126-127 as first sign of the Last Hour, 127 Syria (Sham), 140 T The Bible, the Qur’an, and Science (Bucaille), 27-28 Tehran, 140 Time: as a creation of God, 16 Torah, the: to be brought forth by the Mahdi, 91, 159 Tribulation, the, 234-235 Turkey: liberation of, from anti-Muslim forces, 94 Tyrant, the, 60-61, 144 capture of, by the Mahdi’s fighters, 157

descendant of Abu Sufyaan, 144 dispatching army against the Mahdi, 152 falling of army of, 152 U United Nations: new United Nations created under New Caliphate, 204-205 democratic nature of, 204 military disarmament promoted under, 204 obsolete status of current United Nations, 203 W West, the: cost/benefit ratio of relations with, for Muslim countries, 208-211 crime and social disintegration occurring in, 214-216 statistics, 215 World wars: discussed in hadith, 47-49 I and II, 141-142 III, 144-147, 154 Y Yawm al-Khalas (Day of Purification), of Medina, 163