16 posts tagged “muslims”

Hillary62

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Since we are talking about the Mahdi and the differences between Sunni and Shiites, I found a article that may interest you. I will post part of it here, and put the link below. We will also go over some of the hadiths in regards to the Mahdi. It is interesting to note that in my research, I have found that Muslims often refer to different hadiths as strong or weak or in between. Which totally surprized me, I mean we have idiots out killing people over what they consider the Hadiths to say, but now I hear that even amongst Muslim they don’t give them all the same amount of weight.

I have a Muslim friend who sticks to the Quran and the Quran only. Sometime in the future, I will write about that and point you in his direction. Needless to say, I was fasinated with some of what he had to say, you may feel the same way. But for now, back to the subject at hand.

We already covered part of this yesterday, but I like the way this guy writes and I couldn’t leave out the stuff we already talked about, it would take away from his article.

I know these posts are long and involved, I just can’t see how to shorten them and get all the information in. When writing about Christianity, I write directly from what the Bible says about the end times, and my own beliefs. When writing about Islam’s belief’s, there is a lot of information, and different views of which, I am trying to cover most. So bare with me.

The word al-Mahdi never actually appears in the Qur’an, Islam’s main religious text, the passive of its Arabic stem appearing only four times. Support for the Mahdi finds itself completely within hadith, records of the traditions or sayings of Muhammad. While Sunni and Shii Muslims have their own hadith collections—their respective collections reflecting their respective beliefs—some overlap exists.

The Shii established their own form of leadership based on hereditary succession from Ali. The imam (“pattern,” “model,” “leader”) is the “divinely inspired, sinless, infallible, religiopolitical leader of the (Shii) community”. The imam must be a direct descendant of Muhammad and Ali, the first imam. The doctrine of the imamate is the fundamental difference between Shii and Sunni Islam.

The doctrine of the imamate, while originally simple, developed over time into complex theories and ideas that facilitated Mahdism.

First, imams have the “divine right to be successors to the Prophet”, possessing authority in both the temporal and religious spheres because of their kinship with Muhammad and past “ruling kings”. Final authority on all subjects rests with the imam, as opposed to Sunni belief in consensus (ijma) of religious scholars (ulama) for authoritative decision-making.

Second, authority is passed from father to son by the father’s nomination (nass). The imam derives his authority not by the say of men, but by nass, the explicit designation of the previous imam and, thereby, the designation of God. This is reminiscent of the apostolic succession in Roman Catholic Christianity ((which is interesting, as you shall see in the future)).

Third, the imams have the ability to understand both the outer, exoteric, and inner, esoteric, meanings of the Qur’an by virtue of the “Muhammadan light” ((that sounds dangerous….for Muslims)), which is passed along to each succeeding imam. Fazlur Rahman ascribes this doctrine to Gnostic doctrines incorporated into Shii doctrines as Muslim territory expanded and attempted to incorporate peoples of different faiths.

Fourth, because interpretation of the Qur’an’s inner meaning relies on the “miraculous guidance of God”, the imam is infallible, protected from both error and sin ((again, dangerous)).

Fifth, since it is the imam who guides and sustains believers in the absence of the Prophet, the world can never be without an imam.

Sixth, imams are not regular humans; rather, they have a position somewhere between human and divine beings.

Belief in the imam can be referred to as the “third cardinal article of [Shii] Faith, after belief in God and in His Apostle” (with the exception of Zaydi Shii, mentioned later). According to S.H.M. Jafri, many of the doctrines concerning the imam were institutionalized by Imam Jafar al-Sadiq as a way to firmly establish the legitimacy of the imamate, “to save the basic ideal of Shi’ism from absorption by the emerging synthesis on the one hand, and to purify it from extremist and activist activities on the other.” Interestingly, however, Sadiq’s doctrines facilitated belief in the Madhi, a belief that came to be supported by many of the same “extremists” from whom he was protecting the “mainstream” Shii.

Among the extremists from whom Jafar wished to protect Shiism were the ghulat of Kufa, who believed in a temporary absence or occultation (ghayba) of the Mahdi and his subsequent return. This early group of ghulat would find a place in the mainstream amongst al-Mukhtar ibn ‘Ubayd’s Kaysaniya, a larger group which al-Mukhtar led in a revolt against the oppressive Umayyads in 686 C.E. following the deaths of Ali’s other two sons, Hasan and Husayn. Al-Mukhatar is credited with one of the earliest popular usages of the term Mahdi for having applied it to Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya, a son of Ali by a woman other than Fatima.

Although the term “Mahdi” was originally used as an honorific title without a messianic connotation— it was applied to the Prophet and the first four caliphs — it by this time had become, as evinced by al-Mukhtar’s use of it, a term used for an expected ruler who would restore the glory of Islam.

Al-Mukhatar claimed the caliphate on behalf of al-Hanafiya, calling him “the Mahdi, son of the legatee,” a term applied to Ali by those who believed Muhammad had appointed Ali his successor. Although al-Hanafiya refused to accept the title, this movement popularized several aspects of Shii Mahdism such as the doctrine of nass and the idea that the Mahdi would go into concealment, or occultation, and later return. In addition, a popular claim that the name of the Mahdi would be the same as the Prophet’s was probably made at this time in order to strengthen al-Mukhtar’s argument on behalf of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya.

Among the three main sects of the Shii, two have a belief in the Mahdi that is central to their faith: the Ismailis and the Ithna Asharis. The third group is the Zaydis, the smallest and most moderate sect. Zaydis believe that Zayd ibn Ali, a grandson of Husayn, was the rightful fifth Imam. Their beliefs most closely resemble those of the Sunni, not believing that their imams are more than human. Their Shiism resembles the early political Shiism that was simply allegiance to Ali. Fazlur Rahman goes so far as to say that aside from having a Shii imam, “the religion is that of Sunni Islam.”

The two main groups of Shii that do believe in the Mahdi split from each other in the eight century in a disagreement over who would succeed the sixth Imam, Jafar. The majority of the Shii believed that Jafar had recognized his second oldest son, Musa al-Kazim, as imam because the eldest son, Ismail, was found guilty of the sin of drinking wine. Among those who followed Ismail as the imam, the majority end the line of imams with Ismail, believing that in 760 C.E., when he died before his father, he went into seclusion, later to return as the Mahdi.

The majority of those that had followed Musa al-Kazim as opposed to Ismail end the line of imams with the twelfth Imam, son of the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari. Upon al-Askari’s death in 874 C.E., rumor abounded that he had left no offspring behind him. Nevertheless, most people came to believe that at the time of his death, he actually did have a five or six year old son, Muhammad, who al-Askari had designated as the next imam. Soon after his father’s death, however, the young Imam went into concealment, or occultation, to return at the end of time. His concealment consisted of two stages: the “lesser concealment,” which ended in approximately 939 C.E. and the “greater concealment,” to end just before the end of time. During the absence of the Mahdi (the imam), the religious experts, mujtahids, lead the community.

The doctrines associated with the Mahdi were shaped by several factors. First, the characteristics ascribed to the imamate by people such as Imam Jafar, particularly that God would never leave the world without an imam, made a “concealed” Mahdi a necessity. As Said Arjomand explains, “The centrality of the Imams to Shiite Islam made the inevitable crisis of succession caused by the Imam’s death a chronic threat to the survival of the community.” Mahdism, then, was a solution to a problem for the Shii, Ismaili, and Ithna Ashari alike.

A second factor that shaped the development the doctrine of the Mahdi in Shiism was a desire to be rescued from persecution. An examination of the common themes among Shii Mahdist traditions—“that he will appear when the world has reached its worst state of affairs; his reign will be a time of natural abundance, and he will spread justice, restore faith, and defeat the enemies of Islam [. . .] , and he will be generous and divide the wealth”—suggests that those who subscribed to belief in the Mahdi were not pleased with the present condition of their lives. For example, al-Hanafiya was believed to be the Mahdi by those who wished to escape persecution from the Umayyads. Likewise, in modern times, it has been argued that Mahdists have justified resistance to colonialism through their beliefs, heralding the imposition of colonialism on Muslims as a “sign of the hour” and accommodating their beliefs to that threat. Doctrinal responses to oppression are found not only in purely Mahdist doctrines, but also in other Shii doctrines such as taqiya, dissimulation. Taqiya, instituted by Muhammad al-Baqir and elaborated by Jafar al-Sadiq, has a “double meaning of caution and dissimulation for survival in a hostile world”; that is, believers may deny their beliefs if those beliefs put their lives in danger.

A third factor that has wrought the development of Mahdism has been increasing Muslim dissatisfaction with the status of the Islamic community. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, as quoted by Riffat Hassan, says it best:

The fundamental malaise of modern Islam is a sense that something has gone wrong with Islamic history. . . The fundamental spiritual crisis of Islam in the twentieth century stems from an awareness that something is awry between the religion which God has appointed and the historical development of the world which [God] controls.

This statement, however, rings true not only in the twentieth century, but has rung true for each succeeding generation of Muslims since the Abbasid revolution and Islam’s fall from Eurasian dominance. Reform movements led by men such as al-Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyya demonstrate this dissatisfaction. Mahdists have sought solace in the belief that the Mahdi would come soon to save them from the “enemies of Islam”, the Ithna Asharis believing, for instance, that the Mahdi, when he comes, will make the entire world accept Islam “willingly or by force”.

While the Shii certainly have the most institutionalized belief in the Mahdi, the belief is not completely alien to Sunni Islam. Unlike the Shii, however, the Sunni generally believe that the Mahdi will be “an ordinary man whose career is that of a reformer and conqueror.” Fazlur Rahman suggests that belief in the Mahdi made its way into Sunni doctrine through Sufism, a mystical form of Islamic piety. He states that in Sunni Islam, “where a deep-seated consciousness existed of the failure of political and public life to meet the standards of the Islamic ideal, [messianic] ideals found a ready place in the hearts of the frustrated and disillusioned public through the effective mediacy of [Sufi] preachers.” Consequently, Shii hadith containing Mahdist doctrine found their way into the Sunni hadith collections of Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Madja, al-Nasa’i, and the Musnad of Ibn Hanabal.

With its presence in both popular Sunni Islam and Shii Islam, the Mahdi, a messianic figure who will rule at the end of the world, can safely be called “Islam’s messianic figure”. Importantly, however, the presence of the Mahdi is only a sign that the end times are at hand. The arrival of the Mahdi is not the ultimate event of Islamic eschatology. Interestingly, the arrival of the Mahdi is often associated with the return of Jesus. Some claim that there will be no Mahdi at all, his role instead fulfilled by Jesus. Others say he will precede Jesus, who will descend later and assist the Mahdi in his battle against al-Dadjjal, the false messiah ((we will get to this)). Belief in the Mahdi has been more fervent at times when the Muslim masses have felt particularly oppressed or humiliated and until either the Muslim community reasserts itself atop the world’s hierarchy or the Mahdi arrives, one can only assume such a trend will, to some extent, continue.

I would encourage those who want to understand the split between Sunni’s and Shiite’s to read the entire article. I printed here the items there in regards to the Mahdi. What are your thoughts on this??

I want to say one more thing in regards to my previous post about Sufyaani. I believe I made the statement in that post that it sounded to me like Sufyaani appeared to me to be a conflict between Sunni’s and Shiites. While doing some research for upcoming posts, I found this statement by Khomeini, of Iran while addressing a youth rally:

“The Islamic and non-Islamic powers of the world will not admit our power till such time that we establish our hold over Makkah and Madinah because these are the centers and citadels of Islam. Hence our domination over these places Is an essential requirement … when as a conqueror I will enter Makkah and Madinah, the first thing to be done at that time by me would be to dig out two idols (Abu Bakr and Umar) lying by the side of the Prophet’s grave.”

The first scism between Sunni’s and Shiites was in 661 A.D when Ali the fourth of the “rightly guided” Khalifahs (Caliphs) was murdered by the henchmen of Abu Muawiya ibn Sufyan who became the fifth caliph. Shiites look upon Ali as the rightful heir to the Caliphate, being the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed. Sunnis are loyal to Abu Muawiya ibn Sufyan who was the descendant of Abu Sufyan, the pre-Islamic ruler of Mecca and a rival of prophet Mohammed.

While the sectarian divide along Shiite-Sunni lines is discernable, that along tribal lines is not. We discussed a little about the Hasemites in that post as well; The rivalry of the Saudis and the Wahabis with the Hasemites goes back to the defeat, of the Hashemites by the Saudi Wahabis in the early 20th century which ultimately has its roots in early Islamic history when the descendants of prophet Mohammed were outmaneuvered by the descendants of the pre-Islamic ruler of Mecca Abu Sufyan. Thus the Al Qaeda who is the inheritor of the Wahabi ideology, has a case against the Hashemites with a pedigree going back to 1300 years. You can go here and learn something about the Hashemite’s, including the fact that King Abdullah of Jordan is Hashemite. His family tree is on this site, as is some history about Islam and the Hashemites.

You can also go here and learn more about what Wahabis are doing in Pakistan, at least in 2002, to followers of Ahlul Bayt. According to the article, Wahabis were killing various scholars, teachers and students of seminaries, religious figures, politico-religious parties leaders and activists, officials of various government and private institutions for no other reason except they were Shiite. The Wahabis were doing this under the guise of being Sunni. When the Sunni Muslims of Pakistan denounced them…, they did what you would expect, they started killing the Sunni’s as well. Minimals research into Abu Sufyan and Sufyaani shows that when Muslims talk about the end times, in regards to this prophecy, they are talking about a war between Muslims.

On my other blog, I had a Muslim (the one I talked about above), make the comment, “It’s sad to know that the majority of Muslims living today are fulfilling prophecies of war against other religions to please God.” As I said, I will be writing more about him in the future, but in what we see with Bin Lyin, and others, I think he’s right.

http://www.wm.edu/so/monitor/spring2001/paper2.htm#_edn7

I have discovered that there are some big differences in Shiite and Sunni views of the 12th Imam, or Imam Mahdi. I will be going over the Shiite views here, and until I say that the views are Sunni. It appears to me that the Shiite view is much more involved than the Sunni. During the next several posts we will look at the Mahdi up too, Dajjal, so don’t think I missed anything. We will cover more on the Mahdi after going over Dajjal.

Muhammad ((according to some)), prophesied about several events that will occur just before the advent of the Day of Judgment. Among these, Rasulullah ((just to interupt here for a second…does the definition of Rasulullah make sense to you??)), has foretold the advent of one of his descendants, the Mahdi (the guided one), which will materialize when the believers are severely oppressed in every corner of the world ((we talked about this in the last post)). He will fight the oppressors, unite the Muslims, bring peace and justice to the world, rule over the Arabs, and lead a prayer in Mecca at which ‘Eessa (Jesus) will be present ((we will get to this and some of the other things mentioned above)).

What is nice, is some people give a precise description of the Mahdi, but some how, I don’t think they have it right… No disrespect to my Muslim readers, but doesn’t this seem a bit too descriptive. What happens if some guy meets those things, but isn’t the Mahdi, but he thinks that he is, because he has read that stuff?? Case in point, this guy.

The Mahdi will be a Sayyid, from the progeny of say-yiditina Faatimah ((Fatimah)), the daughter of Rasulullah (Muhammad). He will not be very tall nor short. He will be well built. He will not be black nor brown, yellow or very white. His face will resemble the face of Rasulullah. His habits, morals and way of life will be similar to that of Rasulullah/Muhammad.His name will be Muhammed. His fathers name Abdullah, and mothers name Aaminah. He will have a slight stutter in his speech, as a result at times he will hit his thigh with his palm. His ilm, he will receive directly from Allah, most high. However, sayyid Birzanjee writes in his kitaab that I could not find the name of Imam Mahdi’s mother in the riwaayaat (narrations).

There are numerous hadiths cited in Sunni and Shiite sources from Muhammad and the Imams concerning the appearance of the Mahdi, such as, that he is of the progeny of the Prophet and that his appearance will enable human society to reach true perfection and the full realization of spiritual life. In addition, there are numerous other traditions concerning the fact that the Mahdi is the son of the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari. They agree that after being born and undergoing a long occultation (hidden by God)(since 868) the Mahdi will appear again, filling with justice the world that has been corrupted by injustice and iniquity (we will get into just how that is to take place).

At least that is what some think. Some believe he will be born, some believe he is the actual son of the 11th Imam, Hasan ibn Ali Askari, who, as I said, is still alive but in hiding for the last 1100-1200 or so years. I’m beginning to get a clearer picture on why all Muslims don’t think alike. The opponents of The Followers of Ahlu Bayt protest that according to the beliefs of this school the Hidden Imam should by now be nearly twelve centuries old, whereas this is impossible for any human being. And in answer to that some have said, that the protest is based only on the unlikelihood of such an occurrence, not its impossibility. Of course such a long lifetime or a life of a longer period is unlikely. But those who study the hadiths, and the Imams will see that they refer to this life as one possessing miraculous qualities, especially when you consider what he is going to do, if in fact he is as old as some say. I can say that when you look at the old testiment in the Bible, there were some who had extra long lives too, but…1200 years old, seems pretty old.

Ghaybat al-Sughra or Minor Occultation (874-939) is the shorter of the two periods, during which deputies of the Imam maintained communication to the rest of the world.Ghaybat al-Kubra or Major Occultation began 939 and is believed to continue until a time decided by God, when the Mahdi will reappear to bring absolute justice to the world.

So we have two different Sects in Islam who believe in the Mahdi, but not in who the Mahdi is, which could cause some trouble within Islam itself. No doubt that each side considers the other to be heretics. I have been told that at least in the Quran, there is no mention of the Mahdi.

There are some who have written that there was no Mahdiism in the beginning of Islam. It was only in the second half of the first century (7th century CE) that the idea appeared among the Muslims. There was a group that regarded Muhammad b. Hanafiyya as the Mahdi and gave the good news to the people about the good fortune Islam would acquire through him. The same group believed that Muhammad b. Hanafiyya had not died but he was living in Mt. Radwa and one day would return.” There are others who say that the belief in Mahdi was widespread during the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

A tradition reported by Abu al-Hujaf quotes the Prophet saying three times:

Listen to the good news about the Mahdi! He will rise at the time when people will be faced with severe conflict and the earth will be hit by a violent quake. He will fill the earth with justice and equity as it is filled with injustice and tyranny. He will fill the hearts of his followers with devotion and will spread justice everywhere. Bihar al-anwar, Vol. 51, p. 74

This next verse is very important, as you will see in future posts, so make a note of it, both Muslims and Christians (don’t give it away, those of you who know why)

The Day of Resurrection will not take place until the True Qa’im rises. This will happen when God permits him to do so. Anyone who follows him will be saved, and anyone who opposes him will perish. O servants of God, keep God in your mind and go towards him even if it happens to be on the ice, for indeed he is the caliph of God, the Exalted and Glorified, and my successor. Bihar al-anwar, Vol. 51, p. 65; Ithbat al-hudat, Vol. 6, p. 382

Just to refresh from the last post, which is also the sign of the Mahdi’s return… Sufyaani will emerge in Palestine, where he will start a revolt in the month of Rajab (A little help here, what month is that??). He will be an uncompassionate rebel and his rule will last for eight consecutive months. He will conquer and rule Egypt for four consecutive months. Sufyaani will conquer Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, and Syria. Sufyaani has been specifically described by Aimma A.S. as an ugly, blistered, green-eyed, cross-eyed person who will be an enemy of the friends of the Ahlul-Bait which I assume is this, there is also a Shiite community in South Africa by the same name. Imam Ali has said that Sufyaani’s hatred of the devotees of the Ahlul-Bait will be such that any person named Ali, Fatima, Hassan, Hussein, Zainab, Ruquaiya will be arrested and beheaded straight away without further investigations. Sufyaani will rip the Mimber of the Prophet Mohammad. The house of the Prophet which contains his grave will be pulled and used as a stable. Horses will be tied in that place. Sufyaani will then attack Mecca, his purpose is supposed to be to destroy the Kabba and kill all the people of Mecca. According to the prophecy his army is supposed to start off on its march towards Mecca from Baghdad (some believe Syria), but when they get to the desert of Baida, between Mecca and Medina; It is said that the entire army numbering 100,000 persons will be swallowed up by the earth, except for two. The two who will be spared will suddenly encounter an angel. He will slap both of them turning their faces right round, looking behind instead of front. And that will be the time when Imam Mahdi will already have reappeared in Mecca.

The Mahdi will establish his authority in the Mosque in Mecca in the Haram. The angel will then order one of them calling him Bashir. “O Bashir, go straight to Mecca, into the Haram and inform the Imam that Sufyaani’s army has been swallowed up by the land. The other called Nazir will be ordered to go to Sufyaani and tell him that the Imam has already appeared. He should proceed straight to Mecca and declare allegiance to him. Sufyaani will prepare to attack the Mahdi but evidently will not have the courage. The Mahdi will catch Sufyaani in Jerusalem and kill him.

I found another list of things that is said to occur prior to the Mahdi’s appearance, we have covered some of them already, but just in case there are new things, I will post this list as well.

Imam Ali has said that nine definite signs will precede the emergence of Hazrat Mahdi. These nine signs are:

1) Dajaal will emerge.
2) A loud voice will be heard from the sky.
3) Sufyaani will appear and wage a fierce war.
4) The army of Sufyaani will be swallowed by a sudden opening of the land between Mecca and Medina in the desert of Baida.
5) A revered wise saint will be murdered in Mecca. (This saint is to be a Hashimite descent.)
6)A Seyyid descendant of Imam Hassan will emerge with his army.
7) The army of Seyyid-e-Hassan and an image of a man will appear in the sky opposite the sun. ((what??))
8)There will be two eclipses in the holy month of Ramadhan contrary to the normal order and calculation and the eclipse of the moon.
9) On three occasions a loud voice from the sky will be heard in the holy month of Ramadhan. ((What’s the difference between this and number 2??)

I will be going over more on the Mahdi, and what Sunni’s say about the Mahdi. I hope I am not giving information overload, I am just trying to get everything down right.

I’ve been waiting to get a copy of this video for a little while now, its finally out. This is a group of Muslims, who  share their thoughts on those who are defiling Islam. And what Islam is to them.  Personally, I think its great, what do you think??

Islam tawhidjihad1

As I briefly mentioned in the last post, a desendant of Abu Sufyan is supposed to play a role in the Islam belief of the end times, so lets look at Abu Sufyan and the prophecy.

Among the signs preceding Imam Mahdi, is the appearance of the Sufyaani. The Sufyaani will emerge before the Mahdi from the depths of Damascus. According to Imam Qurtubi (R.A) his name will be Urwah. The Sufyaani will murder the Saadaat [desendant of Sayedina Hassan and Hussein (R.A) and will rule over Egypt and Shaam -(Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria). ((nice to know the name, he should be easy to spot ))

He will be one of many “Muslim” Tyrants that the Mahdi will have to face in the Middle East. The Sufyaani is NOT the Dajjal. The Hadith regarding the Sufyaani specify that he is a tyrant who will spread corruption and mischief on the earth before the Mahdi. He will be such a tyrant that he will kill the children and rip out the bellies of women. The Sufyaani will murder those from the household of the Prophet and will rule over Syria. When he hears about the Mahdi, he will send an army to seize and kill him. However the earth will swallow this army before it even reaches the Mahdi.

Abu Hurayrah has narrated that the Prophet said:

“A man will emerge from the depths of Damascus. He will be called Sufyaani. Most of those who follow him will be from the tribe of Kalb. He will kill by ripping the stomachs of women and even kill the children. A man from my family will appear in the Haram, the news of his advent will reach the Sufyaani and he will send to him one of his armies. He (referring to the Mahdi) will defeat them. They will then travel with whoever remains until they come to a desert and they will be swallowed. None will be saved except the one who had informed the others about them.” (Mustadrak)

Another site said this:

During the days of the sufyaani, the byzantine ruler will be at war with one Christian faction and will make peace with the other (Christian faction). Thus the waring Christian faction will run over Qustuntuniyyah (Istanbul), and will occupy it. The byzantine ruler will flee and go to Shaam. The Muslim army with the aid of the friendly Christian party will wage war against the enemy Christian party, and will be victorious.

A person from the friendly Christian party will thus announce that “because of the cross, victory was gained”, and in the name of the cross we won. On hearing this, a person from the Muslim army will assault this Christian person and will say no “Islaam was victorious and because of Islaam victory was gained”. As a result of this incident, war will break out between the Muslims and the friendly Christian party. The Muslim leader will be martyred and the Christians will take over Shaam. Thereafter, the two Christian parties will make peace, and the remaining muslims will migrate to Madinah.The Christian rule will extend almost up to khaiber, which is to the north of Madinah. Now the muslims will begin their search for Allah’s khaleefah - the Mahdee.

And yet another website said this:

The 2 Proxy Mahdi’s Pave - Those That Pave The Way For The Mahdi Before He Arrives

Before the Mahdi’s appearance, there would be those who pave the way for his appearance. They would also act as Caliphs in his place, and therefore, would be proxy Caliphs, or proxy Mahdis.

Ibn-i Munawi said that, “Danyal (Daniel) (as) reported in his book that:

“There are 3 Sufyaanis and 3 Mahdis. When the first Sufyaani appears and his name and fame become widespread, the first Mahdi will confront him, the second Mahdi will confront the second Sufyaani and the third Mahdi will confront the third Sufyaani 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..” (*)

(*) This quote exists in a handwritten copy of the book titled Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman held in the Suleymaniye Library.

In this quote, there are 2 Mahdis that appear before the real one. They are in fact the forerunners for the Mahdi - those who pave the way for him before he arrives, and appear around the same time he does. These 2 proxies, one succeeding the other, would be Caliphs, but without a Caliphate system or an Islamic state in place. When the Mahdi appears, he would succeed, with their support, in finally overthrowing the despotic tyrants, then establishing his Caliphate over the Muslims.

In another hadith, there identities are specified:

Narrated ‘Ali son of Abu Talib:,

“The Prophet said, ‘A man named al-Harith son of Hirath will come from Transoxania (Tajikistan). His army will be led by a man named Mansoor. He will be pave the way for and establish the government of the family of Muhammad, just as the Quraysh established the government of the Messenger of Allah. Every believer will be obliged to support them.’”

(Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 36, No. 4277)

Thus, the first proxy to appear, would a man named “al-Harith”, and the one who leads his army and succeeds him as the second proxy, would be the “Mansoor”.

THE HASHIMITE

The first one is the Hashimite (a descendant of the Hashim tribe), by the name of Harith son of Hirrath, who will emerge, during the time of the Sufyaani, from beyond the Euphrates River, and his army, the army of the Mahdi, will be led by the Mansoor . The former (i.e. Haarith) will be preparing the minds of Muslims to-accept the Mahdi when he comes. He will perform the same task for the Mahdi, what the Qurayish performed for The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) in Medina before the Hijrah. The Mansoor will aid him in this direction. It is compulsory upon every Muslim to help this Haarith, or to respond to his call.

During this time, there would be a war in Byzantium (Turkey), in which the Byzantine ruler will be at war with one Roman faction (who will be invading them) and will be allied with another (Roman faction). Thus the warring faction will run over Qustuntuniyyah (Istanbul), and will occupy it. The Byzantine ruler will flee and go to Bilad al-Sham. The Hashimite and a faction of Mujahids with him, will join with the armies of al-Sham, now allied with Turkey’s Roman ally, in the third peace agreement between them. Together, they will wage war against, and invade, the enemy beyond Rome, and will be victorious. This war would be global.

There would be joint re-conquest of Istanbul, and a Christian from the allied Romans will erect a cross, and announce that “because of the cross, victory was gained, and in the name of the cross we won.” On hearing this, a person from the Muslim army will assault him and will say, “No. Islam was victorious and because of Islam victory was gained”, and shall go and break the cross. As a result of this incident, war will break out between the Muslims and the allied Romans. Those Muslims, as well as their leader, the Hashimite, will be martyred and the Romans will take over al-Sham. Thereafter, the two Roman factions will join together, breaking their peace-agreement with the Arabs, and then going to war against them.

THE MANSOOR (VICTOR)

After the Hashimite’s martyrdom, he will be succeeded by the Mansoor, named Shu’ayb son of Salih from the tribe of Tamim. The term “Mansoor” is a title, meaning “victor”, or “one who is given victory”. As such, Shu’ayb is the one who leads the Mahdi’s army to victory. He will lead the army of the Mahdi, who will come from the East carrying Black flags. The East here refers to Taliqan in Khurasan, i.e. Afghanistan. They will pave the way for the establishment of the Mahdi’s kingdom. Nothing shall stop their onward march, and eventually they will plant their flags on the soils of Jerusalem.

After al-Sham is taken over by the Romans, Egypt would soon follow, and eventually their rule would extend up to Khyber. At that point, the comet with a tail (a sign of the Mahdi), will appear. Its passing would knock out technology, and cause much devastation across the world, resulting in a shift in the balance of powers. Afterwards, there would be the War of the Euphrates and Ethiopia will attack Sudan, then being defeated. The Sufyaani would then come and take over Syria, then start massacring people in Iraq. When some flee to Khurasan, the Sufyaani’s army attempt to move eastward in pursuit of them. Then the Hashimite’s army of the Mahdi, now under the leadership of the Mansoor, would engage them in Iran, and defeat them. The Sufyaani’s army would escape, then launching an assault into Saudi Arabia, with the help of the Romans, and killing its king. There will be a fight in Mecca, thereafter, between two groups of people, each one seeking the kingdom. However, none of them will gain it. This fight will take place in the month of Zul-Qa’dah, and even in Mina during Hajj, there will be quarrelling. After this, the Mahdi would appear.

Details of the Sufyaani

Name and Title:
According to Imam Qurtubi, his name will be Urwa son of Muhammad and his kunniya ‘Abu Utbah’ and is given the title “Sufyaani” due to his descent from Abu Sufyaan.
Physical Characteristics:He will be a man with a large head, a pockmarked face, and white spots in his eyes.

Family Lineage:
The Sufyaani will be from the Quraysh. His mother will be from the tribe of Kalb, but he is from the progeny of Khaleed son of Yazeed son of Abu Sufyaan.

Character:
He will have the characteristics of an apostate and a hypocrite. He will appear to be outwardly pious, but in reality he will be an apostate.

Details of His Emergence and Rule:
The dark people will come after the Arabs and they will be defeated and thrown into the lowest part of the earth. In revolt, a Sufyaani (possibly by the name of Urwah son of Muhammad), who descends from Abu Sufyaan, and whose mother is from the tribe of Kalb, will come (possibly from Egypt) with 360 riders until he reaches Damascus. Then he will emerge - overrunning and seizing control of Syria. He will have 3 staffs in his hand, and anyone whom he strikes with them will die. After a month the tribe of Kalb will also follow him. The Sufyaani will then send an army to Iraq, killing 100,000 in Az-Zawra, and also will receive the support of the Roman forces. The Sufyaani and his forces will go to Kufa and pillage it, killing the descendants of the Prophet and to the point where he kills children and rips open women. In retaliation the tribe of Qays will rise up against him, but they will be defeated, and he will slaughter them in Kurkisa. One of them will escape to Afghanistan, and then the forces of the Sufyaani will come, demanding the Afghanis. Then an army carrying black banners will come, and at their front is a youth from the tribe of Tamim named Shuayb son of Salih, along with a Hashimite. They will engage the forces of the Sufyaani at the Gate of Istakhr (in Southern Iran) and will defeat them, however, the riders will escape. The Afghanis, after suffering from the battle, will demand the Mahdi out of necessity. Then an army of the Sufyaani will go to Medina, and pillages it for 3 days, and those who escape will flee to Mecca. Several men from the Quraysh will escape to Istanbul and the Sufyaani will send to the leader of the Romans who returns them to the Sufyaani and he slits their throats together with their followers.

Upon the Emergence of The Mahdi
When the story of Divine Help being granted to the Mahdi spreads throughout the Muslim world, the Abdaals of Syria will come to pledge allegiance to the Mahdi and join his ranks. Similarly, other Muslim armies from Medina and elsewhere will also come to Mecca and offer their support and allegiance to the Mahdi. The Imam will leave Mecca for Medina, where he will offer salaam at the Rowzha Mubarak (The Grave of The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu alayhi wasallam). Soon after, the forces of the Mahdi will move onward from Medina, and engage the forces of the Sufyaani at Syria.

The End of Sufyaani
The Sufyaani’s forces will be defeated in Syria, and this will be known as the “Battle of Kalb”. The Muslim fighters under the Mahdi will capture the Sufyaani and execute him under a tree and Syria would thus be liberated from the tyrannical rule of the Sufyaani.

This post in addition to my last post, gives you the idea of the coming ‘End Times’, based on the beliefs of Muslims. Although, it is still a bit confusing to me. As I said before, we don’t see near as many people commenting and trying to intrepret Muslim texts as we do in Christian text. Which is too bad for Muslims, as it seems it would make it harder for them to understand as well. Also we already know that not all Muslims believe the same way, and I think that I am mixing the Sunni and Shiite beliefs a bit, well not so much mixing, but leaving out.

Next we will start to go into the Mahdi. We will also go over the difference in Sunni and Shiite beliefs and the goals of Ahmadnutjob. There is much much more that we are going to cover but as you can see, both sides (Christian and Islam) have very drastic things prophesied about. We are getting ready to cover some of the most important things in regards to this series. When it comes to discussing the anti-Christ in both faiths, it is not a mistake any of us want to make.

http://www.geocities.com/muslimapocalyptic/story_of_the_sufyaani.htm

http://members.tripod.com/alislaah4/advices41/id3.htm

http://forum.mpacuk.org/archive/index.php?t-15928.html

 had said that I was going to do Gog and Magog in Islam next, mainly because I did the Gog and Magog in Christianity. In doing my research I found that the Gog and Magog in Islam is basically the battle of Armageddon, which comes at the end. Before I get to that, there are many other things to cover. We have already gone over the minor signs in Islam, lets go over some of the bigger aspects.

I will delve into some of these in greater detail such as the Dajjal or the Muslim anti-Christ, and Imam Mahdi in future posts. Also remember if you see ((and)) those are my comments on the matter.

The occurrences before the Major Signs:

ANOMALOUS INCIDENTS WILL OCCUR Occurrence of red winds, disfiguration of faces (man to pig), and people being swallow into the ground. ((I haven't found this one on most of the sites I have visited, but decided to put it up anyway. I will ask our Muslim readers to tell if this is a widely held belief.))

GENOCIDE A man from Abu Sufyaan’s progeny massacres descendants of Nabi (S.A.W) and rules over Syria and Egypt.

Sakhr ibn Harb, more commonly known as Abu Sufyan, was a leading man of the Quraysh of Mecca was a staunch opponent of Muhammad who later converted to Islam. I will write more on this on my next post since he is mentioned as part of the end times.

WAR A major war between Muslims and Christians: Half the Christian army will sign a peace treaty with the Muslim army, while the second half of the Christian army remains the common enemy. ((this is interesting especially when you consider the above comment))

ISTANBUL CONQUERED BY CHRISTIANS The enemy half of the Christian army conquers Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey.

ISTANBUL RECONQUERED JOINTLY BY MUSLIM AND CHRISTIANS The Muslims and the good half of the Christian army conquer Constantinople together, against the enemy Christians. Thereafter, a Christian will say the victory was due to the cross, and the Muslim will say it was due to Islam. A battle between both sides will ensue, and the Muslim Ruler will be martyred.

SYRIA CONQUERED BY CHRISTIANS The two Christian armies reunite, conquering Syria.

CHRISTIAN DOMINATION Christians dominate the world up to Khaiber (near Madinah), and they will pursue Muslims with 80 flags, with 12,000 men under each flag.

MUSLIMS AWAIT IMAM MAHDI

TOTAL ECLIPSE A total eclipse of the sun and moon will occur in Ramadan, prior to Imam Mahdi’s emergence. ((as you will see in some posts to come, we always hear something from Ahmadnutjob, in regards to something happening during Ramadan, this is why))

IMAM MAHDI EMERGES At age 40, Imam Mahdi appears in Makkah, then flees to Madinah. The Major Signs (i.e. events after the emergence of Imam Mahdi)

MUSLIM ARMY MARCHES The army of Mansoor from Khurasaan will head towards Makkah to aid Imam Mahdi. They will win many battles on the way. No force will be able to stop them. They will carry black flags.

SUFYAANI ARMY SWALLOWED BY THE EARTH. The Sufyaani army (an Anti-Muslim force) from Syria singles out Imam Mahdi for execution. On the way to Makkah, they get swallowed into the ground. A second Sufyaani army is created with 960,000 men (of 80 nations).

CONFRONTATION IN SYRIA Imam Mahdi and the Muslim army go to Syria to confront the Christians. The Christians, before the battle, will ask Muslims for the return of their prisoners-of-war. The Muslims will refuse. The battle will begin. One-third of Imam Mahdi’s army will flee (their repentance will not be accepted), one-third will be martyred, and one-third will gain victory over the Christians.

MUSLIM ARMY UNDER IMAM MAHDI CONQUERS PALESTINE

JIHAAD ON INDIA A jamaat of Muslims wages Jihaad on India and be successful.

SYRIA UNDER MUSLIM RULE Imam Mahdi returns to Syria and establishes Muslim rule over the lands he passes.

ANIMOSITY RIFE AMONGST THE PEOPLE At this time, Muslims will be weak and there will be very few pious people.
3 RUMORS OF EMERGENCE OF DAJJAL ("Anti-Christ")... 3 YEARS OF
DROUGHT Before the emergence of Dajjal there will be three years of drought. The first year, the skies will retain 1/3 of its water, the second year 2/3, and all of its water the third year.

DAJJAL APPEARS Dajjal appears. His followers, the Yahudis, will number 70,000 and will wear expensive silk attire and carry double edged swords. ((I stopped this here, there is more that follows, which we will get to, once we finish up to this point))

Here is another list of things that some in Islam has to be fulfilled before the day of judgment. I am putting up what they show as already 'past' and 'present', but am leaving out the future for now. When I am near the end of the series I will re-post the list in its entirety.

PAST:

1. Splitting of the Moon. ((Considered fulfilled with the splitting of moon rocks after the Apollo missions))

2. Death of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

3. A form of death which will kill thousands of Muslims. (Understood to refer to the plague of Amwas during the caliphate of € ’±Umar ibn al-Khattab.)

4. A major fighting in Madinah (understood to refer to the battle of al-Harrah during the caliphate of Yazid, 63 AH).

5. The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.

6. The Muslim conquest of Constantinople.

7. Two large groups of Muslims will fight in war. ((this sounds more like Sunni and Shiite to me, but I guess they know their history better than I do, plus there was a war between Iraq and Iran which could be considered as fulfillment, I will ask my Muslim readers to comment on this one))

8. A war between the Muslims and a reddish people with small eyes, wearing sandals made of hair (understood to refer to the Mongol Tatar invasion of the Islamic lands.)((we will cover more on this topic))

9. A peace agreement between the Muslims and non-Muslims from the yellow race (Chinese, Mongols, etc.)

10. Thirty impostors (dajjal) will appear, each thinking he is a prophet. ((we will get into this one later))

PRESENT:

11. Naked, destitute, barefoot shepherds will compete in building tall buildings. ((again any Muslims that can point me in the right direction on this one, will be appreciated))

12. The slave-woman will give birth to her master or mistress. ((?)) ((does this mean slavery will be, or is back in style??))

13. A trial (fitnah) which will enter every Arab household. ((?))

14. Knowledge will be taken away (by the death of people of knowledge), and ignorance will prevail. ((?))

15. Wine (intoxicants, alcohol) will be drunk in great quantities.

16. Illegal s3x will become widespread.

17. Earthquakes will increase.

18. Time will pass more quickly. ((only if your old lol, as you age the time flies faster every year))

19. Tribulations (fitan) will prevail.

20. Bloodshed will increase.

21. A man will pass by the grave of another and wish he was in the latter€ ’²s place.

22. Trustworthiness will be lost, i.e. when authority is given to those who do not deserve it.

23. People will gather for prayer, but will be unable to find an imam to lead them.

One of the problems I have encountered is not knowing all the ins and outs of the Muslim faith, in addition to the differing views. There are not nearly as many 'interpretations' of Muslim religious text as there are in Christianity. I have seen many verses taken at face value as you will see in the upcoming posts. And not all Muslims believe the same way, which we will also cover.

I am trying to write this stuff out in a way that everyone can understand it, in a simple way. But it is difficult when dealing with the Muslim stuff. Besides the fact that there is nothing 'simple' about the differing views of the 'End Time' prophecies.

The next several posts will be about Islam's views on the end times. We will discuss Dajjal and The Mahdi and some of the differing views of Muslims. Then we will get back into more of the Christian signs. There is some very interesting stuff up ahead, so stay tuned.

Before we get to far into Islam’s Gog and Magog, I wanted to put this up. The following posts are from 2 Muslim websites, the links are below. To my Muslim readers, there will be some posts where I will ask you to comment on whether the information is widely accepted and how much is or is not. In addition, some of what I am putting up, may seem offensive to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, it is not meant to be. I am merely putting up what each text/site/person believes, so take it for that.

I found this post to be interesting and refreshing, as I hear so much against the Jews in particular.

Don’t Blame The Jews

Another disturbing trend that is heavily propagated by extremists and accepted by many naive Arabs and Muslims is the blaming of all Muslim problems on the Jews. There are numerous examples for this but most recently news broadcasts out of Iraq quoted Iraqi victims of violence who blamed the bombings on Jews or a Jewish conspiracy.Many Arabs and Muslims still blame the 9-11 attacks on a Jewish conspiracy that was allegedly perpetrated to demonize Arabs and Muslims in the eyes of the world.

One of the most recent and tragic examples of unjustified hate towards Jews was the brutal murder of Daniel Pearl. Daniel Pearl was a journalist murdered by Islamic extremists in Pakistan who had never met a Jew, and the only knowledge they had about Jews was the tireless propaganda from Muslim extremists throughout the world blaming Jews for all of the world’s problems. The extremists targeted and murdered Daniel Pearl because he was a Jew.

Our research indicates that one of the modern origins of this trend is the mutual demonization by Israelis and Arabs of each other to gain global support for each other’s causes. This pattern includes the Arab media’s ceaseless reference to the falsified document, the Protocols of Zion. The Coalition strongly urges Muslims and Arabs to refrain from demonizing Jews and stop blaming Jews for all of the world’s problems. The Coalition also urges Israelis to stop demonizing Arabs and Muslims who peacefully advocate for the rights of Palestinians. http://pressthat.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/dont-blame-the-jews/

I showed in my post ‘Israel, Prophecy, and The End Times’, that some Muslims have no problem with Israel. I wanted to show this post before putting up the next one, to remind you that not every Muslim is against Israel or the Jews, and the same can be said about Christians. Not every Christian is for Israel or Jews, (in this I believe Christians are wrong and not following the Word).

Here is some interesting stuff but it is considered unorthodox and infamous amongst Muslim scholars for its number 19 theory. Still, it shows the differing views of different Muslims. And I can’t say that everything he has to say is wrong in the main Islamic belief, because I have seen some of his views on other websites, which we will be getting too.

Who Are Gog And Magog

The Quran refers to Gog & Magog twice in Quran, in 18:94 & 21:96. It is a great blessing upon us that we have some additional information about Gog & Magog through Dr. Rashad Khalifa, God’s Messenger of the Covenant. Below are the relevant verses for this topic taken from Dr. Khalifa’s English translation of Quran.

[18:93] When he reached the valley between two palisades, he found people whose language was barely understandable.[18:94] They said, “O Zul-Qarnain, Gog and Magog are corruptors of the earth. Can we pay you to create a barrier between us and them?”[18:95] He said, “My Lord has given me great bounties. If you cooperate with me, I will build a dam between you and them.[18:96] “Bring to me masses of iron.” Once he filled the gap between the two palisades, he said, “Blow.” Once it was red hot, he said, “Help me pour tar on top of it.”[18:97] Thus, they could not climb it, nor could they bore holes in it.[18:98] He said, “This is mercy from my Lord. When the prophecy of my Lord comes to pass, He will cause the dam to crumble. The prophecy of my Lord is truth.”[18:99] At that time, we will let them invade with one another, then the horn will be blown, and we will summon them all together.

Footnote for 18:94-98: One of my duties as God’s Messenger of the Covenant is to state that Gog and Magog, the final sign before the end of the world, will reappear in 2270 AD (1700 AH), just 10 years before the end. Note that Gog and Magog occur in Suras 18 and 21, precisely 17 verses before the end of each sura, representing 17 lunar centuries (see 72:27 and Appendix 25).

[21:95] It is forbidden for any community we had annihilated to return.[21:96] Not until Gog and Magog reappear, will they then return - they will come from every direction.[21:97] That is when the inevitable prophecy will come to pass, and the disbelievers will stare in horror: “Woe to us; we have been oblivious. Indeed, we have been wicked.”

Footnote for 21:96: By the year 2270 AD, thanks to God’s mathematical miracle in the Quran (Appendix 1), America will be the heart of Islam, and billions around the globe will have believed in the Quran (9:33, 41:53, 48:28, 61:9). Gog and Magog (allegorical names of villainous communities), will be the only bastions of heathenism, and they will attack the submitters. That is when the world will end (15:87, 18:94, Appendix 25). Gog and Magog are mentioned in 18:94 & 21:96, 17 verses before the end of each sura; this may indicate the time of their appearance.

One of the things I have noticed is that this person believes that anyone using the Hadiths and Sunnah’s are wrong and that the Quran spoke against it. He uses scripture that I thought was suppose to refer to non-Muslims. At least that is the way it was told to me, but it was told to me by Islamists so who knows. Some of his explanations on why he only uses the Quran seem to make sense. I also know that there are many different sects in Islam, and many different views as you will see. Suffice to say, he is not alone in his interpretations, there are others who use only the Quran. We will get into his number theory in the future.

This guy sees that all religion should be allowed to be freely worshiped, others obviously do not. And one in particular feels that everyone who isn’t Muslim is possibly Gog and Magog, we will be getting to his stuff.

The person who wrote this also said; “USA as a society and as a nation practices God’s laws as laid out in the Quran, more so, than any other nation in the world. He follows that comment with those great words from the pledge, One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All. So you see, as I have said over and over, not all Muslims think alike. Anyway, moving on to the next concept of Gog Magog. Too bad more don’t think like these 2.

One more thing, I want to set the record straight on a couple of things.

#1 Christians are NOT polytheist which is the standard theme in Islam.

#2 I really want Muslims to understand one simple fact, just because the west is considered Christian, does not mean that all Westerners are Christian.

In Muslim nations the majority of people are Muslim, their nation revolves around the religion for the most part. Most people attend mosque, most people pray 5 times a day, most people follow the pillars. So, because of that, most Muslims who live in Muslim nations seem to think that Christian nations do the same thing in regards to Christianity…THEY DON’T. There are a number of Christians for sure, but not all are devout or follow the same beliefs as the other. Please keep this in mind before you lump all Westerners in the same basket!! And the same goes for Westerners.

http://www.submission.org/suras/app25.html

http://www.submission.org/miracle/

http://www.submission.org/islam/usa.html

This post is long, but please take the time to read it all. Some of it you may know, some you may not, but considering the signs of the times, we can all use a reminder.

Both Islam and Christianity have a “Gog and Magog” in this post, I will explain what the Christian faith says about it. I will put up Islam’s Gog and Magog in the next post. There may be things that you think I have left out, trust me, I won’t leave anything out, just give me time to get everything in.

As we discussed yesterday, Ezekiel 36-37 predicts a gathering of the Jews to the nation of Israel, which will be followed by this massive invasion. For 19 centuries the Jewish people were scattered throughout the world, and until May 14, 1948 there was no nation of Israel to invade. With the nation of Israel now a reality, the stage seems set for the war that will usher in the tribulation and the rise of the Antichrist; a war that will end with the destruction of Israel’s enemies by God Himself, and lead to the signing of a peace treaty with the Antichrist.

* The rebirth of the State of Israel in the end times (both chapters)

* The return of the Jews to the Holy Land after centuries in exile (36:10-11, 36:24, 36:37-38, 37:12, 37:21)

* The rebuilding of the ancient ruins in Israel (36:36)

* The re-blossoming of desolate, desert lands to produce abundant food, fruit and foliage (36:8-9 and 36:30-35)

* The creation of an “exceedingly great army” (37:11)Such prophecies began to be fulfilled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, accelerated in 1948 and 1967, and continue to come to pass to this day.

This, of course, raises an intriguing question: If Ezekiel 36 and 37 have largely come true in our lifetime, isn’t it possible that Ezekiel 38 and 39 will soon come true as well??

Everyone should read Ezekiel chapters 38-39 in the Christian Bible, for a indept look at the Christian prophecy of Gog and Magog. Ezekiel 38 through 39 tells of a future invasion of Israel by a vast coalition of nations that surround it. I will post some of it here, but it would be too long to copy both chapters here. For those of you who are unfamiler with the Christian Bible, Ezekiel was a major prophet in the Old Testiment.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts [of armour, even] a great company [with] bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: [and] many people with thee. Ezekiel 38:1-6

What do those names mean/what country’s are they?? There are many theory’s, and I will be going over some of them here. I will also go over the main theory, or thought on who they are. Later (in future post), I will go over why it is important and what is going on in the world that points to it now.

Most of you know that Persia, is Iran, and what is the retoric going on by its President today (don’t jump the gun, I promise I will get to that). If you want me to go into more detail about why these names are the names below, just say the word and I will. But it may come later in the series as I want to get the main stuff out first.

* Gog is described as being “of the land of Magog” and as the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. Most Bible scholars believe Gog is not a name but a title, like Pharoah or Czar. He is a dictator who will hatch an “evil plan” (38:10).

* Magog = Leading Bible scholars say this is Russia and republics of the former Soviet Union. The first century Roman historian Josephus said the “Magogites” were the peoples whom the Greeks called “Scythians.” Scythians were a fierce, blood-thirsty civilization that settled north of the Baltic Sea in what is now Russia and the European republics of the former USSR.

* Rosh = Russia* Meshech = Some Bible scholars say this is Moscow, others believe it refers to Turkey

* Tubal = Some Bible scholars say this refers to the city/region of Tobolsk in Russia along the Tobol River;
others say it refers to a section of modern-day Turkey. (Interestingly, in 1964, massive reserves of oil and gas were discovered in the Tobolsk region of Siberia and people now refer to the region as the “energy center of Russia.”)

* Persia = This was the official name of Iran until 1935

* Cush = Sudan and Ethiopia

* Put = Libya, and possibly Algeria and Tunisia

* Gomer = Turkey, but also possibly Germany and Austria

* Beth-togarmah = Armenia and the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia

* “Many peoples with you” who will attack along “the mountains of Israel” =

Other countries will be involved in the coalition as well, notably countries that border the mountains of Israel. This includes Lebanon, Syria and possibly Jordan.

Before puting these names off countries up, I researched it out and found that this was the overwhelming view, though there are some who disagree on one or more of the countries involved. I may get into that, given time, but right now I want to stick to the basic’s.

WHAT

Gogs Plan

38:7 Gog will build a military coalition and be prepared” to strike38:8 Gog will deploy the coalition against Israel39:9 Gog will use overwhelming force against Israel; he and his coalition will come like a storm….like a cloud covering the land

Gods Plan

38:2 The Lord God will bring judgment upon the enemies of Israel, beginning with Gog, the dictator of Russia

38:20 The Lord will trigger a massive earthquake in which all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence

38:21 The Lord will turn Gogs forces against one another

38:22 The Lord will subject Gogs coalition forces to:

* pestilence

* blood

* torrential rains

* hailstones

* fire from heaven

39:6 The Lord will send fire upon Magog itself and others

39:9 Israel will capture her enemies weapons and burn them for 7 years

39:12 It will taken 7 full months to bury all the bodies of Israel’s slain enemies

39:17-20 Birds and beast will feast on the bodies of Israel’s slain enemies

WHEN

38:8 Israel will be a country again and Jews will be regathered to the Holy Land

38:11, 14 My people Israel are living securely before the “War of Gog and Magog”

38:12-13 Israel will have economic prosperity

38:16 It will come about in the last days (before the return of Christ)

WHY

39:21 I shall set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment

39:22 the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God

39:29 I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel

These events will not only be a judgment of Israel’s enemies in keeping with Genesis 12:1-3, in which God says those who bless Israel

He will bless, and those who curse Israel He will curse. The events will also be the beginning of a great spiritual awakening. God will literally and metaphorically shake people out of spiritual apathy and lethargy to realize there is a God in heaven. He will also shake people who are following false religions and turn them to Himself. Moreover, He will shake those who are followers of Christ but not serious about their faith. It should be noted that ours is the first generation in human history in which all the nations on earth will be able to watch the “War of Gog and Magog” unfold because of the emergence of television and satellite technology.** Note: All verses are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Verse 8 proclaims that these nations will “invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate.” The land that is invaded can only appear to be Israel, a nation whose people have been gathering from all over the world for 50 years.

God has intended this invasion however. In vs. 16 he declares, “In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy though you before their eyes.” Verses 17-23 describe the exact catastrophes that will befall the invading nations. They are supernaturally destroyed and no harm is done to Israel. God will not let his people be harmed. The miraculous Six Day War of 1967 should have taught everyone that, but the world has turned a blind eye.

Ezekiel 39:9 begins the description of the aftermath. It is gruesome but also amazing in its detail when looked at in comparison to today. “Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up – the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. This statement is remarkable for two reasons.

First is the nature of the weapons. In the time that Ezekiel wrote this, burning weapons made perfect sense because they were made of wood. What of today’s weapons however? How do you burn warplanes and other metals? Amazingly, Russia has been using Lignostone in the production of its weapons. Lignostone “is a special kind of wood used for ‘coke breakers.’ It is stronger than steel, is very elastic… and it burns better than coal.” (90 LaHaye Are We Living in the End Times?) You can read more about Lignostone on its website at http://www.lignostone.com/.

The second important part of this passage is the fact that it will take seven years to burn all the weapons. The tribulation will be seven years, so this gives us some sort of timeline with which to place this event. This event would either have to come at the very beginning of the tribulation or before to allow seven full years.

However, this event cannot happen at the beginning of the tribulation because the tribulation begins with the antichrist signing a peace treaty with Israel. This treaty is not going to immediately be broken with this battle. It won’t be until 3 ½ years that the treaty is broken.
This means that this battle occurs before the tribulation. While it is purely speculation on my part, I believe that this is the final straw that leaves everyone crying out for peace and the perfect setting for the antichrist to step in and give it to the nations.

Chapter 39 continues with the clean up of these armies that are supernaturally destroyed. Verse 12 says that for seven months people will work nonstop to cleanse the land. This isn’t hard to imagine after seeing the devastation caused by the destruction of the World Trade Center. The cleanup took longer than half a year with crews working around the clock and the best equipment available. Imagine such destruction spread over forty miles, or an area the size of New Jersey .

Even after the seven month period, there will be people employed full time in cleaning up the land. Every bone will be marked and carried to the Valley of Hamon Gog, a mass grave for all the invaders. The name simply means hordes of Gog.

The reason for all of this destruction is for God to be glorified. In verses 21-22 he says, “I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God.”

After these events, the Israelites return to their native land in force. Verse 25, “The Sovereign Lord says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name.”

Even in such destruction, God has a purpose. The nations will fear Him and Israel will return to Him and their homeland. All of this could happen soon. The world situation is one where any number of Middle Eastern nations could easily lead a coalition against Israel . Israel has nothing to fear from their enemies though, because they are protected by the Lord of Hosts.

So the main thing we see here is that several nations will come against Israel and when they do, God will defend Israel. Pretty powerful stuff when you think about it. We have covered the who, what and where, but we will cover much, much, more in coming posts.

There is another mention of Gog and Magog in Revelations, which is the battle of Armageddon. I don’t believe it is ‘that’ battle, many scholars feel the same way. I totally agree with the above statement, I think that the war of Gog and Magog will cause people to be fed up, I think it will be at this time that we will see the 7 year treaty with Israel. I will get into this in more detail later. By understanding the pre-tribulation stuff, you will be able to identify what is playing out around you. We will also go over the ‘Rapture’, I know that not all Christians believe in the Rapture, but I will go over it anyway. That way, should it occur, everyone will know what it is/was.

There is more on this subject that I will be getting to, as I have already said. We will also go over the Gog and Magog in Islam, or, Yajuj wa Ma’juj. There is so much information, and how to write it, and keep it is some kind of order is difficult. I want to encourage you to let me know if there are things you want me to go over in more detail, but also keep in mind that I have left some stuff out on purpose and will address later.

http://joelrosenberg.blogspot.com/2005/05/war-of-gog-and-magog-understanding.html

http://www.spreadinglight.com/prophecy/gog.html

My plan was to put up in one post what both Christianity and Islam say are the signs of the approaching End Times. It appears however that it may be too much information to put all in one post so I will split it up into 2-4 posts. I will also mark each sign in bold. In case the links don’t show up where I placed them, you will find them in order on the bottom of the post.

For those of you who may not be real familiar with Christian text, when I am writing about the signs of the End Times, I am talking about what the Bible says that we may know that the time is upon us. Not the things in Revelations which is much more involved, but we may get to that. My primary goal at first will be leading up to that point.

Since I am more familiar with the Christian stuff, I will start with that. The next post will have Islam’s signs. Also, my Christian friends will notice I have left some out, don’t worry, I know what I left out and will get to it soon. In addition to that, these will not be in the right order, because some will be given posts to themselves.

Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be? and what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, and the end of the world?

The above scripture will top all posts when I write about the Christian signs.
Jesus said, that we would hear of wars and rumors of wars. That nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom (Mat 24:6-7).

It doesn’t take much to see this is in fact the case. America, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, are the major players. You can mix and match in a variety of ways these nations and the rumors of war. Since 1914 there have been two world wars, and how many others between nations and within nations. Jesus also said: See that ye not be troubled; for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So watch, but don’t fret.

There shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. Mat. 24:7-8

Famine: We have heard and seen plenty about famine in Africa and North Korea. Also parts of China and other countries, where you wouldn’t think there would be famine problems. At least I didn’t, Guatemalans for instance. I also read that in the Ukraine 15 million died from starvation, but I am not for sure when this took place. In the 2003 Europa World reported that 20 million were in danger of starvation in Africa. With the increase of population worldwide, it is easy to see how it wouldn’t take much to cause a worldwide famine.

Pestilence/Plague:
Aids; Venereal diseases; STD; Anthrax; Biological warfare; bird flu; SARS; etc.

According to UNAIDS at least 30 million have died from Aids. Also T.B. has made a comeback which is now antibiotic resistance, in other words, if you get it, you can very well die from it and that is in modern country’s. We have all heard about the threat of Bird Flu, with the rate of world travel, it could spread worldwide within a week. We also have heard about SARS, West Nile, The Hanta Virus, drug resistant Staph infection, Ebola, Dengue fever, Measles, just to name a few.

The bottom line is germs have a tendency to change their genes, so our efforts to fight them aren’t always successful. You’ve heard all the warnings about the over use of antibiotics. Plus we have to worry about the fact that terrorists could use germ warfare as well. Some of these have been in places other than where you normally would associate them. Dengue hemorrhagic fever in El Salvador for instance. And a Measles outbreak in Italy in 2002. Surely Italy is a modern state.

Earthquakes: According to the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center, earthquakes are increasing at an alarming rate, from 16,612 in 1990, to 27,456 in 2002. And of those some have been HUGE, with great loss of life. One only needs to think of the Earthquake off of Indonesia with the accompanying tsunami, which affected so many nations and had a incredible death toll. After that earthquake and tsunami there were documentaries on T.V. on how something bigger could hit the East Coast of the U.S. where the population is so big, that evacuating in time, will not be possible. We have been blessed here in the U.S. to not have some of the major loss of life that countries like Mexico, Iran, Turkey, China, and Pakistan have. That does not mean that we are exempt.

In 2001 stats from the National Earthquake center showed the following statistic’s regarding earthquakes of 5.5 or higher on the Richter scale: 1800-1900 = 645 earthquakes in 100 years..to be fair, I am not sure of the type of reporting we had prior to 1900. 1900-1994 = 1845 earthquakes in 94 years and increase of 2.8%. 1994-2000 = 1163 earthquakes in 7 years which is a increase of 175.2% of 1800-1900. Amazing isn’t it. I don’t know if there has been any explanation as to why the numbers are so much higher now, by the scientific community. They are not likely to say; ‘It’s because Jesus said it would be so’, are they .

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boaster, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; From such turn away. 2 Tim 3:1-5

That was the King James version, the NIV version is here: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV).

Sounds different doesn’t it. You may not get exactly what is being said under the King James translation, but the NIV leaves no doubt. Personally I have read and studied the King James version my whole life and love it, but it never hurts to see other views, especially if you don’t understand the thee’s and thou’s of the King James version. When you read the above verses, it sounds pretty much where we are.

Things in the U.S. took a dramatic turn during the 1960’s, and personally I haven’t seen much in improvement since then. How many parents are busy with work, so much so, that they have no clue what is going on in their kids lives. We turn on the ‘babysitter box’ and put our kids in front of it. And then we wonder why so many kids seem to have Attention Deficit Disorder. For those of you who may not know, TV has been associated with increasing the disorder when children spend too much time in front of it as infants and children.

We as a nation, used to spend our family time differently than we do now. Instead of talking with one another or even eating a meal together in the dining room, we park ourselves in front of the television set. The only conversation is what to watch on TV for the night. TV is alright some of the time, the same way the computer is. But at what cost to our family, to the health of our children. I saw a news story this week that Nickelodeon TV went dark for 3 hrs. Saturday, just to encourage kids to go out and play. I have some dear friends who didn’t have a TV, and spent at least one night a week as family night, where the whole family played board games together, regardless of age.

I want to add a personal story here, when my son was in the 3rd grade, I found out that he had been molested by the husband of my babysitter. My son had been 4, 5, and 6 years old at the time. I had enough schooling in criminal justice to know what that all entailed, I had just completed a course on child porn and the US Postal Service. The course itself made me sick to my stomach. Within 2 weeks of completing it, I found out what happened to my son. I can’t express my feelings at the time, suffice to say, they were raw. Kind of like ripping my heart out through my throat. My first response was to want to kill him, but had I done that, what would it teach my son.

Through the coarse of preparing my son for court, one day he said to me…”I’m going to be waiting for him when he gets out of jail” I thought, I bet you will, to kill him. Then this 8 year old kid said, “he needs help, he needs someone to tell him that what he did was wrong”.

That one little statement changed my view, if my son could forgive this monster, I had to do the same. I knew what the Bible said about forgiving, but when it concerns your child, that is something which is hard to come by. There was a reason why Jesus said to bring the little children to Him, their spirit is pure. They don’t question, they just accept. Jesus said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 18:3-4

If you find your self not forgiving someone you should, think about this. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:25-26 A little off track here, but some lessons we can all use.
Have you found yourself falling into any of the things mentioned in the verse (2 Timothy 3:1-5) above??

How many examples can you find of lawlessness, violence, immorality, greed, selfishness, hedonism, rebellion and despair??

Fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heavens Luke 21:11. I’m not sure about this one, whether it means leading up to the tribulation or the tribulation itself (which we will also be getting to). But we can point to a few strange things such as Is the earth preparing to flip? Or all the ’sky is falling’ cries over global warming. Or the closeness of this asteroid. Real science is predicting the next/current sun cycle to be the worst in 50 years. The first two sunspot’s of 2006 are moving in reverse direction. Also, here is a solar storm warning. In Dec. of 2012 we will see a Galactic Alignment which only happens every 26,000 years. Which also happens to align with the Mayans end date on their calendar.

I’m not sure what to make of this… you have to be careful of what/who you listen too (not meant as a joke). It could fall under fearful and great signs. Or it could fall under false prophets.

I think this post is long enough for now. I will be adding to this within the next couple of days. Please remember what I said at the beginning of this post, I know they are not in order, or complete, they will be by the time this series is over.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15818/story.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2889127.stm

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/19/asteroid.blindside/index.html

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/15aug_backwards.htm

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/10mar_stormwarning.htm

http://www.alignment2012.com/whatisGA.htm

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,915125,00.html

I am going to start on my next series of posts. There is so much to say on the matter, I don’t even know where to begin. Hopefully I will do this in a concise manner so it flows and you understand what I am saying. But who knows, so far that hasn’t always been the case.

I have had some people on my other blog who thinks I should write this way or that way and even what topics I should write about. Sounds weird doesn’t it, who would have the gall to tell a blogger how to write their own blog. Unless it was a English teacher, which I will admit, I could use some guidance …no? Not doing it for you?? Well pardon me for trying to be funny. You know you’ve lost it when you start having imaginary joke critics.

First, let me tell you WHAT I am going to be writing about and HOW I plan on doing it. OK here goes nothing, the topic for the next series of posts will be “The End Times”. All Abrahamic faiths have some belief in the ‘End Times’. There are differences however.

Now the HOW, what I will be doing is showing what each text says. I will also show what different people say. At the very end, I may give my personal two cents worth, or maybe not. I haven’t decided yet. I would like you to read them even if you, yourself don’t believe in scripture. If you really don’t want to, and would like for me to email you when I am done with the topic, let me know. I don’t have a problem with doing that for you. But personally I think you would be missing out.

Until a few months back, I didn’t realize that Islam had its own belief of the End Times. So maybe some of you didn’t know either. I am hoping that we will all learn something new with this series of posts. If you have something to say about it, feel free, but please be respectful of other people’s beliefs. Do unto others what you would want done unto you. Sound simple enough?? Regardless of which faith you have, or don’t have, try and be open minded.

I really debated whether to do this now or not, I have been so busy, I haven’t been able to line everything up the way I want it yet. But I finally decided that I might as well just do it. I’ll line it out as I go along. Just remember, if I don’t get everything in one post, there will be more. Entire books have been written and rewritten on the subject of the End Times, I am going to attempt to show the differences but I’m sure I will miss something. If you have anything you want me to add, please email me and let me know. Do you think if I blither on a little bit more, I will have enough script for one post?? OK, lets jump in.

First lets start with a word, isra’iliyyat. I think it is Arabic, basically the principle is, when it comes to the Jewish or Christian faith, anything that doesn’t jive with the Quran, is wrong. Actually I will copy what I read the word to mean.

“This word, meaning ‘of Jewish origin’ refers to explanations derived from non-Muslim sources and especially from the Jewish tradition, but also including other ahl al-kitab (people of the Book) in general. Such material was used very little by the sahaba, but more by the tabiun and even more by later generations. There are many aspects of the Quran which can be explained by referring to such sources, when there is common ground between the Quran and the other traditions. However, the information taken from such sources must be used with great caution and cannot be considered sound according to the standards of ilm al-hadith, unless traced back to the Prophet himself and his Companions. Hence on distinguishes three kinds of the so-called isra’iliyat: 1) Those known to be true because the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad confirms them. 2) Those known to be false, because the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad rejects them. 3) Those not known to be true or false, and we do not say they are true or false.”

I will let my Muslim readers correct me if I am wrong on my first sentence regarding the meaning of the word. Some how when you see that written out, it doesn’t look very nice. I would hope that this will not keep Muslims from reading the posts on this subject. I will want you to confirm if I get it right or not in regards to what Islam teaches about the End Times.

For the purpose of this series I will be showing the difference’s between Christian and Islam in End Time beliefs. For the first post we will look at what each test says about the ’signs’ that the End Time is near I was going to start it here, but it can be long so I will wait.

The bottom line is, if you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, or a Hindu, all have beliefs about the End Times. Even the Mayans had something to say about it and went as far as giving a date. As it stands, just trying to compare Christian and Islam is going to be hard enough for me, so I will leave it at that. I would ask that not everyone jump down my throat at once, as some on my other blog have a tendency to do. You may want me to condemn this or that, but I am NOT going to do it. As I said, this is to compare, not to criticize, you can save the jumping till I put my two cents worth in. Primarily because I will be doing this as I go along. I don’t have everything pre-set.

It is my understanding that in Islam there in nothing in the Quran itself about the coming of the Islamic Messiah, known as, The 12th Imam, or The Mahdi. Rather it comes from supposed sayings of Mohammed and his followers soon after the Quran was complete. Thus, not all Muslims share the same beliefs. We will be going over what Ahmadnutjob thinks about the coming Mahdi, as he is one person who for sure wants to speed the process.

I know there are Pastor’s and Imam’s out there that can do a much better job at this than I can, but I don’t know if anybody has compared the two texts, or if the readers have had a chance to read them. When it comes to Christian stuff, then I will ask my Christian friends to let me know if I missed something. When it comes to Muslim stuff, all the more, from my Muslim friends.

There is a difference between the Shiite belief and the Sunni, we will get into that as well.