Lifeboats and Maps for the Titanic Faith of the Western Church

Section Five Islam

Muhammad

When considered as a philosophy in light of Romans chapter one and Greek thinking, Islam gets it right. As a monotheistic religion Islam agrees with the view Romans chapter one describes as being clearly evident to all mankind. Abraham left the polytheistic religions of the ancient Chaldeans in Mesopotamia to follow the one true God. Moses led Israel out of Egypt and away from Egypt’s pluralistic religion that worshiped multiple deities in order that Israel might worship, obey and serve the one true God. Likewise, Islam arrives at the same conclusion that there is only one true God. This is unlike the ancient religions of the Assyrians, Greeks, etc., and very different from many other religions that have come down to our modern world such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. Islamic belief can be summarized like this:

God created the world and all that is in it
One should not worship other gods
At the end of time, God will judge all people

One of the great services Islamic thinkers have provided the world is their advancement and development of Aristotle’s concept of the Unmoved Mover, or the First Cause. This Greek cosmological argument was fully embraced by Islam, and began to be developed by Islamic scholars (primarily from the Sunni tradition) in the 800’s AD. Over the next 400 years the Islamic cosmological argument developed into what we know today as the Kalam cosmological argument.

The Kalam cosmological argument attempts to prove the existence of the one God by starting with the existence of the world (the created universe) and arguing back to prove the necessary existence of God. The point of the Kalam argument is to say that the only adequate explanation for the existence of the world we live in is that it was created by God. This is exactly Paul’s basis for stating in Romans chapter one that all men stand before God guilty, with full knowledge of his existence. All men are without excuse. In the 1200’s the basis of the Kalam presentation entered the world of the Christian Scholastic movement through Christian philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas. Below is a basic diagram working through the Kalam argument of cosmology.

Islam’s theological failure was its rejection of the revelation of God given to the Jewish prophets, to Jesus Christ and to the Apostles of the Church. Instead, Islam accepts the revelation of Muhammad who took his followers to a deviant revelation not from God and an alteration of the revelation that had already been received and proven true and authentic. The false prophet Muhammad derailed the brilliant cosmological argument the Muslims would develop from Aristotle’s Greek philosophy before it even got started. Instead of accepting the Jewish and Christian revelation of the mystery of the Creator revealed to and recorded by the prophets and apostles, Muhammad rejected the eternal Son of God. Muhammad denied that deity had come in the flesh, and absolutely rejected God the Father and the Trinity. After the revelation of God in nature (Romans 1 and Acts 17), Paul referred to the mystery of God which is not revealed in nature but is instead revealed through the Church. Paul called this revelation “the pillar and foundation of the truth” and referred to it as “the mystery of godliness” in 1 Timothy 3:15-16:

If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:

“He appeared in a body
was vindicated by the Spirit,
Was seen by angels,
Was preached among the nations,
Was believed on in the world,
Was taken up in glory.”

In this verse Paul speaks of the very mystery of God as truth not revealed in nature, but given to the Church. The “mystery of godliness” concerns the manifestation of the eternal God in the flesh and the reality of the Trinity (which includes the Spirit and the glory of God the Father in heaven). This “mystery of godliness” can be contrasted with the “mystery of Babylon” spoken of in Revelation in reference to the kingdom of the Antichrist which will deny that God came in the flesh and that God is a Trinity.

Paul follows this verse at the end of chapter 3 in 1 Timothy with these very next verse in chapter 4:1:

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow
deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

The apostles faced many false philosophies and devious religions of the pagans as they expanded the message of the Gospel into the Gentile world where either a multitude of gods were worshiped, or the existence of God was intellectually rejected. Still, only one philosophy is identified in Scripture as the spirit of the Antichrist. It was a spirit, or a philosophy, that was already active in the first century, but was later to come into our world as a religion and eventually, at the right time, will manifest fully as a person (2 Thessalonians 2:7-9). It was a philosophy or religious perversion already developing in the first century when contemporary Greek philosophy was mixed in with the revelation of Jesus and the apostolic teaching.

This spirit was not an attack on the general revelation received through creation, or the perversion of deifying a part of creation like the false religions of the ancient world, or even the many false philosophies of the modern world (materialism, secular humanism, etc.). The attack came against the revelation of the mystery of deity – the Trinity and the Son of God in the flesh.

This is the same attack the Apostle John warned about in 1 John, 2 John, and Revelation.

In the Islamic attack on the Trinity of the Godhead, God the Son, and God in the flesh was denied, but the God who created the universe, maintained the universe, and would one day judge the universe was retained. Islam correctly identifies the Creator, but rejects the True God. Islam understands the natural revelation, but rejects the mystery. This is the most dangerous of false religions.

According to John, this false philosophy of the first century was the spirit of the Antichrist who would eventually emerge in time as a world-dominating religion that embraced the absolute authority of the creator, but denied the personhood of God, the Father God, the eternal Son of God, and the deity of the man Jesus Christ. Eventually, this spirit will manifest in time as a man who will himself claim to be God.

1 John 4:2-3 - “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”
1 John 2:22 – “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”
1 John 2:18 – “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.”
2 John 7 – “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist.”
Revelation 13:11 – “Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.”
2 Thessalonians 2:7, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed.”

Islam takes Jewish and Christian eschatology and recasts it with an Islamic apocalyptic flavor.

Muslims do not deny the existence of Jesus, and the Muslim image of Jesus is not hostile. It is, however, a reframing and a redefining of who Jesus really is. In the Islamic tradition, Jesus is a key prophet who will return by descending back to earth as a faithful Muslim who arrives early enough to play a major role in the days leading up to the End. In one Muslim tradition Jesus returns by descending into Damascus, Syria to a spot which is today marked by a white minaret called the Minaret of Jesus located on a corner of the Umayyad Mosque. The Muslim vision of the end of the world incorporates two important strands of Judeo-Christian heritage:

Messianism, an idea that is intimately associated with the Jewish faith
Millenarianism, a central element of the Christian economy of salvation (D, page xi)

The Muslim Messiah is called the Mahdi. When he appears in history this man will be a distant descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and, according to some traditions, he will also be called Muhammad. The Mahdi will lead an army of faithful Muslims in an apocalyptic victory over the heathen.

Muslim history is a continuous flow of revolutionary movements that have attempted to present the Islamic apocalyptic view as immediately imminent, or having already begun. This is a typical unification technique and justification process used since Islam began. The first step in these so-called apocalyptic events that have broken out over the past 1400 years, is typically the identification of the Mahdi, either by his committed followers who are acting on his behalf or through self-proclamation (D, page xi).

With the death of Muhammad from a sudden illness in 632 the Muslim community was left without leadership. Muhammad had left no instructions, political plan, or government/constitution for his religious community for when he was gone. The Muslim religious community, which covered all of the Arabian Peninsula, pragmatically decreed the need and the rightful place for a successor to fill Muhammad’s leadership. The Arabic term for “succession” is “khilafa”, or “caliphate.” The caliph was the successor to the Prophet Muhammad’s position. The caliph would be the supreme leader. The first four caliphs ruled from 632-661 during what is known as the Golden Age, although dissention within the Muslim community grew.

634-644: The second caliph was ‘Umar who ruled for ten years and lead an unstoppable expansion of Islam outside the Arabian Peninsula be defeating the Byzantine Empire, the Sassanid Empire, and Egypt

644-656: The third caliph was ‘Uthman, who was actually one of Muhammad’s first companions. ‘Uthman used an alternative approach to leadership. Instead of focusing on continued expansion he focused on strengthening his family’s privileges and his family’s ability to start a dynasty succession. The military generals on the front lines disapproved. His city of Medina was besieged in 656 by Muslim rebels from Egypt. ‘Uthman was assassinated in the revolt.

656-661: The fourth caliph was Ali ibn Abi Talib, a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. Ali is believed to be the first young male to accept his Uncle Muhammad’s message when he became a Muslim at the age of twelve. In 656 Ali became the caliph with the support of the military. The Muslims from Syria accused Ali of instigating the Egyptian rebellion that had killed the previous caliph ‘Uthman, but the Muslims in Iraq remained loyal to Ali. The Syrian Muslims rebelled against Ali while the Iraqi Muslims continued to support him. The Syrian Muslims became known as the Sunni and Ali’s loyal Muslims in Iraq became known as the Shias. In a clash in the Euphrates valley in 657 the Iraqi Shias had the Syrian Sunnis defeated when the Syrian forces emerged with copies of the Qur’an lifted high in the air on the tips of their spears. Ali gave them peace, but in 661 he was assassinated. Ali is considered by the Shias to be the first Imam after Muhammad, but the Sunnis consider Ali to be the fourth and final rightly-guided caliph.

661: The Shias of Iraq accept Ali’s son Husayn as the fifth caliph, but the Sunnis of Syria put forth Mu’awiyah, the general of the army that had been defeated by Ali.

661-680: Mu’awiyah makes Damascus the capital of the Muslim Empire and begin the Umayyad Dynasty that will last until 750. But, when Mu’awiyah dies in 680 the Shias of Iraq present Husayn, the son of Ali, as the true caliph. Since Ali had married Muhammad’s daughter Husayn would have been the grandson of Muhammad. The Sunni Umayyads from Syria neutralized the Shias from Iraq, but both military camps claimed to be the Messenger of Allah and produced quotes from the Prophet Muhammad to prove their legitimacy. Much of the Muslim apocalyptic literature and theory comes from these days of early conflict and the rise of the Shias and the Sunnis.

In 683 the complicated relations between the Iraqi Shias and the Syrian Sunnis became inflamed when Syrian troops plundered Medina for three days while the revolting Muslims from Medina retreated into Mecca. The Syrian troops besieged Mecca for two months, even using catapults to hurl stones and posts of burning naphtha onto the Kaaba in Mecca which is the large cube shaped building inside the Great Mosque in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam. It was at this time the ancient Black Stone was broken into three pieces.

The Sunni Umayyad troops retreated from Mecca where Ibn al-Zubayr was proclaimed caliph in the Great Mosque in Mecca which is called the “noble sanctuary” or “sacred enclosure” (al-haram al-sharif). Ibn al-Zubayr was not universally recognized by Islam since he was one of three living caliphs at that time.

In 692 the Sunnis of Syria had restored order among the Shias in Iraq and so they returned to Mecca for a seven month siege that drove away thousands of the false caliph’s supporters. Ibn al-Zubayr was killed in the fighting near Kaaba. These were the years when many of the hadiths were inspired and recorded. These became fuel for new and creative apocalyptic accounts used to detail future events.

During this time the Muslim Shias in Iraq refused to accept either the caliph of the Sunnis in Damascus or the imposter caliph from Mecca. The Shias instead supported the concept of the supremacy of the “Imam” as the leader. “Imam” literally means “the one who stands in front” or “the one who walks in front”. The Imam would be the “rightly guided” one sent by Allah to reestablish justice on earth. Practically speaking, if this “rightly guided” one had actually been identified in Iraq and presented to the Muslim world he would have been killed by the Umayyad Dynasty, but if he was left unidentified and unrevealed, he would not face the military forces of the ruling Sunni caliph. So, the Shia Imam became known as the concealed Imam or the Imam hidden away from humanity (although, realistically speaking, mainly hidden away from the rival Sunni forces) until the appropriate time for his appearance to the Muslim world.

At the right time, this concealed Imam, the Mahdi, would march from the east surrounded by black banners (or, flags) to direct the military destruction of the enemies of true Islam. Again, in the minds of the Iraqi Shias around 700 AD the enemies of true Islam were the Sunni Muslims of Syria, the Umayyad Dynasty. This is the origin of the two branches of Islam, and of the hidden Imam of the Shias, the coming Mahdi, who cannot be defeated because he cannot be found. Yet, the hope of his appearance one day has been the source of encouragement and hope for Shias for 1300 years.

Two verses from the supposedly recorded sayings of the Prophet Muhammad that Shias use for textual support are these popular Hadiths:

“Members of my family will suffer reverses, banishments, and persecutions until people
come from the east with black banners. They will ask for charity, but they will be given
nothing. Then they will fight and they will be victorious.”

“Three men, one of them the son of a caliph, will fight in front of your treasure house. None
of them will gain control of it. Black banners will then be raised from the east…When you see him, pledge him allegiance, even if you must wait in the snow, for it is him, the Mahdi.” (From Encyclopédie de l'Islam, 8 volumes)

In 747 Abu Muslim led an anti-Umayyad uprising in Khurasan (on the border of Persia and Afghanistan). He used apocalyptic symbols to motivate his troops by marching under black flags as the Mahdi would do.

In 749 the Umayyad Dynasty was overthrown.

The Recognized Caliphates

The Rashidun Caliphate (632-661) ruled from the Arabian Peninsula
The Umayyad Caliphate (661-750) ruled from Damascus, Syria
The Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258) ruled in Iraq
The Fatimid Caliphate (910-1171) ruled from Egypt
The Mamluk Caliphate (1250-1517) ruled from Egypt
The Ottoman Caliphate (1517-1923) ruled from Turkey (Anatolia)

Five Facts About the Muslim Mahdi

The Mahdi is a distant descendant of the Prophet Muhammad
He will lead an army of faithful Muslims in an apocalyptic victory over the heathen
Sunni Muslims reverence the Mahdi
Shia Muslims go beyond mere reverence to call Mahdi the Master of the Age. Today the Shia believe:

The Mahdi’s appearance is imminent
His appearance will mark the beginning of an age of universal justice
The age of universal justice is followed by the end of the world

The Mahdi is the last of the mystical line of imams hidden from mankind since the 700’s

Islam’s History of Conquering, War, and Conflict with Culture Since Muhammad’s Death

632-661 Rashidun Caliphate (Arabian Peninsula)

632-634 – Caliph AbuBakr ibn Qhuhafah conquers in Mesopotamia and Syria
634 - Caliph ‘Umar conquers Byzantine Christians in Israel and Sassanid Empire
635 – Damascus is taken from the Byzantine Christians
636 – Muslims defeat and take land west of the Tigris from Sasanian Empire (the last Iranian Empire before Islam conquered the territory of the old Persian Empire)
537 – Jerusalem falls to Muslim forces and Caliph ‘Umar enters Jerusalem in 538
641 – Muslims conquer to the north into the land south of Russia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Daghestan, Georgia and Armenia)
642 – Conquest of Egypt and defeat of Alexandria
634-644 - Caliph ‘Umar conquers Egypt
644 – Muslims have totally conquered Egypt, Israel, Syria and, Mesopotamia
651 – The entire Persian empire has been conquered

661-750 Umayyad Caliphate (Damascus, Syria)

655 – Muslim naval victory in the Battle of the Masts when Byzantine forces are defeated off the coast of Lycia (southern Turkey in Mediterranean Sea)
Muslims occupy Chalcedon; Sicily is attacked by Muslims sailing from Tunisia; Constantinople is threatened
669 – Islam conquers North Africa (Christian lands) all the way to Morocco
672 – Muslims conquer the Island of Rhodes (in Mediterranean Sea south of Turkey)
674 – Muslims conquer to the east, reaching the Indus River in Pakistan
674-678 – First Muslim siege of Constantinople
683 - Caliph Muawiyah II plunders Medina, destroys the Kaaba, shatters the Black Stone
692 – Caliph Abd al-Malik takes control of Shias in Iraq
692 – Caliph Abd al-Malik conquers Mecca
698 – Muslims capture Carthage in North Africa
700 – Muslims invade the island of Sicily just south of Italy (just 570 miles from Rome)
711 – Muslims cross the Strait of Gibraltar to enter Europe from North Africa
711 – Islam has now conquered all of the Old Persian Empire and most of the Roman World; the Roman Empire is confined to Italy and the northern lands of Europe that the Romans took from the Barbarians
715 – Spain is under Islamic control
716 – Muslims have reached the Atlantic Ocean when they conqueror Lisbon, Portugal
717-718 – Second Muslim siege of Constantinople
719 – Muslims enter France and attack Septimania, an eastern province on the coast of ancient Gaul in Europe north of Spain
724 – Muslims raid southern France and conquer the Christian cities of Carcassonne and Nimes; churches and monasteries are destroyed
732 – Battle of Tours: A massive invading Islamic army (40,000-60,000 cavalry) invades France (the land of the Franks), but the Frankish leader Charles Martel stops the Muslim advance into Europe with 1,500 foot soldiers
- Historian Edward Gibbon wrote in 1776 concerning the Battle of Tours: “A victorious line of march had been prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar to the bank of the Loire; the repetition of an equal space would have carried the Saracens (Muslims) to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland; the Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or Euphrates, and the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pupils might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Muhammad.”
- Looking at the event from the Muslim point of view we find that Islamic history does not even record the name “Tours” or “Charles Martel”. The battle is mentioned as a minor military engagement entitled “The Highway of Martyrs” (Balat-al-Shuhada)
- This was a crucial victory, considering the fact that Charles Martel was the grandfather of the great Charlemagne who became the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (in 800), united Western Europe, and began the advance into the modern age for France and Germany. If Islam had won the Battle of Tours and conquered France it is easy to understand how different history would have been
735 – Muslims capture the French city of Arles on the southern coast of France and southeast of Tours
747 – Shia leader Abu Muslim attacks Sunnis in Afghanistan
749 – Umayyad dynasty is overthrown by Muslims

750-1258 Abbasid Caliphate (Iraq)

736-37 Charles Martel drives Muslims from Septimania, an eastern province on the coast of ancient Gaul in Europe north of Spain
752 Muslim government comes to an end in Nimes when Pepin the Short re-captures Nimes
792 – Jihad is declared against the infidels in Andalusia (southern Spain) and France; 10,000 Muslims advance from as far away as Syria to cross the Pyrenees Mountains (the mountain range between Spain and France) to conquer France; Narbonne is destroyed, but Muslims are finally stopped at Carcassonne (a town in southern France)
796 – Al-Hakam, the new emir of Cordova, continues jihad against Christians
813-828 – Muslims continuously attack the city of Civitavecchia which is 50 miles west-northwest of Rome on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea; the western coast of Italy is continuously attacked for 15 years which results in the Italians abandoning their homes and constructing a new city they called Leopolis after Pope Leo who granted permission to build the city and helped finance it
831 – Muslim invaders conquer the city of Palermo in Sicily and make it their capital
838 – Muslims raid and conquer Marseille, a port city in southern France
841 – Muslim raiders conquer Bari, a Christian city of the Byzantines on the east coast of Italy on the Aegean Sea
846 – Muslim ships sail from Africa up the Tiber River and attack Rome; the Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul are partly destroyed until Pope Leo IV promises an annual tribute of 25,000 silver coins to the Muslims; Leo then builds the Leonine Wall
850-851 – Muslims execute a Christian priest and many other Christians in Cordova, Spain for insulting the Prophet Muhammad
858 – Muslims raid Constantinople
859 – Muslims conquer Castrogiovanni (also, called Enna), a city in the center of Sicily; Thousands of surviving Christian men are executed and the women and children sold as slaves
866 – Emperor Louis II leaves Germany with troops to engage Muslims in southern Italy
869 – Muslims invade the island of Malta
878 – Muslims conquer Syracuse, Sicily, and from there attack Greece and Malta again
883 - Muslims invade Italy and burn the monastery of Monte Cassino to ashes; the Benedictine abbot, Bertharius, is killed, along with some other monks at the altar of St. Martin in the Church of St. Salvator
901 – Reggio di Calabria, a city on the southern tip of Italy directly across from Sicily, falls
902 – Muslims take Taorminia, the last Christian stronghold in Sicily; all of southern Italy has been conquered by Islam; Muslims are now in position to attack Rome, the seat of Christendom

910-1171 Fatimid Caliphate (Egypt)

911 – Muslims control all the passes in the Alps between France and Italy which cuts off trade, communication and military support between the two countries
916 – Greek and German forces unite with Italy to drive Muslims from Italy; this ends Muslim raids into Italy which puts their 300-year attempt to conquer Rome on hold
939 – Muslims recapture Madrid, Spain
961 – Byzantines recapture Crete from Muslims
965 – Byzantines recapture Cyprus from Muslims
972 – Muslims in France surrender to Christian forces and their leaders ask to be baptized
981 – Muslims capture Leon, Spain, and the Christians must pay tribute
985 – Muslims plunder Barcelona, Spain
994 – Muslims return to destroy monastery of Monte Cassino a second time
997 – Muslims move north out of Cordova, Spain to conquer Christian lands to the north; Christians evacuate the city of Compostela in northwest Spain and the Muslims burn it to the ground
1004 – Muslims plunder the city of Pisa in Italy
1009 – Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah of Egypt calls for the destruction of all Christian buildings and holy sites in Jerusalem; it is at this time the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was built by Constantine in 326, is completely destroyed; the only part of the original tomb of Christ that remains is the burial bench, because it was covered with the rubble
1015 – Muslims conquer Sardinia, a Mediterranean island to the west of Italy and east of Spain
1027 – The Christian Franks (French) from the West, who have permission to access and care for the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, are replaced by the Byzantine Christians from the East; the Byzantine leaders begin the reconstruction of the Holy Sepulcher; Jerusalem is at this time under the control of the Fatimid Dynasty
1067 – Muslims from the East, the Seljuk Turks, conquer the Christian land of Armenia, which had been Christian since the day of the New Testament in the first century
1070 – Seljuk Turks take Jerusalem from the Fatimids and begin to persecute and oppress the Christians in the Holy Land; pilgrims begin to return with stories of oppression and persecution
1070 – Benedictine monks in Jerusalem begin an Order of Knights to protect pilgrims traveling in and to the Holy Land
1073 – Muslim Seljuk Turks conquer Ankara, Turkey
1078 – Muslim Seljuk Turks capture Nicaea, Turkey
1084 – Muslim Seljuk Turks capture Antioch, Syria
1089 – Christian Byzantine forces retake the island of Crete

CRUSADES BEGIN

● General reasons for the Christian Crusades:
o Fear of the continued spread of Islam
o Islam’s occupation of Christian Holy Sites in Israel
o Muslim persecution of Christian pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem to worship
o Muslim destruction of churches
● 1074 – Pope Gregory VII begins to call for Crusades against the Muslims in the Holy Land who were harassing Christian pilgrims
● Byzantine Emperor at Constantinople had asked western European Christians for assistance against the Muslims (Seljuk Turks) invading Asia
● 1095 – Pope Urban II preaches of a crusade against the Muslims at the synod of Clermont as a way to help the Byzantine Emperor and to rescue the holy sites from the Muslim control
● 1095-1099 – First Crusade
● 1096 – The First Crusade begins when a popular contemporary preaching personality known as Peter the Hermit stirs up the some disorganized knights and common people to follow him into the Holy Land. This is known as the Peasants Crusade (or, People’s Crusade)
o The early phase of the First Crusade was a failure from the start
o They leave before the rest of the armies are ready
o They leave a trail of destruction across Europe and most die before they cross into Turkey
o After crossing the straits into Asia Minor they are cut down by the first major encounter with the Muslims at Apamea Cibotus (modern Dinar, Turkey) an ancient city in Phrygia; the rest are captured and sold as slaves
● 1097-1098 – The second wave of the First Crusade
o German knights slaughter Jews in Worms, Mainz, Trier, Neuss, and Prague as they make their way into the Middle East; their violent reasoning was that the Jews were like the Muslims - enemies of Christianity who had sided with Islam against Christians
o Arrive in Constantinople in the spring
o They quickly take Nicaea
o They arrive in Antioch by the fall
o Antioch is captured in the spring of 1098
● 1099 – Jerusalem is captured in June
o Because the Muslims in Jerusalem did not surrender, no prisoners are taken and everyone in the city is killed
o The Crusaders set up a feudal system like the one they had left in Europe
o Many castles were built and can still be seen today
o A Crusader kingdom is established
o Muslim pressure on Constantinople is reduced
o The Knights Templars are organized to protect pilgrims
● 1144-1155 – Second Crusade
● 1144 – Muslims threaten the northeast territory of the Crusader kingdom and capture Edessa
● 1146 – A mystic preacher in Europe, Bernard of Clairvaux, preaches for a Second Crusade
o European interest and motivation is low from the beginning
o King of France and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire lead the crusade which fails
o Many perish on the way
o Fail to take Damascus
o The Second Crusade ends as a failure
● 1187 – At the Battle at Hattin the Knights of the Middle East Crusader Kingdom are slaughtered
o On the hill known as the Horns of Hattin west of the Sea of Galilee, Saladin defeats the Crusader knights by cutting off the water supply route to the Sea of Galilee and burning the fields around them
o Saladin captures fifty Crusader castles soon after the victory in the Battle at the Horns of Hattin
o Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, recaptures Jerusalem
● 1189-1192 – Third Crusade
● 1189 – Known as the King’s Crusade with King Philip of France, King Richard of England and Emperor Frederick.
o Emperor Frederick drowns on the way
o King Philip goes home after having an argument with King Richard
o King Richard continues and engages Saladin in battle
● 1192 – King Richard is defeated by Saladin
o Richard the Lionhearted, loses the Crusade to Saladin, but European Christians are promised access to Jerusalem as pilgrims
● 1200-1204 – Fourth Crusades – both are attempts to take Constantinople back from the Muslims
o A Christian disaster
o The original goal was to take Egypt and then to use Egypt as a base to recapture Jerusalem.
o Before the Crusade begin the Pope went to war with the German knights
o One Christian sect (the Cistercians) preaches against another Christian sect (the Albigensians) and massacres them before the Crusade begins
o When the Crusaders cannot pay for their transport ships from Venice they are forced to conquer a Christian city in the Adriatic to make payment to the Christians from Venice
o Ultimately the western Crusaders from the Roman Catholic Church merely conquered Constantinople and took control of the eastern Greek Church for the next sixty years
● 1212 – The Children’s Crusade
o Children from France and Germany are sent to fight under the leadership of two boys (Stephen and Nicholas) who are not yet teenagers
o The Church’s theory was these boys were still pure and sinless, which meant they would be honored by God and successful in battle against the Muslims
o Many died on the way and those that made it to battle were captured and sold into slavery in Egypt
● 1219-1221 – Fifth Crusade
o Another plan to invade Egypt succeeds with the securing of a strategic Egyptian tower
o Muslims offer the Crusaders Jerusalem
o Crusaders run short of supplies during their inland attacks, retreat and are defeated
o An eight year peace treaty is signed
● 1229 – Sixth Crusade
o Focuses more on negotiation than military conquest
o The Pope (Gregory IX) and the Holy Roman Emperor (Frederick II) want to retake Jerusalem
o Frederick backs out, so the Pope excommunicates him
o Frederick makes a treaty to take Jerusalem, but it did not include possession of the Temple Mount, so the Pope excommunicate him again
o Frederick secures for Christians, through negotiations with the Muslims, safe passage to and from the cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and a road to the sea
● 1248-1250 – Seventh Crusade
● 1249 – King Louis IX of France goes to Egypt
o Christians attempt to defeat Egypt, the center of Islamic power
o 1250 - The Christian French king, Louis IX, is captured and held until a ransom could be paid that was 50,000 times the entire annual revenue of France
● 1270-1272– Eighth Crusade
o This failed crusaded ends the Christian presence in the Holy Land
o Christians had lost Nazareth, Jaffa and Antioch
o The Christian plan is to take Tunis, a city on the north coast of Africa, for a base to attack and secure Egypt, and from there they would take Jerusalem
o Holy Roman Emperor Louis IX dies along with many of his men from drinking tainted water in Africa
● 1290 – All Crusade territory in the Holy Land has been lost
● 1291 – Acre falls back into the hands of the Muslims
CRUSADES ARE OVER (Crusades lasted 152-217 years)

1250-1517 - Mamluk Caliphate (Egypt)

1354 – Muslims (the Ottoman Turks) conquer the Christian Byzantine fortress at Gallipoli on a peninsula on the European side of the Aegean Sea in Thrace; this now opens up the opportunity for a Muslim advance north into Serbia and Hungary
1375 – Muslim Mamelukes take Sis, the capital city of Armenia, bringing an end to Armenian independence
1382 – Muslim Turks conquer the European city of Sophia, Bulgaria in the Balkans
1453 – Muslim Turks capture Constantinople and kill Emperor Constantine XI; this ends the Roman Empire in the East (the Christian Byzantine Empire)
1456 – Muslims capture Athens, Greece
1463 – Muslims capture Bosnia
1467 – Muslims conquer the land of Herzegovina which is the southern portion of Bosnia
1493 – Muslims invade Croatia which is the land north of Bosnia in Europe
1493 – Muslims invade Dalmatia which is the coastal land west of Bosnia
1499 – Muslims defeat the military fleet of Venice, and the city surrenders to the Sultan
1501 – Muslims conquer Persia, again
1514 – Muslim Sultan of Turkey attacks Persia
1515 – Selim I, Sultan of Turkey, conquers eastern Anatolia and Kurdistan
1516 – Selim I defeats Egyptian forces near Aleppo and annexes Syria to Ottoman Turkey
1517 – Muslim Turks conquer Cairo
1517 – Mecca surrenders to Selim I and comes under the suzerainty of the rising Ottoman Empire

1517-1923 Ottoman Caliphate (Turkey/Anatolia)

1520 – Suleiman the Magnificent succeeds his father Sultan Selim I as the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey
1521 – Suleiman conquers Belgrade which is the largest city in Serbia
1521 – Suleiman begins to invade Hungary
1522 – Suleiman takes Rhodes from the Knights of St. John
1527 – Muslim jihad against India
1525 – Suleiman signs a seven-year truce with the King of Hungary
1526 – Muslims conquer Hungary in the Battle of Mohacs, killing King Louis II; Suleiman takes control of Budapest, the largest city in Hungary
1526 – Muslims become the preeminent power in Central and Eastern Europe
1526 – Suleiman the Magnificent begins a series of military conquests in Europe
1529 – Muslims of the Ottoman Empire attack Austria and plunder Vienna; Suleiman I takes Budapest and annexes Hungary to the Ottoman Empire
1546 – Muslim Turks occupy Moldavia which borders Ukraine
1560 – Ships of the Ottoman Empire rout Spanish fleet at Tripoli
1566 – Muslims of the Ottoman Empire are well established in Europe
1570 – Muslims plunder the city of Nicosia on Cyprus
1570 – Ottoman Empire declares war on Venice
1571 – Pope Pius V signs alliance with Spain and Venice to fight the Ottoman Empire
1571 – Muslims of the Ottoman Empire conquer the city of Famagusta on the east coast of Cyprus and massacre its inhabitants
1594 – Muslims conquer Raab, a market town on the Austro-Hungarian border
1596 – Muslims defeat the Imperial army at Keresztes in northern Hungary
1613 – Ottoman Empire invades Hungary, again
1620 – Muslims of the Ottoman Empire defeat Polish army at Jassy (or, Iasi), the largest city in eastern Romania
1645-1669 - Muslims war with the republic of Venice and her allies (Malta, Roman Catholic Papal States, and France) over Crete; the Ottoman Empire conquers and secures Crete
1663 - Muslims of the Ottoman Empire declare War on the Holy Roman Empire; they invade Transylvania and Hungary, and conquer the fortress of Nove Zamky in Slovakia
1671 – Muslims declare war on Poland
1683 – Jihad is proclaimed on Vienna, and Vienna is captured by July
1690 – Muslims reconquer Belgrade
1711 – Ottoman Empire at war with Russia
1736-1739 – Muslims of the Ottoman Empire at war with Russia, again

- 1738 - Take Orsova (a port city on the Danube River in southwest Romania) and drive Russian Imperial troops back into Belgrade
- 1739 - Approach Belgrade, and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI agrees to sign a peace treaty

1809 – Muslims of the Ottoman Empire agree to a treaty with Britain called the Treaty of Dardanelles which ends the Anglo-Turkish War; Britain received commercial and legal privileges in the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom promised the Ottoman Empire protection from the French who threatened them
1822 – Ottoman Empire captures the Greek island of Chios with their fleet of ships in the Aegean Sea and massacres the inhabitants

- The Greeks respond by setting fire to the Muslim admiral’s vessel
- The Muslims then invade Greece

1824 – Muslims seize the Greek island of Ipsara, but are defeated
1827 – Muslims of the Ottoman Empire enter Athens
1827 – Caliph Mohammed II of the Ottoman Empire rejects the right of Allies to mediate in their invasion of Greece
1841 – The five Great Powers (Russia, Prussia, Austria, France, Great Britain) guarantee the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire
1869 – Ottoman Empire gives Greece an ultimatum to leave Crete, which Greece accepts
1883 – The beginning of Islam’s 14th century (so the 1300’s in Islamic counting) produced the Muslim conquest of Sudan by a Mahdi born in east Sudan
1885 – The Sudaneese Mahdi takes Khartoum (the largest city in Sudan); British General Gordon is killed in the fighting and the British evacuate Sudan
1909 – Caliph Abdul Hamid II is deposed by Young Turks and replaced by his brother Mohammed V (The Young Turks were a political reform movement that favored replacing the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Empire with a constitutional monarchy)
1912 - Muslims of the Ottoman Empire close the Dardanelles to shipping
1914, November 14 – Muslim cleric in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, declares Jihad calling Muslims from all around the world to attack Britain, Russia, France, Serbia and Montenegro
1914 – World War I begins: Russia and Britain declare war on the Ottoman Empire
1918 – After four centuries of ruling the Middle East and threatening Europe, Africa, and the Orient, the Muslim Ottoman Empire collapsed, creating a vacuum in the Middle East that is still unsettled today; Islam does not consider this issue over or the verdict of WWI - the war to end all wars - final

1979 – (the beginning of Islam’s 15th century) – Mecca is the site of a messianic insurrection affecting the entire Muslim world; this event forces Islamic apocalyptic thinking back to the forefront; supporters of a self-proclaimed Saudi Mahdi seize the Great Mosque in Mecca, and is only stopped by a violent military response; also, the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan that followed fans these apocalyptic flames and give rise to leaders like Osama bin Laden (In Muslim history and geography the Russians are the Khurasans spoken of in medieval legend and apocalyptic literature); with this, an international jihad begins

2001 – The events of September 11
2003 – USA invades Iraq
2005 – the new Iranian President, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, claims to be shrouded in the light of the Hidden Imam as he speaks to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York (the Hidden Imam is the Mahdi whose revealing has been 1300 years in the making); Ahmadinejad says that as he spoke he sensed the luminous radiance of the soon-to-appear Hidden Imam surrounding him like a halo; of course, when Ahmadinejad is challenged politically after the 2009 Iranian elections for voting fraud, he resolves the conflict by neutralizing his opposition with military force

The preceding list of 1300 years of Islamic expansion to the east, south, west and north is undeniable, indefensible and unalterable evidence of Muslim behavior. When honestly responding to the previous 1300 years of world conquest, the Muslim’s religious views of history, government, society and globalization are declared justified under the umbrella of the concept of Jihad found in verses in the Qur’an and the Hadith:

But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur’an 9:5)

According to the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, the concept of Jihad is summed up as “a Divine institution of warfare to extend Islam into the Dar al-harb (the non-Islamic territories which are described as the ‘abode of struggle,’ or of disbelief) or to defend Islam from danger.” If all Muslims were to dedicate their lives to fulfilling their faith’s “Great Commission”, it is not yet known or yet revealed what would happen. What is known are the commands that exist within the foundational writings of Islam. And, what may be seen are 1300 historically documented years of Islamic interaction with the non-Muslim. This includes what we see daily in the world abroad and right here in our nation.

While there are many opinions within global Islam regarding the definition of jihad, it would be naïve and deadly to deny the record of history (One of the more sobering analyses and recollections of the threat of Islam’s inherent militancy is found in Serge Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet: Islam, History, Theology, and Impact on the World, Boston, MA: Regina Orthodox Press, 2002). On the one hand, many Muslims express a moderate view in which the aggressive nature of Islamic teaching and practice has been curbed by such realities as the western value of civic tolerance and pluralism. On the other hand, the Islamic worldview retains the essential hope that all humanity will one day bow to Allah freely or by force. While it may be that only a fraction of Muslims are expressive militants, a much larger number manifest emotional, vocal, and monetary support of jihad. The negative reaction expressed by some Muslims when witnessing the collapse of the World Trade Center towers is unable to erase doctrinally engrained and historically buttressed Islamic hope that arises from the fall of the infidel. (S, Understanding the Times, Summit Press, Manitou Springs, CO, 2006; pages 400-401)

As history shows, whenever an Islamic apocalyptic revolution succeeds, the emerging messiah figure survives the social upheaval to found a new dynasty. In most cases those who identified and instigated the apocalyptic movement soon become disillusioned with their new messiah, Mahdi, or great Imam, which results in their being harshly repressed by their “messiah” for their ungrateful discontent. Thus, the newly institutionalized “reign of Messiah” spirals into political strife which is resolved with brutality and the repression of an unsatisfied base of supporters. This reignites the flames for a revision of the apocalyptic dream that simmers and burns until at some point in the future (sometimes years, sometimes centuries) this same process is repeated with revolution and a new Mahdi arises out of the sea of Islam.

The Qur’an (Koran) is a book of statements collected into 114 chapters (called suras) and divided into 6,235 verses which are considered to be revelation that Allah (god) made to Mohammad in a 22-23 year period between 609-632 while he was having seizures in Mecca and Medina. According to Muslim history these revelations were written down by scribes shortly before Mohammad died. (Mohammad was illiterate according to Muslim tradition, though many skeptics wonder how he could have been a businessman and merchant if he could not do math which used the Arabic alphabet for its number system. For example, in English A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. This, they say, is merely part of the miracle of the Qur’an.)

The Qur’an states that there are five things every Muslim must believe:

It is not righteousness that you turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets. (Sura 2:177)

Hadith are the recorded collection of the sayings, stories, accounts and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad that were written down 200 years after Muhammad died. Between the years 632-830 many memories about Muhammad and statements supposedly made by him had been presented to the Muslim community. Muslim scholars realized that many of these traditions and quotations were not accurate and that some were dangerously deviant for the Muslim community. Many of the Hadiths were created simply to support a sect’s rebellion or to suppress revolts during these early years.

Several compilations of the material that made up these traditions were made in an attempt to create the purified, accurate account. The most authoritative is by Imam al-Bukhari (810-870). It is a collection of 600,000 quotes and stories about Mohammad. Al-Bukhari was able to verify 7,000 of these 600,000. Most of the verified Hadith were traceable back to statements made by Mohammad’s friends or companions, his family and his fifteen wives. The people who handed down these traditional memories of Muhammad were culturally familiar with the Bible and Christian belief that had penetrated their society. This means that much of the Hadith was written with the backdrop of Christian theology and thus was in many cases a mere rewriting of Christian thought.

The six most authentic collections of Hadith were compiled by six famous imams who are together called Sihah Sitta or ‘the authentic six’.

Muhammad bin Ismail al-Bukhari (810- 870) the author of Sahih Bukhari
Muslim bin Hajjah al-Nishapuri (821-874. His Sahih Muslim is second in authenticity, next to that of Bukhari
Abu Dawood, Sulaiman bin Al-Ash’ath bin Ishaq Al-Azdi As-Sijistani (817-888/9)
Imaam Tirmizi (824-892)
Abu Abd al-Rahman Ahmad ibn Shu’ayb al-Nasa’I (830-915)
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah al-Rab’i al-Qazwini, commonly known as Imam Ibn Majah (824-887) - the author of Hadith Sunan Ibn Majah

The Qur’an itself contains very little eschatological information, other than referring to “the Hour” which is the point in time when history ends and the resurrection and judgment take place.

The majority of Islamic eschatology comes from scattered pieces and random references recorded in the Hadith. And so it is very important that we keep in mind how the Hadiths came about. They are:

The memories of Muhammad’s friends, associates and wives
Relayed to other people who recalled them
During the first two hundred years
Internally turbulent years of establishing authentic leadership and repressing internal uprising
While expanding through military advancement into new territory in the Middle East

Understandably, Islamic scholars have not been able to create a solid eschatological system based on the scattered eschatological references in the Hadith. There are no charts, no diagrams, but instead, disconnected references that can be pieced together in a variety of ways.

Dr. Samuel Shahid, in The Last Trumpet, presents the idea that the major concepts of Islamic eschatology originate from the Old Testament, the New Testament and Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam, all believe that world history is indeed oriented towards an end, creating or recreating a new holy and complete world. All believe this world is temporary, incomplete, and imperfect but as it pursues its historical course it will achieve its completion and perfection, devoid of evil and conflict at the end of time…Islamic sources made it conspicuous that Christian data has been incorporated into the Islamic episodes of the end of time. Most of this data is diluted with fairy tales like the incident of the Jassasa…Some of the Islamic narratives are based on ambiguous characters that will play a vital part in the historical events before the coming of the Hour (the resurrection and the Day of Judgment…Even the role Jesus Christ would assume in this world event is perverted to fit the Islamic concept of Isa (the Qur’anic name for Jesus) as a mere prophet who will return to proclaim to the entire world that Islam is the true religion of God. Thus, before the end of the world, only the faith of Islam will prevail and no other religion will survive. (B, page 14)

(Zoroastrianism is an ancient monotheistic religion from Iran that was most influential during periods of the Persian Empires (550-330 BC Achaemenid, 247 BC-224 AD Parthian, and 224-651 AD Sasanian. The philosopher Zoroaster developed Zoroastrianism when he simplified the pantheon of Iranian gods into two forces: Good and Evil - or, the progressive mentality called “Spenta Mainyu” and the destructive mentality called “Angra Mainyu”.)

David Cook makes similar points in his book Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic:

Syria was the center of Islam for its first 100 years
At this time Syria was influenced by Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism
Muslim apocalyptic material is most often presented in a hadith to communicate information about the period of time right before the end of the world
Muslim apocalyptic traditions developed from several sources:

Converts to Islam during those early years brought with them the eschatology of Judaism and Christianity
Polemic discussions (or, arguments within Islam) between different groups of local Muslims and their local apocalyptic traditions converged
Exegesis of applicable verses from the Qur’an
Explanations of contemporary historical events
The need to develop political security for the ruling class

Jesus

That they (Jews) said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise; - And there is none of the People of the Book (Christians) but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them (Christians).

Jesus Speaks from the Cradle in Surah 19:27-35 when Mary is accused of immorality before she was properly married

At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: ‘O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought! O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!’ But she pointed to the babe. They said: ‘How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?’ He (Jesus) said: ‘I am indeed a servant of Allah. He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet; And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; (He) hath made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable; So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)!’ Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute. It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, ‘Be’, and it is.

Allah speaks to Jesus concerning Allah’s favor toward him and the miracles Allah gave him permission to perform. Notice that Jesus is not portrayed as doing the miracles on his own since he is not considered to be God, but was able to do them only because Allah granted permission. Also, note that Allah claims to have stopped the Jews from treating Jesus with violence since, according to the Quran, Jesus was snatched into heaven by Allah to protect him from the Jews, and they crucified Judas instead. Here is Surah 5:110:

Then will Allah say: ‘O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave (or, permission), and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave (or, permission), and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave (or, permission). And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave (or, permission). And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: 'This is nothing but evident magic.'

In Surah 5:116-117 Allah questions Jesus concerning the origins of the false teaching of the Trinity (or in this case the Islamic view of the Trinity at that time), the deity of Jesus, Mary, and Allah. Jesus denies the accusation that he was the one to introduce the concept to the Christians:

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. Never said I to them aught except what Thou didst command me to say, to wit, “worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord”; and I was a witness over them whilst I dwelt amongst them; when Thou didst take me up Thou wast the Watcher over them, and Thou art a witness to all things.’

Qur’an 43:61-62 – “And Jesus shall be a sign for the coming Hour of Judgment: Therefore have no doubt about the (Hour), but follow you Me: this is the Straight Way.”
Qur’an 43:63-64 – “When Jesus came with Clear Signs he said, ‘Now have I come to you with Wisdom, and in order to make clear to you some of the points on which you dispute: therefore fear God and obey me. For God, He is my Lord and your Lord: so worship you him: this is a Straight Way.’ ”

before) and the common Arabs’ creeds and superstitions of ignorance in which they persisted, and their stubbornness has been exposed in a firm and effective way, so that every member of the society, who was reasonable in some degree, should be made to consider the evils in which the community was involved and its tyrannical treatment of the person [Muhammad] who was trying to redeem it.”

Qur’an 43:57

*Jesus was a man, and a prophet to the Children of Israel, ‘though his own received him not.’ Some of the Churches that were founded after him worshipped him as ‘God’ and as ‘the son of God’, as do the Trinitarian churches to the present day. The orthodox churches did so in the time of the holy Prophet.

Jesus was one of the greater prophets: he was not a god,

Qur’an 43:58

Qur’an 43:59

the limited mission of the prophet Jesus

Gospel to the Jews only survives in uncertain fragmentary forms.

Qur’an 43:60

Qur’an 43:61

second coming of Jesus in the Last Days

when he will

prepare the way for the universal acceptance of Islam, the Gospel of Unity and Peace

Qur’an 43:62

Qur’an 43:63

The man Jesus came to reconcile the jarring sects in Israel, and his true teaching was just the same as that which was expounded in a wider form by Islam

He did not claim to be God

Qur’an 43:64

an appeal is made to the Jews that Islam is the same religion as was taught by Moses, and that they should not allow their leaders to make fools of them;

an appeal is made to the Christians that Islam is the same religion as was taught by Jesus, and that they should give up their sectarian attitude and follow the universal religion,

he above verses are the text directly taken from the Qur’an and the verses are followed with footnote comments taken from The Holy Qur’an whose text, translation and commentary are provided by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. (page 1336-1337, published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc. Elmhurst, NY; 2005)

“Gospel of Unity”

“doctrine of Unity”

“the universal religion.”

“Islam is the same religion as was taught by Jesus”.

“the religion of Abraham”

If Christians go back to Jesus, he was but a man and a servant of God: he came to still the jarring sects, not to create a new one: he preached the one True God, his Lord. So give up disputing, and join in devotion to God. That is the Way to the Garden of Bliss, but the opposite leads to the fire. Beware! The Truth has come, and God knows how you receive it. He is Lord of power and mercy. The Truth must prevail; resist it not. (The Holy Qur’an text, translation and commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, page 1336)

This is one of the Muslim signs visible in the previous photo taken in Nazareth. The quote is from Qur’an 3:64 is posted as a warning to Christians worshipping at the Church of Annunciation: “Say: O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but God alone, and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as Lords besides God. But if they (Jews and Christians) turn a way, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims.”

This is a second Muslim sign seen in the photo showing the Church of Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel warning the Christian worshippers that "whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it [other religion] will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers. (Holy Qur’an)”

The Hour

Qur’an 43:61 is the only reference to include both Jesus and the Hour in the same verse in the Qur’an, but the Qur’an does refer multiple times to “the Hour”, which is an event that afflicts all of creation with judgment. The Hour is described in the Qur’an in this way:

Qur’an 81:1-19:When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; When the stars fall, losing their lustre; When the mountains vanish (like a mirage); When the she-camels, ten months with young, are left untended; When the wild beasts are herded together (in the human habitations); When the oceans boil over with a swell; When the souls are sorted out, (being joined, like with like); When the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned - For what crime she was killed; When the scrolls are laid open; When the world on High is unveiled; When the Blazing Fire is kindled to fierce heat; And when the Garden is brought near; (Then) shall each soul know what it has put forward. So verily I call to witness the planets - that recede, Go straight, or hide; And the Night as it dissipates; And the Dawn as it breathes away the darkness;- Verily this is the word of a most honourable Messenger.

Other references to the Hour in the Quran are as follows:

15:85 – “We created not the heavens, the earth, and all between them, but for just ends. And the Hour is surely coming (when this will be manifest). So overlook (any human faults) with gracious forgiveness.”
15:99 – “serve thy Lord until there come unto thee the Hour that is certain.”
16:77 – “To Allah belongeth the Mystery of the heavens and the earth. And the Decision of the Hour (of Judgment) is as the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker: for Allah hath power over all things.”
22:1-3 – “O mankind! fear your Lord! for the convulsion of the Hour (of Judgment) will be a thing terrible! The Day ye shall see it, every mother giving suck shall forget her suckling- babe, and every pregnant female shall drop her load (unformed): thou shalt see mankind as in a drunken riot, yet not drunk: but dreadful will be the Wrath of Allah. And yet among men there are such as dispute about Allah, without knowledge, and follow every evil one obstinate in rebellion!”
22:55 – “Those who reject Faith will not cease to be in doubt concerning (Revelation) until the Hour (of Judgment) comes suddenly upon them, or there comes to them the Penalty of a Day of Disaster.”
12:107 – “Do they then feel secure from the coming against them of the covering veil of the wrath of Allah,- or of the coming against them of the (final) Hour all of a sudden while they perceive not?”
31:34 – “Verily the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone).”

The Final Judgment and The Hour

Proceeding the Hour, the Final Judgment, there will be signs that indicate the Hour is near.
These signs are divided into two groups:
1. Small Signs or Minor Signs
2. Great Signs

The Small Signs set in motion the events that lead to the occurrence of the Great Signs which lead up to the Final Judgment. (D. page xix)

The Minor Signs

An increase in:

False prophets - Thirty (or, thirty-one) false prophets (among them are four women) will come forth
Apostasy - Copy the misdeeds of the previous nations. People follow the stars and reject their preordained destiny established by Allah
Alcohol use
Sexual sins
Natural disasters - Earthquakes, plagues, murder
Political corruption - Power of authority is entrusted to unfit people or unqualified people
War and rebellions (even among Muslims)

There will be ignorance within Islam concerning their faith
Muslims will become Christians quickly and easily
People will follow astrology
Islamic apostasy
Muslims will build luxurious mosques – materialism, overflowing money
Women will outnumber men by 50 to 1 (reason unknown, but may be due to war, jihad martyrs)
The seat of Islamic authority known as the caliphate will be established in the “Holy Land”

But, it is not clear what land is the “Holy Land” in this context

If Saudi Arabia...then this was controlled by 632
If Israel...then the return of the Jews has caused a concern

The Arabs will be destroyed

What does “destroyed” mean? To what extent? Where?
In the 1500s the Ottoman Empire controlled the Middle East and were Turks not Arabs

Habitations of Medina greatly extended - Habitations of Medina would extend to Ihab or Yahab (location of the tomb of Muhammad)
Muslims must fight the Turks and the Tartars (but, this has been done before)
Arabs must conquer Constantinople - The best of the Muslims, the people of Hijaz, will march against the Byzantine and they will conquer Constantinople

Muslims did this in the 1400’s AD
Arabs have not done this

Mecca will be ruined - City of Mecca is turned into ruins by an obscure Ethiopian man named Thu al-Suwayqatayn
A people will emerge who eat with their tongues as cows do
Many will desire death because times are so bad and life is so hard
Time will contract

A year will be like a month
A month will be like a week

Wild beasts will speak to men
The Euphrates River will uncover a mountain of gold and people will fight to death to possess it (Ninety-nine out of one hundred will die hoping that one of them survives to possess it)
The believers of that time will die peacefully and gracefully and leave the wicked alive to indulge in their lust until the appointed hour of the resurrection (similar to the Rapture)
The Hour will not be established until: “There is a war between two groups among whom there will be a great number of casualties, though the religion of both of them will be the same
The Hour will not come until a man from Qahtan appears who would drive the people with his staff (This refers to the Mahdi of the pre-Islamic Himyarite era “whose duty is that of herding his people together preparatory to the resurrection and Day of Judgment”)
Muslims murder their leader, fight among themselves, and the worst of the people will inherit all their worldly possessions
Commotions that will cause a man to be a believer in the morning but an infidel in the evening, and an infidel in the evening will become a believer in the morning
Muslims will fight people whose shoes are made of hair and until they fight the Turks whose eyes are small, their faces are red, the tips of their noses are flat, and their faces as stricken shields

These are the signs that will take place in a continuous series over time.
But, many are normal events that characterize any society that is experiencing cultural change. Typically these cultures become more materialistic, more individualistic and more irreligious. Muhammad’s “righteous society” was the model of the Islamic community.

According to the understanding of Islamic ethics Islamic societies have suffered the manifestation of these minor signs since the rise of the Umayyad Dynasty. This materialistic, individualistic, irreligious slide of the Islamic community continued its descent downward in urban areas throughout the Abbasid Dynasty.

Some of these Minor Signs are extraordinary and simply make no sense as far as being historically apocalyptic. All great societies move through these same phases as they decline. We saw the same thing happen in Greek, Roman, Persian and Egyptian cultures. The Hour will not come until these things happen, but most of these Minor Signs are normal events that plague any declining society in the course of its history.

The Major Signs

The Hour begins when these major signs begin to take place. They will take place in sequence, similar to the way the seals, trumpets and bowls are often understood to occur in the book of Revelation.

1. The appearance of the Antichrist (Dajjal)
2. The return of Jesus
3. The invasion of Gog and Magog
4. The reign of Jesus
5. The appearance of the beast
6. The smoke
7. Three land slides
8. The sun will rise in the west
9. A great fire in Yemen (or, “south of Eden”)
10. The three trumpets
11. “The Hour” or the Day of Resurrection
12. The Day of Reckoning
13. The Day of Judgment
14. Crossing the Bridge that spans the gulf of Hell
15. The Gathering at the pool
16. The Intercession
17. Paradise
18. Hell

The Major Players in Islamic Eschatology:

1. Mahdi / the Twelfth Imam / the Hidden Imam
2. Antichrist / The Dajjal
3. Jesus, son of Mary
4. Daabba (an animal or creature that will appear in the end times)

In Islamic eschatology the second advent of Christ synchronizes with the advent of the Mahdi (the rightly guided Imam). Together, the Mahdi and Jesus Christ join forces to defeat the Dajjal, the Islamic “antichrist”. In Islam, the Mahdi and the Messiah are two different people, but they come at the same time. The Mahdi will come as the Imam and Jesus as his follower. (N, page 136)

The Mahdi is the Messiah of Islam

(prounounced: Ma’-dee)
The coming of the Mahdi is the first of the Major Signs. According to Ibn Kathir, Muslim scholar from the 1300’s: “After the lesser signs of the Hour appear and increase, mankind will have reached a stage of great suffering. Then the awaited Mahdi will appear; He is the first of the greater clear signs of the Hour.” He will appear on the scene of history to engage the armies of Islam against the heathen in battle. (D, page xix)

The Mahdi will come from the family of Muhammad and bear Muhammad’s name (D, page xix). The Mahdi will be preceded by an army from the East carrying black flags of war.

The Messenger of Allah said: The black banners will come from the East and their hearts will be as firm as iron. Whoever hears of them should join them and give allegiance, even if it means crawling across snow. (Abu Nu’aym and As-Suyuti, related by Thawban, as quoted in Izzat and ‘Arif, Al Mahdi and the End of Time, 44)

Then Mahdi will join the black flags and conquer Israel where they will slaughter Jews.

Rasulullah [Muhammad] said: “Armies carrying black flags will come from Khurasan. No power will be able to stop them and they will finally reach Eela [Baitul Maqdas in Jerusalem] where they will erect their flags.” (Tirmidhi as quoted in Zubair, Signs of Qiyamah, 42, and Abdullah, Islam, Jesus, Mehdi, Qadiyanis, and Doomsday, 54.)

The Prophet said…”the last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.’” (Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6985)

The Mahdi will be a universal leader for all Muslims, and He will also rule the non-Muslim world. Islam’s Mahdi is their Messiah or Savior. The appearing of the Mahdi is to the Muslims what the return of Jesus Christ is to the Christians. The Mahdi is believed to be the ruler of the world.

He will reappear on the appointed day, and then he will fight against the forces of evil, lead a world revolution, and set up a new world order based on justice, righteousness, and virtue…ultimately be righteous will take the world administration in their hands and Islam will be victorious over all the religions. (G, on page 24, quoting “Al-Sadr and Mutahhari, The Awaited Savior, prologue, 4-5; see also 23-40)

One Hadith says that Mahdi’s reign will begin at a time when there is a peace treaty between the Arabs in the East and the Christians in the West. This Hadith declares that the lineage of the Aaronic priesthood will be involved in mediating this seven-year covenant:

There will be four peace agreements between you and the Romans [Christians]. The fourth agreement will be mediated through a person who will be from the progeny of Hadrat Haroon [Honorable Aaron] and will be upheld for seven years. (Rasulullah [Muhammad])

Mahdi will do other things that are also described in the Hadith collection:

Mahdi will control the wind and the rain and the crops
The Mahdi will ride on a white horse
The Mahdi will uncover some previous undiscovered archaeology evidence including ancient Bible scrolls and the Ark of the Covenant

The Second Major Sign: The Appearing of Dajjal - The Islamic Antichrist

The Dajjal (Al-Maseeh Dajjal, or “The Messiah, the Deceiver”)
Dajjal is pronounced /di-al/
Dajjal is the Great Deceiver
Has miraculous powers that will hold power over the whole earth temporarily
He will be blind in one eye
Dajjal is marked with the word “infidel” (kaafir) between his eyes
Dajjal will claim to be Jesus Christ
Dajjal will claim to be divine
Dajjal will travel at great speeds on his giant mule and can cover the whole earth
Dajjal will not be able to enter Mecca, Medina, or Damascus
Muslims will be protected from the Dajjal if they have memorized the first ten verses of Surat al Kahf (Chapter of the Cow)
Dajjal will be a Jew
Dajjal will be followed by Jews and women
Dajjal will be killed by Jesus, son of Mary, who is himself a Muslim

On the Dajjal and Jesus:

In all of Sunni Muslim apocalyptic, this is one of the most important cycles, and is very well developed. Here we have an End-times duel between two diametrically opposite beings, who are, despite this fact, connected in some undefined manner: the true messiah (Jesus) and the false messiah (the Dajjal). The word dajjal means a deceiver and comes from the Syriac daggala. (E, page 93)

Dajjal “will claim to be God Himself.” (Al-Daylami, II, 360, no. 2954; al-Hindi, XIV, 603, no. 39,694; a-lastu bi-rabbikum, Qur’an 7:172)

The Dajjal is said to come from a number of different locations, but, “in all likelihood, the identification of the Dajjal with Khurasan and the East came about as a result of the similarity between the name Khurasan and the name Chorazin, where according to Christian tradition the Antichrist is to be born: (E, page 94 referring to Ps Meth, 152, 236; “Apocalypse of Peter,” BJRL 15 (1932), 189)

“A key point is that the Dajjal is said to be Jewish in most accounts, something common to Christian apocalyptic also, though a few say that he will come from the Arab tribe of Thaqif.” (E, page 95)

“Many different descriptions are given for the Dajjal himself:

Curly, abundant hair, short, walking with his toes turned in.
Albino (dead-white), enormously fat, tall, with the hair on his head looking like the branches of a tree, and his eye shining like the morning star
Bald on the forehead, blind in one eye, with a broad upper chest
Having hairy arms, a non-existent neck, and non-existent eyes, with the word kafir (“infidel”) written between his eyes
Having his toes turned in, reddish in color, disproportionate build, and blind in one eye, one of his hands longer than the other
Having extremely curly hair.” (E, page 96)

Consistent in all the Islamic traditions is that the Dajjal is blind in one eye or, at least, is said to have some kind of eye trouble.

The Dajjal does not attract people because he wins battles or has a great strategy. His mere person seems to draw people who are ignorant of the Muslim message - particularly women and Jews. The Dajjal speaks to each group of people in their own language. He will perform miracles to impress his followers and to convince those who are undecided. The Dajjal’s miracles include:
1. Healing lepers, paralytics, the blind
2. Raising the dead
3. Causing vegetation to grow and the sky to rain
4. Causing livestock to prosper or to die
5. Moving mountains (Mt. Tabor or Mt. Sinai)
6. Stopping the sun’s movement (E, page 100)

A small group will resist and warn people about Dajjal: the biblical Tabitha, the prophet Elisha, and the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3-12 who are identified as Elijah and Enoch. But, unlike in the biblical narrative, the witnesses are not killed, but harassed and end up fleeing to various places. About 20,000 join the resistors (E, page 102).

The Dajjal will appear from the sea and is commonly said to attack 20,000 Muslims in Jerusalem with 70,000 Jews (E, page 104). Jesus will descend among the Muslims assembled for Morning Prayer, that is to be led by the Mahdi at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the south side of the Jewish Temple Mount. When prayer is begun Jesus orders the doors of the mosque to be opened, only to see the city surrounded by the Dajjal and his 70,000 Jewish troops. When the Dajjal sees Jesus he melts like salt in water. Jesus hunts down the Dajjal and the Muslims hunt down the hiding Jews (B, p.81, Samuel Shahid, Ph.D., The Last Trumpet: A Comparative Study In Christian-Islamic Eschatology, page 81).

There will be a deep fog over Jerusalem (probably symbolic of the great evil of the Dajjal), then, as morning breaks, the fog will lift and Jesus will suddenly appear among the Muslims to pray the morning prayers. He then goes out to kill the Dajjal. Interestingly enough, the phrases involving the Dajjal’s end are very similar to those appearing in Christian apocalyptic about the same event, though there they are related to the two witnesses…After the Dajjal is killed, there is a general massacre of his Jewish followers. (E, page 104)

There are are three other Islamic traditions or accounts of this future event that are written in other hadiths. One is similar to the one above, but occurs at Jabal al-Dukhan (Smoky Mountain) where the Muslims are ready to fight to their death in a darkness so intense that a man cannot see his own hand. Then Jesus descends from heaven, leads the Muslims in prayer and then marches out to secure the victory.

A second account of Jesus’ return to fight the Dajjal locates Jesus’ descent from Allah to be at the minaret in Umayyad Mosque (built over the site of a Christian basilica, a Byzantine mega-church, in 634 AD which had been dedicated to John the Baptist) in the city of Damascus. This minaret is known as the Jesus Minaret.

Yet, another account of Jesus’ return to fight the Dajjal and slaughter the Jews is also located in Syria at a place near the Sea of Galilee. The Dajjal will come down the Yarmuk Valley while the Muslims are gathered on the other side of the Jordan River. A third of the Muslims are killed, a third of the Muslims flee, but a third continue fighting until Jesus descends during the Morning Prayer.

As we continue to compare Islamic eschatology with Christian eschatology the parallels are clear. The parallels are antithesis, but they do run amazingly consistent as opposites of each other.

“One can fairly say, for example, that the identification of the Jews’ expected messiah with the Antichrist (Dajjal) is so firmly rooted in Muslim apocalyptic that it even appears in certain conservative works, as well as appearing in all radical ones. This identification enables them to see the Arab-Israeli conflict in its entirety as an apocalyptic event and one in which the Arabs are destined to be victorious, despite the present gloomy situation.” (C, page 232; David Cook, Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature, p. 232)

The Third Major Sign: The Return of Jesus

Remember that Islam does not accept the belief that Jesus:
1. Is the Son of God
2. Is God in the flesh
3. Died on the cross
4. Paid for sins
5. Was resurrected
Islam teaches that Allah rescued Jesus from death by the hands of the Jews and took him into heaven alive. Jesus has since been waiting in heaven with Allah to return to earth and support the Mahdi.

The Islamic version of Jesus (Isa) differs greatly from the Christian:

Jesus will return to do combat with the Antichrist (Dajjal) first in Damascus and then in Israel (D, page xix)
Jesus will return to earth just outside Damascus
Jesus will submit to the Mahdi who is the caliph (vice regent) and imam of all Islam
Jesus will be a faithful Muslim
Jesus will be a community leader under the Mahdi and will institute Islamic Law
Jesus will lead the Christians to Islam
Jesus will abolish Christianity by:

Breaking crosses (which indicates he is converting the churches and community centers to mosques and Islamic centers)
Killing all swine
Abolishing the jizyah (pronounced: jezee-ya) tax (a Muslim tax on non-Muslims that allows non-Muslims to live)
Kill the Antichrist (Dajjal, the “Muslim antichrist”) and all his followers

Jesus will slaughter the Jews

Daabba

Daabba is an animal or creature that will appear in the end times. The appearance of the Daabba is one of the Major signs. This beast comes from the earth with the ring of Solomon and the rod of Moses. He will destroy the nose of every unbeliever with the rod and write “kafir” (infidel) on their forehead. The Daabba will distinguish the believer from the non-believer so that everyone will know who is and who is not a Muslim by simply looking at their faces. Muslims will be stamped between the eyes with Mu’mim (“faithful believer”).

In the Qur’an Allah is quoted as saying in Surah 27:82:

Translation One: “When the word is fulfilled concerning them. We shall bring forth a Daabba from the Earth to speak unto them because mankind had no faith in our revelation.
Translation Two: “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.”

The other question is where to fit the two Qur’anic cycles of the dabba and Yajuj and Majuj. Both of these have no obvious political overtones, which is probably the reason for their retarded state of development. The dabba is connected with the Dajjal by the comments of the Muslim apocalyptists, who sought to identify it with the figure of the jassasa in the ‘Dajjal Chained in the West’ Cycle. Having at this moment no better solution to the problem of the identity of this creature, I have adopted this connection. As for Yajuj and Majuj, since in a number of traditions they are the final event (though not in all), here they are used to bring the survey to a close. These conclusions could be contested, since clearly the dabba is a harmless creature and does not belong topically in the company of the Dajjal, while Yajuj and Majumj are just as clearly nightmare entities designed to frighten. (E, - Studies in Muslim Apocalyptics, by David Cook, Page 93)

Modern Muslim Apocalyptic Events

In most scenarios the apocalyptic events begin with an Arab-Israel conflict. First, the demonic Dajjal (the Muslim antichrist) appears and, except for a few Muslim countries, gains control over the world. The Dajjal is a Jew who controls the world through a conspiracy as presented in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which is an anti-Semitic hoax put forth as a Jewish plan to dominate the world.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a “fraudulent document that served as a pretext and rationale for anti-Semitism in the early 20th century. The document purports to be a report of a series of 24 (in other versions, 27) meetings held at Basel, Switz., in 1897, at the time of the first Zionist congress.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990, volume 9, page 742)

This false document is still widely circulated and believed in certain circles today. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was originally published in Russian in 1903 and translated into multiple languages. It was widely discussed and lectured on throughout the international community in the early 1900’s. In the 1920’s Henry Ford funded and distributed 500,000 copies. Obviously, Adolf Hitler took the work seriously and had it taught as fact in German classrooms beginning in 1933, although as early as 1921 The Times of London proved The Protocols to be a fraud. The basic context of the fraudulent work is the Jewish systematic plan for taking over the world by corrupting the morals of the Gentiles while controlling the press and the world economic system.

The paranoid anti-Semite has placed himself in a closed circle from which neither logic, facts, nor reality, can extricate him. He is literally in a prison of his own creation. . . The use of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a predominant feature of the contemporary Arabic-language Muslim apocalyptic scenario. It is the lens through which the apocalyptic writers view the world and interpret everyday events occurring in the political, religious, economic, and cultural arenas. One can see how and why they have focused on the concept of freedom as being the enemy, because for them it is the true enemy, denying them their power over their audience. (C. page 33-34; David Cook, Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature, page 33-34)

The Dajjal will lead the Western world and Israel against the Muslims.

Insight Into the Final Conflict, or the Hour

Muslims consider “the West” and “Christian” to be synonymous; so a Muslim attack of the West is actually a religious attack.
It is a conflict that has been coming for over 1,400 years
Islam must confront the West and cannot accept the West without accepting the superiority of Christianity
The US is the Great Babylon (as in Rev. 17:3-4) and the Anti-Christ. American presidents are agents of the Antichrist. America’s economy and culture reflect the demonic forces of antichrist. Allah will punish America with earthquakes, nuclear attacks, etc
After Islam attacks and conquers Israel it will move on to attack the West and America
Not all Muslims agree on the details since various Muslim countries have differing views and differing political alignments. For example:
- Some see the US as having forced Iraq to invade Kuwait…so, are pro-Iraq
- Some, for example Egypt, see Iraqi as evil and under the control of Israel
- Some see the US and Russia as under the influence of Israel
In classic Muslim apocalyptic writings the Jews are rarely mentioned outside of this quote: "The Hour [of Judgment] will not arrive until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims will kill them until the Jew will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rock and the tree will say: ‘0 Muslim, 0 servant of God, there is a Jew behind me- come and kill him!’ "
- Yet, in modern Muslim apocalyptic writing, Israel receives the strongest threats and is prominently attacked
- Modern Muslim apocalyptic writings place Israel under the control of Dajjal who deceives the world to support Israel…This modern scenario helps explain Islam’s inability to rid the world of Israel, a country that is small, scorned, developing…yet, cannot be stopped by Allah
Muslim vs. Arab (Arabs are Muslims who have compromised and accepted the Western ways): This conflict goes back to the origin of Islam when they were just a small group of “believers” facing the world. The “true” Muslim (the fundamentalists) will invade other Muslim countries and kill the infidel Arabs (who may also be Muslim, but connected with the “cool kids” or the “in crowd” in the local government and the local economy)

ISLAM VS THE MODERN WESTERN WORLD

In his book The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent, Erwin W. Lutzer titles seven chapters in Part II with seven lessons that today’s church needs to learn:

1. We cannot take the continued existence of the Church for granted
2. Faithfulness to Christ requires an acceptance of persecution
3. Even when a church is in the devils’ hands, it is still in God’s hands
4. The Crescent cannot destroy the Church
5. Compromise weakens the Church
6. Things are not what they appear to be
7. The remnant will triumph (N)

Muhammad, the Koran, and those who interpreted Muhammad’s life believe Islam is superior to Christianity because of Islam’s superiority in battle and conquest. The military success over Christendom is taken as proof that Muhammad is superior to Jesus. Christian lands have been seized by Muslim soldiers, and thousands of churches have been converted to mosques (N, pages 137-138).

We must understand both the rationale behind this logic and the fallacy of judging spiritual advancement by such logic. Since Muhammad began his quest for conquest, Islam has spread steadily and continues to grow and sweep over Christianity. If we are keeping score this way, we need to consider converting, because of the thousands of churches that have become mosques over the centuries. But how many mosques have been converted to churches?

And we have to consider not just geographical area, but population too.

In fact, in terms of numerical growth, Islam today is outpacing Christianity. That’s not only because of mere population growth it is also because there are large numbers of Christians being killed in Muslim lands today. (N, page 139)

Based on research by the Pew Research Center released in April of 2015 (see reference T),
Muslims will outnumber Christians worldwide by 2070. This will end a 2000-year Christian population dominance over Islam for the first time in history. According to the research, Islam is projected to grow more than twice as fast as any other major religion in the next fifty years. Not only that, but Christianity will lose its majority status in traditionally Christian countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Australia.

Commenting on these results and the fact that rapid population growth in poor countries can result in economic hardships, heavy migration, and political unrest, David Voas, professor of Population Studies at England’s Institute for Social and Economic Research cautions that conditions like this can also create extremist violence. Voas says: “The very rapid growth of population, combined with limited opportunities even for the educated young people, but particularly for less educated ones, has created social and therefore political tensions, and that has fueled things like immigration to Western countries, political upheaval.”

It is clear that Islam will grow rapidly in the next ten years (2015-2025), and based on this research the Islamic population will grow from 23.2% of the planet’s people in 2010 up to 29.7% by 2050. This rapid, explosive growth of Islam will occur worldwide while Christianity is predicted to hold at 31.4% of the world population without change during the same forty year period. Islam will pass Christianity in population by 2070, but will be virtually equal with Christianity in world population in 2050 at 30% Muslim and 31% Christian, if the numbers are rounded off.

This same research project indicates that the number of people who are religiously unaffiliated will drop! To some people, a decline in secular views even being possible in our modern age is unbelievable. Yet, the trend back toward religious affiliation has begun and is predicted to change from 16.4% of the world’s population being unaffiliated with a religion to 13.2% - a drop of more than 3%.

There is clear statistical information that shows our world is becoming more involved in religion and spiritual matters, and Islam is gaining by far the greatest advantage of that swing. If momentum continues to build, the speed of this process will easily increase.

I mentioned this coming trend in my 2007 book, Hope for America’s Last Generation, when I made the following statement and included a warning of what is now inevitable in our culture:

We should worry less about proving our side scientifically and turn our attention to what’s coming on the horizon – a so-called “new spiritual dimension.” The pendulum is swinging from denying the existence of God to embracing some kind of spirituality. This poses great danger for those who’ve failed to grow in their knowledge of the Bible. Without a full understanding of God’s truth, people won’t be able to face this new enemy. This enemy that won’t just deny the existence of God, but will be a spiritual, demonic force claiming to be the one true God. (125)

Islam is a political ideology that uses religion to protect and support itself (N, page 140). If the politics and government of Islam were not propped up with the protection, support and fanaticism of religion, it would not survive as a viable political or legal option in the world.

Islam will follow the liberal movement into the Western World. But, what will follow Islam? It cannot contain itself. Its religion is flawed and its philosophy is false. Islam can bring the sword, but can it bring revival to a dead, immoral culture? Islam can bring the conqueror and the oppressor, but can it deliver the freedom and creativity necessary for advancement in culture?

The greatest political and religious power of all time will be the Antichrist. Are his military victories an indication of the truthfulness of his religion? Does the conquering antichrist lead the cultures of the world into a new age of productivity, life, creativity, freedom and justice? No! The Antichrist leads the world into war, famine, cultural oppression, martyrdom of opposition, and ultimately into the darkest days known to humanity. The one thing that is more destructive to humanity and society than denying the existence of God, is to embrace a false God. The USA has experienced the deconstruction of a society based on Christian principles with the rise of secular humanism. And, deconstructed it has been! But, now, prepare for the impact of a crumbling secular culture that embraces a false god after having embraced a false reality.

Islam is a religion that embodies a detailed system of laws that “regulate all manner of behavior in the secular sphere – economic, social, military, legal and political” (quote on N, page 175 comes from “Shariah: The Threat to America – An Exercise in Competitive Analysis Report of Team BII (Washington, DC: The Center for Security Policy, 2010) p. 2).

Islam governs “all aspects of civil society and human life, both public and private” (quote on N, page 175 from “Shariah: The Threat to America – An Exercise in Competitive Analysis Report of Team BII (Washington, DC: The Center for Security Policy, 2010) p. 5).

Consider also this statement by Abdurahman Alamoudi in an online article called “The Twevlth Imam”:

I have no doubt in my mind, Muslims sooner or later will be the moral leadership of America. It depends on me and you, either we do it now or we do it after a hundred years, but this country will become a Muslim country. (N, page 152)

And this, from a sign carried by a Muslim demonstrator:

We will use the freedoms of the Constitution to destroy the Constitution! (N, page 175)

And also this, by Mohamed Akram of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1991

Our work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within. (N, page 175)

On pages 125-126 of “Shariah: The Threat to America” the key tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood’s plan to wage a civilization jihad on the USA were uncovered in documents seized by the FBI in 2004. These strategies are not outrageous or unbelievable, but very basic and applied in a very simple day-to-day active advance on American Democracy. Here is the list provided by The Center for Security Policy in 2010:

Expand the Muslim presence by birth rate, immigration, and refusal to assimilate
Occupy and expand domination of physical space
Ensure the “Muslim Community” knows and follows the Muslim Brotherhood doctrine
Control the language that non-muslims are permitted to use in describing the enemy
Ensure that non-muslims do not study the Shariah Doctrine
Co-opt (nominate, choose, appoint) key leadership
Force compliance with Shariah Law at local levels
Fight all counterterrorism efforts
Subvert religious organizations
Employ “lawfare” – the offensive use of lawsuits and threats of lawsuits (The word “lawfare” is coined by combining the words “law” and “warfare”, so instead of “warfare” the concept is “lawfare”)
Claim victimization and demand accommodations
Condemn “slander” against Islam
Subvert the United States education system and in particular infiltrate and dominate US, Middle East and Religious Studies programs
Demand the right to practice Shariah Law in segregated Muslim enclaves
Demand recognition of Shariah Law in non-muslim spheres
Confront and denounce Western society, laws and traditions
Demand that Shariah replace Western Law

Even the United Kingdom, the land that produced the Magna Carta in 1215, came under Shariah Law influence in 2013 with 85 Shariah councils and 5 Muslim Arbitration Tribunals that were able to make thousands of legal rulings due to the Arbitration Act of 1996 - even though the Muslim councils and tribunals ruled contrary to UK law. Shariah councils and Muslim Tribunals provide no concept of the legal safety nets known to the Western world – there is no monitoring of the justice system, the imams are the judges, legal representation is not guaranteed, court proceedings are not recorded, there is no right to appeal, and the list goes on and on. (N, page 177) Remember, this is taking place in the twenty-first century in the Western World in a culture that developed many of the founding principles of just and democratic government.

Do not think Islam is going to do anything to support the homosexual agenda. The only thing Islam is going to do with gay rights is use them as a jab to weaken the United States before Islam brings the knockout punch. The Islamic knockout punch to Western culture will not be merciful to all the political players that we have become accustomed to throwing jabs and body punches to weaken America during its decline.

The crusaders failed against Islam in military engagement for 300 years. And, the crusaders were most often warriors, prepared with the best weaponry of their age and backed by the wealth of the Church and the state, while supported back home by their culture. Yet, the Crusaders attempt to drive Islam back was at best a neutralizing effort that caused little but the slaughter of thousands on both sides.

How does that compare with our attitude and preparation today? Today, the USA does not have public support, religious support, or governmental support to engage in a military conflict with Islam. The USA does not even have the capacity to identify Islam as a threat to our society, to our nation, to our families, or to our future as a democracy. How is it that we do not understand this threat? How is it that our scientists, our academics, and our educational and political leaders perceive the distant threat of global warming, but cannot identify Islam as the very near threat?

Erwin W. Lutzer says: “Not all Muslims are on board with this agenda” (in N, page 176). Erwin then speaks of a secular Muslim in Turkey who is opposed to the forced imposition of Shariah Law. This secular Muslim claims there are millions of Muslims just like him who do not believe that Shariah Law should be the rule of the land in Muslim countries in the East, or in Western non-Muslim countries. But, of course, these secular Muslims are targeted by other Muslims who do advocate Sharia Law and who threaten them with death for contradicting the clear teachings of the Qur’an.

Lutzer further writes:

The Islamist and hardliners who wish to bring Shariah Law to the West are not representative of the majority of Muslims. But, what many Americans do not realize is that even if the extremists are vastly outnumbered, it is they who wield the political and religious authority in Islam, as Paul Marshall and Nina Shea explain in their book “Silenced”: ‘In the contemporary struggle of ideas within Islam, those who are empowered by such restrictions are the extremists, who use law and intimidation to determine which ideas are accessible and acceptable in their society. In contrast, Muslim religious and political reformers, who protest the extremists’ agenda and work to lift their societies out of stunting, ideological conformity, are the first to be silenced.’ (N, page 176)The point here is that even if there are Muslims who are tolerant of outside ideas and seek to reform Islam, they are not the ones setting the agenda. It is the extremists who use force, intimidation, infiltration, violence, and many other tactics to silence those who are viewed as either criticizing or questioning the religious authority of Muhammad, the Qur’an, or Allah. Of course, historically, those who disarm and attempt to bring change are always overwhelmed by those who use the sword to bring change. How can it be any different in this Reality?

As Ali A. Allawi, says in his book “The Crisis of Islamic Civilization”:
Not all Muslims would agree that to flourish Islamic civilization needs the protection of a powerful (Islamic) state…A Muslim state’s open

embrace of Islam and Islamic causes is not only anathema to secularists, but can also lead to dangerous foreign entanglements and reaction…Cultural differences lie at the heart of the conflicts and struggles that underlie the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis. Religion is, of course, only one aspect of civilization, but the religious inheritance is probably the most significant and salient characteristic of a civilization. Hence western civilization is underpinned by the Judeo-Christian tradition, even as the major western powers are determinedly secular and liberal in their political culture. In a similar vein, China is the inheritor of the Confucian legacy, even though it is currently governed by a nominally atheistic communist state…No Muslim state has proclaimed that its adherence to Islamic norms or conduct and behavior has been the essential factor in its success in worldly matters. Thus, where Muslim countries have excelled (in relative terms), say in Malaysia, the cause is partly attributed to ‘Asian’, rather than to Islamic, values. Similarly, the success of Turkey in transforming its economy is attributed to the modernization of its corporate culture along modern capitalist lines rather than to a particularly Islamic quality of its economy or society. Dubai, the glittering emirate which sees itself as the embodiment of the wired and globalized city, compares itself, if it ever does so any more, to Singapore and Hong Kong, and not to some Islamic paradigm of success. (F, pages 144-145)

Mega Church and the Hagia Sophia - A Practical Lesson from History

Constantinus, the Christian Roman Emperor, repaired Byzantium’s old pagan temples and built the magnificent Hagia Sophia Church (see photo in section two, << page 56 >>). He also dedicated the city as the new capital of the Roman Empire on May 11, 330. The city was named Constantinopolis. (The pronunciation of the city name changed to Stinpolis, Stinpol, Estanbul and today is Istanbul.)

Photo by Larry and Linda Clauson

The earliest church in Istanbul was built during the reign of Emperor Constantinus as a basilica. It was the cathedral church of the city. It was first called Megala Ekklisia (“Mega Church”) but beginning in the 400’s this mega church became known instead as Hagia Sophia - “the Church of Divine Wisdom” or “the Church of Holy Wisdom”. The original church was burnt during a rebellion on June 20, 404, but was rebuilt by Emperor Theodosius II and reopened on October 10, 415. This church was destroyed by fire again in 532 during the Nika uprising. When the Emperor Justinian ordered the Hagia Sophia to be rebuilt he desired it to be done with great stature and magnificence. Eight columns of red porphyry were brought from the great Temple of Diana in Ephesus. Additional marble was obtained from other ruined classical sites, with the even more coming from some of the Byzantine Empire’s finest marble quarries.

Justinian’s work began in 532 and was completed in five years, eleven months and ten days by 1000 masons and 10,000 apprentices. Emperor Justinian dedicated the new improved “megachurch” on December 27, 537. Hagia Sophia was restored in 562 and the dome was raised twenty feet, six inches. In the 800’s bronze doors were installed. Emperor Basuleios II added Mosaics in 990. When the Christians of the Latin Church (i.e., the Roman Catholic Church in the West) invaded Istanbul (Byzantium), the capital of the Eastern Christian Empire, during the Crusade of 1204, Hagia-Sophia was again raided and stripped of its finest ornaments, including the bronze doors which were mistakenly perceived as gold by the Crusaders (L, page 36-37).

Photo by Larry and Linda Clauson

In 1453 the Muslims were led by Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire to conquer Constantinople. After the conquest of the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, the mega church Hagia-Sophia was converted into a mosque. During the time of the Ottoman Empire, four Muslim prayer minarets were added, one on each corner of the complex. The Christian church bells, altar and other ritual objects were removed. The beautiful mosaics depicting Jesus, Mary, Christian saints, and angels were either removed or plastered over. The mega church Hagia Sophia remained a mosque for almost 480 years when it was closed in 1931 for four years while the Hagia Sophia Mosque was renovated.

On February 1, 1935 Hagia Sophia was reopened as a public museum. Many of the Christian mosaics had been uncovered and restored, along with many other objects. The building itself covers an area of 100 x 70 meters, or 1.7 acres (Ref, L).

The evidence of history reveals the fate of the Christian mega-churches and community centers of the past - and so potentially indicates the future fate as well. The cultural direction we witness daily in our Western world makes the momentum of our Western culture clear. Today’s Western churches and their community centers will soon be mosques and Islamic centers. We cannot outrun history. Neither can we misquote enough Bible verses or mis-teach Christian doctrine often enough to squeeze ourselves out of reality. Your church’s building program has just financed the construction of your community’s first Islamic Center. Call it whatever you want today. Its conversion is just a matter of time.

The Islamic Antichrist

Beginning with the earliest days of Islam’s rise the church has identified Islam by its creed and conduct as the possible religion of the antichrist. Islam was considered by Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley and others to be either the kingdom of the Antichrist, or intertwined with other powers to produce the Antichrist:

John of Damascus classified Islam as merely a recent Christian heresy when he wrote in 750 AD and casually dismissed Islam in its early days as “the still prevailing superstition of the Ishmaelites, the forerunner of the Antichrist” (Encyclopedia of Christianity, Islam and Christianity, 2.2).

During the Crusades, after Islam had reconquered Jerusalem in 1187 under the leadership of Saladin, Joachin of Fiore identified the fourth head of the Dragon in Revelation with Muhammad and the sixth head as Saladin himself. Then in the 1190’s AD Joachin identified the Beast that came out of the sea in Revelation 13:1 and was fatally wounded in the head but yet lived, as Islam - which had recovered from the Crusader’s conquering of Jerusalem and risen to retake the city.

John Calvin believed the two legs of Daniel’s prophetic image to be the ancient pagan Roman Empire, but its division into two legs referred to the contemporary rise of Islam in the East and Roman Catholicism in the West. Calvin also noted that Muhammad tore away the eastern half of Christendom while the Pope was tearing away the Western half.

Johnathan Edwards “held to a historicist interpretation of the Book of Revelation…In looking at the demonic locusts and horsemen in Revelation 9, Edwards saw a clear allusion to the Muslim armies: ‘Satan’s Mahometan (Muslim) Kingdom shall be utterly overthrown. The locusts and the horsemen in the 9th chapter of Revelation have their appointed time set there, and the false prophet shall be taken and destroyed. And then – through Mahometanism (Islam) has been so vastly propagated in the world, and is upheld by such a great empire – this smoke, which has ascended out of the bottomless pit, shall be utterly scattered before the light of that glorious day, and the Mahometan Empire shall fall at the sound of the great trumpet which shall then be blown” (Shoebat in “God’s War on Terror” quoting Johnathan Edwards in The Fall of Antichrist, Part VII, page 399, S. Converse, New York, 1829).

John Wesley was not impressed with the character of Islam in history or of the Muslims of his day. Wesley used the people, their religion and their culture as one of several examples of the sinfulness of humanity in its unconverted state. Wesley seems to refer clearly to a similar view that saw Islam as part of the fourth beast with its “Iron Teeth” in Daniel 7:7:

It is not therefore strange, That ever since the Religion of Mahomet appeared in the World, the Espousers of it, particularly those who under the Turkish Emperor, have been as Wolves and Tygers to all other Nations, rending and tearing all that fell into their merciless Paws, and grinding them with their Iron Teeth. That numberless Cities are rased from the Foundation, and only their Name remaining. That many Countries which were once as the Garden of God, are now a desolate Wilderness; and that so many once numerous and powerful Nations are vanishe’d away from the Earth! Such was, and is at this Day the Rage, the Fury, the Revenge, of these Destroyers of Humankind! (Wesley, John, “The Doctrine of Original Sin: According to Scripture, Reason, and Experience, published 1757, page 47. Available online)

And finally, consider this warning to wise Christians from Jean-Pierre Filiu who writes about the Muslim authors of today’s Islamic apocalyptic material:

These authors seldom belong to the religious hierarchy; indeed, their overriding purpose is to turn a vengeful reading of history, and especially of its end, against the clergy itself. (D, page xi)

The end of the world is a serious matter – especially for those who are busy preparing for it. (D, page xi)

Resources used in Section Five

(B) The Last Trumpet: A Comparative Study In Christian-Islamic Eschatology, by Samuel Shahid, Ph.D, 2005, Xulon Press
(C) Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature, by David Cook, 2005, Syracuse University Press
(D) Apocalypse in Islam by Jean-Pierre Filiu, translated by M.B. DeBevoise, 2011, The Regents of the University of California
(E) Studies in Muslim Apocalyptics, by David Cook, 2002, The Darwin Press, Princeton, NJ
(F) The Crisis of Islamic Civilization by Ali A. Allawi, 2009, Yale University Press
(G) The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth About the Real Nature of the Beast, by Joe Richardson, 2009, WND Books, Los Angeles, CA
(H) God’s War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible, by Walid Shoebat, 2008, Top Executive Media
(I) The Fatal Embrace: Jews and the State, by Benjamin Ginsberg, 1993, University of Chicago Press
(J) What Every American Should Know About the Middle East, by Melissa Ross, 2008, Plume, Penguin Books
(K) Understanding the Threat of Radical Islam, by Guy Rodgers and ACT! For America, 2012, National Highlights
(L) Istanbul, by Aksit Kultur ve Turizm Yayincihk, 2014, Istanbul, Turkey
(M) They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It, by Brigitte Gabriel, 2008, St. Martin’s Press
(N) The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent: An Informed Response to Islam’s War with Christianity, by Erwin W. Lutzer with Steve Miller, 2013, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR
(O) ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan, 2015, Regan Arts, NY
(P) Islam and the Jews: The Unfinished Battle, by Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D., 2003, Charisma House
(Q) Culture Clash: Islam’s War on the West, by Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D., 2007, Front Line
(R) The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel, by Mark Hitchcock, 2002, Multnomah Publishers, Sisters, OR
(S) Understanding the Times, Summit Press, Manitou Springs, CO, 2006
(T) http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/