The Islamic Messiah

Because I have brought Islamic eschatology into the mix, it is pertinent to discuss it at this point. My information comes from several sources. One is the internet, which has plenty on the Mahdi. Simply googling the word will bring up a lot of information. I do not think it necessary to credit every source at this point, as this is simply a Bible study, not a thesis or book. You can even hear sermons from Muslim religious leaders on this subject on Youtube. The other source is The Islamic Antichrist by Joel Richardson. While we cannot trust the Islamic prophecies to be accurate as we can the Bible's, it is interesting to take a look at them. We need to consider who has given these prophecies to them. God knew the enemy's plans way in advance and how He would deal with it, and therefore let us in on what the plan is that will happen. In going over their prophecies, it does not come as a surprise that in many cases they line up very nicely with Bible prophecies. God had John write down what was going to happen many years before Muhammed came on the scene and gave these prophecies to his followers, so Satan knew what was coming based on John's writings and could create his own prophecies accordingly. Occasionally I may make a comment or throw in a relevant scripture, but for the most part the following is simply stating what their teachers and writings have said.

There are a number of signs leading up to the appearance of the Mahdi. From what I have been able to ascertain (and I do not know the reliability of these interpretations, as I am sure there are as many interpretations of Islamic end times as there are of Christian end times), the following are some of the events. As this information was from an audio sermon given by a Muslim, and much of the time he was speaking in what I think was Arabic, it was a little hard to follow. I cannot be sure that the following events are the precise order in which they are supposed to take place.

There will be three major landslides, one in the east, one in the west, and one in Arabia. There will be smoke that will arise and cover the whole world, and will remain for a period of forty days and nights. (Interesting that forty is the time period.) On the 15th of Ramadan, on Friday night there will be a voice or blast that will awaken the asleep and alarm those awake. People will come out of their seclusion and there will be many earthquakes. There will be a comet with a luminous tail that will rise from the east. Just before Mahdi makes his public appearance, there will be a peace treaty between Muslims and Christians. There will be an Armageddon type war. The Muslims will join forces with the Christians to fight a common enemy, which will take place in Palestine. This will last four days. There will be eighty standards or flags under which these armies will march, and there will be 12,000 men under each standard, or 960,000 Christians. (It must be remembered that the term Christian is being used VERY loosely here.) After the four days, the Muslims will have the victory. Then the Christians will attack the Muslims for a period of nine months. Three children of the Caliph in Arabia will be fighting over the throne. (Not sure what this has to do with anything.) Mahdi will emerge. An army will come from Damascus to fight him, but it will be swallowed up by the earth. Mahdi will not have to do anything to fight them. (I find this prophecy interesting in light of Daniel 11:21-23 "And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people." We have already discussed this verse because of the "flood" and how it may refer to an army.)

The Mahdi will make a seven year treaty.

At first the Mahdi will not claim to be the Mahdi or messiah. That is actually one of the signs that will confirm that he is the Mahdi, his modesty and refusal to accept the title. He will be an Imam. (This goes along with what we know from scripture about what to expect. He does not claim to be God until the midpoint of the seven years, but is on the scene from the beginning of the seven years.) After he emerges, he will fight five wars. Prophecies say that Mahdi will bring Islam together and will battle the Muslims that refuse his authority. (We know that three of the ten horns are subdued before the beast, Dan. 7:8.) He will bring war to Babylon (This may refer to Iraq, or it may refer to America where the whore presently sits) to destroy those who challenge him, and He will reclaim Jerusalem and rule in Damascus, which is a safe haven from the Dajjal (the Muslim anti-messiah, more on him later).

The first war is the one from Damascus which is miraculously destroyed. The second is against Arabia. (Daniel 11:25-26 [this follows the event above in verses 21-23] "And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain." The king of the south would seem to be Saudi Arabia. So far both Muslim and Biblical prophecies seem to line up.)

The third war is against Iran. The fourth was a little more difficult to understand, but I believe this was how it was described. It is against the "Romans" or Christians. When the speaker was describing it, he described it as thus. America will be in the Mid East, specifically the area between Syria and Turkey. A group from the American army will leave and join the Muslim forces, which is why there will be a war. This war will last seven days and will be so intense that if a bird tries to pass overhead, it will not survive. In this war one third of the Muslims will run away - they will be considered infidels, one third will die, and the last third will be victorious over the "Romans." I am not sure that I have this next part entirely correct, but I believe it goes something like this. As they are experiencing their victory, a messenger will run to Mahdi and tell him that the Dajjal (Muslim anti-messiah) has come. Mahdi sends ten of his greatest warriors to face Dajjal. At that time Dajjal corners the Mahdi and then "Jesus" comes. Mahdi and "Jesus" will defeat the Dajjal outside of Jerusalem. The Muslims are expecting "the prophet" Jesus to return, but he will not be a Christian Jesus. This "Jesus" is a Muslim. He will promote Islam and the Mahdi. According to their prophecies "Jesus" will be a well-groomed man who will break the cross. He will lead a global jihad against those who refuse to submit to Allah. (Ever wonder why it says that in the last days death will come from antichrist in the method of beheading? It never made sense in this day and age that this method would be used by a civilized world. Well, here is the explanation.) Islam sees the Euro-American Christian world, as well as the Zionist movement as the antichrist system. They will never bow to the western powers of antichrist. Islam hates anyone who speaks against Muhammed or their "Jesus." It sees Israel as the little Satan, Europe as the middle Satan and America as the big Satan. First "Jesus" will go after the Jews, then the Christians.

[Matt.24:23-24 "Then is any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there believe it no. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." What is of interest in this verse, and I never really understood it in this way until I started writing this chapter, is that it says that there will be more than one false Christ and prophet arising during this seven year period, and that these plural Christs and false prophets will be able to do great signs and wonders. I always thought this was speaking in terms of many Christs over a period of history, but this seems to be indicating that there will be several false Christs and prophets at the time of the end who will all be doing miracles. Quite honestly, I do not know of any false Christ or prophet who has arisen so far in history that has done great miraculous feats, so this seems to confirm that if plural false Christs and prophets are doing great miracles, it is still future to us. What better way to deceive Christians than to present the expected antichrist and false prophet and then present another false Christ? Nobody is expecting that. They expect the real Christ to be the only other Christ. We know of the beast and will learn of the false prophet shortly. These two fit the description of the Mahdi and Muslim Jesus. But who is this Dajjal, and what is said about him in their prophecies?]

According to Muslim prophecies, when the Dajaal (remember this man will be considered the anti-messiah by the Muslims, which should put him on our side) makes his appearance, it will be a spectacular appearance to the entire world. (Matt. 24:27 "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.") They say that the day of the Dajjal is like no other. (Zech. 14:6-8 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night, but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.") The Dajjal will ride a white donkey while flying in the sky. (Rev. 19:11 "And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.") They say that he will do many miraculous things and convince many that he is Jesus the Christian Messiah. He will claim the ability to resurrect and do so to many. (Rev. 20:4 "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.") The Dajjal will be followed by an army of Jews and Christians with faces like metal (? I am not sure I got that right from the audio sermon. It does not seem to make much sense.) The Dajjal will be able to cast some Muslims into the Lake of Fire, but this will lead to Allah's paradise. Many Islamic women will believe the Dajjal when he shows them their loved ones with him, but those who appear to be loved ones will only be mirages.

Now at this point I am sure that all who reading this are thinking, this is the real Jesus that this is describing. And if I were to stop there, I would agree, but they have one more very significant prophecy about this Dajjal that is very important. It is important because it is also a prophecy that is found in Zechariah 11:15-17. In this passage, which comes after the prophecy about the betrayal of Jesus by Judas for thirty pieces of silver, it says that the Lord will give the Jews a foolish shepherd instead since they rejected Jesus. One that will not heal or feed them, but will "eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces." This shepherd will have the sword upon his arm and his right eye. His arm will become withered or atrophied (or possibly amputated) and his right eye blinded. The significance in this is that both Christians and Muslims have a prophecy that says the false shepherd or antichrist/messiah will be blind in one eye. Most Christians are not even aware of this prophecy about an antichrist, but the Muslims are aware of their prophecy of the blind-eyed anti-messiah. For those who have studied the prophets, we are told to expect that an antichrist will have a blind eye (notice I say an, not the). It seems that their Mahdi is our antichrist, but they would never accept a blinded man as their Mahdi, which tells us that their Mahdi is not our blind false shepherd. Sorry if that seems convoluted. There is apparently a third person, besides antichrist and the false prophet, who is also a false Christ about whom Scripture is giving us information. He will be the Muslim antichrist so to speak, which should seem to put him on our side. And yet we are told that he is also our antichrist, but according to Muslim prophecies, Christians will follow this person because as seen above, if it were not for this one problem (blind eye and withered arm) this "Jesus" will have all the right signs showing that he is the real Christian Jesus. Therefore the only conclusion is that there is another false Christ in the mix. The next question might be, "But why would Christians believe that Jesus would be capable of being blinded." Answer: If Jesus can carry the marks of the crucifixion in his body to prove his death upon the cross to us (as he did to Thomas), if someone were to thrust a sword in his eye, might he not tell people he will also carry this mark as part of his sacrifice for them, to remind them of this battle, as do the marks on his hands and feet remind of the crucifixion? Some people might actually buy that line. From research that I have been doing, I have reason to believe that the Illuminati is planning a false rapture with a false Christ for the purpose of eliminating Christians (those that the Mahdi does not get). The technology of holography is developed far beyond what people have any idea. Disney World is kindergarten holography compared to what the government is doing. It would not be a challenge to pull off miracles. Also we have the nephilim, who I believe are in league with the Illuminati. Nephilim are half fallen angel/half human and have terrific technology at their disposal, and possibly powers also. They could present one of their own, who is a super-human, as Christ. As the person would be half human, he could be injured and killed, although probably not easily. The Illuminati could easily pull off miraculous events to convince people that their "Christ" is the real one. Matt. 24:24 "...if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." What does Christ say in the next verse? "Behold, I have told you before."

As a personal note in all of this, I was discussing this with my son who had a very keen insight into why it would be possible to deceive the elect with this plan of multiple Christs coming. His comment was, "They will be deceived because they do not know the real and entire signs of Jesus coming. If you know the signs, you will not be deceived no matter how many false Christs pop up." He was completely right. Why did the Jews miss the first coming? Because they did not know the signs. God was very specific about signs and the reason for the blessing on all who read Revelation might be that by reading and heeding what is in it, people will not be deceived.

All of what has been described above would appear to take place either during the first three years or the time of the tribulation. Why do I say this? Because of what is not prophesied in the Muslim scriptures. The enemy only wants them to know the part where they are winning (and the beast does win for a while). He does not want them to know the entire truth or they might believe in Christ, not Allah. What is missing are the trumpet judgments and beyond. They have no idea what will follow the events outlined in their prophecies. What appears to be happening in their scriptures is that the Dajjal will appear sometime around, (before, during, or just before the end of) the tribulation. Pre and Mid-trib rapturists should beware. It will not be the real thing. We have another chapter to go yet to get to the rapture, and when we get there, we will know what all of the signs preceding the Second Coming are and when to expect it. Knowing these, if we are fortunate enough to live that long, we will recognize when it is the real thing and will not be deceived.

As mentioned before, Muslim prophecies cannot be held to the 100% accuracy of the Bibles prophecies and may not go according to their plans at all, but seeing how they line up with our prophecies, (no big surprise given who dictated them) it would be foolish to ignore them, especially considering it looks like Islam is what qualifies as the beast. In fact, I believe that these prophecies have given us greater insight into understanding those of our own prophecies that might seem incongruous or puzzling.

There are more prophecies about the Mahdi as to who he will be and what we can know about him. The following are a list of what they are expecting.

1) He will be a descendant of Muhammad from the line of Fatimah.
2)His name will be as the name of Muhammed.
3) He will rule for seven years.
4) He will distribute wealth (this is said of antichrist in Daniel).
5) His coming will be accompanied by the raising of a Black Standard (The black flag is a well known symbol of anarchy).
6) His coming will be accompanied by the appearance of the one-eyed Dajjal and the Sufyaani (the Great Deceiver) who will lead his enemies. They will fight an apocalyptic battle which the Mahdi and his forces will win. The following is the story of the Sufyani. It is the first battle that Mahdi fights. This story was taken directly from Wiki-pedia under the word "Sufyani".

"Among the signs preceding Imam Mahdi, is the appearance of the Sufyaani. The Sufyaani will emerge before the Mahdi from the depths of Damascus. The term "Sufyaani" is a term referring to his descent from the progeny of Abu Sufyaan. He will be one of many "Muslim" Tyrants that the Mahdi will have to face in the Middle East. The Sufyaani is not the Dajjal. The Ahadith regarding the Sufyaani specify that he is a tyrant who will spread corruption and mischief on the earth before the Mahdi. He will be such a tyrant that he will kill the children and rip out the bellies of women. The Sufyaani will murder those from the household of the Prophet and will rule over Syria. When he hears about the Mahdi, he will send an army to seize and kill him. However the earth will swallow this army before it even reaches the Mahdi. Abu Hurayrah has narrated that the Prophet said: "A man will emerge from the depths of Damascus. He will be called Sufyaani. Most of those who follow him will be from the tribe of Kalb. He will kill by ripping the stomachs of women and even kill the children. A man from my family will appear in the Haram, the news of his advent will reach the Sufyaani and he will send to him one of his armies. He (referring to the Mahdi) will defeat them. They will then travel with whomever remains until they come to a desert and they will be swallowed. None will be saved except the one who had informed the others about them." (Mustadrak) The Sufyaani will be followed, for the most part, by the tribe of Kalb, and will have fought with anyone daring to oppose him. Injustice will rule the day and his disregard for life will reach the point where defenseless women will be ripped open and innocent children slain unmercifully. The tribe of Kays will rise up against him, however, they will not succeed, and he will slaughter all of them. The Sufyaani's army will go to Kufa; a city in Iraq, and from there he will launch an attack against the people of Khurasan. At the Gate of Istakhr, Shuayb, the son of Salih and the Hashimite under the Black Banners, will join forces and engage the army of the Sufyaani. The battle will be extremely fierce with a tremendous loss of life and the army of the Sufyaani will suffer a temporary defeat. It is at this time that a yearning for the Mahdi's appearance is on the lips of everyone. The army of the Sufyaani will march from the direction of Iraq to seize the Mahdi, however, when they reach the desert near Dhi Hulayfah the ground will swallow them up. However, two will escape to convey the news but even when he learns of the occurrence he will not be deterred. There will be some people from the Quraysh who manage to escape from him to Istanbul, which will be at that time under the control of the Romans. When the Sufyaani asks for their return they will be returned whereupon not only the escapees throats will be slit but those like them. Khalid son of Ma'dan said: "The Sufyaani will emerge with three staffs in his hand. Anyone whom he strikes with them will die." (Nu'aym son of Hammad) The Sufyaani is a man whose trial involves his person, his power, his speed and his fighting. One of his wonders consists of his staffs, which kill anyone he strikes with them. Perhaps they are guns or immensely powerful electrical batons or laser emitters or something similar, or perhaps they work by some magical process. The hadith about the Sufyaani confirms that he is a tyrant who will spread corruption and crime in the Earth immediately before the appearance of the Mahdi."

7) There will be a lunar and solar eclipse within the same month of Ramadan.
8) A star with a luminous tail will rise from the East before Mahdi emerges.
9) He will restore faith to its original form and eradicate moral corruption.
10) He will fight for the cause of Islam and make it prevail throughout the world.
11) He will have a broad forehead, a prominent nose, and his eyes will naturally look as if he wears mascara. (this certainly qualifies for “fierce looking” Dan. 8:23)
12) He will fill the world with justice and fairness at a time when the world will be filled with oppression.
13) He will be a young man of medium stature with a handsome face (I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder considering the previous description) and black hair and beard. 14) He will not come in an odd year. [Here is an interesting hypothesis. Dec. 21, 2012 is (obviously) not the date of the end of the world as many have interpreted the Mayan calendar to mean. (Remember Satan is the author of this date, and he knows how old the world is.) Maybe the Mayans meant it would be the end of the present age and beginning of a new age (the age of Aquarius that they are all looking for and the beginning of what we know as Daniel's 70th week). Since the seven year period should come to a close at Hanukkah based on the Jewish festivals and how they relate to the Lord's Second Coming, and Hanukkah usually falls in December, seven years earlier would also put this peace treaty and appearance of the beast in December. Maybe that is when the 70th week begins, on Dec. 21, 2012. When it does begin, it will be the end of the world as we know it, or the end of the age and present condition of the earth. Perhaps Satan gave this date anticipating it would be the beginning of the end. Just a thought.]
15) He will announce himself in Mecca between the corner of the Ka’ba (Mecca) and the station of Abraham and will call on the people to pay allegiance to him. He will then go to Kufa.
16) He will return with a company of his chosen ones. (He rises with a small group in Dan. 11)
17) He will rule for seven years after which he will die. (Antichrist is thrown in the Lake of Fire at the end of his seven years.)
18) He will come at the end of time.
19) Rain, crops, and livestock will be plentiful. Everyone will have plenty.
20) He will win every war he fights.
21) Rome will be conquered when Christians are huge in number.

These are the main signs that they are expecting concerning Mahdi. There are more, but they seemed minor in importance.

What is interesting is that the author of their prophecies (guess who) did not think to include anything about the two witnesses. I find it strange that their very important appearance was left out of the equation for the Muslims. At least as far as I have been able to discover, there is nothing written of them in their prophecies.

As a last piece of interesting information about Islam, there might be a reason for the moon turning to blood at the sixth seal. The sun is said to be darkened, which should in turn darken the moon and it is essentially darkened, but it is said to be turned to blood (one presumes this is metaphorical for the color, not literal). Before Muhammed created the religion of Islam, the Arabs worshiped multiple gods. The chief of these was Allah, the moon god. Muhammed decided to be monotheistic, and rid himself of all the other gods, making Allah the one and only. Just as the Jewish laws have prohibitions about certain animals for eating, and cleanliness rituals that they had to perform to carry out their worship of God, so do the Muslims. For orthodox Islam, they cannot eat pork, and they have to perform certain ablutions or their acts of worship are not valid. If a Muslim breaks his ritual of purity he has to repeat his ablutions. One of the impure substances that they are not to come in contact with is blood. Just as the ten plagues of Egypt were aimed directly at ten of the Egyptian gods, so too it seems interesting that the moon, of whom Allah is god, turns to blood or is defiled at the end when God signs that Christ is about to return and punishment is coming.