Correlations Between the Antichrist and the Islamic Mahdi

INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone! Thanks for viewing my first research project on ATS.

There has been a lot of discussion among prophecy scholars as they begin to notice the eerie similarities between certain figures and events foretold in Christian and Islamic eschatology (the study of the end times).

As most of us know, the Christian prophecies predict an Antichrist, False Prophet, an end times government system, one world religion, and the return of Christ. What is now becoming more known is that sects of Islam also prophesy a figure known as 'Al Mahdi' who is seen as a Messiah-like figure for Islam, as well as the return of Jesus that will reinforce the Mahdi, their own Antichrist figure known as the 'Dajjal,' and an Islamic government.

None of this may sound terribly interesting at first glance due to the fact that all three Abrahamic faiths share similarities. However, there is a twist. The startling difference is that the figure prophesied in the Judeo-Christian texts regarding the Anti-Christ is clearly shown to be the 'villain' while the anticipated Mahdi of Islam is described as being a hero and a 'messiah' of sorts.

This has led many scholars to believe the prophecies regarding the Antichrist and the Islamic Mahdi are describing and pointing to the same figure and events and that the Antichrist could ultimately be the Mahdi.

OBJECTIVE

So in order to explore the similarities between Christian and Islamic eschatology, we'll review the correlations between:

1). The Antichrist of Christianity vs. Al Mahdi (the 'Redeemer') of Islam.
2). The Antichrist of Christianity vs. the Dajjal (the Antichrist) of Islam.
3). The False Prophet of Christianity vs. the Islamic Version of Jesus.
4). The End Times Empire of the Antichrist of Christianity vs. the End Times Empire of the Al Mahdi of Islam.

Throughout this project I will also be providing the historical background when necessary in order to have a foundation to explain the prophetic similarities.

GOAL

My goal with this project is to create the most comprehensive study possible on this subject and to get as close to the sources as possible. All too often dealing with this subject, I have noticed much of the research is presented without sourcing. Most of the research I have come across on this topic is also very brief and lacking in detail. Therefore, I'd like to create this thread in an effort to provide an in depth collection of the information regarding this subject while focusing on original sources.

NOTICES

Because others are not able to reply to this thread, please feel free to U2U me in the event:

1). You have a question regarding this topic or an issue you'd like me to investigate. I will do my best to research your inquiry and post the answer on this thread.

2). You are a fellow scholar and are interested in participating in this project. At this time, this is a solo project. However, if this topic interests you and you are willing to research this project using the highest standards of scholarship, please send me a U2U request.

3). You notice any errors in this project's research. Although I plan to be very thorough and meticulous, please contact me with your concerns if you find any of my research suspect. I will investigate your objections and if an error is indeed found to exist, I will publicly post the correction on this thread.


Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in this topic. I'm very excited about researching this topic and sharing my discoveries.

INTRODUCTORY POST: THE ANTICHRIST

Due to the fact most people are aware of the Antichrist figure and because we will be discussing his characteristics and actions throughout this project in depth to make comparisons to the Mahdi, this post won't be too tedious but will simply offer a brief introduction to the history of the Antichrist prophecies.

Note: Not all Christians believe a future, literal Antichrist is to appear. Those who adhere to a PRETERIST view point of Biblical prophecy believe the Antichrist prophecies were fulfilled in the life and actions of Nero while those who adhere to the interpretation of HISTORICISM believe the prophecies have been fulfilled metaphorically throughout the course of this current church age. Historicists believe the Antichrist is not a literal figure but instead a metaphor for the continual spirit of Antichrist prevalent throughout the church age.

Opposed to the Pretersist and Historicist view, this project will consist of the FUTURIST viewpoint taking on the perspective of a still future, literal, and single human Antichrist.

A Brief Summary & History of the Antichrist Prophecies

The Antichrist is given many names throughout the Hebrew and Christian texts. These titles include but are not limited to:

The Antichrist.
The Abomination that Causes Desolation.
The Man of Lawlessness.
The Son of Perdition.
The Desolater.
The Little Horn.
The Man of Sin.
The Beast/The Beast out of the Sea.

The Antichrist will ultimately be a powerful political and military world leader of the final one world government prophesied in the Bible. Although the Antichrist will be assisted by a religious leader known as 'the false prophet,' the Antichrist will also take part in this movement and demand political as well as religious allegiance. He will implement a one world monetary system as well as create a false peace with Israel who he will later betray. The Antichrist will be a fierce world dictator who will lead mankind into the most terrible period of history the world will ever know, known as the tribulation.

Examples of Antichrist Prophecies

Because my research partner in his first post will provide a thorough list of Antichrist prophecies and because the prophecies will be analyzed in depth later, the below are only a few examples of Antichrist prophecies found in the Old and New Testaments:

Example 1: The Two Shepherds of Zechariah 11.

One of the Old Testament prophets, Zechariah, foretold the coming of two shepherds. One would be the 'Good Shepherd' while another 'Evil Shepherd' is yet to come who will be the Antichrist.

Christians believe Jesus was the 'Good Shepherd' promised to come. Even Jesus acknowledges He has fulfilled this role when He states:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. -John 10:11-12

Reading the above linked Zechariah passage will also help clarify the good shepherd was Jesus with the prophecy:

I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay. But if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.

This is an obvious prophetic reference to us today of the betrayal by Judas. However, both the prophecy in Zechariah and Jesus allude to a future bad shepherd who will be the antithesis of Jesus, the good shepherd. Just like the bad shepherd will 'oppress the flock,' so will the Antichrist.

Example 2: The Man of Lawlessness of II Thessalonians 2.

This passage is a direct refutation to the concepts held in futurism and historicism claiming the Antichrist has already come or that he will not be a single man but is instead some figurative concept or government system. Some important excerpts from II Thessalonians 2 are:

Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.

Many important things in the above passage:
1). He will be a physical man.

2). He is described as being different from the 'spirit of lawlessness already at work.' This is a contrast between the general Antichrist spirit throughout the age and an actual human figure who will appear and will embody this spirit.

3). This passage must be contrasted with the 'King Who exalts himself' of Daniel 11: 36-39 (among others we will be discussing later).

He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all.

We will be discussing many more examples in depth later and next my partner will provide a list and commentary regarding the Antichrist prophecies. In my next post, I will then be presenting some introductory history of the Islamic prophecies concerning Al Mahdi, the Dajjal, and Islamic eschatology.

[edit on 1/5/2009 by AshleyD]

RESEARCH: THE ANTICHRIST

" Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour."

(1 Jn 2:18)

Defining the Title

The term “antichrist” occurs only in 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7, and there in both singular and plural forms. It is clear that John applied the plural antichrists to those former members of the Christian congregation who had recently departed from the flock (1 John 2:19) under a mantle of false teaching and practice. In the 2 John 7 passage he is clearly addressing the Gnostics who denied that Jesus had come in the flesh - relegating his appearance to some sort of ethereal apparition. In general the concept of antichrist is part of a complex set of biblical images and figures that represent the activity and power of evil - of those forces that are antagonistic to God and his people. (Eerdmans)

It is the singular use of the term “the Antichrist” as a title in 1 Jn 2:18 that is most pertinent to our purposes of comparison. Of particular interest to this project, the term antichrist actually stems from Greek ἀντί or anti = “over against”; “instead of.”

ἀντίχριστος [antichristos /an•tee•khris•tos/] noun masculine: against Christ
(Strongs)

Although it is correct to think of him as “against Christ” it is probably more theologically correct to think of him as “instead of Christ” or a “pseudo Christ” because he will deceive many by posing as the Messiah. Specifically, this figure in the singular form when viewed through the lens of Daniel's famous 70 week prophecy:

"“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined."

(Da 9:26-7)

Daniel is quite transparently warning of a political or military persecutor in addition to one of a deceptive influence. One that will exalt himself as god in chapter 11 as referenced by my research partner Ashley.

Eschatology

The historicism presented by the preterist camp (that events in the book of revelation have already occurred) I find to be reflective of a lack of homework in the Old Testament. The battle of Armageddon is referenced way back in the second Psalm and I don't think the notion that the nations of the earth have already declared war on "the Lord and his anointed one" is a defensible one. In addition God promised a literal thousand year reign by Jesus Christ in a myriad prophecies by Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets. Finally the notion that Revelation was fulfilled by 70 AD is refuted by the book of Revelation itself.

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
(Rev 1:19)

John wrote the book in approximately 90 AD on the Ilse of Patmose. The events of 70 AD preceded John's return from the Isle of Patmose by 25 years, after Emperor Domitian (who had banished him) was killed in 96 AD. There would have been nothing left of the "things that are" or "shall be hereafter" for him to write about if they had all been fulfilled by 70 AD! Hence, I find those views to be historically and scholastically untenable.

While the specific title "Antichrist" only appears in John’s writings this figure has many titles and is one of the most popular and discussed characters from cover to cover of the Bible. (Missler)

Old Testament References

• Bloody and Deceitful Man Ps 5:6
• Branch of the Terrible Ones Isa 25:5
• Chief Prince Ex 38:2
• Crooked Serpent Job 26:13; Isa 27:1
• Cruel One Jer 30:14,23
• Destroyer of the Gentiles Jer 4:7
• Enemy Ps 55:3; Jer 30:14, 23
• Evil Man Ps 140:1
• Head over many countries Ps 110:6
• Head of Northern Army Joel 2:20
• Idol Shepherd Zech 11:16, 17
• King of Princes Hos 8:10
• King of Babylon Isa 14:11-20
• Little Horn Dan 7:8f; 8:9f
• Man of the Earth Ps 10:18
• Merchant, with balances of deceit Hos 12:7
• Mighty Man Ps 52:1
• Nail Isa 22:25
• Prince that shall come Dan 9:26
• Prince of Tyre Ezek 28:2-10
• Profane Wicked Prince of Israel Ezek 21:25-27
• Proud Man Hab 2:5
• Rod of God’s anger Isa 10:5
• Seed of the Serpent Gen 3:15
• Son of the Morning Isa 14:12
• Spoiler, Destroyer Isa 16:4,5
• Vile Person Dan 11:21
• Violent Man Ps 140:1f
• Wicked One Ps 9:17; 10:2,4; Isa 11:4; Jer 30:14, 23
• Wilful King Dan 11:36

New Testament References

• Angel of the Bottomless Pit Rev 9:11
• Antichrist, (Pseudo-Christ) 1 Jn 2:22
• Beast Rev 11:7; 13
• False Prophet Rev 13
• Father of the lie Jn 8:44; 2 Thess 2:11
• Lawless One 2 Thess 2:8
• Man of Sin 2 Thess 2:3
• One come in his own name Jn 5:43


In Conclusion

While many of the references are quite direct some of these references are allusions or contain symbolism pointing toward this coming world leader. As this research develops through sound hermeneutics and exegesis we intend to hone in on the specific references which offer the richest comparative value. I will assure the reader that although I am a Christian and an enthusiastic student of the Bible, I am approaching this comparison to the Imam Mahdi with an open mind. As titillation, I find the biblical title “the Assyrian” to be quite provocative.

References
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (66). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans

Missler, Chuck. The Book of Revelation Study Notes. Koinonia House,Coeur d’Alene Idaho 2005.

Strong, J. Enhanced Strongs Lexicon (1996).





[edit on 1/6/2009 by Bigwhammy]

Since fewer people will be acquainted with Islamic eschatology, this introduction segment will be slightly longer than the Antichrist introductory post above and will be divided into three posts:

1). Islamic Texts.
2). Islamic Eschatology.
3). Figures in Islamic Eschatology.

ISLAM INTRODUCTORY POST 1 of 3: THE ISLAMIC TEXTS

To fully understand the origins of Islamic eschatology, let's take a brief look at their religious texts we will be using for this project.

The Koran.

The Koran is, of course, the holiest and most famous of all Islamic religious texts. In comparison, what the Bible is to Christianity, so is the Koran to Islam. 'Koran' literally translates into 'recitation' or 'reading' and is believed by Muslims to be the divine revelation of Allah to Mohammad. It is composed of 114 chapters known as 'Surahs.'

The exact meaning of the word "Koran" is not clear for us today, but the three main theories. It may either be connected to the word for 'collect'; or to the word for 'tie together'; or perhaps best to the most commonly used word for "read" or "recite," which is an important verb in the book itself. The Koran as a book is the result of:

1. Alleged revelations to Muhammad in the period 610- 632 (Muhammad's death).

2. Writing down of these revelations by people around Muhammad in a period probably starting some years after 610, and ending a couple of years after 632.

3. Compilation of these writings stretching from mid-630s and perhaps until mid -650s.

4. Stories relating to Muhammad, largely stories in which he communicates with God, usually concerning contemporary matters.

The Sunna.

The Sunna, or 'the clear and trodden path,' consists of Mohammad's sayings, teachings, customs, and the examples he left for his followers to live by. In essence, the Koran focuses on theology while the Sunna focuses on lifestyles of Muslims. Many Islamic practices are taken from the Sunna and are not found in the Koran at all.

Its most common usage is denoting the examples, the deeds, sayings and unspoken approval of Muhammad as this has been recorded and systemized in the hadiths. The sunna of Muhammad has generally become considered obligatory by most Muslims. The other meaning of the term is to indicate the basic principles of Islam.

The Hadith.

The Hadith will be used the most during this project as it is literature that contains most of the beliefs of Islamic eschatology. This collection deals mostly with the traditional sayings of Mohammad.

The Hadith, in Islam, is second in authority only to the Qur'an. The Hadith is a record of the prophet Mohammed's life, actions, and deeds. A saying in the Hadith is called a sunnah. These sunnah were transmitted by word of mouth down through the centuries having been memorized first by Muhammad's companions and then later by subsequent Muslims. Therefore, the Hadith is the written record of the oral traditions passed down from the Muslim to Muslim of what Mohammed was supposed to have said and done.

ISLAM INTRODUCTORY POST 2 of 3: ISLAM ESCHATOLOGY

Major Signs vs. Minor Signs.

The study of Islamic eschatology is usually broken up into two parts: Major signs and minor signs. To offer a comparison that the reader may understand, this is similar to the prophecies of the Bible that differentiate between the 'birth pangs' of end time prophecy and the 'hard labor' of the tribulation.

Islam also believes the minor signs will coincide with the major signs. So whereas Christianity describes 'birth pangs' foreshadowing a coming climax, in Islam, the minor signs do not foreshadow but instead 'coexist' with the major signs that the age is drawing to a close. We will be going over most of these further in depth and how they compare to Christian prophecies but here are two lists to outline what the major and minor signs entail:

Major Signs of the End Times According to Islam.

The Appearance of the Mahdi (And various signs preceding his arrival)
The Appearance of the Dajaal (And various signs preceding his arrival)
The Return of the Islamic Jesus (And various signs preceding his arrival)
The Appearance of Gog & Magog
Three Great Landslides
A Great Smoke Covering the Earth
Abnormal Solar Rise from the West
'The Beast'
The Great Fire

Of course, many of the above share similarities with the Christian end times that will be explained in depth shortly. These include the Antichrist, the false prophet, Gog and Magog, natural disasters, volcanic eruptions (world wide smoke), mountains falling into the ocean (landslides), the earth being scorched (a great fire), etc.

Minor Signs of the End Times According to Islam.

As you can see if you review the above link, there are several minor signs that take place during the end times according to Islam. Most of the prophecies can be summarized into the following classifications:

An increase in materialistic interests vs. a decrease in religion.
An increase in immorality vs. a decrease in righteousness.
The environment will become more hostile and natural disasters will increase.
Crime and violence will increase and become more acceptable.
Persecution and ridicule towards the religious will increase.

Of course, most of these are very similar to the 'birth pangs' mentioned in the Bible which also include an increase in materialism and secularism, an increase in immorality and spiritual apostasy, an increase in natural disasters, an increase in crime and violence, and persecution of the religious on both a level of violence and ridicule.



As the reader will see, both religions describe similar trends and events that will precede and take place during the end times. The similarities between the major signs of Islam to the 'hard labor' of Christianity and the minor signs of Islam and the 'birth pangs' of Christian prophecy. If you would like further comparison, here is a list of END TIME SIGNS ACCORDING TO JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PROPHECIES to compare with the end time signs of Islam.

Next I will be listing a summary of the Islamic Mahdi, Dajjal, and Jesus (Isa).

ISLAM INTRODUCTORY POST 3 of 3: THE MAIN FIGURES OF ISLAMIC ESCHATOLOGY

Three figures of Islamic eschatology will be mentioned frequently throughout this project. Due to this, I feel it is necessary to give the reader a basic foundation of each figure so they will be able to more easily follow along with this project's information and comparisons.

Al Mahdi.

The name Al Mahdi

Also known as:
Imam Mahdi, The 12th Imam, or The Hidden Imam.

Translates into:
The Guided One, The Awaited One, or The Lord of the Age.

A Brief Description

The Mahdi is one of the major signs (mentioned in the previous post) to signal the end times. In fact, he is such a major part of the Islamic end times that the 'minor signs' are often referred to by some Islamic scholars as 'The signs accompanying the Mahdi.'

Ultimately, the Mahdi is seen as being the redeemer of Islam or who some describe as being 'The Islamic Messiah.' He is highly anticipated in the same way many Christians anticipate the return of Jesus or in the same way Jews anticipate the appearance of the Jewish Messiah.

A Brief Summary of the Mahdi's Future Accomplishments

We will be going over the prophecies pertaining to him in depth right after this post and compare them to the prophecies of the Antichrist but here is a brief list of some of the things he is expected to accomplish. If you are familiar with the Antichrist prophecies, some of the below may surprise you and you will be able to spot some of the similarities immediately:

1). Become the universal leader for all Muslims.
2). Will rule the non-Muslim world as well.
3). Conquer Israel.
4). Have his headquarters in Jerusalem.
5). Will make a seven year peace treaty with Israel.
6). Will rule for seven years (or possibly 8-9).
7). Discover the ark of the covenant and ancient biblical texts.
8). Cause only Islam to be the practiced religion.
9). Distribute wealth to the populace.
10). Be a powerful and unprecedented military and political leader.
11). Be given supernatural power from Allah over nature.
12). Arrive on the scene after a period of great turmoil.
13). Establish a new world order/government.
14). Will wage war against Jews and Christians.

The Dajjal.

The name Dajjal

Also known as:
Al-Maseeh Ad-Dajjal.

Translates into:
The Liar or The Deceiver. His full title 'Al-Maseeh Ad-Dajjal' literally translates into 'The Messiah Deceiver.'

A Brief Description

The Dajjal is by far the most perplexing figure in Islamic eschatology. Although much is written about him in the previously mentioned Hadith, he still remains a very mysterious figure. His main goal is to serve as the antagonist to the Mahdi and the Islamic version Jesus and will try to lead mankind away from Allah and from following the Mahdi and the Islamic version of Jesus.

Some descriptions of the Dajjal character include:

1). He will be a great deceiver.
2). Be one-eyed.
3). Perform false miracles.
4). Claims to be Jesus Christ and will claim to be divine.
5). Be of Jewish descent.
6). Is killed by the Islamic version of Jesus.

The Muslim Jesus.

The name Jesus

Also known as:
Isa, Eesa al-Maseeh, Hadrat Isa, Isa bin Maryam, or Nabi Isa.

Translates into:
Jesus, Jesus the Messiah, Honorable Jesus, Jesus son of May, or Prophet Jesus.

Important Note: For the remainder of this project in an effort to avoid confusion between Jesus of Christianity and Jesus of Islam, we will be using his Arabic name Isa when referring to the Islamic version of Jesus.

A Brief Description

Contrary to the Christian belief regarding Jesus, according to Islam, Isa was never crucified, was not the Son of God, was not divine, never experienced death, and was only a human prophet. The expected return of Isa is not remotely similar to what Christians expect with the return of Jesus. Instead, the character and actions of Isa are far more similar to the false prophet mentioned in Revelation.

A Brief Summary of Isa' Future Accomplishments

1). He will be subordinate to the Mahdi.
2). Directs all attention off of himself and onto the Mahdi.
3). A devout Muslim.
4). Institutes Islamic Sharia Law.
5). Acts as a Muslim evangelist.
6). Abolishes Christianity.
7). Kills the Dajjal as well as his Jewish followers.
8). Persecute Christians and Jews and forces them to convert or face death.
9). Remains on earth approximately four years.
10). Marries and eventually dies.

Thus sums up all of the introductory material. Hopefully all readers of this project will now have a good foundation of the subject in order to follow along. Beginning tomorrow, we will be starting on the actual comparisons. This is when things get exciting. To make it easier for the reader, I will be breaking up the comparisons into one similarity per post, complete with sourcing from the religious texts as well as original commentary.

Next up: We begin the comparisons of the Mahdi and the Antichrist.

[edit on 1/5/2009 by AshleyD]

DISPENSATIONALISM

First I want to apologize to my research partner Ashley. Yesterday, I gave my thumbs up to begin on the nitty gritty of the subject at hand. However, I was a bit hasty. In researching the Antichrist and the Islamic Mahdi it has been necessary to get an understanding of Islamic eschatology. Eschatology can be cryptic and difficult to understand within one’s own religion, much more so a foreign one. For a proper comparison of a prophetic figure, a basic understanding of chronology involved is in order. To that end I have endeavored to gain understanding of Islamic dispensationalism in comparison to Christian.

DISPENSATION — a period of time under which mankind is answerable to God for how it has obeyed the revelation of God that it has received. The term “dispensation” is found twice in the NKJV: “The dispensation of the fullness of the times” (Eph. 1:10) and “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2; administration, NIV). The KJV uses the term four times (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 1:10; 3:2; Col. 1:25).

(Youngblood)

Dispensationalism is a Christian theological view of history and Biblical interpretation that is held today by most conservative Protestants. It functions as an interpretive framework for understanding the flow of the Bible from cover to cover.

Christian

As a Christian dispensationalist, I believe all of history can be divided into several dispensations. According to my view, all of history has been pointing toward the Second Coming of Christ, when salvation will be made complete. Traditionally seven dispensations are commonly identified.

1. Innocence, from Creation to the Fall of Adam and Eve and God’s sending them out of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24);
   
2. Conscience, the covenant with Adam, ending with the judgment of the Flood (Genesis 9);
   
3. Human government, the covenant with Noah, extending to the time of Abraham;
   
4. Promise, from Abraham’s call (Gen. 12:1) to Moses;
   
5. Law, from the giving of the Law to Moses (Ex. 19:8, 20–31) to the death of Jesus Christ;
   
6. Grace, from the death and resurrection of Christ to His Second Coming;
   
7. Kingdom, the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth and the thousand-year reign of Christ over the nations.
   

Islamic

A caliphate (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa) is the political leadership of the Muslim nation. The Caliph is the head of state; based on him being a successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's political authority. This Hadith divides Islamic history into five distinct stages. It states that Al-Mahdi will live in the last period of Caliphs. Hudhaifah bin Al-Yaman reported that the Messenger of Allah said,

"Prophethood (meaning himself) will remain with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain, then Allah will raise it up wherever he wills to raise it up. Afterwards, there will be a Caliphate that follows the guidance of Prophethood remaining with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, He will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Afterwards, there will be a reign of violently oppressive [The reign of Muslim kings who are partially unjust] rule and it will remain with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, there will be a reign of tyrannical rule and it will remain for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, Allah will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Then, there will be a Caliphate that follows the guidance of Prophethood."

[As-Silsilah As-Sahihah, vol. 1, no. 5]

In this Hadith, the Messenger of Allah divided the history of the Muslim nation into the following stages:

1. The reign of the Prophet Muhammad
   
2. Reign of the rightly guided Caliphs. A Caliphate that rules according to the guidance revealed to the Messenger of Allah. These are the thirty years which the Messenger of Allah stated comprised the reign of the rightly guided Caliphs ["The Caliphate will remain in my nation after me for thirty years. Then, it will be a monarchy after that." Ahmad, Tirmidhi and others, Sahih Al-Jami` 'As-Saghir no. 3341].
   
3. The reign of unjust rule. This period represents a falling away from the “rightly guided” principles and lasts until the fall of the Ottoman State in the twentieth century. This period includes all states that ruled in the Muslim World during those centuries.
   
4. The reign of the tyrannical rule. This period started in the end of the Ottoman state and continues. This is the period Muslims believe they are in now. The tyrannical rule is that of all the governments of all non Muslim nations. Islam divides the entire world into to two camps: the House of Islam and the House of War. The House of Islam where the Muslim law and faith prevail. The House of War is one in which it is the duty of Muslims to bring to Islam by conversion or jihad. In the Muslim view our current dispensation is one where the righteous House of Islam is under the tyranny of the unrighteous House of War.
   
5. The return of a Caliphate that rules following the guidance of the Prophet. This is the golden age that is to be brought in by the Mahdi. There is considerable controversy between the Shiites and Sunnis on the particulars of the Mahdi. The Sunnis believe that Al-Mahdi will be an ordinary man, born to ordinary women raised by ordinary men and living an ordinary life with the people of his time. He will not live in caves, as the Shiites believe. The Shiites are waiting for their Mahdi to appear from an alleged cave, where they claim he has been in hiding for over ten centuries.
   

Comparisons

Islam claims to be a further revelation of the Abrahamic faiths so a set point of Abraham is appropriate for our endeavor. That would juxtapose the Christian dispensation of Promise, (Abraham’s call to Moses) with the reign of Muhammad. It follows that we would pair Law, (from the giving of the Law to Moses to the death of Jesus Christ) with the Reign of the rightly guided Caliphs. Now here is where it really starts to get interesting the current Christian era is called Grace, where its Islamic equivalent is The Reign of the Tyrannical Rule. Now that is quite a provocative contrast to say the least. Yet there are some striking parallels. Christians believe this will resolve with the return of Jesus Christ as a warrior to overthrow a tyrannical Antichrist government and all opposing faiths such as Islam juxtaposed with the Islamic belief that the Mahdi will be a warrior that overthrows Western democracies establishing world wide Sharia law and abolishing the religions of Christianity and Judaism among all others. Of course on the Christian side this will usher in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, for the Muslim the Rise of worldwide Islam.

I’m going to reserve further elaboration for a later post. Taking both traditions at face value while granting them both the benefit of a doubt, I will explore how these dispensations and the concurrence of certain details logically infers an eschatological sequence of events. It is within the reconciliation of the two dispensational outlooks that the figure of the Antichrist and the figure of the Mahdi begin to be revealed.

Sources
Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary. R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995).

As-Silsilah As-Sahihah, vol. 1, no. 5


[edit on 1/6/2009 by Bigwhammy]

PART ONE: THE MAHDI VS. THE ANTICHRIST

COMPARISON 1: WORLD LEADER

The Antichrist as world ruler.

Prophecies depicting the Antichrist as the end times one world ruler are found throughout the Bible. To show biblical support for this prophecy, we will be using the Old Testament passage of Daniel and the New Testament passage of Revelation.

Daniel 7 (Complete Context Link).

Select Context:

After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.

While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.

The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.

In the entire context of Daniel 7, Daniel receives a vision of the succession of world empires. His prophecy has so far proven to be correct with the fulfillment of the Neo-Babylonian, Medo-Persia, Greek, and Roman empire. The final one to be fulfilled is the fourth, which will be the last empire of this age, the Antichrist government. 'The Little Horn' mentioned above is the Antichrist.

Cross reference the above prophecy of Daniel with Revelation 13:

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion... The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

So the 'fourth beast' is the final world empire the Antichrist (the 'little horn') will rule. He will have dominion over the entire world, every tribe, and every nation. He will devour his enemies and be victorious for a certain amount of time. The imagery is clear the fourth beast of Daniel is an empire while the little horn with eyes and a mouth will be the human Antichrist. According to the significance between Biblical numerics, the number ten denotes government and law. The 'ten horns' is symbolic of a government and political power that the little horn will rule.

The Antichrist is described as first usurping the power of three horns then finally overcoming all ten to become the ultimate world ruler and the ten will ultimately follow the AC:

The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.

Revelation 17:12-13

The Mahdi as world ruler.

According to Islam, the Mahdi will also be an unparalleled world leader and will preside over his empire as the final Caliph of Islam.

The world will not come to an end until a man from the descendants of Hussain takes charge of the affairs of the world and fills it with justice and equity as it is filled with injustice and tyranny.

-Bihar al-anwar, Vol. 51, P. 66

And:

[Al Mahdi] will fight against the forces of evil, lead a world revolution, and set up a new world order based on justice, righteousness, and virtue.

-Ayatullah Baqir al-Sadr and Ayatullah Muratda Mutahhari, The Awaited Savior, pp. 4,5

When the Mahdi arrives, Islam teaches he will unite the world under his Islamic government and put an end to all other governments. While the Judeo-Christian prophecies warn of this future government and leader, Islam hails the Mahdi as a type of savior for humanity:

The Mahdi from among my descendants, from my family, will rise at the End of Time, while the heavens will pour rain and the earth will bring forth green grass for him. He will fill the earth with justice and equity as it is filled with tyranny and injustice.

-Bihar al-anwar, Vol. 51, P. 74; Ithbat al-hudat, Vol. 7, P. 9

[edit on 1/6/2009 by AshleyD]

RESEARCH: MUHAMMAD,ISLAM & THE BEAST

Who is the Beast?

"Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son." (1 Jn 2:22)

Muhammad denied that Jesus is the Son of God as do all Muslims today. Which begs the question, “Was Muhammad the Antichrist?” Take note of the grammar in the above, “He is antichrist” in contrast to 1 John 2:18 which states “the Antichrist is coming.” Also refer back to my first post on the Antichrist, recalling that the term is used in two distinct ways, one being descriptive of a spirit of false doctrine and the other of a specific title for a future world leader. Muhammad meets the criteria of the former.

Like the Roman emperor Nero, Muhammad is a type of the future Antichrist. Also like Nero, Muhammad is dead and buried in Mecca so he obviously doesn’t meet the criteria we are looking for in a coming world leader. As Ashley demonstrated, it is the Imam Mahdi that matches the Antichrist Beast profile of Revelation 13 quite well.

The Spirit of Antichrist

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world"
(1 Jn 4:1-3)

A prominently displayed inscription on The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem denies that Jesus rose from the dead and that God has a son.

Oh God, bless Your Messenger and Your servant Jesus son of Mary. Peace be on him the day he was born, and the day he dies, and the day he shall be raised alive! Such was Jesus, son of Mary, (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. It befitteth not (the Majesty of) God that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him!

www.islamic-awareness.org...

This denial of Gods Son is posted on the temple mount within a stones throw of the original Holy of Holies. The prophetic impact can not be overstated. Does this not qualify as an abomination of desolation in the holy place? At the minimum it is a symbolic type. The al-Aqsa mosque itself has strong prophetic impact as well. I will demonstrate some very compelling mathematical evidence regarding this structure in a coming post. Suffice it to say for now, that Islam fits the description of "the spirit of the Antichrist," found in 1 John 4:3.

The Number of the Beast

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666." (Re 13:18)

There has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding ex Palestine Liberation Order jihadist Walid Shoebat's conversion to Christianity and consequent whistle blowing but nothing else is quite as compelling as his revelation on revelation 13:18. While studying a very old New Testament Greek text he thought the Greek figure for 666 bore an uncanny resemblance to the Arabic character “Bismillah” which means "in the name of Allah." Here is what he saw:




The scimitar and crossed swords are also a symbol for Islam. Consider the seal of the Muslim brotherhood.



Adding the sword symbols with the Arabic for "Allah” (turned and mirrored) - side by side with the Greek text.



This is very provocative but I’ll be the first to admit it is conjecture. If Shoebat's account seems a stretch consider that Arabic was his first language and Islam the religion he was indoctrinated into. He noticed it immediately; in fact he didn’t think it was Greek at all. Taken alone it might be dismissed as a curiosity with potential – but not so fast - let me direct the reader to this website of a Turkish Islamic sect that claims 666 is the number of the Quran!

"The number 666 is highly publicized all over the world and it is associated with evil and danger. However, it is not what it seems. It was a Satanic trick. The trick was to prevent the people approaching the 666. Satan knew that the 666 is the book of GOD and the people should be kept away from it. According to his plan, he placed a bad image to the number 666."
www.66619.org...

While I do not think most Muslims ascribe to this Turkish group that labels the Quran 666, they are not the only ones. Also see Universal Unity 666 for a passionate Muslim apologetic for the number of the beast. When viewed in light of Walid Shoebat’s interpretation of the Greek the connection between Islam and the number of the beast is not so easy to dismiss.


The Mark of the Beast

"He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom.
(Rev 13:16-18)

There have been a myriad of speculations regarding the mark of the beast. From the bar codes of the 1980s to the RFID chips of today imaginations run wild. While I find these speculations to be interesting, they all seem to miss the point of the Biblical text. Most of the popular conjectures center on universal ID numbers or codes which would be useful in implementing a worldwide cashless monetary system. While I do believe that sort of technology will be used to control the buying and selling aspect, the mark of the beast is not your ID number it’s his name or his number! The other peculiar part is having his name or number on your right hand or forehead. What if the demonstration of allegiance to the Beast system is more like a uniform? Is Hamas telling us something in this photograph? Don’t they have his name on their foreheads?



At first glance this might appear to be a crass jab at Islam - but one must concede the analogy has explanatory merit. The conspicuous similarity between the sign of Allah and the number of beast as recorded in the Greek text is astounding. The correlation to the terrorists head bands is meant to provoke thought. I assure you the connection is based on more than mere conjecture. My partner will show, with sources, that during the predicted era of the Imam Mahdi, Muslims will have the sign of Allah on their foreheads just as the book of Revelation predicts that the Antichrist will place the number of the beast on the hand or forehead.



[edit on 1/7/2009 by Bigwhammy]



Mod edit: on request of author

[edit on 2/14/2009 by kinglizard]

COMPARISON 2: HEAD OF ONE WORLD RELIGION

The Antichrist as the head of a one world religion.

Although the Bible does not go into the specific doctrinal descriptions of what the Antichrist's religion will entail, the Judeo-Christian prophecies make it clear the Antichrist will be the ultimate authority for a false one world religion during the end times.

Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast...

The false prophet forces the inhabitants of the world to follow the religious authority of the Antichrist (we'll explore this more in detail during the Isa parallels in part 2):

Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast... He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.

Revelation 13 (full context).

But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.

Revelation 19:20

So we can see the Antichrist, with full support of a secondary figure, will be the head of a religion. Not to mention the Antichrist will display unmitigated gall by exalting himself above all other religions and deities (we will go over this in more detail later as well):

The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.

Daniel 11:36

The Mahdi as the head of a one world religion.

What the Mahdi's religion will be is not open to speculation. It will clearly be the religion of Islam. Furthermore, the Mahdi will set up Islam as the only legal religion just like the Antichrist will only legalize his future religion.

The readers must also note that the very title and position of the Mahdi such as Imam Mahdi and the final Caliph of Islam denotes religious leadership as well as political:

a successor of Muhammad as temporal and spiritual head of Islam used as a title

We also see evidence in the Islamic prophetic studies of the Mahdi's one world religious rule:

[The Mahdi] will govern the people by the Sunnah of their Prophet and establish Islam on Earth... And Islam will be victorious over all of the religions.

-Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 36, Number 4273, Al-Sadr and Mutahhari.

Similar to the Antichrist, the Mahdi will also demand allegiance from the population:

People will pay allegiance to the Mahdi between rukn and maqam.

-Ibn Tawus, Kitab al-malahim wa al-fitan, P. 64.

More to come on this subject in the next post with how the Antichrist and the Mahdi will spread their one world religion. However, as we see above, they will both be the ultimate leader and authority on their respective future religions.

[edit on 1/6/2009 by AshleyD]

COMPARISONS 3 & 4: SEVEN YEAR RULE & PEACE TREATY

The two following comparisons between a seven year rule and a seven year peace treaty will be combined in this single post due to their close relation to each other.

The Seven Year Rule And Treaty of the Antichrist.

The Antichrist is prophesied in the Bible to confirm a seven year peace treaty between Israel and the nations. The word 'many' in the following massage is interpreted by the majority of prophecy scholars to denote the gentile world:

He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

Daniel 9:27

The above as well as some cross-referenced passages give us a clue as to how long the Antichrist will be in power. We know he is in power for a minimal of seven years due to the length of the treaty, it being said he breaks treaty in the middle of the seven years, and that he will remain in power for the duration of the second half of the seven years:

From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

Daniel 12:11

Biblical or prophetic years according to the Bible consist of 360 days a year instead of our 365.25 solar year calender. The above passages in Daniel reveal the Antichrist will confirm a seven year treaty, break this treaty in the middle of the seven years, then continue his reign for slightly over 3 1/2 years. Therefore we see he will not only confirm a seven year treaty but he will also remain in power for the duration of the seven year period with approximately 30 excess days.

It must be noted that seven years is the minimal amount of time the Antichrist reign. It would stand to reason he would be on the scene or have some amount of power prior to his official seven year reign if he has the authority to implement a treaty between nations. However, his official reign will last approximately seven years while his ultimate reign as sole world leader will last for 3 1/2 years.

The Seven Year Rule And Treaty of the Mahdi.

The Mahdi is also said to confirm a seven year peace treaty with Israel:

The Prophet said: There will be four peace agreements between you and the Romans. The fourth will be mediated through a person who will be from the progeny of Hadrat Aaron (Honoralbe Aaron, the brother of Moses) and will be upheld for seven years...

islam.tc...

Like the term 'many' in the above biblical passages, the term 'Romans' refers to the gentile, specifically, the western world and civilization. Also similar to the Antichrist prophecy where the Antichrist 'confirms' the treaty, the Mahdi is said to 'uphold' a treaty. Finally, like the Antichrist, the treaty will be made with Israel (through a descendant of Aaron).

In both cases we see a treaty being confirmed by the end times ruler lasting for seven years between the Gentile world and the Jews.

We also see the Mahdi will rule for a minimum of seven years just like the Antichrist:

He will fill the earth with justice as it is filled with injustice and tyranny. He will rule for seven years.

-Abu Dawud, Sahih, Vol. 2, p. 208; Fusul al-muhimma, p. 275

The earth will be filled with injustice and corruption. At that time, a man from among my progeny will rise and will rule for seven [some translations state 'nine'] and will fill the earth with justice and equity.

-Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, Vol. 3, P. 27

Although translations of the Hadith sometimes differ regarding the length of the rule, the majority of Islamic eschatology scholars agree the length of the Mahdi's rule will be seven years. The discrepancy is very similar to the dispute in Christianity whereas some believe the Antichrist will only rule for 3 1/2 years although the majority of prophecy scholars believe it will be 7 years.

Therefore, we see the majority of interpretations in both Islam and Judeo-Christianity predict a minimal seven year reign and all three Abrahamic faiths predict a seven year treaty confirmed by a world ruler.

[edit on 1/7/2009 by AshleyD]

RESEARCH: FROM BABYLON TO MECCA

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." (Re 17:3-6)

Part 1: Noah to Abraham

In my discussion of dispensationalism, recall that the third period was “Human government, the covenant with Noah,” After the flood one of the first things Noah did was to build an altar and offer sacrifice to God. This marked a new revelation of access to God. Unfortunately early on there was a rather tawdry incident centered around his son Ham that reveals that the curse of sin was still at work. This marks the origin of the Satanic counter attack of this new covenant and access to God.

Genesis chapter 10 is a long list of the descendants of Noah. Verses 6 through eight delineate the cursed line of Ham.

"The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth." (Ge 10:6-8)

Ham means “the sunburned one”; Cush means “the blackened one” yet this has little to do with their external physical countenance. It has to do with their spiritual condition. It is from this line of darkness that the very first world leader Nimrod has his origin. He is the first biblical type of the Antichrist. Now in verses 10-12 the establishment of his kingdom is laid out for us.

"And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city)." (Ge 10:10-12)

Notice “the beginning of his kingdom was Babel”. Babel means the “gate of God”. However recall that the way to God was already established through sacrifice as marked by the altar sacrifice of Noah. Chapter 11 of genesis goes on to describe how these apostates established this new alternative religious system and new society.

"And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”" (Ge 11:4)

This tower was the symbol of the new way of access to God. Archaeological evidence indicates that this was a spectacular pyramid-shaped structure or ziggurat. Nimrod married a woman named Semiramis. Semiramis became the high priestess of the first organized counterfeit religion. This is the first “beast system” or satanic imitation subjugated upon mankind. When Nimrod eventually died, queen Semarinus deified him as the Sun-god. As the Babylonian mystery religion continued on in various cultures, he later became known as Baal, the Great Life Giver, the god of fire, Baalim, Bel, and Molech among others.

Babel was the origin of an idolatrous system that tainted the entire world. The prophet Jeremiah wrote of her, “Babylon… the nations drank her wine; Therefore the nations are deranged” (Jer 51:7) A dreadful counterfeit religion developed with its sun and moon worship, priests and temple prostitution, astrology, demonic worship, worship of stars associated with their gods, idolatry, mysterious rites, ritual sex magic, and human sacrifice. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus witnessed the mystery religion and its rites in numerous countries and mentions how Babylon was the primeval source from which all systems of idolatry flowed (Rawlinson). Just as Nimrod was deified as the god of the sun and father of creation, Queen Semiramis became the goddess of the moon, fertility, and the Queen of heaven.

Christian Köhler, Semiramis, 1852, Oil on canvas

Later, when this adulterous and idolatrous woman gave birth to an illegitimate son, she claimed that this son, Tammuz by name, was Nimrod reborn. Semiramis claimed that her son was supernaturally conceived and that he was the promised seed, the 'savior'. [ promised by God in Genesis 3:15] However, not only was the child worshipped, but the woman, the mother, was also worshiped as much than the son!” (Woodrow)

God confused their language, so that they could not understand each other (Genesis 11:7). This is the ultimate source of the world's many languages. As a result, many people moved away from the area in groups according to their particular new language. Not far from the site of Babel the earliest known inhabitants of Mesopotamia lived in the southern part of what is now Iraq. These people are simply called “proto-Euphrateans,” for lack of a better term. The first identifiable people of this group were known as Sumerians. In congruence with the Biblical account of language confusion, they spoke a language unlike any other, either ancient or modern. . As the people scattered from Babel with their different languages, they, of course, used different names for Nimrod and Semiramis.

One of the foremost cities of Sumer was Ur. This city-state came to the chief position among the towns of Sumer several times in its history. Located on the banks of Euphrates River, Ur was an important trading post dedicated to the god Sin and the goddess Nin-gal. The Bible refers to it as “Ur of the Chaldees” because it was located in the district of the Kaldu people. This city was the home of Terah and his son Abraham, ancestors of the nation of Israel. I would request the diligent reader to recall that in my discussion of the comparative dispensations in Islam and Christianity I declared a set point at Abraham due to the fact that Islam claims Abrahamic descent.


worship of the Sumerian moon god named "Sin"

Part 2 will continue tracing from Abraham to Muhammad.

Sources

Pentecoste, Dwight, phd. Eschatology. Dallas Theological Seminary; (my personal class notes)

Packer, J., Tenney, M. C., & White, W. (1997, c1995). Nelson's illustrated manners and customs of the Bible (113). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The History of Herodotus, George Rawlinson, ed. and tr., vol. 1 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885), bk 1, ch. 178-200

Woodrow,Ralph; Babylon Mystery Religion (Riverside, California: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Assn., 1966), p. 9;


[edit on 1/7/2009 by Bigwhammy]

COMPARISON 5: THE RIDER ON A WHITE HORSE

This similarity, in my opinion, is a very startling comparison because the same passage in the Bible describing the future Antichrist as a rider on a white horse is also claimed by Muslim scholars to actually be the Biblical passage that describes the future Mahdi. Islamic scholars specifically point to this this prophecy of the Antichrist as Biblical evidence foretelling the coming of their Mahdi. Ultimately, they are claiming the Antichrist of Christianity is the Mahdi of Islam.

The Antichrist as the White Horseman.

I looked and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Revelation 6:2

This passage is taken from the infamous four horseman of the Apocalypse prophecy of Revelation 6. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite commentaries on this subject explaining how the white horseman is the Antichrist. Furthermore, the symbolism displays possible descent from Mohammad, of the line of Ishmael, the ancestor of the prophesied Mahdi according to Islam:

Liberal scholars often identify the rider of the white horse as the Lord Jesus, pointing to his crown and the fact that he’s a conqueror... [but] this rider is most definitely not Jesus. He’s the anti-Christ.

In the first place he carries a bow. The Lord’s weapon of choice is a sword. The reason he has no arrows is that he won’t use force to make his initial impact on Earth. He comes as a peacemaker (Daniel 8:25). Since the Book of Revelation is filled with symbolism explained elsewhere in the Bible, I looked for the first mention of a man with a bow, hoping to get an additional clue to this rider’s identity. I found it in Genesis 21:20, referring to Ishmael.

Now with the connection between the Bible’s first archer and the man with a bow in Rev. 6, another piece of the puzzle may have fallen into place. Mohammed was descended from Kedar, second son of Ishmael, and Al Mahdi is the 12th Iman descended from Mohammed.

In the second place this guy’s wearing the wrong kind of crown. The Greek word for a King’s crown is diadem. But this one wears a stephanos, or victor’s crown. It was the award given to winners in the ancient Olympics and other public games. It was typically an ivy wreath, and in fact the word stephanos comes from a root meaning wreath. It identifies the wearer as a conqueror, but not as royalty. And in Revelation 13 where the Great Tribulation begins, we’re told that He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. (Rev. 13:7) Why would Jesus make war with the tribulation saints to conquer them? Like I said, while he fools people into thinking he’s the Christ, he’s really the anti-Christ.

gracethrufaith.com...

We can clearly see the white rider is the Antichrist. Now let's turn out attention to the Islamic prophecy scholars that claim this same white rider (The Antichrist of Christianity) will be their Messiah, Al Mahdi.

The Mahdi as the White Horseman.

Three admissions from famous Muslim Hadith scholars connecting the white horseman of Revelation to the Mahdi come to us in the writings of Ka'b al-Ahbar who is a famous transmitter of the Hadith as well as isra'iliyya (which are basically Christian-Judeo traditions that Islam accepts as reliable) and Egyptian authors Muhammad Ibn 'Izzat and Muhammad 'Arif in their book Al Mahdi and the End of Time:

I find the Mahid recorded in the books of the Prophets... For instance, the Book of Revelation says: 'And I saw and behold a white horse. He that sat on him... went forth conquering and to conquer.'

As well as:

It is clear that this man is the Mahdi who will ride the white horse and judge by the Qur’an (with justice) and with whom will be men with marks of prostration (zabiba) on their foreheads.

Whether or not the Mahdi will literally or figuratively come riding on a white horse is unknown. However, one thing is certain: the Biblical passage describing the appearance of the Antichrist is the same passage many Muslim scholars claim is describing their future Mahdi.

COMPARISONS 6: THE CONQUEST OF ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM

In my next post we will be expounding on the conquest of Israel and Jerusalem, the war the Antichrist and Mahdi wage against Jews, and the extent they are prepared to go in order to accomplish their goals. For now, the following comparisons in this post will simply show that the Antichrist and Mahdi are both said to invade and overcome Israel.

The Conquest of Israel & Jerusalem by the Antichrist

The Antichrist will invade Israel/Jerusalem

The Jewish temple mount exists in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. This is the current site of the Muslim Dome of the Rock. Other end times prophecies make it clear the Jewish temple will be restored and in use during the tribulation. In the following passages we see the Antichrist's take over of the Jewish temple where he abolishes Jewish temple rituals:

His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.

Daniel 11:31

The Antichrist will rule from the Temple

After the Antichrist makes a successful invasion of Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount, we are then told he sets himself up in the temple to rule 'until the end that is decreed' (so he remains here as his headquarters) while declaring himself to be God. This is known as the abomination of desolation:

And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

Daniel 9:27

Then in Matthew, we see Jesus in the New Testament warning those who are in Judea to flee once they see this occur:

So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation [The Antichrist],' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Matthew 24:15-16

The Conquest of Israel & Jerusalem by the Mahdi

Islamic literature describes a great army carrying black flags descending upon Israel and Jerusalem:

Armies carrying black flags will come from Iran. No power will be able to stop them and they will finally reach Israel where they will erect their flags.

-Mohammed Ali Ibn Zubair Ali, Signs of Qiyamah, 54.

Interestingly enough, if you review the Old Testament prophecy of Ezekiel 38:5, one of the Antichrist nations mentioned invading Israel is 'Persia,' or what is known today as 'Iran.' This is also from where the Mahdi's armies are said to come in the external Islamic citation above.

Then we see the Mahdi also sets up his headquarters in Jerusalem after invading Israel, just like the Antichrist:

Jerusalem will be the location of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule, which will be headed by Imam al-Mahdi.

-Izzat Arif, p40.

In summary, we see a occupation and invasion of Israel and Jerusalem by both the Mahdi and the Antichrist. In my next post we will see how both the Antichrist and the Mahdi are prophesied to have a targeted campaign against Jews, Israel, and Christians.

[edit on 1/9/2009 by AshleyD]

To the reader that has been following this research closely, you might recall in my very first post on the Antichrist I ended with the statement, “As titillation, I find the biblical title “the Assyrian” to be quite provocative.” The Assyrian referred to in the Bible is clearly our man and I intend to establish that while supporting the preceding post THE CONQUEST OF ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM by my partner. To do this I will be referencing the prophet Micah who was prophesying on the future millennium rule of the Messiah Jesus Christ. Specifically chapter 5 verses two through seven.

Micah chapter five


Now the basic time line of Christian eschatology has Jesus returning, defeating the Antichrist and establishing a one thousand year reign upon the earth. By tracing through a few verses we can learn some important information about the Antichrist.

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” (Mic 5:2)

From verse two we can establish that Jesus Christ is to become ruler in Israel during the 1000 year reign and that he is God because his “goings forth are form of old, from everlasting.”

"Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel." (Mic 5:3)

From this verse we learn he becomes Ruler when the remnant of Israel (his brethren) become restored from the tribulation period.

"And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth;" (Mic 5:4)

At that time (the millennial reign) Jesus will be great throughout the entire world. Now it gets more remarkable, as the next verse is what we have been building up to concerning the Antichrist.

"And this One shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, And when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight princely men." (Mic 5:5)

Jesus Christ will be Ruler after the ASSYRIAN comes and treads In Israel's palaces. This points to the Assyrian as our man but let me drive it home and support Ashley’s post in the process.

Originally posted by AshleyD
The Antichrist will invade Israel/Jerusalem
The Jewish temple mount exists in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. This is the current site of the Muslim Dome of the Rock. Other end times prophecies make it clear the Jewish temple will be restored and in use during the tribulation.
The Antichrist will rule from the Temple
After the Antichrist makes a successful invasion of Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount, we are then told he set himself up in the temple to rule 'until the end that is decreed'.

From my exposition above we established that the Assyrian will tread in Israel’s palaces which coincides nicely with Ashley’s post. In addition, Daniel 11 is rich with information on the Antichrist but for the sake of simplicity I will only quote one verse.

And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. (Da 11:45)

We know that this person who puts his headquarters in Israel is the Antichrist. Consequently, since the Assyrian treads in “our palaces” and the Antichrist of Dan 11:45 plants the tabernacles of his palace in Israel, they must be the same person, unless another treads the palaces of Israel and we find none other in scripture. Thus the Assyrian is the Antichrist in scripture.

Now let me reveal just one more nugget from Micah. Please refer back to my last post tracing from Noah to Abraham and recall that Nimrod who built the tower of Babel was the first “type” of the Antichrist, which makes this next verse from Micah concerning coming Antichrist even more provocative.

"They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, And the land of Nimrod at its entrances; Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, When he comes into our land And when he treads within our borders." (Mic 5:6)

It appears that Assyria was also the “land of Nimrod”!

My main goal in this post was to support Ashley’s research but I intend to discuss the Assyrian connection in greater depth. Of course, Assyria was a geographic region on the upper Tigris River, in Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq, obviously a Muslim dominated region today. Its relevance to the topic at hand self evident.

COMPARISON 7: JEWS AND CHRISTIANS AS THE TARGET OF WRATH

The Christian prophecies clearly state the Antichrist will cause the entire world to submit to his one world religion and government. The Bible also shows how the Antichrist will target his wrath against Jews and Christians. Likewise, the Mahdi will also cause the entire world to submit to his one world religion and government but that he also focuses his campaign against Jews and Christians.

Since we've already seen how the Antichrist and Mahdi will create a one world government in THIS post and a one world religion in THIS post, let's now turn our attention on the similar targets of the Antichrist and Mahdi: Jews and Christians.

The Antichrist Targets Jews and Christians

There are so many passages in the Bible showing the persecution and murder of Christians and Jews during the Antichrist's reign so let's focus on a few examples.

He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.

Daniel 7:25

In the next post we will show how both the Antichrist and the Mahdi will change the calender and laws but for now let's focus on the Antichrist's 'oppression of the saints' cited in the passage above. The phrase 'A time, times, and half a time' is an idiom meaning 3 1/2 years. This passage is stating that when the Antichrist breaks his treaty with Israel at the 3 1/2 year mark, the last 3 1/2 years of his reign will be spent persecuting those of the Judeo-Christian faiths.

We now turn our attention to prophecy in Revelation that is rich with symbolism and imagery. The book of Revelation is written in a style known as 'apocalyptic literature.' Everything is written using highly symbolic language including Revelation 12 that shows the targeted campaign against Christians and Jews.

An excerpt from the entire context linked to in the paragraph above:

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach.... Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Revelation 12:13-17

An explanation for the symbolism above:

The Dragon = Satan as well as his manifestation in the Antichrist.
The Woman = Israel and the Jewish people.
The Male Child = Jesus who has already ascended.
The Woman's Offspring: Jews and Christians collectively.

The passage above shows the flight of many Jews from Israel to escape the wrath of the Antichrist. Remember, one of the passages I cited earlier in this project is a warning from Jesus to the Jews to flee Israel:

So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains... For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again... See, I have told you ahead of time.

Matthew 24

John's vision in Revelation of Jewish flight from Israel meshes flawlessly with Jesus' warning in Matthew for the Jews to flee Israel. It looks like many take His advice. Then right after this flight occurs, we see the Antichrist dropping his facade of false peace, breaking the covenant, and beginning his official slaughter of Jews who remain behind in Israel as well as Jews worldwide and all Christians who refuse to convert to the Antichrist religion.

One final example before moving on to the Mahdi portion:

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

He who has an ear, let him hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

Revelation 13:8-10

Cross referenced with:

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands.

Revelation 20:4

The above passages state that while the rest of the world will follow the Antichrist, the saints will resist and be killed for it. The persecution that will be prevalent throughout the Antichrist's reign comes with an admonition to the saints to endure in faithfulness among the rampage brought by the Antichrist and the saints who resist will be beheaded. Cross reference this passage with Revelation 6:9-11 where the martyrs killed for their faith are asking when justice will be served.

The Mahdi Targets Jews and Christians

A consistent theme in Islamic literature regarding the end times is the Mahdi's preoccupation with the conversion of Jews and Christians. He offers them the choice to convert peacefully. If they refuse, death is the only option. We will be going over this in detail once we begin Part 2 in a few more posts consisting of parallels between Isa and the False prophet but for now let's few some examples of the Mahdi's focus on Jews and Christians.

Like the Antichrist, although the Mahdi will force everyone to submit to his empire and religion (as we have shown in previous posts), he, too, will have Jews and Christians as his primary focus.

The Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and Christians. If they accept it they will be spared, otherwise they will be killed.

-Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, Al-Imam Al-Mahdi: The Just Leader of Humanity

We also have the following Hadith as an example to show the belief that the 'last hour' (Islamic end times) will not 'come' (be fulfilled) until the Muslims wage a war against the Jews and kill them:

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 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

Although it can often be hard to gauge the reliability of certain Hadith sayings, this one does appear to have veracity. The second segment of that Hadith states:

But the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

In this centuries old prophecy, it shows the Muslims slaughtering the Jews and predicts a certain kind of tree in Israel. One author goes on to explain the significance:

After commenting on this particular Hadith, several Muslim authors have been quick to point out the very 'interesting' fact that this particular tree, 'the Gharqad' (apparently the boxwood trees) is presently being planted in abundance by Jews in Israel. The point is that this final holocaust is expected by Muslims to take place within the present state of Israel.

-Joel Richardson, Islam's Awaited Messiah, pg 61.

Many Muslims are therefore seeing this prophecy already showing signs of fulfillment and preparation.

On a final note, to show the Mahdi's mission to specifically convert Jews and Christians to Islam, one of the prophecies of the Mahdi show him discovering ancient Jewish and Christian texts to 'prove' their texts are corrupt while only Islamic texts have maintained their integrity:

Ka'b al-Ahbar says, 'He will be called Mahdi because he will guide to something hidden and will bring out the Torah and Gospel from a town called Antioch

Izzat and Arif, p.40

Of course the Torah is Jewish and the Gospels are Christian.

It continues:

He is called the Mahdi because he will guide the people to a mountain in Syria from which he will bring out the volumes of the Torah to refute the Jews... He will bring forth the volumes of the Torah with which to argue against the Jews and at his hands a group of them will become Muslim

So among his violent pursuits, the Mahdi will also target his attempt to convert Christian and Jews by using gentle persuasion after allegedly proving the Judeo-Christian texts to be corrupt.

Next up we will show how both the Antichrist and the Mahdi will change the calender and implement new laws. Shortly after that, we will see what Isa is claimed to do compared to the false prophet and will reinforce the information in this post about Jews and Christians being targeted for conversion or destruction.

[edit on 1/9/2009 by AshleyD]

RESEARCH: FROM BABYLON TO MECCA II

Continued from part one.

Prologue: Satan, the cosmic phony, he perverts and subverts the things of God. God initiates, he tries to imitate.


Abraham to Muhammad

"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Ge 12:1-3)

Why was God so insistent that Abraham get out of his country and away from his extended family? Very simply, the reason was to remove him from the influence of his native Ur of the Chaldees religion, worship of the moon god Sin.

The two chief seats of Sin's worship were Ur in the south, and Harran to the north. The cult of Sin spread to other centers, and temples of the moon-god are found in all the large cities of Babylonia and Assyria.
en.wikipedia.org...(mythology)

This god, Sin, would ultimately become the supreme deity of the entire Babylonian empire. The root names of many individuals in Babylon preserves links to the gods of the Babylonian pantheon. In fact the well known son of Sargon II, King Sennacherib’s name is rooted in the name of the moon god. "Sin Ech-erib" = "Sin multiplies his brothers."

Nabonidus praying to the moon god Sin

Nabonidus was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, reigning from 556-539 BCE. He was the absentee King that delegated the throne to his son Belshazzar in the book of Daniel. Many scholars believe he was an Assyrian. He revered the moon god Sin beyond all the other gods and paid special devotion to Sin's temple in Harran, where his mother was a priestess. Some scholars argue that he elevated Sin the top of the Babylonian pantheon in an effort to make Babylonian religion more acceptable to subjects like the Arabians.

Pre Islamic Arabia

In my comparison of dispensations we were able to match Christian and Muslim with the Abrahamic covenant. The principle difference between the two religions is delineated by the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. The Genesis account tells us how, doubting Gods promise, Abrahams wife Sarai arranged for him to sleep with their servant Hagar to father a successor. The result of this compromise union was Ishmael, the father of the Arabians. In this excerpt God comforts the servant Hagar’s fear and assures her that her son would be the father of a nation as well,

"Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”" (Ge 16:10-12)

The parallel of this prophetic dialog to our present geopolitical reality is astonishing. Of course some fourteen years later God shocked Abraham and his wife with Isaac the son of promise. Of course this is a major point of contention as Islam claims Ishmael as the son of promise. I find the juxtaposition of the two conceptions to be the most revealing. The former being out of wedlock against the counsel of the Lord – the latter as God had promised and miraculous. Blessed with the spiritual gift of flippancy I often quip, “One day you sleep with the maid, the next thing you know, the world trade center falls down.” Flippancy aside, there is a profound truth that when man seeks his own way, a shortcut or deviation from what God prescribes, the results lead to tragedy. It’s not a racial issue as Jesus died for the Arab people too and we all are under the curse of sin. However it is a spiritual battle that has been going on ever since Abraham and Sarai took the shortcut instead of trusting God, like we often still do today, when we seek fulfillment outside of Gods plan. But the Bible states that the child of promise was Isaac:

" By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son," (Heb 11:17)

Muslims feel that Ishmael was the one offered up by Abraham. They believe that the Holy Bible supports this by its declaration that Abraham offered his only son. Ishmael was Abraham's only son for over 13 years, which would make it impossible for Isaac to be the child of sacrifice. Muslims believe that scribes later corrupted the original reading from Ishmael to Isaac. Isaac was the only child of promise, which the Quran also agrees with.

Then he conceived a fear of them (when they ate not). They said: "Fear not." And they gave him glad tidings of an intelligent son,[this is the promise] having knowledge (about Allah and His religion of True Monotheism). Then his wife came forward with a loud voice, she smote her face, and said: "A barren old woman!" They said: "Even so says your Lord. Verily, He is the All-Wise, the All-Knower." (Sura 51:28-30]

Matches up quite nicely with the Genesis account that occurs after we were told that Ishmael was thirteen years old (Gen 17:25)

"And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”" (Ge 18:10-12)

Considering how overzealous many Muslims have been in their arguments that Ishmael, not Isaac, was that son, the fact that the Quran never mentions the name of the sacrificial child anywhere in its account escapes them. Muslim scholar Shaykh Hamza Yusuf of the Zaytuna Institute, concedes that:

This was the child that Abraham was given, and there is a difference of opinion about who that child was. The majority of the later scholars say it was Ismail, many of the early scholars said it was Ishaq. It should not be a point of contention for the believers; it's not the point of the story. Both are valid opinions. (Yusuf)

While I admire his candor on the controversy, they are not both valid. What makes their efforts almost comical is the undisputable fact that Muhammad appears a couple of thousand years after Moses and a full 600 years after Jesus. The Quran was not codified until around 650 AD.

Having studied this account in detail, in light of New Testament revelation, there is more going on here. One should recall that God stopped Abraham and provided the ram for the sacrifice. This is the origin of the name of God, Jehova Jira which means the “Lord will provide”. Flash forward to the New Testament and recall that John the Baptist said of Jesus the first time he laid eyes on him “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the whole world!” Now it is abundantly clear that Abraham’s offering of Isaac was a prophetic foreshadowing of the pivotal event in human history that would occur on the very same spot, the highest point on Mount Moriah Golgotha, where another Father would offer his only begotten Son for the sins of the world. Note that Adam was also Gods first son, yet Jesus was the son of promise. The spirit of antichrist working in Islam to conceal this amazing confirmation of Jesus Christ is transparent.

Occult Roots

crescent moon god symbols still adorn mosques

The Bedouin's astral beliefs centred upon the moon, in whose light he grazed his flocks. Moon-worship implies a pastoral society, whereas sun-worship represents a later agricultural stage. In our own day the Moslem Ruwalah Bedouins imagine that their life is regulated by the moon, which condenses the water vapours, distils the beneficent dew on the pasture and makes possible the growth of plants. On the other hand the sun, as they believe, would like to destroy the Bedouins as well as all animal and plant life. (Hitti)

The moon god worship by Abraham’s kindred in Ur was widespread in Arabia. The brutal nature of the desert climate led the Arabians to esteem the moon god above all others, but they had more difficulty identifying with Marduk, the supreme Babylonian deity. Recall that the last Babylonian king Nabonidus had promoted the moon god, thus Sin became the supreme deity of Babylon and Arabia.

Sin, "The Controller of the Night," had the crescent moon (now the primary symbol of Islam) as his emblem and was worshiped by various names in Arabia. Mount Sinai of Arabia draws its name from the moon god. Mecca the home of the Ka’aba, a cube that houses a black meteorite fetish, was the center of all pagan religions of Arabia. AI-Ilah, the moon god - lord of the Ka'aba, ruled over 360 idols at the Ka’aba. Pagan polytheists in Saudi Arabia, before Muhammad, worshiped toward Mecca because it was where their idols were located. All of this was in place long before Muhammad came on the scene. Traditions which are carried on to this day in Islam.


The Ka'aba houses the black meteorite idol still worshiped in Islam today


[edit on 1/9/2009 by Bigwhammy]

from the temple of Sin the moon god

Allah. Islamic name for God. Is derived from Semitic El, and Allah originally applied to the Moon; Allah seems to have been preceded by Ilmaqah, the Moon-god. Allat is the female counterpart of Allah. (Egerton)

Contrary to modern Muslim apologetics the name Allah was used as the personal name of the moon god. Allah, the moon god, was married to the sun goddess. Together they produced three goddesses who were called "the daughters of Allah." These three goddesses were called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat. The daughters of Allah, along with Allah and the sun goddess were viewed as "high" gods. That is, they were viewed as being at the top of the pantheon of Arabian deities. (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, I:61).

Muhammad's tribe was the Quraysh tribe (also Saddam Hussein’s) was devoted to the moon god. Along with Allah, however, they worshipped a host of lesser gods and "daughters of Al-lah”. Their pre-Islamic devotion to the moon god can be seen in the hyphenations of their names. Muhammad's father was Abd-Allah and his Uncle was Obied-Allah. His mother, Aminah, was known to have been involved in the occult. This tribe had the prestigious duty of being care takers of the Ka’aba. Because Mecca was such a popular location for occult worship it became a lucrative trade route. The young Muhammad was able to draw from a wide variety of influences especially that of traveling Jews and Christians.

What Muhammad did was repackage his native religion into a monotheistic form by elevating the central moon god Allah to “the god”. Following his alleged revelation from the angel Gabriel in 610 AD, he began preaching his own position as a prophet and that there was only one god. His Quraysh brethren in Mecca rejected him and refused to give up their additional gods. Muhammad's frustration and rage began to surface in earnest. When even his uncle rejected his message, Muhammad cursed him profusely, which is available for all to see in the Quran:

"May the hands of Abu Lahab perish! May he himself perish! Nothing shall his wealth and gains avail him. He shall be burnt in a flaming fire, and his wife, laden with faggots, shall have a rope of fiber around her neck!" (Qur'an 111:1-5).

As you can see from his treatment of his own family, it wasn’t exactly a peaceful transition period. The Quran itself is testimony that Muhammad was more conqueror than a holy man. He took Mecca by force in 630 AD and destroyed the some 360 idols at the Ka’aba, while retaining the Ka’aba and its black rock fetish, thus elevating the Lord of the Ka’aba (moon god) to the position of Allah to the god singular. Because the pagan worship centered on Mecca was so widespread, a rapid acceptance of Muhammad's new religion was possible. Thus, Islam is an occult polytheistic religion modified into the monotheistic form that Muhammad had observed and admired during his youthful exposure to Jews and Christians.

Of course Islamic scholars attempt to dismiss this under a variety of dubious obfuscations. In a similar manner to their sophisms about Ishmael being the son of promise, they belabor the obvious. To those who vehemently resent and furiously attempt to refute that Allah is the moon god Sin albeit repackaged; one need only to refer to crescent moon symbols on Islamic flags and mosques.



More so, if the purpose was really to break with the occult tradition of Mecca, then why do all Muslims still pray facing ancient pagan center the Ka'aba? Abraham was called out of the Ur of the Chaldees to the North away from Mecca - specifically to remove him for moon god worship of his people. Abraham did not build the Ka’aba as Muslim legend alleges. Perhaps Ishmael or one of the Kaldu people did, as we know the moon god was the supreme deity of Ur. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every capable Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. Why do they still make the pilgrimage to Mecca to worship at the Ka’aba - just as their pagan polytheistic ancestors did? And most damning why are they worshiping and kissing their occult idol, a black meteorite fetish housed in the Ka’aba, affectionately known as the navel of the world.



In the study of comparative religions, it is understood that the major religions of mankind have their own unique concept of deity. In other words, all religions do not worship the same God under different names. That is one of the liberals’ favorite absurdities. On a purely academic basis, that would ignore the essential differences which divide world religions and is an insult to their uniqueness. The Quran's notion of deity was molded out of the pre-Islamic pagan religion of the moon god Allah-worship. It’s unambiguous Babylonian ancestry reveals it cannot be simply reduced to an extension of Jewish or Christian beliefs. From a Christian perspective, Satan is the great imitator, never an innovator! All counterfeit systems of religion stem from Babylon.

Sources

Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition, Facts on File Publishing, 2008.

Hitti, Philip K. History Of The Arabs, LONDON MACMILLAN & CO LTD, ST MARTIN'S PRESS1956, p 96-101.

Missler,Chuck, The Sword of Allah: The Rise of Islam. Koinonia House, 1993.

Packer, J., Tenney, M. C., & White, W. (1997, c1995). Nelson's illustrated manners and customs of the Bible (113). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Ralph Woodrow, Babylon Mystery Religion (Riverside, California: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Assn., 1966), p. 9;

Shaykh Yusuf, There is No Calamity if there is Certainty; Shaykh Yusuf, 64.246.204.2...)

Sykes, Egerton .Everyman’s Dictionary of Non-Classical Mythology, J M Dent & Sons Ltd; 1977.

The History of Herodotus, George Rawlinson, ed. and tr., vol. 1 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885), bk 1, ch. 178-200


[edit on 1/9/2009 by Bigwhammy]

COMPARISON 8: THE LAWS AND THE CALENDER

The Antichrist and the Laws and the Calender

Once the Antichrist makes his rise to power, this will be yet another clue to reveal he is the one the prophecies warn about. We see the Antichrist will attempt to change the calender and laws. This will most likely be done to phase out the Gregorian calender based on the life of Jesus Christ.

He will...try to change the set times and the laws.

Daniel 7:25

The altering of the laws could possibly allude to a couple of things:

1). Like we mention in my previous post about the Mahdi claiming to discover ancient Jewish texts (specifically the Torah), the Antichrist could possibly claim the Jewish laws of the Torah as we know them have been corrupted and must be changed.

2). Since the Antichrist will head a one world government, this could possibly mean he trumps the laws of individual nations to implement his own laws world wide.

One thing is certain: He will somehow attempt to change the laws and the calender system.

The Mahdi and the Laws and the Calender

The Law

There's no question about the legal system the Mahdi is said to implement. It will undoubtedly be Sharia Law and he will use Isa to achieve and uphold his vision:

The Mahdi will lead the Muslims in prayer and Isa will rule the Muslims according to the Divine Shari'ah.

-Sahih Ashrat as-Sa'at, Kabbani, p.236

Isa, the son of Mary will descend and will lead them judging among them according to the holy Koran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad.

-Veliankode, p.351

The Sunnah, as we mention in the introductory material, is where most of the Muslim traditions are found. This is what will be used as a guideline for the Mahdi's law.

The Calender

Besides having its own law, Islam also has its own calender system. While the Gregorian calender is based on the birth of Christ, the Islamic calender is based on the career of Muhammad and some view it as mandatory to be observed:

It is considered a divine command to use a Hijra calender with 12 purely lunar months without intercalation as evident from the Holy Koran.

-Waleed Mahanna, A brief introduction to the Islamic (Hijri) Calender

The week is also different in the Islamic Calender. While Monday through Friday is considered the 'work week' and Saturday and Sunday is considered the weekend by Judeo-Christianity to celebrate holy days, in Islam, Friday is the sacred day of prayer and the day of the week to meet at the mosque.