The Islamic Antichrist (9 page)

After rising to power, and as a prelude to his invasion of Israel, the Antichrist is said to initiate a treaty with the nation of Israel for seven years:

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)

In context, this verse shows us that the Antichrist will establish a “covenant” with Israel for seven years, giving the Israelis a false sense of security.

The specific Hebrew word used in this verse translated as “seven” is
shabuwa
. It means a week, but can mean either a “week” of days or years. In Hebrew thought, a seven-year period is similar to our decade. We in the West tend to measure years through a decimal system based on increments of tens, while we measure days in terms of seven (a week). The Hebrews measured both days and years in increments of seven. The word translated as “seven” in Daniel 9:27 refers to seven years. This is the specific amount of time that the Antichrist will set for his peace treaty with Israel. Then, in the middle of the seven years, the Antichrist will renege on his treaty and stop the offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Temple and then he will proclaim himself not only the ruler of the world, but God himself. Isaiah the Prophet makes mention of this “covenant” and rebukes Israel for making it: He actually refers to it as a “covenant with death.” (Isaiah 28:14–15)

THE MAHDI’S SEVEN-YEAR TREATY

Again, similarly, the Mahdi is said to initiate Islam’s fourth and final treaty between “the Romans” and the Muslims. (Again, “Romans” should be interpreted as Christians or the West in general—the executioners of Nicholas Berg in their pre-execution
statement addressed President Bush as “You, O dog of the Romans.”) Interestingly enough, this fourth treaty is said to be made with a descendant of Moses’s brother, Aaron the Priest. Such a descendant would be a
cohen
. That is to say, he would be a priest. Only
cohanim
among Jews can officiate the priestly duties of the Temple. This is important in light of the fact that many Christian prophecy teachers and theologians have speculated that the treaty that the Antichrist will initiate with Israel will include an agreement to allow the Jews to rebuild their Temple. But probably the most amazing aspect of this treaty that the Mahdi makes with this Jew of priestly lineage is its timeframe. The specific timeframe given for the treaty is exactly the same as the Antichrist’s peace treaty—seven years! Citing hadiths that speak of the Mahdi’s emergence and rule, Muhammad Ali ibn Zubair relates this amazing tradition:

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
[Honorable Aaron—the brother of Moses] and will be upheld
for seven years
. The people asked, “O Prophet Muhammad, who will be the imam [leader] of the people at that time?” The Prophet said: He will be from my progeny and will be exactly forty years of age. His face will shine like a star….
⁹
(emphasis mine)

CHANGING THE LAWS AND THE TIMES

Another of the Antichrist’s goals according to the Book of Daniel is to “change the set times and the laws”:

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)

This is actually quite a glimpse into the person of the Antichrist. For by his actions, we see a hint of his origin. It is said that he will desire to change two things—times and laws.
Now we have already seen that the Mahdi will change the law by instituting Islamic
shariah
law all over the earth, but we have not seen any evidence in Islamic apocalyptic literature of him changing the “times.” The simple question, however, is, who else other than a Muslim would desire to change the “times and the laws”? Besides the Gregorian calendar used by the West, there are also Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim calendars, among others. Jews and Hindus, however, would not desire to impose their religious laws or calendars onto the rest of the world. Islam, however, has both its own laws and its own calendar, both of which it
would
desire to impose onto the entire world. The Islamic calendar is based on the career of Muhammad. It begins at the migration (
hijra
) of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. The Muslim calendar is mandatory for all Muslims to observe. Dr. Waleed Mahanna articulates the Islamic position regarding the Islamic
hijra
calendar:

It is considered a divine command to use a [
hijra
] calendar with twelve [purely] lunar months without intercalation, as evident from…the Holy Qur’an.
¹⁰

Not only does Islam view as a divine imperative the use of a unique religious calendar, it also has its own week. Unlike the Western rhythm of a week—Monday through Friday being the body of the workweek followed by Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, with Judaism and Christianity using these two days for their respective days of worship—Islam holds Friday as its sacred day of prayer. This is the day that Muslims meet at the mosque to pray and listen to a sermon.

Thus it quite plausible that the biblical reference to the Antichrist who will “try to change the set times and the laws” describes a Muslim. As we look at the full picture, only Islam fits the bill of a system that has its own unique calendar, a week based on its own religious history, and a clear system of law that it wishes to impose onto the entire earth. Surely if a Muslim ever emerges as powerful as the Mahdi, he will attempt to
institute Islamic law worldwide—and the Islamic calendar and week as well.

THE RIDER ON A WHITE HORSE

The final similarity between the Antichrist and the Mahdi that we will discuss in this chapter is the fact that both the Antichrist and the Mahdi are identified with a biblical passage that describes a rider on a white horse. While this could be literal, it is most probably a symbolic picture of the two men. The amazing thing is that the origin of the biblical tradition of the Antichrist on a white horse and the origin of the Islamic tradition of the Mahdi on a white horse come from the same passage in the Bible.

The basis for the symbolic picture of both the Antichrist and the Mahdi on a white horse is the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation. Here the Apostle John describes his vision of the release of the events that mark the beginning of the end times. The picture is of Jesus holding a scroll—on the outside of the scroll are seven wax seals. The breaking of each seal releases a specific and distinct end-time event:

I watched as the Lamb [Jesus] opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 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 6:1–2)

The seals that follow this rider are:

1. Peace is taken from the earth.

2. Famine.

3. Plagues and death.

4. Persecution and martyrdom of God’s people.

5. A great earthquake.

6. The wrath of God.

So we see that after the rider appears on the scene, the world essentially freefalls into the chaos that defines the last hour. The interpretation that many Bible scholars apply to this passage is thus: the white horse is an imitation of the white horse that Jesus will ride when He returns (Revelation 19:11). Thus the rider is an imitation Christ, an imposter—an Antichrist. The bow without arrows that the rider carries represents a false peace. The rider carries with his rise to power a false promise of peace. This is in alignment with and may be a direct reference to the false peace treaty that the Antichrist makes with Israel at the start of the seven-year period of his rule. The crown on his head obviously refers to his position of authority and leadership. And we see that the true motivation and bent of the rider is to conquer. In light of the identity and activity of the rider, then, we are not surprised to find out that the events that follow his emergence onto the world scene do not bring an age of peace, but rather an age of apocalyptic chaos. Apparently this is not a problem for Islamic scholars, who generally adopt a very arbitrary pick-and-choose approach to the Bible. For in seeing the Antichrist on the white horse with a crown and conquering, Muslim scholars see a clear picture of the Mahdi. As mentioned in the earlier chapter on the Mahdi, the early Muslim transmitter of hadiths, Ka’b al Ahbar is quoted as saying:

I find the Mahdi 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.”
¹¹

So in conclusion, we see that several of the most unique and distinguishing aspects of the biblical Antichrist’s person, mission, and actions are matched to quite an amazing degree by the descriptions of the Mahdi as found in the Islamic traditions. And now, even further, we see that Muslim scholars actually apply Bible verses about the Antichrist to their awaited savior, the Mahdi. This must be seen as quite ironic, if not entirely prophetic.

CHAPTER SIX

THE MUSLIM JESUS

A
fter the emergence
or the “rising” of the Mahdi, the second most important event among the Major Signs is the return of Jesus Christ. Christians who love Jesus understandably get quite excited by the prospect that Muslims look for and long for His return. Unfortunately, the Islamic belief of just who this Jesus is that is coming, and what He does once He has arrived, is drastically different than what Christians believe about Jesus.

The first thing that Christians need to understand regarding the Islamic belief about Jesus is that Muslims of course reject the idea that Jesus was or is the Son of God. According to Islam, Jesus is not, as the Bible articulates, God in the flesh. Second, in Islamic belief, Jesus never died on a cross for the sins of mankind. The Qur’an specifically denies that Jesus was ever crucified or that He ever experienced death. Muslims believe that after Allah miraculously delivered Jesus from death, He ascended into heaven alive in a similar fashion to the biblical narrative regarding Elijah. Since then, Muslims believe, Jesus has remained with Allah, awaiting His opportunity to return to the earth to finish His ministry and complete His life. As such, to the Islamic mind, Jesus was not in any way a “savior.” To Muslims, Jesus was merely another prophet in the long line of prophets that Allah has sent to mankind. The special title of Messiah, although retained in the Islamic tradition, is essentially stripped of any truly biblically defined messianic characteristics. According to the sacred texts of Islam, as we are
about to see, when Jesus returns, it most certainly will
not
be to restore the nation of Israel to the Jewish people. Nor will Jesus’ purpose be to save and deliver His faithful followers from the ongoing persecution of the Antichrist. In order to understand the Islamic concept of Jesus’ return, the first thing that needs to be realized is that when Jesus comes back,
He comes back as a radical Muslim
!

This chapter will outline the Islamic traditions regarding the return of Jesus. Many of the following hadiths that refer to Jesus do not call Him by the name Jesus, but rather Isa. Muslims occasionally will refer to Jesus by His English name for our sake, but the name that the Qur’an gives Him, and which most Muslims use, is Isa (or Eesa) al-Maseeh (the Messiah). Other common titles that Islam uses when referring to Jesus are Hadrat Isa (Honorable Jesus), Isa bin Maryam (Jesus son of Mary), or Nabi Isa (Prophet Jesus). Some of these titles may be used below.

THE RETURN OF THE MUSLIM JESUS

According to Islam’s sacred traditions, Jesus’ return is usually described as taking place just outside Damascus:

At this very time Allah would send Christ, son of Mary, and he will descend at the white
minaret
in the eastern side of Damascus wearing two garments lightly dyed with saffron and placing his hands on the wings of two angels. When he would lower his head, there would fall beads of perspiration from his head, and when he would raise it up, beads like pearls would scatter from it.
¹