at Amazon.com.Posted on 05/27/2005 10:31:14 PM PDT by Teófilo
That means their view on the "end times."
Folks, back in 2004, National Review Online's correspondent Rod Dreher, interviewed David Cook, a Rice University scholar of Muslim apocalypticism. I want to share his observations with you:
Rod Dreher: What are the main beliefs of Islamic eschatology?There are a couple of details that he misses but that Imam Yahiya Emerick, author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam, picked up on pages 108-109:David Cook: Referring to Sunni Islam, the principal beliefs are:
1)There are a series of signs or portents previous to the end: moral and social decay, natural and cosmic disasters, and political events that will demonstrate in an incontrovertible manner that the end is about to happen.
2) A tempter, or Antichrist, called the Dajjal will appear and lead the world (with the exception of true Muslims) astray. Almost everyone will be subject to his tribulations, but just before he succeeds in annihilating the Muslims, Jesus will come down from the heavens and kill him.
3) There will be a messianic age, led by either Jesus or another messianic figure called the Mahdi. This latter figure will conquer the entire world and convert everyone to Islam.
4) After the time of the Mahdi, then Gog and Magog [cf. Ezekiel 38, 39; the Islamic version goes by the name Yajuj and Majuj] will invade the world and destroy it.
5) God will bring the world to an end.
The Rule of JesusAfter resisting the aforementioned invasion of God and Magog, Emerick tells us that Jesus will pass away and that he will be buried in Medina next to the grave of the Prophet Muhammad.What will hapen next? Is the fame finally over? Is it time for Judgment Day? Not yet. According to the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus will speak to the Christians and Jews of the world and convert them to Islam. He will succeed in breaking the worship of the cross and will stop the eating of pork. The army he led will disband and disperse back to their home countries, and only a small contingent will remain with him to serve him. Jesus will be the spiritual head of a transnational government of peace. Everyone in the Middle East will convert willingly to Islam, and there will be no more war. He will visit Mecca and Medina while on pilgrimage. He won't reign for a thousand years, as Christianity teaches, but will live only 40 more years--the rest of his natural life span.[1] Along the way he will marry and have children. While he is in the world, peace and prosperity will bring countless benefits for all people.
[1][Note: Emerick tells us that Muslims don't believe Jesus die on the Cross but that He was "taken away" by God and another man was executed in his place, and that all Christians have been confused about the fact ever since].
You know, Islam claims to possess a superior revelation, that it completes and concludes all prior revelations, Jesus' included. If that were remotedly true, I would expect to recognize at least a semblance of the historical Jesus in Muslim revelations. That I do not doesn't bode well for their claims, as far as I'm concerned.
- Read Rod Dreher's interview of David Cook at National Review Online.
- Read Rod Dreher's paper on Islam and Apocalyptic Thought
- Peruse or purchase Yahiya John Emerick's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam
I never understood people's fixation with the end times - Muslim, Christian, whatever. It strikes me as a strange interest. What does it matter, anyway?
For any believer, their religion's judgment comes sooner or later. 'End Times' folks often strike me as giddy at the prospect of the end of the world.
Just wake me up when it's over - I couldn't care less.
Like Transformers ("Muslims in Disguise"),
or pro wrestlers going from "heel" to "face",
or Democrats realizing that all that money doesn't belong to them.
Seriously, we're talking about a cult that promotes intolerance, hatred and world domination. One passage of their texts actually states that Jews will hide behind trees and the trees will call out to Jew-hunting jihadis "Come over here, I've got one hiding behind me!"
And I thought the Ents were the good guys.
Check out Prophet of Doom for even more suspensions of disbelief. You'll see hate sustaining a death cult like an evil counterbalance to love sustaining faith in real religions.
There has to be some champion of Islam willing to refute this. I thought they respected courage and don't hide behind burkas, goats or anti-semitism.
Depending on where you are in the world Moslems believe or don't believe in reincarnation in this life. None of that question is covered very well at all in the Koran and it leads to some problems when it comes to the "Hidden Imam" question ~ is it always the same guy, and is he the Mahdi, or is it really a different person.
You dig through enough of the various variant beliefs found in Islam and you find there really is a recurrent pattern ~ namely a belief that a Messiah, or a Messiah-like, political or military leader keeps being reincarnated and raising cain!
It's like their thought regarding Messiahs is stuck at the "Lord Krishna" level! In fact, I strongly suspect that's where they got the idea too. Remember, the desert Arabs were influenced for a longer time and more powerfully by Eastern than Western influences. Some of the ideas in the Koran and the hadiths about Heaven, Hell, demons, salvation, the Mahdi, etc. make sense only in the same way that Hinduism and/or Buddhism make sense, making their philosophical connection with Islam quite clear.
The reformer identified as Mohammad appears to have had contact with the West and sought to "adjust" these more Eastern beliefs to conform to Western ideas.
He failed miserably!
Consider the following.
" A German scholar of ancient languages takes a new look at the sacred book of Islam. He maintains that it was created by Syro-Aramaic speaking Christians, in order to evangelize the Arabs."
Like 'dialects', the same linguistic differences were evident amongst these Arab bedouins. I've encountered this in Italy where from one town to the next, their 'dialect' is totally different. It wasn't until contemporary times that schools systematically taught the Italian language to everyone but the locals often speak in dialect amongst themselves.
Carry that concept to the desert and the German professor's theory makes perfect sense. When news of his book surfaced, he had to flee the country and his assistant was tossed out a window by a group of angry Muslims. Here's the .... 'rest of the story' ....
The Virgins and the Grapes: the Christian Origins of the Koran
Why isn't it the anti-Mohammad instead of the anti-Christ?
How do they reconcile Jesus being taken up and returning to live a natural (?) life span?
Although these questions are not ordinarily understood as criticism of the Koran, they can lead you into what actually amounts to textual criticism.
So, rather than answer how Moslems might address the problem of Jesus going away and coming back, they'd ask "how far away is Heaven, and what happens to time when you are there".
Following that pattern you keep the ignorant unenlightened, as they wish it to be, and you get to keep your head!
Then you should be made to understand. Their vision of the "end times" tell us something about their hopes, desires, and their view of happiness. Since the Muslim arena for the end times is Palestine, their beliefs have geopolitical consequences.
Who rules Israel / Palestine is irrelevant to Christians as far as the "end times" is concerned. For Christians, Jesus is God in Person; at the time of His return, geopolitical considerations will be rendered unimportant.
See the difference? See why is important?
-Theo
Hillaire Belloc calls Islam one of the five great heresies. Because they took nuggets of true Christianity and perverted the rest. "Jesus didn't actually die on the cross, someone else was put in his place.' hellO. The sooner the world realizes this, the better for all of us.
I don't doubt it gives us some cultural insight, I didn't speak much to that and can see how it is valuable.
Fascinating! So, where is the Dajjal? I'd be glad to be one of his loyal minions...in fact, given the opportunity, I might make the Dajjal avert his gaze in disgust. I'd certainly give it the old college try. Really.
If the Dajjal (Countless Blessings be upon Him!) happens across this post, He is more than welcome to contact me by FReepmail!
"Kaffir" or "k'fir" means "infidel" or "unbeliever" in Arabic. I surmise that, as with the number "666", this is some sort of metaphor.
-Theo
...Seems to have been good advice for the "raptures" people have sensed coming on for the last 3000 and some years. Should it change?
...Seems to have been good advice for the "raptures" people have sensed coming on for the last 3000 and some years. Should it change?
I have no quarrel with that at all. Neither Muslim eschatology nor the "Christian" farsical one portrayed in works of bad literature such as The Left Behind series catch my fancy.
The way to be prepared for the Lord's Advent is to heed and live His words in works of mercy toward others.
-Theo
Well met.
The Lord seemed to think it was important enough to dedicate about one third of Scripture to communicating it. /gross understatement off
You rang?
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