The Christian view of the signs of the end times

It is said that our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
predicted in the hadiths what would happen in the world during the End
Times before Judgment Day. When we look at today'sevents in the light
of the hadiths and the explanations of Islamic scholars, we realize
that the period we are living in is the End Times. According to the
hadiths,this period will be a Golden Age in which the world will
experience the ascendancy of Islamic morality under the leadership of
Mahdi, Jesus (pbuh) will come to the Earth for the second time and
gather the People of the Book together in a period of abundance,
blessing andwealth. When we look atthe parts of Christian holy
scripture that predict that the signs of the End Times are nearly
complete, we see an important parallel between them and the hadiths of
our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
At various times, Almighty Allah has sent messengers and books to
human beings to show them the right path. Because of this, people
have been awaresince Adam's (pbuh) timeof Allah's existence and
commands and have found the best and wisest solutions for life's
problems in revealed religions.
Even though revealed religions contained decrees that varied according
to the conditions and the environments of the periods in which they
were sent, they presented to people the same model of belief and
morality. They all declared to people the same basic truths about
Allah's existence and unity, His qualities, the purpose of the
creation of human beings and other living things, how one must become
Allah's servant and live so as to earn His favor, how to live and act,
the concepts of good, evil, truth and falsehood, how people should
order their lives in this world, and what one must do to have eternal
life.
But, in the course of time, Judaism and Christianity underwent some
corruption and certain superstitious beliefs and legends entered their
holy scripture. But still, when we look at the books of these two
religions in the light of the Qur'an, we see that many true beliefs
and moral values proper to revealed religion have survived intact.
These beliefs and values are those held in common by all three
revealed religions.
When we look at these common beliefs, we findthat many Christians
believe in the End Times when Jesus (pbuh) will return to Earth for
the second time. These Christians believe, based on their own
scripture, that the signs of the End Times have occurred oneby one and
that Jesus' (pbuh) second coming is near. In this regard, it is
stated in the New Testament as thus:
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him
privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will
be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Jesus answered:
"Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name,
claiming, 'I am Jesus,' and will deceive many." (Matthew 24:3-5)
Here are some of the remarkable examples of similarity between the
signs described in Christian scripture and the hadiths:
THE APPEARANCE OF FALSE PROPHETS AND MESIAHS:
For many will come in my name, claiming, "I am Jesus," and will
deceive many. (Matthew,24:5)
and many false prophetswill appear and deceive many people. (Matthew, 24:11)
Recently Jim Jones, DavidKoresh and many other individuals have
claimedto be the Messiah. According to Christian interpretation,
these false prophets will be the prelude for the coming of the last
false prophet-the Antichrist. In the hadiths, our Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) alludes to this event:
The Last Hour will not come before there come forth thirty Dajjals
(imposters), each presenting himself as an apostle of Allah. (Abu
Dawud)
WARS
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are
notalarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
(Matthew 24:6)
In the End Times, there will be reports of wars and conflicts in all
parts of the world. These events will become morefrequent in the End
Times and Christians interpret this as a sign.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There
will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)
More lives were lost in wars in the 20th century than at any other
time inhistory. The use of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear,
chemical and biological) was predicted both in Christian scriptures
and in the hadiths.
At a time when the world will be in harj [utter confusion and
disorder], fitna will appear, people will be attacked …(Al-Muttaqi
al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 12)
FAMINES
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There
will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)
In countries like Ethiopiaand Sudan, famine has been a problem for
years and has caused thedeath of people of all ages. According to the
report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organizationof the
year 2000, 826 million people are undernourished. In other words, one
in every six people in the world is hungry. This is acknowledged both
in Islamic sources and by Christians as being a harbinger of the End
Times. Famines and the spread of poverty are mentioned in the hadiths
as signs of the End Times:
The poor will grow in number. (Amal al-Din al-Qazwini, Mufid al-`Uulum
wa Mubid al-Humum)
…there will be exceedingly stressful days and hunger will rule.
(Muhammad ibn `Abd ar-Rasul Barzanji, Al-Isha`ah li Ashrat as-Sa`ah,
p. 220.)
EARTHQUAKES AND NATURAL DISASTERS
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There
will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)
Of course, there have always been earthquakes in the history of the
world, but,as Christians believe, the number will increase as Jesus'
(pbuh) return comes near. The frequency of violent earthquakes in the
last few years puts them high up in public awareness. According
todata released by the American National Earthquake Center in 1999,
there were 20,832 earthquakes of small or great magnitude in the
world. An estimated 22,711 individuals lost their lives in these
earthquakes. When we look at the past, there were far fewer
earthquakes; according to a report of the United States Geological
Society(USGS), in the approximately 400 years between the 1556 and
1975, there were only 110 whose magnitude was 5.0 or more. The same
society reports that, in the 23 years between 1980 and 2003,1685
earthquakes with amagnitude of 6.5 and greater occurred. Certainly,
these figures show plainly that there has been an increase in the
incidence of earthquakes since the prophet's time 1400.
Since the 1990's countless tropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes
have occurredand winds have reached speeds of more than 200mph. The
hadiths say that natural disasters such as earthquakes andhurricanes
are signs of the End Times:
The Hour (Last Day) will not be established until... earthquakes will
be very frequent. (Bukhari)
There are two great hadiths before the Day of Judgment... and then
years of earthquakes. (Narrated by Umm Salama (ra))
THE SPREAD OF HERETICAL PHILOSOPHIES
Christians believe that there will be an alienation from the Christian
faith in the LastDays. Many denominations will abandon the basic
teachings of the gospel in favor of New Age practices, eastern
religions, meditation, reincarnation, astrology,communicating with
thedead, idolatry and magic.
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the
faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such
teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been
seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order
themto abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received
with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. (1
Timothy, 4:1-3)
This situation is mentioned in the hadiths:
…all of the prohibitions are regarded as lawful (Ibn Hajar
al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p.
23.)
The Hour will come when people will believe in the stars and reject
Qadar [the Divine Decree of destiny]. (Al-Haythami, Kitab al-Fitan)
THE RAPID SPREAD OF EVIL-DOING
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow
cold. (Matthew, 24:12)
The cruelty, terrorism, murders, assaults, cheating, drug use,
torture, alcoholism, robbery, resentment, rebellions and homosexuality
that characterizes our time has become excessively widespread.
Christian scripture says that this is a sign of the End Times:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People
will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud,
abusive,disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without
love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not
lovers of the good, ( 2 Timothy, 3:1-3)
When we look at the hadiths concerning the End Times, we read the
following of this process of rapid degeneration:
There will be years of deceit, in which a truthful person will be
disbelieved and a liar will be believed. (Ibn Kathir)
The Hour (Last Day) will not be established until murders will
increase. (Bukhari)
SIGNS IN THE SUN AND IN THE STARS
There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars… (Luke, 21:25)
According to Christian scripture, this sign that will be seen in the
sun maybe the huge explosion that happenedin the 20th century. The
solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, was the last total eclipse of the
20th century. This was the first time that so many people had the
opportunity to witness an eclipse that lasted for so long. It is
interesting that Turkey was one of the countries where this eclipse
could be seen in its totality. It could be seen in 12 cities and 100
provinces from Bartin to Silopi. The words of our Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) in the hadiths 'There will be a sign
from the sun.' may refer to this event. (Allah knows the truth).
All this shows that signs of the End Times are recorded in Islam and
in Christian scripture and there is the expectation of a savior and
Messiah. The End Times is a holy period in which religious morality
will govern the Earth, Islam will return to its essence and be widely
practiced under the leadership of Mahdi; it will also be a period in
which the Christian world will participate in this continual rule of
morality through the agency of Jesus (pbuh). This period will end
withthe coming of the Golden Age. In this regard, Christian scripture
says:
When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up yourheads,
because your redemption is drawing near. (Luke, 21:28)
In the Qur'an, Almighty Allah announces to all believers the reign of
this moral goodness:
Allah has promised thoseof you who believe and do right actions that
He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them
successors, and willfirmly establish for them their religion with
which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security.
"They worship Me, not associating anything with Me." Any who do not
believe after that, such people are deviators. (Surat an-Nur, 55)