Islamic eschatology

Islam teaches that at some "undetermined time in the future" the world will end and Judgement Day will come. Based on details suggested in the Qur'an and elaborations in hadiths, manuals, and the scholarly interpretations, "a sequence of the events" can be prophesied for the day of resurrection and judgement and the time leading up to it. Before then, individuals who die will experience the state of Barzakh, which for the sinful is known as the Punishment of the Grave and resembles hell, while the righteous will enjoy something more like paradise. In the time leading up to the end of the world and Judgement Day there will be portents of their arrival in the form of a terrible "tribulation": widespread moral failings, great battles (Armageddon or fitna), natural disasters, rampaging evil forces including an Antichrist figure (the Dajjal), a violent subhuman group called Gog and Magog, a tyrant spreading corruption and mischief called the Sufyani, but also a "messianic figure" (the Mahdi, a righteous man descended from the Islamic prophet Muhammad), assisted by the prophet Jesus (ʿĪsā), who returns to earth to defeat the forces of evil and bring peace and justice throughout the world. Following these portents, a trumpet will sound and the Earth will be destroyed ("and the earth and the mountains are lifted up and crushed with a single blow", Q.69:13); a second trumpet blast will signal a "final cataclysm" (fanāʼ), which is the extinction of all living creatures. The afterlife will commence, again with (another) trumpet blast or two, signaling the resurrection of the dead to be judged by God at the Plain of Assembly (Ard al-Hashr). The final judgment (the "Reckoning", ) of each soul will pit "absolute justice" against God's "merciful will". by the intercession of Muhammad. The pleasure and delights of Jannah and the excruciating pain and horror of Jahannam are described in "exquisite detail" and given further elaboration in hadith and other Islamic literature. Secular scholars believe much of Islamic cosmology comes from earlier Mesopotamian and/or Jewish beliefs (the circles of damnation, seven layers of heaven above the earth, fires of purgation below) with Quranic verses interpreted to harmonize with these. == Sources for Islamic eschatology ==

) used to commemorate prophetic events. There is a plethora of content in Islamic sacred scriptures on the Last Judgment and the tribulation associated with it. The primary sources are the Quran itself, and ḥadīth literature. Muslims believe that the Quran is the verbatim word of Allah, promising reward to the righteous and warning those tempted to disobey his commands. The ḥadīth are accounts of the sayings and living habits attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad during his lifetime, believed to give more clarity, detail and comprehensive understanding of the Quran, Concerning major figures of end times, the coming of al-Mahdī and al-Masīḥ ad-Dajjāl and the second coming of ʿĪsā, are mentioned in the hadith literature but not the Quran; reports about Sufyani are available in both Sunni and Shia Hadith. Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog) are mentioned in two chapters of the Quran, Al Kahf and Al-Anbiya. The Last Judgment and the tribulation have also been discussed in the commentaries of prominent classical ulama such as al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, and Muhammad al-Bukhari. Ibn Kathir elaborated a whole apocalyptic scenario with prophecies about the Mahdi, Jesus, and the Dajjal (the antichrist) during the end times. == Apocalyptic literature ==

According to the branch of Islamic literature dealing with "the last days" before the apocalypse and Day of Judgement, those days will be preceded by a number of "signs", immoralities and catastrophes, as well as the advent of apocalyptic figures, both good (e.g. al-Mahdi) and evil (e.g. ad-Dajjāl). They are loosely based on the Quran and the hadith, collected around 150–200 years after the canonization of Islamic scripture and features several elements from other religions. The first known complete Islamic apocalyptic work is the Kitāb al-Fitan (Book of Tribulations) by Naim ibn Hammad. There is no canonical accepted version of the signs of the end times by either Sunnis or Shias. While interpretations of what the Quran and hadith say about the end times are "diverse and complex", the signs of Judgment Day's arrival include disruptions in the order of both human morality and the natural world; but also the appearance of Dajjāl and prophet ʿĪsā, which "is seen to represent the ultimate victory of the ummah of Islam ... in some senses". There is no universally accepted apocalyptic tradition among either Sunnis or Shias. Traditionally, interest in "apocalyptic speculation" was strongest among mainstream Shia (Twelver Shia), Isma'ili Islam, and Sunni on the "doctrinal and geographic margins" e.g., those in present-day Morocco, but was weaker in the Sunni heartland. Shia tradition broadly tends to recognize the coming of the Mahdi as signifying the coming punishment for non-believers. The extensive usage of Hebrew and Syriac vocabulary in Islamic apocalyptic writings suggests that apocalyptic narratives formed from vivid exchange between different religious traditions. These exchanges most likely occurred orally among the masses, rather than among scholars. A lot of apocalyptic material is attributed to Ka'b al-Ahbar and former Jewish converts to Islam, while other transmitters indicate a Christian background. Christian apocalyptic literature was known at latest since the 9th century in Arabic. Although apocalyptic literature barely cites the Quran, the narratives refer and paraphrase Islamic sacred scripture. In contrast to the method of usage of ḥadīth, apocalyptic literature dictates the Quran rather than explaining the text. Islamic apocalyptic narratives were later expanded and developed by Islamic authors notably Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, al-Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Al-Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, and as-Suyuti). The authors list various signs as meanings of the arrivals of the apocalypse. Questions and skepticism Western scholars (William McCants, Jane Smith, Yvonne Haddad, Jean-Pierre Filiu) agree that the apocalyptic narratives are strongly connected to the early jihad wars against the Byzantine Empire and civil wars against other Muslims. McCants writes that the fitan ("tribulations") of the minor and lesser signs come from the fitan of the early Islamic civil wars (First Fitna (656–661 CE), Second Fitna (c. 680/683–c. 685/692 CE), Third Fitna (744–750/752 CE)), where Muhammad's companions (Sahabah) and successor generations (Tabi'un and Taba Tabi'in) fought each other for political supremacy. They also argue that it's "difficult to determine whether" Muḥammad "actually anticipated the arrival" the Mahdi as "an eschatological figure" – despite the fact that "most of the traditions about the Mahdi are credited to Muḥammad." Consequently, the reliability of hadith on end times has been questioned. ==Resurrection and final judgement==

, from an autograph manuscript of Futuhat al-Makkiyya written by the Sufi mystic and Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi, ca. 1238. Shown are the ʿArsh (Throne of God), al-Aminun (pulpits for the righteous), seven rows of angels, al-Ruh (Gabriel), ''A'raf (the Barrier), Ḥawḍ al-Kawthar (the Pond of Abundance), al-Maqam al-Mahmud (the Praiseworthy Station, where Muhammad will stand to intercede for the faithful), Mizan (the Scale), As-Sirāt (the Bridge), Jahannam (Hell), and Marj al-Jannat'' (Meadow of Paradise). In Islam, "the promise and threat" (waʿd wa-waʿīd) of Judgement Day ( or ), has been called "the dominant message" of the Quran, Two themes "central to the understanding of Islamic eschatology" are: • the resurrection of bodies joined with spirits in a "reunion of whole, cognizant, and responsible persons", and • a final judgement of the quality of each persons life "lived on earth and a subsequent recompense carried out with absolute justice through the prerogative of God's merciful will". Resurrection theories Although Islamic philosophers and scholars were in general agreement on a bodily resurrection after death, interpretations differ in regard to the specifications of bodily resurrection. Only a few philosophers, such as Ibn Sina, explicitly rejected bodily resurrection, arguing that true pleasure cannot be experienced through the body, and that returning to it at the time of the Greater Resurrection would be unjust. • conjunction of the soul with a mithali body, which is congenial to the worlds of Barzakh and the Akhirah; • resurrection with a hurqaliyati body, accordingly a second invisible body, that survives death. The trials, tribulations and details associated with resurrection are detailed in the Quran and the hadith (sayings of Muhammad), and have been elaborated on in creeds (aqidahs), Quranic commentaries (tafsịrs), theological writing, and eschatological manuals to provide more details and a sequence of events on the Day. This period—known as the Barzakh—is similar to the intermediate state in Christianity. Like purgatory, its "torture of the grave" involves suffering for the sinful. It is found in epitaphs from the eighth-century and early Islamic traditions", far enough back to have achieved the "status of dogma" in the Muslim world, brought up in "invocations, funeral prayers, sermons, and popular literature". Each soul will be interrogated about their performance of religious duties—their īmān (faith), ṣalāt (ritual prayer), zakāt (almsgiving), ḥajj (pilgrimage), ''wudū', ghusl'', (ritual washings) and responsibility to their relatives. The ultimate judgement will be made and the resurrected will then walk over the bridge of As-Sirāt; those judged worthy for the Garden (paradise) continuing to their heavenly abode, those damned to The Fire (hell), falling off the bridge into the pit of Jahannam. For sinners, the bridge will be thinner than hair and sharper than the sharpest sword, impossible to walk on without falling below to arrive at their fiery destination, A "major theme" in the stories told about Judgement Day in the Muslim community Early skeptics are quoted in the Quran as saying: "Are we to be returned to our former state when we have become decayed bones? They say, that would be a detrimental return!" (Q79: 10–12). == Doctrinal/theological issues==

Scholars have not always agreed on questions such as • why humans believe in an afterlife; • whether descriptions of paradise and hell, Resurrection and Judgment Day in the Quran and other Islamic literature are literal, are allegorical, or perhaps are beyond human understanding; • whether there is a third state in the afterlife between heaven and hell; • whether the creation of paradise and hell will wait until Judgement Day, and whether all parts of the two abodes are eternal; • whether all actions that humans will be punished or rewarded for in the afterlife are preordained by God; • who might go to heaven or hell and why; • whether those consigned to hell will be there for eternity. Basis of belief "Fear, hope, and finally ... faith", have been given (by Jane I. Smith, Yvonne Y. Haddad) as motivations offered by the Quran for the belief of Muslims in an afterlife, although some (Abū Aʿla al-Mawdūdī) have asserted it is simply a matter of reason: The fact is that whatever Muhammad (peace be upon him) has told us about life after death is clearly borne out by reason. Although our belief in that Day is based upon our implicit trust in the Messenger of God, rational reflection not only confirms this belief but it also reveals that Muhammad's (peace be upon him) teachings in this respect are much more reasonable and understandable than all other view-points about life after death. Literal or allegorical Descriptions of the physical pleasures of paradise have been interpreted as allegories, symbolic of the state of joy believers will experience in the afterlife. For some theologians, even being able to see God is not a question of sight, but of awareness of God's presence. Although early Sufis, such as Hallaj, took the descriptions of paradise literally, later Sufi traditions usually stressed an allegorical meaning. On the issue of Judgement Day, early Muslims debated whether scripture should be interpreted literally or figuratively, with a literal interpretation of the Ashʿarī school of thought eventually prevailing. It affirmed that things connected with Judgement day such as "the individual records of deeds (including the paper, pen, and ink with which they are inscribed), the bridge, the balance, and the pond" were all to be understood "in a concrete and literal sense." In the contemporary era, according to scholars Jane I. Smith, Yvonne Y. Haddad, "the vast majority" of believers, understand verses of the Quran on Jannah (and hellfire) "to be real and specific, anticipating them" with joy or terror. Modernist and postmodernist thought Earlier Islamic Modernists did not accept literal interpretation. The beliefs of Pakistani modernist Muhammad Iqbal (died 1938), were similar to the Sufi "spiritual and internalized interpretations of hell" of ibn ʿArabī, and Rumi, seeing paradise and hell "primarily as metaphors for inner psychic" developments. Thus "hellfire is actually a state of realization of one's failures as a human being", and not a supernatural subterranean realm. Egyptian modernist Muhammad ʿAbduh, thought it was sufficient to believe in the existence of an afterlife with rewards and punishment to be a true believer, even if you ignored "clear" (ẓāhir) hadith about hell. According to Smith and Haddad, "the great majority of contemporary Muslim writers, ... choose not to discuss the afterlife at all". Consequently, most of "modern Muslim Theologians" either "silence the issue" or reaffirm "the traditional position" that the afterlife is real and should not be denied but that "its exact nature remains unfathomable". In opposition to this, Amina Wadud notes that the Qur'an does not mention any specific gender when talking about hell. Verse Q., for example, states that "the guilty are immortal in hell's torment". When discussing paradise, the Quran includes women, Q., for example, states that "Beautiful of mankind is love of the joys (that come) from women and offspring..." "Limbo" or al-aʿrāf in Islam In terms of classical Islam, "the only options" afforded by the Qur'an for the resurrected are an eternity of horrible punishments of The Fire (hell) or the delightful rewards of The Garden (paradise). Islamic tradition has raised the question of whether or not consignment to The Fire is eternal, or eternal for all, but "has found no reason to amend" the limit of two options in the afterlife. However, one verse in the Quran has "led to a great deal of speculation concerning the possibility of a third place". As for who the inhabitants of al-aʿrāf are, the "majority of exegetes" support the theory that they are those whose actions in dunya were balanced – whose good deeds keep them from the Fire and whose evil deeds keep them from the Garden. After everyone else has been let into the Garden, and if the mercy of their Lord permits it, they will be allowed in. Predestination Orthodox Islam teaches the doctrine of Qadar (, aka Predestination, or divine destiny in Islam), whereby everything that has happened and will happen in the universe—including sinful human behavior—is commanded by God. At the same time, we human beings are responsible for our actions and rewarded or punished for them in the Afterlife. Qadar/predestination/divine destiny, is one of Sunni Islam's six articles of faith and is mentioned in the Quran in verses such as: • "Nothing will ever befall us except what Allah has destined for us" (Q.). Of course, the fate of human beings in the afterlife is especially crucial. It is reflected in Quranic verses such as • Had We willed, We could have easily imposed guidance on every soul. But My Word will come to pass: I will surely fill up Hell with jinn and humans all together. (Q.). Opponents of predestination in early Islam, (al-Qadariyah, Muʿtazila) argued that if everything that will ever happen has already determined, God's human creation cannot really be free to make decisions to do good or evil, or be in control of whether they suffer eternal torment in Jahannam—which is something that (the opponents believe) a just God would never allow to happen. and according to the creed of Al-Tahawi, "the principle of providence" is such a secret that God did not let even angels, prophets and messengers in on the mystery. Creation of heaven and hell Whether heaven and hell have already been created Islam, like Christianity, conceptualizes the relationship between Dunyā (temporal world) and Ākhirah (hereafter) in a diachronic timeline. arguing that God creates only with a purpose, and since all except God will be destroyed by the trumpet before the Day of Resurrection, paradise and hell would have no function until Judgement Day, after the annihilation of the world, and so must be created afterwards. Furthermore Islamic literature is filled with interactions between the world and the hereafter and the world is closely intertwined with both paradise and hell. Māturīdi scholar Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi (944–983) explains that the otherworldly abodes coexist in order to inspire hope and cause fear. The overlap of the earthly and otherworldly domain is anchored in the Quran itself. However, some practitioners in the early Muslim community held that the other abode of the hereafter (hell/jahannam), or at least part of that abode, might not be eternal. This possibility that God may yet commute a sentence to hell, interprets (parts of) hell as serving a function similar to purgatory in Christianity, (with the exception to this comparison being that hell in this context is for the punishment of the sinner's complete body, as opposed to only the soul being punished in purgatory). Evidence against the concept of hell being in part temporary, is the Quran verse stating that hell will endure as long as Heaven will, which has been established as eternal. Who will enter heaven or hell Scholars do not all agree on who will end up in jannah and who in jahannam, and the criteria for deciding. Issues include whether all Muslims, even those who've committed major sins, will end up in jannah; whether any non-Muslims will be saved or all will go to jahannam. According to the Quran, the basic criterion for salvation in the afterlife is the belief in the oneness of God (Tawhid|), angels, revealed books, messengers, as well as repentance to God, and doing good deeds (amal salih). This is qualified by the doctrine that ultimately salvation can only be attained through God's judgement. Muslims, jinn, angels, devils Muslim scholars mostly agree that ultimately all Muslims will be saved (though many may need to be purified by a spell in hellfire), but disagree about the possibility for salvation of non-Muslims. The idea that jinn as well as humans could find salvation was widely accepted. Like humans, their destiny in the hereafter depends on whether they accept God's guidance. The surah Al-Jinn says: Angels, who are not subject to desire and do not commit sin, are found in paradise. The devils cannot return to paradise, because Islamic scripture states that their father, the fallen angel Iblis, was banished, but never suggests that he or his offspring were forgiven or promised to return. Early Muslim thought on damnation One of the primary beliefs pertaining to Islamic eschatology during the early Muslim period was that all humans could receive God's mercy and were worthy of salvation. These early depictions even show how small, insignificant deeds were enough to warrant mercy. Most early depictions of the end of days describe only those who reject Tawhid, (monotheism), as being subject to eternal punishment. However, everybody is held responsible for their actions. Concepts of reward and punishment were seen as beyond this world, a view that is also held today. Although the Quran acknowledges the Bible as gospel, rejecting Muhammad and his message is seen as a rejection of salvation by them. Based on these categories, four "well-known and particularly influential Muslim thinkers" can be sorted as: • al-Ghazālī – "optimistic" or "liberal inclusivist"; • Ibn Hazm – "proclaimed that even the most upright and flawless moral-ethical monotheist is damned to hell if he knows anything about a person named Muḥammad or a religion called Islam and does not join, while even the most brutal and immoral person who converts sincerely to Islam the moment before he dies, is saved". Furthermore, "any Muslim who does not agree is not a Muslim himself." • People who heard of Islam because they lived in neighboring lands and/or mixed with Muslims. Only this group has no hope of salvation, and will be punished. that everyone with normal intellectual capacities is responsible for believing in a creator even if they haven't heard about Muhammad or any other prophetic mission, While some (like Rifat Atay) regard Māturīdism to be exclusivistic, only allowing people who are Muslims to enter paradise, Muʿtazila The theology of Muʿtazila emphasized God's justice, and the free will and responsibility of each human being for their actions. They have been called the "best known exponents" of Qadariyah, the idea that human beings must have free will otherwise it would be unjust to punish or reward them for their actions. Compared to Maturidi and Ashʿarī, Muʿtazila had the least amount of "salvific optimism", as they stressing individual accountability, rejecting intercession (''Shafa'a'') on behalf of sinners by Muhammad. (At least one Twelver Shia scholar 'Allama al-Hilli, insists that not only will non-Muslims be damned but suggests Sunni Muslim will be as well, as it is not possible for any Muslim to be ignorant of "the imamate and of the Return", and thus "whoever is ignorant of any of them is outside the circle of believers and worthy of eternal punishment." This statement is not indicative of all Shia eschatological thought.) Also like mainstream schools, and unlike Muʿtazila, Twelver Shia hold that Jannah and hellfire "exist at present ... according to the Qur`an and ahadith". However, they will not "become fully apparent and represented" until Judgement Day. As for three other issues in Islamic eschatology: • the differences between Adam and Eve's Garden of Eden, • "the heaven or hell of one's actions which envelopes a person"; and • the Barzakh state of "purgatory" in Islam after death and before Resurrection; in Shia Islam, these three "types" of jannah (or Jahannam) are "all simply manifestations of the ultimate, eternal heaven and hell". The Fate of the unlearned is also a matter of dispute within Islamic theology. Like many modern scholars advocated, including Mawlana Ali, Ismail Hakki Izmirli, and Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida asserted the doctrine of a finite hell fanāʾ al-nār ("demise of hell"). Neo-Salafi commonly reject inclusive salvation theories. For example, Salafi scholar Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar, like proto-Salafi ibn Qayyim, rejects the doctrine of fanāʾ al-nār. He interprets the hadith that will be 73 Islamic sects from which only one will be saved in accordance with his belief that only those who stick close to the Quran and the Sunnah go to paradise, while those he considers deviant, such as Muʿtazila and Kharijites go to hell temporarily, while "extreme" groups such as Isma'ilis, Alevites, and Druze, go to hell forever. Al-Ashqar elaborates on a hadith that "most inhabitants of hell are women" that women are more likely to go to hell due to intellectual deficiencies, but adds that despite their flaws, there are also many good and pious women. ==Contemporary popular interest in Islamic eschatology==

Prior to the 20th century, Islam had "strongly emphasized the hereafter" (ākhira). Desire to counter colonialism and "achieve material and technological parity with the West" turned modern thinkers to stress this world (dunyā), without suggesting ākhira was less important. However, in 2012 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 50% or more respondents in several Muslim-majority countries (Lebanon, Turkey, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco) expected the Mahdi (the final redeemer according to Islam) to return during their lifetime. Popular Islamic pamphlets and tracts on the End Times have always been in circulation, but until around 2010 their "impact on political and theological thinking was practically nil" among Sunnis. Interest in the End Times is particularly strong among jihadis and "since the mid-2000s, the apocalyptic currents in jihadism have surged." One Shiʿi Ayatollah, Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, revered as "the fifth martyr" of Shiʿi Islam (killed by Saddam Hussein), went to the trouble of trying to explain how the Hidden Imam could be over 1000 years old, and why the present is a propitious time for the reappearance of him. Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army waged a violent struggle against the American military through 2004, and its ranks swelled with thousands of recruits. Muqtada's political faction won seats in parliament. During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency (2005-2013), he shared with Iranians his "avowed conviction" that believers must actively work for the Mahdi's reappearance, despite this bringing him "into conflict with the highest authorities of Shiism". Popular apocalyptic literature "Dramatic and sensational stories" of the apocalypse first made an impact in the mid-1980s when Said Ayyub's Al-Masīh al-Dajjāl (The Anti-Christ) started a whole new genre of Islamic "apocalyptic fiction" throughout the Arab world. The book was so successful Ayyub went on to write a half-dozen other spinoff books, inspired imitators who enjoyed even greater success (Muhammad Izzat Arif, Muhammad Isa Dawud, and Mansur AbdelHakim). The book (and the genre) was noteworthy for rupturing the "organic link between Islamic tradition and the last days of the world", using Western sources (such as Gustave Le Bon and William Guy Carr) that previously would have been ignored; and lack of Sahih Bukhari (i.e. top quality) hadith (he does quote Ibn Kathir and some hadith "repeated at second hand"); and for an obsessively anti-Jewish point of view ("in all great transformations of thought, there is a Jewish factor, avowed and plain, or else hidden and secret", "the Jews are planning the Third World War in order to eliminate the Islamic world and all opposition to Israel", and cover art featuring a grotesque cartoon figure with a Star of David and large hooked nose). Unlike traditional popular works of Islamic eschatology that kept close to scripture and classical manuals of eschatology in describing al-Dajjāl, Said Ayyub portrayed the Dajjāl as 1) the true Jewish messiah, that Jews had been waiting for, 2) a figure who will appear or reappear not only in end times, but one who has been working throughout the history of humanity to create havoc with such diabolical success that human history is really "only a succession of nefarious maneuvers" by him. Intermediaries of al-dajjal (according to Ayyub) include St. Paul the Apostle, who (Ayyub maintains) created Christianity by distorting the true story of Jesus, the Emperor Constantine who made possible "the Crusader state in service to the Jews", the Freemasons, Napoleon, the United States of America, Communists, Israel, etc. He concludes that the dajjal is hiding in Palestine (but will also "appear in Khurasan as the head of an expansionist state") and the Great Battle between Muslims and his forces will be World War III fought in the Middle East. Later books, The Hidden Link between the AntiChrist, the Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle, and Flying Saucers (1994), by Muhammad Isa Dawud, for example, move even farther away from traditional themes, disclosing that the Anti-Christ journeyed from the Middle East to the archipelago of Bermuda in the 8th century CE to make it his home base and from whence he fomented the French Revolution and other mischief, and now sends flying saucers to patrol Egypt and prepare for his eventual triumphal return to Jerusalem. The success of the genre provoked a "counteroffensive" by pious conservatives (Abdellatif Ashur, Muhammad Bayyumi Magdi, and Muhammad Shahawi) disturbed by the liberties Said Ayyub and others had taken with Islamic doctrine. Al-Qaeda used "apocalyptic predictions in both its internal and external messaging" according to Jessica Stern, and its use of "the name Khorasan, a region that includes part of Iran, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, and from which, it is prophesied, the Mahdi will emerge alongside an army bearing black flags", was thought to be a symbol of end times. According to J.-P. Filiu, out of the mass of Al-Qaeda documents seized after the fall of the Taliban, only one letter made any reference to the apocalypse. A prominent jihadist, Abu Musʿab al-Sūri, (called a "sophisticated strategist" and "articulate exponent of the modern jihad"), somewhat independent and critical of Al-Qaeda, was also much more interested in end times. He wrote, "I have no doubt that we have entered into the age of battles and tribulations [zāman al-malāhim wal-fitan]" He devoted the last 100 pages of his magnum opus on jihad (A Call to Global Islamic Resistance, made available online around 2005) to matters such as the proper chronology and location of related battles and other activities of the Mahdi, the Antichrist, the mountain of gold to be found in the Euphrates river, the Sufyani, Gog and Magog, etc. Abu Musʿab al Zarqawi, the founder of what would become the Islamic State "injected" the apocalyptic message into jihad. and Jurgen Todenhöfer with many dozens of Muslims who had traveled to fight with Islamic State, and by Graeme Wood with Islamic State supporters elsewhere, found "messianic expectation" a strong motivator to join Islamic State. Some dissident Shiʿa in Iraq, oppose not only Sunni, US and Iraqi government forces, but the Shiʿi religious hierarchy as well. In Najaf, in late January 2007, at least 200 were killed in the Battle of Najaf, when several hundred members of an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect known as the Soldiers of Heaven or Jund As-Samāʾ(), allegedly attempted to start a "messianic insurrection" during the holy day of Ashura in the holy city of Najaf; planning to disguise themselves as pilgrims and kill leading Shi'a clerics. The group allegedly believed that spreading chaos would hasten the return of the 12th Imam/Mahdi, or alternately, that their leader, Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim, was the awaited Mahdi. The next year during Ashura a reported 18 officers and 53 militia members were killed in clashes between "millenarian rebels" and police, the violence blamed on followers of one Ahmad al-Hassan, a man claiming the Hidden Iman had designated him as his (the Hidden Imam's) representative (wassi), and who accused Ayatollahs/Shia clerics of being guilty of "aberration and treason, of occupation and tyranny". Islamic State claims of prophecy fulfilment Jihadis of the Islamic State see the fulfillment of many of the "lesser signs" of the coming of Judgement Day in current events. Its generally agreed that Israel Arab wars have been wars between Muslims and Jews (which were prophesied), and that moral standards have declined leading to rampant fornication, alcohol consumption, and music listening. That Muslim states are being led by those who do not deserve to lead them, is an article of faith among jihadis and many other Muslims. ISIS alleges that worship of the pre-Islamic deity al-Lat is being practiced by its Shia enemy Hezbollah. The naked shepherds who will build tall buildings is interpreted to refer to builders of skyscrapers in the Gulf State who are "only a generation or two out of desert poverty". But the Islamic State is also attempting to fulfill prophecies itself to hasten end times. Zarqawi published "communiqués detailing the fulfillment of specific predictions" found in a famous book on jihad and end times called, A Call to a Global Islamic Resistance by Abu Musab al Suri. His successor, Al-Baghdadi, took "the fulfillment of apocalyptic portents even more seriously". According to Hassan Abbas, at least part of ISIS's motivation in killing and otherwise provoking Shia is to "deliberately ... instigate a war between Sunnis and Shi'a, in the belief that a sectarian war would be a sign that the final times has arrived"; and also explains the ISIS Siege of Kobanî—a town of 45,000 was under siege by ISIS from September 2014 to January 2015. "In the eschatological literature, there is reference to crisis in Syria and massacre of Kurds—this is why Kobane is important." Thus, "ISIS's obsession with the end of the world" helps explain its lack of interest in the "ordinary moral rules" of the temporal world, according to Jessica Stern. If you are "participating in a cosmic war between good and evil", (and if everyone will be dead and then resurrected relatively soon anyway), pedestrian concerns about saving the lives of the innocent are of little concern. ==Similarities among Abrahamic beliefs==

Islam is similar to other Abrahamic religions in teaching the bodily resurrection of the dead, the fulfillment of a divine plan for creation, and the immortality of the human soul, that the righteous are rewarded with the pleasures of Heaven and the wicked punished with the torment of Hell. == Questions and criticism ==

Among the problems critics see with some of the concepts of, and attention given to, the eschatology of Islam, are its effect on the socio-economic health of the Muslim world, the basis of the scripture (particularly the hadith) dealing with end times, and the rational implausibility of some of the theological concepts such as resurrection of the dead. Mustafa Akyol criticizes the current focus of the Muslim community on apocalypticism and the use of the forces of the Dajjal to explain stagnation in the Muslim world in the past two centuries vis-à-vis the West (and now East Asia). He argues that if supernatural evil is believed to be the cause of the problems of Muslims, then practical solutions such as "science, economic development and liberal democracy" will be ignored in favor of divine intervention. ==See also==