In every religion, there is the belief of “End Times Prophecies”, that talk about a savior coming (or coming back), that will lead a great army of good against the evil in the world. He will prosecute, on behalf of God, the evildoers who will suffer humiliation and shame, while the true ‘believers’ will be vindicated and will live in a utopia on earth.
In Christian eschatology there is the return of Jesus, in Jewish eschatology there is the Moshiach (savior). And in Islamic eschatology there is the Mahdi. What most people do not realize is that these prophecies did not come from God or his prophets. Rather, these ‘prophecies’ came from the devil, to misguide the believers into becoming disbelievers.
In this article, I will not attempt to prove why and how all eschatology are forgeries. Rather, in this article we will assume this assertion. Many individuals would nevertheless rather choose to believe in these eschatological stories because they are wishful thinking. Many would defend themselves stating, “where’s the harm if I have hope in God bringing us a savior to bring justice to the world?” This article aims to answer that question. This belief, if we assume comes from a non-divine message, what does that mean for your faith? The answer is it is disbelief and evil.
What does it mean to be a disbeliever (or kufar)? It means to reject a belief. That is all. It is to reject a belief that is primary to the religion God. The religion of God comes from the message of God. In Islam, there are only 5 beliefs that a person must hold to be considered a Muslim in faith. One must in (1) Allah, (2) The Last Day, (3) Angels, (4) the Books, and (5) the prophets.
Righteousness is not in turning your faces towards the east or the west. Rather, the righteous are those who believe in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Books, and the prophets; who give charity out of their cherished wealth to relatives, orphans, the poor, ˹needy˺ travellers, beggars, and for freeing captives; who establish prayer, pay alms-tax, and keep the pledges they make; and who are patient in times of suffering, adversity, and in ˹the heat of˺ battle. It is they who are true ˹in faith˺, and it is they who are mindful ˹of Allah˺. – Quran – 2:177
When you believe in prophecies about the future, or end time events, you are doing kufr and shirk. Nowhere did Allah give us any information about future events other than one event, and that is the last Day. That is the only future event that Allah has told us about. That is the day of judgement, a day that will come unexpectedly, where we will be judged for our sins, and Allah will send us either to heaven or hell.
Allah did not talk of a war during the last days before judgement day. No future events are guaranteed, promised, or even hinted at by Allah swt. The future is called gyab (the unseen), and no one knows it except Allah. Even the timing of the last Day is unknown. Allah refers to it as “near”:
إِنَّا أَنذَرْنَاكُمْ عَذَابًا قَرِيبًا يَوْمَ يَنظُرُ الْمَرْءُ مَا قَدَّمَتْ يَدَاهُ وَيَقُولُ الْكَافِرُ يَا لَيْتَنِي كُنتُ تُرَابًا – Verily, We have warned you of a Penalty near, the Day when man will see (the deeds) which his hands have sent forth, and the Unbeliever will say, “Woe unto me! Would that I were (mere) dust!” – Quran – 78:40
As you see the only future event Allah tells us about is the Last day, and we know it will happen “near” in time, and we don’t know when it will happen. It will be unexpected. This is a basic belief of Allah’s religion. Otherwise, if you knew when judgement day was, you could sin until you got older in age, then asked for forgiveness and go to heaven.
If you likewise wait until judgement day and decide then to change your ways, Allah also says it will be too late then:
Are they awaiting the coming of the angels, or your Lord ˹Himself˺, or some of your Lord’s ˹major˺ signs? On the Day your Lord’s signs arrive, belief will not benefit those who did not believe earlier or those who did no good through their faith. Say, “Keep waiting! We too are waiting.” – Quran – 3:158
Allah will ask you about the gods you used to claim, where are they? You will say you are not a polytheist. But Allah will tell you that you are a liar, you based your belief and hope in words from unguided men rather than God’s messenger.
وَيَوْمَ نَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعًۭا ثُمَّ نَقُولُ لِلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوٓا۟ أَيْنَ شُرَكَآؤُكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تَزْعُمُونَ
ثُمَّ لَمْ تَكُن فِتْنَتُهُمْ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوا۟ وَٱللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ
ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ كَذَبُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ ۚ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يَفْتَرُونَ
˹Consider˺ the Day We will gather them all together then ask those who associated others ˹with Allah in worship˺, “Where are those gods you used to claim?”
Their only argument will be: “By Allah, our Lord! We were never polytheists.”
See how they will lie about themselves and how those ˹gods˺ they fabricated will fail them! (6:22-24)
As we see, believing in words from imposters is no small sin, it is kufar and shirk and risks your soul. One may say, “But I don’t see the issue, I am placing my hope in Allah bringing me a savior”. Let me explain the harm. Many people will believe that these prophecies are gospel, just as we see today. When this happens, the programming of your religion changes. God becomes your mahdi who you await. Your belief in Mahdi is what saves you. And your challenges in religion become differed for a future date that will never come.
This can have disastrous consequences. Your savior may differ depending on your sect, which will cause division among your religion. We can see the disastrous consequences of that happening. You may refrain from giving zakat, helping, defending, or even go to war with the “other” who fails to acknowledge the specific saint you await. Or, you believe that your Mahdi will be more sympathetic to your sect, and will kill all other sects, thereby rendering your association with other sects a betrayal to your god – which is your Mahdi. Your religion becomes trying to be patient for, prepare for, and defend the savior who will never come, and it will become tied to your sect.
Similarly, on a personal level, you may be committing sins. Drinking alcohol, gambling, fortune telling, failure to pay any zakat, gossip, failure to tell the truth, perhaps steal or commit fraud, and perhaps aligning yourself with non-Muslims against Muslims from other sects. If your conscience asks you why are you committing these sins, you may justify this with the belief that one day you will become a better Muslim, but you live in the age with no savior and when your savior comes there will be justice in the world and you can more easily live as a good Muslim then, without the injustice that all the “disbelievers” have caused in the world.
Again, someone may ask you, “what if judgement day happens today and Allah will call you to account for all your sins”, you may respond, “Judgement day is far off, the signs of the end times have not even started”. Many are waiting for a loud shout to announce the appearance of the Mahdi, but this shout will be from the Sufyan or anti-Christ seeking to mislead people. Once that happens if you believed in the Mahdi all along, you will not fall for the deception. You can then fix your sins.
The central message changes from, believe and that will guide you on how to do good. To, believe and your sins will be forgiven. That is the central distortion that comes from the devil. Believe in the Mahdi, and you will be accepted into the exclusive club, your sins will be forgiven by the Mahdi for being such a loyal believer for all these years.
However, if you believed in the last Day coming at any time, you would live your day-to-day life trying to do good to the best of your abilities and realize that life is now not deferred for some time to the future.
I have only touched upon some of the twisted false beliefs that can arise when someone believes in eschatology, the distortions and evil are never ending. How many sins, divisions, apathetic non-action, wasted donations, and ignorance have mislead the Muslim ummah awaiting a Mahdi who will never come.
We see the same in Christianity and Judaism. Zionism itself was born out of eschatology, to make their Moshiach come faster. Christianity also helps Zionism also due to this false belief. We also see Shias at war with the world, still calling upon their saviors instead of Allah. Would the strategies of Shias have been different if they realized their Mahdi may never come? Would Sunnis who align with Israel acted any differently if they knew these stories about end times are all false?
Eschatology is not the only forgery in Islam that has caused evil, however it is one of the largest. The end times signs that everyone is waiting for will never come, and Muslims will live out their lives and make state policies based upon the belief that their sect is perfect, and the only action needed from them is to not align with the traitors of the religion, and to wait for their savior?
In the eschatological sense, having Muslims killed could be in preparation for the Mahdi to come as, if these Muslims were on the side of good, then Mahdi would have come to save them by now. When asked by Allah swt in the end times as to why they did nothing, they will respond by saying, “we were waiting for your savior to come”.
Allah will ask them, “where did you hear this idea from?” They will respond with “Sahih Bukhari (or some other forefather)”. Allah will bring the individual (if they exist) to them, and ask this individual, did you say this?
قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ حَقَّ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْقَوْلُ رَبَّنَا هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ ٱلَّذِينَ أَغْوَيْنَآ أَغْوَيْنَـٰهُمْ كَمَا غَوَيْنَا ۖ تَبَرَّأْنَآ إِلَيْكَ ۖ مَا كَانُوٓا۟ إِيَّانَا يَعْبُدُونَ ٦٣
Those ˹misleaders˺ against whom the decree ˹of torment˺ is justified will cry, “Our Lord! These ˹followers˺ are the ones we caused to deviate. We led them into deviance, for we ourselves were deviant. We disassociate ourselves ˹from them˺ before You. It was not us that they used to worship.” (Quran 28:63)
وَقِيلَ ٱدْعُوا۟ شُرَكَآءَكُمْ فَدَعَوْهُمْ فَلَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا۟ لَهُمْ وَرَأَوُا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ ۚ لَوْ أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ يَهْتَدُونَ ٦٤
It will be said ˹to the disbelievers˺, “Call upon your associate-gods ˹for help.” So they will call them, but will receive no response. And they will face the punishment, wishing they had been guided! (Quran 28:64)
Also here:
بَلْ هُمُ ٱلْيَوْمَ مُسْتَسْلِمُونَ ٢٦
In fact, on that Day they will be ˹fully˺ submissive. (Quran 37:26)
وَأَقْبَلَ بَعْضُهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍۢ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ ٢٧
They will turn on each other, throwing blame. (Quran 37:27)
قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَأْتُونَنَا عَنِ ٱلْيَمِينِ ٢٨
The misled will say, “It was you who deluded us away from what is right.” (Quran 37:28)
قَالُوا۟ بَل لَّمْ تَكُونُوا۟ مُؤْمِنِينَ ٢٩
The misleaders will reply, “No! You disbelieved on your own. (Quran 37:29)
وَمَا كَانَ لَنَا عَلَيْكُم مِّن سُلْطَـٰنٍۭ ۖ بَلْ كُنتُمْ قَوْمًۭا طَـٰغِينَ ٣٠
We had no authority over you. In fact, you yourselves were a transgressing people. (Quran 37:30)
فَحَقَّ عَلَيْنَا قَوْلُ رَبِّنَآ ۖ إِنَّا لَذَآئِقُونَ ٣١
The decree of our Lord has come to pass against us ˹all˺: we will certainly taste ˹the punishment˺. (Quran 37:31)
There are many more verses that describe this. Such as Surah Al-Qasas 28:62–64, Surah Al-Furqan 25:17–18, Surah Saba’ 34:31–33, Surah Al-A‘raf 7:38–39, and Surah Ibrahim 14:21, and more. Being ignorant is not an excuse because there is no person who ever claimed to be a prophet of God, that had a message, mislead the people. Rather, there are many who claim to be “students of knowledge”, that will use a prior prophet’s message and “interpret” it for you. These interpretations will add or remove parts of the message. The only way you can become misguided is if you believe in these individuals who are have never claimed to possess divine guidance.
Often these individuals have created their own position of authority, and you have chosen upon your own free will to believe them. There is no excuse for this, and Allah will not forgive your sins if you take anyone other than Allah as your guardian. The message of Allah asks very little in the way of beliefs or practice. Literally the main point of religion is to detach yourself from false idols. If you failed in this mission
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