How does Eschatology shape politics in the Middle East?

Thanks again to Terry Cropper.

When became a preterist many years ago I started to see some very specific similarly, in theological ideas between Islam and Christianity. How we view eschatology shapes out word views. In this note will look at some of the leading ideas in the Islamic world view. It can be safely assumed that the great majority of Muslims in the world have no desire to join a jihad or to politicize their religion.

However religion and theology has inspired young Muslim men and women to use religion as a political tool to bring about radical change in state and society. Radical Islamist like Osama bin Laden, and others have supplied the ammunition and arguments for dissatisfied and alienated young men to rebel against the existing sociopolitical order at home and its great powers. Is a call to jihad (holy war). These "radical Muslim terrorists" are simply living in accordance with how they believe theology that is within the Koran.

The Key Concepts.

It might come as a surprise to some just how vital the doctrine of (Last Things) is in Islam. Unlike some Christian theologians, Muslim scholars generally do not try to present a strict chronological order of what is going to ultimately transpire. However, the Qur’an, commentators point to frightful conditions before the final Judgment. Islamic use such passage that illustrates this oft-repeated theme is "The Folding Up": as seen below.

When the sun with its spacious light is folded up; When the stars fall, losing their luster; When the mountains vanish like a mirage; When the she-camels, ten months with young, are left untended; When the wild beasts are herded together in human habitations; When the oceans boil over with a swell; When the souls are sorted out being joined like with like; When the female infant buried alive, is questioned—for what crime she was killed; When the Scrolls are laid open; When the world on high is unveiled; When the blazing fire is kindled to fierce heat; And when the Garden is brought near—Then shall each know what it has put forward. So verily I call to witness the planets that recede. Go straight, or hide; And the night as it dissipates; And the dawn as it breathes away the darkness.

In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain similarly, beliefs concerning theological and the end. The Shiite Muslims that are looking for the 12th Imam. Christians look for Jesus’ 2nd coming, the Jews await the Messiah.

For Shiite Muslims the Imam holds the most exalted position available to man, second only to the Prophet Muhammad. In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic end of time. Sunnis too believe an Imam may be a prophet; An Imam is said to be anointed by Allah and a perfect example of leading mankind in every way.

Much has been written of late concerning the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who claims that he had a mystical vision of the return of the 12th Islamic Imam, a child who disappeared around the age of 5 years (about 13th Century) who will supernaturally return just before the Day of Judgment the Mahdi, the Islamic Messiah. When this Mahdi returns, he will reign for 7 years and then bring final judgment and the end of the world. Part of this fantasy, is also the inspiration for many of his co-rulers.

This reality is horrifying in the context of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's verbalized fantasy of annihilating Israel. So you can now understand why the annihilation of Israel is a big deal. Ahmadinejad’s eschatology plays in Iranian foreign policy. Ahmadinejad's world view is shaped by the radical eschatology.

Ahmadinejad had clearly indicated that he is a true believer of this faith and has been talking about the immenant return of the 12th Imam.

Imam, will return just before the end of the world. His appearance will be preceded by a number of prophetic events during 3 years of horrendous world chaos, tyranny and oppression. Will rule over the Arabs and the world for 7 years etc. The 12th Imam theory plays heavily into the world’s current concerns with Iran. Within Islam none are more reminiscent of the Christian scriptures than those which speak of the "The Day" or "The Hour" when destruction will come.

In order to save the world, it must be in a state of chaos and subjugation. Ahmadinejad claims he was “directed by Allah to pave the way for the glorious appearance of the Mahdi”. The 12th Imam is also called the Hidden Imam and the Mahdi (guided one).

.The more common Islamic expressions are yawm al-qiyammah (The Day of Resurrection), yawm ad-din (The Day of Judgment) or al-yawm al-akhir (The Last Day). As in the Bible, particularly in 1 Thessalonians 4:1318 "The Hour" comes suddenly, announced by a shout, a thunderclap or a trumpet blast. This conflict, in their view, is destined to end with the hegemony of Islam. In the words of Osama bin Laden, jihad warriors the world over are fighting, "so that Allah’s Word and religion reign supreme."

Some of the other similarities are. The Jews will be gathered together. Final battle between Muslims and Jews. Quran also contains a version of the "Gog & Magog" war from the Bible with several differences. Judgment announced with the trumpet of an archangel. Qu'ran 36:51 "And the trumpet shall be blown, and, lo! they shall speed out of their sepulchres to their Lord:" Signs of the End Times. Major and minor signs will reveal that the end times have arrived (Sura 21:96, 27:82, 43:61)

According to intelligence sources, many of the terrorists with al-Qaida ties who are crossing over into Iraq are doing so because they believe the Islamic messiah has come or is coming soon. It is these radical followers of Osama bin Laden that are responsible for all the recent rash of coordinated attacks that are becoming more organized and powerful.

Since the end of 2001, Bin Laden has been signing his name "Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden" rather than his usual Osama bin Laden. According to people in the know this is significant because it gives bin Laden a messianic dimension. Many believe that Osama bin Laden aspires to be a propheyic "Mahdi" of Islam. The Mahdi (guided one) in Islamic eschatology is a prophecy about the redeemer of Islam who will change the world into a perfect society befor Yaum al- Qiyamah, literally meaning the "Day of Resurrection" (the end time) Source Wikipedia.

Certain historical factors add important to understanding the Muslim view of reality, and help explain why Muslims are still captivated by this ideology today.

Finally, it must be recognized that most Christians today do not differ in their interpretation of the biblical end time data and, consequently, are also captivated by their ideology as will.

Too many within the church today approach the study of Bible prophecy through the eyes of a favorite "expert" instead of a researched observation of what scripture actually says. Because this is true, many prophecy texts when "studied," go completely "unstudied," as words are sloppily overlooked and unconsciously read into passages to substantiate previously formulated doctrines and beliefs. We must also realize that what people believe today wasn’t always the major mindset.

Now Listen to these suggestions by Kurt Aland....we discover a decisive turning point in the second half of the second century a watershed decisive for the development of the Christian church.

It was the definite conviction not only of Paul, but of all Christians of that time, that they themselves would experience the return of the Lord; The Apocalypse expresses the fervent waiting for the end withing the circles in which the writer lived-not an expectation that will happen at some unknown point x in time, but one in the immediate present. If we browse through the writings of that period we observe that this expectation of the end continued. In fact, we also find ti the writing of the first half of the second century sufficient evidence to indicate that the expectation of the Parousia was by no means at an end then.

At the end of the Didache ("the teaching of the twelve apostles"), from the time shortly after 100, there is, for example, an apocalyptic chapter which corresponds completely in its outline to the Synoptic apocalypse in Mark 13 (and the parallel chapters in the other Synoptic Gospels.); here we can only very cautiously say that it used the same words, but that its content is imperceptibly in the process of change. It quite similar to the Epistle of Barnabas which was written a little later that the Didache, where we read: (The day is near in which everything will perish together with the evil. The Lord ans his recompense are near).

Again and again the old expressions echo. They echo apparently almost unchanged, but ("doubt about the imminence of the Lord's return is increasingly mixed with them until around the middle of the second century when the Shepherd of Hermas thinks he has found a solution and expresses it with great thoroughness and emphaisi: the Parousia-the Lord's return-has been postponed for the sake of Christians them selves. The building of the tower has not been stopped,) it is only temporarily suspended. Therefore and this is the warning of the Shepherd of Hermas, on account of which the entire work was really written do good works for your purification, for if you delay too long, the construction of the tower may be finished and you will not be included as stones built into it.

The thought of a postponement of the Parousia appears all through 2 Clement but here it is expressly mentioned for the first time. Thus, about the middle of the second century, a decisive turning point occurs one which can be compared in significance to all other great turning points, including the Reformation. Obviously, we cannot fix this turning point precisely at the year 150, for it took a while until the though caught hold everywhere. But a development does begin with the Shepherd of Hermas which could not be stopped-a development at the end of which we stand today. As soon as the thought of a postponement of the Parousia was uttered once and indeed not only incidentally, but thoroughly presented in an entire writing-it developed its (own life and power).

At first, people looked at it as only a brief postponement, as the Shepherd of Hermas clearly expresses. But soon, as the end of the world did not occur, it was conceived of as a longer and longer period, until finally-this is today's situation nothing but the thought of a postponement exists in people's consciousness. (Kurt Aland. A History of Christianity. (2 vols.) Fortress Press: 1985. Vol. 1,pp.89-102

As one can easily see, they originally understood rightly that the time of fulfillment was to be imminent until the middle of the second century when they began to abandon that and suggest the delay/ postponement ideas. When the remaining fulfillment's associated with Christ's parousia did not occur in the physical-literal way they had expected, they assumed they had not been fulfilled at all. The same problem persists today, and can be solved by following correct Biblical interpretation methods. We need to get back to the study of Biblical Judaism. We need to get back to original understood of the Bible.