1. Many of the classical
commentaries mention that Jasad, linguistically, is a human body inclusive of
the head and flesh but without the Ruh. [at-Tafsir al-Kabir, atTabarani; Ruh
al-Bayan, Isma’il Haqqi; Majma’ul Bayan, at-Tabarsi; Anwar at-Tanzil, Baidawi;
al-Bahr al-Muhit, Abu Hayyan; Gharaib al-Qur’an, Nizam ad-Din an-Naisapuri;
al-Bahr al-Madid, Ibn ‘Ajibah; at-Tas-hil, Ibn Juzayy al-Gharnati; Ruh
al-Ma’ani, al-Alusi]
2. Most modern
commentaries in English, Tamil and Malay have repeated most of the content
mentioned in the classical commentaries. The only exception appears to be
Maududi's commentary in which he mentions that the Jasad could possibly also
refer to Nabi Sulaiman's ʿalayhi as-salām son who ruled for a short time
after his father as a “good-for-nothing” since it is linguistically compatible
to name a weak ruler such. He then lost the kingdom soon after he assumed
power. Most of the modern commentators of the Qur’an like Prof. Hamka seem to
incline towards Imam al-Razi's commentary (refer to No. 5 below).
Amongst the modern
commentaries, al-Sha’rawi’s (d.1418H) is worth mentioning. He says in his
commentary to this verse that Fitnah is not something reprehensible, and that
the origin of the word Fitnah is the smelting of gold to purify it: “Gold is
mixed with other materials and we want it to be pure; so what do we do? We
smelt the gold in fire so that impurities are removed from it until it becomes
clean and pure from them. In like manner, Fitnah purifies mankind to clarify
the good from the bad, and Allah had caused Sulaiman to go through Fitnah like
he had caused his father Daud to go through Fitnah.” He further comments on
Jasad, “(it is) a body and structure outwardly visible that does not contain in
it a Ruh, and about which Allah says, “And Behold in due proportion I fashioned
it and breathed into it…” (15:29) i.e. al-Jasad (“it”) and referring to which
He, Most High, mentioned in the story of Samiriyy (al-Qur’an, 20:88): “Then he
(Samiriyy) brought out (of the fire) before the (people) the Jasad of a calf
that seemed to low…” meaning: the structure of a calf and its physical body,
one that is clearly visible but without a Ruh.”
3. Amongst all the
narrations mentioned in the classical Tafasir, only one is a Marfu' Hadith
recorded in al-Bukhari and Muslim. Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet
Muhammad ʿalayhi as-salām said that Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām
went to all his wives on a particular night with the hope that all of them will
conceive a child each and will bear him an army of horsemen who will fight in
the path of Allah, just that he did not say Insha Allah, therefore only one
lady conceived and later she gave birth to a deformed and dead child. The
Prophet then went on to say that if only he had said Insha Allah, he would have
received an army of horsemen who would have fought with him Fi Sabilillah. The
Mufassirun say that this dead child was placed on his throne and this could be
the Jasad. However, the Prophet ʿalayhi as-salām did not mention that
this is the incident referred to in the verse and that it was the dead child
that was referred to as Jasad in the verse, which if it was, he would normally
specify, hence all the commentators are unsure if this is the Jasad (the dead
child) that was placed on his throne. Imam al-Bukhari too did not record this
Hadith in his book of Tafsir. It therefore remains as an authentic incident
that had happened in Nabi Sulaiman's life but we are unable to confirm this to
be the incident referred to in the verse. Al-Qushayri, al-Zamakhshari, Abu
Hayyan, al-Tabarsi, al-Razi, al-Qurtubi, al-Baidawi, al-Mawardi, al-Baghawi, Ibn
‘Abd as-Salam, al-Nasafi, Isma’il Haqqi, Ibn ‘Ajibah, ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani,
al-Alusi and others have included this as a possible explanation of the verse
in their commentaries.
4. All other narrations
lead back to ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas and some other Tabi'in and Tabi' al-Tabi'in
but not to the Prophet; some to Ka'b al-Ahbar too. These narrations are mostly
only compiled as “it has been narrated”, “so-and-so said” and “it is said” but
not as confirmed explanations of the event that is referred to in this verse of
the Qur’an. Thousands of commentaries were more often than not compilations of
narrations and interpretations unless otherwise clearly stated by the Mufassir,
or commentator of the Qur’an. In this case, no Mufassir has clearly state that
this is the incident referred to in the verse. They are in summary as follows:
A. Nabi Sulaiman conquered an island
kingdom called Saidun, killed the king who was a tyrant and married his
daughter who embraced Islam but remained unhappy. Her name was Jaradah. Some
say she did not embrace Islam. She longed for her father's company and missed
his court, therefore requested Nabi Sulaiman to instruct the Shayatin, i.e.,
Jinn who are Satans, to make for her a structure of her father. He did so and
she soon started to prostrate to the image together with her maids in the
palace in reminiscence of what she used to do in her king-father’s presence.
This carried on without the knowledge of the Prophet (according to some for
forty days). Later he found out this had been happening and destroyed the
image, burnt it and dispersed its ash in the air. Jasad in this narration
therefore would refer to this image/idol of her father. Al-Zamakhshari has this
with the comment that Allah knows best about the soundness of this narration.
Al-Qurtubi narrates this from Wahb ibn Munabbih and also records another version
which has it that Jaradah remained an idol-worshipper even after the marriage,
brought an idol made of Ruby into the house of Nabi Sulaiman and had been
worshipping it in secret for forty days without his knowledge until she
eventually submitted in Islam. Al-Qushayri, al-Mawardi, al-Baidawi, Ibn ‘Abd
as-Salam, as-Suyuti, ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani, al-Baghawi (with an extended
version of this story leading up to the loss of his ring to a Shaitan), ibn
‘Ajibah, al-Jawziy, al-Alusi and others have narrated this. Ibn Juzayy
al-Gharnati has also recorded this with a note that this report is weak because
of its distant possibility that an idol could have been worshipped in the house
of a Nabi, or Prophet, and also due to the distant possibility of a Nabi having
instructed an idol to be made.
B. A child was born to Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi
as-salām The Shayatin feared that they will be forced to labour for the
kingdom for another generation after the Prophet so they plotted to kill him or
make him a handicap. Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām feared that they would
achieve it so he concealed him for safety in the clouds and the winds gave him
the nourishment he needed but Allah caused the child to die, according to
Isma’il Haqqi, due to his trusting the clouds and the wind and fear for the
harms from the Shayatin. This Jasad—dead body—was then placed on his throne.
Al-Qurtubi has paraphrased this from al-Sha’biyy saying that he was made to
suffer the ill consequence because of his fear for the harm the Shayatin could
cause his child and that he did not realize this until the dead child fell on
his throne. Al-Qushayri, az-Zamakhshari, al-Nasafi, al-Baidawi, al-Mawardi, Ibn
‘Abd as-Salam, ibn ‘Ajibah, and others have included this in their
commentaries. Al-Alusi has also recorded this but argues that this is a false
report by the very apparent sequence of the verses that follow. He says that
the wind was subjected to Nabi Sulaiman only after the Fitnah had occurred and
therefore this could not have been true. He says this is a fabrication.
C. Al-Suyuti in his al-Durr al-Manthur
has reproduced a Hadith recorded in al-Awsat of al-Tabarani with a weak chain
from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet ʿalayhi as-salām said, “A child was
born to Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām. He said to (one) Shaitan, “Will you
conceal him from death?” They (the Shayatin) said, “We will take him to the
East.” He said, “Death will reach him.” They said, “Then to the West.” He said,
“It will reach him.” They said, “To the seas.” He said, “Death will reach him.”
They (then) said, “We shall place him in between the heavens and the earth.”
And then the angel of death descended and said, “I was commanded to take a
soul; I looked for it in the seas, I looked for it in all the boundaries of the
earth but I did not reach it, and while I was ascending I found him and so I
took his soul.” (The Prophet then carried on to say) His Jasad came and fell on
the throne of Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām. And that is the mentioning of
Allah, ‘We had certainly tested Sulaiman and we placed on his throne a Jasad
and then he turned.’” al-Tabarani however did not record this in his Tafsir to
the verse even though he had compiled it in his collection of hadith. This
Hadith according to Ibn Kathir, al-Jawziy and al-Suyuti himself in another of
his books, is a fabrication. It is said about this hadith that no one doubts it
is fabricated unless one entertains doubts (in the tenets of Iman) that the
Prophets of Allah may peace be upon them are infallible.
D. Sa’id ibn Jubayr said that Nabi Sulaiman
ʿalayhi as-salām went to the lavatory and left his ring with his most
reliable wife called Aminah. A Shaitan took on his form and appeared before the
lady and took the ring from her. The kingdom came under his control. Qatadah
said that Sulaiman gave the ring to the Shaitan who then threw it into the sea.
Sa’id ibn al-Musayyab said he put the ring under his bed when going into the
lavatory. A Shaitan took it and flung it into the sea. These three reports are
recorded in the Tafsir of al-Jawziy well summarized from al-Tabari,
az-Zamakhshari, al-Qurtubi and others. Here the Jasad refers to the Shaitan who
sat on the throne of Nabi Sulaiman in his form.
E. Mujahid said that Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi
as-salām asked a Shaitan, “How do you cause Fitnah amongst people?” He
said, “Give me your ring, and I'll inform you.” When he gave him his ring, the
Shaitan flung it into the sea. His kingdom left him and the Shaitan, or Satan,
sat on the Prophet’s throne (as the Jasad mentioned in the verse). The ring and
the kingdom eventually came back to the Prophet. Al-Suyuti in his al-Durr
al-Manthur and many others amongst the Mufassirin have recorded this. Here too
the Jasad refers to the Shaitan, or Satan, taking the form of Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām and
taking over his rule.
F. Nabi Daud ʿalayhi as-salām
had another son who during Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām rule rebelled against him and took his
kingdom from him and stood as King in Nabi Sulaiman’s place for a long period
of time. When Allah Almighty wished to return the rule to Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām, he made the usurper
a lifeless body on the throne that had no movement, meaning, from a king obeyed
and who had control over a vast dominion, Allah Almighty snatched his power and
made him one who had absolutely no control over anything, even over himself and
his own limbs. His own people turned against him and was eventually killed by
them. Then Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām regained control over his
kingdom. Ash-Sha’rawi has recorded this attributing it to the classical
Mufassirin.
G. Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām
had withdrawn from public life for three days and due to that Allah Almighty had placed
a Shaitan, or Satan, on his throne as a punishment for his withdrawing from the
people. Al-Razi and others have included this in their commentaries. The
different possible names of the Shaitan are also mentioned in these narrations,
namely, Sakhr, Asaf or Hubqiq, as well as the reasons why Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi
as-salām was put on this Divine trial. For example, al-Qurtubi narrates
from Ka’b al-Ahbar who said, “When he (Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām) wronged the horses by
killing them, his kingdom was taken from him for forty days”, and that it is
also said he had taken an oath not to marry anyone outside of Banu Israil but
he broke his oath therefore made to suffer the trial. They also state why and
how he turned back to Allah Almighty.
“Then he turned to Allah
in repentance”, or “Then the kingdom/power/his rule returned to him”. Ibn
alJawziy writes that the former is the view of Qatadah and the latter that of
ad-Dahhak. Ibn ‘Abd as-Salam mentions the above two and a third: “... or (he
“returned” meaning) he became free from his illness.”
5.
Al-Razi divides all opinions on the matter into two categories: (1) The opinion
of those who have gathered stuffing and mere stories and (2) the opinion of
those who have verified factual evidence. Under the former he has collected A,
D, a combination of A and D, E, and G. He relates why the people of the latter
category have chosen to reject the stories of the former category. Amongst
these reasons are that Shaitan, or Satan, cannot take the form of a Nabi and
that a Nabi will not allow an idol to be worshipped and even if that had
happened without his knowledge, how would Allah Almighty have punished him for
a deed done without his knowledge? Under the latter category, he has collected
3, B and a third interpretation which is that Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām
was struck by a severe illness that made him appear like a Jasad in his
physical capacity and that was his trial based on the expression of the Arabs
to describe a person who is severely ill; they call such a person a Jism
(synonym for Jasad with a slight difference) without a Ruh. Carrying on the
linguistic interpretation, he gives a fourth which is his own view:
“It is not dismissible to
think that he could have been tested with the imposition of fear in him at one
point in his rule, or trials caused by some of his officials and institutions
that could have caused him fear/worry that weakened his power to the extent
that made him like a Jasad in his rule at one point.” He is of the opinion that
Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām himself appeared like a Jasad on his throne/in
his rule. This then would mean that Kursiyy, i.e., throne or chair, in the
verse would refer to his position of authority and Jasad would mean his
weakened capacity to handle the troubles he faced from his own people.
6. Ibn 'Atiyyah says that
the consensus is that the Jasad refers to a certain Jinn (mentioned in these
narrations) because it had been appearing in the bodily form of Nabi Sulaiman
ʿalayhi as-salām while in reality it was not the Prophet whose form people saw. Al-Qadi Abu
Muhammad said this is the most correct view and the clearest in meaning. This
appears to be close to Maulana Imran Hosein’s interpretation except that the
Jasad is Dajjal, not a Jinn. Someone appearing like Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi
as-salām in Jasad is clearer in meaning than to say Sulaiman ʿalayhi
as-salām himself appeared as a Jasad in a metaphorical sense.
Dr. Burhan Ahmad Faruqi – the philosopher of
history
No one can possibly write
a book concerning Dajjal, the Anti-Christ, and the beginning of history,
without a knowledge of the philosophy of history. The seed of this book may
have been planted in the 1930s, at the Aligarh Muslim University in India, when
two students, who were dear friends, Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari and Burhan
Ahmad Faruqi, pursued studies for their PhDs in Philosophy under the guidance
of Prof. Dr. Syed Zafar-ul-Hassan.
Dr. Faruqi eventually
wrote a masterpiece of ‘Ilm alKalam, or Islamic Philosophy, entitled ‘A Mujaddid’s
Conception of Tauheed’, and Maulana Dr. Ansari wrote a masterpiece of ‘Ilm al-Akhlaq’
or Islamic Moral Philosophy, entitled The Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim
Society (in 2 vols.).
This writer was blessed,
thirty years later in the 1960s, when both of the scholars had reached the
zenith of their scholarly lives, to have them both as his teachers at the Aleemiyah
Institute of Islamic Studies in Pakistan.Dr. Faruqi taught the philosophy of history, and Dr. Ansari taught the Qur’an
and, vastly more importantly, the methodology for study of the Qur’an. That
methodology was explained in his ‘Quranic Foundations’ book, but was simplified
and expanded in this writer’s recent book entitled ‘Methodology for Study of the
Qur’an’.
More than fifty years
have passed since that dazzling moment in scholarly time at the Aleemiyah
Institute of Islamic Studies in Pakistan, when two truly gifted scholars of
Islam taught and inspired just a handful of students, and built the foundation
on which this pioneering book on Dajjal, as well as the others which will now
follow Insha’ Allah, now rests.
How do we explain an
Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies with a curriculum of studies and a
methodology for study of the Qur’an that differed so significantly from the traditional
Dar al-‘Ulum, or the Jami’ah, i.e., Islamic seminary or university? The answer
lies in the intellectual response of part of the Indian Muslim community to the
challenge of modern western civilization. One part of the Indian Muslim community
recognized that the traditional Islamic education imparted in the Dar al-‘Ulum
was woefully inadequate for a student to even understand the modern world that
had come into being in consequence of the dramatic emergence of modern western
civilization on the stage of the world. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, for example,
mourned over the fact that, according to him: “During the last five hundred
years religious thought in Islam has been practically stationary”
(Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam; Essay entitled ‘Knowledge and
Religious Experience’). Iqbal was referring, of course, to the religious
scholarship that was emerging from the Dar al-‘Ulum.
That part of the Indian
Muslim community which recognized the inadequacy of the Dar al-‘Ulum education,
proceeded to establish an academically independent institution of higher
Islamic learning which would not only teach the religion of Islam, but would
also introduce the student to the modern world of knowledge that had emerged
from western civilization. And so the seed of this book was planted when the Aligarh
Muslim University was established in the rural town of Aligarh in India. It was
truly an academic institution, since it was free of government control.
We will demonstrate
Insha’ Allah, that it was Dajjal who brought the new modern western world into
being, and it is he who is constantly changing it—and with it, the rest of the
world —to bring stranger new worlds into being. Since Dajjal is Allah’s supreme
test for mankind, surpassing everything that preceded him, Dajjal is also the
supreme test for the Dar al ‘Ulum. Not only has the Dar al- ‘Ulum continuously
failed that test for the last few hundred years, but these books on Dajjal will
conclusively demonstrate that it continues to fail that test even to this day.
Indeed, the book on Dajjal and Money Would suffice, Insha’ Allah,
to remove any lingering doubts concerning that subject.
Not only has the Dar
al-‘Ulum failed the test, but even the graduates of western universities and
government-sponsored Islamic universities as well as government-paid Muftis and
other such scholars of Islam, have also failed, sometimes miserably so, in
responding adequately and appropriately to the intellectual challenges posed by
the modern west.
Aligarh-trained Dr.
Faruqi was an intellectual rebel who defied conventional thought as he waved
and thrust his scholarly sword with nary a concern for conventional sensibilities
in the world of knowledge, and in the pursuit of truth. He built the foundation
of his philosophy of history on ‘perennial truth’, with which history
commenced, and insisted that history must end with the triumph of that same
truth. But in-between the beginning of history with ‘truth’, and the end of history
with the ‘re-realization of that truth’, he declared that history moves up and
down in what he described as ‘the zig-zag movement of history’.
The conclusion that
emerged from that philosophy of history was that the arrogant Zionist Western
world, and Dajjal’s Impostor State of Israel, could weave their full spectrum dominance
on the world on whichever cloth they chose, it would make no difference to the
end of history. Truth would still triumph over falsehood, lies, injustice,
oppression and false-flag acts of terrorism in which the alleged Muslim terrorist is
always killed, or commits suicide, hence conveniently avoiding, again and again,
the possibility of a court case.
Without Maulana Dr.
Ansari’s amazing methodology for study of the Qur’an however, it would not have
been possible for the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies to offer a higher Islamic
education which allowed the student to integrate all knowledge into a coherent
whole while critically assessing with the Qur’an, all knowledge that came from
the west. Without that critical intellectual effort at integration of
knowledge, the student would have emerged with a split personality as he straddled
dual intellectual worlds without a bridge with which to cross between them. He
would have studied Islam with one mind, and studied the modern world with a
second mind that was disconnected from the first. Such a scholar would have been,
and would still be, a misfit in both worlds.
It was not possible for
Dr. Faruqi’s philosophy of history to be grounded in the Qur’an without the
application of Dr. Ansari’s methodology for the study of the Qur’an. And so it
was with the combined thought of these two amazing scholars that this book on
‘Dajjal the Qur’an and the Beginning of History’ could be written.
A serious book written at
this time—the late afternoon of history—on the subject of Dajjal the false
Messiah or Anti-Christ, and firmly grounded in the Qur’an, is sure to attract
the attention of many Christians and Jews, in addition, of course, to the
scholars of Islam and the literate world of Islam. This Initial book on Dajjal however,
as well as the books on the subject which will now follow this book, might very
well be judged to be a pioneering attempt to present the scholarly viewpoint of
Islam on this subject. As such it may attract even more attention. For this reason,
we invite serious comments, and even critical responses which can be published
in a second edition Insha’ Allah.Responses can be sent by email to inhosein@hotmail.com, or to our
website www.imranhosein.org. Where this text will be placed for free download
and for comments.
Islamic scholarship and Eschatology
Islamic scholarship
should not be blamed for ignoring eschatology; rather, it would be more
appropriate to recognize that Islamic eschatology could not properly be
developed as a branch of knowledge until events had unfolded sufficiently in the
historical process to allow the discerning scholar to penetrate and recognize
the meaning and implication of several verses of the Qur’an as well several
prophecies of Prophet Muhammad ṣallā -llāhu taʿālā ʿalayhī wa-sallam pertaining
to Akhir al-Zaman or the End-time.
The Qur’an has given
notice that the world is yet to know the Ta’wil or ‘interpretation’ of certain
of its verses perhaps because ‘interpretation’ would be possible only with the
passage of time and the unfolding of events in history:
Allah Most High, discloses above that
there are verses of the Book whose interpretation have not as yet come unto
them ... (Qur’an, Yunus, 10:39)
It would be helpful to
the gentle reader if we were to provide an example of such an event which had
to occur before an important prophecy located in Islamic eschatology, i.e., pertaining
to the End-time, could be interpreted and explained.
Prophet Muhammad ṣallā -llāhu taʿālā ʿalayhī wa-sallam prophesied
more than 1400 years ago, in a Hadith recorded in Sahih Bukhari: that the River
Euphrates would uncover a mountain of gold, and that people would fight for
that gold. He declared that 99 out of every 100 who fight for that gold would
be killed, but that each would believe that he would be the one who would
survive. He ended by warning the believers that they must not touch that gold.
There are those who, in
consequence of using a defective methodology of study, await a mountain of the
metal that would one day emerge from underneath the River. They have already
waited in vain for the fulfilment of this prophecy for more than 1400 years,
and our view is that they will still wait in vain for another 1400 years. We,
however, have recognized the Hadith to be Mutashabihah, i.e., allegorical, and
that it must hence be interpreted in order for its meaning to be penetrated.
Our interpretation of the
Hadith is that when US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, succeeded in making
a satanic deal with Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal in 1974, for oil to be sold for only
USD, the US dollar became a petrodollar, and an ocean of oil underneath the
‘river’ began to function as a mountain of gold supporting the US dollar. This
event was the fulfilment of the Prophet’s ominous prophecy; and Allah Knows
best!
If our interpretation of
the Hadith is correct, then the current rival BRICS monetary system represents
an attack on the mountain of gold petrodollar monetary system that will lead,
inevitably so, to that Great War in which 99% of combatants will be killed.
Only a nuclear war, or a war in which weapons of mass destruction are used, can
result in such a great percentage of fatalities.
Most of the Hadith
pertaining to Dajjal are similar to the above Hadith since they have to be
interpreted in order to be understood; and it was not possible for anyone to
interpret that Hadith until certain events had unfolded in the world of money.
First there was the birth of modern Western civilization with an agenda of
perpetrating universal Fasad on earth (Fasad is that which corrupts to the
extent that it can destroy). The Qur’an identified Gog and Magog as the
perpetrators of that universal Fasad. It did so by first identifying Gog and
Magog with Fasad on earth:
(Qur’an, al-Kahf,
18:94).
After they solved the language
problem of communication, those people informed Dhul Qarnain that Gog and Magog
were inflicting Fasad, i.e., that which corrupts to the extent that it can
cause destruction, in their territory. They then asked whether they could pay
him to build a barrier that would protect them from Gog and Magog.
The Qur’an then said that
Gog and Magog would one day be released into the world, and that the world
would then be subjected to their Fasad as a universal phenomenon:
(Qur’an, al-Anbiyah,
21:95–96).
Allah Most High, disclosed that there
was a Divine ban on the people of a Town (which we identify as Jerusalem) which
was destroyed and from which those people were expelled by Divine decree, that
they could never return to reclaim that town as their own until Gog and Magog
were released, and they then spread out in all directions and hence take
control of the world in the world-order of Gog and Magog.
Since it is the West
which made possible the return of the Jews to Jerusalem to reclaim it as their
own, it is as clear as daylight that Gog and Magog are located within modern Western
civilization. Russia, incidentally, is not a part of the decadent West. A man
cannot marry another man in Russia and get a marriage certificate. Rather the
decadent West is now preparing to wage nuclear war on an Orthodox Christian Russia
which they have hated from the day that the modern West was mysteriously born.
No one could have
understood the prophecy of the ‘mountain of gold’ until the decadent West had
corrupted the world of money by printing paper and using it as money. They then
waged wars of naked aggression in order to colonize the rest of the world and
to impose, through the Bretton Woods Accord, and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), a monetary system in which one paper-money, i.e., the US
dollar, became the ruling money in the world.However France had a great ruler in General Charles De Gaulle, and he
could see through the deception and injustice of that monetary system. The
French challenge to the system eventually forced the US to abandon it in 1971,
and to replace it in 1974 with the petrodollar monetary system that was made
possible through the ‘mountain of gold’.
The Hadith concerning the
ocean of oil functioning as a mountain of gold is also connected to Dajjal
since this book argues that Dajjal will have to demonstrate his capacity to succeed
the Prophet-Kings David and Solomon, i.e., Nabi Daud and Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi
as-salām, for whom Allah caused the earth to bring forth its treasures:
(Qur’an, Saba’, 34:12)
Allah Most High caused a lake of
molten copper to flow at David’s behest.
Prophet Muhammad ṣallā
-llāhu taʿālā ʿalayhī wa-sallamprophesied
(as only a true Prophet can prophesy) that the earth would one day bring forth
its treasures for Dajjal:
He would then walk through the waste
land and say to it: Bring forth your treasures, and the treasures would come
out and collect (themselves) before him like the swarm of bees. (Sahih Muslim)
Hence, there is a direct
connection between Dajjal and the bogus Bretton Woods monetary system which was
eventually replaced by the petrodollar monetary system in which the earth sent
forth its treasures to help Dajjal to continue, and even expand, his control
over the world of money.
For more information and
analysis on this subject, readers may wish to view the following of my
lectures:
We commence, in Chapter
One, our explanation of the subject of Dajjal, or the Anti-Christ,
appropriately so, with a description of his profile. This includes data
concerning him which has to be literally understood, as well as other data
which must be interpreted. It is in that latter exercise that we are led to the
startling discovery in the Qur’an, that Dajjal is a Jasad, i.e., a human body
without a spirit. This leads us to important conclusions which will intrigue
the reader as well as the Zionist Judeo-Christian world.
We then go on to
recognize, through a process of logical deduction, that the Jews must await a
Messiah who would match the Prophet-Kings David and Solomon, i.e., Nabi Daud and
Nabi Sulaiman ʿalayhi as-salām, in respect of power, as well as in
respect of divinely-bestowed miraculous capacities. Solomon was blessed, for
example, with a measure of control over the weather, and Dajjal will therefore
have to demonstrate that he has a similar capacity.
Chapter Two is devoted to
our methodology for study of the subject in which we demonstrate that there is
a link between the beginning and the end of history.
In Chapter Three we take
up our subject with the response of the Rabbis in Yathrib to the query of the
Quraish asking how they could determine whether or not Muhammad ʿalayhi as-salām, the Arab from
Makkah, was indeed a true Prophet of the Lord-God. In their response, the
Rabbis had posed three questions which, according to them, only a Prophet could
answer. One of the questions was about the Ruh or Spirit. This chapter is
devoted to the subject of the Ruh and in doing so it exposes the Jewish claim
to be the chosen people of the Lord-God, to be false.
Chapter Four is devoted
to an analysis of the most important event that occurred at the beginning of
history, i.e., the Divine Command to the Angels, as well as to a Jinn named Iblis,
to bow down in prostration before Adam ʿalayhi as-salām. The analysis of
this event further confirms our conclusion that the Jewish claim to be the
chosen people of the Lord-God is false.
The substance of this
book is located in Chapter Five in which we describe and analyze other events
occurring at the beginning of history which have a direct link with Dajjal’s mission
at the end of history to seek to replicate Solomon’s Holy State of Israel.
Our readers should note
that neither the Qur'an nor the Hadith have referred by name to the Holy State
which was created by David, i.e., Nabi’ Daud ʿalayhi as-salām, and over
which his son also ruled. When we use the name, 'Holy State of Israel', we refer
to that Holy State for which Solomon, i.e., Nabi' Sulaiman ʿalayhi
as-salām, prayed to Allah Most High, that "it can belong to none after
him". Hence this book reminds Dajjal and his Zionist followers, that it
can never be restored.
The Arabic Text of the Qur’an
This book, on Dajjal and
the Beginning of History, is based on the Qur’an, and hence the very substance
of the book is located in the verses of the Qur’an which we have quoted
extensively. We hasten to remind readers that the Qur’an was not revealed in
English, French or Swahili. It was revealed in Arabic, and we have come to the
conclusion, after a life-time of study, that the Qur’an cannot be translated to
another language. Rather, the most that we can do is to try to explain the
Qur’an with the caveat that no one explanation can possibly exhaust its meaning.
Readers must also be made aware that whenever an effort is made to translate
the Arabic text to another language, the scholarship of the translator as well
as his limited understanding of the Arabic text, always influences his translation.
For the above reasons it
is necessary for us to always quote the Arabic text of every verse of the
Qur’an quoted in this book. That text has been Divinely-preserved since the
Book was revealed more than 1400 years ago, and it remains today beyond the
reach of those who may still wish to pursue a futile effort to challenge its
claim to absolute authenticity and integrity.
Whenever a verse of the
Qur’an is quoted in this book, we make an effort to explain its meaning in the
English language. It should not surprise the reader, nor those who will
translate this book to other languages, that an explanation sometimes conveys a
meaning of a verse that is different from a translation.
It would benefit the
reader if we now provide an example of a translated verse in which our
explanation differs in meaning from translations of the verse. It pains us that
wrong understanding of the Qur’an derived from some translations, has caused,
and continues to cause, great damage to those who are thereby misguided. We
provide an example of such in verse 51 of Surah
al-Maidahin which Allah Most
Wise has ordered:
Almost all translations
of this verse to the English language could lead the reader, Christian, Jewish,
Muslim or otherwise, to believe that the Qur’an has prohibited Muslim
friendship and alliance with Christians and Jews. But such an understanding of
the Qur’an would be false. The Qur’an has most certainly not prohibited Muslims
from being friends and allies of all Christians and all Jews; rather, it has
prohibited friendship and alliance with specific Christians and specific Jews.
The gentle reader may
wish to judge for himself the conclusion that can be arrived at from reading
fifteen different translations of the above verse 51 of Surah al-Maidah:
Muhammad Asad: O you who have attained to faith!
Do not take the Jews and the Christians for your allies: they are but allies of
one another and whoever of you allies himself with them becomes, verily,
one of them; behold, God does not guide such evildoers.
Sahih International: O you who have believed, do not take
the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another.
And whoever is an ally to them among you—then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed,
Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.
Pickthall: O ye who believe! Take not the Jews
and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who
taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing
folk.
Yusuf Ali: O ye who believe! Take not the Jews
and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and
protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for
friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.
Shakir: O you who believe! Do not take the
Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and
whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of
them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.
Muhammad Sarwar: Believers, do not consider the Jews
and Christians as your intimate friends for they are only friends with each
other. Whoever does so, will be considered as one of them. God does not guide the
unjust people.
Hilali and Muhsin Khan: O you who believe! Take not
the Jews and the Christians as Auliya' (friends, protectors, helpers, etc.),
they are but Auliya' to one another. And if any amongst you takes them as Auliya',
then surely he is one of them. Verily, Allah guides not those people who are
the Zalimun (polytheists and wrongdoers and unjust).
Allama Nooruddin:O you who believe! Do not take these Jews and the Christians for allies.
They are allies of one to another (when against you), and whoso from amongst
you takes them for allies, is indeed one of them. Verily, Allah does not guide
the unjust people to attain their goal.
Arberry: O believers, take not Jews and
Christians as friends; they are friends of each other. Whoso of you makes them
his friends is one of them. God guides not the people of the evildoers.
Muhammad Ali:O you who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians for
friends. They are friends of each other. And whoever amongst you takes them for
friends he is indeed one of them. Surely Allah guides not the unjust people.
Talal Itani: O you who believe! Do not take the
Jews and the Christians as allies; some of them are allies of one another.
Whoever of you allies himself with them is one of them. God does not guide the
wrongdoing people.
Rashad Khalifah: O you who believe, do not take certain
Jews and Christians as allies; these are allies of one another. Those among
you who ally themselves with these belong with them. God does not guide the transgressors.
Abdul Majid Daryabadi: You who believe! Do not take
the Jews and the Nazarenes for friend; friends they are to each other, and if
any of you befriends them, verily he is one of them. Surely Allah does not
guide a transgressing people.
Abdal Haq and Aisha Bewley: You who have Iman! do not
take the Jews and Christians as your friends; they are the friends of one another.
Any of you who takes them as friends is one of them. Allah does not guide
wrongdoing people.
Sher Ali: O ye who believe! take not
the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. And
whoso among you takes them for friends is indeed one of them. Verily, Allah
guides not the unjust people.
It should be readily
apparent that, other than the translation of Rashad Khalifa, all these
well-known translations of the Qur’an to the English language translate the
verse the same way: i.e., prohibiting Muslims from taking Christians and Jews
as their friends and allies. None of the translators, other than Rashad
Khalifa, seem to have realized that such translation of the verse has placed it
in conflict with another verse of the Qur’an which recognizes certain
Christians as a people who will be closest in love and affection for Muslims
(al Maidah, 5:82), and with another verse which permits marriage with Christian
and Jewish women, and which also permits Muslims to eat food which has been
made Halal or permissible for Christians and Jews (al-Maidah, 5:5). But the
Qur’an itself declares that is free from all inconsistencies or contradictions:
(Qur’an, al-Nisa’,
4:82)
Allah Most High, invites an
examination of the credentials of the Qur’an as Divine revelation. He boldly
declares that if the Qur’an had come from any but Allah, they would surely have
found in it many contradictions!
Hence no verse of the
Qur’an contradicts any other verse. There would be a manifest contradiction if
the same Qur’an were to declare that certain Christians would be closest in
love and affection for Muslims, and also declare that Muslims are prohibited to
be friends and allies of all Christians and all Jews.
There is yet another
problem with the several translations of this verse of the Qur’an since the
translators make the Qur’an declare something which is factually false!According to Asad, the Qur’an declares of
Christians and Jews that they are but allies of one another; Sahih
International: they are [in fact] allies of one another; Pickthall: they are
friends one to another; Abdullah Yusuf Ali: they are but friends and protectors
to each other; Shakir: they are friends of each other; Sarwar: for they are
only friends with each other; Mohsin Khan: they are but Auliya' to one another;
Nooruddin: they are allies of one to another (when against you); Arberry: they
are friends of each other; Muhammad Ali: they are friends of each other; etc.
The Qur’an was revealed
more than six hundred years after the Jews boasted that they had crucified
Jesus, and so the Qur’an appeared in a world in which, for almost six hundred years,
Christians and Jews had hated each other. That Christian hatred for Jews
continued for more than a thousand years after the revelation of the Qur’an. It
is therefore manifestly false for anyone to declare, at the time when the
Qur’an was revealed and for more than a thousand years after, that Christians
and Jews are friend and allies of each other. In fact, Christian-Jewish friendship
and alliance emerged as a clearly visible phenomenon of contemporary history
only after the birth of the Zionist Movement in 1897.
The proper understanding
of the verse of the Qur’an is that it anticipates such a Jewish-Christian
reconciliation and friendship as would pave the way for a certain part of the Christian
world, and a certain part of the Jewish world, to reconcile and to then
establish friendship and an alliance. Whenever that alliance were to come into
being or is established, Muslims are prohibited to be friends and allies with
such Christians and such Jews. That alliance has now appeared in the world in
the form of the Judeo-Christian Zionist alliance which has brought the State of
Israel into existence, and which continues to work to ensure that Israel will
one day rule the whole world with a Pax Judaica. (See my two books entitled
Jerusalem in the Qur’an, and Explaining Israel’s Mysterious Imperial Agenda.)
Those who attempted to
translate the verse (al-Maidah, 5:51) made the mistake of breaking it into
parts or sentences, and to then translate each part or sentence separately. In
this way they arrived at a first sentence which was translated to prohibit
friendship and alliance with Jews and Christians. They then proceeded to a
second part or sentence which was understood in isolation, or stand alone, from
what preceded it. They thus declared the Qur’an to say, falsely so, that Jews
and Christians are friends and allies of each other. If they had studied the
verse as a whole, they would have understood that their second part or sentence
in the verse, was not a second part or sentence at all.
Rather it was a phrase
which qualified what preceded it. Hence what the Qur’an actually did, and which
escaped the understanding of those who translated the verse, was to prohibit
Muslim friendship and alliance with Jews and Christians who were friends and
allies of each other, and hence with a Judeo-Christian alliance.
Here is my explanation of
the verse which removes all possible contradiction with other verses of the
Qur’an and which does not attribute a manifest falsehood to the Qur’an:
(Qur’an, al-Maidah,
5:51)
Allah Most High addresses those who
believe in this Qur’an as the Word of Allah and commands them not to take
‘such’ Jews and ‘such’ Christians as their friends and allies who are,
themselves, friends and allies of each other. The verse then goes on to declare
that whoever from among the Muslims were to take ‘such’ Christians and Jews as their
friends and allies, would be recognized to belong to them, or would eventually
belong to them, rather than to the community of Muslims. It ends by declaring
that Allah surely or certainly does not guide wicked people.
I urge readers to study
the scholarly analysis of this very important verse of the Qur’an by the young
and brilliant Singaporean scholar, Hasbullah Shafi’iy, which we have included
in this book as Appendix 1.
We have shared the above
with our readers in order to alert them concerning the dangers posed by
translations of the Qur’an to other languages, and hence the absolute need to quote
and to study the actual Arabic text of the Qur’an whenever we turn to that Book
for information or guidance.
For the Christian and Jewish Reader
While we expect that this
book will be read by many Muslims, it is also written for the benefit of those
to whom the Torah of Moses, i.e., Musa ʿalayhi as-salām, and the Gospel
of Jesus, i.e., ‘Isa ʿalayhi as-salām, was sent, and who, today, refer
to themselves as Christians and Jews.They will find in this book a view from the Qur’an of the beginning of
history, which differs sometimes from the Christian and Jewish view of that
subject.How should a Christian or a Jew
respond when faced with conflicting views emerging from revealed scriptures?
The Qur’an itself answers that question when it declares that Truth that was
sent down in the Qur’an was supported by rational proofs (Bayyinat min al Huda). Hence it is with the
rational faculty—which receives its data both externally and internally—that judgment
must be made.
The Qur’an presents
excellent credentials with which its claim to be a divinely-revealed scripture
can be judged. It presents a text that is absolutely authentic and uncorrupted.
We have presented in our book entitled Methodology for Study of the Qur’an, the
credentials of the Qur’an to be recognized as absolutely authentic. We urge our
Christian and Jewish readers to examine those credentials.
This book will surely
test the patience of the English-speaking reader who is unfamiliar with the
Arabic language, since we have insisted in using Arabic terms that are
essential for a presentation of the view of the Qur’an. However, we always hasten
to provide an English equivalent to each Arabic term. As the reader becomes
familiar with the Arabic words, the book will hopefully become easier to be
read and understood.
