18:94 They said, “O Zul-Qarnain, Gog and Magog are corruptors of the earth. Can we pay you to create a barrier between us and them?”
18:95 He said, “My Lord has given me great bounties. If you cooperate with me, I will build a dam between you and them.
18:96 “Bring to me masses of iron.” Once he filled the gap between the two palisades, he said, “Blow.” Once it was red hot, he said, “Help me pour tar on top of it.”
18:97 Thus, they could not climb it, nor could they bore holes in it.
18:98 He said, “This is mercy from my Lord. When the prophecy of my Lord comes to pass, He will cause the dam to crumble. The prophecy of my Lord is truth.”
18:99 At that time, we will let them invade with one another, then the horn will be blown, and we will summon them all together.
18:100 We will present Hell, on that day, to the disbelievers.
18:101 They are the ones whose eyes were too veiled to see My message. Nor could they hear.
18:102 Do those who disbelieve think that they can get away with setting up My servants as gods beside Me? We have prepared for the disbelievers Hell as an eternal abode.
*18:94-98 One of my duties as God’s Messenger of the Covenant is to state that Gog and Magog, the final sign before the end of the world, will reappear in 2270 AD (1700 AH), just 10 years before the end. Note that Gog and Magog occur in Suras 18 and 21, precisely 17 verses before the end of each sura, representing 17 lunar centuries (see 72:27 and Appendix 25).
The End of the World*
21:96 Not until Gog and Magog reappear,* will they then return—they will come from every direction. 21:97 That is when the inevitable prophecy will come to pass, and the disbelievers will stare in horror: “Woe to us; we have been oblivious. Indeed, we have been wicked.”
*21:96 By the year 2270 AD, thanks to God’s mathematical miracle in the Quran (Appendix 1), America will be the heart of Islam, and billions around the globe will have believed in the Quran (9:33, 41:53, 48:28, 61:9). Gog and Magog (allegorical names of villainous communities), will be the only bastions of heathenism, and they will attack the submitters. That is when the world will end (15:87, 18:94, Appendix 25). Gog and Magog are mentioned in 18:94 & 21:96, 17 verses before the end of each sura; this may indicate the time of their appearance.
(from: Quran The Final Testament, by Rashad Khalifa, PhD.)
End Of The World
Among the duties charged to me as God’s Messenger of the Covenant is unveiling the end of the world ( Page 415). We learn from 18:7 -8 and 69:13 -15 that this world will come to an end. A new earth and new heavens will replace the present heavens and earth ( 14:48).
Signs of the Approaching End of the World
The Quran provides many signs, and states that the means for unveiling the end of the world have been given ( 47:18). The signs given in the Quran include:
The splitting of the moon: This already happened in June 1969 when we landed on the moon and brought back moon rocks. People on earth can go now to many museums, colleges and observatories to look at pieces of the moon.
Discovering the Quran’s 19-based mathematical code ( 74:30 -37): Fulfilled in 1969-1974.
The creature ( 27:82): “Made from the earth, it alerts the people that they have been oblivious to their Creator.” The Creature, made from the earth, did appear and was instrumental in unveiling the Quran’s numerical code, and proclaiming that the world has neglected God’s message; the creature is the computer. Note that the digits that make up 27:82 add up to 19.
Appearance of God’s Messenger of the Covenant ( 3:81): As detailed in Appendix 2, a consolidating messenger, prophesied in the Quran, comes after all the prophets have delivered the scriptures, to purify and unify. This prophecy was fulfilled in Ramadan 1408.
The Smoke ( 44:10): occurs after God’s Messenger of the Covenant has delivered the unified message and proclaimed Submission (Islam) as the only religion acceptable by God.
Gog and Magog: they re-appear, in accordance with God’s plan, in the year 1700 AH (2271 AD). Gog and Magog are mentioned in 18:94 and 21:96. If you count the verses from 18:94 to the end of Sura 18, you find them 17. If you count the verses from 21:96 to the end of Sura 21, you find them also 17. This is the Quran’s sign that Gog and Magog will re-appear in 1700 AH.
Verse 15 of Sura 20 informs us that the end of the world will be revealed by God before the end of the world, and Sura 15, Verse 87, gives the time for that event:
The seven pairs are the 14 Quranic Initials. The total gematrical value of these profound pillars of the Quran’s miracle pinpoints the year of the end of the world. It is noteworthy that Verse 85 of Sura 15 states: “The end of the world will surely come to pass.” The next verse, 15:86, tells us that God is the Creator of this world, and, of course, He knows when it will end. The following verse, 15:87, tells us when the world will end. As shown in Table 1, the gematrical values of “The Seven Pairs” of Quranic Initials total 1709 (see also Table 1 of Appendix 1). According to 15:87, the world will survive for 1709 lunar years from the time this prophecy is stated in the Quran. This means that the world will end in the year 1710 AH. This number is a multiple of 19; 1710 = 19×90.
Table 1: Total Gematrical Value of “The Seven Pairs” of Quranic Initials
The unveiling of this information took place in the year 1400 AH, 309 years before the prophesied end of the world (1709-1400=309). The number 309 is a Quranic number ( 18:25), and is connected with the end of the world ( 18:21). The peculiar way of writing 309 in 18:25, “Three hundred years, increased by nine,” indicates that the 309 are lunar years. The difference between 300 solar years and 300 lunar years is 9 years.
The year of this discovery, 1400 AH, coincided with 1980 AD, and 1980 plus 300 solar years is 2280, also a multiple of 19, 19×120. Thus the world ends in 1710 AH, 19×90, which coincides with 2280 AD, 19×120. For the disbelievers who do not accept these powerful Quranic proofs, the end of the world will come suddenly ( 6:31, 44, 47; 7:95, 187; 12:107; 21:40, 22:55; 26:202; 29:53; 39:55; 43:66; and 47:18).
While Hadith is forbidden as a source of religious teachings (Appendix 19), it can be a useful source of history. We can derive a lot of information about historical events and local customs and traditions during the early centuries of Islam. The books of Hadith indicate that the Quranic Initials were believed to determine the life span of the Muslim Ummah. The classic exegesis by Al-Baydaawy cites the following historical event as a possible explanation of the Quranic Initials. The same event is detailed in Al-Suyooty’s ITQAAN, First Printing, 1318 AH, Vol 2, Page 10:
The Jews of Medina went to the Prophet and said, “Your Quran is initialed with A.L.M., and these Initials determine the life span of your religion. Since `A’ is 1, `L’ is 30, and `M’ is 40, this means that your religion will survive only 71 years.” Muhammad said, “We also have A.L.M.S.” They said, “The `A’ is 1, the `L’ is 30, the `M’ is 40, and the `S’ is 90. This adds up to 161. Do you have anything else?” The Prophet said, “Yes, A.L.M.R.” They said, “This is longer and heavier; the `A’ is 1, `L’ is 30, `M’ is 40, and `R’ is 200, making the total 271.” They finally gave up, saying, “We do not know how many of these Initials he was given!” [Al-Suyuty’s Famous Reference ITQAAN]
Although this narration is well known, many scholars have been reluctant to accept the unmistakable connection between the Quranic Initials and the end of the world. They could not bring themselves to deal with this subject for the simple reason that the calculation makes the end of the world, and judgment, a reality.
1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
4Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Satan Freed, Doomed
7When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Ezekiel 38
Prophecy about Gog and Future Invasion of Israel
1And the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2“Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. 4“I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; 5Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you. 7“Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8“After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. 9“You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.” 10‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, 11and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, 12to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.’ 13“Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?’”’ 14“Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it? 15“You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; 16and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.” 17‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? 18“It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord GOD, “that My fury will mount up in My anger. 19“In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20“The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. 21“I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains,” declares the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22“With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. 23“I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD.”’
Ezekiel 39
Prophecy against Gog—Invaders Destroyed
1“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; 2and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3“I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand. 4“You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. 5“You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken,” declares the Lord GOD. 6“ And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the LORD. 7“My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8“Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,” declares the Lord GOD. “That is the day of which I have spoken. 9“Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them. 10“They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,” declares the Lord GOD. 11“On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call it the Valley of Hamon-gog. 12“For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13“Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself,” declares the Lord GOD. 14“They will set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15“As those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon- gog. 16“And even the name of the city will be Hamonah. So they will cleanse the land.”’ 17“As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18“You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19“So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20“You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war,” declares the Lord GOD. 21“And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. 22“And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward. 23“The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword. 24“According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them.”’”
Israel Restored
25Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. 26“They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. 27“When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. 28“Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. 29“I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord GOD.
Buddha (563 BCE/480 BCE – c. 483 BCE/400 BCE)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha
Cyrus the Great
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
Cyrus was half Mede / half Persian
Cyrus had two generations who were kings: his son Cambyses II and grandson Xerxes
Cyrus the Great in the Quran is a theory that holds that the character of Dhul-Qarnayn, mentioned in the Quran, should be identified with Cyrus the Great, or at least he is a better fit than the other proposed figures.
Dhul-Qarnayn ( Arabic for “the two-horned”) is mentioned in the Quran. The story of Dhul-Qarnayn appears in sixteen verses of the Quran, specifically the 16 verses 18:83-98 ( Al Kahf).
There is extensive ongoing debate on who exactly was the historical character of Dhul-Qarnayn, with various historical, mythical, and sacred figures being proposed. The most popular identification, especially by classical Quran commentators, has been with Alexander the Great; [1] but today’s consensus is that no exact identification could be made. [2]
In recent years, alternative theories supporting other explanations have become dominant. The most prominent of these is the theory that Dhul-Qarnayn was Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. [3] [4] [5] This theory was first proposed by Indian scholar Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and was later endorsed by many Sunni and Shia scholars and commentators including Israr Ahmed, Maududi, Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Allameh Tabatabaei (in Tafsir al-Mizan), [6], Naser Makarem Shirazi (et al., in Tafsir Nemooneh), [7] Muhammad Ali, [8] among others.
The characteristics of Cyrus the Great [ edit]
(1) The first of these characteristics may be applicable to Cyrus. The Prophet Daniel, in the Biblical account, saw a vision that the united kingdom of Media and Persia was like a two-horned ram before the rise of the Greeks.
The Book of Daniel Chapter 8 says:
“2 In the vision I was looking and saw myself in Susa the capital, in the province of Elam, and I was by the river Ulai. 3 I looked up and saw a ram standing beside the river. It had two horns. Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up second. 4 I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. All beasts were powerless to withstand it, and no one could rescue from its power; it did as it pleased and became strong. 5 As I was watching, a male goat appeared from the west, coming across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a horn between its eyes. 6 It came toward the ram with the two horns that I had seen standing beside the river, and it ran at it with savage force.”
The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible gives the following interpretation from Gabriel: “As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.”
A “two horned” Elamite figure wrestling with serpents.
Furthermore, two horns and two horned symbolism was not an unknown emblem of the kingdoms of Persia and its predecessors, for we see that Elamite kings used this symbol routinely in their insignia.
The Jews had a very high opinion of Cyrus the Great, because it was his invasion which brought about the downfall of the kingdom of Babylon and the liberation of the Israelites.
(2) The second characteristic is applicable to Cyrus to a great extent but not completely. Though his conquests spread to Syria and Asia Minor in the West and to Bākhtar ( Balkh) in the East, there is no trace of any of his great expeditions to the North or to the South, whereas the Quran makes an explicit mention of his third expedition. However some historians do verify the probability of such a voyage. Nevertheless, this third expedition is not completely out of question for history tells us that Cyrus’ kingdom extended to Caucasia in the North.
(3) As regards Gog and Magog, it has been established that they were the wild tribes of Central Asia who were known by different names: Scythians, Parthians, Tartars, Mongols, and Huns, who had been making incursions on various kingdoms and empires from very ancient times. It is also known that strong bulwarks had been built in southern regions of Caucasia, though it has yet to be determined historically whether these were built by Cyrus.
(4) As regards the third characteristic, Cyrus is the only known conqueror among the ancient rulers, to whom this may be applicable, for even his enemies have been full of praise for him for his justice, and, Ezra, asserts that he was a God-worshiper and a God-fearing king who set free the Israelites because of his God-worship, and ordered that the Temple of Solomon be rebuilt for the worship of God.
Thus in the light of the above, it is possible to conclude that of all the historical conquerors who had died before the revelation of the Quran, Cyrus alone is the one to whom the characteristics of “Dhul-Qarnain” are most applicable. There is no other historical conquerors to whom the characteristics stated in the Quran are as much applicable as to Cyrus.
The historical Cyrus was a Persian ruler whose rise began about 549 BCE. Within a few years he had conquered the kingdoms of Media and Lydia; by 539 BCE he had conquered Babylon. There was no powerful kingdom left to oppose him. His conquests extended eastward to Turkistan; westward to Ionia; northward to Caucasia—covering, in fact, much of the known civilized world.
Umman Manda ( Akkadian for the horde from who knows where) is a term used in the early second and first millennia BC for a poorly known people in ancient near east whom by some scholars are identified as to be Indo-European speakers. They have been identified as in different contexts as Hurrians, Elamites, Medes, Cimmerians, and Scythians. [1] The homeland of Umman Manda seems to be somewhere from Central Anatolia to north or northeastern Babylonia in what later came to be known as Mitanni, Mannae and Media, respectively. [ citation needed] Zaluti, whose name seems to have an Indo-Iranian etymology, is mentioned as a leader of Ummanda Manda. He is even suggested to be identified with Salitis the founder of the Hyksos, the Fifteenth dynasty of Egypt.
The principal literary source is the so-called Cuthaean Legend of Naram-Sin, a composition that deals with the third-millennium king of Agade (Akkad) Naram-Sin and his struggles against the Umman-manda. As a literary topos, the Umman-manda represent a socio-cultural phenomenon with a strong theological basis:
The Umman-manda are created by the gods and called forth from their homeland on the northeastern frontier of Mesopotamia by the chief god, be it Enlil, Marduk, or Aššur, for some particular work of destruction; since this destruction is divinely ordained, human beings are powerless to stop it, and in fact are enjoined against interfering; when the destruction is completed, the gods themselves will destroy the Umman-manda.
In the literary topos, the Umman-manda is the enemy of civilization. The question of who the original Umman-manda were remains a mystery. [2] Herodotus however, states that the Umman-manda were subdued by Cyrus the Great, and therefore made part of the Persian empire just before he captured Babylon in 539 B.C.. According to Herodotus: “Cyrus, king of Anšan […] made the land of Gutium and all the Umman-manda bow in submission at his feet.” [3]
In the first millennium BC, the term denoted Cimmerians [4] and/or Medes.
“The Umman-manda are created by the gods and called forth from their homeland on the northeastern frontier of Mesopotamia by the chief god, be Marduk, for some particular work of destruction; since this destruction is divinely ordained, human beings are powerless to stop it, and in fact are enjoined against interfering; when the destruction is completed, the gods themselves will destroy the Umman-manda. In the literary topos, the Umman-manda is the enemy of civilization. The question of who the original Umman-manda were remains a mystery. [2] Â Herodotus however, states that the Umman-manda were subdued by Cyrus the Great Cyrus the Great, and therefore made part of the Persian empire just before he captured Babylon in 539 B.C.. According to Herodotus: “Cyrus, king of […] made the land of Gutium and all the Umman-manda bow in submission at his feet.”
“In the literary topos, the Umman-manda is the enemy of civilization; by invoking this topos, the Mesopotamian ruler calls upon his audience to endure humiliation in the face of the enemy while at the same time absolving himself of military responsibility for dealing with the menace. The chief god has called forth the Umman-manda for destruction and will himself destroy them once his purposes are fulfilled and humanity consolidates their confidence in the gods of civilization. The Umman-manda is truly the scourge of god.”
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