Several predictions attributed to the prophet of Islam, Mohammed (p) detail the ongoing catastrophic events in Syria (Part of Sham) and Iraq.
“There will be such troubles and calamities that nobody will have a place to shelter from them. These calamities will travel around Sham (countries in the middle east including Syria, Jordan, Palestine etc) and settle over Iraq. They will bind the Arabian peninsula… As they attempt to eliminate these calamities in one place they will arise in another.” (Kenzul Ummal, Book of Some Thoughts on Doomsday, Vol. 5, p. 38-39)
This hadith (narrations and recordings of the Prophet) points to the type of recalcitrant chaos that has been erupting in these states and settling over Iraq and Syria.
The next hadith points to the type of people who will be behind such chaos:
If the Khawarij ever gained power, they would corrupt the entire earth, Iraq, and Syria. They would not leave a boy or a girl or a man or a woman, for in their view the people have become so corrupt that they cannot be reformed except by mass killing.
Source: al-Bidāyah wal-Nihāyah 10/584
Another from the first book goes:
“Doomsday will not take place until Iraq is attacked. And innocent people will seek places to shelter in Sham. Sham will be reconstructed and Iraq will be reconstructed.”
Another describes “foreign intervention” taking over Iraq, Sham and Egypt. It refers to their “currencies being denied.”
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Iraq is denied it dirhams and qafiz; Syria would withhold its mudd and dinar and Egypt would withhold its irdab and dinar and you would recoil to that position from where you started and you would recoil to that position from where you started and you would recoil to that position from where you started, the bones and the flesh of Abu Huraira would bear testimony to it. (Muslim Book 041, Hadith Number 6923.)
Division of Iraq Into Three; Massive Refugee Exodus
The people of Iraq will be divided into three groups. One part will join the looters. One part will leave their families behind and flee. One part will fight and be killed. Prepare yourselves for doomsday when you see this. (Fera Idu Fevaidi’l Fiqr Fi’l Imam al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar)
Iraq refugee crises
Will it End? How and When?
And we can sit tight because the predictions ultimately declare that the chaos in the Middle East will not end till the second coming of Jesus the Messiah and the Mahdi.
As the strife calms down in one place in Sham (countries in the middle east including Syria, Jordan, Palestine etc), it will rise up in another. The strife will not end until angels calls out from the sky “The Mahdi is your leader. The Mahdi is your caliph.” (Mustafa Resit Filizi, Treatise on the Coming of the Mahdi, p. 63)
The Coming of Messiah ‘Isa/Jesus (as)
Allah will send ‘Isa (as) son of Maryam to Earth. He will descend with two angels wearing two beautiful garments in his palms to the white minaret in the east of Sham. (Tirmidhi, Fitan, p. 59)
Later, Prophet ‘Isa (as) will descend to the white minaret in the east of Damascus (Sham). The imam will withdraw, and Prophet ‘Isa (as) will go to the fore and lead the people in prayer. (Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, The Conquests of Mecca, 366. Vol. 3, p. 327)
The Appearance of the Mahdi
An army bearing black standards will appear from the east, … when you see them, swear loyalty at once, even if you have to crawl over snow!” he said. “Because that is the Mahdi, the caliph of Allah.” (Ibn Majah; The Book of Strife, 4084)
The Swearing of Allegiance to the Mahdi
The caliphate will then come to the Mahdi, the most auspicious person on Earth, as he sits at home. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman p. 26)
Allegiance will be sworn to him between the Pillar and the Stone… (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 42)
The Mahdi will sit between the Pillar and the Stone and will accept oaths of allegiance by stretching out his hand. (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 39-40)
The Migration of the Mahdi
He will migrate to Jerusalem. After this emigration Medina will be destroyed and be the home of wild people. (Portents of Doomsday, Barzanji, p. 162)
They will wage war against the army of the Sufyan, but the Sufyan will be victorious. The Hashimite will flee. Shuaib bin Salih will hide and come to Jerusalem, and when the Mahdi reaches Sham he will prepare a house for him in Jerusalem. (Nuaym bin Hammad, Book of Strife, p. 57)
According to Nuaym, reported from Selman b. Isa:
“The Mahdi will remain 14 years in Jerusalem… (Yusuf el-Makdisi, Fera Idu Fevaidi’l Fikr Fi’l Imam El-Mahdi El-Muntazar)
The Mahdi Will Unearth the Ark of the Covenant; Jews eagerly seek this Ark
Jewish artistic representation of the Ark of covenant
He will unearth the Ark of the Covenant in the Antioch cave. He will unearth the true Torah from the mountain in Sham, and at this he will debate with the Jews and many Jews will become Muslims. (Treatise on the Coming of the Mahdi, p. 124-125)
The Mahdi will bring forth the Ark of the Covenant from the Lake of Tiberius. (Iqd al-Durar fi Akbar al-Imam al-Muntadhar, by Shaikh Jamaluddin Yusuf al-Damishqi, p. 51-)
The reason why he is known as the Mahdi is that he shows the path of a secret thing. He will unearth the Ark of the Covenant from a place known as Antioch. (Suyuti, al-Hawi li’l Fatawa, II, 82).
The Mahdi Will Join Forces With Christian Leaders and Create an Islamic Union
That individual’s (the Mahdi’s) third duty will be to join forces with Christian spiritual leaders and serve Islam by building a caliphate of Islam, an Islamic Union. (To unite Islamic society and make an alliance with the Christian world) (Book of Hidden Things, p. 9, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi).
The Appearance of the Mahdi with Sacred Relics
The Mahdi will appear in the evening time with the banner, shirt, sword, signs, light and pleasant speech of our Prophet (saas). (Ali b. Sultan Muhammed el- Kari el-Hanefi, ‘Risaletül Meşreb elverdi fi mezhebül Mahdi’)
He will produce the treasures of Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant, the table of the People of Israel and the tablets, the jacket of Prophet Adem (as), the staff of the Prophet Sulayman (as) and the milk-white gloves sent by Allah to the People of Israel.” (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 33)
The Mahdi’s spiritual capture of Istanbul
Allah will capture Constantinople (Istanbul) by the hand of His beloved friends … He will lift sickness and sorrow from them. (Portents of Doomsday, p. 181)
Countries will pass under his command. Allah will favor him with the capture of Constantinople. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman, p. 56)
It is reported from Ibni Amr that; Our Prophet (saas) said: O People! There are six things without which doomsday will not come … (the sixth is) the capture of the city.
– Which city? He was asked
Constantinople, he replied.
(*) This is the capture of Constantinople by the Mahdi. (Portents of Doomsday, 204, Ramuz-el Ehadis, 296)
The Appearance of the Dajjal
Dajjal
According to Abu Huraira, the Prophet (saas) said:
… The Dajjal will appear when they come to the land of Sham (Jerusalem). (Muslim, Strife, p. 34)
Horns of Satan
Narrated Ibn ‘Umar: (The Prophet) said, “O Allah! Bless our Sham (Syria) and our Yemen.” People said, “Our Najd as well.” The Prophet again said, “O Allah! Bless our Sham and Yemen.” They said again, “Our Najd as well.” On that the Prophet said, “There will appear earthquakes and afflictions, and from there appears the Horn of Satan.” (Book #17, Hadith #147, Bukhari)
The next Hadith gives the location of Najd as Saudi Arabia and not Iraq
Hadith #1: Bukhari book 92 Hadith 443
Narrated ‘Abdullah bin Dinar:
Ibn ‘Umar said, “The Prophet fixed Qarn as the Miqat (for assuming the Ihram) for the people of Najd, and Al-Juhfa for the people of Sham, and Dhul-Hulaifa for the people of Medina.” Ibn ‘Umar added, “I heard this from the Prophet, and I have been informed that the Prophet said, ‘The Miqat for the Yemenites is Yalamlam.’ “When Iraq was mentioned, he said, “At that time it was not a Muslim country.”
The Prayer to Be Performed by Prophet ‘Isa (as) and the Mahdi
The call is read for the morning prayer. At that point ‘Isa (as) son of Maryam will descend. The Mahdi will suggest he serve as imam. But he will point to the Mahdi.” (Muslim, Strife, p. 34)
In İmam Ebu Amr Osman b. Said El-Makarri’s “The Sunna:” according to a report by Jabir b. Abdullah, the Prophet (saas) said:
A group from my community will always wage war for the truth. Finally ‘Isa (as) son of Maryam will appear in Jerusalem at dawn. They will say to him: “O Prophet of Allah! Come to the fore and lead us in prayer.” He will reply: “This is such a community that some are appointed over others.”(Al-Uqayli, An-Najmu’s-saqib fi Bayan Anna’l Mahdi min Awladi Ali b. Abu Talib Ale’t-Tamam ve’l Qamal)
More on Clock Tower
So when you see in Makkah that channels have already been dug (or tunnels built), and you see the buildings surpass the tops of the mountains, then know that the command (of the Hour) has already cast its shadow over you.
[Narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah in Al-Musannaf, Hadiyth-124]
When you see in Makkah, that already its mountains are with holes (pierced through them), and you see that the buildings have already surpassed over the tops of the mountain, then know that the command (of the Hour) has already cast its shadow over you (or the matter is close at hand).
[Narrated by Al-Azraqi in the Book of reports about Makkah – Kitab Akhbaar Makkah, Hadiyth-1724]
Tunnels in Mecca
“The Hour will not be established-till the people of the desert (the camel shepherds) compete with one another in constructing high buildings.” –Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on the minor signs of the last day. Read more
The Prophet ‘Isa/Jesus the Messiah (as) Will Destroy the Dajjal
…The Prophet ‘Isa (as) wishes to catch him. He finally catches and destroys him at the Gate of the city of Lut (Palestine).(Ibn Majah, Strife, p. 33)
Ebu Hureyre relates: The Prophet (saas) of Allah said:
“… When the enemy of Allah (the Dajjal) sees Prophet ‘Isa (as) he will dissolve like salt dissolves in water. If let to himself he will dissolve until he is destroyed. However, Allah will kill him with his mighty hand, so that he will show them the blood on his spear. (Muslim, Strife, p. 34)
As it is clear from the above hadiths, different sources are in agreement on the same region. In all the hadith sources and the works of Islamic scholars, the common location indicated in the End Times is the Middle East. Jewish and Christian sources also confirm this.
There are a great many regions that can all be considered important from various points of view; however, there is only this particular region emphasized in all these sources. That fact is that the Middle East region, which contains cities so frequently referred to in the hadiths concerning the End Times, is a holy one in which the holy prophets of Allah have lived throughout the course of history. This region has witnessed the birth of the three monotheistic religions and, it is the location of constructed sites sacred to those three religions. It would seem, in the light of the hadiths of our Prophet (saas), that a region which has played such an important role on the stage of history will continue to maintain its importance in the End Times, when such momentous events will take place. One of the duties befalling us, witnesses to the End Times that have already begun, must be to impart these joyous tidings to all Muslims and to all humanity.
