War and Peace: An Eschatological View

by Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid

More wars are expected

As idealistic academics, we are hopeful that universal values such as justice, peace, liberty and equality reign over mankind. We advocate and laud practices such as civilisational and inter-faith dialogue, towards the realisation of morally upright values.

On this particular note, I would be presenting you a peculiar, enigmatic and perhaps controversial view of �war and peace� today. As much as we can hope for global peace and security, they are forlorn expectations which do not match with two sets of realities. First, the political-economic reality: the distinguished geographer, David Harvey, in a series of lectures at Oxford University, has stressed that war in Iraq is essential as an outlet for American capitalism to offload excess capital which has accumulated as a result of its own economic and financial dominance. To engage in another New Deal, which was how Roosevelt�s government dealt with a similar problem in the 1930s, is politically impermissible. Only military spending offers the attractive Keynesian alternative to prevent economic defeat and even collapse in the face of internal mismanagement and rising competition from maturing Asian and European economies. Conquering Iraq offers the added incentive of controlling the oil supply and expanding the space available for economic expansion.

The second reality has to do with eschatological interpretations of religious and biblical texts, in particular those of the three Semitic religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Such interpretations have rapidly developed within these religious communities in anticipation of the advent of a messiah to impose justice on earth in the new millennium. Such interpretations of the holy texts firmly put the world to be near the end of time, with countless signs from present-day modern life, replete with debauchery, being cited. For example, the prevalence of mass killings, disobedience of parents, adultery, money politics, earthquakes, epidemics and the pride in building majestic houses of worship which remain empty most of the times, are all small signs of the dreaded �Hour�, or in Arabic, �Sa�ah� or �Qiyamah�, from where we derive the Malay �Kiamat�.

The Final Hour

In the Islamic world, the early years of every century witness an outburst of messianic activities, in the expectation of the appearance of a reformer or mujaddid. This is based on a sound hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): �Allah will raise, at the head of each century, such people for this ummah as will revive its Religion for it� (related by Abu Dawud). But the present century is distinctive in the sense that small signs of the Hour have been rapidly materialising throughout the preceding century, such that this century has come to be believed by many as the final one. This gives it a uniqueness, in that God has promised that, before the end of time, Islam will regain its former glory under the just leadership of the promised reformer, the Mahdi, and Jesus Christ. Developments in the early years of this century (some scholars have held that �early� here covers a period of 25 years) are supposed to point towards the actualisation of the Second Ummah, during which Islam will reign supreme over the globe. Following the demise of the Mahdi and Jesus Christ, Islam will decline again. Believers� lives will be taken away by God such that the Great Hour i.e. the physical destruction of the planet earth will be experienced by unbelievers.

Coming Seven Wars

How does the scenario above relate to global war and peace? Ultimate peace will only prevail under the leadership of the Mahdi and Jesus Christ, when Islam holds sway over the global population. But the journey towards the attainment of global peace is tortuous. Altogether, the Mahdi will lead Muslims into seven wars. First, the war against the Muslim heretics of the Arabian peninsula, led by the Meccan king. Second, the war against Persia, most likely the Shiites of Iran.

Third, the war against the Romans, also called the Bani Ishaq i.e. present-day USA and Europe. Called �Al-Malhamah Kubra� (the Great Battle) by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), this war will witness Muslims fighting a belligerent force carrying 80 banners, under each of which a 12,000-strong army is organised. This huge war will break the Muslim armies into three groups: one-third of them will run away from the horrendous scene, one-third will go down as the best martyrs in God�s sight, and the remaining one-third will be granted victory.

The fourth of the Mahdi�s wars will be against Constantinople, symbolically representing the arch-secularist, modern Turkey. It is after the conquest of Turkey that the Antichrist or Dajjal appears. The Dajjal will exert influence over the whole world, entering every city except Mecca and Medina, tempting the world�s population to follow the false religion by performing miracles which are akin to magic.

The Dajjal will cause utter confusion for 40 days, during which he will lead the Jews into their war against the Mahdi � his fifth. It is during this war that Jesus Christ will descend onto earth, join the Mahdi in battle and eventually deal a fatal blow on the Dajjal. Death of the Dajjal will be the apogee of the Mahdi�s feat.

His remaining two wars will be relatively simple for him to achieve victories, against the unbelievers of the South Asian and East Asian continents.

Precursor to Armageddon

So much for the arduous route towards global peace. We need to ask: so in what position are we in now? The reality may seem frightening, but if we are to believe the biblical texts of the Semitic religions, we are on the brink of the Armageddon War � the cradle of events leading to the global turmoil near the end of time, the curtain-raiser of other wars as we have mentioned. �Armageddon� is derived from the Hebrew �Ar� meaning �mountain�, and the valley of Mageddo in ancient Palestine, encompassing an area of 200 miles from the north to south and 100 miles from the east to west.

The Armageddon War will pit two opposing sides with different ideological orientations, most likely between militant Muslims on the one hand and the West on the other. It will involve the profuse use of modern strategic weapons, including those for mass destruction, resulting in huge physical calamities, economic bankruptcies and intolerable human suffering. Among fundamentalists, there is widespread belief that the War will destroy all modern weaponry, such that the following global wars, as will take place between the Mahdi and his adversaries, will experience a reversion to traditional weaponry such as swords, arrows and horses. The event which has unleashed the Armageddon War, which has crystallised the division of the post-Cold War world into opposing ideological camps, is none other than the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, USA.

Holy Books

What is there in the holy texts to support the theory that the forthcoming assault on Iraq will be the catalyst to, or even the actual Armageddon War? The books of hadith tell that a massive war will be preceded by suffering of the people of Iraq and Syam i.e. Palestine, at the hands of the Romans i.e. the West. - to the extent that it will be difficult to deliver food and money to them. This is demonstrated clearly in the food sanctions that have been imposed on Iraq for several years now, while the long-drawn out persecution of the Palestinians shows no sign of ending.

It is also foretold that the War will follow from a lengthy period of armistice and illusory peace between the Muslims and the Romans i.e. USA and Europe. This has indeed been the case since the Second World War. Many newly-independent Muslim nation-states sided explicitly or implicitly with the West under the auspices of a United Nations-led international system. Furthermore, it is indicated that the Armageddon War will be a multinational war � a war of blocks of nations against blocks of nations, and in which some Muslims will be on the side of the Romans, who will emerge victorious despite the carnage and havoc wreaked by the War. The coalition will be short-lived, however. It will crumble due to the treachery of the Western powers, who will claim victory solely for themselves. This will lead to killings between the erstwhile partners, thus setting the stage for massive confrontation on a global scale between Muslim and Western powers.

Among fundamentalist Christians, who exert significant influence on the dominant Christian Right of the Republican Party in the USA, there is a strong belief that the Armageddon War is imminent. Consider the following facts:

• Armageddon is mentioned in the book of Revelation (15-16) as a multinational war: �They were sent out to muster all the kings of the world for the great day of battle of God the sovereign Lord. So they assembled the kings at the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.�
• At least seven American leaders have professed conviction in the nearness of the Armageddon War. Ronald Reagan is well-known for stating that the present generation is one which will witness Armageddon. Richard Nixon was confident that the US� benign leadership over the world would be realised by 1999, leaving the rest for Christ. Fundamentalist preachers such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham and Jerry Vines, all of whom have left a deep impression on President George W. Bush. have uttered similar opinions. As testified by David Frum, Bush�s former speechwriter, Bush thinks in essentially moral categories and is above all, religiously-minded.
• The dissemination of Armageddon theology has been running strong in the West for close to thirty years. For instance, Hal Lindsey�s book, The Late Great Planet Earth, was named by the New York Times as a best-seller of the 1970s. According to Dobson and Hindson�s article �Apoclaypse Now�, the basic tenets of Armageddon theology was agreeable to some fifty million self-proclaimed born-again Christians in the USA. Of serious concern is the fact that the implications of such a theology is the preference of a Middle Eastern war over a compromise-based peace accord, as the former would usher in the second Advent of Christ.
• According to an analysis, predating 9-11, by a certain Bishop Distours in his observation of the Book of Daniel, greater signs of the second Advent of Christ could be traced to autumn 2001, when the Armageddon War would be unleashed. Further, biblical prophecies about the end of the world would take place before the passing away of one generation, as counted from the founding of Israel as a Jewish homeland. The second Advent will be preceded by the emergence of Antichrist, whose own dreaded coming will be marked by two events, viz. the reconstruction of the Solomon Temple on its original site and an animal sacrifice presented to God during the Jewish festive season in Jerusalem.