“Signs and
Portents of the Hour” (`allām al-sa`āt); Latter Day fitān (“tribulations”)
and Malāḥīm (“apocalyptic conflagration”)
.
Both portions of the Hebrew Bible and of the Qur’ān are full of latter-day
“signs” and motifs expressive of apocalyptic eschatology. The central
importance of Muslim belief in the twin concepts Allāh wa'l‑yawm al‑ākhira
("God and the last Day") is underlined by being more than twenty times
enunciated in the Q.
The Arabic fitna
(pl. fitan) can indicate a "trial" or an eschatological "testing". From the
earliest Islamic centuries numerous ḥadīth and other compilations were
entitled K. al‑fitan. A division of major Sunnī canonical collections of
ḥadīth is the K. al‑fitan or K. al‑fitan wa’l‑malahim which are expressive
of latter‑day tribulations and apocalyptic eschatology. Towards the end of
the Saḥīḥ of Bukhārī, for example, is a section `On the Afflictions at the
End of the World’ (IX.88.172‑250). Similarly books 39‑41 towards the end
of the Saḥīḥ of Muslim pertain to the Resurrection (al‑qiyāma), Paradise
and Hellfire (al‑jannat wa’l‑nār) , the `[Eschatological] Conflagration and
Portents of the Final Hour (K. al‑fitan wa asharat al‑sa`ah) including the
"ten signs" of the end. Book
35 of the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd is a K. al‑fitan wa’l‑malāhim, a book on the
[Eschatological] Tests and Conflagrations’ which is followed by a `Book
about the messianic Mahdī’ (36) and another entitled K. al‑malāḥim (`The
Final Conflagration’). The popular later compilation of al‑Khaṭīb al‑Ṭibrīzī
( 8th/14 cent.) entitled Mishkāt al‑Maṣābīḥ (`The Niche of Lights’)
contains a lengthy section entitled K. al‑fitan (III:1480‑1528; tr. Robson
II:1120‑1385).
Perhaps deriving from
the Hebrew milḥamah
(“war”) (see B.T. San. 97b so Rabin, 1957) in
the Islamic middle ages the Arabic term malāḥim (sing. malḥamat =
lit. `conflagration’) apparently indicated "a writing of divinatory
character" (XXXX EI2)
through it also indicated a divinatory prediction, eschatological prophecy
or apocalyptic conflagration (Kohlberg, 1992:143). Among the Islamic
pseudepigraphal writings are various versions and recensions of a K. al‑malāḥim
li Dāniyāl (`The Book of the Conflagration of Daniel’). A number of Shī`ī
recensions of this work exist. Among them one with an introduction by
Majlisī’s pupil Ni`mat‑Allāh al‑Jazā’irī (d. 1112/1701) and another by Ibn
Ṭāwūs. One Shī`ī version has it that knowledge of the cryptic predictions
in the Malḥamat Dāniyāl induced Abū Bakr and `Umar to gain successorship
instead of Imām `Alī after the passing of Muhammad (Fodor 1974:85ff;
Kohlberg 1992:143; Kister 1972:235).
Numerous post-qur’ānic Islamic traditions expound in detail the
anticipated messianic advent(s) and an expected apocalyptic collapse of the
cosmos with its dire consequences on the fearful yawm al-qiyāma (“Day of
Resurrecttion”). Islamic sources record much that pertains to the Day of the
Lord” and relates to ma`ad, ("return"), to the latter-day fitan and malāḥim.
Islamic messianic and millennial traditions are obviously Islamo-biblical,
expressions of Isrā’īliyyāt. Miscellaneous signs and portents of the
"Hour", of the yawm al‑qiyāma (Day of resurrection) and of the yawm al‑dīn
("Day of Judgement") are mentioned in numerous biblical and post‑biblical
apocalyptic texts. Biblical and qur’ānic-Islamic parallels are frequent.
An eschatological theophany is anticipated in both the Bible and
the Qur’ān where a liqā’‑ Allāh or “Encounter with God” ( Q. ADD REFS. ) is
indicated. Preceding or accompanying the beatific vision is a terrible
catastrope(s) (al‑qār`ia; al‑ṭāmma; fāqira, etc. Q. 101; 79:34) associated
with the "Day of God" (yawm Allāh) and with the numerous attendant
eschatological "signs". Even though the Q. neither explicitly mentions the
Mahdī (cf. Q. XXXX) nor of the Shī`īte Qā’im (“Ariser”), forms of
messianism quickly came to have a major place in Islamic eschatology. The
hope for ultimate justice and the establishment Islam universally through
messianic jihād (“holy war”) was the prayerful hope of the pious masses as
it had been among the biblically grounded possibly Essence Qumran community
who produced the so-called `Dead Sea Scrolls’ (see IQS the War Scroll, etc).
The Dajjāl or Islamic Antichrist
Messianic and eschatological traditions are legion and are
frequently rooted in Abrahamic, pre‑Islamic scripture and tradition. A
specific example would be the red frizzy hair characteristic of the Islamic
pesudo‑Christ, the Anti‑Christ‑ the Dajjāl (Syr. Deceiver) figure. This
proto‑Christlike motif was evident in the archetypal messianic king David
who was said in XXX to have had red hair.
