The third amazing parallel between biblical eschatology and Islamic eschatology is the person of the Dajjal, the Islamic Antichrist figure. Despite all of the wild and fantastic descriptions of the Dajjal, if we boil down the Muslim belief regarding the Dajjal to its simplest and most important terms, we basically have a man who will claim to be divine and will claim to be Jesus Christ the Jewish Messiah. He will defend Israel against the Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus and he will deceive many people into leaving Islam.

While I certainly do not believe that there will ever come a figure into the world as described in the Islamic traditions - a great deceiver who is blind in one eye, flying around the earth on some form of giant mule - there will however come Jesus (the real one), who will in many very crucial ways, fulfill the Muslim expectations of the Dajjal.

The Return Of Jesus Christ

The real Jesus however, will indeed come as a divine defender of Israel and her people as well as Israel’s spiritual children, the Christians. If the Islamic prophecies are indeed intertwined with the unfolding of biblical prophecy, then we can see that part of Satan’s strategy is that when the real Jesus returns, there will already be a worldwide religious leader who will also be claiming to be Jesus, namely the False Prophet. If this were the case, then Muslims worldwide would accuse the real Jesus of being the Dajjal, the Muslim Antichrist/Great Deceiver. Muslims would be particularly convinced of this in light of the fact that the surviving Jews of the earth will acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah. At least six hundred years before Islam ever existed, the Jewish Prophets and the Jewish Apostles described the event of Jesus returning to Israel, defeating her enemies and finally gaining full acceptance among the Jewish people:

On that day I (The Lord) will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. - Zechariah 12:9-10

A day of the Lord is coming... the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. - Zechariah 14:1,3,4

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.” - Romans 11:26

Put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God… Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel… Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb (Jesus the Messiah), standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads… And they sang a new song… - Revelation 7:3-4; 14:1,3

We see that when Jesus returns to “to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem,” “His feet will (literally) stand on the Mount of Olives.” Jesus will be physically present in Israel. At this time, it is said that those Jews who are alive in Israel will see him and realize that He is “the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him.” Thus the acknowledgement of Jesus as the genuine Jewish Messiah and divine Savior will fill their hearts and, “so all Israel will be saved.”

The Islamic Traditions

Of course, based on the Islamic traditions, Muslims are expecting Jews to acknowledge the Dajjal as the divine Jewish Messiah, thus in the Islamic mind, the Jesus of biblical tradition will fulfill the three most primary Islamic expectations of the Dajjal. Clearly, these traditions will be used by Satan, not only to pre-empt the Muslims of the earth from receiving the real Jesus when He comes, but literally to empower them to attack Him. The plot never seems to stop thickening. Consider the following statement by the well-known Muslim apologist, Osamah Abdallah. The question posited to him was, “What do Muslims believe about the end of the World and Jesus' part in it?” His answer is astonishing as it relates to this discussion:

Briefly, Christians believe that Jesus will come down to earth and fight for the state of Israel… What seems to be quite ironic to me is that those Jews that Jesus is supposedly going to fight for don't even believe in Jesus as GOD himself nor as a Messenger of GOD… Jesus never liked the Jews... Now without being biased, we Muslims have a story that makes a lot more sense and is empty of contradictions! We believe that Jesus will come down to earth toward the end of the world time to fight the army of Satan which will be mostly from the "bad" Jews or "Zionist Jews" as we call them today, and the deceived from the Polytheist Christians or the Trinitarian Christians and the Pagan Polytheists such as Hindus, Buddhists, etc.... Some Jews and many Christians will be among the good and blessed who will fight with Jesus' side. The army of Satan will be led by a person who will claim to be Jesus Christ himself. The Muslims will call him the Dajjal or the Deceiver. The real Jesus' army will fight the Dajjal's army and defeat him. The empire of Israel will fall, and the religion of Islam will prevail. [1]

This is quite amazing. We see that as a direct result of the Islamic apocalyptic traditions, Muslims are expecting two Jesuses to come; the real one and the false one. By Mr. Abdallah’s admission, the real Jesus will be identifiable by the fact that he does not like Jews; indeed he is expected to attack and slaughter them. Likewise the false Jesus (according to Islam) will be clearly identifiable by the fact that he will defend the Jews. Thus, as we have seen, Mr. Abdallah and Muslims everywhere are expecting the Muslim Jesus, along with his leader, the Mahdi, to attack Israel and do battle against Him who Christians understand to be the real Jesus. The battle of Armageddon as prophesied in the Bible may indeed be coming into very clear focus.

Notes

[1] http://www.answering-christianity.com/que5.htm

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Joel Richardson is foremost an ambassador of Jesus Christ, a husband and a father committed to the pro-life and adoption movements. He is an artist, human rights activist, New York Times Bestselling author, internationally recognized speaker and regular columnist for WND. Joel has a long history of outreach to the Muslim community and has a passion to see Muslims come to Christ. Joel is also a recognized expert on Biblical Prophecy and the Middle East. Joel is the author, co-author or co-editor of the following books:

When af Jew Rules the World: What the Bible Really Says about Israel in the Plan of God
Mideast Beast: The Scriptural Case For an Islamic Antichrist
Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth About the Real Nature of the Beast
God’s War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy & the Bible
Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out

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Table of Contents

Endorsements
Book Information

Introduction:  A Note From The Author

Part One: Introduction to Islamic Eschatology And Doctrine

Chapter 1.           Why This Book? Waking Up to The Islamic Revival
Chapter 2.           The Sacred Texts of Islam
Chapter 3.           Islamic Eschatology
Chapter 4.           The Mahdi: Islam's Awaited Messiah
Chapter 5.           Comparing The Biblical Antichrist and The Mahdi
Chapter 6.           The Muslim Jesus
Chapter 7.           Comparing The False Prophet and The Muslim Jesus
Chapter 8.           The Dajjal: Islam's Antichrist
Chapter 9.           Comparing The Biblical Jesus and The Dajjal
Chapter 10.         The Revived Islamic Empire of The Antichrist
Chapter 11.         The Dark Nature of Muhammad's Revelations
Chapter 12.         The Antichrist Spirit of Islam
Chapter 13.         Islam's Ancient Hatred for The Jews
Chapter 14.         End Time Martyrdom And Islam's Practice of Beheading
Chapter 15.         Jihad And Islam's Goal of World Domination
Chapter 16.         Understanding Deceit and Dishonesty in Islam
Chapter 17.         The Great Apostasy, Terror and Islam's Conversion Rates
Chapter 18.         Summary of Comparisons

Part Two: Further Analysis

Chapter 19.         Potential Problems With The Thesis
Chapter 20.         Further Thoughts

Part Three: How Should We Respond?

Chapter 21.         Responding with Prayer
Chapter 22.         Responding with Outreach
Chapter 23.         Preparing for Martyrdom

Appendix: Embracing Biblical Eschatology
Bibliography

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