The Antichrist

Dajjal is an Arabic word with various meanings, such as "a liar and imposter, someone who lies, covers the earth with his followers, and covers the truth by disbelief."1 In many of the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which discuss the matter of end times, it is repeated as one of the most important signs of the doomsday. The present state of the world bears many similarities to that time as described by the Prophet. In the hadiths, that period appears as one in which fitnah (chaos and wickedness), anarchy and violence will spread far and wide, when there will be no peace in the world, when people will battle evils such as hunger, poverty and shortages, and when oppression will prevail. (for details, see The Signs of The Last Day, Harun Yahya, 2001).

The Antichrist is the ideological infrastructure which causes that chaos and instability, that encourages people to immorality and evil, condemns whole communities to denial and rebellion, and is the ultimate root of terrorism and violence. The Antichrist spreads immorality by portraying good as evil, and evil as good. One of the hadiths on the subject reads:

When Al-Dajjal appears, he will have fire and water along with him. What the people will consider as cold water, will be fire that will burn (things). So, if anyone of you comes across this, he should fall in the thing which will appear to him as fire, for in reality, it will be fresh cold water.2

In the hadiths, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) states that the Antichrist will undoubtedly appear before doomsday, and describes the kind of conditions in which he will do so. The period when he appears will be one when people fail to live by the morality condoned by religion, when the existence of God is openly denied, when immorality, chaos, war and conflict are everywhere, and when terrorism, murder and violence become a part of normal, everyday life. Although there have been times all through history that have witnessed anarchy and chaos, the state of chaos and confusion that will be created by the Antichrist will be on an unprecedented scale. The Prophet (pbuh) emphasized that fact in a hadith:

There would be no creation (creating more trouble) than the Dajjal, from the creation of Adam to the Last Hour. 3

DARWINISM IS THE RELIGION OF THE ANTICHRIST

The characteristics described by many of the hadiths discussing the Antichrist become much clearer when considered as ideology. All ideas and systems of thought, therefore, that encourage people to deny the existence of God, turn them away from religious morality and encourage strife and chaos between them actually represent the Antichrist.

Today, materialism, and the various ideologies and movements that it gives birth to, are the primary components contributing to corruption in the world. All such movements, in effect, received their so-called scientific justification from the same source, and share the same fundamental foundation: Darwinism. Ever since Darwinism was first put forward, it has been the principle justification for materialist and anti-religious ideologies and movements, and even itself been elevated to the status of a religion by those who support such ideologies. The great Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi stressed that Darwinism would become the religion of the Antichrist in the end of times:

A tyrannical current born of Naturalist and Materialist philosophy will gradually become strong and spread at the end of time by means of materialist philosophy, reaching such a degree that it denies God.4

As Bediuzzaman made clear, with the words "a tyrannical current born of Naturalist and Materialist philosophy," Darwinism is a teaching that attributes an independent power to nature, claims that life was not created, but emerged as a result of chance, and tries to distance mankind from belief in God. In the book Teysir-al Wusul ila Jami-al Usul, which contains the collected hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), together with a commentary on them, the subject is dealt with in these terms:

The clearest and most important feature of the strife of the end times that the Antichrist gives rise to is the fact that it is opposed to religion. Various humanist views and values that will emerge at that time will attempt to replace religion. This new religion takes denial as its basis in order to do away with all forms of divine rule over man … It is an anti-religious religion whose basic deity is matter and man.5

The humanist views mentioned in the above quote have today actually taken on the aspects of a religion. Modern humanism is an atheistic religion in which the existence of God is denied, and man is regarded as a sacred being to be venerated. When one examines the publications of humanists, it is clear that their world view is entirely based on the theory of evolution. (For further details, see Global Freemasonry, by Harun Yahya, Istanbul, 2002)

Blind chance is the central premise employed in Darwinism for maintaining that life came about out of inanimate matter and developed by means of an evolutionary process. According to this deceptive ideology, all living species began from one single cell that came about by chance, in other words from one common ancestor, and then evolved from one another over time by means of minute changes, again by pure coincidence. The theory lacks any scientific or rational basis, is nothing but a fantasy, and was widely accepted in Darwin's day on account of the primitive level of science and the sociological conditions at the time. However, as science and technology progressed it was realized that the theory was actually complete nonsense. Yet, despite that, there are still people today who are unable to abandon the nonsensical theory, as we shall see later.

Ever since Darwinism was first advanced, it has been the primary theoretical justification for materialist and anti-religious ideologies and movements, and has been elevated to the near status of creed by their proponents.

When those who believe in this superstition are asked how life might have first come about, they reply "Living things came about by chance." In actual fact, however, chance is an uncontrolled, unreasoning and aimless force. God, however, creates everything according to a plan, in an ordered, intelligent and specific manner. When a person examines an object of creation, he realizes that it is part of a design and was brought into existence by an intelligent and conscious being. Moreover, it is not a conclusion that requires a great deal of thought to arrive at. It is immediately apparent. For instance, when someone enters a room he knows that when he sees a chair, table, clock and a television, that they were made by someone and placed in that room. He also knows that someone installed everything in that room according to a specific order. He would certainly never consider that the table, chair, clock and television had come into being by themselves, or had entered the room and placed themselves of their own doing. If anyone were to believe that such a thing were possible, his sanity would have to be questioned.

In the same way, someone who believes in such a senseless notion as Darwinism is in effect claiming that apples, oranges, strawberries, grapes, melons, watermelons, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, roses, lilacs, hyacinths, violets, magnolias, carnations, cats, antelopes, tigers, rabbits, squirrels, zebras, giraffes, and all the myriad other species in the world, and even engineers, doctors, professors, academics, artists and statesmen, in short everyone in the world, had come about of their own accord as the result of chance. To put it another way, such a person believes that everything he sees is the result of chance. That means that "chance" is that person's god. Yet on careful inspection, that so-called god is one with no power of reason at all, and thus the most unintelligent god imaginable. That "god" is unaware of even its own existence, as well of that of what it has brought into being.

In one hadith regarding the Antichrist, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, "Ad-Dajjal is blind."6 Some Islamic scholars have interpreted that hadith to mean "The eye of the Antichrist's heart is blind."7 That interpretation helps us to better understand the facts we just mentioned. In the same way, the eye of the heart of someone who makes a god out of blind chance is also blind, as is the eye of his reason. Such people immediately object when it is suggested that "God created the whole universe with superior intelligence, order and design." Yet when it is suggested that "Everything is the result of blind chance," they find that completely logical. Instead of an intelligent and conscious creator, they prefer the totally unreasonable idea that blind chance, lacking all intelligence and creative ability, created everything out of anarchy and chaos. Therefore, Darwinism is the most illogical and superstitious religion in the history of the world. Another surprising fact is the way in which a number of highly educated people adopt it as their religion, even though it is clearly false. Professors, politicians, teachers, lawyers and even doctors allow themselves to believe in this nonsense. This shows to what extent the ideas of the Antichrist entrance people like a magic spell.

So, just what is it that leads certain people to believe such an irrational and illogical claim, and to even fiercely defend it?

What we are dealing with here is an intensive propaganda campaign aimed at spreading the ideological system of the Antichrist in the time before the last days. In order to render this campaign as effective as possible, people are bombarded with indoctrination throughout their lives, and thus over time are coerced into adopting that twisted religion. This indoctrination, which people are exposed to even from childhood, consists of various phases, during each one of which people take a further step in the direction of the dark world of the Antichrist. The most effective way of protecting oneself from that bombardment is to listen to only the voice of one's conscience. Because, by the grace of God, our conscience is a guide that ensures our adherence to the true path. Darwinism, on the other hand, which has suffered a complete collapse scientifically, is today only defended as an ideological viewpoint, the senselessness of which can be demonstrated not only by the scientific evidence but also by listening to the voice of one's own conscience.

In order to be on one's guard against such constant indoctrination, and to understand the workings of it, we need to examine its various phases.

Stage 1

People are told the lie that "life is the work of chance."

A child perceives and evaluates that which goes on around him in a way different from adults. Children are constantly asking questions, and for the reason of things that happen around them, such as where they came from, how are they able to speak, how other things in nature came to exist, who created plants, how it is that the sun rises and sets, how the moon stays up in the sky, and many other such things. There is actually only one true answer that can be given to a child with respect of all these questions. Yet, people tend to offer two types of answers. The first, and correct, answer is that it was God that created everything, himself included, and that people are responsible to God, who created them from nothing and enables them to grow, eat, drink and breathe, and who protects them. God holds the entire universe under His control, is omnipresent, and sees and hears everything.

Some people, however, do not give their children the true answer to these questions. They may say that God created everything, but they do not go on to say that He is Lord and Ruler of all, and that everything happens by His will. Another group mislead their children in an even worse manner. They offer the mistaken claim that the entire universe is the result of unconscious and blind chance. That is because they in turn were instructed by their own parents or their teachers with the same answers. They had constantly been exposed to the indoctrination denying the existence of God, in schools, newspapers and on the television. That deception has over time become part of their basic outlook.

What is more, this indoctrination has led to such a mindset in people that, despite the myriad miracles in creation, they have become used to ignoring what they see with their own eyes and recognize with their conscience. In actual fact, the whole situation is itself another miracle of creation. The fact that people deny so many miracles that can clearly be seen with their own eyes is a miracle, revealed to us in the Qur'an. In the following verse, God reveals how some people will continue to deny all the various miracles they are made to witness:

Even if We sent down angels to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered together everything in front of them right before their eyes, they would still not believe unless God willed. The truth is that most of them are ignorant. (Qur'an, 6: 111)

The kind of ideas with which these people educate their children is in accordance with the religion of the Antichrist, as it is the one they themselves believe in. That is how a great many people are raised, even from an early age, in the belief that everything is the result of chance, never considering the existence of God and the art of His creation. Some families provide their children no information on the subject at all, and leave them totally vulnerable to atheistic indoctrination, which they are certain to encounter on the television and in films, newspapers and books.

Stage 2

People are taught the lie that life is a struggle founded on violence

Someone who thinks that life is the result of chance and coincidence, even if he is not fully conscious in the early stages of his believing in it, comes to believe that matter is the only absolute existence. Here he has completed the first stage of his indoctrination. As a consequence, in those cultures where people raised under such propaganda are in the majority, another important suggestion that roots itself in a child's mind is that he can "only survive so long as he is strong and selfish."

That idea is first instilled by the family, and then becomes stronger and more broadly based when the child starts school. The indoctrination the child receives from his family and his surroundings is reinforced by entirely unscientific theories, which are nevertheless portrayed as sanctioned by science, along the lines of "the ancestors of man were animals, for which reason the relationships between animals also apply to those between people." In this way, the child begins to learn the lie that there is a constant state of conflict between individuals and in society, that the weak ought to be eliminated, and that he needs to behave in that manner in order to survive. According to this principle, the most essential lesson, and the one that must never be forgotten, is that force, violence and deception can be employed, if necessary, in order to survive.

Such indoctrination is not restricted to the educational system. The child continues to receive intensive Social Darwinist indoctrination in the lyrics of the songs he listens to, the films he watches, in advertisements, videos, and even the computer games he plays, in short, in every sphere of his life. As a result of this intensive indoctrination, he builds his relationships with others on a materialistic foundation. That, in turn, means that ruthlessness, selfishness, self-interest and deceit come to dominate every moment of his life. As an inevitable consequence of this mentality, he is pushed away from true moral values and into a world of darkness.

However, the morality of the Qur'an offers a life at total variance with this model. In the Qur'an, people are called to peace and security. Societies where the morality of the Qur'an prevails are characterized by love, compassion, tolerance, honesty, self-sacrifice and humanitarianism. The proper morality that God commands people to abide by is revealed in these terms:

They give food, despite their love for it, to the poor and orphans and captives: "We feed you only out of desire for the Face of God. We do not want any repayment from you or any thanks. Truly we fear from our Lord a glowering, calamitous Day." So God has safeguarded them from the evil of that Day and has made them meet with radiance and pure joy. (Qur'an, 76: 8-11)

Stage 3

People are taught they are not responsible to anyone else

A child who is given a materialist and Darwinist answer to every question he asks will inevitably come to share those views. Even if he is still unable to openly explain them, he will begin to regard himself and all those around him as merely a highly evolved species of animal.

Yet, there remains another important phase in his education. That is the teaching of the falsehood that he is responsible to nobody but himself. According to this superstition, if matter has always existed and will always continue to do so, if life is solely the product of chance, and furthermore, if death is total extinction, then the only thing that matters is material gain. In a world made up only of matter, spiritual values can have no place. That being the case, the only thing people ought to think about is satisfying their own desires and passions, by whatever means necessary. According to the following verse in the Qur'an, "Did you suppose that We created you for amusement and that you would not return to Us?" (Qur'an, 23: 115), God clearly reveals the distorted outlook of these ignorant people.

People who genuinely believe that they can live unfettered lives, and that they will in the end merely cease to exist, are committing a serious mistake. We are responsible to our Lord, who created us from nothing. It is God who created man to accord with a particular destiny, who knows each person's past, present and future, who at death will call him to account for his past deeds, and reward or punish him accordingly. Unlike animals, God has created man with a soul, a mind, free-will and conscience. In other words, even if someone feels a certain temptation during a specific situation, he has been created with the necessary qualities to prevent him committing evil.

Someone who is unaware of or who ignores this truth will obviously pose a danger to the society of which he is a part. For instance, someone who is angered by something that has happened can behave quite ruthlessly, and harm the person responsible without thinking. It makes no difference if that person were defenseless. All that matters is venting his anger. Yet, someone who knows that he possesses a soul given him by God, who exercises his reason and his conscience, is capable of controlling his anger. He always remains in self-control and conscientious. Such a person would not dare to do the slightest thing that could earn him punishment from God. If he does happen to commit a sin, he repents and puts things right.

This is how God reminds those who imagine that they are free from restraint that they have been created and will be resurrected after death:

Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked?

Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm,

then a blood-clot which He created and shaped,

making from it both sexes, male and female?

Is He who does this not able to bring the dead to life? (Qur'an, 75: 36-40)

Another verse states that human beings are inspired to commit evil and mischief, as well as to guard themselves against every inclination to evil. (Qur'an, 91: 7-10) The fundamental reason, therefore, for peoples' degeneracy, and the crimes they commit, is that they do not believe in God, do not think that they will have to account for their deeds to Him, and thus have no fear of Him. However, the fact is that there is a purpose behind creation, and in a verse this is revealed as being the responsibility to worship God, "I only created … man to worship Me" (Qur'an, 51: 56) Human beings are tested in this life, and if they fail to fulfill their responsibilities, they will be held to account for it. Some of these responsibilities are set out in the following verse:

They were only ordered to worship only God, making their religion sincerely His as people of pure natural belief, and to attend their prayers (salat) and give alms (zakat)-surely the correct.religion (Qur'an, 98: 5)

The true religion is the religion of God, yet, as a result of the indoctrination that people are subjected to, many people are turned away from it. Someone who has gone through the various phases of the Social Darwinist education is presented with very few alternatives. His view of life and mankind is shaped in the light of materialist-Darwinist thought. He will then struggle for only himself and to defend his own interests, will usually see violence, oppression and deception as the only means of doing so, and will be driven from transgression to transgression, lost in the nightmare of atheism. What is more, there will be nothing to prevent him from doing so. The number of people who are constantly "looking for trouble," behave aggressively towards the defenseless, oppress the weak and trample on their rights, take pleasure in violence, regard the suffering of others as the means to their own happiness, and, in short, have lost touch with all finer human feelings, is increasing daily.

The most important reason for this is that the terrifying truth taught by the religion of the Antichrist is portrayed as if it were a mere fact of life.

SECTS OF THE RELIGION OF THE ANTICHRIST

It is revealed in the hadiths how the Antichrist will sow discord throughout the world. One indication of this is the way that people from all religions, nations and beliefs abide by that system. Since that discord will be very great and wide-ranging, many people, either knowingly or unknowingly, will fall into the trap, adopting the lifestyle promoted by the Antichrist. To put it another way, no matter what their world-view may be, all those who create and support anarchy, who commit and defend the use of violence, or carry out actions harmful to peace are actually adherents of the religion of the Antichrist.

That religion may also be sub-divided into a number of "sects." When we look at the century we have just passed, we can see the terribly destructive effects of the two main ideologies that sprung from Darwinism: communism and fascism.

These two ideologies can be regarded as the two main sects of the religion of the Antichrist. The founders and major leaders of both ideologies were all devoted to Darwinism, which lies at the root of the philosophy of the Antichrist, and both movements were heavily influenced by Darwinism. These two sects brought untold misery to the world, turning it into one huge battleground. And, when we examine these two ideologies closely, an interesting picture begins to emerge. No matter how much they might appear diametrically opposed to each other, they actually have a greater number of points in common than is otherwise recognized, and it becomes quite obvious how they were both inspired from the same source: Darwinism. (For details, see The Disasters Darwinism Brought to Humanity, Harun Yahya, 2000) The main ideas of Darwinism, the root of these similarities, are as follows:

Darwinism

- Darwinism's starting point is total denial of a Creator. Its principle aim is the formation of a society in which people are completely dissociated from religion. Darwinism, in effect, has become a religion, whose gods are chance and coincidence.

- It maintains that there is a "struggle for survival" in nature, for which reason ruthlessness must prevail. According to this claim, the merciless struggle that takes places among other living things must also apply to man. In an environment where everyone sees everyone else as a rival, the most frequently encountered feelings are anger, greed and hatred.

- There is no room for tolerance, compassion or dialogue in the survival of the fittest. If only the strongest can survive, then tolerance, compassion and dialogue will be among the very last things anyone is dependent upon.

- Essentially, Darwinism is one enormous deception. All of its claims have been disproved by modern science.

Communism

- Communism describes religion as the opiate of the masses. Its first struggle in all the societies where it has come to power has been against religious beliefs.

- As Lenin put it, with the words "development is the 'struggle' of opposites,"8 communism maintains that progress can only come about by means of conflict. It believes that there can be no progress and development without bloodshed.

- Armed uprisings and revolution are essential elements of communism. At the base of these lies the anger felt towards other classes of society, and a ruthless desire for revenge.

- Communism resolutely opposes all opposition and differences. Differences mean only one thing: conflict. There can only be one kind of everything in communist regimes, including human beings. Everything that seeks to oppose this uniformity is seen as an enemy of the regime, and harsh measures are taken against it. In such a climate there can be no tolerance, and no chance of establishing dialogue.

- In practice, the implementation of communism has been a clear indication of just how deceptive can be those concepts such as equality, social justice and freedom that communism upholds in order to attract adherents. These concepts are nothing but the propaganda tools of communism, a despotic and totalitarian system.

Lenin made the communist ideology a reality with the 1917 revolution, and led his people to a time full of bloodshed, suffering and misery. The despotic regime installed in the wake of the revolution revealed the true brutality of communism to the whole world.

Fascism

- Fascism, and all its methods, is diametrically opposed to religious morality. One of the distinguishing characteristics of fascism is its tendency to kill thousands of innocent people in the name of its own so-called "sacred" values, and of actually regarding that slaughter as virtuous. That is why war and conflict are inseparable components of fascism.

Fascist dictators, such as Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, caused the deaths of thousands of people, and the suffering of millions more, for the sake of their fascist ideology..

- The anger and hatred directed towards people of different races is another fundamental element of fascism. This racist tendency has inspired numerous wars, conflicts, death and ethnic cleansings.

- Strict discipline is an inherent part of a fascist regime. All ideas that conflict with it are eliminated. The burning of thousands of books during Hitler's Reich, simply because they contained "non-German ideas," is just one example of this.

- In order to win people over, fascism instills in people the notion that their race is superior to all others. The real aim is the construction of a system built upon the concept of race. It is clear, however, that in an environment in which every race thinks it is superior there will never be an end to war and conflict. The disasters that fascist dictators, such as Hitler and Mussolini, have inflicted on their people are some of the most striking proofs of the fact that the ideas espoused by fascism are nothing but falsehoods.

The above-mentioned characteristics are just a few examples to give you a general idea of these ideologies. When one considers the way these ideologies are implemented, it becomes still more obvious to what extent they are inherently violent and brutal. Yet, the truly important thing to note is the way of the Antichrist, and the ideologies linked to it, can be adopted by whole segments of society, despite all the terrible destruction they inflict. For that reason, it is most important to examine the way in which the system of the Antichrist brings society under its control. To reveal how that is done will be the first round shot in the war of ideas to be waged against that system. That is to say, that people do not suddenly become selfish, aggressive, ruthless individuals filled with hatred and a thirst for revenge overnight. As we have already seen, they can only be accustomed to the system of the Antichrist over time, in stages. The process begins when people first become conscious of their surroundings beginning the learning process, and it continues throughout their lives. That indoctrination starts with turning people away from faith in God.

The primary sects we have been considering themselves consist of different groups and adherents. Subsequent chapters of this book will examine the links between the Antichrist and terrorism and these sub-groups. However, it will first be useful to have a look at how the Antichrist is treated in the Qur'an.