The Nature Of The Antichrist As Described In The Qur'an

The Prophet Muhammad's descriptions of the Antichrist in the hadiths strongly resemble the criminal-sinner character that appears in the Qur'an. The examples of immorality described in the Qur'an, such as lying, injustice, ruthlessness, cruelty, encouraging wickedness amongst people, as well as what the disbelievers attempt to pass off as morality in order to turn people away from religion, are also the principle characteristics of those ideologies disbelievers by Darwinism.

The people that God refers to as "evildoers" in the Qur'an are those who spread chaos and terror in the world, who scheme various plans towards that end, and side with evil. Such people refuse to recognize the limits set by God, refuse to live by the morality of religion, and have a tendency to sin and wickedness. As God says, "The evildoers are indeed misguided and insane" (Qur'an, 54: 47), the road taken by those who adopt that version of morality is a deviant one. Various features of the evildoers are set out in the Qur'an, and we are warned to be on our guard against them:

Who could do greater wrong than someone who invents lies against God or denies His Signs? Evildoers are certainly not successful. (Qur'an, 10: 17)

We destroyed generations before you when they did wrong. Their Messengers brought them the Clear Signs, but they were never going to believe. That is how We repay evildoers. (Qur'an, 10: 13)

If we bear in mind the fact that one of the distinguishing features of materialist ideologies, such as communism and fascism, which are founded on Darwinism, is destroying the social order and fomenting chaos, then it becomes clear that those who live by and seek to further these systems are the evildoers defined in the Qur'an. In one verse, God says:

And likewise in every city We set up its greatest wrongdoers to plot in it. They plot against themselves alone, but they are not aware of it. (Qur'an, 6: 123)

As the verse states, these people will lay plans in order to spread and consolidate their own power. This being the case, a war of ideas against people of that type, and those who seek to further such systems, is of the utmost importance. Peace can only come to replace wickedness, and stability to take the place of conflict and chaos, if the activities of those who engage in evil are prevented. That, in turn, can only come about if the rottenness of these peoples' ideological foundations is established and then brought down. Only believers can assume this responsibility, since the strife caused by the system of the Antichrist can never influence true believers. The faithful are those who fiercely refuse to adopt the mentality of the evildoer, nor to allow themselves to be tainted by even the slightest trace of it. This is how God reveals the responsibility of preventing wickedness that falls on the shoulders of the believers:

Would that there had been more people with a vestige of good among the generations of those who came before you, who forbade corruption in the earth, other than the few among them whom We saved. Those who did wrong gladly pursued the life of luxury that they were given and were evildoers. (Qur'an, 11: 116)

THE METHOD OF THE ANTICHRIST IS BUILT UPON INDULGENCE

One of the most important traits of evildoers is the way they are misled by their own passions and individual desires, instead of by the morality of the Qur'an. However, being dominated by one's ego (an-nafs) loses one in a terrible nightmare. When someone begins to act in conformity to his lower self, it leads to internal mental chaos and a complete lack of restraint. Instead of the peace of mind and tranquility that come from listening to the voice of one's conscience, comes insecurity, restlessness, worry and discontent. As God informs us in a verse of the Qur'an, "…The self indeed commands to evil acts-except for those my Lord has mercy on…" (Qur'an, 12: 53), the lower self continually encourages one to wickedness. It constantly encourages jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, insensitivity, ruthlessness, disrespect, irresponsibility, and other examples of poor morality. A believer, however, listens to the voice of his conscience, not his lower soul, employs his free-will and adopts a decent and pleasing morality. That is because, in the Qur'an, God commands man to eschew the evils of his lower soul, a commandment which must be obeyed by making us of one's conscience. In other words, since we know what is right and wrong, we also know how to avoid it. This fact is expressed in the following terms in the Qur'an:

And the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity and a fear of God, he who purifies it has succeeded, he who covers it up has failed. (Qur'an, 91: 7-10)

Nevertheless, a great number of people suppress and ignore the voice of their conscience, and allow themselves to be ruled by their egos. There are enormous differences between a man who is ruled by his ego and the man who is governed by his conscience. Someone who listens to the voice of his conscience behaves with moderation and controls his anger when faced with a trying situation. He who obeys his ego, however, is swept away by his anger and acts out feelings of hatred and vengeance. In the same way, when someone who has experienced an injustice listens to the voice of his conscience, he knows that he must answer that injustice with fairness and even-handedness, not with a further injustice. The person who follows only his selfish desires, on the other hand, will want to retaliate against the person who committed the injustice against him. The man who listens to his conscience is compassionate, tolerant, patient and willing to make personal sacrifices. The man who listens to his ego is ruthless, cruel, impatient and selfish. That is why it is impossible to speak of peace in any society where those who listen only to their own egos are the majority. In fact, God has revealed that there will be no stability in the world as long as people hearken to their selfish desires:

If the truth were to follow their whims and desires, the heavens and the earth and everyone in them would have been brought to ruin. No indeed! We have given them their Reminder, but they have turned away from it. (Qur'an, 23: 71)

That is one of the reasons why the Antichrist targets religious and spiritual values. The morality of religion requires people to listen to the voice of their conscience and avoid the wickedness their desires might provoke. The ideology of the Antichrist seeks just the opposite, which is why it harms those very elements that bind people together and ensure social cohesion (the most important of these elements are religious morality and the spiritual values that arise from it), and encourages people towards discord and conflict. In a hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) described what the world would be like in a system based on that of the Antichrist, when people are dominated by their desires: "The dissension of the end of time will be so terrible that no one will be able to restrain themselves."9

Commenting upon this hadith, Islamic scholars have explained that the Antichrist will call on people to follow their passions and desires, which will be portrayed as a good thing. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, for instance, said: "The men, ...defeated by their instinctual souls, and with drunken joy, fall into the fire and are burnt. (The dissension of the end of time and the dissension of the Antichrist) will draw the pleasure-seekers around them like moths, intoxicating them."10

THE ANTICHRIST SPREADS CORRUPTION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

The most harmful aspect of the system of the Antichrist is that it is built on spreading corruption and damaging peace and order. The defining characteristic of the Antichrist is to encourage terror and anarchy in order to spread corruption. The latter of course has wide-ranging ramifications, and can include frightening people and making them uneasy, and wreaking peace and security. Unjustified wars between nations, internal conflict sparked off by artificial causes, terrorist attacks aimed at innocent civilians, and acts of violence in daily life can all be regarded as instances of corruption. In the present day, the ever-increasing examples of wars and conflicts are important from the point of view of revealing the dimension of the corruption of the Antichrist.

Corruption is described in the Qur'an as one of the dangers to be avoided by people. God has forbidden them to cause corruption, and has revealed that He has no love for those who do. The following verse reveals how it is that those who deny God constantly try to spread corruption, conflict, chaos and war:

...We have incited enmity and hatred between them until the Day of Rising. Each time they kindle the fire of war, God extinguishes it. They rush about the earth corrupting it. God does not love corrupters. (Qur'an, 5: 64)

As we have seen, this verse emphasizes how these people are constantly trying to bring about war. Grave acts of brutality such as war, conflict and terror, are the methods most frequently resorted to by the Antichrist. Another verse discusses the mentality of the Antichrist in these terms:

Those who break God's contract after it has been agreed, and sever what God has commanded to be joined, and cause corruption on the earth, it is they who are the lost. (Qur'an, 2: 27)

The morality of the Qur'an, on the other hand, contributes to peace and security. The aim, as revealed in the Qur'an, is the development of an environment in which people of all beliefs and nations can live together in safety. The problems of the world can only be alleviated by living by the morality of religion, and by people listening to the voice of their conscience. The command in the Qur'an reads:

Do not corrupt the earth after it has been put right. Call on Him fearfully and eagerly. God's mercy is close to the good-doers. (Qur'an, 7: 56)

CORRUPTION LEADS TO THE SPREAD OF VIOLENCE

In the hearts of those who cause corruption, tolerance and patience are replaced by feelings of hatred and vengeance. Those who foment strife, conflict and acts of terrorism, are people who lack any concept of restraint, or of the need to rule justly, but prefer to settle disputes through violence instead of negotiation. Similarly, adherents of the religion of the Antichrist are disposed to conflict instead of compromise. This tendency encourages feelings of hatred, anger and enmity, and leads to a culture that turns people against each other. It is revealed in the hadiths that the Antichrist will come at a time when hatred, anger and violence are widespread, a condition which he will take advantage of. Some of these hadiths are as follows:

The Antichrist will appear at a time when religion is weakened and knowledge is insufficient.11

Those are the days when minds are confused. When people kill one another. To such an extent that people can murder their neighbours, cousins and relatives. The killer knows not why he kills, nor the victim why he was killed.12

Actually, these characteristics are also some of the basic features of the Devil. He is also rebellious, opposed to compromise, and full of hatred and anger, and his aim is to encourage others to act along those lines. That is why the Devil always tries to come between people and cause friction between them. God warns of this danger in the Qur'an:

Say to My servants that they should only say the best. The Devil wants to stir up trouble between them. The Devil is an outright enemy to man. (Qur'an, 17: 53)

Those who fall under the Devil's influence greatly overreact to incidents that could otherwise be better dealt with a little tolerance. They react angrily to everything that they do not like or which does not agree with their views. Swept away by their anger, they are unable to think clearly, nor to consider matters fairly and objectively. The Devil exploits those who had merely started out being unable to think clearly, and eventually turns them into such with criminal tendencies. He indoctrinates them with the idea that they will never find peace as long as they are unable to satisfy their anger.

The story in the Qur'an, which relates the incident that took place between the sons of the Prophet Adam (pbuh), is an important example of how someone who acts under the influence of the Devil can be unrestrained and aggressive in character:

Recite to them the true report of Adam's two sons when they offered a sacrifice and it was accepted from one of them but not accepted from the other. The one said, "I shall kill you." The other said, "God only accepts from the righteous (who fear Him). Even if you do raise your hand against me to kill me, I am not going to raise my hand against you to kill you. Truly I fear God, the Lord of all the worlds. I want you to take on both my wrongdoing and your wrongdoing and so become one of the Companions of the Fire. That is the repayment of the wrongdoers." So his lower self persuaded him to kill his brother, and he killed him and became one of the lost. (Qur'an, 5: 27-30)

As can be seen from these verses, the brother who followed his lower self, and the suggestion of the Devil, acted out of anger and jealousy, even leading him to committing murder. The other brother, on the other hand, who exhibited the morality of a believer, did not lose his composure in spite of the aggressive attitude and unfair behavior of the other, but behaved in a proper moral manner.

In the same way, the brothers of the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) planned to kill him, out of jealousy and anger at the blessings that God had (pbuh) bestowed on him. When the Prophet Joseph again met his brothers at a later time, he was tolerant and forgiving towards them. This is a requirement of the superior morality that God has commanded the faithful to adopt. The proper morality of Muslims is described in a verse in the following way:

Those who give in times of both ease and hardship, those who control their rage and pardon other people-God loves the good-doers. (Qur'an, 3: 134)

THE ANTICHRIST ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TOWARDS EXTREMISM

Another method employed by the Antichrist to cause corruption and confusion in the world is to encourage people towards extremism, or fanaticism. In this way, people are led to believe that they are justified in behaving in a fanatical manner for the sake of their beliefs or ideals. They are led astray by the idea that results that could otherwise be obtained by compromise and dialogue can only be reached by resorting to violence. Through this state of mind, simple envy or unjustified anger can result in savage brutality. Because extremism often represents the very opposite of moderation, common sense, and rational behavior. Such people follow only their emotions. Their reactions and general comportment are governed by violence and rage. That is what leads to the emergence of groups and individuals who too easily resort to all forms of violence without ever questioning why, nor feeling any pang of conscience.

The Qur'an, however, warns people against turning to extremism and going beyond the normal bounds. In one verse, God warns people not to follow those who turn towards fanaticism and let themselves to be ruled by their emotions, or against the trap set for them by the Antichrist:

… And do not obey someone whose heart We have made neglectful of Our remembrance and who follows his own whims and desires and whose life has transgressed all bounds. (Qur'an, 18: 28)

Extremism turns man away from the Qur'an. One of the most important characteristics of believers is that, no matter what the circumstances, they are always moderate and well balanced, and never abandon their modesty, restraint and tolerance. The responsibility believers recognize upon themselves commands them to behave well towards others and to avoid evil. This is a responsibility that is to be fulfilled by explaining the morality of religion to people and waging a war of ideas against atheistic philosophies. As the believer fulfils that responsibility, he knows that his only duty is to tell the truth and show people the true path. He is not to oblige people to believe. As God has commanded by the words "There is no compulsion where religion is concerned." (Qur'an, 2: 256), people must not be brought under any compulsion. It is God who turns people to the right way, in other words, who grants them faith. Believers merely strive to be a means whereby this can come about:

You are not responsible for their guidance, but God guides whoever He wills… (Qur'an, 2: 272)

THE COMMON CHARACTERISTIC OF ALL THOSE WHO ARE DUPED BY THE
ANTICHRIST: ACTING BY THE DEVIL'S LOGIC

He (Antichrist) will have two flowing rivers: one will appear to be pure water, and the other will appear to be flaming fire. Whosoever lives to see that, let him choose the river which seems to be fire, …for it will be cold water.13

The Antichrist…will bring with him what will resemble Hell and Paradise, and what he will call Paradise will be actually Hell.14

The above hadiths are two accounts revealing that the Antichrist will portray good as bad, and bad as good. In the same way that the Antichrist encourages people towards anarchy and terror, the Devil claims that people can only be saved by turning to him, and that he is the true way. While encouraging people to atheism and a morality that denies God, he also tells the lie that he wants only what is good:

Say: "Are we to call on something besides God which can neither help nor harm us, and to turn on our heels after God has guided us, like someone the satans have lured away in the earth, leaving him confused and stupefied, despite the fact that he has companions calling him to guidance, saying, 'Come with us!'?" Say: "God's guidance, that is true guidance. We are commanded to submit as Muslims to the Lord of all the worlds." (Qur'an, 6: 71)

Likewise, the way that those who follow the Devil claim that they too want only what is good has been revealed in the Qur'an:

How will it be when a disaster strikes them because of what they have done, and then they come to you swearing by God: "We desired nothing but good and reconciliation"? (Qur'an, 4: 62)

One of the most striking examples of the way in which the Antichrist makes people think that what is evil is actually good is the way they begin to regard violence, fighting and conflict as normal; or, as we have seen earlier, those who have convinced themselves and others that the most efficacious way of obtaining what they want is the use of violence. They kill innocent people, imagining themselves to be engaged in a just struggle, as they harm others who have committed no crime at all. When members of terrorist organizations, or people who have been responsible for wars and conflicts in various regions of the world, are interviewed, they all declare how justified they were to resort to violence. Yet, they are entirely wrong, and merely despotic. No struggle that employs violence against innocent and defenseless people can ever be justified.

At the root of this error lies the fact that such people have followed the way of the Devil and the Antichrist, who is an extension of the Devil. In other words, they act according to the Devil's logic. God, however, the Creator of all, has commanded people never to follow in the way of the Devil. This is how that commandment is expressed in the verses of the Qu'ran:

Mankind! eat what is good and lawful on the earth. And do not follow in the footsteps of the Devil. He truly is an outright enemy to you. (Qur'an, 2: 168)

The Devil is your enemy so treat him as an enemy. He summons his party so they will be among the people of the Searing Blaze. (Qur'an, 35: 6)

People who act in line with the Devil's logic, despite all of our Lord's commandments to the contrary, seal off their hearts and minds. That narrow-mindedness is a common characteristic of those who deny God and refuse to live by the morality of religion. God has sealed the hearts of such people:

As for those who disbelieve, it makes no difference to them whether you warn them or do not warn them, they will not believe. God has sealed up their hearts and hearing and over their eyes is a blindfold. They will have a terrible punishment. (Qur'an, 2: 6- 7)

We have made all kinds of examples for people in this Qur'an. If you bring them a Sign those who disbelieve will say, "You are just purveyors of falsehood!" In that way God seals up the hearts of those who do not know. (Qur'an, 30: 58-59)

As another verse of the Qur'an, (Qur'an, 7: 179), says: "…They have hearts they do not understand with. They have eyes they do not see with. They have ears they do not hear with. Such people are like cattle. No, they are even further astray! They are the unaware." That kind of diminution of their state of awareness shows that those who follow the system of the Antichrist are cruel, having completely abandoned their conscience, and therefore lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. That kind of person attaches no importance to the possible harm his reactions to a given situation might cause, and has no qualms in acting tyrannically. He is thoroughly taken in by the lies of the Antichrist, and begins to think that black is white, and white black. The condition of such people is described in these terms in the Qur'an:

Those who deny Our Signs are deaf and dumb in utter darkness. God misguides whoever He wills, and puts whoever He wills on a straight path. (Qur'an, 6: 39)

God has also revealed that these cruel persons, who collaborate with the Devil, and try to perpetuate the Devil's logic in the world, will be suitably repaid in the hereafter:

He makes promises to them and fills them with false hopes. But what the Devil promises them is nothing but delusion. The shelter of such people will be Hell. They will find no way to escape from it. (Qur'an, 4: 120-121)

THE PLOTS OF THE ANTICHRIST ARE WITHIN THE CONTROL OF GOD

In the hadiths, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) warned of the deceptiveness of the plots devised by the Antichrist so that we might avoid them. Truly, the corruption sown by the Antichrist is set on such a degree of deviousness that most, apart from those who have sincere faith, will easily fall into its influence. We need merely to consider the state of moral decline and general havoc in the world today, to recognize the scale of it. Most are familiar with this degeneration and chaos, no matter what country, nation or race they come from.

There is here another matter which is very important to keep in mind. It has been revealed in numerous verses of the Qur'an that the true lord over all the plots devised by the disbelievers, is God. In order to test people, and to make know and to educate the righteous, as well as to demonstrate the disbelief of the unbelievers, and for many other reasons, God has allowed the works of the Devil in this world, and therefore the Antichrist, as set within His preordained plan. For that reason, the plots devised by those who deny God, can never, by His will, achieve their objectives. This is confirmed in a verse:

They concocted their plots, but their plots were with God, even if they were such as to make the mountains vanish. (Qur'an, 14: 46)

All through history, those who have denied God, and sought to encourage others to do the same, have devised all kinds of plots to ensnare others. Yet, according to God's command, all such ploys have ultimately failed, and only rebounded against themselves. This is an immutable law from God, as revealed in the following verse:

…But then when a warner did come to them, it only increased their aversion, shown by their arrogance in the land and evil plotting. But evil plotting envelops only those who do it. Do they expect anything but the pattern of previous peoples? You will not find any changing in the pattern of God. You will not find any alteration in the pattern of God (Qur'an, 35: 42-43)

The same fate is destined for the plots devised by the Antichrist and his ideological system. That entire system itself is a method of deception specifically designed to keep people from the way of God. No matter how complex the plots, and how wide-ranging and effective the plan, everything is under the control of God. The Antichrist and his plots exist only by virtue of the will of God. As stated in another verse, "But you will not will unless God wills." (Qur'an, 76: 30), none has the power to desire anything, neither to devise a plot, nor to put it into action, unless God so ordains.