This is actually the heading of the third segment of Let’s Talk Vol 2 No 13 which was released on March 2022. Didn’t realise that this was actually my last article on eschatology before I took a long pause and started to write again on it a few days ago.
When Putin ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces put on alert, some Muslim scholars commented that this could lead to the Malhama (Great War) in Islamic eschatology.
Eschatology refers to the branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind. Specifically it is a set of belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind.
The End Time, which features prominently in the various eschatology of several world religions is a period in the future also known as end of days, last days, final days or eschaton.
From the Islamic perspective, eschatology or Ilmu Akhir Zaman is therefore the branch of Islamic scholarship that studies Yawm al-Qiyamah (the Day of Resurrection) or Yawm ad-Din (Day of Judgement).
This is believed to be the final assessment of humanity by Allah, with annihilation of all life, resurrection and judgment.
A central feature of Islamic eschatology is the prophecies on events very near to the Last Hour foretold in many authentic Ahadith (plural of Hadith) of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).
One of these events is the cataclysmic and apocalyptic Malhama, which generally corresponds to the battle of Armageddon in Christian eschatology, and occurs soon before the emergence of the Dajjal (Antichrist).
Since the Ahadith on the events preceding the Last Hour are, more often than not, allegorical (mutasyabihah) with respect to details and chronology, analysis (a form of ijtihad – independent reasoning) is required because the nature of prophecies is such that they are not precise or exact in details, for otherwise they would no longer be a prophecy.
The Malhama is actually a series of wars culminating in the Malhama al Kubra (The Greatest Battle) just before the three main actors of End Time will appear one after another on the world stage i.e. the Dajjal, Jesus (Prophet Isa peace on him) and the Mahdi (the Awaited One).
The Malhama Al-Kubra is found in multiple hadith narrations with varying details. However, the basic narrative framework of the cycle of prophecies found in Islamic eschatology is as follows:
This battle is said to occur after the Muslims and Christian Romans victoriously fight alongside each other against a common enemy.
Following their victory a conflict will break out in which a Christian claims that the cross brought them victory, a Muslim in response claims that God brought them victory and proceeds to destroy the cross, which leads to further reprisals from the Christian side.
This culminates in the Malhama Al-Kubra, an apocalyptic scale battle so intense, according to some hadith narrations, that were a bird to pass their flanks, “it would fall down dead before reaching the end of them.”
This is being interpreted by some scholars as alluding to a nuclear war. In fact in another prophetic Hadith, where the ten signs of the End of Time were listed by the Prophet, it mentioned about Ad-Dukkan (the Smoke) as one of the signs.
Some interpret this to mean the fallout in a nuclear war where the intense smoke in the atmosphere will render useless all electrical and electronic equipment, marking the end of aerial warfare.
Henceforth, war will not only be conducted by land and sea but it is back to the medieval war of using swords and horses because the reliance on electricity and electronics which is a cornerstone of modern civilisation will come to an end.
So is the current Russia-Ukraine conflict a sign of the impending Malhama, when one ingredient of the Malhama is the threat of a nuclear war?
It depends. In the first place before the Malhama takes place, there must be a battle (non-nuclear) featuring the alliance between the Muslim and Rum (Rome) against a common enemy.
Now when the Hadith speaks about Rum, it refers to the Byzantine Empire with Orthodox Christianity as the official religion, and Constantinople (present day Istanbul) as its capital.
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople.
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century CE and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until Constantinople fell to the Muslim Ottoman.
The plot thickens when after the fall of Constantinople, Orthodox Christianity moved to Russia.
Some contemporary Muslim exegesis suggests that the Romans referred to in the prophecy correspond to the Russians, because Russia is the most populous Orthodox Christian country and considers itself the inheritor of the Eastern Roman Empire.
So in the current conflict, whether it will lead to the Malhama or not, we will have to watch Turkey, the only Muslim country which is a member of Nato, to see what stance and move it will make.
Also, there is a need to watch Saudi Arabia where many Ahadith have prophesised that dynastic struggle there will lead to event where the Mahdi will make an appearance.
Another two countries to watch – Syria and Israel. The former is said to be the venue of the second coming of Christ, while the latter is the place where the Dajjal will be setting up his HQ in Jerusalem.
If events in all these countries are just the usual conflict between and among nations, involving the use of conventional weapons, then the Russia-Ukraine war is just an isolated event that does not herald the coming of the Malhama.
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