So how do the Anti-Christ and the false prophet tie in with the religion of Islam? For we have seen throughout this teaching so far, that Islam features very strongly in end time events. And therefore, because Islam features so strongly in end time events, it is essential that these two characters should also tie in with the religion of Islam. And that is exactly the case, for the religion of Islam also has two end time characters that Muslims are waiting for to be revealed in the earth. The first one is called al-Mahdi, and the second is called Isa. The Mahdi (literally “guided one”), is an eschatological redeemer of Islam who will appear and will rule for either five, seven, nine, or nineteen years (according to differing interpretations) before the Day of Judgement (yawm al-qiyamah, literally, the Day of Resurrection), and will violently rid the world of evil. There is no reference to the Mahdi in the Quran, only in the ahadith (the reports and traditions of Muhammad's teachings collected after his death). In most traditions, Mahdi will arrive with Isa to defeat Masih ad-Dajjal (literally, the "false Messiah"). Although the concept of a Mahdi is not an essential doctrine in Sunni Islam, he is popular among both Sunni and Shi’a Muslims. Both agree that he will rule over the Muslims and establish justice. Clearly the person called the Mahdi in Islam is the person revealed as the Anti-Christ in scripture, for there are several similarities as revealed in scripture. From scripture, we understand that the Anti-Christ will rule over the fourth kingdom for a total of seven years, and extend his rule in the second half of those seven years to encompass the rest of the world before God’s judgement takes place in the earth. In Islam, one of the Muslim expectations is that the Mahdi will rule for seven years before the day of judgement. Scripture states that the Anti-Christ will make war with the Lord’s saints and overcome them, in other words he will kill them. In Islam, the Muslim belief is that the Mahdi will violently rid the world of evil. Scripture states that the Anti-Christ will kill the Lord’s two prophets. In Islam, the Muslim belief is that the Mahdi will defeat or kill, what they call, the false Messiah. But the tie in with scripture goes even further than that, for as the person of the Mahdi is revealed as the Anti-Christ, so the person of the false prophet is clearly revealed as the prophet Islam calls, Isa. In Islam, Isa is the name of the person they call the prophet Jesus.
Michael E.B. Maher
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