By Walid Shoebat (Shobeat Exclusive)

When Erdogan was visited by the top Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi he made a major blasphemy, even by Islamic standards; he called Erdogan “a man equal to Moses, the prophet”.

Amazed at such sacrilege, Bahgat Albebp, the head of the Islamic Center in the city Leoben Austria denounced him in a press release, not only for equating Erdogan to Moses, but for saying that Turkey is a country of the caliphate and its capital is Istanbul and that even “God Himself and Gabriel and the angels and the Prince of the faithful support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan“, pointing out that “it represents a disregard for the minds of Muslims and is an attempt to control their minds by using lies promoted in the name of religion“.

He said that the analogy Qaradawi used equating Turkish President Erdogan to “Moses” represents a transgression and cannot be accepted according to the true Islamic religion, which puts the prophets at a much higher scale than humans.

Which brings us to an important issue. For years many criticized us in our prophetic analysis when we said that Antichrist will be Muslim, countering us saying that it would be impossible for Antichrist to be worshipped by Muslims, since Muslims do not worship a man.

But such an argument is easily thwarted since Islam not only calls for worshipping men, but even stones. Every Muslim must get his sins cleansed by venerating The Black Stone at least once in their lifetime, since the Black Stone is black according to Islam due to it taking away the sins of Muslims. From a biblical definition—not only do Muslims deify Muhammad, they also deify the Black Stone—this idol takes the position of Jesus Himself, since only Jesus can remit all sin.

Even the Book of Acts addresses such issues: Everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, whose image which fell down to us from heaven (Acts 19:35).

Will our critics say that these did not worship Artemis or her image?

The image of Artemis is strikingly similar to the meteorite stone image in Mecca which Allah commands 1.3 billion Muslims to literally bow down and prostrate themselves toward at least seventeen times during their five daily prayers.

Al-Tirmidhi, one of the greatest Muslim commentators notes “many years ago, the Black Stone was, “whiter than milk; it was only later that it became black as it [the Black Stone] absorbed the sins of those who touched it.”
Even the stone according to the Bible is an “image”. Biblically speaking, an image does not only mean a statue. Likely, the image of the beast can include a stone.

Muslims also worship men. Allah in the Quran even shared many of his titles with Mohammed. Muhammad in the Quran holds a uniquely exalted status unparalleled by anything or anyone else but Christ. He is given the title Al-Maqam-Al-Mahmud (The Glorious). The Mahdi who Muslims believe is the essence of Muhammad, likewise is called “glorious”, Ahmadinijad stated: “pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi—may Allah hasten his reappearance.”

Islam claims that God, whose name is Mahmud, or the Glorious or the Praised One, named Mohammed after Himself.

This is quite the claim.

Mohammed wanted to be like God. Even intersession is attributed to Muhammad “It may be that thy Lord will raise thee to a praised estate’ (Qur’an 17:79), a station which the Prophet said none but he would receive. And this is the Station of Intercession at the right of the Glorious Throne.”

Only Jesus is positioned at the right hand of God where He is the only one that intercedes for mankind:

“Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34).

One will never find in the Scriptures Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos, Habakkuk, or Jeremiah given such titles.

So like Mohammed, the Mahdi is exalted by Islam to be above all of creation, and is claimed by Islam to sit in the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Mahdi in Islam has titles that belong only to God.

Now, lets examine II Thessalonians 2 used as evidence to write-off Islam. Antichrist:

“oppose and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (II Thessalonians 2:4).

The Mahdi, like Muhammad exalts himself above all that is called God. In other words, he gives himself titles that only belong to God. The II Thessalonians 2 text is perfect and no serious mind can deny— it does match Islam’s deification of a man.

Lucifer is addressed as the man-Antichrist “Is this the man who made the earth tremble?” (Isaiah 14:16) When was this Lucifer a man?

According to Muhammad “The Mahdi is the peacock of all angels and of the dwellers of the heavenly realm, he is dressed and adorned with the cloaks of light.(Ibin Al-Sabbagh in AlFusul Al-Muhimma, transmitted by Ibin Abbas.)

He is not mere man, but a man-angel and the peacock of all angels—Lucifer.

Ahmadenijad prayed in front of the whole world to see “O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.”

The Mahdi, who is referred to as: “the perfect human being who is heir to all prophets and pious men.”

Even heir to Jesus Himself since Jesus according to Islam will stand behind Mahdi in the Hour of Judgment. Being a perfect man is not only what Shia believe. What Ahmadinejad was saying is that the Mahdi of Islam is essentially the reincarnation of Mohammed—the perfect man.

But here is the crucial question: Does the Bible teach that Antichrist claims to be only deity? If claiming to be God is the only thing Antichrist does, then we have a problem since in Daniel 11:39 Antichrist “acts against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory” (Daniel 11:39).

Who is this “foreign god” whom Antichrist worships?

How could Antichrist claim to be God and then here he worships a god?

The answer is quite simple. The Bible gives us that Antichrist attributes to himself titles that belong to God while at the same time honors and worships a god of war.

Only Islam can match, and only Islam reconciles these apparently contradicting verses. We must never isolate verses.

Jesus commanded us to be as wise as serpents. How can we do this if we do not understand the evil mindset of Lucifer? Islam has a catch 22. Antichrist must deny the deity of Jesus and the Trinity (1 John 2:22) because he wants to replace Him. How can Satan take over that position as Messiah and be worshipped and at the same time deny Jesus’ deity?

The best argument he could create is that Jesus is a mere man. How could a man become God? He must destroy belief in the deity of Christ and establish himself instead, yet, at the same time he wants to be worshipped as God. He could not claim that Mohammed was God if he is to deny Jesus’ deity while at the same time Satan must direct this worship to himself.

The Bible has warned us that Satan will attempt to exalt his man, the Antichrist, over Christ. Islam does exalt Mohammed whom the Mahdi they claim is his spiritual reincarnation above Christ and downgrades Christ; likewise, the Mahdi is believed to have the spirit of Mohammed, and so, he will have the same attributes, and according to Islam will also occupy the Temple Mount.

The Caliphate of the end days according to Islam is also the Mahdi. What Qaradawi did proclaiming such attributes to Erdogan is something to pay close attention to.