By Walid Shoebat
Whenever Mecca is involved in instigating war, it sparks and fuels apocalyptic mania amongst Jihadists where they flock to play the role and be counted as true Muslims for judgment day sake. Several things stand out immediately about this new Saudi-based 34 Islamic states Coalition to combat ISIS. Saudi Arabia says that it plans to form a Muslim antiterrorism coalition saying it underlined a new muscular foreign policy aimed at confronting ISIS. This adds assurance to Muslims regarding their version of apocalypse where prior to the appearance of the Muslim Mahdi that a conundrum is caused by the appearance of an anti-Mahdi. A very interesting development as result of the war in Syria, Iraq and now that Arabia is getting involved sparking an apocalyptic fervor throughout the Muslims world (which we will explain in more detail later).
The 34-member bloc will fight terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan, so declared Saudi Arabia. The question is, how can Saudi Arabia fight ISIS, without the agreement of the Shia-majority nations of Iran and Iraq which are noticeably absent, as is their ally Syria? Turkey never got approval from Iraq and is causing a fiasco. This spells out the whole issue, that is, Sunni Wahhabist Saudi Arabia will end up having to confront the Shiites of Syria, Iraq and Iran as well. This does not spell out Muslim prophecy only, but also biblical prophecy.
With a Saudi war on ISIS, is Saudi Arabia finally getting tired of its own vomit, ISIS, which in the first place sprouted out of Saudi Arabian pure Wahhabism?
Wahhabist Islam was tasty to Arabs when they concocted the Wahhabist recipe and ate it daily, but it was very bitter when they were forced to re-eat what they vomited having had enough of ISIS. This is why many Muslims rather tickle their throats with a feather since they subconsciously know what Islam is all about.
This is so true, especially in Saudi Arabia itself. So is Wahhabism ready to denounce a Caliphate just because they prefer a monarchy? And how will such verdict square in the Muslim world; Saudi Arabia fighting ISIS very strongly will undermine its authority at home; how could Wahhabists religiously justify fighting other Wahhabists?
Saudi Arabia is checkmated no matter how one slices and dices the issues.
It has a hard-time combating ISIS. Didn’t we all hear this war on ISIS before? Back in March, didn’t the Arabs declare:
“Arab foreign ministers meeting in Egypt agreed a draft resolution to form a unified military force, in a move aimed at countering growing regional security threats … The Arab league chief described the resolution as ‘historic’ … The 22 Arab states often have different views on how to tackle crises and calls for a unified force in the past have failed to produce tangible results … Conflicts are intensifying in Yemen and Libya and the civil war in Syria is entering its fifth year … Islamic State militants have taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria and spawned splinter groups across the Arab world”
And what happened with that draft resolution? Nothing. It was all about Saudi Arabia bombing the crap out of the Shiite Houthis in Yemen, not ISIS.
This is more reason to believe that a Shiite-Saudi war is on the horizon. Many concluded that a Sunni-Shiite war will erupt. This analysis lacks in understanding that not all Sunnis are anti-Shiite as in the Turkish Sufis who also harbor hatred towards the Saudis just as much as the Shiites do. Although this is hidden in the daily Turkish expression in the media, nevertheless it is a historic vendetta since Saudis worked with the British to dismantle the Ottoman Empire in the past.
Saudi record proves the case. Arab allies conducted only 143 of the 2,827 airstrikes against ISIS in Syria in one whole year, while it sometimes conducted as many as 125 strikes against the Houthi Shiites in Yemen a day, according to the BBC.
But the problem for Saudi Arabia is that Syria doesn’t border Saudi Arabia like Yemen does, plus Saudis view Shiite-Alawite Assad just as they view Yemen, as the root problem, and have argued from the beginning (just as Obama argues and Turkey argued as well) that Assad has to be defeated first in order to defeat ISIS.
The declaration of war on ISIS by Saudi Arabia, has more to do with elevating its negative image. There are more reasons that Saudi Arabia is the whore that is hated by the surrounding nations which, will end up burning her. It is an attempt in trying to clean up its own ISIS image. Saudi Arabia found itself at the centre of several human rights controversies for its use of the same abuses ISIS does: public floggings, stonings and even beheadings as means of punishments and is also embroiled in an online storm after a Justice Ministry official reportedly threatened to SUE a Twitter user for likening the country’s approach to human rights to those seen in ISIS.
And to top it all, in the Arab world, we have a saying “The Arabs agreed never to agree”!
The Arab states will argue over the exact definition of terrorism. The Saudi authorities’ interpretation of it extends far beyond the violent actions of armed insurgents. Recent legislation has branded peaceful opposition activists and reformers, whether online or in the street, as suspected “terrorists” and a security risk to the state. Amnesty International said it had concerns that this new coalition could be used to further restrict human rights.
Saudi Arabia is becoming hated by the day and needs to clean its image. In announcing the coalition, the Saudis stated that Islam forbids “corruption and destruction in the world” and that terrorism represents “a serious violation of human dignity and rights, especially the right to life and the right to security”.
Where is this in Sharia? No where. This is why they are using all the secular talk.
THE MUSLIM PROPHECY AND THE ANTI-MAHDI CONUNDRUM
Where Muslims fight each other in Arabia and the Levant (Syria), it sparks the prophecy that goes viral in the Muslim world regarding their view of their versions of the man of sin. The war and rumors of war in Syria and now stemming from Mecca itself with involvement of the royal family fuels Jihadists on both sides of the fence, be it the Shiites or the Sunnis. This spells out, in the Muslim mind, the Muslim version of Armageddon.
Here, let me explain. Just as Christian prophecy has a Christ and a false Christ called Antichrist, Muslim prophecy has a Mahdi and a false Mahdi (anti-Mahdi) they call Sufyani who comes from the lineage of Muhammad the prophet of Islam just as some Protestants believe that Antichrist comes from the lineage of Abraham being a Jew.
And just as Christians divide between Catholic view and Protestant view, where the Antichrist arises from, Muslims too divide as to where the Anti-Mahdi arises from.
Its the devil’s oldest trick in dividing human beings causing them to kill each other.
What better idea than to transfer the idea of Harlot from being Saudi Arabia where Protestants who do not pay close attention to the biblical narrative regarding the harlot of Babylon, believe that Vatican is “Antichrist and Harlot”?
Such divide caused the death of hordes of Christians who were stupid enough to believe a demonically inspired interpretation when Babylon is clearly in the region of the Middle East and not in Europe!
Jesus gave us a key, biblical wisdom has it, that we must understand the mindset of God and also understand the mindset of the devil (be as wise as serpents).
Likewise with Muslims, the devil is also at work. Many devout Shiites view the Syrian civil war as the fulfillment of a Shiite version of the prophecy that presages the end of time: a devil-like figure, Sufyani, raises an army in Syria and marches on Iraq to kill Shiites. At times ISIS’s Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi is viewed as the Sufyani while others believe the leader of Qatar, a chief backer of Syria’s Sunni rebels is (the anti-Mahdi) Sufyani. These two come from Muhammad’s lineage as many Saudi royals do.
And the Muslims do not take these issues kiddingly. Thousands are flocking to Syria to protect Islam from the Sufyani. It’s the kind of stuff the western media never tells you about.
Despite fighting bitterly against each other in Iraq and Syria, Sunni and Shi‘a Islamists have been drawn to the battlefield are motivated by this common apocalyptic belief believing that they are fighting in the vanguard of the Mahdi, the Muslim savior whom the Prophet Muhammad prophesied would appear in the Levant (the coastal Mediterranean region that includes Syria and Lebanon).
Muslims killing one another somehow fulfilling a prophecy of Muslims defeating infidels as a standard since these prophecies arose from sectarian conflicts in early Islam waged in Iraq and the Levant.
What is going on between Sunni and Shiites is a parallel to past Islamic prophecies. And if God has parallels in the Bible, the devil who studies the Bible has arranged similar parallels for the rebellious Muslims.
How these prophecies developed stem from Muslim history in Arabia itself. Soon after the death of Muhammad, civil wars or tribulations consumed the Muslim empire as Muhammad’s immediate successors, the caliphs where partisans on both sides circulated prophecies in the name of the Prophet to support their sect. For such divisive war the prophecy of “the Sufyani” arose.
According to the prophecies, the Sufyani descends from Abu Sufyan, the leader of Muhammad’s tribe in Mecca who persecuted the Prophet and his early followers. Although Abu Sufyan and his family later converted to Islam, Abu Sufyan’s son fought Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, for control of the Islamic empire and eventually became caliph, establishing the Umayyad dynasty that ruled for nearly a century.
And today, this apocalyptic vision is transcribed all throughout the Arab and Persian media. Watching the invited analysts in any Arab TV where there is a Sunni and a Shiite in the fair-and-balanced clip it became customary to see these terms “Umayyad” or “Safawi/Safavid” in almost every heated argument where a Shiite would call the Sunni analyst “Umayyad” while the Sunni calls the Shiite “Safawi rebel”.
An Umayyad Calph pictured on an early Umayyad coin. Notice the Ziggurat with the pole and crescent moon on top, reminiscent to Babylon
Such prophecies have become reality even when it comes to stereotyping. Sunnis dismiss Arab Shias as Safawis (a term that paints them as Iranian agents from the Safavid empire), rafidha (rejecters of the faith), and “majus” (Magi, Zoroastrian or crypto Persian), to describe Shias. Iranians describe Sunnis as takfiris (code for al-Qaeda/ISIS terrorists) and Wahhabis. In fact, and unlike what prevails western media, it has become the norm today to see the the Turks accused by Arabs all over the Middle East media of being “the Ottoman Empire” while the Iranians are being called “the Persian Empire”. Insults are tossed back and forth for current governments in Turkey and Iran since these days these empires are believed to already have been re-created and to the Muslims worldwide it has become reality.
The only ones who it is not becoming the standard is in the West, where the belief in Scripture prevails. So we have the Muslim world acknowledging such reality and they do not know the Bible and we have the West which claims it does believe in the Bible and are clueless.
As one might expect, the partisans of the losing side, called the “Shi‘at Ali” (“partisans of Ali” or “Safawi” and later just “the Shi‘a”), began circulating words of the Prophet prophesying the new dynasty’s downfall at the hands of the Mahdi, a member of the Prophet’s family who would defeat the dynasty’s champion, the Sufyani, in the Levant. To Shiites this would be the the Saudis and the Qatari.
“When the Sufyani reaches Kufa [a city in Iraq] and kills the supporters of the family of Muhammad, the Mahdi will come,” goes one early prophecy.
“All of us believe the Sufyani will fight the Imam, and the Prophet will kill him in the land of al-Sham (Greater Syria)” asserts the secretary general of Iraqi Hezbollah.
“We want to stress that what is happening in al-Sham is the beginning of the tribulation and is the beginning of the appearance of the army of the Sufyani, which is now called the Free Army.”
When it comes to Sunnis, not all of them believe that Sufyani is bad. He is seen fighting on the side of the Mahdi against his enemies: “The Sufyani and the Mahdi will come forth like two race horses. The Sufyani will subdue (the region) that is next to him, and the Mahdi will subdue (the region) next to him.”
Sufyani is a national hero for some Sunnis today, especially those in Syria—the historic homeland and seat of government for the Sufyani’s ancestors. “God willing, all of us will be in the army of the Sufyani, who will appear in (Syria) by the permission of Allah,” prayed Adnan al-Arur, a popular Syrian Salafi cleric and supporter of the rebellion who currently lives in Saudi Arabia.
The fact that these prophecies mention the same place names that are the scenes of today’s battles only heightens the prophecies’ relevance to the current conflict—and makes them attractive material for jihadi recruitment pitches by Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria and the Nusra Front.
THE SAUDI-ISIS WAR SPELLS OUT THE DESTRUCTION OF MECCA
These coming battles will only cause more divides between Shiites and Sunnis when Iran wants control over Mecca and Medina. These two cities are significant issues that divide Shiites and Sunnis. Mecca is the Muslim direction of prayer. When Shiite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in 2013 said that the Shiite holy city of Karbala must be the new Qibla (direction to which Muslims pray) instead of Mecca, it stirred anger from Sunnis worldwide. If and when Shiites do away with Mecca as direction of prayer and its significance is undermined, Shiite Iran, united with Shiite Iraq and Yemen and possibly even the Sufis of Turkey (for old vendettas) will threaten Arabia.
“Karbala must be the Qibla of the Islamic world because Imam Hussein [the Prophet Mohammad’s second grandson, and an important figure in Shia Islam] is buried there,” Maliki said.
Muslim prophecy does not end at the Sufyani and the coming Mahdi only, there is also the Shiite version of the destruction of their own version of the Harlot of Babylon. People ignore that Islam is a Christian heresy and not simply another new religion. To Shia, Karbala supersedes Mecca just as Geneva to Protestants supersedes Rome. In the Shiite faith, there was a feud between the two cities. When Mecca felt haughty and arrogant that Allah warns her, he will toss the Ka’ba in hellfire and will utterly destroy her. This, in accordance to one very popular Shiite belief which utterly terrifies and angers Saudi Arabia:
Once the land of Ka’bah (Mecca) declared proudly, ‘Which land is like me? Allah has made His House on me. People from all parts of the earth come to pay homage to me. I have been made sacrosanct (haram) and sacred by Allah.’ On hearing this Allah, revealed, ‘Be silent! Wait a little (before you say anything further). By My Might and My Honour, the excellence and distinction I have granted to the land of Karbala is more than what I have given you. Compared to Karbala, your position is like a needle head sized drop in front of the sea. If the dust of Karbala had not been there, I would never have bestowed this honour upon you. If the one resting in Karbala (Imam Husain (a.s.)) had not been there, I would neither have created you nor the House over which you are so haughty. Wait, adopt humility and modesty and don’t be arrogant and boastful. Don’t try to prevail over Karbala in importance (as that is not possible). Else I will be displeased with you and throw you in Hell.’ (Kaamil al-Ziarat, p.267, tradition 13, narrating from Imam Ja’far al-Al-Sadiq also see here)
Indeed, Mecca can be seen as a needle head by the Red Sea (see also Jeremiah 49-51). Indeed, this is Shia belief in which Arabia’s pride will cause Iran to finally do the honors and utterly destroy the Ka’ba using its nukes. It is for this reason that both sides are currently arming themselves to the teeth.
Karbala, not Mecca, is Iran’s holiest place. It was in it that al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was martyred. To Shiites, he is their Messiah. He is the son of Ali ibn Abi Ṭalib (fourth Rashidun Caliph of Sunni Islam, and first Imam of Shia Islam) and Fatimah Zahra (daughter of the Muhammad). Al-Husayn refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph because he considered the rule of the Umayyads unjust. As a consequence, he left Medina, his home town, and traveled to Mecca. There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, asking his help and pledging their allegiance to him. So he traveled towards Kufa. At Karbala his caravan was intercepted by Yazid I‘s army. He was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala in 680 (61 AH) by Shimr Ibn Thil-Jawshan, along with most of his family and companions. The annual memorial for him, his family, his children and his companions is called Ashura (tenth day of Muharram) and is a day of mourning for Shiite Muslims. The killings at Karbala fueled the later Shiite movements. Anger at Husayn’s death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine and ultimately overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate.
Westerners should comprehend the significance of this divide on how Shiite messianism and near worship of Hussein whom they blame Arabia for as well as the rise of Sufyani, could appreciate a scene from Karbala as the grave of Hussein is paraded on Ashura where millions have their needles stuck at the time when Hussein was killed:
And it is similar to the way Christians view Christ. In the song, Hussein from his death supposedly cries out to all the Shiite pilgrims: “You know me. I am the redeemer (Messiah) of the world. I register your names [in heaven]. Welcome my visitors. O you vist me. I make a covenant with you. You know me. I am the redeemer of the world. Your banners you carry comfort me. Your tears quenches my thirst … I will not abandon you on day of judgment.” Even Hussein’s mother Fatima Al-Zahra’ she is viewed as if she was Mary, a saint that can also see them and her son was martyred as Messiah.
No matter what political gibberish one listens to these days, and no matter how many times Benjamin Netanyahu calls to stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and no matter what prophecy teachers proclaim that Israel will hit Iran’s nuclear facilities, they are all wrong; Iran will build nuclear weapons, but instead of aiming them at Israel, they will aim them at Mecca.
This and for many other reasons, the noose is tightening on Al-Sa’ud which now rummages to form a Sunni Alliance to save itself. Arabia’s days are numbered. There has been an immense oversight by many in the field of biblical eschatology; that when it comes to the destruction of end-days Babylon, Scripture makes no mention of any of the ancient Babylonian cities: Nineveh, Ur, Babel, Erech, Accad, Sumer, Assur, Calneh, Mari, Karana, Ellpi, Eridu, Kish, or Tikrit. All of the literal references in Scripture are in Arabia. The reason for such oversight is simple; people overly focused on traditional rhetoric while God focuses on a plan that He etched in the Bible. The use “Babylon is fallen is fallen” references Arabia, literally. Isaiah even brilliantly predicted that Iran (biblical Elam) must and will destroy Arabia. In Isaiah 21:9, Isaiah levels a prophetic oracle against Babylon using the same announcement in Revelation 18:1-2 and Revelation 14:8: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen”:
“The burden against Dumah” (Isaiah 21:11)
“The burden against Arabia” (Isaiah 21:13)
“All the glory of Kedar will fail” (Isaiah 21:16)
These “Dumah” and “Kedar” are all in Arabia as well as “Arabia” (v.13) is also in Arabia; it can’t get any clearer than this, which is destroyed by Iran “Elam” (Isaiah 21:2) in a complete wipeout.
For evidence on biblical Babylon, read: Muslims Rebuild The Tower Of Babel (Shocking Research!)
The Bible is also precise and pinpoints a geographic location for this “Babylon” as was predicted in Jeremiah 49:21, literally, “the Red Sea” which confirms Arabia’s destruction. This is also confirmed in Revelation 18 regarding the harlot city:
“And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning” (Revelation 18:9). “And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What [city is] like unto this great city!” (Revelation 18:18).
And once one studies Isaiah 34, there should be no doubt. In nearly identical language concerning Mystery Babylon in Revelation 17, 18:
“Its streams shall be turned into pitch and its dust into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever” (Isaiah 34:8-10).
Incredibly, almost three millennia before the discovery of fuel oil, Isaiah predicted the burning of the very thing that was used in Babel to build a name for the rebellious ones – the pitch. Pitch is bitumen and tar, which technically is simply crude oil.
This judgment on “Edom” which extends from Teman (Yemen) to Dedan on the Red Sea coast:
“Thus Says the Lord GOD; ‘Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them. ‘Therefore thus Says the Lord GOD; ‘I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cutt off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword’” (Ezekiel 25:12-13).
Is it no wonder why Teman (Yemen) today is in turmoil as I write with the Shiites there upset with Arabia? Karbala will destroy Mecca. Students of the Bible should pay closer attention to the geographic locations which God focused on instead of their preconceived suppositions by imposing their own geography over the Bible.
What Islam did to the Christians and Jews is not forgotten by God and He will use the devil’s prophecies to fulfill his own destruction and give God the glory.