Is the world coming to an end in 2011?

By: Dr. Aslam Abdullah IslamiCity* -

The Theology of Apocalypse

Margaret Pease uses a bullhorn to proclaim May 21 as judgment day Thursday. She and a few others were spreading the word on Division Avenue near the Grand Rapids police station in Michigan.
May 21, 2011 might prove to be a decisive day for some American Christians in one way or the other.A California-based radio evangelist group of Harold Camping is claiming that Judgment day will take place on May 21, 2011. Exactly five months later the world would come to an end.What if they are proved wrong?Life would go on as usual as it has gone for thousands of years amidst all the doom's day prophecies. Well-known Christian scholars have predicted the end of time at least 44 times in the last 2,000 years and each time God proved them wrong. It is interesting that a wrong that is proven wrong is never accepted wrong. New dates are announced and a new theology is born. The confusion creates more confusion causing panic and fear among some people. Every time a dooms day prediction is made, the sale of books predicting the end of time increases, some people start selling their homes, and others start conserving food and other resources to meet the challenge of the time.How do they determine the end of time dates?The group that is predicting the end of time on May 21 claims that the flood of Noah took place some 4990 years before the birth of Jesus and it was in the year 4990 BC that Noah was told there would be yet 7 days until the flood of waters would be upon the earth. Now, each day is counted equivalent to 1000 years, we get 7000 years. And when we project 7000 years into the future from 4990 BC, we find that it falls on the year 2011 AD. The group claims that the year 2011 AD will be the 7000th year from the flood of Noah's day. It will be the end of the length of time given to mankind. Why is JUDGMENT DAY on MAY 21st, 2011?The group claims that on May 21st, 1988, God finished using the churches and congregations of the world for good work. The Spirit of God left all churches and Satan entered into the churches. Thus the group believes that churches all over the world are being ruled by Satan for the last 23 years. In the view of the group the full 23-year tribulation period concludes on May 21st, 2011 as it is the exact day that the great tribulation comes to its end.The group claims that on May 21st God will raise up all the dead that have ever died from their graves. Earthquakes will ravage the whole world as the earth will no longer conceal its dead. People who died as saved individuals will experience the resurrection of their bodies and immediately leave this world forever to be with the Lord. Those who died unsaved will be raised up as well, but only to have their lifeless bodies scattered about the face of all the earth. Death will be everywhere and On October 21, the world would come to an end. The group is silent on the return of Jesus and his role after his return. There are other Christian groups that believe that Jesus would return soon, some predict that by the end of this year, he would be back in this world to lead an armed struggle against Jews for allegedly torturing and killing Jesus, a struggle that will cause more than two thirds of Jews to be killed by Jesus and his followers and one thirds of them to convert to Christianity. Interestingly, the current pope has recently absolved the Jews from plotting against Jesus.In the doctrine of the end of the world, the coming of a Messiah plays a central role. With the exception of Buddhists, almost every religious group including Muslims has been waiting for the return of a Messiah who would rid the world of all evil.In the apocalyptic theology, the Messiah's role would be to establish a peaceful world through the killing of all the trouble makers. The trouble makers are defined as those who do not believe the ideas accepted in the religion that is promoting the claim of the return of Messiah. Thus for Christians, all those who are non-Christians are trouble makers. For Muslims, all non-Muslims are trouble makers, for Hindus all non-Hindus are the deviants and for Jews all non-Jewish people are the rebels. Imagine if the so called Messiahs of all religious communities appear at the same, what would be the fate of the world?There are also a number of Muslims who believe in the second coming of Jesus and the arrival of Mehdi. One can find an assortment of Muslim literature, old and new that outlines this type of apocalyptic predictions. However, no one has quoted a single verse from the Quran in justification of their position. Many quote from the books of ahadith (Saying of the Prophet) about the end of time without referring to the decisive Quranic words that say that end time is known only to God almighty.Currently, there are some fifteen theories circulating in our world about the end time. A brief description is given here so that we can get a better understanding of this topic from various sources.Nostradamus - While Nostradamus is very vague, he has predicted the end of the world through his past prophecy and drawings to be around the year 2000. The exact date is never given, but he indicates that the world will end through nuclear warfare or some other possible cause, by the means of "the heavens will catch on fire." Web Bot - A computer program used to search through data and pull together important data that can predict future events. It was built for investors and since then has a built a record for the prediction of the future events.
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The Bible - The Bible predicts that the world will come to an end when the Antichrist rises. Some believe the Antichrist is already among us and the countdown to the end of world has already begun. The Antichrist - Nostradamus and the Bible predict the end of the world to occur when the Antichrist rises. A number of extreme Christian groups are claiming Obama to be the Antichrist. They hold that when his presidential term is just about done the world will come to an end.Mayan calendar ends on 12/21/2012, symbolizing the end of a cycle and into a new one as earth enters the "cosmic womb." Some believe that a transformation through other forms of life in our solar system will come to earth or earth will completely perish.Polar Shift - Polar shift can cause increased weather patterns and potentially catastrophic climate change. The polar shift wouldn't cause earth itself to end, but rather an increased amount of damage dealt upon earth via earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes and so on.Planet X - A new planet in our solar system that is suppose to collide with earth in 2012. The orbital pattern of the planet comes within very close proximity of earth and provides relatively strong evidence for the collision of earth. Though this evidence may seem conclusive, other calculations have been made to show that it will pass by earth.Comets - Comets from Planet X as it approaches earth can enter earth's atmosphere and either reach earth or disintegrate upon entering the atmosphere.Meteor - A large meteor can collide with earth causing everything on earth to become extinct. This is a very similar scenario to the extinction of Dinosaurs.Nuclear Warfare - Everything will end through war and the destruction of atomic bombs. This theory is highly unlikely saying as someone needs to be alive to launch the last bomb thus proving at least some civilization will live.The Alignment - Potentially earth can be lost in a black hole during the winter solstice in 2012. Since earth will be at the center of the Milky Way, where a black hole is located, some astrologers believe we will become lost within it. No one knows the actual outcome of this and it just seems to be another proposed theory of a 2012 predictions.The I Ching - An ancient text used to predict random events. It was calculated out into a timeline and when doing so it mysteriously ends on the year 2012. Since it is based on sequence of events people are suspicious about how it could just end on that date.Solar Storms - NASA has now confirmed that in the year 2012, the sun would have reached its peak of solar storms. It will be unlike anything earth has experienced.Tibetan Monks - With the use of Remote Viewing, the monks are able to predict the future. The Tibetan Monks have declared doomsday to be in the year 2012 through nuclear warfare. They also declared that we will be saved by extraterrestrial life.Depression - Some economists believe that a great depression is to occur in 2012. In the case of Muslims, the best source about end time is the divine message preserved in the pages of the Quran. Only God knows about the end of time, says the Quran repeatedly. The Quran reminds people to be ready for their end every second of their life.Life can lose its connection with the physical body any moment, the Quran asserts. Thus every second is an end time. This Quranic guidance empowers us to take control of our own lives and discipline ourselves on the basis of guidance from God rather than rely on some one else to change us.The Quran says that Allah does not change the condition of a people unless they change themselves. The Quran does not say that conditions will be changed only with the intervention of a Messiah or a Mehdi, whose arrival dates are not known to anyone. The belief in the theology of Apocalypse, in reality, challenges the foundation of the fundamental Quranic message that says that those who believe in the divine guidance and act accordingly are the ones who succeed ultimately. The Quran also says that they would not be questioned for a future that they are not aware of; rather they would be questioned for the present in which they live.Some people point to the increased number of disasters in our world to support the theology of Apocalypse. We must understand that the disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis and cyclones have been taking place around us since time immemorial. For instance, the US Geological Survey estimates that several million earthquakes occur in the world each year. They occur on the basis of laws that God imbued in rocks at the time of their creation. If we learn those laws, we might be in a position to avoid human population in those areas where they occur. Many go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small magnitudes. We feel the impact of some of these events more on our lives because of two major factors. The information about these events now travels much faster than it used to. Secondly, human population around disaster prone areas has increased by many folds over since the last 500 years.Let us not be consumed by issues that are only known to God. Come May 22 or October 22 we can be rest assured things that are supposed to occur based on the laws of God will happen. For now let's make the best of today.

Dr. Aslam Abdullah is director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, President elect of the Interfaith Council of Nevada and Editor-in Chief of America's largest circulating Muslim weekly, the Muslim Observer.