Why Jesus Defeats Islam’s Antichrist

late-night bites with friends already hard to beat that first too hot bite of fries you couldn't wait for followed by ice-cold Pepsi now that it's different suddenly the energy kicks back in the night goes longer and the last don't stop because Pepsi brings out more flavor more fun and more of the moment food deserves Pepsi grab a Pepsi zero sugar today in Islam the Quran promises that the apocalypse is coming there will be disasters and death and a great deceiver the Dajjal a one-eyed false messiah who fools nearly all of humanity into worshiping him as a god a monstrous horde will pour over the earth and drink the rivers dry there will be a plague of worms it will be the darkest hour that humanity will ever face but the tradition promises something else that in all of that chaos one figure will descend from the heavens from God on the wings of an angel and he will defeat the Dajjal hunt down be deceiver lead the faithful and carry humanity through to the other side of disaster and you will never guess who it is it's Jesus yes in Islam Issa is the showstopper who turns the tide in the end days of Islam and the thing is this isn't a fringe belief this is described in Islamic theology with extreme details written about it in both the Quran and Hadith and in both Sunni and Shia traditions so how did the son of God from Christianity the one who was born of a virgin died on a cross resurrected three days later all that stuff how does he become the star of the Islamic apocalypse well today we're gonna find out we are following Issa all the way to the end of days through the final battle even to beyond through a final unexpected twist of fate and uncovering why Islam hands its final world saving mission to him and not to any other profit so sit back relax and welcome to religion what's up people welcome back to religion camp my name is Mark Gagnon and thank you for joining me in my tent where every single Sunday we explore the most interesting fascinating controversial stories from every religion from all time forever yes that is what I do here in this tent every single week as I try to figure out what everyone believes that is the purpose of this show I do this show every week because two things one I want to understand what every person on this earth orients their life around I think religion and God is very personal for many people but it's also very cultural and in order to be a better human being on this earth I want to understand who is the God that everyone worships and every person has a different version of it and I want to understand what that is they makes me a better person also I want to take all the great things from every religion that I find and apply them to my own life so that I can be a better human being I think by decoding all the world's religions you get these threads of truth that manifest and show up over and over and that to me is perhaps the core of really what humanity is all about now today we are going down a path that is fascinating if you've watched this channel before or if you grew up Muslim this is not going to be that new to you but if you are outside of the Muslim world or you didn't grow up in a Muslim country or you don't have that many Muslim friends well this might be a little bit shocking now let me just say a few things up top one I'm not Muslim I grew up Catholic and that is the tradition that I claim to so if there's anything that I you know say wrong any words I mispronounce anything that I don't fully explain my bad I'm coming at this in good faith trying to understand the mysteries of the Quran now if there's anything that I miss please feel free to drop a comment YouTube Spotify I read all of them so make sure you uh yeah if you have any any interesting tidbits that I didn't mention in the episode please drop them below just be nice about it okay I'm trying my very best now today we're talking about the end of times now if you grew up Christian you're probably familiar with you know the book of Revelation and the final battle and Christ coming back all that stuff but Islam has its very own detailed eschatological record that is fascinating and robust and has so many different little layers to it that I find fascinating and some people will say that the signs are pointing that we're heading that way right now all my Muslim friends are like look what's going on read the Quran read Hadith they're gonna see it's going it's happening now before I go any further I want to say thank you to you for clicking on this episode because every time you click on an episode or just like subscribe to the channel or comment like anything like that you help keep my dreams alive you help the show grow you help keep the lights on in the tent you keep the fire burning here at the campsite I also want to thank my good pal Christos papadopoulos sitting right next to me because he Christos is still gone he's still in Greece so instead I'm joined by the Dominican poppy himself rafni okay okay now let us jump in okay now in order to talk about this and to get to the end of the world and Jesus and all this stuff first we got to talk about Jesus all right this is the same Jesus when we're talking about Islam and we're talking about Christianity we're talking about fundamentally the same figure so to speak but what they mean to the two different religious groups is vastly different so let's talk about Jesus in the Christian tradition all right Jesus born of a Jewish virgin son of God the guy who Christianity is all kind of named on and you know it's kind of like in the name and most people know about Jesus through reading the Bible specifically the Gospels but that is only one place that Jesus appears he actually appears in many other places so in the Quran for example the holy book of Islam his name is Isa the son of Miriam that's Mary the same Mary by the way and he actually plays a pretty big role in the Christian religion and he's a very important figure in the Christian religion and he's a very important figure in the Christian religion and he's a very important figure in the Christian religion and he's a very important figure in the Christian religion and he's a very important and he's a very important figure in the Christian religion and he's a very important in Islam, specifically at the end of the world in the apocalyptic literature. And that's what we're going to go through today. And his story kicks off exactly how you would expect with a miracle. There are two big passages in Quran chapter three, verses 45 to 55. And in the Quran chapter 19, verses 16 to 34, that really tell about these miracles. So Miriam is a virgin, an angel shows up, she's told that she's going to have a child by God's command, no father, but just a pure, miraculous birth. So far, all my Christians are like, all right, yep, that's what I know. Then it gets even more miraculous in the Muslim tradition. The baby Isa, and I mean like a newborn baby, he talks right out the cradle. He speaks up to defend his mom from a whole scandal of like, wait, whose kid is this? Where's the daddy? And when he grows up, the Quran gives him a full resume. He heals the blind, he cures lepers, he raises the dead. And maybe my favorite one, he takes a lump of clay, shapes a little bird, breathes on it, and it comes alive and flies off. I mean, it's like, awesome. This is why I love reading excerpts from the Quran, which admittedly, I haven't read the whole thing, but it's fun from a Catholic point of view, because it's like, oh, this is the same, this is the same Isa, you know? Like, I like also that Muslims say, peace be upon him. They say, yes, Jesus, peace be upon him. It's like, oh, that's nice. A lot of my Christian friends, they don't say that, you know? So Muslims are like putting respect on, as a Catholic, I'm going to start doing that. I'll be like, yep, I pray to Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. Because it's just like, it's a nice, it feels good, you know? Also, it's interesting to read because there's so many miracles, or not so many, but some miracles that occur in the Quran that don't exist in the Bible. And so it's kind of fun to read it. Like, if you're coming from a Christian perspective, you're like, oh, this is kind of like, you know, they're adding some elements to it, you know? It's like a multiverse. Now, all of the stuff he does in the Quran is pretty godlike. And some of the miracles are consistent with what you would read about in the Bible. But of course, the theologies do diverge. Every single miracle, the healing, raising the dead, the clay bird, it comes by Allah's permission. So, for example, Quran chapter 5, verse 110, it literally lists them all out. And every time it's careful to say that Isa did it by God's power, not by the power of Jesus, not by the power of Isa himself. He's the one that is ultimately holding the tool, but God is giving the power behind it. Allah is ultimately the force that makes it happen. In Christianity, that's kind of also true, but it's because God, the Father, and God, the Son, a.k.a. Jesus, are one, right? God's will in the person of Jesus and the person of the Father are aligned. So their power works in conjunction, even though their theology teaches that they are distinct persons, which is essentially how the Trinity works, right? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But in Islam, of course, there is no Trinity. When the Quran says Isa does miracles by Allah's permission, it's drawing a hard line in the sand, making sure that you understand the prophet is not God himself. And that is the role that Jesus plays in Islam. He is honored and revered enormously, one of the greatest messengers God ever sent, for sure. But divine himself, is he truly God? Is he worth worshiping? Well, in Islam, the answer is no. So in Quran chapter 4, verse 171, and Quran chapter 5, verse 73, it comes right out and warns people, don't call him the Son of God. Don't say Trinity. God is one. In the Islamic view, calling a prophet God is the single worst sin or the worst mistake that you could do. That is ultimately one force, and that all the prophets are serving Allah, but they are not the same. Now, there is a, maybe a, it's a difficult theological concept, but as Christians, we believe also in one God. We are monotheistic, but we have the Trinity, which is its own episode we should do a whole thing on. But all of this sort of sets up the strangest claim in the entire episode, the crucifixion. So Christianity is built on Jesus' crucifixion. It is the single most important event that happens in the Bible, and ultimately the resurrection. So in Christianity, you have the death and the cross and the resurrection three days later. And it's not a minor detail. It is the entire thesis of the religion of Christianity. But Islam looks at that same exact event and goes, not exactly. So for example, Quran chapter 4, verse 157, 159, says it flat out. They didn't kill him. They didn't crucify him, but it was made to appear that way to them, and that God raised him up to himself. Now, gotta be careful, because even most Muslims don't all read this the exact same way. Most classical scholars will say that it means somebody else got crucified in Jesus' place, some type of substitute, while God lifted the real Jesus up bodily, still alive, that Christ was never crucified, therefore never had to be resurrected. Others read, raised, more like a spiritual thing. And it's genuinely still debated amongst Muslim scholars to this day. But the mainstream majority take, the one that we're going to use as a reference point for our story, lands somewhere. The perfect lunch combo. That first bite of your favorite sub, followed by ice-cold Pepsi. Add a couple of friends, and now that's next level. Suddenly, the laughs get louder, the stories keep flowing, and the food tastes better. Because Pepsi brings out more flavor, more fun, and more of the moment. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a Pepsi Zero Sugar today. They're kind of interesting to hear. If you come at it from. From any type of Christian context. It's the idea that Isa, that Jesus, never died. He got taken up alive and has been there waiting by God's side ever since. Now, this is a really important theological note for Muslims. Because if Jesus never died, then he doesn't need a resurrection to come back like anyone else. He can just come back. So pick up a life that got paused mid-sentence 2,000 years ago. So in the Quran, the Quran's version of Jesus, he is miraculous and honored and human, but not God. And crucially, was. Never crucified or killed, just now hanging out with Allah in a bodily form, waiting. Now, you might be asking, what is he waiting for? Well, let's jump to the next place that Isa enters the picture in traditional Islamic theology, and that is at the apocalypse. Now, if you're familiar with the Muslim end times, you're probably familiar with the Dajjal, the sword, the descent from the sky. But what's interesting is that almost none of that is described in the Quran at all. So this next part is the single most important thing to keep straight in the whole episode. So let's go through it slowly to make sure we can get everything right. Here it is. Almost everything spectacular that you're going to hear about Jesus' return, like him landing in Damascus, killing the Dajjal, aka the Antichrist, who I'll explain in a second, the saffron robes, the 40-year reign, everything we go over, almost none of it is directly from the Quran, from the holy book of Islam. It comes from the Hadith. Now, the Hadith are a huge collection of reports about what the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said. And did, gathered up and fact-checked in the centuries after the Prophet died. So you can think of it this way. Like, the Quran is scripture. It is, for Muslims, it's almost like Jesus himself in a book, in a text that was literally given by God to the Prophet. The Hadith are a record of the Prophet's teachings around that scripture. Both matter a ton in Islam, but they're not actually the same thing. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break real quick because I want to tell you a little story, all right? I don't know if this. If this is just what happens once you hit, like, your late 20s, like I am. But I started noticing a bunch of little things that didn't seem connected, but they actually are. I would be tired, and then somehow I'd be, like, awake all night. I'd have trouble falling asleep. I'd go to the gym, and I don't recover like I did when I was 18. And it felt like I was doing everything right, but my body just wasn't responding the way that it did, like, 5 or 10 years ago. So I started looking into it, and the one thing that kept on coming up is cortisol. It's your body's stress hormone. And between, like, doing shows and podcasts. Podcasts and trying to be a dad and being on screens and doom-scrolling all day, my stress level was just elevated all the time. And that is what led me to Mars Men. 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Just tell them that Mark and Chris just from the campsite sent you. Now, let's get back to the show. So let's try to sort through these two sources to understand what we're talking about. What does the Quran give us about Isa? Well, similar things. The virgin birth, the miracles by God's permission, the non-crucifixion, the raising up, and the one teasing, disputed little verse, Quran 43, verse 61, that calls Jesus something like a sign of the hour. That hour being Judgment Day. Some scholars read that as a straight-up premonition. Some scholars read that as a straight-up prediction that he's coming back. Others read it differently in a more metaphorical sense. And honestly, it's one of those things that has just continued to be argued about. But that one verse is about as close as the Quran itself gets to talking about a return of Jesus. And everything else, which is a lot in traditional Muslim theology or eschatology, comes from the Hadith. The specific city of return, the specific clothing, the weapon he'll use, the specific enemy. All of it lives in the big, trusty Quran. Look, it's not like a problem or anything. For most Muslims, a solid, authenticated Hadith carries real religious weight. But it also does mean that the apocalypse we're going to walk through got assembled piece by piece in the tradition that grew up around the Quran, not inside of it. And it's important, I think, to highlight the difference between the Quran and the Hadith because, I mean, two reasons. One, a ton of people, Muslims and non-Muslims, genuinely have no idea which parts are scripture, like from Allah himself, and which parts are traditional. And two, I think it explains something that we're going to come back to over and over again, and that is the disagreements. So when a detail comes from a bunch of separate reports instead of one fixed verse, you're going to get variation. Different versions, different chains of who heard it and from whom. And scholars are going to argue about what it actually means for centuries. Again, that's not a problem. It's just what a tradition built. Out of thousands of reports looks like. And you're going to find similar issues in Christianity to an extent as well. So now we can finally ask the question that we are leading towards this entire episode. God's going to send one prophet down to Earth to end, you know, humanity's final showdown to save all human beings. One person. So why not the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him? The guy that Islam calls the greatest prophet of all, the seal of the prophets, the final messenger. Why go past? The Prophet Muhammad and go to Jesus. So the classical answer to this question is brilliant and it comes in layers. So stick with me. So the first layer is that Isa is the only one that's available. Remember how in Islam Isa never died, right? He was raised up alive, bodily, and he's been there ever since. Every other prophet. So Moses, Abraham, even the Prophet Muhammad, peace be to all of them. One more piece to all of them, just for the sake of this episode, I'm just going to kind of save them. So peace to everyone involved. But all of these prophets are dead and buried and waiting on the general resurrection like the rest of humanity. But Jesus, he's the one guy with an unfinished life. So his return doesn't need a resurrection. It just resumes like you paused a movie and then you hit play again. The Prophet Muhammad story is finished, sealed, and completed, buried in Medina. Isa's story is still an open book. And at the end of the world is where it's finally going to be closed. And there's a deeper layer even under that. And this part is so important. So fascinating to me. Think about the two big mistakes, if you will, that Islam believes that the rest of the world made about Isa. The first mistake is that he died on the cross. And the second mistake is that he was God himself. Islam says both of these are wrong. So now you have to ask yourself, what would it take to fix both of those publicly and permanently and at the climax of all of history? Well, you need Isa himself back alive, which according to their argument proves that he never died, bowing to God. Which proves that he isn't God himself and never was God. So this is how all those rumors will be dispelled in one singular action with the one witness literally no one can argue with, which is Jesus. And then the tradition adds a little twist. So the bad guy Isa comes back to destroy is the Dajjal. That is the name. That's literally the name that translates to the false Messiah. This is the great deceiver, a figure whose entire deal is tricking the world into worshiping him as divine. And we actually did an entire episode. The Dajjal at Religion Camp, so you can check it out because the entire story of the Dajjal and who he is, and it's super interesting and frankly, pretty creepy. But notice what's happening here. Symbolically, the prophet who got falsely worshipped as God is the exact guy sent to personally take down history's ultimate false God, literally the Antichrist. The confusion about who Isa was in his life becomes the whole reason that he's chosen to end the biggest lie about divinity when he comes back. Now, of course, scholars just call this you know poetic justice and i mean it is like if you look at it strictly like you know even if you are not a believer a follower of islam you can look at this and be like it's just good it's just good writing you know and that is why isa is the one at the end of times that is going to cut down the dajal now let's look at the world that he's coming back into because by the time he shows up the place is already on fire so i know i mentioned a couple minutes ago that we already did an episode on the dajal but really quick if you haven't seen it i'm just going to catch you up on all the most important things because i think it's needed for this section the dajal is islam's antichrist right the hadith in sahih muslim describes him as one-eyed with the word kafir meaning unbeliever written right across his forehead and every true believer can read it and see for themselves what it is he shows up in a time of total chaos and famine pulls the perfect lunch combo that first bite of your favorite sub followed by ice cold pepsi add a couple of friends and now that's next level suddenly the laughs get louder the stories keep flowing and the food tastes better because pepsi brings out more flavor more fun and more of the moment food deserves pepsi grab a pepsi zero sugar today off these terrifying fake miracles and drags most of humanity into his lie ultimately into believing that he himself is god now how big of a deal is this guy well there is a hadith sahih muslim 2946 that puts it about as strong as you can possibly put it from the creation of adam all the way to the end of the world there is no fitna greater than the dajal now a fitna is a trial it's a temptation but it says in this hadith there is no temptation or trial greater than this one nothing he is the most dangerous test that the human race will ever face and into all that chaos a second figure rises up this is the madi and this is the rightly guided one a divinely guided leader who basically comes to rally the believers in the last days now again this is where we kind of got to go slow because the madi is where the certainty starts getting a little shaky from you know interpretation to translation because you know the belief in jesus coming back is basically a universal idea across the entire universe and it's not just about the islam it's rock solid you're not really going to meet any practicing muslims that don't believe that but interestingly the madi is not as definite and there's a big reason why the madi is not in the quran at all like not even once he's a hadith and a later tradition thing and even within the hadith scholars argue about which madi actually has the most reliable reports behind them so most muslims do believe a madi is coming but exactly who he is and what he does it's it's a little bit more blurry so for example a core sunni report in sunan abi dawud where muhammad peace be upon him says the madi will come from his own family from the line of his daughter fatima and that one line from the descendants of fatima is exactly where two of the biggest branches of islam go in different directions because as you may know sunnis and shias agree isa is coming back they agree a madi is coming but on the question of who the madi actually is i mean they couldn't disagree more and their disagreement centers on a major question has the madi been born yet so for most sunni muslims the answer is no the madi is a future guy someone that is yet to come not born yet or at least not yet revealed he'll be a descendant of the prophet through fatima's line who's going to step onto the scene during some period of massive global crisis get recognized and lead the believers right he's going to come later but twelver shia islams this is the biggest shia branch and a very dominant religion perhaps the most dominant in iran it actually gives a different answer for them the madi isn't some future arrival at all he's a specific real historical person who's already here just hidden now this can be confusing if you're not super familiar with the story so again you can check out our episode on the dijal but i'll try to explain a little more here they identify him the madi is a future guy who's already here just hidden now this can be confusing if you're not super familiar with the story so again you can check out our episode on the dijal but i'll try to as the 12th imam muhammad al-madi he was born back in the 9th century and they believe that he never died instead he entered the state that they call occultation which basically means concealed by god so he's alive still on earth and has been hidden among us and waiting for thousands of years now sit with that for a second because it sounds a little crazy if you're not brought up in this tradition right in this version the end times don't create the madi they reveal the one who's been hiding in this world for thousands of years and they're not brought up in this tradition wings the entire time now that one detail creates a genuinely different story and shia tradition has built out the most detailed most systematized end times roadmap of maybe any school in islam right down to the order of things and how they will happen so some shia narrations have the hidden imam come out and rule for a set period before isa even shows up and then isa arrives and prays behind him basically vouching for him like yo this is this is the real madi right sunni accounts usually pack the two guys big moments like much closer together but and this part is really important because it is the thread that connects both of these versions isa jesus right is not the guy at the top he comes back to back up the muslim community's leader not to become him or to replace him which brings us to the moment that everything's been building towards this is the actual descent this is the single moment that isa comes back to a world that is i mean just completely collapsing and the hadith describes his event with like movie level details so mainstream sunni theology and a lot of shia traditions too they say that isa returns physically before the day of judgment and the big description comes from sahih muslim 2937 this is a hadith and here's how it goes the terror that the dajal has brought to the world is at its absolute peak it is just carnage and chaos and mayhem and right at that moment god sends down isa the son of miriam and he descends at the white minaret on the eastern side of damascus and he's wearing two garments lightly dyed with saffron his hands are resting on the wings of two angels i mean just notice how specific that is it's not somewhere on earth they name a city that still exists damascus is still a real city they name a structure a white minaret which a lot of later traditions pin to the eastern minaret of the great umayyad mosque they even know the color of his clothes and the angels holding him up on either side now another hadith sahih al-bukhari 3448 this is gives you a matching promise the son of mary is coming down soon as a just ruler and the hadith just keeps layering on the details when jesus lowers his head the water drips off just like he stepped out of a bath when he lifts his head back up the drops roll off of him like scattered pearls and his breath is lethal to falsehood every disbeliever it touches is said to drop dead and it reaches as far as anyone can see but here's the moment that i think we should really lock into you would figure that isa returns and takes charge right i mean he's jesus he's the only prophet that's up there with allah like he's going to come back he's going to save the day and he's going to rule the earth right no instead and this is from a hadith from a report from musnad ahmad 23408 and it flips the entire thing so the madi out of pure respect turns to jesus and invites him to step up and lead the group prayer and jesus says no isa looks at the madi and says no and he tells him basically this leadership is yours and then he falls in line and prays behind this muslim leader so think about what that image is saying the most exalted figure in all of christian history literally god himself right comes back in glory in front of everyone and chooses to be one worshiper in the crowd bowing to god and he says no and he says right alongside the muslim leader so in one gesture the whole tradition makes its entire argument that isa is not god himself but is a servant of god now i'm going to pause here because this is the exact kind of thing i want to flag just for nuance not every hadith agrees on this point specifically some narrations actually have isa leading the prayer and muslim scholars have once again spent centuries trying to square these two maybe he leads once maybe he defers another one or two but i'm not sure if that's true or not but i'm not sure if that's true or not but i'm not sure if that's true or not but i'm not sure if that's true or not but i'm not sure if that's true the point is just that the dominant image the one carrying much of the theological weight is the one where isa humbles himself before god and prays behind the madi now after that moment of humility he goes to war except the fight with the dajal is not the fight that you're expecting in fact killing the antichrist is not even isa's hardest job do you have a friend that buys gold instead of crypto because he doesn't trust you do you have a friend that buys gold instead of crypto that's a power move you got a buddy that has like a backup generator and a bunch of canned food and somehow knows that a blackout's coming before the power company does that's a power move and you have a friend that hired morgan and morgan well guess what that's a power move yep morgan and morgan is america's largest injury law firm with over a hundred offices nationwide and over a thousand lawyers they've recovered over 30 billion dollars for more than 500,000 clients in florida they secured 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Go to for the people dot com slash Gagnon or dial pound law. That's pound five to nine from your cell phone. That is for the people dot com slash Gagnon. This is a paid advertisement. So here's the actual showdown, and I promise you it's not maybe the epic like Hollywood sword fight that you're picturing. So here's what the Hadith say happens. The moment the Dajjal sees Issa coming for him, he starts to dissolve. And the image that the tradition uses is unforgettable. It says that the Dajjal melts like salt in water. Remember, this is the creature who terrorized the entire planet, who fooled all of humanity, who got called the single greatest trial since Adam. And the instant he lays eyes on the real prophet of God staring at him, he just falls apart. And. And that's significant because, again, think of Issa's breath. It literally says that falsehood literally can't hold its shape in the presence of the real thing, that literally the breath of Issa can destroy falsehood. But Jesus chases him down and finishes it at a specific spot at the gate of Lod. Now, again, because this detail is rare, most apocalyptic prophecies name places that are either symbolic or maybe lost to history. But once again, not this one. Lod is a real place. Today, it's called Lod. It's a city in Israel right near Tel Aviv. And you can pull it up on a map right now. You just Google it is actually where Israel's main international airport sits. So a prophecy written down in the seventh century pins the exact death of the Antichrist to a spot that you can literally pull up right now on Google Maps. Whatever you make of the theology, that kind of specificity is really cool and really interesting to Islam. Now, here's another little thing that I love about, you know, how all the old scholars basically. Organize this. So the chapter in Sahih Muslim that tells this entire story is basically titled all in one sentence, the appearance of the Dajjal, his stay on earth and the descent of Jesus and his killing him. They didn't file these in separate stories to the guys who completed and ultimately compiled the Hadith. The Dajjal and the returning of Jesus were always one arc. The deceiver, the one sent to undo him, they were bound together from the jump. Like they are interconnected like cosmically. Like you can't have a Dajjal without Jesus coming to destroy him. Like they're their destinies are intertwined. And so the Dajjal is dead. And in most people's mental movie of an apocalypse, that's the climax, right? Like you had this evil person that tried and tried to deceive all of humanity. Then the hero comes down and then Judgment Day comes and then roll credits. That's the end, right? Produced by Dick Wolf or whatever comes up at the end of this movie. Except in Islam, not the ending. In fact, it's not even really the middle. This is where Islam's version splits hard from the one that most people in the West think that they know. And honestly, it's stranger than you probably even realize. Here's the version you probably know. If you studied Revelation in like Sunday school, you would probably think like this is probably a story you're familiar with, right? Jesus comes back and it runs pretty much straight into the final judgment. He returns, Satan loses, the world ends, everybody gets judged, heaven and hell, boom, that's it. But in Islam, killing the devil does not trigger the end. It opens up an entire new chapter of history. So let's go through the actual sequence in Islam. Isa returns, kills the Dajjal, a stretch of peace and prosperity settles over the earth with him ruling justly. And then the ground cracks open with the next crisis. It's called Yajuj and Majuj, Gog and Magog. Now, what is this, right? Who are these two? Well, they're not just a Hadith tradition, but they actually come straight out of the Quran, which, again, matters a lot for the theology. So remember that. Sura Al-Kahf, chapter 18, verse 94 through 98, tells of a righteous ruler, this guy, Dul Qarna'in. And the name literally translates to the two-horned one, which way back in time, walled off a violent world corrupting people behind this massive barrier of iron and molten copper, like to protect everybody else from them. And Sura Al-Anbiya, chapter 21, verses 96 through 97, promises that one day this wall will give out and the world-corrupting people will come pouring down from every height. And the release all by itself is a sign that the hour is near. Now, the hour of this is, of course, the end times. And then the Hadith fills in the horror of this whole thing. So Gog and Magog swarm out, all these world-corrupting people, and their numbers are beyond counting. From every slope, every hill, they just come and destroy. So they drink entire lakes dry. One report says that the first of them passes the Sea of Galilee and drinks it down. And then the last one to arrive is like, oh, I thought there was water in this lake. I mean, they just destroy everything. They eat everything. They trample everything. They destroy and defile everything. And for once, Isa, the guy who just melted the Antichrist with looking at him, he can't fight them. There's just too many. So he and the believers retreat. They pull back to a Gog. And times get so bad that a single ox's head is worth more than a fortune. So how does this catastrophe get resolved? Well, it's not by Isa and not by any army. No, Isa and the believers just pray and they beg Allah for help. And they look to Allah. They say, what can you do to fix this? And Allah answers directly. And what does he send to wipe out the mightiest force that humanity has ever faced? A worm. Or rather, a parasite, a tiny parasite into the necks of Gog and Magog. And in a single night, the entire uncountable horde just dropped dead all at once. It literally says, as one soul dies, the most unstoppable army in all of history undone, not by some great hero's blade or by a great general or by a rebellion of the people, but by God's smallest curse in an answer to a prayer. And then there's the cleanup. And even that's described very vividly. The earth is buried in their bodies. Literally uncountable amounts of these world-corrupting people that destroy everything just covers the entire earth until God sends birds to haul the corpses away and rain to wash the entire world clean. And then peace comes back under Isa again. Oh, and one final image just to really hammer everything home. There's a Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari where God tells Adam to send forth everyone bound for the and the ratio comes out to like 999 out of every 1000. And when the horrified crowd hears this and asks how anybody's getting saved against those odds, the answer is basically, hey, relax. The overwhelming bulk of that 999, that's actually Gog and Magog. So most of the people that die are going to go to the fire. But most of the people that are dead at this point are the uncorruptible or the corruptible earth eating people that are existing. Behind these gates. And that's how the tradition pictures their numbers, not a nation, not an army, damn near most of everyone who's ever lived. It's an interesting note, just how many people will be sent to the fire, because that's how the tradition pictures it. It's not a nation that gets sent. It's not an army. It's almost everyone who's ever lived. But the vast majority of them are Gog and Magog. So now the deceiver's gone. The final catastrophe of the horde of people drinking every lake dry, gone. The earth is clean and it's at peace, which finally lets us circle back to the guy that our story started with. What happens to Jesus now? Well, he's ruling the world, which is now at peace. And it's kind of described as like the golden age. And during this period, the Hadith describes a few specific acts, really big, symbolic ones. And once again, you have to handle these carefully because this is a spot where even like the most thoughtful Muslim scholars themselves are really cautious. So keep that in mind. To start. A lot of widely repeated Hadiths say that Isa sticks around on earth for about 40 years before he dies. But the truth is, that's not some fixed, like locked in figure across every report. Different chains will give you different timelines. So treat 40 years as a popular round number. And then there's two acts that get singled out and they are super fascinating. First, Isa is said to break the cross, which is traditionally read as him personally rejecting the whole Christian claim that he was crucified and that he is God. Second, he said to abolish the jizya. That is a tax that was historically levied on non-Muslims living under Muslim rule. And the classical reading is that in Isa's time, there's simply nobody left to tax because his return settles the truth. So no more room for doubt or for questions. Everybody on earth is on the same page. All people that are living on earth are Muslim. But, and here's a caveat, a lot of modern scholars read breaking the cross and abolishing the jizya symbolically or within the specific historical moment that those reports first came out, not as like a literal physical, like exactly beat by beat. This is exactly what's going to happen. Prediction of things that will occur. And honestly, the same tension runs through the Gog and Magog stuff too. Some contemporary voices read chunks of that more allegorically as well, though, to be fair in the other direction, plenty of mainstream classical scholarship pushes back on that claim. So scholars like Yasir Qadhi, a really well-known contemporary voice in Islam, he generally insists that these are literal future beings and events, not metaphors, not symbols. These are real parasites and a real horde of people and a real Issa that comes down to kill a real Dajjal. And here's the disclaimer that I've been kind of making through the whole episode that I want to make again. Not every detail in this story carries the same weight or the same confidence. Some of it is rock solid near universal belief across Islam, yet some of it is one report amongst several different reports. And it's still getting talked about 15 centuries later. And saying that doesn't weaken the story. It's just a true, respectful and representative of all the different beliefs across Islamic traditions. Like any religion, Islam is not one single thing with one way to be. And honestly, the same thing is true across Christian denominations, right? Especially including end times for the record. Some people in Christianity are like, oh, we all get raptured. Other people are like, it's a period of peace before Jesus. Some people say it's a period of peace after. There's discrepancies, which leaves one last thing to say about Isa, because once again, his story still isn't finished, but it is about to be. Now, in Christian scripture, the returned Christ reigns forever. Death is behind him. He is resurrected. That's Christ basically rules for the rest of time. But in Islam, the perfect lunch combo, that first bite of your favorite sub, followed by ice cold Pepsi, add a couple of friends, and now that's next. After all of it, the descent, killing the Dajjal, Gog and Magog, the parasite, the years of ruling, Isa eventually dies. And in this tradition, it is a natural death, a normal human death, just like everybody else must have. And here's the thing. The ending isn't some afterthought. It is a really important point in Islam, because it's Islamic theology insisting once again that Isa is fully and completely human and only human. An honored prophet, very important, but again, not God. So his natural death at the end of the story, once again, just drives that point home. Now, before we wrap up, there's another important detail, and I just want to flag it as one of the shakier links in this entire chain. Some later Islamic traditions hold that Isa, is buried or will be buried in Medina, near the Prophet Muhammad. There's even said to be a spot reserved for him. It's a widely repeated belief, but again, it's not grounded firmly in the Quran. And it's honestly one of the more debated, less certain claims in this entire story, but I thought it'd be interesting to bring up. So, the one prophet God sent back to earth is also the one prophet Islam is very, very specific to tell about his death. Isa doesn't come back to become a prophet. He's a prophet of Islam. So, I bet that many of you had no idea that Jesus played any role in the apocalypse in Islam, let alone being like a starring role. Unless, of course, you've listened to this channel before, or you have read up about, you know, Muslim eschatology, or you were raised Muslim. It's a fascinating detail. And it's not just like, you know, a footnote. It's not like Jesus is like one of the characters. He is the one who comes down who the whole thing centers on. And think about how significant that is. For a second, two of the biggest religions that the world has ever produced disagree about who Jesus is at the deepest level that disagreement can go, right? One says he is God. The other say that calling him God is perhaps the biggest sin you can make. And he was just a great prophet. It's not those differences are irreconcilable, right? Yet, separately, across 14 centuries, both of them looked ahead at the end of everything to the final battle, the last darkness. And in the middle of that, both of them see him. So, while the two traditions disagree, fundamentally, I don't dispute that, and they disagree who Isa is, how it all goes down, and which details are literal, and which are symbolic. But if you set that aside for a second, it's interesting that underneath all the disagreements, both of these apocalypses are leading to the same thing. That after all of that, after the deceivers and the Antichrist, the Djal melting like salt, Gog and Magog swarming over the hills, the parasites, the plagues, the despair, all of that, the world coming apart after everything, there will be peace. A world made quiet again, where everyone is in harmony, made whole, made perfect. And in both stories, Jesus is central to that peace. And of course, according to the role that Christians have always given him, and now the one that you know Islam gives him too, that is massive and really interesting to me, right? Yeah, two faiths that can't agree on exactly who he is, but yet both are trusting the same faith to carry the world out of its darkest hour and into the peace on the other side. Both sides are promising that the apocalypse isn't the end of the story, and that Jesus will be integral to finishing the job. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a brief overview of the story of the Muslim end time, specifically the role that Isa plays in all of it. Crazy. Isa bin Miriam, Jesus Christ himself. If you had to take a sample, Rafni, could you do me a favor? Could you Google how many Muslims are in the world, and how many Christians are in the world? I mean, it's got to be most of the world, or how many Catholic Christians, right? Because Christianity is probably, I'm going to guess, 1.5. Islam is another 1.5. What do you think? So Christians represent the largest. Whoa. So 29% of the world's population, 2.3 billion. And that what about Islam? I think it's down there, right? Oh, Muslims are the second fastest growing, 1.9 billion. So 29% plus 25%, 44%. That's just about half. Dang near, you know what I'm saying? That's about half. So if you ask half of the world who's going to be there at the end of times, at the apocalypse that's going to save everyone, half the people on the world is going to be like, "Oh, Jesus." That's an insane run, generational run. Now, again, I'm not saying every religion is saying the same thing. I'm not saying everybody agrees. I'm just saying the fact that you could just be like, "Yo, who's the guy that's going to save humanity?" And everyone, half the people, one in two are going to be like, "Yo, Jesus Christo." That's kind of fire, dude. If you think about it, you read about Islam, you read about the Quran, all of a sudden you get real proud of being Christian. You're like, "Dude, our guy did that? That's fire." Think about that. And then the Jews are probably a little bit excited, because he was born Jewish. You know what I mean? So the Jews are like, "Yeah, well, he's kind of our guy. We actually made him." That's fire, dude. Think about that. Even if you're an atheist or agnostic, to think about the impact. Let's say you just think that Jesus was a historical person. You don't think that he was divine at all. You don't think he was a prophet. You don't think he was God. You just think he was a guy with some ideas, right? If that's your camp. The most influential human being to ever live. I mean, not even close. And then there's Michael Jackson. It's like Jesus, all the way down here, at Michael Jackson. And then go another 100 feet down, me. Think about that, right? The level of just influence of a dude. Shout out to him, bro. I believe he's God. I believe Christ is king, you know what I'm saying? But if you don't believe that, you just got to give it up to Jesus one time. Just be like, "Yo, he really did that. He snapped like crazy." I don't know. What do you guys think? Is there anything that I missed? If you grew up Muslim, if you're a Muslim scholar, if there's anything that I said incorrectly or just completely overlooked, please educate me in the comments. Just be civil. Try to be kind about it. I'm really doing my best here. So let me know if you are a Christian or grew up in some other type of faith tradition. Maybe you're Hindu or Jewish. What did you think about this? Is this something that resonated with you or there overlaps with your own end time stuff? I mean, Hinduism has a fascinating end time with Kalki coming back and the Kali Yug and all that stuff. It's crazy. So if there's anything that I missed or anything that you think should have been highlighted more, please drop a comment, YouTube or Spotify. I read all of them. And even if I don't respond right away, I do read them and someone else will certainly respond and it'll be helpful to the conversation in the comments. Additionally, if you like historical stuff, we talked about a little bit of history today, but not really. But if you like a lot of historical stuff, well, great news. We have History Camp. If you like deep diving on crazy mysteries and occult stuff and conspiracies, great news. We have Camp Gagnon. That's the main channel where I talk to people way smarter than me. And I want you to join our secret society. Yeah, it's a very secret society. You're going to get every episode of this show and every other show completely ad free. You're also going to get monthly Zooms. You're going to get bonus episodes that never go out to the public and you're going to get merch discounts. And all of that is yours for a small sacrifice. It's not a blood sacrifice. No, it is just going to be the price of a cup of coffee every single month, $5. And you're going to get all that and more when you go to patreon.com/campgagnon. You can check it out in the description below. Now, of course, if you just like to rock with the religious vibe and you're fascinated by what everybody believes, well, great news. You're in the right place. You're always welcome at Religion Camp every single Sunday. God bless you all. Have a beautiful weekend and I'll see you next time. Peace. Endless summer escapes start here. Travel the worlds of Netflix IRL. Inspired by fan favorites like Stranger Things and Squid Game. Brave the upside down. Face off with the front man. Play leveled up arcade games. Shop exclusive merch. And enjoy themed food and drinks. Beat the heat. Play, eat, and shop on repeat at Netflix House at Galleria Dallas. Bring your crew and save. Get your tickets today at netflix.com/house. We'll be right back.