Gog and Magog in Islam – Part 2 | Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on how Islam views the War of Gog and Magog, which is found within Ezekiel 38 and 39 in the Bible. In Part 1 we discussed the research of Shaykh Ridhwan Ibn Saleem, who is the chairman of the Ha Meem Foundation and a senior lecturer at the London College of Islamic Studies. Part 1 covered who Saleem believes Gog and Magog are, and now in Part 2 we will discuss what this means in light of the crises in the Middle East and how Islamic countries like Iran view Israel and the West.

Why Islam is Not in Direct Jihad with America and the West

In part 1, we discussed how many Islamic scholars believe that Gog and Magog (Ya’juj and Ma’juj in Islam) are the Khazar people of the Caucasus region in Central Asia. However, Shaykh Saleem thinks they are descendants of the Vikings; thus, America and the West will be the ones who will spread evil and create havoc across the world until the end of days. When Gog and Magog try to take Jerusalem, however, Allah will send a plague, described as worms or insects, that will infect the necks of Gog and Magog, causing them to perish. Until this time, Gog and Magog will be unstoppable. According to Shaykh Saleem,

[The] prophecy that Allah. . . will give Gog and Magog such power that “no-one can fight against” was not destined to be fulfilled during the Viking Age. It was to be the European descendants of the Vikings who would fulfil this prophecy. This power would be given to them many generations later, by Allah. . . through the discoveries of science and military technology in the Modern Age.¹

Thus, there is currently no military jihad against America because we have too strong a military.² According to Riyad as-Salihin hadith,

. . . it will be under such conditions that Allah will reveal to `Isa [the prophet Jesus] these words: `I have brought forth from amongst my slaves such people against whom none will be able to fight, so take these people safely to the mountain.’ And then Allah will send Ya’juj and Ma’juj (Gog and Magog people) and they will sworn down from every slope. The first of them will pass the Lake Tabariyah (near the Dead Sea in Palestine) and drink all its water. . . . [Allah] will send insects which will attack their (Ya’juj and Ma’juj people) neck until they all will perish like a single person. Prophet, `Isa and his companions will then come down and they will not find in the earth as much space as a single span which would not be filled with their corpses and their stench. (Riyad as-Salihin, Book 18, Hadith 1)³

Why is Jerusalem Important in Islam?

The city of Jerusalem is not mentioned anywhere in the Koran, whereas in the Bible it is mentioned 667 times in the Old Testament and 139 times in the New. The only Islamic reference to Jerusalem is in the Hadith literature –– a record of the words, actions, and approvals of the prophet Muhammed. Muslims have no scriptural right to the city. In fact, the Koran even states that the Holy Land belongs to the Jews.⁴

And remember when Moses said to his people, “O my people! Remember Allah’s favours upon you when He raised prophets from among you, made you sovereign, and gave you what He had never given anyone in the world. O my people! Enter the Holy Land which Allah has destined for you ˹to enter˺. And do not turn back or else you will become losers.” [Surah 5:20-21]⁵

So, if Muslims have no scriptural claim to the city, why is it so important to them? Why does Allah send a plague on Gog and Magog when they try to take the city? According to Surah 21:95-96,

It is impossible for a society which We have destroyed to ever rise again, until after Gog and Magog have broken loose from the barrier, swarming down from every hill.⁶

According to Shaykh Saleem,

. . . the Jewish people will never return to the Holy City until Gog and Magog are released. . . Thus, the creation of the state of Israel was an indication that Gog and Magog had already been released.⁷

Thus, from an Islamic perspective, when Israel took back Jerusalem in 1948, this meant that the Islamic End Times had begun. Furthermore, the Islamic Antichrist will be a Jew; thus, the third-holiest city in Islam could soon be controlled by the Antichrist. According to ShariahProgram.ca,

. . . the Dajjal [the Islamic Antichrist] will be a Jew. . . . the Jews will view Dajjal as their “Messiah” whose advent, according to them, has been foretold in their religious books and traditions. Of course we as Muslims know, that the person whose coming was foretold in their books was Hadhrat Isa [the Islamic Jesus. . . but since the Jews never accepted him as such, the Dajjal will be their “Messiah.” Hence, his major followers will be the Jews.⁸

The Future of the Middle East

What does all this say about whether we can ever truly be at peace with Islam? What does this say about maintaining a strong military force against radical states like Iran? The only reason Muslim nations don’t attack us, or Israel directly, is that we outgun them. Iran’s leadership has tried to create a workaround by utilizing its proxies (i.e. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis), but ultimately, the only reason it hasn’t used nuclear weapons is because America has more nuclear capability than they do. Furthermore, Sura 47:34-35 states,

Surely those who disbelieve, hinder others from the Way of Allah, and then die as disbelievers; Allah will never forgive them. So do not falter or cry for peace, for you will have the upper hand and Allah is with you. And He will never let your deeds go to waste.⁹

If Gog and Magog are America and the West, and a Jew will become the Islamic Antichrist, what does this say about the psychology of Islamist regimes like Iran? Iran’s leadership is also Twelver Shi’as. According to J. Micah Hancock of All Israel News,

[Twelvers] believe that the Mahdi [the Islamic Messiah or 12^th Imam] is in ghaybah (occultation) – a state of hiddenness – and will be revealed near the end of time.

For Twelver Shi’ism, it is the Mahdi who will finally ensure the triumph of Shi’a Islam as the true religion, will defeat the oppressors of Muslims, and bring justice to the earth. They believe that his coming will precede a final battle, similar to the New Testament Battle of Armageddon, in which the Mahdi and his forces will defeat the forces of evil.

[Iran is the only Islamic country] with a Shi’a theocratic government based on the Islamic Revolutionary philosophy of its founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [1902-1989]. . . . Khomeini asserted that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic could serve as the Nayeb-e Imam – the deputy of the 12th Imam, whom Shi’a Muslims believe to be the Mahdi.

Khomeini also changed Mahdism from a quietist belief – where the faithful passively awaited the Mahdi’s arrival – into an activist one, where the true believers could help the Mahdi to return. . . . “Rather than silently waiting for the 12th Imam’s return, Khomeini argued, the 12th Imam was waiting for Shi’a Muslims to prepare the ground for his arrival.”

In 2012, Hojatoleslam Ali Saeedi, the Supreme Leader’s representative to the IRGC, said in a speech: “The IRGC is one of the tools for paving the way for the emergence of the Imam of the Age [Mahdi] in the field of a regional and international awakening, and the IRGC Quds Force plays the primary role in this regard.”¹⁰

Our Real Enemy

In a November 2023 speech to the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, Baroness Jacqueline Foster of Oxton stated,

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [of Iran] is a death cult run by psychopaths who think nothing of the rape, torture, and beheading of civilians in Iran should they dare to dissent. It is they who pull the strings of Hamas and other terrorist groups and who share responsibility for the attack on Israel on 7 October.¹¹

Sadly, this is a very accurate description of the Iranian regime; however, I would suggest that they may be psychopaths, but it may also be that they are possessed by demonic forces, and it is being mistaken as being psychopaths. Despite Iran’s obsession with death, we as Christians must be focused on the new life in Christ we are given upon our profession of faith. Christianity is a religion of love, and thus we must remember Ephesians 6:12. . .

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Muslims are NOT our enemy, but rather the religion that enslaves them to the law. Paul tells us in Galatians 4:21-26,

. . . For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.Ω

Stephanie Potts and her husband, Jim live in Dayton, Ohio, and have been married for 24 years. She worked with the federal government for 15 years as an intelligence analyst and then entered full-time Christian service in 2015. She first joined Haven Ministries in Denver, Colorado, in 2015 and then transferred to Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc in 2021. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University in Political Science and International Relations and received her Master’s degree in Geographic Information Systems from Penn State University. She is currently working towards her master’s degree in Christian Apologetics through Southern Evangelical Seminary. She has special interests in indigenous religions – especially Native American spirituality – and in responding to Catholicism, and the social justice movement. Stephanie’s personal website: rainbowapologetics.com

Gog and Magog in Islam – Part 2

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