Summary
The article compares Islamic and Jewish views of Armageddon, presenting it as a final struggle between good and evil, contrasting secular fear with religious hope rooted in divine justice and ultimate peace.
The past 10 years have been the warmest 10 years since record-keeping began. The fearful news is that the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said: “Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19% until 2050 due to climate change. These damages are six times larger than the mitigation costs needed to limit global warming to two degrees.
And health and economic costs from three toxic chemicals used in plastics is estimated at $1.5 trillion for a single year. The study, published December 16, 2024 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed data from 38 different countries, representing one-third of the total global population. Bisphenol A (BPA), commonly found in food packaging, is an endocrine disruptor associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and reproductive disorders. BPA exposure was associated with 5.4 million cases of heart disease and 346,000 strokes, leading to 431,000 deaths.
But the good news is that the ‘world’s largest’ vacuum to suck climate pollution out of the air just opened.
The challenge news is even when air pollutant concentrations decrease, health risks posed by these pollutants remain consistently high. A global research network examined data from 380 cities to assess how the effects of air pollution on mortality have changed between 1995 and 2016. The central finding: Although concentrations of air pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide have decreased, the associated health risks have hardly changed. The study was published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
Of the 35 planetary vital signs scientists use to track climate change annually, 25 are at record extremes. New heat records come amid 13 months in a row of record-breaking temperatures on Earth; not just over land, but in the oceans too. Before 2023, the record highest temperature was 16.8 °C, set in August 2016. Since mid-2023, the planet has broken that 2016 threshold 58 times.
The majority of Christians, Jews, and Muslims do not believe that all of humanity is moving closer and closer to a catastrophic Judgement Day. The minority who do think that Judgement Day is coming soon share the usual negative, fear-filled views of most end-times thinkers: Christians, Jews and especially Muslims, who do believe that: “The hour (of Judgement) is near” (Qur’an 54:1); and ˹The time of˺ people’s judgment has drawn near, yet they heedlessly turn away.” (Qur’an 21:1)
According to a 2012 poll by the Pew Research Center, at least half of Muslims in nine Muslim-majority countries believe that the coming of the Mahdi is “imminent,” and could happen in their lifetime. Sadly these end-times thinkers always see pre-ordained threats of cataclysmic world wide doom; and not just warning of the consequences if we humans do not repent and change our behavior.
The Greek word Armageddon is a transliteration of the Hebrew “har məgiddô” which means a mountain near Megiddo, a hilltop fortification built by King Ahab, that dominated the Plain of Jezreel. Har Magedon is the symbol of a battle in which, when the need is greatest and believers are most oppressed, God suddenly reveals His power to distressed peoples and the evil enemies are destroyed.
Armageddon is a warning of humanity’s need to change to avoid Armageddon. Because temperatures in the Middle East have risen far faster than the world’s average in the past three decades. Precipitation has been decreasing, and experts predict droughts will come with greater frequency and severity. And major wildfires in Europe are starting earlier in the year, becoming more frequent, doing more damage and getting harder to stop.
In Africa, where 70% of livelihoods rely on nature in some form, the report showed a two-thirds fall in wildlife populations.
Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam has a powerful eschatological strain. It anticipates the end to the world as we know it; a final historical confrontation between good and evil (Armageddon); after which, with God’s help, human life will be rewarded and transformed.
As the Qur’an states: ”Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews, Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, and do righteous good deeds, shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (2:62 and 5:69) Notice that the Qur’an specifically stresses religious pluralism applies on God’s judgment day.
And Pope Francis said: ‘All Religions Are Paths To God’ This is a new and very strong support for religious pluralism.
Yet a Pew Research Center poll found that in South and Southeast Asia 55-60% of all Muslims believe in the Madhi’s imminent return; and in the Middle East and North Africa 51% do.
A hadith says that Jesus, will return to a place east of Damascus and will join forces with the Islamic messiah, the Mahdi, in a battle against the false messiah, the one eyed Dajjal, Armilos in Jewish tradition.
As ibn Babuya writes in Thawab ul-A’mal, “The Apostle of God said: `There will come a time for my people when there will remain nothing of the Qur’an except its outward form, and nothing of Islam except its name, and they will call themselves by this name even though they are the people furthest from it. The mosques will be full of people but they will be empty of right guidance. The religious leaders (fuqaha) of that day will be the most evil religious leaders under the heavens; sedition and dissension will go out from them and to them will it return.”
This sounds, and indeed is, terrible. But, those who trust in God know that the night is coldest in the last hours before sunrise.
Secularists believe that these apocalyptic visions of a future (Armageddon) are absurd, although many secularists themselves fervently believe that run away genetic modification of food and/or extreme climate change is going to doom human civilization in future generations.
The basic difference between the pessimistic, humanist secularists and the religious optimists is that those who believe in the God of Abraham also believe that God’s inspiration and guidance guarantees that the spiritual forces of good, will overcome all the world’s evils at the end of days; and justice, peace and religious pluralism will prevail. Or as Prophet Micah envisions it: (4:1-5)
“In the end of days the mountain of the Lord’s Temple will be established as the highest mountain;
it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many (not all) nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob, who will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.
“Torah will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. God will judge between many (not all) peoples and will settle disputes among powerful nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughs, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.
“Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig-tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. All the nations will walk in the name of their gods, and we (Jews) will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.”
Thus, the Bible and the Qur’an’s final judgement is the self-destruction of violent, hate filled, religion twisted terrorism and narrow ‘my way or death’ philosophy (Armageddon); and the victory of kindness, love, democracy and religious pluralism.
The Qur’an refers to Prophet Abraham as a community or a nation: “Abraham was a nation/community [Ummah]; dutiful to God, a monotheist [hanif], not one of the polytheists.” (16:120) If Prophet Abraham is an Ummah then fighting between the descendants of Prophets Ishmael and Isaac is a civil war and should always be avoided.
If all Arabs and Jews can live up to the ideal that ‘the descendants of Abraham’s sons should never make war against each other’ is the will of God; we can help fulfill the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:23-5)
Finally, if one believes that God inspired prophets are able to describe scenarios of various developments in the distant future then one has to accept that the understanding of these passages should change and improve as we come closer and closer to the times they describe. As an example, Jeremiah describes a radical future in which woman surround men, “The Lord will create a new thing on earth-a woman will surround a man” (31:22).
The great commentator Rashi understands ‘surround’ to mean encircle. The most radical thing Rashi can think of (and in 11th century France it was radical) is that woman will propose marriage (a wedding ring/circle) to men. In today’s feminist generation we can see women surrounding men in fields once almost exclusively male such as law, medical and rabbinical schools. Indeed women are now outperforming men in education in 70% of countries worldwide.
Of course, this means that a few generations from now we might have even better understandings of some predictive passages in the prophets so humility should always be within us.
Frequently Asked Question
Answering the most relevant questions to help you better understand the article.
Armageddon is understood as a final historical confrontation between good and evil, marking the end of the world as known, after which humanity will be judged, rewarded, and transformed.
Islam teaches that the world will end with a decisive struggle between truth and falsehood, followed by divine judgment, where believers are rewarded and justice is established through Allah’s ultimate authority.
The Qur’an emphasizes that those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and perform righteous deeds will have their reward, and they will experience neither fear nor grief.
Islamic teachings describe the return of Jesus and the emergence of the Mahdi, who together confront the false messiah and support truth during the final struggle before the end times.
Secular perspectives often dismiss apocalyptic beliefs as unrealistic, yet still express fears of global catastrophe, while religious perspectives maintain hope in divine guidance and ultimate triumph of good over evil.
The article references climate change, rising temperatures, drought, and environmental degradation as warning signs, suggesting humanity must change behavior to avoid destructive consequences resembling apocalyptic outcomes.
Believers view troubling predictions as temporary hardships, trusting that divine wisdom ensures eventual relief, with hope that the darkest times precede the arrival of guidance, justice, and peace.
The Qur’anic message highlighted affirms that sincere believers from different communities who believe in Allah and act righteously will receive divine reward without fear or grief.
Fear emphasizes destruction and catastrophe, while hope focuses on divine justice, renewal, and the ultimate triumph of good, reflecting the contrasting outlooks between pessimistic and faith-based perspectives.
Believers expect that after the final struggle, divine guidance will prevail, establishing justice, peace, and harmony, with humanity living under God’s guidance free from oppression and evil.
