Iraq war breeds doomsday fears

APOCALYPSE NOW? CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS LINK CONFLICT TO 
CENTURIES-OLD VISIONS OF HUMANITY'S FINAL HOURS  

By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News

CAIRO - The end is near.

From Egypt to the United States, books about Armageddon and the 
return of Jesus are once again big sellers. The war in Iraq, a region 
central to both Judeo- Christian and Islamic traditions, has sparked 
a revived interest in predictions of the end and led to an usual 
convergence of the apocalyptic visions that percolate on the edges 
of both American and Middle Eastern societies.  

Web sites discuss end-time signs in the Bible and in the sayings of 
the Prophet Muhammad. Christian preachers and Muslim prayer leaders 
link today's headlines about war in the Garden of Eden and the 
birthplace of Abraham to centuries-old descriptions of humanity's 
final hours.  

``The U.S.-led war on Iraq is an introduction to the battle of 
Armageddon,'' Yusef Faqr, an Egyptian attorney, recently told 
guests in his home. ``It is very, very near.''  

In the United States, fundamentalists thumb through the Book of 
Revelation, which twice mentions the Euphrates River that runs 
through Iraq. According to Revelation, before Armageddon begins, 
``the four angels that are bound in the great river Euphrates'' 
will be loosened and the river will be dried up so ``that the 
way of the kings of the East might be prepared'' to march to 
battle in Israel.  

In Cairo, believers also are watching water levels in Iraq. According 
to Amin Mohamed Gamal el-Din, author of ``Armageddon: Last Declaration 
of the Islamic Nation,'' the damming of the Euphrates was prophesied 
by Muhammad as a sign that Judgment Day, known in Islam as ``The 
Hour,'' is nigh.  

The river continues to flow, but Gamal el-Din says other prophetic signs 
have already come to pass, including an economic siege on Iraq (United 
Nations sanctions), a siege on Palestine (the Israeli occupation) and the 
appearance of people with black flags (the Taliban). ``I expect a severe 
war to start in the near future,'' Gamal el-Din said. ``Maybe in weeks, 
maybe in months, not in years.''  

Muslims and Christians share strikingly similar views of the final 
days. Both believe that a demonic leader -- Dajal to Muslims and the 
Antichrist to Christians -- will take over much of the world, and that 
Jesus will return and defeat him before the hour of final judgment.  

At a tea shop near Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the oldest Islamic 
institution of higher learning, students crowd around rickety tables 
to discuss Gamal el-Din's book. One student notes that Saddam 
Hussein's name itself is a sign of the last days, because its 
meaning is related to conflict.  

The student believes this agrees with Muhammad's prophecies. The 
notion has a counterpart in apocalyptic Christianity, which finds 
a similarity between ``Saddam'' and ``Abaddon,'' the evil leader 
in Revelation Chapter 9, Verse 11.  

When Gamal el-Din's ``first book came out, it caused a big scandal 
because it was based a lot on the Torah and the Bible,'' said Osama 
Mohamed, a 29- year-old graduate student in criminal law. ``The 
Christians and the Jews were treating Armageddon as their own secret. 
There were very few Muslims who knew about the details, but when the 
book came out, it became more known.''  

It's hard to know how many doomsday believers there are. In the United 
States, opinion polls and book sales indicate the ideas are widespread. 
Apocalyptic authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have sold 55 
million copies of their ``Left Behind'' series of novels and children's 
books.  

In the Middle East, similar statistics don't exist, but Cairo booksellers 
say books dealing with events at the end of time are among their  
strongest sellers besides the Koran.

                            -==-

Source: Mercury News ....
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/5782604.htm


Cheers, Steve..

---