Islam's Contribution to Knowledge of the End Time

     It is important to note that the ignorant and bigots deny the validity of the "Word of God" found in the scriptures of others, dreams and visions. Too many people share their narrowness and ignorance as if it was the truth. If you encounter someone whose beliefs are impaired in such a way, it is kindest not to argue the point where their limited viewpoints have become rigid opinions. Their belief in God exists yet they have forgotten God is Almighty and All-knowing, a view that clearly goes further than their ability to comprehend. Don't waste time arguing with them. There are more important things to be done than "proving a point". Unity in beliefs isn't about the detail, it's about the concepts of Creation and the Creator. The concepts in prophecies of 'the End Time' convey to Muslims, Christians and Jews an event we can change if we put our efforts together collectively to change the Creator's warning of disaster to us to a bright future. We have to want to change it or apathy and pessimism will ensure the worst will occur. Keep an eye on the other side of this message, that although there are parts of it which may disturb some viewers, the message is one of correction not one against any faith.

     Islam, like many faiths, had a founding prophet. Islam accepts the prophets of Christianity and Judaism as their prophets. Well not all of what Muslims believe is exactly the beliefs of the other faiths, which is largely due to the attitudes of individuals and the 'truth' they realized from conceptual information left for them. They have clarity in regards to the humanness of prophets (including Jesus.) (There are other areas of issue which are dealt with in my book). Significant areas of commonality exist when it comes to prophecies though. Anyone who understands the threads of concepts (within prophetic analogies) running through the Qur'an and the Old and New Testament would take little time to recognize that the content of Mohammed's prophecies adds to the totality of them. No prophet fully understood what their prophecies meant, when it was for a time far into the future. It would contain analogies they wouldn't be able to fathom and they were never going to see them realized. Yet most prophets knew of the disaster.
     It is important for Christians to note all the prophecies Mohammed gave came from a time well after the fall of Rome so people who believe all the prophecies relating to an End Time came and went with the End of the Roman Empire are working under an incorrect impression, as that was nearly two centuries earlier. Mohammed stated in several passages there was an End Time (in the future). He left references to identifying points, events and occurences so we would know the time. Mohammed makes reference to the same disaster that is spoken about in many Biblical prophecies, clarifying some points, adding only a few new points. The main concepts had already been covered by prophets who preceded him. It's equally important to know the Bible refers to the Qur'an, though not by that name, and that the nation of Ishmael (Gen 21:18) has a value to God. It was His promise to them. Few people who use the Bible acknowledge that or downplay it.
     Questionable attitudes are being met with a strong message. The Qur'an is the altered "Word of God". Muslims will have to accept that someone (likely Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique, born as Abdul Kaaba, at the time of Mohammed and who was given control of the writings) changed some of the surahs AFTER Mohammed put his "Checksum routine" on them (the Muqatta'at). The altered surahs are easily identified. At the opening of each surah there is none or one to four characters (Arabic letters, which are found in the first verse of the Qur'an). If they are added the total value of the letters of an unaltered surah is ALWAYS divisible by 19, the number of letters in the first verse of the Qur'an. Where it varies from being evenly divisible by 19, the surahs have been altered. Of the 29 with extra letters 38% were altered. Muslims with computers may want to confirm this ancient use of checksums (used long before computers were known). Several groups within Islam have be amazed at the numeric computational value of many of the surahs but none have come to the realization (at least publicly) that this problem of tampering exists though a few have seen that it shouldn't be emphasized, possibly recognizing that an error of some sort was contained within it. See an Islamic view of this, lacking the realizations of it being a checksum to confirm the tampering.

     The upshot of this is that Muslims no longer can say the Qur'an is a perfect book and cast aspersions on the Bible. But to be fair it has the same problems the Bible has in that it has been tampered with (whether intentionally or not it is of no consequence now). The Qur'an relates the End Time events that the prophet Mohammed foresaw. Although I am a follower of the method of dream use that Jesus taught, my acceptance of the divinity of any human is quite limited. Jesus was a notable teacher-prophet, not unlike Mohammed and many others, and we do not worship messengers do we? We worship God in His many names.
     To take respect of the man to gushing praise, adoration or reverence moves it closer to worship. It's not something you readily do for neighbors or friends or even an excellent teacher. It is a highly similar process to the Islamic writers who in mentioning Mohammed put (pbuh) after his name (or other such terms). Pbuh, short for "praise be unto him", is the same problem. No human born in this world is, has been or ever will be God and giving them such praise is inappropriate. Such aberrations are to do with politics and control, not belief.

      One reason for the Checksum was that Mohammed had not properly shared how to foresee so no one was given the "keys" to knowing how to prophesy or how to reveal anything prophetic or how to discover and repair errors within the content. The truth may be upsetting to some Muslims if they put great value in the prophet's words as being absolutely perfect. (Believers know prophets bring messages not everyone wants to hear. This message is another case of that.) The Creator knew the words would be tampered with so looking ahead He gave Mohammed the information to "protect" the words given by showing the tampering evidence, and to gently show that no message from the Creator is as perfect as it seems. He knew the error would be discovered at an "appropriate time in the future" (it was the use of computers which revealed the problem and interestingly enough the discovery was chronicled for all time by an article in the Scientific American of September 1980).
     Keep in mind I too am only a messenger so fatwas cannot be pronounced on me. My words are for correcting problems and are not blasphemies. You could ignore what I've been given to say, but considering this issue is nothing by comparison to the rest of the message it's unlikely anything much will be ignored.

     The Bible is even older and had even less likelihood of remaining free of "alterations". The problems include spurious additions (some staunch supporters may have thought should be included as it sounded like the words of the person), or that it was thought to add value in some way. Inclusions occurred for any number of reasons, like the one at the end of Matthew which gave rise to the false concept of a trinity or triune god. It was an inclusion made by someone who wanted to "compete" with Helenism a Greek belief which had a trinity.
     Paul (who inexcusably didn't know better?) made reference to it, but he wasn't one of Jesus' original disciples, even if it is rumored they knew each other earlier. He came 'into the fold' after Jesus was no longer in Palestine. Rather oddly Paul felt it necessary to state that he wasn't a liar, several times. Did the other disciples suspect or know what he was doing and say something to him? The concept of adding or taking from the Bible was addressed in an imprecation (curse) given at the end of Revelation to anyone who might add or take from the content of that book of the Bible. Unfortunately there are several other places where alterations have occurred.
     

      Another person with limited perception of prophetic dreams. His wife, in a clearly identifiable dream relating to the End Time, relayed it to her husband but he assured her it wasn't of any concern as he would return from an impending trip without harm. But it wasn't the same concept. He should have seen that. His name was Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism.