The Islamic, Christian and Norse apocalypse

[ukgent2006]

These are pretty cool stories, and I will say about the Islamic apocalypse, I am impressed Allah lets non muslims who lived a good life into heaven. I felt the sheer awesomeness of these stories deserves its own thread, simply for people who might be interested.


Start off with the muslim one (which actually seems quite plausible untill about after the christian/muslim war, and give me a little more high an opinion of islam than I had before:

Oh, that good old Koran story about the end of days! The end of times as outlined in Muslim writings is one of the very finest religious apocalyptic scenario's around: rich in detail, vivid, and far reaching in religious implications. No wonder so many Muslims are deeply convinced judgment day (`Qiyamah', in Koran terminology) will come about one day.

So here's what will happen. The Koran discernes `minor' and `major' omens predicting the end of days. Many of the `minor' omens (there are 72 signs in total) are already here for everybody to be seen. Men will behave more like women and women will imitate men. Men will dress in silk. Children will be disobeyant, and youngsters will be role-models. People who used to be shepherds will build tall buildings.

And there's more. Many will engage in dangerous sports, divorces will be a daily occurrence and people will favour their friends over their families. Liquor will be consumed in the streets, and dancing and wild music will be everywhere. Religious leaders will make worldly profits, while intellectuals rather engage in science than in the study of religion. Also, there will be the usual apocalyptic rumble-a-bumble: earthquakes, devastating wars, storms and floods. If you add things up, it looks like the end of days is quite near, don't you think?

Well, don't worry -- yet. When time's up, you can't miss it. For the signs will become more and more grotesque. One after another, they roll in like `a string of beads falling one after the other', as the prophet Muhammad put it.

As a first sign the countdown to doomsday is ending, nature displays some very odd phenomena. You'll notice red winds sweeping across the country. Some people find their face gets malformed -- hey, isn't that a pig's face? Others are even less fortunate: everywhere, people are suddenly swallowed into the ground.

Then a cataclysmic religious war breaks out. It's Muslims versus Christians, and soon after the outbreak of war, half of the Christian armies sign a peace treaty with the Muslims. The Muslim-Christian coalition conquers Istanbul, while the `bad' Christians conquer Syria. But that all changes when the Christian army starts heading for Mecca. Suddenly, the ground cracks open and gone are the Christians.

Well, that doesn't mean war is over. The Muslims raid the Middle East, lose two thirds of their army but in the end win back Syria and Palestine. Immediately, they declare Holy War (Jihad) on India -- and win.

You find all this warfare a bit boring? Just wait, more miraculous things are about to happen. As peace settles down in the Muslim empire (that by now stretches from the Middle East deeply into Asia), the world is plagued by a severe drought that lasts three years.

After that, suddenly a very creepy character shows up. Al-Dajjal is his name. And he actually is the Muslim anti-Christ. Well-educated Muslims will instantly recognise the guy: he is short, red-faced, has hair that sticks up and is blind at the right eye. The false prophet inspires vast amounts of followers anyhow: 70,000 heavily armed believers join the bad guy.

Gladly, in the meantime another chap comes to power: Al-Mahdi. Now Al-Mahdi is there to keep the balance between good and bad. He is a military leader, is named after the prophet and of course calls everyone to the true Islam as often as he can.

It takes a third miracle man to break down the stalemate between Al-Dajjal and Al-Mahdi: Jesus. Yes, you read that right: when the world is about to end, Muslims too expect Jesus -- `Isa' in the Koran -- to return from heaven. It is a miraculous thing to see, since Isa returns with much dramatic display: he descends from the sky in Damascus while a mass prayer is going on. If you're a Christian, you're in for a big surprise: without an eye's blink, Jesus denounces Christianity and calls upon everybody to convert to Islam.

And Jesus is in a fighting mood. He turns out an excellent military leader, as he goes out to pick a fight with Al-Dajjal. While more and more people convert to Islam, Isa defeats the false prophet. Jesus kills Al-Dajjal himself. It happens in the valley of `Ifiq', near an Israeli airport.

After that, a brief period of peace sets in. Jihad stops, Islam rules, there's peace and prosperity everywhere and Isa himself retires, marries, has many children, dies after nineteen years and is buried next to Muhammad.

But wait, it was still merely the beginning, a kind of warming-up for Allah. For the next moment, the real stuff begins. Prepare for the end of days!

In four countries, the ground suddenly caves in, leaving four enormous, gaping pits in the Earth's crust. Next, there's fog. For forty days, thick layers of smoke blanket the sky. If you were still a non-Muslim, you pass out. Muslims develop terrible colds.

Finally, the fog lifts up. You might expect to finally see the sun again. But to your amazement, it is completely dark. For three days and three nights, the Sun simply is not there. No wonder people all over the world start feeling a bit `restless' by now, as the Koran puts it.

Then, the Sun finally rises again. But wait, what's that? The Sun rises in the West, crossing the sky the wrong way around. By now, if you are still a non-believer, you might want to convert to Islam. But isn't that a pity: after the Sun-rising-in-the-West-incident, Allah won't listen to any more repentence.

It's one day later, and here comes the next miracle already. Near Mecca, the ground starts to rumble, and the next moment, a giant beast lifts itself up out of the ground. Astonishingly, the beast can talk. It raises its claws, and look: the faces of the faithful begin to glitter, while the faces of the non-believers darken.

Not that a glowing face really helps you that much. The next moment, a breeze from the south comes in. It causes sores in the armpits of all Muslims. They suffer terribly and die. Only the non-believers remain. If you're one of them, you'll probably feel a bit nervous. It is perfectly clear that you have to witness the end of the world.

Allah indeed seems to have abandoned the world. Back in Mecca, the Kashba is destroyed by a troop of African invaders. The Koran is suddenly completely forgotten. In Yemen, a huge fire breaks out. If you are by chance a Yemenite and still surviving, you run for your life. But the fire follows you, all way to Syria. There the fire suddenly stops.

You wait for more to come. But nothing really happens. The silence lasts hours, then days, then months. Though you're bewildered and scared, you try to settle down, attempting to start a new life on your damned planet. You've had wars, monsters, fires and darkness, so how much worse can it really get?, you ask yourself retorically.

Well, it can. After several years of tranquility, a eery and ominous sound echoes over the world. Although there are no Muslims left, some people might recognize it for what it is: the sound of the angel Israfil, blowing the doomsday trumpet of Allah. It's the last thing you'll ever hear. For the next moment, the entire universe with everyone in it simply ceases to exist. Zzzip, gone.

Before you know what's happening, you find you're facing the big man himself. Allah is there, right in front of you. He is surrounded by angels and clouds.

Suddenly, you have a tremendous flashback on your life. You understand the consequences of everything you ever did. `Whoever has done an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever has done an atom's weight of evil will also see it,' the Koran explains.

It's judgment time. If there's too many grains of evil, off you go to hell. Or was there more good in your life? Then lucky you, you get to spend the rest of all eternity in the heavens of Allah, where everything looks about the same

[ukgent2006]

now for the christian version, which is also pretty cool and big on specatacle (although it does seem to be more inhumane and punishing to non believers than the islamic one...if Im quite honest, its hard to tell who the bad guys are, the angels or the demons):


kay, so here's what's gonna happen. According to John's visions, it all starts to go wrong when the `lamb of God' one day decides to open up the huge, sealed book of life. The looks of the lamb betray little good. As John writes, it looks `as it it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes.'

Don't worry, we mortals probably won't have to face this heavenly lamb -- yet. The first thing we do notice, is four horsemen: one on a white horse, one red, one black and one pale. The band of horsemen is here to bring about a lot of misery. The swordsman on the red horse spreads war, the man on the black horse leaves a trail of famine, and that skinny guy sitting on the pale horse, that's Death himself, bringing `plagues or pestilence' -- John leaves it up to Mr. Death to decide. By the way, the guy with the crown and the bow on horse #4 causes no problems in particular.

The horsemen are barely there, and here comes more trouble. Suddenly, the Sun goes black. The Moon becomes red as blood. There's a massive earthquake. Amazingly, the stars drop from the sky like figs from a tree, and the heaven slams shut `as a book folded up'. All mountains are dislocated, and every island begins to drift.

Still surviving, right? Wait, the worst is yet to come. Suddenly, everything becomes quiet, and in the `four corners of the world' (sic), four angels appear. It's the angels that cause the silence: they hold back all wind. Then, from the direction of the Sun, a fifth angel descends, carrying a special item John calls `the seal of God'. The angel marks the slim total of 140.000 Jewish people with the seal, and rushes home. By now, you're probably beginning to feel somewhat nervous. John anyway foresaw that a huge crowd would dress in white robes and pray for salvation.

And to be honest, nothing has really happened yet. After half an hour of complete silence, all hell breaks loose. There's a huge thunderstorm, there's the sound of voices coming out of nowhere, and there's another massive earthquake. Next, there's hail. And fire, burning up all grass and pulverizing one third of all trees. A mountain-sized comet plunges into the sea, turning one third of all water into blood while killing a third of all organisms living in the sea, and sinking one third of all ships.

It becomes darker still. A talking eagle is spotted. It screeches there's more to come. And that's no understatement. For the next moment, another meteor plummets into the Earth. An angel brings out a key and uses it to open the lid of a bottomless pit humanity somehow overlooked. Now, you're in for some REAL trouble.

There's smoke coming from the pit, and then, suddenly, huge amounts of killer locusts, each as lethal as a scorpion, flock out of the smoke. The scorpion locusts leave the 140.000 who carry the divine sign unscathed, but sting everyone else, for five long months in a row. By now, people `shall desire to die,' John estimates. But isn't that a pity: to their astonishment, they discover it is no longer possible to die.

Then, after those five painful months, the locusts take the shape of horses, albeit with manlike faces, long hair and lion's fangs. They total the number of two hundred million. The king of the monsters, a guy appropriately named `Exterminans', arrives at the scene.

Still holding out? Prepare yourself, actually they've been treating you mildly so far. Suddenly, the locust army out of hell sets out for a huge massacre, butchering one third of all people. People are burnt, suffocated in smoke, or squashed by huge lumps of brimstone, all of which sling out of the locust's mouths. Cities crumble, Jerusalem is destroyed and there's another earthquake, a devastating thunderstorm, and yet another earthquake.

Then, a sign is spotted in the sky. It's the Virgin Mary, `clothed with the Sun, and the Moon under her feet, and on her head the crown of twelve stars', as John puts it. Another sign is seen: a huge, red dragon that uses its tail to throw one third of all stars (weren't they already gone?) to the surface of our pitiful planet. In a brief but fierce fight, the dragon along with several other demons is booted out of the sky. Unfortunately, they all fall down to earth. The dragon is in a bad mood. It declares war on the Virgin Mary and her likes.

And when that happens, you'd better hide. Out of the sea rises a huge beast, with seven heads and ten horns. (In a later chapter, John will explain that the ten horns are actually ten power-hungry kings without a kingdom.) The beast has `words of blasphemy' written on its seven foreheads, has the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. Don't try to kill it, you'll find that the head you're hacking off grows back on within moments.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, most people decide. They kneel in front of the beast, and decide to `adore' the dragon. The sea monster reigns for 42 months, speaking the curious combination of `great things and blasphemies'.

Then a second beast hits the scene, this time coming out of the earth and wearing two horns. The new beast takes over power from the sea monster, and demonstrates his supernatural talents, for one thing by letting it rain fire on earth. Understandably, the remnant of the earth's inhabitants accept the beast willingly as their new leader. They should have known better, though: the number of this beast happens to be 666. Although John never actually calls it that way, the beast is in our time often referred to as the antichrist.

Meanwhile, the 144.000 who still carry the mark of God on their foreheads decide they don't want to have anything to do with the beasts. On mount Sion, they team up with the divine lamb. Also joining are three angels, one of which sets out to warn the masses not to hang around with beast nr. 666 anymore. Meanwhile, another angel reassures the 144.000 that the sinful city of Babylon will soon be destroyed. In yet another supernatural appearing, someone looking much like Christ descends on a cloud. Next, seven more angels appear, carrying seven divine plagues. Still following?

Now, if you're one of those who take the antichrist beast for leader, you're definitely in for trouble. The first angel strikes and wounds everyone. The second one turns the sea into blood, whereupon `every living soul' that happens to be in the sea drowns. The third angel turns all rivers and fountains on Earth into blood. The fourth angel harasses the population with heat and fire. The fifth angel brings darkness to the beast's kingdom. The sixth angel heads for the Middle East and dries up the river of Euphrates.

The unholy threesome -- the devil dragon, the antichrist and his false prophet, who is also there -- take up the glove, and declare an all-out war on God. They send out three ghostly frogs to convince all world's leaders to engage in the final battle. God in the meantime gathers his troops at a place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon (literally: the hill of robbers). And there's more voices and thunderstorms. Not to mention the biggest earthquake that ever shook the Earth, all previous apocalyptic earthquakes included. More cities crumble. Mountains collapse. Every island is swept from the face of the earth. And there's more hail, with hail stones as big as tennis balls.

Another angel descends, declaring the evil city of Babylon has just been destroyed, it only took one hour. Kings and merchants lament over the devastated city. A bright, avenging angel descends to lead the troops of God: it sits on a white horse, wears a blood sprinkled garment and has the dubious pleasure of carrying a two-edged sword in its mouth. Together with the others, the angel beats the antichrist and his false prophet and throws them into a pool of lava. If you were dumb enough to have joined the antichrist, you're dead: the angel with the sword slashes everyone and uses the corpses to feed the birds.

Now that the big part of the job is done, it's time to clean up the mess. Another angel comes down, ties the defeated devil dragon, tosses it back into the pit and shuts the lid. Not to be opened for another thousand years. Every martyr Christian that was ever beheaded comes back to life. Reunited, they live and reign for a thousand years.

But time flies when you're having fun. Suddenly, it's a thousand years later, and oh boy, the devil is at it again. He comes out of his pit and seduces all nations to join him in yet another war against the city of martyrs. But God himself puts the uprising swiftly to an end, by letting out a huge heavenly fire, which burns all the bad guys. This time, the devil himself is tossed into the pool of lava. The false prophet -- obviously, he survived the lava the first time -- is taken captive. He will be tortured forever, John is told.

Now, it's time for the final judgment. All the dead rise, and are judged `according to their works'. Many are cast into the pool of lava, those who have an entry in the book of life -- the chosen ones -- live forever.

By now, our planet has underwent some radical changes. There are no more seas, for instance. The skies open up, and an entire city -- the new Jerusalem -- gently lands on earth. It is made of gold, has twelve foundations, twelve gates and twelve angels guarding the gates. People don't die anymore. And what's more, they don't suffer, cry or worry about anything anymore. There are no more murderers, sorcerers, liars and, notably, no more dogs. Also, there's no more day and night. The world bathes in the gloom of the glory of the Lord. `Behold, I make all things new,' God declares

[ukgent2006]

and saving the coolest for last, ragnarok:

If only the Vikings knew. Today, hundreds of years after the Vikings roamed the coasts of northern Europe, the Nordish word ‘Ragnarok’ gives you more than two million hits on Google. ‘Ragnarok’ is a word from Tolkien. It is a computer game. A card game. A rock band. An opera. And much, much more.

But who knows, one of these days, the REAL Ragnarok might unfold. Ragnarok means ‘fate of the gods’. It is the Viking version of the Apocalypse. Believe us: you don’t want to be around when it happens.

It all starts with a winter that just won’t stop. For three years in a row, summer doesn’t come. All there is, is this harsh, terrible winter. It is freezing cold, so you stay indoors, and get bad-tempered. As a consequence, all kinds of arguments break out among men, even within the closest families. Morality and mutual respect seem to break down. In case you’re interested: what you’re witnessing is the ‘Fimbulwinter’, the first clear sign the world is about to end.

Now, brace yourself. You’re going to witness the first in a series of HUGE apocalyptic surprises. For what on Earth is that? Suddenly, you see a huge wolf flying overhead. It flies across the sky, like some weird kind of airplane. That, my friend, is the mythical wolf Skoll. And before you know what’s happening, it eats up the Sun. And wait -- there goes the moon, too!

From that moment on, it gets crazier and crazier. The ground starts to shudder. Trees are launched, even complete mountains fall over. And then, suddenly, you see this outlandishly dressed guy emerging out of nowhere. It is Loki, supreme bad guy for the Vikings. He is set free by the earthquakes -- and ready to pick a fight.

Loki is not alone. Next to him, you see another supernatural wolf. It’s Loki’s son, Fenrir. The beast has a HUGE mouth: its lower jaw scrapes the ground, while the upper jaw touches the sky.

Right after that, you hear a sharp, screeching sound. Could that be… a cock crowing? Yes: it is. In fact, there are three of them. Cock number one, a red animal, crows to the giants. Cock number two, a golden bird, calls in the gods. And cock number three, a rusty brown animal, raises the dead from hell.

You rub your eyes. This can’t be happening, you keep telling yourself. But it is. Next thing you know, the sea starts to roar violently. There’s a colossal tsunami, and then, the next bad guy enters the stage. A gargantuan serpent rises out of the sea. It is Jormungand, a venomous snake out of hell.

From that moment on, things go from bad to worse. Everywhere around the globe, all kinds of gods and beasts and demons and giants start showing up. Some come in ships, others on horseback, still others come walking. They’re all heavily armed, with divine swords, magical spears, and all kinds of other supernatural stuff. And they seem to be in a bad mood.

Now, if you happen to live in Norway, better take shelter. For Norway is where all these weird creatures are heading. That’s where the final battle is to be fought, on a battlefield called Vigrid.

In total amazement, you watch on TV what’s unfolding. From the east comes the huge sailing ship Naglfar, commanded by the giant Hymir. Look, there comes Loki again, aboard another huge boat, full of demons he brought in from hell. From the south comes Surt, another sinister warrior leading an army of giants. Don’t try to talk him out of it: he’ll instantly incinerate you with his mighty sword, which is as hot as the Sun itself. Carelessly, Surt turns every city he passes into a smoking rubble.

And there’s more to come. In the south, people witness how a fierce hell hound named Garm rushes in to team up with the fire giants. In the meantime, you won’t be able get a night’s rest: the pitch-black sky is filled with eerie woes, explosions and echoes. Why do these apocalypses always come with all of these special effects?

On the battlefield, one lonely god hangs around. It’s the good Viking god named Heimdall. And when he sees all these giants and demons and beasts approaching, he picks up his horn and blows it, to wake up the gods. It will be some sound: it is heard throughout the entire world.

So: the gods wake up. There’s Odin, and Thor, and all the others. What do they do? Well: they sit down, have a few drinks and have a meeting.


Yggdrasil, the Tree of the World
On Earth, we will of course not notice this. What we do notice, is another weird apocalyptic event. You may not know this, but somewhere in heaven, there’s a very special tree called Yggdrasil. It is the Tree of the World, the living embodiment of everything and everyone that ever was and ever will be on this planet. And now, Yggdrasil shivers. From its deepest root up to its highest branches, it shakes. You should feel this shaking from deep within: it is your very existence itself, that shivers. Everything on Earth and in heaven and hell will quiver, the Viking legends foresee.

Meanwhile, the gods finally arrive at the battlefield. They look exactly as you would expect them to: dressed in shiny, golden armor, and riding beautiful white horses. The upper god Odin rides at the head.

Then, it’s battle time. It goes something like this:

Odin jumps Fenrir, while Thor is attacked by Jormungand and Freyr clashes with Surt, but unfortunately Freyr gave his sword to Skirnir, so Surt wins, while Tyr kills Garm but then dies himself, just like Heimdall and Loki fight each other to death and Thor dies after killing Jormungand with his hammer Mjollnir, while Odin is eaten by Fenrir, after which Vidar gets so pissed off he kills Fenrir by tearing off its head, which annoys Surt so much he sets the entire world on fire, killing everyone else.

And after that, all land sinks into the sea. Finally, it gets quiet.

So, exit mankind? And bye-bye gods? Not quite. Miraculously, a few gods survive. And fortunately, they belong to the good guys: Odin’s brother and sons Vili, Vali and Vidar, Thor’s sons Magni and Modi and a few other blokes, named Honir, Balder and Hod. Even more miraculously, two people survive. They’re named Lif and Lifthrasir -- the Viking version of Adam and Eve, so to say. They have endured the events by hiding deep within the tree Yggdrasil.

And it gets better. After a while, up rises an entire new world from the sea. It’s a heavenly place, with lush fields and plenty of corn waiting to be harvested. The Sun is reborn, and so is the moon. Balder takes it on him to lead the gods of this new world, and Lif and Lifthrasir worship Balder and his gods.

[EOY]

Actually, your summary of the Muslim account of Judgment Day was quite faulty, and you missed many important details and events.

Check these out :

http://inter-islam.org/faith/Majorsigns.html

http://www.dayofjudgment.com/index1.html

[ukgent2006]

Originally Posted by EOY

Actually, your summary of the Muslim account of Judgment Day was quite faulty, and you missed many important details and events.

Check these out :

http://inter-islam.org/faith/Majorsigns.html

http://www.dayofjudgment.com/index1.html

It wasn't mine I got it from a site. I have no clue about this stuff, just think its cool to read about. Ill check the link.

[EOY]

Originally Posted by ukgent2006

It wasn't mine I got it from a site. I have no clue about this stuff, just think its cool to read about. Ill check the link.

I see, good idea for a thread though.

[SYRIANKID]

You should check these out:

Preparing for the Day of Judgment

What is it? What do I need to know?

Prophecies 1

Prophecies 2

Prophecies 3

More signs of the times

More prophecies

Major signs, including how to identify the Anti-Christ

http://www.endoftimes.net/