Can we know the End of the World?
The famous physicist, Isaac Newton, analyzed the Bible and concluded that the world will not end before the year 2060. In one of his manuscripts, he said, “It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner.” He said, “This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.” So, here, we are going to put an end to all the false predictions, and we will do it by giving you the exact prediction. We will use, not only one method like Newton, but seven different methods of finding the end of the world. The first three methods will give us an approximate time period, similar to how Newton found it, and then the last four methods will give us the exact year, and then we will continue with the exact time of the year, and the exact day of the week, and the exact time of the day. With the Quran, all of this is possible. By the way, we fully know that the Quran seems to suggest that the End of the World is impossible to know, but that is not exactly what it says. According to verse 34 in chapter 31 of the Quran, two things are impossible to know, and three things are very hard to know. It is impossible to know the time and place of your own death, but it is very hard to know what is inside a mother’s womb, to predict the weather, and the End of the World. And guess what, all these three very hard things have become possible today. We can know the gender of the unborn baby with ultrasound, we can predict the weather to a certain degree with supercomputers, and we can know the End of the World using the Quran. Even without using technology, these things were possible to know in certain cases for people in the past. For example, prophet Joseph predicted the weather 15 years ahead of time. Prophet Abraham was informed that his old barren wife would have a son in her womb in the near future. You are probably thinking that it was possible for them only because they were prophets. Well, Abraham’s wife was not a prophet, and she still knew about it when the appropriate time came for her to know about it, and she heard the angels inform Abraham about it, and she talked to them. And she was given access to that specific future event for two main reasons: 1) It had to do with her, since the baby would also be her son. 2) She stayed true to Abraham. So, if the End of the World has to do with us, with our generations, and if we stay true to the Quran, just like she stayed true to Abraham, it also becomes possible for us to know the End of the World. And the word of God is bigger than Abraham. According to the word of God, the End of the World will come unexpectedly only to the disbelievers (6:31, 6:44, 6:47; 7:95, 7:187; 2:107; 21:40, 22:55; 26:202; 29:53; 39:55; 43:66; and 47:18), but the believers will be expecting it. They will know about it. So, let us get to know about it in seven different methods, starting with three broad ones, and ending with four exact ones:
Method 1
The Quran informs us that there is a connection between Jesus and the End of the World (43:61). In the bible, Luke 9:22, Jesus promised that he will come back on the third day. The Quran says that one day at God is equal to one thousand lunar years (32:5), which is 970 solar years. So, from the time when Jesus left this world in 33 AD, the third day after Jesus is 33 years + 970 years + 970 years, and we get 1973 years. Therefore, since the year 1974, we have been on that third day which Jesus mentioned, and the end of the world is near, but this is a very wide prediction. Let’s narrow our prediction even further.
Method 2
When the End of the World is fulfilled, the dead people will be resurrected. However, the Quran mentions cases of dead people who already got resurrected, and none of those cases are there in the Quran by accident. What if we add all of them together, without exception, and see after how much time they got resurrected in total? Let’s do it.
- First, the resurrection of the murder victim at the time of Moses within the same day,
- + the resurrection of the man with the donkey after 100 lunar years, which equals to 97 years,
- + the resurrection of Lazarus after four days,
- + the resurrection of the 7 Sleepers after 300 years,
and all these equal to 2197 years in total.
+ the resurrection of all the Children of Israel in the desert after the lightning killed them. We could find the exact year with this method, but the problem is that we do not know exactly how many Israelites died and how long they stayed dead, so we do not know exactly how many more years to add to our calculation, but at least from this method we can say that the end of the world must come after the year 2197, at least. Now, let’s narrow the prediction even further.
Method 3
The Quran mentions the Seven Sleepers as a benchmark for finding the end of the world. Verse 21 in chapter 18, says, “We caused them (the Seven Sleepers) to be discovered,…to remove all doubt concerning the end of the world.” These seven young men were stranded in a cave in Ephesus and then God resurrected them after 300 years. So, each of these seven youngsters stayed in the cave dead for 300 years, and then got resurrected. The total for all seven of them is 300 years x 7 = 2100 years, which means that the End of the World will come 2100 years after those seven youngsters went into the cave and died. There is a reason why we are adding the years together. God wanted to guarantee us that He is capable of resurrecting us when the Day of Resurrection comes. He did this by giving us a practical example, by letting a man die and then resurrecting him after a period of time. However, this would still not completely prove that God can do it on the Day of Resurrection, because resurrecting a man after a short time is much easier than resurrecting people who have decomposed for thousands of years. So, what God did to assure us, is He took 7 men, and resurrected them after 300 years, and this is equally as hard as resurrecting one of them after 2100 years. This proves that God can resurrect one of those men after 2100 years, because He resurrected seven of them after 300 years, which is equally as hard. This means that this case can be used to know when one of those men will be resurrected in the next world, and that is also when all of us will be resurrected. Now, all we have to do is see when those men died inside the cave, add 2100 years, and it will give us the exact year of the end of the world. This is the perfect method, but there is a problem. Historians don’t know exactly when the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus went into the cave. The earliest report about the resurrection of the Seven Sleepers is written by the bishop Jacob of Serugh who died in the year 521. So, because Jacob of Serugh wrote about them before the year 521, the Seven Sleepers must have been resurrected and gotten outside of the cave definitely before the year 521. Otherwise, Jacob would not know about them. And because they stayed in the cave for 300 years, according to the Quran, this means that they went into the cave definitely before the year 221. So, 221 years + 2100 years is 2321 years. This means that the world will end definitely before the year 2321, and from the previous method we already concluded that the world must end after the year 2197. So, now we have a range of years, between 2197 and 2321, within those 124 years. But let’s narrow the prediction even further. Actually, the next method will tell us the exact year.
Method 4
Let’s look at all the years mentioned in the Quran, the total number of years mentioned in the Quran. We are talking about real years which really happen, not hypothetical years used for comparative purposes like the 50 thousand years mentioned as a comparison for how far the angels travel or things like that (70:40). We are talking about years which really happened in this world, and which the Quran mentions, because we are predicting the end of this world, not the end of the next world, so we must count only the years of this world. Now, the Quran mentions the years using the Arabic word “sinina” which means solar years, or just years, and the words “aman” or “hijajin” which mean lunar years, or Hijri years. Now, let’s add all of them:
- 7 years of good crops during the times of Joseph (12:47)
- + 7 years of drought during the time of Joseph (12:48)
- + 40 years in the desert for Children of Israel (5:25)
- + 40 years for full human maturity (46:15)
- + 300 years in the cave (18:25)
- + 1000 years for the life of Noah (29:14)
- + 50 lunar years taken out from the lifespan of Noah (29:14)
- + 100 lunar years of death for the man with the donkey (2:259)
- + 100 lunar years of death for the donkey (2:259)
- + 1 lunar year of abundance during the time of Joseph (12:49)
- + 2 lunar years of weaning for the babies (31:14)
- + 1 final lunar year for idol worshipers at the Sacred Masjid (9:28)
- + 10 pilgrimage (lunar) years of work by Moses (28:27)
- + 8 pilgrimage (lunar) years of proposed work for Moses (28:27)
The total is 1709 lunar (Hijri) years. So, when all the 1709 Hijri years are completed, the world will end. The next year will not be complete because the world ends. So, the world ends in the Hijri year 1710. This corresponds to the year 2280 in our Gregorian Calendar. So, we found the exact year, with this method. Let’s do it again with the next method.
Method 5
In the previous method, we counted the years in a textual method. In other words, if there was a set of years which was mentioned in the Quran twice, even if it was talking about the same thing, we still counted it again, and if there were cases of time periods implied from the context, if it did not mention it specifically as a year, we did not count it. So, we used a textual approach, without looking at the context. So, now let’s look at the context. Let’s do the counting by taking the context into consideration. This means that we will have to avoid any double counting of years, if the Quran mentions them twice, but at the same time we have to count time periods mentioned with other words like months or days or whatever text is used to measure a period of time. So, let’s count all the time periods in the Quran, taking the context into consideration, definite time periods which really happen. Here they are:
- 1000 years (29:14)
- 300 years (18:25)
- 100 Hijri years (2:259)
- 100 Hijri years (2:259)
- 50 Hijri years (29:14)
- 40 years (5:25)
- 40 years (46:15)
- 10 Hijri years (28:27)
- 7 years (12:47)
- 7 years (12:48)
- 2 Hijri years (31:14)
- 2 Hijri years (hawlayni) (2:233)
- 1 Hijri year (12:49)
- 1 Hijri year (9:28)
- 1 Hijri year (hawlayni) (2:240)
- 30 months (46:15)
- 12 months (9:36)
- 4 months and ten days (2:234)
- 4 months (9:2)
- 4 months (9:36)
- 4 months (2:226)
- 3 months (65:4)
- 2 months (58:4)
- 2 months (4:92)
- 1 month (34:12)
- 1 month (34:12)
- 40 nights (2:51, 7:142)
- 10 days (2:196)
- 10 nights (89:2)
- 8 days (69:7)
- 6 days (7:54, 10:3, 11:7, 25:59, 32:4, 50:38, 57:4)
- 3 days (3:41, 19:10)
- 3 days (5:89)
- 3 days (11:65)
- 2 days (2:203)
And even though we changed the approach, the total is again 1709 complete Hijri years. Before the Hijri year 1710 is complete, the world will end. So, the world will end in the Hijri year 1710, which is the year 2280 in our Gregorian Calendar. Now, let’s use yet another method.
Method 6
Now, let’s look at all the cases in the Quran, without exception, of how people after the End of the World will mentioned how long they lived in this world.
- Some of them will say that they lived in this world only 1 day (20:104)
- + some will say that they lived only 1 day (20:113)
- + some will say that they lived only 1 hour of the day (10:45)
- + some will say that they lived only 1 hour of the day (30:55)
- + some will say that they lived only 1 hour of the day (46:35)
- + some will say that they lived only 1 evening or morning (79:46).
These add up to 2 heavenly days, 3 heavenly hours, and 1 heavenly evening.
Now:
- 1 heavenly day = 1000 lunar years = 970 years
- 1 heavenly hour = 1/12 heavenly day = 80.8 years (Quranic hours are Sundial hours, always 1/12 of the day).
- 1 heavenly evening = 1/10 night = 97 years (A Quranic evening is when sun altitude is 0° to -18°, 1/10 of 180°)
So, 2 heavenly days, 3 heavenly hours, and 1 heavenly evening
= 2 x 970 years + 3 x 80.8 years + 97 years = 2279 years
So, before the year 2280 is complete, the world will end. Therefore, the end of the world comes in 2280. Again, this method told us the exact year.
Method 7
There are 14 sets of mysterious letters found in the beginnings of the chapters of the Quran. They are called “initials”. These 14 sets of letters are:
- L.M.R.
- L.R.
- `A.S.Q.
- H.Y.`A.S.
- L.M.S.
- S.M.
- Q
- S (Saad)
- L.M.
- S.
- S.
- N
- M.
- H.
The role of these letters is described in Chapter 15 of the Quran. Verse 15:87 says, “We have given you the seven pairs (the fourteen letters), and the great Quran”. And the two verses before it tell us that the End of the World is a given thing, and God knows about it (15:85-86). So, the knowledge about the end of the world is given in the seven pairs, in these 14 letters. These 14 letters are also numbers. Their gematrical values or the numerical values of letters were known among the people of the scripture. Here they are:
- 271 (A.L.M.R.)
- 231 (A.L.R.)
- 230 (‘A.S.Q.)
- 195 (K.H.Y.’A.S.)
- 161 (A.L.M.S.)
- 109 (T.S.M.)
- 100 (Q)
- 90 (S)
- 71 (A.L.M.)
- 70 (Y.S.)
- 69 (T.S.)
- 50 (N)
- 48 (H.M.)
- 14 (T.H.)
The total of these numbers is 1709. So, 1709 Hijri years will pass from the time this prophecy is stated in the Quran. This means that the world will end in the Hijri year 1710, which is the year 2280, in our Gregorian Calendar.
By the way, this last method with the Quranic Initials was the method used by Rashad Khalifa when he discovered the End of the World. Alban Fejza found six more methods (presented here), which independently confirm his discovery. So, now that we know the exact year, let us go even further. Let’s find the season.
The season
Verse 4, in chapter 81 says that when the End of the World comes, the camel which is ten months pregnant will be abandoned. Now, the mating season for Arabian camels is during winter, plus ten months of pregnancy results in a ten months’ pregnant camel ten months after winter, which is during the fall season. So, the End of the World will come during the fall season. This is also confirmed by other verses which say that the end of the world will surprise the people while they are getting ready to harvest their crops (68:17, 3:117), or when the fruits are fully ripe (10:24), which again is during the fall season. Let’s narrow the prediction even more. Let’s find the day of the week, and the time of the day:
The day and time
The Quran says that the end of the world will be on a specified day (34:30). The only specified days in the Quran are Friday and Saturday. So, half of the earth will be on Friday, and the other half will be on Saturday. It will be just after the Friday sunset in Mecca and Jerusalem (34:30, 62:9, 81:1). The sunset is actually the end of Friday and the beginning of Saturday, according to the Quran, since a Quranic day ends at sunset, not at midnight. Then the people will be resurrected on Saturday morning (16:124, 36:49), on the Last Day, which is also the last day of the week.
Now, we can calculate which one of the last 19 Fridays of the year 2280 it is because the Quran tells us the phase of the moon at that time (9:1-5, 36:39, 74:32-34, 75:8-9), and we can match it to see which one of those moon phases falls in Friday, but it is not wise to share that calculation because the moon will split before the end of the world (54:1), which could affect the time of its phases, so the prediction of the exact Friday remains unreliable. So, after all, it is true that only God knows the exact date. We can only conclude that it will be in one of the 19 last Fridays of the year 2280, soon after the Friday sunset happens in Mecca, which happens to be at 19:00 a clock in Mecca, which will be the beginning of Saturday night in Jerusalem.
Now that we know, what should we do?
Whatever you do during those times, do not try to save your life, and do not try to take your life. Just do whatever any righteous person would do at any other time – follow the commandments:
- Do not worship except God, and honor your parents (17:23).
- Give the due alms to the relatives, the needy, the poor, and the traveling alien, but do not be excessive, extravagant (17:26).
- Do not kill your children due to fear that they might suffer (17:31).
- Do not commit adultery (17:32).
- Do not kill any person—for GOD has made life sacred—except in the course of justice (17:33).
- Do not touch the orphans’ money except for their own good (17:34).
- Fulfill your agreements (17:34).
- Do not cheat in business (17:35).
- Verify important information (17:36)
- Ignore unimportant information (17:36).
- Do not walk proudly (17:37).
- All bad behavior is condemned by God (17:38),
whether you live now, tomorrow, or before the end of the world.