The Approach of Armageddon: An Islamic Perspective

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Summary: Major Contribution to Islamic Thought
Review: I do not know when last I have been excited by a book as by Shaykh Hisham's The Approach of Armageddon. With non-fiction material, I normally read from the first page to the last. In the case of this book I find myself jumping to read the back sections before completing the other sections. The book has enthralled me, and has provided me with so much material to substantiate what was revealed more than 1400 years ago. Quoting profusely from the Qur'an and the Traditions, Shaykh Kabbani proves, in a very systematic way, that the world is moving into the final stages of its history. To have done what he has done, especially in the face of a massive move away from religion in many parts of the world, is an act of unequalled intellectual courage and bravery. And he writes unapologetically, driving home each argument by drawing from the broad sweep of Islamic sources.There is no doubt that this book is going to stand out as a major religious work on the Last Days. Shaykh Kabbani needs to be complemented for a work that must have taken years of research and years of planning and writing. If one considers all his other works, then there is no doubt that Shaykh Kabbani will go down in Muslim history as a major contributor to Muslim thought.

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Summary: Book reflects similarities to Bible's Armageddn predictions
Review: I read this books with some trepidation as I was raised being taught that Muslims are something akin to heathens, with false dark beliefs and terrorising ways, full of hatred and loathing for all mankind. I was somewhat intimidated by the many Islamic texts in the Arabic language but I understood from the introdution that these were added to give the book full scholarly authenticity.
I must say that this books changed my image of Islam from a warlike, pagan religion to a sophisticated, deeply thought-provoking faith.
The author, a shaykh (Islam religious scholar) has analyzed many of the Koran's verses which reflect on the coming of Judgement Day and the final resurrection. In this regard the Muslim-Islam beliefs appear to mirror our own Western Judeo-Christian tradition. What amazed me was the fact that the Islam holy book Koran seems to describe a number of scientific facts in detail, even despite its revelation to Mohammad fourtenn hundred years ago, which the author emphasizes.
Similarly, Mohammad's teachings seem to focus on the End Times, much as the teachings of in Revelations and Daniel. There are so many references to different trials and tribulations under which the believers must suffer as the last days brings with it a change towards atheism and disbelief in all that is holy or Godly. This then leads to a great war, Armageddon, and the redemption of the Believers (in this tradition this means the Muslims). The tribulation begins with surprise, surprise, the appearance of the Anti-Christ in Iraq! Talk about prophetic - I was stunned, particularly with the passages from Mohammad's sayings regarding the destruction of Basra.
Equally surprising is the fact that it is Jesus, not Mohammad, who leads the believers in triumph for redemption occurs when Jesus Christ descends from heaven and slays the Anti-christ. This for me was so unexpected that I had to read and reread the source materials repeatedly to be sure I was not reading a Christian text.
This then leads to a time of peace in which the Godly reign and there is no more strife on earth - the kingdom of heaven on earth. Contrary to Christian sources, it lasts only forty years, not 1000 and ends with the appearance of Gog and Magog.
The final chapter of the book, with its stress on equanamity and prayerfulness during the period of strife that is expected by Islam soon is surprisingly Christlike in spirit and for this I am grateful. It is not often one reads about Islamic teachings expressing the light of love and peace and calling for non-violence.

Rating:
Summary: A Revelatory Experience!
Review: Ours is a time when few scholars of the Islamic universe seem to grasp accurately the long-term repercussions of the aging modernist or newly emerging postmodernist era, to their faith as a whole and to each culture this faith has engendered and/or historically enriched. Fewer yet present powerful scholarly contrast to the panic-ridden xenophobia sermonized across the landscape by our faithless ideologues. Mercifully, however, from to time there appear exceptions to this norm and we are gifted with truly Islamic medicines for the ills of the globalized man that are intelligent in design, universal in logic and humane in treatment, ringing truer with the great world religion than the cumbersome alternatives.

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, an expert in the vast tradition of classical Islamic learning spawning the last fifteen centuries and a qualified Spiritual Master of the Naqshbandi Order of Sufis, presents one such exception with tremendous force. In the 'Approach of Armageddon?' he meticulously outlines the prophecies and warnings issued by Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), both as exegesis of the Holy Qur'an and as they appear in the Islamic traditions of hadith and tarikh.

However, Shaykh Kabbani's observations about the End Times are chillingly accurate not just according to revealed sources but to the latest scientific discoveries as well. The resulting mix is a sequential series of visual and psychological images in which one comprehends with unprecedented clarity how the events of history are not arbitrary at all but perfect steps leading all of us to witness the wisdoms of our material and spiritual existences. There are prayers of safety and mystical chants listed toward the end that are no less than precious pearls from the ocean of gnosis.

Of course, End Times themes permeate the world far beyond the religious sphere and one need only look at the prevalence of the subject in our pop culture to get an idea of how heavily and profoundly it now weighs on the human mind. I recommend this book as a must-read to not just every student of religion and history, or just to believers of religious traditions, but to all who, like myself, believe that the human spirit is spiraling not toward a cataclysmic end but that it is being nudged into an ultimate state of learned harmony.

Rating:
Summary: It's a Masterpiece
Review: Wow, What can I say, it is just brilliant, awesome.
All these years, while trying so hard to understand Muslims and their belief and specially after 9/11,
this book finally made it crystal clear.
I've never read a book so well written, it reads like a fountain. I can't compare any other book with this one.
Modern Science and Ancient Holy Scriptures and recent world history and current happennings...all of it just makes my heart pound faster and faster. I am thrilled, and I would like to thank the Author, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani for this amazing contribution that he just made to Humanity. The living intellectuals of this planet, who still care to listen to their hearts and those who believe, should all thank Shaykh Kabbani for this smashing work of excellence and purity. Thank you so very much for opening our eyes and offering Divine Light with message from the Heavens of hope and faith in front of a sinking world amidst an ocean of darkness. May God bless you, may everyone find the Truth and join the Truth and be with the people of Truth and serve the supporters of Truth. Amen.