7. The Return of the Jews and the Prophetic Gap
The reader of the Bible, especially the books of the prophets of the Babylonian captivity and the period thereafter, clearly discovers that they contain prophecies concerning the Jews of the latter days, that a remnant of them will gather in Palestine and revive their ancient kingdom, and that Allah will strike them with His wrath through a powerful nation who will gather together from the ends of the earth to attack them.
But the reader will be confused and perplexed by the great number of disputes and contradictions between the various commentaries and interpretations of these prophecies and their application to current events, and the multiplication of new sects and interpretations which increase with the passing of time.
However, we can assist the reader by pointing out that the majority of these opinions belong to one of two categories:
This opinion is the foundation on which the founders of the historical-critical school of Biblical interpretation during the period of the enlightenment. Some of them go so far as say that the statements of the prophets were dealing with events of the past, not predictions of the future. In this case they are not prophets, but merely storytellers. This view contradicts these prophecies in letter and in spirit, since how could Allah say to a prophet, “Arise and prophesy against Israel,” or “against Egypt,” or “against Edom,” when those events had already occurred?
There is no evidence that the events described preceded the era of the prophets other than conjecture, or rather, recklessness.
For this reason we have no difficulty refuting this opinion from its foundation, especially when history has become clearly exposed to us than it was to those of the past, so that there is no excuse for rejecting the prophecies altogether.
This means that both sides, and both methods of study of the prophecies, agree that since the time of Jesus, or a short time thereafter, there have been no historical events that correspond to the prophecies, and it shall remain so until the events of the final hour. Without doubt this is an unfair allegation, which would not be put forth without an important cause.
Therefore, there must be some matter which they purposely seek to avoid, for them to flee from relating these prophecies to the historical period between their time and that of Christ. What is this matter? And why this insistence on leaving this gap to widen ever more which the passing of time, until it reaches perhaps thousands of years? (And Allah knows best).
Doubtlessly, this did not happen suddenly. Rather, they found that the greatest event in history during this period was the coming of Muhammad –Allah's blessings and peace be upon him- and the domination of his religion over all others, so they had but two choices:
This has rarely been the path chosen by Christian or Jewish commentators, since in reality this means joining that chosen community, and being driven out by his own people.
It is necessary at this time to point out that the unbelievers of previous times (that is, the scholars of the middle-ages) were better than those of today, since they were unable to go beyond that stage, but they divided into several groups:
The clearly negative results of these three opinions made the choice of silence and ignorance to be the preferred option among most researchers, especially those who hide behind scholarly objectivism.
These old opinions were nearly lost in the violent struggle in modern times between the Church and science on one hand, and between the various Christian sects on the other. This was accompanied by the nearly total subjugation of the Muslims to the Western powers, and the Jewish exodus from the ghetto and their pursuit of gold and usury, and the exclusive control of the Promised Land and the age of salvation. But the birth of the Zionist movement brought these matters back to the arena of religious faith and ideological debate.
The amazing thing is that the Zionist movement was not born Jewish, but is actually Christian in its origin and development. Its Jewish proponents came later and were secularists. One need only look at the Zionist communal farm, the 'kibbutz,' for an example of their application of the principals of socialism, and many Jews see the establishment of this state a violation of the divine law, and a forewarning of the destruction of the Jewish people. Because it was the Christian Zionist movement as represented in the aforementioned fundamentalism that started the battle all over again, which began and continues to circulate false interpretations of the prophecies, which considered the establishment of the Jewish state as the prelude to the coming of Christ, and which was thrilled by the failure of the peace process and the beginning of the latest intifadha.
It was they who exposed in practical form, the depths of that historical gap, and the doubt contained in their silence or ignoring. For that reason, the other Christian sects hastened to join the fracas after previously considering it a danger that should not be approached.
Thus, did world thought in general and future studies in particular fall into a raging chaos and violent crisis caused by the separation of and collision between acceptance that all of the prophecies concerning salvation, justice, peace, and the nation which Allah has chosen as a vehicle for His vengeance, which He will inflict upon the forces of unbelief, darkness and corruption, will not be realized except at the end of time at the hand of Christ, and the totally rational rejection of the claim that the establishment of the State of Israel and the dawn of the new millennium are the beginning of the end of time, and that that distant future is this present epoch. The cause of this is the contradictory nature of Biblical thought which sees one sect among them open the prophetic gap in history, while another comes to close the gap using that which is irrational and illogical.
In this way the truth which the followers of the Bible possess is dispersed either through intentional ignorance or purposeful distortion. As Allah says:
“Followers of the Bible, why do you mix truth with falsehood, and knowingly conceal the truth?”
Inverting of the facts is not the only crime of these Jews and Christians, but the severing of human hope for deliverance, and their loss of the expectation of the triumph of truth, good and peace is their other crime which should be acknowledged by reasonable people of every faith.
Since it is obvious that the intellectuals of the world, including those of America, will never believe in the future as depicted by these people, then where is deliverance and hope? Where are the divine wisdom, mercy and justice of which the scriptures speak, towards which humanity's inner nature points, and which has been confirmed by reason and witnessed by facts of history? Is this to be the grievous end of the human race that Allah has favored above all creation?
Since this cannot possibly be the case, and since the Muslim scholar alone is able to ascertain reality and enlighten humanity, because it is he who possesses both authentic revelation and sound reason, and because he adheres to fairness and academic neutrality, not out of fear of critics but due to his fear of Allah and in obedience to His commandments. For all of that we summon the Muslims to assume their duty in this regard, and hope that what we write here contains some reminder to them, and a notice of the coming of good and justice from every religion and nation. Especially, the Jews and Christians, a group of whom we hope will reexamine the prophecies in the light of the recension which we are now presenting to them.