Tauhid.net

The black banners from Khorasan

The Bible says that the Jews will conquer the Holy Land that God has promised them. Muslims think this is a misconception because they are sure that Islam will ultimately be victorious. Something explains why both might be right: the black banners coming from the East!

The Assyrians conquered the kingdom of Israel about 2730 years ago, causing 10 of the 12 tribes to be exiled. Wherever they went is a mystery to this day. The two remaining tribes, Benjamin and Judah, became today's Jewish people. After the second destruction of the Temple of Solomon, these Jews were dispersed all over the world too, the Diaspora began. But the Jews cherished the hope of one day returning to the Holy Land, as God had promised them. Most of the Jews and many Christians believe that the present state of Israel is the beginning of the fulfilment of this promise. Muslims, on the other hand, believe that this promise no longer applies because of the disobedience and breaking of the covenant of the children of Israel.

And because of their breaking their covenant, We have cursed them and made hard their hearts.
[Al-Maidah 13]

Many Muslims believe that today's Israel is a creation of the Antichrist (Dajjal) and a deception, which many Orthodox Jews and some Christians also believe as they know that according to biblical prophecy the war of Armageddon takes place before the liberation of Israel and not afterwards.

However, were all Jews disobedient and rejected the truth, which ultimately took shape in the person of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.? The Koran tells us:

And we gave him tidings of the birth of Isaac, a prophet of the righteous. And We blessed him and Isaac. And of their seed are some who do good, and some who plainly wrong themselves. [As-Saafat 112, 113]

Among the descendants of Isaac a.s. there were those who did good, and others who did not. This is also said in the following verses:

And We have sundered them in the earth as [separate] nations. Some of them are righteous, and some far from that. And We have tried them with good things and evil things that haply they might return. And a generation hath succeeded them who inherited the scriptures. They grasp the goods of this low life [as the price of evil-doing] and say: It will be forgiven us. And if there came to them [again] the offer of the like, they would accept it [and would sin again]. Hath not the covenant of the Scripture been taken on their behalf that they should not speak aught concerning Allah save the truth? And they have studied that which is therein. And the abode of the Hereafter is better, for those who ward off [evil]. Have ye then no sense? And as for those who make [men] keep the Scripture, and establish worship - lo! We squander not the wages of the righteous. [Al-Araf 168-170]

God says here that he will not let the wages of the righteous be lost! When the Prophet Jesus a.s. appeared, the righteous among the Jews followed him, as we know from the following verse:

O ye who believe! Be Allah's helpers, even as Jesus son of Mary said unto the disciples: Who are my helpers for Allah? They said: We are Allah's helpers. And a party of the Children of Israel believed, while a party disbelieved. [As-Saf 14]

So the question is: Is it possible that the righteous of the children of Israel became Muslims, and that these are the ones to whom God pledged His promise? That they are the ones who inherit the Holy Land? For the last leader of the Muslims will be from Bani Israel (Jesus, the Messiah a.s.), and it is the Sunnah of Allah to send the prophets to their own people.

What army will it be that finally conquers Jerusalem?

The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said, "If you hear news of the black banners coming from Khorasan, you must join them even if you have to crawl over ice, for the Khalifah of Allah, the Mahdi, will be among them." [Masnad Ahmad 5:277; Sunan Ibn Majah]

Thauban reported that the Prophet s.a.w. said, "Three men will be killed at the place where your treasure is. Each of them will be the son of a Khalifah, and none of them will get hold of the treasure. Then the black banners will come out of the East, and they will slaughter you in a way which has never been seen before. Then he said something which I do not remember; then, If you see him, go and give him your allegiance, even if you have to crawl over ice, because he is the Khalifah of Allah, the Mahdi." [Ibn Majah and Al-Hakim. Ibn Kathir said, "This is a strong, healthy chain of tradition (Isnad)."]

The above hadith shows that those who fight "you" (the Arabs) come from a cold climate (crawl over ice), supported by the following hadith:

Nafi' b. Utba reported: We were with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) in an expedition that there came a people to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) from the direction of the west. They were dressed in woollen clothes and they stood near a hillock and they met him as Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was sitting. I said to myself: Better go to them and stand between him and them that they may not attack him. Then I thought that perhaps there had been going on secret negotiation amongst them. I however, went to them and stood between them and him and I remember four of the words (on that occasion) which I repeat (on the fingers of my hand) that he (Allah's Messenger) said: You will attack Arabia and Allah will enable you to conquer it, then you would attack Persia and He would make you to conquer it. Then you would attack Rome and Allah will enable you to conquer it, then you would attack the Dajjal and Allah will enable you to conquer him. Nafi' said: Jabir, we thought that the Dajjal would appear after Rome (Syrian territory) would be conquered. [Sahih Muslim, Book 41, 6930]

The people who finally fight with Dajjal are not Arabs. In fact, they even will fight against the Arabs (probably the oppressive Saudi regime as well as Shia Iran) and they come from a cold climate, so woollen clothes. This army will fight through to Palestine, where they will erect their banners:

Abu Hurairah r.a. reported that the Prophet s.a.w. said: "Black banners will come from Khorasan. No power will stop them until they reach Eela (Baitul Maqdis / Jerusalem), where they will erect their banners. [Sunan Tirmidhi, Kitab-al-Fitan, Hadith 2371]

Abdur Rahman Al-Jarshi reported that the Prophet s.a.w. said, "Truly, black flags will appear from Khorasan until these people will tie their horses to the olive trees between Bait-e-Lahya and Harasta." We asked, "Are there olive trees between these places?" "They will soon grow, so that these people may come and tie their horses there." [Kitab-al-Fitan, p. 215]

Bait Lahya is located in the north of Gaza strip and Harasta, also known as Harasta al-Basal, is a city and north-eastern suburb of Damascus. The soldiers of this army will be the majority of the ones fighting Malhama al-Kubra, the great battle, while the number of Arabs at this time will be only small:

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said, "The Hour will not come until the Romans camp at al-A'mash or Dabiq. An army, composed of the best people on earth at that time, will come out from Madinah to meet them. When they have arranged themselves in ranks, the Romans will say, 'Do not stand between us and those who took prisoners from amongst us. Let us fight with them.' One-third will run away, and Allah will never forgive them. One-third will be killed, and they will be the best of martyrs in Allah's sight. One-third, who will never be subjected to trials or tribulations, will win, and will conquer Constantinople. Whilst they are sharing out the booty, after hanging their swords on the olive-trees, Satan will shout to them that the Dajjal has taken their place among their families. When they come to Syria, the Dajjal will appear, while they are preparing for battle and drawing up the ranks. When the time for prayer comes, Jesus the son of Mary will descend and lead them in prayer. When the enemy of Allah (i.e. the Dajjal) sees him, he will start to dissolve like salt in water, but Allah will kill him by his hand and he will show them the blood on his lance." (Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Fitan, Hadith, 2897)

Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah s.a.w. said, "You have heard of a town whose one side lies on land and the other side in the sea (Constantinople)." They said: "Yes, Messenger of Allah." Then he said: "The last hour will not come until 70,000 people of Bani Ishac (descendants of the prophet Isaak) will attack them. When they land there, they will neither fight with weapons nor rain arrows, but simply say, "There is no God but Allah and Allah is greater", and one side of the city wall will fall [and Thaur (one of the narrators) said I believe he said the side facing the sea] then they will say for the second time, "There is no god but Allah and Allah is greater," and the second side will also fall, and they will say, "There is no god but Allah and Allah is greater, "and the gates will be opened to them, and as they gather the war booty and distribute them among themselves, a sound will be heard, and it will be said, 'Verily, Dajjal has come.' And so they will leave everything and turn to him." [Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Fitan, Hadith 2920]

In this Hadith it is clearly mentioned that descendants of Prophet Isaac will form that army and not Arabs.

Hadrat Umama reported a long hadith from the Prophet s.a.w., in which Umm Sharik asked, "Where will the Arabs be that day?" The Prophet s.a.w. said: "They will be small in number. And of these remaining Arabs, most will be in Bait-ul-Muqaddas (Syria), and their leader will be a pious man (al-Mahdi). If their leader goes forward to guide the Morning Prayer, Isa a.s. (Jesus) descends from heaven." [Sunan Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Fitan, Hadith 4077]

We see, there will be only a few Arabs at this time. The reason for this is mentioned in other ahadiths:

Abdullah bin Amr r.a. reported that the Messenger of Allah s.a.w. said: "There will be a Fitnah (suffering, trial, temptation) that will cleanse the Arabs (tastanzifu), its dead will be in Hell. During which the tongue will be more severe (ashadd) than a blow of the sword." [Ahmad, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]

The scholar At-Tuwaijari surmises that the Prophet's statement, "clean the Arabs," means that it will consume most of them in destruction. The juxtaposition of the majority when saying 'all' is prevalent in Arabic. And Allah knows best.

By which they are annihilated is also mentioned: atomic war or meteorite impacts as illustrated in another article, and a plague as described in the following hadith:

"A plague will afflict you (and kill you in great numbers) as the plague that afflicts sheep." [Buchari, Vol. 4, book 51, 401]

This plague can be of natural cause, but it is more likely to be biological weapons targeting Arab genes. After the mass death of the Third World War, most technology will no longer work (maybe because of an EMP effect), which explains why horses and swords are used again.

From what people then, is the army which fights the last battles of mankind?

As can be seen on the map above, at the time of the Prophet s.a.w. the areas that are now in Afghanistan and its surroundings were understood as Khorasan. The majority of the population of this area are Pashtuns, of whom about 12 million live in Afghanistan and 30 million in Pakistan.

The origin of the Pashtuns is not proved with certainty and is a matter of debates. It is obvious that it is not in the interest of some people to provide a scientific proof that would give millions of poor, radical-Islamic Pashtuns a right to live in Israel because they are of Jewish descent!

But the Pashtuns themselves believe that they are descendands of the ten lost tribes of Israel, in particular from the tribe of Joseph. This belief, which is in complete agreement with the ahadith listed above, is supported by numerous indications.

The Pashtuns have a proud oral tradition that speaks of their descent from the Israelites. Their parent groups have same names like Yusufzai (which means sons of Joseph) and Afridi (which is to come from Ephraim). Many of their customs and habits are very similar to Jewish traditions, e.g. the lighting of candles on the Sabbath, the abstinence from different foods, the use of a canopy during a wedding celebration, and some similarities in the clothing. Countless places have Jewish names, e.g. Koh-e-Suleiman - Salomon Mountains; Afghanistan - Afghana (the grandson of King Saul); Kohat - a city in NWFP, Pakistan, which means 'assembly' in Hebrew and is also the name of Levi's second son and the father of Amram; Zabul - a province in Afghanistan, Zebulun was one of Jacob's sons; Kabul - 'Cab' means dirty and 'Bul' town in Hebrew, so 'dirty city'; or the name Pathan itself, which is found in the north of the Gaza strip, a checkpoint near Nablus.

The Bible tells us in Chronicles 5.25-26: And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser. king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.

'Gosan' or 'Gozen' is the historical name of the river Amu Darya in the north of the town of Balach. 'Habor' lies at the pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 'Pesh' means Pass, 'Hawar' / 'Habor' town: 'the city after the pass'. This city is known today as Peshawar. 'Hara' is the town of Harat near the Persian border

The Hudud al-Alam, written by an Arab geographer in 982 AD, says that the Pathans (another name for Pashtuns) are not Aryans, but descended from the Israelis. Another book, "Taqaati-Nasiri", is similar to the historical records of the Pashtuns, and says that in the seventh century, people who were called Bani Israel, settled in Ghor, southeast of Herat, and from there travelled south and east. This reference coincides with the general view of the Pashtuns, that when the tribes of Israel dispersed, the tribe of Joseph settled in this region, hence the name of the tribe, Yusef Zai.

Many other works confirm this theory, e.g. the 'Maghzan-e-Afghani', a story compiled in the 16th century by Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi under the rule of the Mogul Jehangir; the 'Mirat-ul-Alam' by Bukhtawar Khan; the 'Risala-i-Ansab-i-Afghana' by Rahmat bin Shah Alam, as well as the 'Khulasat-ul-Ansab' by Fareed-ud-Din Ahmad. Other works are 'Tarikh-i-Afghana' by Nimat Allah al-Harawi and 'Tarikh-i-Hafiz Rahmatkhani' by Muhammad Zadeek. In fact, many scholars are convinced of this theory, from the great traveller Ibn Battuta and the historian Ferishta, to Sir Alexander Burnes, William Moorcroft, JB Frazer, Sir Henry Yule, Joseph-Pierre Ferrier, George Moore, HW Bellew, Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi Yahuda ben Bal'am and Rabbi Saadia Gaon.

"Of all the groups there is more convincing evidence (about the descent from the tribes of Israel) about the Pashtuns than any other," says Shalva Weil, an anthropologist and senior researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This point of view he shares with many of his colleagues.

Genome analyses also confirm this theory. In a genetic study on the Afridi Klan of the Pashtuns in Malihabad, India, it was found that 650 of 1500 members of the family had the same DNA as Jews. Further studies have shown that the Afghan DNA is the second (68.1) to Ashkenazi DNA after Iranian and Iraqi Jews (67.9). Most of these researches used samples from the Yusufzai, Afridi and Khattak tribes of Pakistan and India.

Also rare genetic defects show a common descent: "Inclusion body myopathy" was found among Pashtuns, Iranian Jews and Ashkenazi Jews. Another gene-related disease, "Glucose 6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency" (G6PDH) occurs in both Kurdistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen and Afghan / Pashtun.

The Prophet Jacob a.s. blessed especially Joseph and his descendants:

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. [Genesis 49: 22-26]

Does one not recognize here the combative Pashtuns and how they are beleaguered by different colonial powers, but always come out victorious in the end? The Prophet Moses a.s. compared Joseph with a young, wild bull, and blessed him and his descendants before his death:

And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. [Deuteronomy 33: 16-17]

After all these blessing, how could it be possible that the tribe of Joseph would be left in darkness and the blessing in this case ineffective? When Jacob a.s. on his deathbed blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, he preferred Ephraim:

And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. [Genesis 48: 18-19]

Because of this blessing, Ephraim's dynasty was elevated and became a synonym for the rule of Israel. How could Jacob's blessings on Joseph, whom he preferred even more, could get lost together with the whole tribe of Joseph? No, it is the tribe of Joseph who will redeem the promise of God! But in a way, as today's Jews and Christians, and even most Muslims, could not have imagined!

And Moses said unto his people: Seek help in Allah and endure. Lo! the earth is Allah's. He giveth it for an inheritance to whom He will. And lo! the sequel is for those who keep their duty [unto Him]. [Al-Araf 128]

The fourfold fraud:

• The present state of Israel is not the Promised Land or the beginning of it.
• The current black flags (Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Nusra etc.) are not the black banners of the Mahdi. On the contrary, the Prophet s.a.w. told us to save ourselves from the fitnah of mutual killing and to join none of these one another opposing groups / sects.
• The upcoming World War III is not Armageddon. Malhama al-Kubra will only come after that.
• The coming Messiah is not the true Messiah, but the false Messiah, the Antichrist!

First comes the deception, then the truth! But most people will follow the deception.