February 4, 2011--Caliphate
If you haven't been keeping up with Glenn Beck these days because you've been riveted to CNN while watching the revolutionary events in Egypt, allow me to catch you up with some of his delusional thinking.
With blackboard behind him and pointer in hand he has been speaking in alarmist terms about how what we are witnessing is the start of the reinstitution of the Muslim Caliphate--a system of government established under Islamic law. Not only does his map show the Caliphate encompassing the Middle East, North Africa, and much of Asia, including India, but also most of Western Europe.
This wild version of coming Islamic rule dwarfs the Muslin domination of North Africa and part of Western Europe that occurred between the 8th and 15th centuries. Beck sees this new Caliphate to be only a part of the larger forces at work in the world that will result in the United States slipping into insignificance.
He said, "When you take the Marxists and you combine them with the radical form of Islam, when you combine those forces, which is exactly . . . what is happening here, the whole world starts to implode."
According to his theory, the protests in Egypt are the manifestation of what is prophesied in The Coming Insurrection, an obscure and discredited book that French authorities believe was written by a member of a small group of anarchists. Beck has repeatedly described the anonymous authors of the book as "communists"; and through his extra-vivid imagination has tied George Soros and President Obama to The Coming Insurrection. Even going so far as to say that Obama is working in cahoots with the Muslim Brotherhood to bring about these cataclysmic changes.
But in truth, his deeper assertion, and I suspect his hope, is to see connections between various forms of radical eschatology--the study of the Final Days. His clear implication has always been that Islamic and Christian messianic beliefs work in tandem with Muslim and Jewish millennialist prophesies in service to the ultimate Christian version that looks forward to the Second Coming of Christ.
Thus, with Beck and his followers, we are witnessing a blend of fear, hysteria, and hope.
To give you a sense of these prophetic connections, consider the menaing of a modern Caliphate and how, in radical Muslim terms, it will come into being.
A number of Islamist political parties and Jihadist guerrilla groups have called for the restoration of the Caliphate by uniting Muslim nations, either through political action or, like al-Qaeda, through force. Various Islamist movements have gained momentum in recent years with the ultimate aim of establishing a Caliphate; however, they differ in their methodology and approach.
To them the Mahdi, the Muslim Antichrist, who will participate in the redemption of Islam, will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years, according to various interpretations.
To get a sense of the confluence of Christian and Muslim eschatology, the following beliefs in relation to the Mahdi, some specific and strange, are shared by both Sunni and Shia Muslims:
The Mahdi will be a descendant of Muhammad and will have the same name as Muhammad.
He will be a fore-runner to Jesus' Islamic Rule.
His coming will be accompanied by the raising of a Black Standard.
His coming will be accompanied by the appearance of the Antichrist.
There will be a lunar and solar eclipse within the month of Ramadan.
A star with a luminous tail will rise from the East before the coming of the Mahdi.
He will establish the Caliphate.
He will fill the world with justice and fairness at a time when the world will be filled with oppression.
He will have a broad forehead, a prominent nose, and a natural mascara will ring his eyes.
His face shall shine upon the surface of the Moon.
And so forth.
To keep up with this, stay tuned to Glenn Beck as he promises to tell us more about all of this as it inevitably rolls out.
There is, however, some good news on the Glenn Beck front--not only have some of his sponsors abandoned him for his periodic anti-Semitic comments, but his show (and that's in fact what it is) has been falling in the ratings. They are down by almost 50 percent since their peak early last year.
With blackboard behind him and pointer in hand he has been speaking in alarmist terms about how what we are witnessing is the start of the reinstitution of the Muslim Caliphate--a system of government established under Islamic law. Not only does his map show the Caliphate encompassing the Middle East, North Africa, and much of Asia, including India, but also most of Western Europe.
This wild version of coming Islamic rule dwarfs the Muslin domination of North Africa and part of Western Europe that occurred between the 8th and 15th centuries. Beck sees this new Caliphate to be only a part of the larger forces at work in the world that will result in the United States slipping into insignificance.
He said, "When you take the Marxists and you combine them with the radical form of Islam, when you combine those forces, which is exactly . . . what is happening here, the whole world starts to implode."
According to his theory, the protests in Egypt are the manifestation of what is prophesied in The Coming Insurrection, an obscure and discredited book that French authorities believe was written by a member of a small group of anarchists. Beck has repeatedly described the anonymous authors of the book as "communists"; and through his extra-vivid imagination has tied George Soros and President Obama to The Coming Insurrection. Even going so far as to say that Obama is working in cahoots with the Muslim Brotherhood to bring about these cataclysmic changes.
But in truth, his deeper assertion, and I suspect his hope, is to see connections between various forms of radical eschatology--the study of the Final Days. His clear implication has always been that Islamic and Christian messianic beliefs work in tandem with Muslim and Jewish millennialist prophesies in service to the ultimate Christian version that looks forward to the Second Coming of Christ.
Thus, with Beck and his followers, we are witnessing a blend of fear, hysteria, and hope.
To give you a sense of these prophetic connections, consider the menaing of a modern Caliphate and how, in radical Muslim terms, it will come into being.
A number of Islamist political parties and Jihadist guerrilla groups have called for the restoration of the Caliphate by uniting Muslim nations, either through political action or, like al-Qaeda, through force. Various Islamist movements have gained momentum in recent years with the ultimate aim of establishing a Caliphate; however, they differ in their methodology and approach.
To them the Mahdi, the Muslim Antichrist, who will participate in the redemption of Islam, will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years, according to various interpretations.
To get a sense of the confluence of Christian and Muslim eschatology, the following beliefs in relation to the Mahdi, some specific and strange, are shared by both Sunni and Shia Muslims:
The Mahdi will be a descendant of Muhammad and will have the same name as Muhammad.
He will be a fore-runner to Jesus' Islamic Rule.
His coming will be accompanied by the raising of a Black Standard.
His coming will be accompanied by the appearance of the Antichrist.
There will be a lunar and solar eclipse within the month of Ramadan.
A star with a luminous tail will rise from the East before the coming of the Mahdi.
He will establish the Caliphate.
He will fill the world with justice and fairness at a time when the world will be filled with oppression.
He will have a broad forehead, a prominent nose, and a natural mascara will ring his eyes.
His face shall shine upon the surface of the Moon.
And so forth.
To keep up with this, stay tuned to Glenn Beck as he promises to tell us more about all of this as it inevitably rolls out.
There is, however, some good news on the Glenn Beck front--not only have some of his sponsors abandoned him for his periodic anti-Semitic comments, but his show (and that's in fact what it is) has been falling in the ratings. They are down by almost 50 percent since their peak early last year.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:11 AM
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