8. The Prophecy of Daniel

Daniel is one of the prophets of Israel. His book is distinguished from most of the other books of the Bibles by several attributes, although it shares with them the general problem of the occurrence of distortion or alteration. Among its unique attributes are:

As for the personality of Daniel himself, he most resembles the prophet Joseph, an oppressed stranger in a foreign land whom Allah nevertheless raises up with knowledge and the interpretation of the dreams of the king, the caller to monotheism who does not allow any persecution to distract him from his message.

In Islamic history there is a well-known event narrated by Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Abi Shayba, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn Abi Dunya and others, from the second-generation Muslims who participated in the conquest of the city of Tustar, including Abul-`Aliya and Mutraf ibn Malik. The particular incident that concerns us here is that the conquering Muslim army discovered the tomb of Daniel. They found his body lying on its bier, totally unchanged except for a few hairs on the back of his head. At his head was a scroll which they took and brought to `Umar who called Ka`b al-Ahbar to translate it into Arabic. Abul-`Aliya says, “I was the first man to read [the Arabic translation].” The narrator from Abul-`Aliya states, “I asked Abul-`Aliya, 'what was in it?' He replied, 'All of your history and affairs, the melody of your speech, and what is yet to happen.'” ¹⁶

Thus, the text was translated into Arabic, and by none other than the proficient and experienced hands of Ka`b al-Ahbar. It was read by whoever read it, and therefore it would not be farfetched to assume that it was read by Islamic scholars and writers on the subject of the predictions of the coming of Muhammad –Allah's blessing and peace be upon him- found in the previous scriptures, such as Ibn Qutayba and Ibn Thafar. If not, and their source was versions of the Bible available to them in their era, then that is even better and stronger proof. The veracity of their narrations has never been challenged, and their Jewish and Christian contemporaries never denied their authenticity.

Rather, Ibn Qutayba said (as quoted by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya in Al-Jawab al- Sahih): “This prophecy is found among the Jews and Christians today. They read it and claim that the one predicted in it has not yet appeared.”

Even so, we will not rely on the reports transmitted by Muslim scholars, but on that which is possessed by the followers of the Bible in our day.

The Great Prophecy of Daniel:

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that disturbed him. He summoned his magicians and fortune-tellers to interpret its meaning, but none of them were able to do so. But Daniel beseeched Allah, and He revealed to him the dream as well as its interpretation. When he entered into the presence of the ruler he said to him:

“The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king.

“But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.”

He then explained it to the king:

“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

“You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

“This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.

“You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all –you are this head of gold.

“But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.

“Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.

“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

“Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold –the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.

“Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.

“The king answered Daniel, and said, 'Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” –2:21-48.

This is the actual text of the dream which is always described as the most famous and true of all the historical visions of the Bible. Its interpretation does not require great intelligence, and it is wrong to differ about its meaning when the prophet himself explained it. But the Jews and Christians sought to conceal its meaning and fabricated a dispute out of the envy of their own souls after the truth was made clear to them. For centuries they agreed about this vision and its meaning, without any doubt that it was literally true, that the first kingdom (the head of gold) was the kingdom of Babel, that the second (the chest of silver) was the kingdom of the Persians, that the third kingdom (the thighs of bronze) was the kingdom of the Greeks who attacked the Persians under the leadership of Alexander the Great of Macedonia in the year 333 B.C.E., and that the fourth kingdom (the legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and clay) was the Roman Empire which was divided into the Eastern Empire whose capital was Byzantium (Constantinople), and the Western Empire whose capital was Rome.

None of the followers of the Bible doubted this at all. Rather, they all –out of the force of their faith- awaited the fifth kingdom (the kingdom of God) which would destroy the kingdoms of idolatry, unbelief and oppression. Especially the fourth kingdom which persecuted them, for it was that kingdom which inflicted humiliation and degradation, and destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E., setting up idols in the sanctuary, as well as subjecting the Christians to all manner of unprecedentedly loathsome and atrocious tortures at the hands of its pleasure-loving emperors, of whom the infamous tyrant Nero is only one example. They continued their persecution for three centuries until the emperor Constantine embraced a distorted version of Christianity, and the persecution of the Jews and Unitarians, as well as other opposing theologies within Christianity, continued until our own era.

THE FIVE KINGDOMS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S VISION

(We have included here the kingdoms that preceded Nebuchadnezzar's for clarity)

It was in this atmosphere of gloom and persecution that the Jews and Christians awaited the Fifth Kingdom with utmost patience. They knew with certainty that it would be established at the hand of the prophet of the latter days, whom they called the 'Prince of Peace,' on whose shoulders was found the seal of prophethood, and whom all the prophets had predicted. So much so that some of their rightly-guided scholars gathered together from Isaiah alone, thirty prophecies concerning him. ¹⁷ They were aware of the time of his coming based on textual evidence and physical phenomena. They observed those signs until the day came when the pious and scholarly emperor Heraclius announced, “the kingdom of the circumcized has arrived.” He was certain of this and attested as the leader of apostate Christianity to the leader of the Arab unbelievers, Abu Sufyan: “that his kingdom shall reach the place where I now stand (Syro-Palestine),” as is affirmed in the well-known and authentic hadith.

Yes, the divine fifth kingdom arose and ruled over the place where Heraclius stood, and he left Syria saying, “Farewell, Syria, a parting after which we will never meet again.”

It arose and crushed the pagan kingdoms, and seized most of the known world, ruling with justice and peace. Its land area exceeded that of the moon, and it included under its banner a great portion of all the peoples of the world. It was only at this point that the Jews and Christians differed and disputed!

“The followers of the Bible differed not until there came to them clear evidence.”

“And We granted them clear evidences of the matter, and they did not differ until knowledge had come to them, out of mutual hatred.”

Some of them –and they were many- believed and were rightly-guided, and some of them disbelieved and in their unbelief broke into countless sects which continue to multiply and divide like bacteria.

Our interest here is to point out their disputes concerning the clear vision of Daniel:

They turned on their heels. After not disputing at all concerning the interpretation of the fourth kingdom (the Roman Empire) we find them distorting its interpretation and purposely delaying or transferring it, or at least obscuring its identity. All of this only to avoid affirming the last kingdom as we previously explained. The matter reached its climax and prime in the fundamentalist movement, 'Christian Zionism.'

Before we proceed to our outline of their interpretations, and their degree of correctness, we will mention that the vision draws an eloquent picture of the kingdoms of unbelief who worship idols carved by human hands, rather than worshipping Allah Almighty, that these kingdoms are in themselves, an idol, having a head, chest, thighs, legs and toes; an idol embodying all forms of paganism, so that the image of the mountain which would take their place becomes clear by contrast. It is a symbol of utmost simplicity and clarity, and what they have done is an appalling disfigurement totally out of harmony with this image.

In order to make the mountain to be the millennial reign of Christ's second-coming, as the Christians believe, or the Davidic kingdom headed by the Jewish messiah, as the Jews believe, they say that there is a gap in the prophecy of Daniel, and they place it between the legs and the feet! It is evident that the length of time between the head of the idol and its legs (that is, between the kingdoms of Babel under Nebuchadnezzar and Rome under Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem) is no more than about six centuries. But this gap which they have fabricated between the legs and the feet is two thousand years! And the problem is that it will continue to grow until the end of the world. Imagine this strange idol with a gap between his upper and lower body that continues growing day after day!

It is an image which the mind cannot believe, and that no artist can accept, and no observer can appreciate.

We have seen why they fabricated this gap, so the question now is: how can they close the gap?

They have expropriated 'spare parts' removed from another idol, which they want to solder onto this idol! This is counterfeit will not succeed, but it has, without doubt, cast a dark cloud over the symbolism, and upon which we must cast light.

They discovered that Daniel had another vision –or more correctly, his book contains another vision in the seventh chapter: the vision of the four beasts. So they stole the fourth beast and mounted him on the idol in a way that brings to mind the Piltdown man who was fabricated by some Darwinists who wanted to find the missing link of evolution, and so put together pieces of a human skull with those of an ape. The difference is that religious imposture is worse than any other kind.

The other vision says that Daniel saw four great beasts come up from the sea: the first was like a lion with the wings of an eagle, the second was like a bear with three ribs in its mouth, the third was like a leopard with four wings and four heads, and the fourth was a beast, dreadful and strong with teeth of iron which devoured the other beasts, and trampled them beneath its feet. It had ten horns, and another little horn which came up in the midst of them, before which three of them fell. Then eyes and a human mouth appeared on this horn, and it spoke words of blasphemy and unbelief. The end of the little horn would be its destruction at the hand of the Ancient of Days, Lord of the Throne, Who is served by thousands and thousands.

The other beasts will remain, but their power is removed from them. (Daniel 7)

The vision explains itself that the fourth beast is the fourth kingdom of the earth which is unlike the other kingdoms, and which will devour all the earth and trample it beneath its feet. The ten horns of this kingdom are ten of its rulers who will arise, after which another will arise who is different than his predecessors, and will subdue three kings, and who will speak words against the Most High.

Finally, his rule is destroyed at the hands of the 'saints of the Most High,' to whom this vision repeatedly asserts, will triumph in the end, and who possess the everlasting kingdom.

Perhaps because the fourth beast has teeth of iron and the fourth kingdom was of iron, they claim that the fourth beast and the fourth kingdom are the same. Especially, since they are both the 'fourth.' They claimed that this kingdom is a symbol for Europe, in which there will be ten nation-states to which the world will submit before the coming of Christ.

According to this there will be a fifth kingdom, which is the millennial reign upon Christ's Second Coming. This opinion can be easily refuted in several ways:

Likewise, the claim that these ten kingdoms are the European Alliance during the time of Napoleon, as Bates (p251) mentions, or the current European Union as contemporary Christian fundamentalists claim, is neither correct as interpretation, nor in reality. It contradicts both visions, and contradicts reality. America alone today is stronger than the entire European Union, and the European Union does not consist of ten states, but more.

We do not want to embark on the interpretation of the vision, but we are able to say that the four beasts that came up from beyond the Great Sea are the 'lion' of the British empire, and the 'bear' of the Soviet communist state. As for the third, which had the appearance of a leopard with four heads and four wings, it may be the four Catholic colonial states of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, or it could be the eight Asian 'tigers.'

Naturally, the fourth beast which ate and trampled the others is the United States of America (or NATO in general). As for the saints who will crush America, there is no need to interpretation, we need only wait shortly to see.

We say to the fundamentalists:

If you like this interpretation, take it and take a break, if you reject it as supposition and guesswork, well, yes. But whose guess is more likely? Why is your guess so certain and ours is just conjecture?

But there are at least two matters of certainty:

In any case, we know that this vision, and the controversy concerning it, will not excite people's interest unless we identify the blasphemous little horn. Some of them claim that it is the Islamic state, and that the blasphemy is Muslim rejection of the divinity of Christ.

This is amazing. How can the great, everlasting fifth kingdom be one small horn of a beast, who has ten other great horns? How could the Islamic empire that embraced the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Berbers, Africans, Indians, Tartars, and others be merely a horn of Rome –and a small one at that?

When researching these matters gets this extreme, it requires us to ignore such nonsense, especially since there is absolutely no connection between Christ and his divinity, and this vision. Actually, the entire book of Daniel is monotheistic.

Some of them interpret the little horn as the beast mentioned in the book of Revelation. We must here apologize to our Muslim readers for the abandon with which we mention all manner of strange animals. Don't worry. We're not going to show that long horror film called the book of Revelation! But we do hope that you will consider this beast for a brief moment, only seconds of this film, so as to understand how millions of people in the West have wasted their work hours –or work days- and that books on this subject are the most popular in America.

What harm would it do for us to spend a few minutes or pages to direct them to the right path and save them from much toil?

The book of Revelation says:

“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feat of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” –13:1-3.

T.B. Bates ¹⁹ (one of the best commentators on Revelation) attempts to get at the heart of the matter, to identify for his people, the blasphemous little horn which comes up among the horns of Rome, but is unable for several reasons:

However, due to the unique characteristics of his commentary, we will take it as an example in order to find the correct methodology.

Bates decides that the beast is the same as the little horn of Daniel's prophecy (although we should note that Revelation has two beasts!), at the same time it is the new form assumed by the Roman empire, which will assail the world before the coming of Christ to establish his kingdom –which is the final, eternal kingdom according to him.

Because he saw that the prophetic gap is very large, spanning too many centuries to be plugged with ten kings, even if each king ruled for a hundred years, he produced a new interpretation, that the horn is not a king. Rather, it is one of the forms of government, such as republic, or empire, for example. Each form has its own many rulers. However, he does not explain for us all the forms, but merely holds that the sixth one is empire, and that the seventh one is yet to come. As for the eighth and final one, it is the government of the beast who is the little horn (p 186).

It is a unique, or rare, occasion to discover among the statements of these people despite their length and elaborate detail, carefully considered words such as his, the first part of which resembles the statements of Muslim scholars:

“We notice the apparent agreement between this beast and the little horn of Daniel, as the little horn makes war on the saints and defeats them (Dan 7:21).

“So is the beast is allowed to make war on the saints and defeat them (Rev 13:7).

“And as in Daniel the horn speaks words in opposition to the Most High (7:25).

“So does the beast in Revelation open his mouth and speak blasphemy against God (13:6).

“As the authority of the little horn remains for a time, two times, and half a time (Dan 7:25).

“So does the authority of the beast remain for forty-two months (Rev 13:5). Which is the same period mentioned by Daniel despite the difference of their terminology (pp 189-190).”

Let us pause here briefly since these people must contradict and confuse the mind. How could there be a form of government ruled over by a series of kings, but the length of their entire reign is this short period? Furthermore, he does not stick to one opinion, but sometimes makes it to be a ruler, and other times makes it to be a group of collaborators –as we shall see.

Let us follow along with him, the conditions and events connected with the beast, so that we can understand who this little beast really is.

Bates decides that:

“From many passages of God's Word (the Bible), it is clear that the ten tribes will gather in Jerusalem after their redemption and release (that is, before the Second Coming of Christ). There they will endure the fire of great poverty at its worse, whereas Israel who reject Christ will have already gathered there previously (p 217).” That is, in the day of the Lord's wrath upon the state of the abomination of desolation, of which we will present a chapter title: “the Day of the Lord's Wrath.”

Once again we should mention that he died long before the establishment of the State of Israel.

What is really amazing is that “it is not the beast who forces them to obey his order, but it is a voluntary action which they choose for themselves” (p253).

Similarly, it is not necessary for the beast to rule as king, but “through the medium of his influence on the councils and cabinets in the land of the old Roman empire, or at least its western sector.” (p 254)

Once again we remind the reader that he wrote this before the establishment of the United Nations, and the appearance of Zionist control over western politics in general, and American politics in particular.

Now that we know the beast, we ask, does this end only with Armageddon at the hands of Christ? That idea is a common error of Christian commentators, and some Muslim researchers as well. The difference is that the former do not take into account logic and reason, and Allah's customary dealings in history. As for the Muslims, they usually search for natural laws with which to explain incidents. The Muslims are like those who lose their way by day, but the Christians are like those whose entire journey is in darkness, except for a few glimpses of light.

As we said, Bates nearly finds the truth. In order to assist the readers to find it themselves, we will quote his summary of the events as he explained them (p 213), omitting the Christian elements, and keeping the subject within appropriate limits, we read:

“The Roman empire will return to existence…the Jewish bloc will have returned to Jerusalem, mostly without faith [we add: most assuredly]…and while they are in Jerusalem a mighty force will threaten those returned people, in order for the Jewish bloc to protect itself from that force it… signs a treaty with the great leader who will become the ruler of the Roman empire in its new era… except that the alliance between the Roman Emperor and the unbelieving Jews does not present the invading army… which because of the idolatrous worship in Jerusalem at the time, will overcome them like a torrential flood.” (213-214)

If we were to rewrite the subject we would simply say:

In this case there is no difficulty with the rest of the story with its alliances, war, and the coming of wrath of Allah, except that it is necessary to point out another reason to modify Bate's statements, which is that the concept of the trinity which has corrupted their belief, has also corrupted their minds. On page 211 he forgets everything he previously said and affirms that the three persons called the little horn, the beast, and the head of the empire are all in fact, one and the same person.

The important point is that a change of that type does not alter the substance of the scenario. All that he has done is change the names of some of the actors.

The essential element in the drama is the return of the Jews to the Holy Land not with faith, but with their ancient unbelief, and their new atheism. In this way they established their state, which Daniel calls the abomination of desolation, on the holy and blessed land, which is the subject of the next chapter.