A fundamentalist strain in the larger Islamic world was also given strength because of the war. Several Muslim writers, many based in Cairo, grew popular during the 90s for their prophetic and apocalyptic work. The most famous of them, Sa’id Ayyub, built a career on a series of books beginning with “The Antichrist” in 1987.
Ayyub has helped spread belief in al-Dajjal: the Jewish Messiah now reconceived as a world-deceiver and Islam’s Antichrist. The Dajjal is expected to rule Earth from Jerusalem before being defeated by the second coming of Jesus. Of course, Jesus will be returning as a Muslim in this case, and according to popular belief will personally behead the Dajjal (although Ayyub himself is hesitant to encourage Christians by endorsing a too-literal return of Jesus). The final defeat of the Dajjal will clear the way for the appearance of the true messiah, the Madhi. The Madhi is the Twelfth Shi’a Imam, disappearing in 941 CE and expected to return ever since. The returned Madhi will defeat the Satanic hoards of Gog and Magog, and establish the Meccan shrine of the Ka’aba in Jerusalem where he will rule in glory.
Obsessively anti-Semitic, Ayyub tends to elevate the concept of Dajjal above one man, and into a principle underlying all of western civilization. Among Ayyub’s more bizarre claims is that Christianity itself is a Jewish conspiracy to delude and control Europeans and Americans. All Popes, and even the notably anti-Semitic Martin Luther, were secretly Jews, according to Ayyub.
(References: David Cook, “Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature”, 2008, and “Muslim Fears of the Year 2000” in Middle East Quarterly, June 1998)
