Interlude: The Rise of Islam (Part I)

The Protestant Reformers were of the opinion that the prophecies of the Bible foretold of two great apostasies that would arise during the Christian era. They believed that the first great apostasy had, amazingly, arisen within the very body of the Christian Church itself; and concerning the second: they were overwhelmingly of the opinion that it had arisen within the fiery deserts of Arabia under the tutelage of the prophet Mohammed.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), in his, Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (published posthumously, London, 1733), wrote the following concerning Revelation 9, chapters 1-12:

'The fifth trumpet [of the Apocalypse heralded]... the opening of the bottomless pit, which denotes the letting out of a false religion: the smoke which came out of the pit, signifying the multitude which embraced that religion; and the locusts which came out of the smoke, the armies which came out of that multitude. This pit was opened, to let out smoke and locusts into the regions of the four monarchies... The King of these locusts was the Angel of the bottomless pit, being chief governor as well in religious as civil affairs, such as was the Caliph of the Saracens. Swarms of locusts often arise in Arabia fælix, and from thence infest the neighbouring nations: and so are a very fit type of the numerous armies of Arabians invading the Romans.'

The great Scottish specialist in oriental studies, Sir William Muir (1819-1905), who in 1888 delivered the Rede Lecture at the University of Cambridge on the subject of The Early Caliphate and Rise of Islam, wrote the following in one of his classic historical works concerning the rise of Islam and its rapid conquests of its neighbouring lands:

'Onward and still onward like swarms from the hive, or flights of locusts darkening the land, tribe after tribe issued forth and hastening northward spread in great masses to the east and to the west.' (From: The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline and Fall).

Another historian, Herbert Adams Gibbons also uses the same descriptive language – he too likens the armies of Islam to an overwhelming swarm of locusts:

'Like locusts, the Osmanlis swarmed in all directions and no village missed their notice up to the very walls of Constantinople.' (The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire: A History of the Osmanlis up to the Death of Bayezid I, 1300-1403; first published 1916).

In AD 633, having raided Persia, the Arab armies – energised by the new faith of Mohammed, turned their attention to Syria – the eastern flank of the the empire of Rome. In AD 632, on the death of Mohammed, Caliph Abu Bakir – Mohammed's successor took charge. In his seminal work Edward Gibbon (1737-94) recounts Abu Bakir's eve-of-battle address to his troops:

'As soon as their numbers were complete, Abubeker [Abu Bakir] ascended the hill, reviewed the men, the horses, and the arms, and poured forth a fervent prayer for the success of their undertaking... “Remember”, said the successor of the prophet, “that you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assurance of judgement, and the hope of paradise. Avoid injustice and oppression; consult with your brethren, and study to preserve the love and confidence of your troops. When you fight the battles of the lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy no palm trees, nor burn any field of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make a covenant... stand to it and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons, who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way: let them alone and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries. And you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter, till they either turn Mahometans or pay tribute.”' (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. V).

In the Revelation the symbolic 'locusts' are given a command, which is opposite in nature, to the actions of the natural locusts that arise out of the deserts of Arabia.

'And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree...' (Revelation 9:4)

'Destroy no palm trees, nor burn any field of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees...' (Abu Bakir; op. cit.)

In Revelation 9:4 the symbolic 'locusts' are instead commanded (by their leader) to 'hurt... only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.'

'As you go on, you will find some religious persons, who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way: let them alone and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries. And you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter...' (Abu Bakir; op. cit.)

In the Authorised (King James) Version the locusts are described as having 'the faces of men'; but in contrast to their manly (or bearded) faces they are described as having 'hair as the hair of women...' (Revelation 9:7-8).

Illustrative of the fact – that in contrast to the customary clean-shaven and short-haired Romans of that time – that the Arabs of Mohammed's day took great pride in their beards and long-flowing hair, are the following lines from the famous Arab poem 'Antar':

'He adjusted himself properly, twirling his whiskers, folded up his hair under his turban drawing it from off his shoulders...', and 'His hair flowed down his shoulders...'.

The NIV (New International Version) renders the Authorised Version's, 'the faces of men', as the gender-neutral: 'their faces resembled human faces'; and thus the contrast with 'their hair... (being) like women's hair', is somewhat obscured in this modern translation.

I have a copy of, The Unity of the Pentateuch: An Examination of the Higher Critical Theory as to the Composite Nature of the Pentateuch, 3rd Edition (1928), by the Rev A H Finn, (of whom, on the title page, we're informed, was, 'Lately Chaplain in Burma and India; at one time Hebrew Lecturer, Leeds Clergy School'). The preface to this work, is by the Right Rev H C G Moule, DD, Bishop of Durham – from which I quote the following:

'Not for a moment does [a book like this]... ask us, for example, to read the first few pages of the Bible with the assumption of a literalism which excludes the presence of symbol and of poetic phrase. But that is a wholly different matter from the other assumption that the majestic narratives [of the Bible] are little more than folk-lore cast into a certain form, or again are due to the halting and inconsistent editing of divers streams of tradition...'

In John Stott's Understanding the Bible, in a chapter on biblical interpretation, he writes:

'The serpent and the tree of life [from the biblical book of Genesis]... both reappear in the Book of Revelation, where they are clearly symbolical, the serpent representing Satan and the tree eternal life....

'In Romans 5:12-21... I have a biblical (New Testament) reason for believing that Adam and Eve were historical, and an equally biblical reason [from the Book of Revelation] for supposing that the serpent and the trees in the [Genesis] story may in some sense be meant to be figurative....'

Since the mid-part of the 19th century, the Protestant Historicist interpretation of the Revelation has sharply fallen out of favour: the overwhelmingly predominant interpretation found in most churches nowadays, is that of the Futurist version – where nearly all of the apocalyptic imagery, and all of the time-periods, are interpreted in a literal fashion.

The following quotes dealing with the 'locusts' of the Apocalypse (from a book with 'NEVER BEFORE so crystal-clear and current an explanation of the last book of the Bible' emblazoned on its front cover) are typical of this now predominant school of interpretation:

'Locusts thrive by devouring rapaciously that which grows and is green; but here these Infernal Locusts will not eat grass or tree leaves. They will, rather, sting and bite humans as do mosquitos. Yet amid the seemingly indiscriminate biting done by these, there is an unseen discrimination! They will in some divine way not be able to bite those who have been sealed.... These locusts shall be armed with the fearful sting of a scorpion. Those on earth will certainly be in torment with such creatures roving....

'These “locusts” may be of the insect or animal variety. Or they may be men... perhaps an army being unleashed from an underground complex.... There already has been invented a flying jet belt. When worn it can fly men at various speeds and altitudes. These men can carry a cylinder on their back which can emit a chemical substance from their exhaust openings. If one of the biological chemicals were used – from this tail area could be sprayed a substance which could cause painful stings.' (From: Revelation Visualized, by Dr Gary G Cohen and Salem Kirban, Future Events Publications, Chattanooga, TN, USA, 1981).

This overtly literal school of biblical interpretation has not confined itself solely to the last book of the Bible - it has also had an immense influence on the interpretation of the Creation account found in the biblical book of Genesis (especially within the United States). But it was not always so – as Dr E K Victor Pearce informs us:

'It is admitted by the present 24-hour Day protagonists that the founders of Creation Science were mostly advocates of Day Periods of unspecified length for the days of Genesis. These founders named their organisation The Evolution Protest Movement. It was founded in 1932 by Sir Ambrose Fleming, a famous scientist. He was joined by other scientists who were Christians. That was the time I joined. Much later, the chairman of the movement, D.T. Rosevear with his committee, renamed the organisation Creation Science Movement, which was better and a more positive title but unfortunately they adopted an exclusive Young Earth policy of 24-hour creation days.

'In his explanation in the Creation Journal, the chairman admits that most of their founders were period-day advocates and he gives their names: Dr Merson Davies, D. Dewar, Professor F.A. Filby, Dr R.E.D. Clark, Walter Beasley and Professor Rendle-Short. The astonishing news is that now the movement only propagates Young Earth theories. It does not allow on its platform anyone who believes that the days were long periods of time. Anyone who holds this opinion is rigorously condemned even though he is a creationist. This greatly harms the effectiveness of the movement and allows the entrance of some serious inaccuracies. My prayer is that they will return to the original policy. This will honour the founders and concentrate on the essentials of God's truth.' (From, Evidence for Truth: The Origin and Destiny of Life, Eagle Publishing, 2001).

I have read an opinion that the two books of the Bible that Satan most hates are Genesis and the Revelation. During the last century and a half, the Historicist interpretation of the Revelation has been overwhelmingly superseded by that of the Futurist school.

So that rather than encompassing the whole of the Church Age (commencing from shortly after their delivery; Rev. 1:1, 'things which must shortly come to pass') the prophecies leading up to the Second Coming have now - by means of the Futurist interpretation - been 'compacted', so that the vast majority of the prophecies of the Revelation are now only applied to a literal seven year (sometimes three and a half year) period at the close of this age.

A not too dissimilar scenario also applies to Genesis, where again the interpretation (in the majority case) is 'compacted', and, is in the main, now confined to a literal 24-hour day; six day creation period.

In Part II of this post (to follow at a later date) I'll delve into the startling fact that one of Islam's major victories in the East: the capture of Constantinople, would be a part of a series of events, that would have a profound and revolutionary affect on Christianity in Western Europe...

In it I'll quote once more from Sir Isaac Newton's writings - this time concerning the Sixth Trumpet of the Apocalypse; which he believed represented the second phase in the conquests of Islam - which recommenced with the conversion of the Ottoman Turks to the new faith that had been revealed unto Mohammed... and which burned relentlessly outwards from the fiery heat of Arabia in its fierce desire to consume the world...