ABSTRACT
Muslim eschatology, or the belief system regarding the events leading up to the end of the world, springs from a Judeo-Christian context and thus not surprisingly resembles that of both Jews and Christians. However, some qualifications must be made in the usage of the terms “millennialism,” “millenarianism,” or “chiliasm”–each of which derives from words for 1,000 in Latin (milleni) or Greek (chilioi): in the sense of Revelation chapter 20, which predicates a thousandyear reign of Jesus Christ on Earth, these terms should not be applied to an Islamic context; but in the sense of the expectation of a future ideal society, they can be used to describe Muslim beliefs. Indeed, “centennialism” would be a more accurate term, as the tradition of a mujaddid or “renewer” who comes every century carries far more resonance with Muslims. “Messianism” is a term that should be avoided in an Islamic context. For unlike Jews, many of whom still await the Mashiah (Hebrew for “Anointed One”) who will restore the biblical Kingdom of Israel, and Christians, who await the return of their messiah Jesus Christ (Christ is Greek for “messiah”); Muslim theology has no place for such a deliverer. In the Qur’an, Jesus the prophet is sometimes given the title al-Masih, a cognate term to Messiah, but it is used as an honorific only, devoid of theological import.
