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Islamic Eschatology (Qiyamah)

Middle Eastdrafted

The most architecturally complete end in world literature: the trumpet, the gathering, the scales, the bridge; the Dajjal, Gog and Magog, Isa's descent, the Mahdi. The Qur'an dates the hour never and expects it always.

Islamic eschatology inherits the Zoroastrian and biblical machinery and gives it an architecture no other tradition matches: every sign catalogued, every figure named, the judgment itself described down to the scales and the bridge. The hour has no date, which is the point — the end stays permanently near. See the myth entries for Qiyamah and the Dajjal.

Key texts

  • Qur'an 81 (At-Takwir), 82 (Al-Infitar), 99 (Az-Zalzalah)
  • Qur'an 21:96 (Gog and Magog); 18:83–98 (Dhul-Qarnayn)
  • Hadith corpora: Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim (Dajjal, Mahdi, Isa)
  • David Cook, Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature (2005)
  • Jean-Pierre Filiu, Apocalypse in Islam (2011)

Key figures

Isa · the Dajjal · Gog · Magog · the Mahdi · the Twelfth Imam · Israfil · Jibril

The end, in order

  1. 01Signs multiply: the sun rising from the west, the smoke, the beast of the earth, Gog and Magog breaking loose
  2. 02The Dajjal, the one-eyed deceiver, appears and is defeated by Isa's descent
  3. 03The trumpet (sur) is blown: the heavens split, the graves overturn
  4. 04All souls gather; each receives its book; the scales (mizan) weigh deeds
  5. 05The bridge (as-sirat) spans the fire: the just cross, the wicked fall
  6. 06Jannah and Jahannam receive their own; the earth is replaced, and God judges

What survives

The righteous — into Jannah, gardens beneath which rivers flow; the world itself is replaced by a new creation.

Stories in this tradition

Qiyamah: the Day of Resurrection

drafted

The most architecturally complete end in world literature: the sun folded up, the graves overturned, every soul gathered, its book in its hand, its deeds on the scales.

The Dajjal: the One-Eyed Deceiver

drafted

The end's deceiver: one-eyed, marked with the word kafir between his eyes, he brings paradise and fire, rains and famine — the final test of faith, present in the tradition as a standing warning.