The River Euphrates in the Qur’an & The Impending Rise of Pax Judaica

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

اللهم صل على سيدنا محمد الذي هو أبهى من القمر التام وأكرم من السحاب المرسلة والبحر الخضم

“Oh Allah, I seek you to please gift blessings on my behalf to our Master Muhammad, who is more splendid than the full moon and vividly overtakes the pouring clouds and the raging sea in generosity”

By: Ahmed Nibras

Oil was discovered near the Euphrates basin in Iraq, in the year 1927. This predated similar findings across the Arabian Peninsula. It was the success of this exploratory effort that spurred the interest of western oil companies to further explore oil in the geologically similar terrains of Arabia. In the years that followed, a series of discoveries confirmed this promise, reshaping the region into one of the richest oil zones of the world. In this essay, I present an explanation that I believe has not been previously explored, and I warmly invite constructive comments and critiques.

After the Second World War, the US dollar became the world’s dominant currency formalized by the Bretton woods system and the Intl. Monetary Fund. When President Nixon decided to drop the gold standard in 1971, it threatened the credibility of the dollar and US deficits began to rise. The Arab Israeli war of 1973, as the fourth conflict of its kind, projected oil for the first time as a political weapon – when Arab oil producing nations unanimously decided to cut oil production and enforce an embargo on nations which were in support of Israel, the United States being the most important of all. Henry Kissinger, with his one-eyed prism, managed to seduce Saudi Arabia into this deal, as Saudi prioritized maintaining its political and military stature in the Middle East more than anything else.

The Petrodollar was born, in an unholy manner thus, forty-six years after the discovery of oil in the region – with Saudi Arabia agreeing to sell oil for US dollars and in-turn investing the dollars back into the US economy through Riba-based transactions of purchasing US bonds. The US in return promised it security of its regime and military protection. This historical process was prophesied by the Holy Prophet ﷺ when he said that the River Euphrates would uncover a mountain of gold. There is more to that prophecy, being the core theme of this essay, which is explained below. But at this juncture, we now look at the Euphrates River and seek to uncover its geopolitical significance. In the Holy Qur’an, Allah says in the fifty third Ayah of Surah Al Furqan:

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِی مَرَجَ ٱلۡبَحۡرَیۡنِ هَـٰذَا عَذۡبٌ فُرَاتٌ وَهَـٰذَا مِلۡحٌ أُجَاجٌ وَجَعَلَ بَیۡنَهُمَا بَرۡزَخًا وَحِجۡرًا مَّحۡجُورًا

It is He, Allah, Who merged the two bodies of water. One, containing fresh water (is ‘this Furat’ i.e. the Euphrates?), and ‘this other second one’ with which it is merged, is salty and bitter. He placed between these two bodies of water a Barzakh (something which acts as a barrier and prevents the water present in these two bodies from changing their nature). This Barzakh is also then described as something which would be impossible to surpass or overcome.

Is the fresh body of water mentioned in this Holy Verse referring to the Euphrates River?

What strengthens such an identification in addition to the Arabic name ‘Furat’ which the Holy Prophet ﷺ also used to describe the river Euphrates, is that, secondly, the Holy verse emphasizes the two bodies to be physically located in this world because Allah uses the word ‘Hadha’ to be able to identify them. This distinguishes it from being a metaphorical expression requiring interpretation, as present in the words of Prophet Moses عليه السلام describing the location where he would meet the most learned of all men – Khidr عليه السلام i.e. at the meeting of the two oceans (Surathul Kahf Ayah 61-62), that Imam Baidawi interpreted as the ocean of knowledge externally acquired and the ocean of knowledge internally received.

The Holy Qur’an proceeds to further identify these two bodies of water as being located in this world, when it says that mankind would be able to extract pearls and corals as a result of their meeting and the Barzakh or what is in between these two bodies of water, would keep their varying water compositions intact. But is this Barzakh or barrier an invisible/translucent wall or is it a concrete dam? Is it a mountain which separates these two bodies of water? The Holy Qur’an answers this question in Surah Ar Rahman – the Barzakh is also a body of water:

مَرَجَ ٱلْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ

بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌۭ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُمَا ٱللُّؤْلُؤُ وَٱلْمَرْجَانُ

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

He placed the two bodies of water merging, and yet keeping a barrier between them to preserve their water compositions. This barrier is counted among the great favours of Allah. From both the bodies of water (i.e. sweet and salty water) mankind takes out pearls and corals. This is also counted among the great favours of Allah.

Since pearls are formed due to the irritants present in salty waters, they cannot naturally originate in freshwater resources. The Holy Qur’an is therefore explaining that the water from the Euphrates meets with the water from the second sea directly at what it locates to be the ‘Barzakh’, and pearls form because of this direct meeting of their varying water compositions, right at the ‘Barzakh’ which is also another body of water. In doing so, it counts the ‘Barzakh’ as one among the many favours of Allah in Surah Ar-Rahman, facilitating pearl formation. This implies that although geographically it would appear as a single stretch of water, Allah the Most Glorified, is separating the Euphrates from the Barzakh before it meets the second salty body of water.

This important distinction due to the presence of a ‘Barzakh’ is further cemented in the twelfth verse of Surah Al Fatir, which explains that the two separate bodies of water are created for the benefit of mankind; which mankind would utilize for sustenance and as an important shipping route. (Surah Al Fatir, Ayah 12):

وَمَا يَسْتَوِى ٱلْبَحْرَانِ هَـٰذَا عَذْبٌۭ فُرَاتٌۭ سَآئِغٌ شَرَابُهُ وَهَـٰذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ ۖ وَمِن كُلٍّ تَأْكُلُونَ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُونَ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا ۖ وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ فِيهِ مَوَاخِرَ لِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

The two bodies of water are not alike. ‘This Euphrates’ (i.e. present in this world) is fresh and contains drinkable water but this (other one with which it merges) is salty and bitter. Although from both of these you eat tender seafood and extract ornaments to wear, You also witness the ships cleaving their way in the second one, (This has been arranged) so that you (all) may seek Allah’s bounty and be grateful to HIM.

To identify the second body of water where ships cleave their way, we will have to look for a sea which is utilized as an important trading route by mankind. Both the Tigris and Euphrates drain into the Persian Gulf which is salty. Now, this identification of the two rivers to be Euphrates and the Persian Gulf can only remain valid, if there is a body of water between the two which keeps their water compositions intact. That body of water between the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf must also be a place where pearls are naturally formed due to the intermingling of fresh water from the Euphrates with the salty water from the Gulf. That which the Arabs call ‘Shatt-Al-Arab’ and what the ancient Persians used to call ‘Arvand Rud’ meets these two geographical descriptions of the Barzakh in the Holy Qur’an.

We must now ask the most important question – Since Allah has already clarified that the Barzakh’s function is to separate the fresh water present in the river from the salty water in the Gulf, why did Allah describe the Barzakh as an impenetrable barrier or Hijran Mahjuran, if it was also a body of water - wherein water from both the river and the sea would easily penetrate, enter, and intermingle to form pearls? This Divine description of the Barzakh to be ‘Hijran Mahjuran entails the eschatological significance of the Shatt-Al-Arab!

The Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ   explained that a great war would take place for the mountain of gold that Euphrates would uncover. The nature of that war would be such that nine out of ten or ninety-nine out of every one hundred combatants would be killed. An ocean of oil underneath the river began functioning as that mountain of gold ever since the birth of the Petrodollar. The presence of oil depositories and seaports in the Persian Gulf today make it the most important oil export point of the world. As I write this short essay, Iran has just responded by targeting a US air base in Qatar, in response to the American attack on its three nuclear facilities two days earlier.

In the coming days, Iran could be provoked to close the strait of Hormuz aimed at inflicting an astounding blow on the US dollar. Taking such a step would mandate Trump to move his naval might located along the Persian Gulf towards the Strait of Hormuz, to secure it. If Trump prevails in the Persian Gulf, Russia and China would decisively intervene at the request of Iran to free the strait from American military control. Russia insightfully recognizes that an ultimate confrontation with NATO is inevitable. It has therefore, since the start of the Iran-Israel war, strengthened its special military operation in the Donetsk region to delay or push back this sinful Zionist NATO objective. However, if NATO chooses to escalate the Ukrainian conflict amidst an increasingly tense situation between Russia and the US in the Middle East, a conflict that could lead to a nuclear confrontation in the Persian Gulf, and Allah knows Best!

Islamic eschatology puts us in a unique position to anticipate what Israel would be pursuing simultaneously, as events go in the direction of the great war: Israel pursues to replace the United States in world affairs. It is therefore incumbent that Israel achieves her conception of a greater Israel. Having already compromised the Syrian air force earlier this year, Iraq remains the only challenge for Israel to wield power until the Euphrates. Akin to water flowing from the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf through the Shatt-Al-Arab, oil from Iraq exits from pipelines into refineries near the Shatt, from where they enter the waterway and proceed to the Persian Gulf.

This makes the Shatt a strategic economic point for Iraq, which does not have any other direct access to the Persian Gulf to export its oil. A heightened military conflict in the Persian Gulf makes the other major refineries and ports located along it – strategic targets during wartime. Due to the Malhama (the Great War), a disruption or reduction in the export capacity of oil by the Persian Gulf countries, will strategically raise the significance of Iraq’s in-land oil reserves. Since Allah has counted the ‘Barzakh’ among His great favours in Surah Ar-Rahman, we the students of Islamic eschatology, are able to anticipate that Israel cannot directly control the Barzakh because of the its (the Barzakh’s) proximity with Iran and will surely fail in case it attempts to do so. This makes it an impenetrable barrier or Hijran Mahjuran – its geo-strategic significance outlined by Allah in the Holy Qur’an. The Divine favour over the Barzakh will therefore limit the prospect for a Pax Judaica to completely dominate over the region.

The eight-year long Iran-Iraq war which began with Saddam Hussein seizing the Shatt-Al-Arab stands as a testimony to the fact that any attempt to take over the Divinely blessed Barzakh, rather than share it with Iran, would fail with long term economic burdens for the perpetrators of Fasad (unholy conduct). This economic burden misled Saddam to eventually attack Kuwait in 1990, when he provided the pretext for the US to intervene and establish its bases along the Persian Gulf countries – to preserve the Persian Gulf oil export trade route, which today functions as the very heart of the Petrodollar monetary system.

Today, while the great war has not yet commenced, Islamic Eschatology offers two supremely important points of guidance for Muslim nation states in the Persian Gulf:

1.  The Prophet ﷺ   commanded that whosoever is present when the great war takes place, let him not take from the gold which Euphrates uncovers:

فَمَنْ حَضَرَهُ فَلاَ يَأْخُذْ مِنْهُ شَيْئًا

Islamic Eschatology identifies Israel and secular modern western civilization to be Gog and Magog. The Prophetic statement above, when viewed in today’s situation could mean that whoever is present in the Persian Gulf, where the great war would commence, they should not participate in the war on the side of America and Israel to take control over the Strait of Hormuz. Regardless of our explanation of this prophetic statement to be correct or otherwise, it qualifies as a strategic and valid advice to suggest to the Arab Muslim countries located along the Persian Gulf, not to take Gog and Magog as allies in its war against Iran. The hadith prophesies that nine out of every ten combatants would be killed. Adhering to this advice will definitely limit the loss of life, damage to their infrastructure and help mitigate the heavy expenses of going to war with Iran.

More importantly, this command also entails the recognition of a possible Russian intervention in the Persian Gulf against American attempts to secure the Strait – which should be viewed as a Russian military aid and assistance to the Islamic world. Russia therefore would not be fighting to take control of the strait unlike the west, but rather, it would be doing so to re-establish global and regional order. In summary, the immediate implication from this prophetic command is to utilize an opportunity to do away with the west and align with Russia – Rum of the Qur’an, as soon as there is one.

2. If the outcome of the great war manifests to be a weaker oil exporting capacity for Persian Gulf nations (as we estimate), alongside an Israeli control over the inland oil resources of Iraq, then Muslim nation states must recognize the significance of the Barzakh.

If the Barzakh functions as an impenetrable barrier because of Iran, then the Qur’an allows us to foresee that Iran will not just survive the war, it will either still be able to function as a formidable military power or swiftly recover to be one strong enough to deter Pax Judaica from exercising solitary direct control of the Barzakh. The latter implication (regardless of how events turn out today) is that the Arab monarchies located outside the Hejaz i.e. along the Persian Gulf, would want to reach out to Iran when Israel dictates Iraq’s oil flow through the Shatt-Al-Arab, and form a Muslim unity with Iran (as opposed to a geopolitical unity) to contain Israel’s political and economic hegemony.

Islamic eschatology also maintains that shortly after the great war, there would be a conquest of Constantinople. The Prophet ﷺ   has praised the Muslim commander who would lead the conquest. An alliance with Russia, against NATO, is therefore the way forward for Muslims. Islamic Eschatology also maintains that Israel cannot be defeated but only contained before Nabi Isa عليه السلام returns and Dajjal is killed – but detailing on these points will surpass the scope of the current essay, written racing against time. It is best to conclude this short essay by saying that a Muslim unity in the region of the Barzakh will put a check on Israel and prompt it to look elsewhere for projecting geopolitical dominance. That could raise the significance of a Muslim conquest of Constantinople.

Alhamdulilah!

Hadith 1: Hadith revealing how the great war would commence

وعنه رضي الله عنه قال‏:‏ قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم‏:‏ ‏"‏ لا تقوم الساعة حتى يحسر الفرات عن جبل من ذهب يقتتل عليه، فيقتل من كل مائة تسعة وتسعون، فيقول كل رجل منه‏:‏ لعلي أن أكون أنا أنجو‏"‏‏.‏ وفي رواية‏:‏ ‏"‏يوشك أن يحسر الفرات عن كنز من ذهب، فمن حضره فلا يأخذ منه شيئاً‏"‏ ‏(‏متفق عليه‏)‏‏‏

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) said:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
The Hour will not come to pass before the River Euphrates will uncover a mountain of gold, for which people will fight. Ninety-nine out of one hundred (of those who fight) will die and every man amongst them will say: 'Perhaps I may be the only one to succeed (and remain alive).’

Another narration has:

"The time is near when the River Euphrates will uncover a treasure of gold. Whoever is present (where the war occurs) must not take anything from that treasure (i.e. must not fight to acquire the treasure).” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Hadith 2: Hadith on the chronology of events until the appearance of Dajjal, The False Messiah

عَنْ مُعَاذِ بْنِ جَبَلٍ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «عُمْرَانُ بَيْتِ الْمَقْدِسِ خَرَابُ يَثْرِبَ وَخَرَابُ يَثْرِبَ خُرُوجُ الْمَلْحَمَةِ وَخُرُوجُ الْمَلْحَمَةِ فَتْحُ قُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةَ وَفَتْحُ قُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةَ خُرُوجُ الدَّجَّال رَوَاهُ أَبُو دَاوُد

Narrated by Mu‘adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him):
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

When Jerusalem will rise to centre stage in the world, and at that time Yathrib would be in ruins (playing no pivotal role in world affairs). This would be when the Great War would occur. The Great War would be followed by the Conquest of Constantinople. The Conquest of Constantinople would in turn be followed by the appearance of Dajjal – The False Messiah. [Abu Dawud]

Hadith 3: Part of a longer Hadith narrated by Nawwas Bin Sam’aan, on Dajjal commanding the treasures of the earth in a ‘destroyed land’.

….وَيَمُرُّ بِالْخَرِبَةِ فَيَقُولُ لَهَا: أَخْرِجِي كُنُوزَكِ فَتَتْبَعُهُ كُنُوزُهَا كَيَعَاسِيبِ النَّحْلِ….

“…And he (the Dajjal) will approach a ruined place and will say to it: ‘Bring out your treasures!’ and its treasures will follow him like swarms of bees….” [Muslim]

By: Ahmed Nibras