The world is a stage. The play is “Mephistopheles Faust.” Doctor Faust is a naïve young man searching for happiness. He is a lover of knowledge. Mephistopheles is a trickster who stands in Faust’s way, attempting to lead Faust astray into worshipping him. God has granted the devil an extension. Humans have been banished to Earth as a result of a treacherous trap that the devil Iblis had laid for Adam. Since that day, conspiracies have become the most useful lever at the disposal of Mephistopheles’ companions.

The first conspiracy and the first victory. Mephistopheles crowns this victory in heaven with the first act of evil on Earth. After killing his brother Abel, Cain becomes a companion of Iblis. The struggle between good and evil that began in heaven spreads to Earth. It is a struggle that will continue until Judgment Day. Perhaps, the end of the world will come when good loses this battle.

Important movements in history have always coalesced as a result of extensive wars or depressions. History has witnessed the rise of nationalism and/or fascism in the aftermath of World War I. Following World War II, communism peaked and subsequently continued its political and military dominance for 50 years. Although the Soviet Union collapsed, its successor Russia and Communist China remain active powers. In the First World War the death toll was around 17 million, and in the second it was 60-65 million.

The world is once more in turmoil, swiftly sliding towards a new depression. The political and historical foundations for World War III, sometimes referred to Armageddon, have already been laid. In an interesting twist of fate, these catastrophic events are swivelling around Turkey. Turkish society is divided in two. This war is expected to result in even higher casualties. After all, the weaponry will be more sophisticated this time.

When Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has done missionary work in Turkey for 23 years, was taken hostage after the December 2013 government corruption scandal spread to the United States, the drums of war began to echo and the evangelist movement became a topic of conversation.

Since evangelists believe that the Holy Messiah will return at the end of the world, after the Battle of Armageddon, it has been said that they have forged the foundations of this battle. There is a fact that evangelists and those who write on the Messiah try to hide, and this is the fact that certain Muslims believe in the return of the Messiah, and that they support this belief with strong evidence from the Quran and hadiths.

In summary, the hadiths that are attributed to Ahmad ibn Hanbali explain that: the tribes of Gog and Magog, who will overcome the Wall of Dhul-Qarnayn to commit subterfuge on Earth, will kill everyone they encounter on their way to Jerusalem; the Messiah will descend from Heaven, say a prayer, and all members of the nations of Gog and Magog will die; there will be so many graves that the eagles of the sky will lift the dead and throw them behind the mountains. This was a pronouncement that the Prophet Muhammad made about the future. Certainly these hadiths were allegories that were interpreted by scholars. These interpretations reveal that the last battle will result in perhaps hundreds of millions of casualties.

Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, an early 20th century Sunni theologian, proclaimed that his Nur movement would be crowned with the Messiah. In the beginning of Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybi, which is part of the larger Islamic exegesis compilation Risale-i Nur [Epistles of Light], Nursi enumerates the three duties of the Mehdi, or the individual awaited by the Muslim faithful to arrive on Judgment Day: The first duty is, “…that blessed individual will promulgate and implement the Risale-i Nur…” The second duty, “…implementing and enforcing Islam.” And the third, “… Allying with Christian clerics and serving the Islamic faith.”

According to Nursi, the spiritual persona of the Mehdi will be a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad and destroy the faction represented by the Sufyani. In the last phase of this grand struggle, the Mehdi and the Messiah will meet. The first time he descended to Earth the Holy Messiah, not having been granted a set of religious laws, had followed the Jewish laws in force at the time. In his second coming, he will follow the Islamic laws that will be in force. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are religions that are all based on Allah but implemented at different times. As a result, the Messiah will perform Islamic prayer behind the Mehdi, signifying that he will act in compliance with Islamic law.

In his references to the Messiah, Mehdi, Dajjal, and Sufyani, Said Nursi is clear both that these figures are real people, and that there are spiritual personas, or legal entities, which these figures represent. Accordingly, the Messiah represents the spirit of Christianity. True Christians and Muslims will know the Messiah through the divine light of faith, and will help them. Furthermore, the Kastamonu Appendix to the Risale-i Nur mentions that states founded on Christian principles will stand with the Messiah.

The Dajjal is a leader that represents an order based on the rejection of religion and belief, who wants to spread their regime of apostasy throughout the world. The most important forces that support them are Communism and Anarchism, which are movements tied to atheism and rejection of divinity. Bediüzzaman proclaimed that the Dajjal would rise out of Russia. According to him, only the Messiah can defeat the Dajjal’s regime. Consequently, only the Messiah can and will kill the Dajjal.

The Sufyani is the representative of the Dajjal that will rise from among Muslims. Since the Sufyani will have the appearance of a good Muslim, 70 thousand clerics with roots in Khorasan will support the Sufyani. The Sufyani will lead hypocrites in attempts to distort Islam. Owing to their political genius, defeating them politically will prove difficult. In his Fifth Ray, Bediüzzaman describes the attributes of the Sufyani as follows:

• The Sufyani encourages waste and by inciting the people to waste, brings the people closer to themselves.

• At Judgment Day, despotic rulers will have false heavens and hells.

• The Sufyani shuts down spaces that celebrate the true name of Allah.

• In the event that the Sufyani lacks the resources to become leader, they will rely on their intelligence and political genius to acquire important offices, bewitch scholars and have them make religious rulings that support the Sufyani’s agenda.

• The Sufyani operates through deception.

• The Sufyani acquires extraordinary power. The Sufyani acquires this power through destruction and manipulation of people’s weaknesses.

• Some hapless people will even attribute divinity to the Sufyani due to the grandiose acts of their regime.

• Since the Sufyani will rule with supreme despotism and cruelty, their regime will appear very powerful. They will use the law to interfere in people’s spirituality and their dress.

• The Sufyani will try to use Pan-Turkism to bolster their regime. But the Sufyani will not succeed, and the heroic army will take the reins from the Sufyani.

In reference to the Sufyani’s three phases of despotism, Bediüzzaman has this to say:

“On their first day, they will carry out works so vast that they could not ordinarily be performed in three hundred years. On their second day, they will carry out works so vast that they could not normally be carried out in thirty years. On their third day, the changes they will make could not ordinarily be brought about in ten years. On their fourth day, however, they will be like ordinary rulers, accomplishing nothing of importance and trying only to maintain the status quo.”

In brief, destiny is weaving its web and the sources of both evangelists and Nurists presage grand transformations in our future. Let us see what God might will!