In Islamic eschatology, the world will be flooded by a mighty invasion in the end of days.

The great army of the monstrous Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog) will rampage throughout the earth.

A thread-

Yajuj and Majuj are mentioned in the Qur’an (Kahf and Anbiya).

They are sealed away behind a mighty wall by a legendary king, Dhul al-Qarnayn who is frequently linked to Alexander the Great and occasionally Cyrus the Great, though neither are exact matches
It is commonly believed they scratch at the wall daily, tearing nearly through until God intervenes and restores the barrier.

Thus sealed away, the world is safe from Yajuj and Majuj, that is, until the end of days.
Once released they are so numerous it is said when they come upon Tiberias lake or the Tigris and Euphrates they will drink it dry.

When they stand in formation their army stretches from Syria to ends of Persia.
Islamic eschatology regularly features the idea of an invading army and a great battle and Yajuj and Majuj is central to the narrative.
They will fill the world with violence and horror, even daring to turn their arrows to the heavens attempting to strike at God.

They will swarm the Earth, until it becomes difficult to find food and water. Then Isa (Jesus) who had returned, will ask God to intervene.
God will then send insects to attach to their necks and kill them.

The mightiest army will by laid low by the tiniest bugs.
Yajuj and Majuj are prominent characters in medieval geographic and cosmographic treatise like the works of Al Qazwini.

They are frequently treated as monstrous humans. A tradition from ibn Abbas deems them as inhuman, different from human and jinn both.
But most scholars identify them as human and descendants of Adam.
Despite being human, medieval depictions show Yajuj and Majuj as monstrous beings; hairy creatures with talons and nails.

Written descriptions say they are covered in great ears.
They are racialized as an amorphous other frequently linked to either Turks, or Mongols.
Scholar Zadeh notes the wall marks the edges of Abbasid imperial geographic imagination.

The wall holding them back is generally associated with places like Armenia, or Ibn Battuta may have linked it to the Great Wall of China.
One night, the 9th C caliph, Al Wathiq, awoke from a nightmare, drenched in sweat. Horror gripped him for in his dream he saw the wall of Yajuj and Majuj breached.

He quickly dispatched an emissary to ensure the wall was still intact.
In the report, the wall was described as so mighty not even the wind could pass.

Artistic rendering of the building of the wall show jinn and human working together to build it—a reminder of how great the threat of Yajuj and Majuj was for human and jinn alike.
Medieval astrologers like, Abu Ma’shar attempted to use astrology to predict the coming of the end.

They postulated the world would come to an end and the armies of the Yajuj and Majuj unleashed when all the planets aligned in Pisces.
In the 19th century, some Muslim thinkers linked Yajuj and Majuj with European colonists.
Yajuj and Majuj is shared across confessional boundaries and much of the contours of the narrative is drawn from the Jewish and Christian Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39 & Revelations 20: 7-10).
Theologically, Yajuj and Majuj are important for Islamic eschatology.

It also provides an important insight into medieval imagination of geography, conceptions of the other, and the boundaries of empire
For those interested in more on Islamic esotericism, apocalypticism, astrology, and jinn you can check out my patreon. I’m releasing a new episode on the astrologer Abu Ma’shar today. https://t.co/OWDXsBjUiR
I’ll be covering more on Islamic apocalypticism in future threads

More from Religion

@Kate_SdE @PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew Hindu nationalism should not have a negative connotation. It’s not exclusivist because Hinduism isn’t a religion - rather, it’s a way of life, and the term “Hindu” refer broadly to the people around and east of the Sindhu. This transcends the modern construct of religions.

@PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew For “Hindus” - a broad-brush stroke for a people whose culture is underpinned by a knowledge system that provides logical structure for adopters of a plethora of philosophies, “Hindu nationalism” by definition, is inclusive and pluralistic. It gives space to everyone.

@PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew If Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva-Mimamsa, Buddhist and Jain philosophies are studied in comparison with Abrahamic faiths, India’s unique Carl Popper Paradox comes to light. The imposition of a western matrix of secularism on a pluralistic culture has done much harm.

@PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew Because the traditions are rooted in universalist philosophies, India gladly hosts followers of non-proselytizing faiths. Supremacist theocratic ideologies find little resonance with the people of the land. To understand “Hindu nationalism,” one has to study Indic philosophy.

@PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew Equally, it is important to view history objectively, know the excesses of supremacist invaders/colonizers, and importantly, understand the asymmetries created by the “secular” state which structurally disadvantage the vastly heterogeneous so-called “Hindu” majority.
#BookExcerpts #Venkateshwara #Balaji

I will write a 3 part thread series with some interesting points from this book.

Part-1 : History of Tirumala & Venkateshwara Swamy
Part-2: Rituals & Prasada Procedure
Part-3: Historical records

Part-1 thread below

1/


Venkatachala Hill

Maha Vishnu wished for the mountain Krida / Krida Parvatham / Kridhachalam from Vaikunta to be brought to the earth for his avataram.

This was brought to earth by Garuda and Ananta & placed it on banks of river Swarna Mukhi

2/


This is where current Tirumala temple is located. The fact that this was transported from Vaikunta is apparently a scientifically proven fact.

The scientific dating of the sedimentary rocks have confirmed the date to be around 120 million years ago..

3/

This timeline coincides with Swayambhu Manu manvanthara of the Sweta Varaha Kalpa which is the time when Swamy descended on earth in the form of Venkateshwara Swamy.

From a survey of flora and fauna, they have found rare species of plants & animals like golden gecko..

4/

that are exclusive to this hill range only and not found anywhere else in the world.

Tirumala hills are a range of 7 hills
1. Seshachala
2. Vedachala
3. Garudachala
4. Anjanachala
5. Vrishabhachala
6. Narayanachala
7. Venkatachala --> Where temple is present

5/

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