—a tribulation so immense that no prophet failed to warn his nation about it, and the one who warned most emphatically was our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for he is the last of the prophets, his nation the last of all nations, and therefore the closest to the Antichrist. Indeed, after the final testimony in the ritual prayer he instructed us to seek Allah’s protection from four things: from the punishment of Hell, from the punishment of the grave, from the trials of life and death, and from the trial of the Antichrist.¹ He is, then, an awesome ordeal and a tremendous evil. Thereafter Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him, will descend from the heavens and kill him at the gate of Ludd, whereupon Allah will grant the Muslims relief from his menace. Jesus will then rule by the law of Islam, following the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for no prophet will come after our Prophet and no revealed law after the law of Islam.

Next, in those very days, Gog and Magog will break forth—yet another colossal trial. Allah says: “Until, when Gog and Magog are let loose and they surge down every slope” (Q 21:96). They are a human people descended from Adam. In the era of Alexander the Two-Horned a barrier was built to confine them; of it Allah says: “So they could neither scale it nor pierce it” (Q 18:97). Thus they can neither climb over the wall nor bore through it because of its strength—it is forged of iron and mighty power. Yet when Allah’s appointed decree arrives, He will level it to the ground,