The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-03-02
The Worlds End.

The world is about to pass away and
there is trouble and distress at Yeldiz
Kiosk. Of the signs which are to pre-
cede the coming of that hour many have
already been accomplished. There have
been tumults and seditions innumerable,
earthquakes and eclipses. Faith has
decayed among men. The Russian war
brought about the fulfillment of the
prophecy that Cog and Magog, the fair
haired tribes of the north, should once
more break forth across the barriers
which Dhu'l Karnien built up against
them in the mountains of Armenia. That
the antichrist has appeared in the shape
of England's prime minister is a secret
to no devout Moslem, and if the letters
X. F. I. (Kafr OF InfdeD have not
been read on Mr. Gladstone's brow, il is
that the unbelievers are blind to the
sign with which he has verify been
branded. But two more signs were yet
wanting-the descent of Jesus on earth
and the apparirion of the Mandy, or Di-
the former event is generally believed,
and recollect that few years ago,
when 1 was in Damascus, the eastern
minaret of the great mosque, upon
which He is to descend, and which is
called, in consequence thereof, the Min
aret of Jesus, was being cleaned and re-
paired in expectation of his coming.
But the greatest of all the signs,
though not clearly specified in the
Koran, has always been held to be the
apparition of the Mahdy, concerning
whom, according to Sale, Mohammed
prophesied that the world should not
have an end till one of his own family
should again rule over the egg of Islam
whose name and whose fathers name
should be the same with his own and his
fathers own (Abdullah). Traditions
on this point are, however, numerous
aud conflicting. Many believe that the
Mandy will be an incarnation of God
upon earth, and that only.his Vekyl, or
vicegerent, will belong to the noble tribe
of the Koreish, while some go even
further and add that this Vekyl's name
will be Abdul Mntallib, that the Mandy
will make its appearance during his third
cherif'ate. Others again hold that the
Mahdy's own name will be Abdullah, but
that after his appearance he will in due
time die and be succeeded by his father,
death for that purpose, and, together
with Jesus, the son of Mary, will fill the
whole world with the knowledge of God
and of Ell Islam. Whatever these minor
discrepancies may be there is, however, a
general consensus among the Mussel-
mans that toward the beginning of the
fourteenth century of the Hegira DIES.
cendant of the prophet, of the tribe of
the Koreish, will rule over the Arabs,
and that at that time the Mandy will
reveal himself at Mecca, and the era of
the Caliphate be brought to an end.
Two years only separate us still from
the beginning Of the fourteenth century
Abdul Mutallib, for the thire time
Cheriff of Mecca, is reported to have
raised the standard of rebellion and
proclaimed himself ruler over the Arabs
and 10! the Mandy himself has appeared
and made himself known at Mecca
in the person of Abdullah, the son
of Mohammed by a mother of the
name of the Einineth. Here are the
names of the prophet and his father and
mother grouped together as foretold by
the traditions of old. The circumstances
of time and place equally answer to the
prophecy What doubt can any longer
be entertained that the days of the
Caliphate are numbered, and that the
world itself is only waiting for the blast
of CONSERVATION to be swallowed up in
the burning flames of the. molten hea-
yens? And if any further sign were
wanting in these days pregnant with
wonders, what is the cholera which
RACES at Mecca-the "yellow wind of
fire" as it is called by Ar lbs-but the
very fire which, according to prophecy,
shall consume the Hedjaz at the moment
when the Mandy appears? These are
weighty matters, indeed, which must be
pondered over in council, and in COM
parison with which financial commits
sions, war indemnities, Armenian re-
forms are but the veriest trihes.-[ Pail
Mall Gazette.