All three of the large Abrahamic traditions expect a time of trial before the end. Two figures appear in all of them: the destructive nations of Gog and Magog, and a great deceiver whom Christians call the Antichrist and Muslims the Dajjal.
In this article
Gog and Magog
Ezekiel prophesies against ‘Gog, of the land of Magog’, who will come against Israel in the last days, and the Book of Revelation speaks of Gog and Magog gathered for battle when Satan is released at the end of the thousand years.1 The Qur’an tells of Dhū al-Qarnayn, a righteous ruler whom a people asked for protection from Gog and Magog, Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj (يَأْجُوج وَمَأْجُوج), who were spreading corruption in the land. He built a barrier of iron and copper against them, and declared that it would stand until the promise of his Lord came, when God would level it.2
قَالَ هَـٰذَا رَحْمَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّى ۖ فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ رَبِّى جَعَلَهُۥ دَكَّآءَ ۖ وَكَانَ وَعْدُ رَبِّى حَقًّا ٩٨
[Dhul-Qarnayn] said, “This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord comes [i.e., approaches], He will make it level, and ever is the promise of my Lord true.”
Qur’an 18:983
The deceiver of the last days
The New Testament warns of the antichrist, and of a ‘man of lawlessness’ who will exalt himself and set himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.4 The Prophet Muhammad warned of the same deceiver, al-Dajjāl (ٱلدَّجَّال, the deceiver), and said that no prophet was sent without warning his people against him; the Dajjal is blind in one eye, and ‘your Lord is not so.’5 Muslims believe that Jesus will return and defeat him.
The verse of Dhū al-Qarnayn gives the Islamic account its tone. The barrier stands by God’s mercy, and it falls only when His promise comes due: ‘the promise of my Lord is ever true.’ The end, in every one of these traditions, belongs to God, and the deceiver’s blindness is the sign that he is a creature and no god.
Further reading: Jesus across the traditions, The Messiah in three traditions.