[extropy-chat] Koran scholar: US will cease to exist in 2007

[Damien Broderick]

Koran scholar: US will cease to exist in 2007

Khaled Abu Toameh

THE JERUSALEM POST
Mar. 29, 2005

A thorough analysis of the Koran reveals that the US will cease
to exist in the year 2007, according to research published by
Palestinian scholar Ziad Silwadi.

The study, which has caught the attention of millions of
Muslims worldwide, is based on in-depth interpretations of
various verses in the Koran. It predicts that the US will be
hit by a tsunami larger than that which recently struck
southeast Asia.

"The tsunami waves are a minor rehearsal in comparison with
what awaits the US in 2007," the researcher concluded in his
study. "The Holy Koran warns against the Omnipotent Allah's
force. A great sin will cause a huge flood in the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans."

Silwadi, who is from the village of Silwad near Ramallah - the
home of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal - is not a world-renowned
scholar. He said he decided to publish the findings of his
research "out of a sense of responsibility because what is
about to happen is extremely shocking and frightening."

His fear, he said, is that the world economy, which relies
heavily on the US dollar, would be deeply affected by the
collapse of the US.

"It would be fair to say that the world would be better off
with a US that is not a superpower and that does not take
advantage of weak nations than a world where this country does
not exist at all," he added."The world will certainly lose a
lot if and when this disaster occurs because of the great
services that American society has rendered to the economy,
industry and science."

Silwadi said his study of the Koran showed that the US would
perish mainly because of its great sins against mankind,
including the Native Americans and blacks.

"As soon as the Europeans started arriving in the new world
discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, they declared a war
on the so-called Red Indians, the legitimate owners of the
land," he wrote. "Then they began enslaving and humiliating
Africans after kidnapping them from their countries and
bringing them to America. Millions of blacks were brought to
the US and treated with unprecedented harshness. Those who
became ill during the journey were thrown overboard to feed the
fish."

Silwadi pointed out that the US continued to commit war crimes
and "ethnic cleansing" against humanity by becoming the first
country to use nuclear weapons during World War II.

"International law penalizes such crimes," he said. "If these
laws were not applied then, they are certainly implemented in
heaven. If no one on earth is capable of punishing [the US],
Allah was and remains able to do so. All these actions have
been documented by Allah in a big archive called the Koran."

Silwadi said he reached the conclusion that several suras
(chapters) in the Koran that talk about punishment for those
who perpetrate heinous sins actually refer to the US.

As an example, he quotes in his study verse 40 of the Spider
Sura, which states: "So each We [God] punished for his sin; of
them was he on whom We sent down a violent storm, and of them
was he whom the rumbling overtook, and of them was he whom We
made to be swallowed up by the earth, and of them he whom We
drowned; and it did not beseem Allah that He should be unjust
to them, but they were unjust to their own souls."

Drawing parallels between Pharaoh and the US, who share the
same "sin" of arrogance and excessive pride, Silwadi noted that
the Koran mentions at least 12 times the fact that Pharaoh was
punished by drowning for his evil deeds.

The Narrative Sura, he noted, clearly suggests that the US will
drown in the sea: "And Firon [Pharaoh] said: O chiefs! I do not
know of any god for you besides myself; therefore kindle a fire
for me And he was unjustly proud in the land, he and his hosts,
and they deemed that they would not be brought back to Us. So
We caught hold of him and his hosts, then We cast them into the
sea, and see how was the end of the unjust [verses 38-40]."

Explaining his theory about the approaching extinction of the
US, the scholar went on to analyze many numbers and letters
mentioned in the Koran. He said a careful reading and analysis
of words appearing in the Opening and Yusuf suras show that the
US will exist for only 231 years.

How did he reach that number? Silwadi said that by combing a
number of suras hinting at US sins he reached the numbers 1776
(the year the US achieved independence) and 231. He added the
two numbers and the result was 2007, the year when the US is
expected to disappear.

In his lengthy study, which is being circulated in many Muslim
countries, Silwadi noted that the US has often been compared to
a tree that grows very quickly and bears fruit, but has no
roots.

In an attempt to find a reference to this metaphor in the
Koran, Silwadi said he counted 1776 verses from the beginning
of the Koran until he reached verse 26 of the Ibrahim Sura,
which states: "And the parable of an evil word is as an evil
tree pulled up from the earth's surface; it has no stability."

Copyright 2005 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/