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11. No one is left to establish justice:
The son of David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will not come until all judges and officers are gone... (Talmud, Sanhedrin, 98a)
In the generation when the son of David [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)] comes... truth [will be] entirely lacking... (Talmud, Sanhedrin
97a)
12. Increasing poverty:
The son of David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will not come... until the pockets will be empty... (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
13. An increase in unfair earnings:
... The Lord enters into judgment against the elders
and leaders of His people: "It is you who have ruined My vineyard; the
plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing
My people and grinding the faces of the poor?" (Isaiah, 3:14-15)
In the generation in which the son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] comes... [There will be] plunderers and plunderers of the
plunderers... (Talmud, Kethuboth 112b)
14. Hunger and famine:
... In the seven-year cycle at the end of which the son
of David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will come... the arrows of hunger will
be sent forth... a great famine, in the course of which men, women, and
children, pious men and saints will die. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
The son of David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will not come
until a fish is sought for an invalid and cannot be procured...
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
 15. The land becomes less fertile:
... The vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not
come. Smiting upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the
fruitful vine; for the land of My people whereon thorns and briers come
up; yea, for all the houses of joy and the joyous city. (Isaiah,
32:10-13)
... The seeds are shrivelled beneath the clods. The
storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down... How the
cattle moan! Even the flocks of sheep are suffering... for the grain
has dried up... flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
(Joel, 1:17-19)
The fields are ruined, the ground mourns; the grain is
destroyed... grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest
of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is
withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree—all the trees of
the field—are dried up... (Joel, 1:10-12)
16. Drought:
The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers... (Isaiah, 24:4)
... The pastures of the wilderness are dried up... (Jeremiah, 23:10)
The vine withers... (Isaiah, 24:7)
... The grain has dried up... the streams of water have dried up... (Joel, 1:18-20)
The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the
pomegranate, the palm and apple tree—all the trees of the field—are
dried up... (Joel, 1:12)
 17. Animals suffer:
How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they
have no pasture; even the flocks of the sheep are suffering... even the
wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire
has devoured the open pastures. (Joel, 1:18-20)
A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the
camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps. (Zechariah,
14:15)
18. A time of trial and tribulation:
The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter the
shouting of the warrior there. That day will be... a day of distress
and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a
day of clouds and blackness... (Zephaniah, 1:14-15)
"Therefore their path will become slippery; they will
be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster
on them..." declares the Lord. (Jeremiah, 23:12)
... In the generation when the son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] will come... and as for the rest [other than scholars],
their eyes will fail through sorrow and grief. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
... The travails of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]: "day" is written here... (Talmud, Shabbath 118a)
Let him [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] come... When one goes
out into the field and meets a bailiff, it is as though he had met a
lion. When he enters the town, and is accosted by a tax-collector, it
is as though he had met a bear. On entering his house and finding his
sons and daughters in the throes of hunger, it is as though he were
bitten by a serpent!... Ask you now, and see whether a man travails with
child? Wherefore do I see every man [gever] with his hands on his
loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b)
19. A succession of disasters:
In the generation when the son of David [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)] will come... Multitudes of trouble and evil decrees will be
promulgated anew, each new evil coming with haste before the other has
ended... (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
When you see a generation overwhelmed by many troubles
as by a river, await him [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)], as it is written, when
the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against him [Isaiah, 59:19]; which is followed by,
and the Redeemer [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] shall come [Isaiah, 59:20]...
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
In the generation in which the son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] will come... [there will be] test after test. (Talmud,
Kethuboth 112b)
... A curse consumes the earth... (Isaiah, 24:6)
Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a
pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare...
(Isaiah, 24:18)
"When will the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] come?" He
replied, "When darkness covers those people." "You curse me," he
exclaimed. He retorted, "it is but a verse: For, behold, the darkness
shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord
shall shine upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you." [Isaiah,
60:2] (Talmud, Sanhedrin 99a)
 20. A rise in corruption:
... In the generation when the son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] will come... multitudes of trouble and evil decrees will
be promulgated anew... (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path. (Isaiah, 3:12)
... They were still eager to act corruptly in all they did. (Zephaniah, 3:7)
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23. A decline in people's sense of shame:
... In the generation when the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)] comes... a son will not be abashed in his father's presence.
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
In the generation of Messiah's [Hazrat Mahdi's (pbuh)]
coming impudence will increase, esteem be perverted ... (Talmud,
Sanhedrin 97a)
In footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] insolence will increase and honor dwindle... (Talmud, Sota 49b)
In footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]... a
son will revile his father... a son will not feel ashamed before his
father. (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
... The child shall behave insolently against the aged, and the base against the honorable. (Isaiah, 3:5)
24. Increasing immorality:
Rabbi Johanan also said: The son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] will come only in a generation that is... altogether
wicked. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
Rabbi Johanan said: When you see a generation ever dwindling, hope for him [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
In the generation of Messiah's [Hazrat Mahdi's (pbuh)] coming... esteem [will] be perverted... (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)]... youths will put old men to shame, the old will stand up in
the presence of the young... A son will not be ashamed before his
father. (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)]... the meeting-place [of scholars] will be used for immorality.
(Talmud, Sotah 49b)
... They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no
one turns from his wickedness... all of them become... as Sodom,
and... as Gomorrah... (Jeremiah, 23:14)
25. An increase in lies and fraud:
... [They] walk in lies... (Jeremiah, 23:14)
In the generation in which the son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] will come... [there will be] plunderers and plunderers of
the plunderers. (Talmud, Kethuboth 112b)
... People shall oppress one another, every man his fellow, and every man his neighbor... (Isaiah, 3:5)
26. Faces grow ugly:
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]
the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog... (Talmud,
Sotah 49b)
In the generation when Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] comes, the people shall be dog-faced. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
27. The marginalization of feelings of love and compassion:
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)]... the dewellers on the frontier will go about [begging] from
place to place without anyone to take pity on them... (Talmud, Sotah
49b)
28. Increasing rebelliousness:
... In the generation when the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)] comes... daughters will rise up against their mothers, and
daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)]... a son will revile his father, a daughter will rise against
her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. (Talmud, Sotah
49b)
29. A weakening of family ties:
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)]... a man's enemies will be the members of his household...
(Talmud, Sotah 49b)
30. Rising numbers of hypocrites:
... The son of David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will not
come until denunciators [of believers] are in abundance. (Talmud,
Sanhedrin 97a)
The treacherous deal treacherously; yea, the treacherous deal very treacherously. (Isaiah, 24:16)
31. A decline in the number of scholars:
... In the generation when the son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] will come, scholars will be few in number... (Talmud,
Sanhedrin 97a)
32. A decline in the importance attached to people of knowledge:
In the generation when the son of David [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)] comes... the wisdom of scribes [men of knowledge] [will be] in
disfavor... (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
33. Intellectual bigotry:
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]... the wisdom of the learned will degenerate... (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
In the generation in which the son of David [Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh)] will come, there will be prosecution against scholars.
(Talmud, Kethuboth 112b)
... Her priests have profaned that which is holy, they have done violence to the law [of God]. (Zephaniah, 3:4)
34. Increasing wars:
... In the seven-year cycle at the end of which the
son of David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will come... in the seventh, wars;
and at the conclusion of the septennate the son of David [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)] will come. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
They... are destined to be redeemed in the seventh
year (of the coming of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]) therefore the
mention of redemption was placed in the seventh blessing. But a master
has said, "In the sixth year will be thunderings, in the seventh wars,
at the end of the seventh the son of David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will
come?" — War is also the beginning of redemption. (Talmud, Megilah 17b)
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. (Joel, 2:30)
I will gather all the nations... to fight against it;
the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.
Half of the city will go into exile... (Zechariah, 14:2)
35. Bloodshed in the Middle East:
"When will the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] come?"...
"give us a sign"... "The waters of the grotto of Paneas* turn into
blood..." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
* Paneas: The name of an ancient city on the banks of
the River Jordan, some 200 km from Jerusalem called Banias in modern
atlases.
 36. Ruin in the Middle East:
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)]... Galilee* will be destroyed, Gavlan** desolated. (Talmud,
Sanhedrin 97a; Sotah 49b)
*Galilee: The region to the west of the River Jordan,
and north of the lake of Tiberias, in Palestine, now located in modern
Israel.
** Gavlan: The region including part of the modern-day Golan Heights, northwest Jordan and southwest Syria.
 37. The killing of the innocent:
... They shed innocent blood. (Joel, 3:19)
38. Rising numbers of refugees:
In the footsteps of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi
(pbuh)]... the dwellers on the frontier will go about [begging] from
place to place without anyone to take pity on them. (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
 39. An increase in rebellion and revolt:
... Transgression thereof is heavy upon it [the earth], and it shall fall, and not rise again. (Isaiah, 24:20)
40. Looting:
The earth shall be utterly emptied, and despoiled: for the Lord had spoken this word. (Isaiah, 24:3)
... The houses rifled... (Zechariah, 14:2)
41. Signs in the bodies of those who oppose the truth:
This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all
the nations that fought... Their flesh shall consume away while they
stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their
sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
(Zechariah, 14:12)
... Their words and deeds are against the Lord... The
look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like
Sodom; they do not hide it... (Isaiah, 3:8-9)
42. Unhappiness:
... All the merrymakers groan. The gaiety of the
tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the
joyful harp is silent. (Isaiah, 24:7-8)
Surely the joy of mankind is withered away. (Joel, 1:12)
... All joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. (Isaiah, 24:11)
43. Despair among men of religion:
The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord. (Joel, 1:9)
Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. (Joel, 1:13)
44. Earthquakes:
... The foundations of the earth shake... The earth is
thoroughly shaken... It sways like a hut in the wind... (Isaiah,
24:18-20)
... The heavens and the earth shall shake... (Joel, 3:16)
Therefore I [the Almighty Lord] will make the heavens
to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of her place. (Isaiah,
13:13)
The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of
the mountains shook... The valleys of the sea were exposed and the
foundations of the earth laid bare... (Psalms, 18:7, 15)
45. Ever more natural disasters:
The Lord of Armies will punish you with thunder,
earthquakes, and loud noises, with windstorms, rainstorms, and fire
storms. (Isaiah, 29:6)
... I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth... (Joel, 2:30)
... The windows on high are opened, the foundations of the earth shake. (Isaiah, 24:18)
 46. Floods in one region and drought in another:
In the seven-year cycle at the end of which the son of
David [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will come-in the first year, this verse
will be fulfilled: And I will cause it to rain upon one city and cause
it not to rain upon another city. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
47. Locust attacks:
What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have
eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten... A nation
has invaded my land, powerful and without number... (Joel, 1:4, 6)
48. Rising environmental pollution:
The earth is defiled by its people... (Isaiah, 24:5)
 49. Spiritual decline:
He [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)] will only come when all the
souls destined to [inhabit earthly] bodies will be exhausted...
(Talmud, Abodah Zarah 5a)
50. War in Iraq:
50. 1. The fact that the occupying army in the Iraq war was multinational:
... Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! (Isaiah, 13:4)
Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude!... (Isaiah, 13:4)
50.2 Distant countries wage war in Iraq:
An oracle concerning Babylon* that Isaiah... saw... They come
from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens... to destroy the
whole country. (Isaiah, 13:1, 5)
*Babylon: The name of an ancient city near Baghdad, the capital of modern-day Iraq.
50.3. That war is declared with sirens and loud noises:
... Shout to them [warriors]; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles. (Isaiah, 13:2)
50.4. The death of many children and the young during the war:
Their bows will strike down the young men; they will
have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on
children. (Isaiah, 13:18)
50.5. That women are wronged:
... Their wives [will be] ravished. (Isaiah, 13:16)
 50.6. The looting of people's homes:
... Their houses will be looted... (Isaiah, 13:16)
50.7. Enormous bloodshed:
Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who
are caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to
pieces before their eyes... (Isaiah, 13:15-16)
50.8. The public in a state of fear and suffering:
... All hands will go limp, every man's heart will
melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them... They
will writhe... They will look aghast at each other ... (Isaiah, 13:7-8)
50.9. People flee to neighboring countries:
Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd,
each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
(Isaiah, 13:14)
50.10. Cities deserted after the war:
But desert creatures will lie there [in Babylon],
jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the
wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds,
jackals in her luxurious palaces... (Isaiah, 13:21-22)
I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. (Isaiah, 13:12)
50.11. And the damage done to peace and order:
... No Arab [Bedouin] will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. (Isaiah, 13:20)
... To make the land desolate... (Isaiah, 13:9)
... The earth will shake from its place. (Isaiah, 13:13)
 50.12. The razing of Iraqi cities:
Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms... will be overthrown by God. (Isaiah, 13:19)
51. The appearance of Gog and Magog in the End Times (World Wars I and II):
The travails of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]:
"day" is written here... The wars of Gog and Magog: "day" is written
here; whilst there it is written, in that day when Gog shall come.
(Talmud, Shabbath 118a)
... [Time on the earth] will be spent... some in the
war of Gog and Magog, and the remaining [period] will be the Messianic
era [that of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)], whilst the Holy One, blessed be He,
will renew His world only after seven thousand years. (Talmud,
Sanhedrin 97b)
51.1. Their being a vast population:
... All the hordes gathered... (Ezekiel, 38:7)
You will advance... like a cloud that covers the land... (Ezekiel, 38:16)
... All of them brandishing their swords... (Ezekiel, 38:4)
51.2. Their constituting a multinational society:
... Many nations with you, all of them riding on horses... (Ezekiel, 38:15)
You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm... (Ezekiel, 38:9)
 51.3. Their having large armed forces:
... Your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully
armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them
brandishing their swords... with them, [their troops] all with shields
and helmets... (Ezekiel, 38:4-5)
... All of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. (Ezekiel, 38:15)
51.4. Their causing corruption:
... You will devise an evil scheme. You will say... "I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people"... (Ezekiel, 38:10-11)
Every man's sword will be against his brother. (Ezekiel, 38:21)
51.5. Their being an aggressive, plundering society:
You will say, "... I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins..." (Ezekiel, 38:11-12)
[People] will say to you, "Have you come to plunder?
Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to
take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?" (Ezekiel,
38:13)
You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm... (Ezekiel, 38:9)
51.6. Their waging war in the mountains:
"I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains," declares the Sovereign Lord... (Ezekiel, 38:21)
51.7. Their using chemical weapons in wars:
... I will pour down... hailstones and burning sulfur*... on the many nations... (Ezekiel, 38:22)
* Mustard gas, a chemical weapon containing sulfur
chloride and used in World Wars I and II, was widely employed and had a
burning effect on the human body.
51.8. The outbreak of epidemics in time of war:
I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed... (Ezekiel, 38:22)
Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land [from epidemics]... (Ezekiel, 39:14)
51.9. The deaths of many people in war:
... Gog and all his hordes will be buried there... For
seven months, [people] will be burying them in order to cleanse the
land. All the people of the land will bury them... Some will go
throughout the land and, in addition to them, others will bury those
that remain on the ground... (Ezekiel 39:11-14)
You will fall in the open field... (Ezekiel, 39:5)
Every man's sword will be against his brother... (Ezekiel, 38:21)
51.10. Attacks on defenseless people:
... You will invade a land that has recovered from war whose people... now... live in safety... (Ezekiel, 38:8)
You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled
villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them
living without walls and without gates and bars. (Ezekiel, 38:11)
52. Statements by the Prophets (peace be upon them all) referring to the time of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh):
All the Prophets prophesied only for the days of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]... (Talmud, Berachoth 34b, Shabbath 63a)
All the Prophets prophesied [all the good things] only
in respect of the Messianic era [the era of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)].
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 99a)
53. The troubled period of the End Times having no effect on devout believers:
Abaye enquired of Rabbah: "What is your reason [for
not wishing to see him]? Shall we say, because of the birth pangs
[preceding the advent] of the Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]?" But it
has been taught... "What must a man do to be spared the pangs of the
Messiah [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]?" "Let him engage in study and
benevolence; and your master do both." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b)
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