Koran scholar: US will cease to exist in 2007 (Is Ziad Silwadi's work available in English?)

Is Ziad Silwadi's work available in English?

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Mar. 29, 2005 3:22 | Updated Mar. 29, 2005 6:54
Koran scholar: US will cease to exist in 2007
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH


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."

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