Is Belief In The Antichrist Monotheistic?

March 11, 2021 - Adar 27, 5781

What Is The Antichrist?

According to Christianity.com:

The word, "Antichrist," is only found in the Bible in 1 and 2 John and occurs both in singular and plural forms. It represents all that is hostile to God. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul refers to this person as the Man of Lawlessness. He puts himself in place of God’s law. That’s why he’s the Man of Lawlessness. And he’s a figure who the Bible repeatedly points to arising in the end times. There have been many, clearly, who are anti-Christ in one way or another, but here is the person who will be the distillation of opposition to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This is basically identical to the Muslim view of the Antichrist (Dajjal), who is the "false messiah (al-maseeh al-dajjaal). According to Islamqa, he is:

...a man created by Allaah, who will appear at the end of time because of something that makes Allaah angry. He will spread corruption on earth and will claim divinity, calling on people to worship him. They will be tested by the extraordinary powers that Allaah will grant him, such as causing rain to fall, reviving the earth with vegetation and extracting the treasures of the earth. He will be a young man with a ruddy complexion, short of stature, with curly hair. He will be one-eyed; his right eye will be flat and his other eye will have a thick piece of flesh over it. Written between his eyes will be the word “Kaafir” (disbeliever). Most of those who follow him will be Jews. He will meet his end at the hands of ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary) who will kill him with a spear in Lod, which is in Palestine.

Why Is Belief In The Antichrist Not Monotheistic?

The problem is that belief in the Antichrist is rooted in a theologically dualistic understanding of God. Theological dualism is the "concept that the world is ruled by the antagonistic forces of good and evil." In our terms these antagonistic forces are God and Satan. In this worldview Satan is disobedient to God and seeks to overthrow Him. The Antichrist facilitates Satan's will and leads this battle against God at the end of times.

Judaism and Christianity differ in their view of Satan's relationship with sin. The Jewish view is that even sin falls under the domain of God's sovereignty, with Satan being the angel programmed to tempt humanity, and with angels having no free will. The Christian view is that Satan was the most supreme and beautiful angel who became proud and rebelled against God. Sin, therefore, is not a function falling under the domain of God's sovereignty, but is the attempt of a prideful free-willed angel to overthrow God's dominion.

If Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of Heaven, why does he have to follow particular rules? Either he rebelled and no rules apply to him, or he didn't and he has to follow all of the rules, but both cannot be true.

Islam differs slightly from Christianity and offers a description more similar to Judaism in which Satan's job is to tempt humanity. According to Islamqa's article Shaytaan’s Enmity Towards Man:

(Allaah) said: "Go, and whosoever of them follows you, surely, Hell will be the recompense of you (all) an ample recompense.

And befool them gradually those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e. songs, music, and any other call for Allaah’s disobedience), make assaults on them with your cavalry and your infantry, share with them wealth and children (by tempting them to earn money by illegal ways usury, or by committing illegal sexual intercourse), and make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit. (al-Israa’ 17:62-64 – interpretation of the meaning)

Conclusion - If God Is Sovereign, Satan Cannot Be Disobedient

Even though Islam satisfactorily rejects certain theological errors in Christianity, such as the Trinity and the incarnation of God, its belief in the Antichrist commits the same theologically dualistic error as Christianity, although perhaps less dramatically. In Islam the Dajjal's job is to advance the goal of evil, but it isn't entirely clear that he is doing this on behalf of God's Will, but rather as a form of rebellion against Him. Anything that puts Satan's activity on earth outside of God's sovereignty falls outside the domain of monotheistic thought.

If Satan's job is to deceive Man, he is under God's control. But if he is disobedient to God, then he is not under God's control, which are mutually exclusive postulates. He cannot do his job properly while being disobedient to God any more than a rogue program can function correctly while inaccessible to the developer. Only God knows how to precisely oversee the process through which Man is tempted.

Therefore Satan's task of tempting Man needs to be performed without question to ensure that Man is tempted properly and to bring about the best good. Angels were therefore created without free will, including Satan. If they don't do their job properly, the system crashes, which can't happen as long as God is the Developer.