Most in the Arab world have seen the State of Israel as illegitimate since its establishment in 1948, and pious Muslims believe Allah will one day soon destroy the Jewish state and restore the land to Islamic control.

But why allow the Jews to return and establish sovereignty in the first place? Some claim that Allah did this in order to gather all the Jews in one place to make easier their eventual extermination. This belief is becoming increasingly popular, especially among Shiites, as a means of explaining both the Muslim world’s military failures against Israel, and the recent normalization agreements between the Jewish state and a number of Arab states. If the Jews feel secure and prosperous in the land, more of them are likely to gather, like sheep unknowingly awaiting the slaughter.

Since the Muslim armies could not decide the question of Israel’s existence, many look to Allah to fulfill by other means their own interpretations of Koranic verses and prophecies. And much like in the Christian world, these voices are keen to predict precise dates.

There...