The Great War That Humanity Does Not See

Many people are waiting for the great war of the end times.

They imagine armies clashing, cannons roaring and missiles filling the sky.

But world wars have already happened — and even they did not affect every single human being without exception.

What if a far greater war is actually taking place on a battlefield that is extremely close?

THE BATTLEFIELD IS THE HUMAN SELF.

THE QURAN TELLS HUMAN BEINGS TO LOOK AT THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS

Allah declares:

ظَهَرَ ٱلْفَسَادُ فِى ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِى ٱلنَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُم بَعْضَ ٱلَّذِى عَمِلُوا۟ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

“Corruption has become manifest on land and sea because of what the hands of human beings have earned, so that they may taste some of the consequences of what they have done, that perhaps they may return.”

— Ar-Rum 30:41 (Quranic Arabic Corpus)

Notice:

بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِى ٱلنَّاسِ

“What the hands of human beings have earned.”

Not merely what other people do to us.

But what human beings themselves do and choose.

The Quran repeats this principle:

وَمَآ أَصَٰبَكُم مِّن مُّصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُوا۟ عَن كَثِيرٍ

“Whatever calamity befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned; and He pardons much.”

— Ash-Shura 42:30 (Quranic Arabic Corpus)

EPIDEMIC DISEASE IS ALSO MENTIONED BEFORE AL-SĀ‘AH

The Prophet ﷺ said:

اعْدُدْ سِتًّا بَيْنَ يَدَىِ السَّاعَةِ … ثُمَّ مُوتَانٌ يَأْخُذُ فِيكُمْ كَقُعَاصِ الْغَنَمِ

“Count six things before al-Sā‘ah … then widespread death that will seize you like a disease that afflicts sheep.”

— Sahih al-Bukhari 3176

This is important.

Among the signs mentioned are not only battles between armies.

There is also something that attacks human life itself:

مُوتَانٌ — widespread death on a large scale.

Another hadith mentions الطَّاعُون — plague or infectious disease — and the Prophet ﷺ instructed people not to enter a land where it was occurring and not to flee from it if they were already there.

— Sahih al-Bukhari 3473

SO WHERE IS THAT BATTLEFIELD?

It can be contemplated within THE SELF.

The human body becomes a battlefield where different forces meet:

disease,

the immune system,

inflammation,

environmental pressures,

medical technology,

and human decisions themselves.

Today, human beings also possess technologies capable of intervening increasingly deeply in biological processes.

mRNA technology gives temporary instructions to cells to produce a particular protein. Gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR, on the other hand, are specifically designed to alter DNA.

The two should not be confused as the same thing.

Therefore, the question is not:

“Is science the enemy?”

No.

Science is simply knowledge and a tool.

The question is:

WHAT DO HUMAN BEINGS CHOOSE TO DO WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE?

THE GREATER EARTH — THE SMALLER EARTH

Look at the greater earth:

earthquakes,

volcanic eruptions,

floods,

storms,

fires,

environmental changes that occur repeatedly.

Then look at the “smaller earth”:

the human body.

The body also has its own balance.

When its systems are disrupted, the body struggles to defend that balance.

This does not mean that earthquakes literally cause turmoil within the body or that every epidemic originates from a particular technology.

But it provides a powerful image:

THE GREATER EARTH IS IN TURMOIL.

THE SMALLER EARTH CAN ALSO BE IN TURMOIL.

And an epidemic can be contemplated as one form of warfare that strikes the human self, rather than merely warfare involving cannons between nations.

Because in this war, human beings are not merely spectators.

THEIR OWN SELVES BECOME THE BATTLEFIELD.

The choices are made by them.

Their bodies bear the consequences.

And ultimately, they themselves witness what happens within them.

THE PUNCHLINE

DO NOT ONLY WAIT FOR A GREAT WAR OUTSIDE THE SELF.

World wars have already happened, yet they did not affect every human being.

But the closest war is the one in which every human being is tested within themselves.

EPIDEMIC DISEASE ATTACKS THE SELF.

THE TEST TAKES PLACE WITHIN THE SELF.

THE CHOICE IS MADE BY THE SELF.

AND THE CONSEQUENCES ARE EXPERIENCED BY THE SELF.

PERHAPS HUMANITY IS WAITING FOR THE SOUND OF CANNONS —

WHILE THE BATTLEFIELD IS ALREADY WITHIN THE SELF.