The Middle East's Source of Life Is Disappearing, as Prophet Muhammad Forewarned

Two rivers that have been a source of life for thousands of years and gave birth to great civilisations in the Middle East are now facing a serious threat. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers are expected to dry up within the next few decades due to climate change and continuously declining water discharge. The region flanked by the Euphrates and Tigris is known as Mesopotamia, an area archaeologists believe to be the birthplace of the world’s first civilisations. It was from this region that ancient cities such as Uruk and Babylon developed, which are now located in modern-day Iraq. The threat of the two rivers drying up is also linked to a hadith of Prophet Muhammad that has long been known to Muslims. The hadith states that the Euphrates River will dry up before the Day of Judgement occurs. ‘The Hour will not come to pass before the Euphrates dries up to reveal a mountain of gold, for which people will fight and kill one another’ (Sahih Muslim No. 2894). The Euphrates River flows through several countries, from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, before emptying into the Persian Gulf. It is the largest river system in the West Asian region. The Euphrates, alongside the Tigris River, is part of a fertile region. However, the river system is now drying up very rapidly. A 2021 government report from the Ministry of Water Resources warned that the rivers could dry up by 2040. The report explained that the drying is caused by falling water levels and drought resulting from climate change. The flow in the Euphrates-Tigris system has decreased by nearly half in just a few decades. Satellite imagery reported that 144 cubic kilometres of fresh water disappeared over a 10-year period, from 2003 to 2013. Worse still, the surrounding human population depends on this river system. It is reported that 60 million people rely on the water from the Euphrates-Tigris river system for their livelihoods, particularly in Turkey and Iraq.