This introduction delineates the contours of early modern apocalyptic thought and practice among Christians, Muslims, and Jews by discussing specific themes explored in the five articles included in this special issue. It also situates the articles in the expansive scholarship on apocalypticism, highlighting the contribution of this collection of essays to the field. Paying close attention to and problematizing the importance of the terminology that expressed early modern notions of sacred history and political authority—in a context of intense inter-confessional contact and conflict—this introduction calls for a contextual examination of apocalyptic thought and practice.

Pre-publication of chapter XIV of my forthcoming book “Turkey is Iran and Iran is Turkey – 2500 Years of indivisible Turanian – Iranian Civilization distorted and estranged by Anglo-French Orientalists”. Along with Chapter XV and Chapter XVI, Chapter XIV belongs to Part Five {Fallacies about Sassanid History, History of Religions, and the History of Migrations}. The book is made of 12 parts and 33 chapters. First published on 29th July 2023 here: https://megalommatiscomments.wordpress.com/2023/07/29/arsacid-sassanid-iran-and-the-wars-against-the-mithraic-christian-roman-empire/ ------------------------ Chapter XVI has already been made known in pre-publication here: https://megalommatiscomments.wordpress.com/2023/02/02/iran-turan-manichaeism-islam-during-the-migration-period-and-the-early-caliphates/

This article focuses on the Christian apocalyptic literature that was produced as a specific reaction to the emergence of Islam and the consolidation of the Islamic rule in the Eastern provinces of Byzantium. The discussion examines how these texts re-cycled, used and manipulated long established cultural stereotypes, biblical exegetical topoi and traditional apocalyptic motifs in order to construct an image of the Muslims as the symbolic ‚Other‛