Cosmic Destruction and the Eschatological Threshold: A Comparative Analysis of the Apocalypse Motif in the Qurʾān, Mythology, and Turkish Folk Narratives
Article Sidebar
DOI:
10.12730/is.1903328Abstract
Since ancient times, images of the apocalypse, deluge, cosmic cataclysm, and divine punishment have provided the basis for narrative patterns that reveal the relation between man and time, ethics, and religion. According to many apocalyptic narratives, the dissolution of cosmos in the process of divine punishment is not an absolute destruction but a threshold beyond which new forms of order come into being. This study proposes that apocalyptic and cosmic destruction narratives, despite their various cosmological and theological assumptions, possess a common liminal structure that acts as a threshold between destruction and regeneration, chaos and order, mortality and transcendence. Patterns of apocalyptic and cosmic destruction will be explored through a comparative analysis of Qurʾānic narratives, classical myths, and Turkish folklore narratives. Comparative textual analysis will be conducted as the primary methodology of the research, and the concept of liminality, borrowed from anthropology and narrative theory, will be the main framework of the research. Previous scholarly approaches have examined those traditions separately or have focused on thematic similarities among those traditions, while a holistic view of their liminal function has not been elaborated yet. Liminality in the current study is conceived as a transitional period when old structures are dismantled, transformed, and rearranged into the new one. The originality of the study consists in showing how different traditions use apocalyptic narratives as liminal structures by which cosmic transformation, moral reconstruction, and existential rebirth are narrativized. The research results show that according to the Qurʾān, the apocalyptic cataclysm is an irreversible threshold in the linear understanding of time when the manifestation of divine power and absolute justice takes place through resurrection, judgment, and the hereafter. At the same time, mythological stories usually depict cosmic destruction within the cyclic understanding of time and renewal. The Turkish folk narratives combine features of both linear and cyclic time schemes. Thus, the apocalyptic narrative appears to be not only a narrative about the end but a multi-dimensional symbolic structure through which the human interpretation of finitude, sacred order, and existence occurs.
References
Abdel Haleem, M. A. S. The Qurʾan: A New Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Barnard, M. The Mythmakers. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1966.
Batuk, Cengiz. Tarihin Sonunu Beklemek. İstanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 2003.
Çağatay, Saadet. “Altay Türklerinde Kıyamet Anlayışı”. Türkoloji Dergisi 7/1 (1977), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1501/Trkol_0000000013
Dankanich, Artem S. “Islamic Eschatology: Its Origins and Theological Interpretations”. VI Конгрес сходознавців. 132-135. Kyiv: Baltija Publishing, 2022.
Dundes, Alan. “The Flood as Male Myth of Creation”. The Flood Myth. ed. Alan Dundes. 167-182. Berkeley - Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1988.
Eliade, Mircea. A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 1: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries. trans. Willard R. Trask. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return. trans. Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1959.
Eliade, Mircea. Myth and Reality. trans. Willard R. Trask. New York & Evanston: Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated, 1963.
Gözen, Yavuz. Metinlerarasılık Bağlamında Eskatoloji Mitleri ve Dini Literatürde Kıyamet Tasvirleri. Ankara: Ankara University, The Institute of Social Sciences, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2023.
Güler, Nurdane. “Kur’ân’da Kozmik Kıyamet ile Hesap Gününün İç İçeliği ve Yoruma Etkisi”. Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi 24/3 (2020), 1475-1496. https://doi.org/10.18505/cuid.784013
Günther, Sebastian. “Eschatology”. The Oxford Handbook of Qurʾanic Studies. ed. Muhammad Abdel Haleem - Mustafa Shah. 472-487. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Hocaoğlu Alagöz, Kader - Baysal Yurdakul, Nagihan. “Eskatoloji Mitlerinden Kıyametnâmelere Geleneksel Türk Dünya Görüşünde Kıyamet Olgusu: Dâsitân-ı Mahşer-nâme Örneği”. Korkut Ata Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 11 (June 2023), 563-586.
Humairoh, Siti - Nurwahidin, Nurwahidin - Izdiyan, Mohammad - Wati, Maulida. “The Concept of Eschatology in Islam: An Analysis of Fazlur Rahman’s Perspective and Al-Munir’s Exegesis on Surah Al-Infithar”. Journal of Middle East and Islamic Studies 11/1 (2024), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.7454/meis.v11i1.168
Izutsu, Toshihiko. Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qurʾān. Montreal & Kingston - London - Ithaca: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002.
Karenga, Maulana. Maat, the Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt: A Study in Classical African Ethics. London: Routledge, 2003.
Kaya, Muharrem. Mitolojiden Efsaneye: Türk Mitolojisinin Türkiye’deki Efsanelerde İzleri. İstanbul: Bağlam Yayıncılık, 2nd edition, 2011.
Kayabaşı, Onur Alp. “Türk Mitolojisinde Eskatoloji Mitleri”. Folklor/Edebiyat 22/86 (2016), 167-180.
Kızılözen, Gülcan. “Metinlerarasılık Bağlamında Kurt ile Kıyamete Kalmak Anlatısının Dönüşümü”. Folklor/Edebiyat 26/104 (2020), 813-825. https://doi.org/10.22559/folklor.1341
Kutluer, İlhan. “Zaman”. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayınları, 2013. 44/111-114.
Mark, Joshua J. “Ten Norse Mythology Facts You Need to Know”. World History Encyclopedia. Accessed 19 July 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1836/ten-norse-mythology-facts-you-need-to-know/
al-Māturīdī, Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Samarqandī. Taʾwīlāt al-Qurʾān. ed. Bekir Topaloğlu. 17 vols. İstanbul: Dār al-Mīzān, 2005-2011.
Oğuz, M. Öcal - Ersoy, Petek. Türkiye’de 2006 Yılında Yaşayan Taş Kesilme Efsaneleri: Mekânlar ve Anlatılar. Ankara: Gazi Üniversitesi Türk Halkbilimi Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi Yayınları, 2007.
Ögel, Bahaeddin. Türk Mitolojisi I. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 2nd edition, 1993.
Ögel, Bahaeddin. Türk Mitolojisi II. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 1995.
Seyidoğlu, Bilge. Mitoloji Üzerine Araştırmalar: Metinler ve Tahliller. İstanbul: Dergâh Yayınları, 8th edition, 2017.
Khan, Nida Tabassum. “Eschatology: An Introduction”. Journal of Bio Innovation 14/3 (2025), 530-535. https://doi.org/10.46344/JBINO.2025.v14i03.16
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 7th edition, 1991.
van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. trans. Monika B. Vizedom - Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960.