Today is December 21, 2012. For most of us it is just another day. But for some it is the end of the world. The most infamous prediction for today is a claim about the Mayan calendar and the nebulous plant Nibiru. I am not sure what time of the day the end is supposed to happen, but I am taking the precaution of posting my commentary the night before. Of course, since NASA has seen fit to deem this prediction a hoax (imagine that) with a Youtube video, I am perhaps being overly cautious. I suppose NASA took action because there is a Youtube channel out there on the Mayan date and we all know how many people accept anything they see on Youtube as true. Fingers have been pointed at the filmmakers of 2012, said on the official film website to be the “number one movie in the world.” But who knows why Hollywood bothered to make the film at all if the producers won’t be around to cash in on sales. Well, they did make it a couple of years ago and have no doubt been partying right up until December 21.

But just in case Muslims are wondering about this 2012 doomsday scenario, it is comforting to note that Ahlul Bayt News Agency has issued a statement that Muslim scholars have condemned the threat as a hoax. Consider the following:

Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhri, Nazim-i-Aala Wifaq-ul-Madaris Pakistan, while talking to this correspondent said that the prediction of doomsday on December 21, 2012 is a ‘greatest lie’. “No one knew about the exact date and time of doomsday. The Allah Almighty has kept this knowledge secret and exclusive to his own person. So any such prediction would be baseless and futile, he also said. Our Holy Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (peace be upon him) has told us about the warning signs before doomsday and several things have yet to occur,” he also said.

This correspondent tried to contact the Islamic scholar Allam Tahirul Qadri of Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran, but was told that he is in Canada and would be coming to Pakistan on December 23. His media director Qazi Faiz, however, tried to explain about the version of Tahirul Qadri and said that there were several lectures of Tahirul Qadri about the arrival of doomsday. In one of these lectures Qadri has explained that there were more than 700 year left when Imam Mehdi (AS) would be coming to the earth.

It is indeed comforting to have another 700 years before the Mahdi appears, but there are Youtube videos out there with preaching that yawm al-qiyama could happen at any moment. Just check out this one. I assume the imam is shouting because he is convinced the end is very near. And just check out all the signs (like mobile phones and men cross-dressing and mtv and Jerry Springer and the list goes on) that have already happened on this Youtube video. So the world could end on December 21, if you can believe Youtube. Or the Bible-believing Christians could be raptured and the Tribulation begin. After all, Obama did get re-elected and many Republicans know he really is a Muslim, like all those unAmerican kids that were born in Kenya and fudged their birth certificates.

For myself, I sincerely hope the world does not end today, because most people at that very moment will simply blame Islam (and Obama). I wonder if the Mayans knew that when they calculated for 2012.