Is there a relationship between these two events? As history tends to repeat itself, lets take a look at what happened in the past and how it applies to 911 in New York, on September 11, 2001. The three woes of Revelation seem to have a Muhammad and his followers involved, with the “Sword of the Lord.”

"Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, traces his lineage back to Ishmael through his first born son, Nabaioth. It's in the Bible, the Torah, Genesis 25:6, 12-18." Islam - God's Forgotten Blessing, by Stephen Dickie.

The decedents of Hagar, Keturah & Lot, “children of the East,” also included in the promise of Genesis 12:2: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” In today's world we wonder where the blessing is, it must be there somewhere, but where? But the Angel of the LORD appeared to Hagar, and in Genesis 16:11: “And the angel of the LORD said unto her, ‘Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.’” In verse 12, Hagar was told: “And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

“And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” Genesis 17:20.

The 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:14, “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” finds its fulfillment in the time period after the 490 day/years that is cut off from the 2300 day/year prophecy. “The whole period would there fore extend to the seventh month, autumn, Jewish time, of 1844.” Daniel and the Revelation, p. 219. [Link]

The Book of Revelation is the prophecies that fit hand and glove with Daniel, as it spells out the fulfillment of the remaining time, spoken of Daniel 12:7, “And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half [1260 days/years]; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” Revelation 11:3, “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days [1260], clothed in sackcloth.” [See Revelation 12:6.]

In the above mentioned book, Islam - God's Forgotten Blessing, it tells of Mr. Dickie's burden for the people of Islam, and how he discovered how to reach them when he visited Smarkand, in the district of “Chashma.” There he found a curative water spring “Daniyor” (Daniel), which is named for the Prophet Daniel. From this he developed an outline of a evangelistic series for the Muslim community based on the story of Daniel.

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The below are excerpts taken from Daniel and the Revelation, by Uriah Smith, Chapter IX, The Moslem World in Prophecy:

Seal of God in Their Foreheads.--In remarks upon Revelation 7: 1-3, we have shown that the seal of God is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. History is not silent upon the fact that there have been observers of the true seventh-day Sabbath all through the gospel age. But the question has here arisen with many, Who were those men who at this time had the seal of God in their foreheads, and who thereby became exempt from Mohammedan oppression? Let the reader bear in mind the fact already alluded to, that there have been those all through the Christian Era who have had the seal of God in their foreheads, that is, have been intelligent observers of the true Sabbath. Let him consider further that what the prophecy asserts is that the attacks of this desolating Turkish power are not directed against them, but against another class. The subject is thus freed from all difficulty, for this is all that the prophecy really asserts. One class of person is directly brought to view in the text, namely, those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads. The preservation of those who have the seal of God is brought in only by implication. accordingly, we do not learn from history that any of these were involved in any of the calamities inflicted by the Saracens upon the objects of their hate. They were commissioned against another class of men. The destruction to come upon this class is not put in contrast with the preservation of other men, but only with that of the fruits and verdure of the earth; thus, Hurt not the grass, trees, nor any green thing, but only a certain class of men. In fulfillment, we have the strange spectacle of an army of invaders sparing those things which such armies usually destroy, the face and productions of nature. In pursuance of their permission to hurt those men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads, they cleaved the skulls of a class of religionists with shaven crowns, who belonged to the synagogue of Satan. It would seem that these were monks, or some other order of the Roman Catholic Church.

“Their constant incursions into the Roman territory, and frequent assaults on Constantinople itself, were an unceasing torment throughout the empire, which yet they were not able effectually to subdue, notwithstanding the long period, afterward more directly alluded to, during which they continued, by unremitting attacks, grievously to afflict an idolatrous church, of which the pope was the head. . . . Their charge was to torment, and then to hurt, but not to kill, or utterly destroy. The marvel was that they did not.” 

DR 499-500.. .

“The Arabian horse takes the lead throughout the world; and skill in horsemanship is the art and science of Arabia. And the barbed Arabs, swift as locusts and armed like scorpions, ready to dart away in a moment, were ever prepared unto battle.

“‘And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold.’ When Mahomet entered Medina (A.D. 622), and was first received as its prince, ‘a turban was unfurled before him to supply the deficiency of a standard.’ The turbans of the Saracens, like unto a coronet, were their ornament and their boast. The rich booty abundantly supplied and frequently renewed them. To assume the turban is proverbially to turn Mussulman. And the Arabs were anciently distinguished by the miters which they wore.”

“And their faces were as the faces of men.” “The gravity and firmness of the mind [of the Arab] is conspicuous in his outward demeanor; . . . his only gesture is that of stroking his beard, the venerable symbol of manhood. . . . The honor . . . of their beards is most easily wounded.”

Verse 8 “And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.”

“Long hair is esteemed an ornament by women. The Arabs, unlike to other men, had their hair as the hair of women, or uncut, as their practice is recorded by Pliny and others. But there was nothing effeminate in their character; for, as denoting their ferocity and strength to devour, their teeth were as the teeth of lions.”

Verse 9 “And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.”

“The cuirass (or breastplate) was in use among the Arabs in the days of Mahomet. In the battle of Ohud (the second which Mahomet fought) with the Koreish of Mecca (A.D. 624), ‘seven hundred of them were armed with cuirasses.’”

“The charge of the Arabs was not, like that of the Greeks and Romans, the efforts of a firm and compact infantry; their military force was chiefly formed of cavalry and archers” . . . With a touch of the hand, the Arab horses dart away with the swiftness of the wind. ‘The sound of their wings was as the sound of many horses running to battle.’ Their conquests were marvelous both in rapidity and extent, and their attack was instantaneous. Nor was it less successful against the Romans than the Persians.” DR 501-502. . .

Revelation 9: Verse 10 “And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”

“To Hurt Men Five Months.”—The question arises, What men were they to hurt five months?—Undoubtedly the same they were afterward to slay (see verse 15), “the third part of men,” or third of the Roman Empire—the Greek division of it.

When were they to begin their work of torment? The eleventh verse answers the question.

“They had a king over them.” From the death of Mohammed until near the close of the thirteenth century, the Mohammedans were divided into various factions under several leaders, with no general civil government extending over them all. Near the close of the thirteenth century, Othman founded a government which has since been known as the Ottoman government, or empire, which grew until it extended over all the principal Mohammedan tribes, consolidating them into one grand monarchy.

Their king is called “the angel of the bottomless pit.” An angel signifies a messenger, a minister, either good or bad, and not always a spiritual being. “The angel of the bottomless pit” would be the chief minister of the religion which came from thence when it was opened. That religion is Mohammedanism, and the sultan was its chief minister.

His name in the Hebrew tongue is “Abaddon,” the destroyer; in Greek, “Apollyon,” one that exterminates, or destroys. Having two different names in two languages, it is evident that the character rather than the name of the power is intended to be represented. If so, as expressed in both languages, he is a destroyer. Such has always been the character of the Ottoman government. . .

The calculation which follows, founded on this starting point, was made and first published in a work entitled, Christ's Second Coming, by Josiah Litch, in 1838.

“‘And their power was to hurt men five months.' Thus far their commission extended, to torment by constant depredations, but not politically to kill them. 'Five months' [thirty days to a month, one hundred and fifty days], that is, one hundred and fifty years. Commencing July 27, 1299, the one hundred and fifty years reach to 1449. During that whole period the Turks were engaged in an almost perpetual war with the Greek Empire, but yet without conquering it. They seized upon and held several of the Greek provinces, but still Greek independence was maintained in Constantinople. But in 1449, the termination of the one hundred and fifty years, a change came,"”the history of which will be found under the succeeding trumpet.” DR 505. . .

“The four angels were loosed for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men. This period, during which Ottoman supremacy was to exist, amounts to three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days. Thus: A prophetic year is three hundred and sixty prophetic days, or three hundred and sixty literal years; a prophetic month, thirty prophetic days, is thirty literal years; one prophetic day is one literal year; and an hour, or the twenty-fourth part of a literal year year, or fifteen days; the whole amounting to three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days.

“But although the four angels were thus loosed by the voluntary submission of the Greeks, yet another doom awaited the seat of empire. Amurath, the sultan to whom the submission of Deacozes was made, and by whose permission he reigned in Constantinople, soon after died, and was succeeded in the empire, in 1451, by Mahomet II, who set his heart on Constantinople, and determined to make it a prey.

“He accordingly made preparations for besieging and taking the city. The siege commenced on the 6th of April, 1453, and ended in the taking of the city, and death of the last of the Constantines, on the 16th day of May following. And the eastern city of the Caesars became the seat of the Ottoman Empire.”

The arms and mode of warfare which were used in the siege in which Constantinople was to be overthrown and held in subjection were, as we shall see, distinctly noticed by the prophet.

Verse 16 “And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.”

“Innumerable hordes of horses, and them that sat on them! Gibbon describes the first invasion of the Roman territories by the Turks thus: ‘The myriads of Turkish horse overspread a frontier of six hundred miles, from Tauris to Azeroum, and the blood of 130,000 Christian was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian prophet.’ Whether the number is designed to convey the idea of any definite number, the reader must judge. Some suppose 200,000 twice told is meant, and then, following some historians, find that the number of Turkish warriors in the siege of Constantinople. Some think 200,000,000 to mean all the Turkish warriors during the 391 years fifteen days of their triumph over the Greeks.” Nothing can be affirmed on the point. And it is not at all essential.

Verse 17 “And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.”

The first part of this description may have reference to the appearance of these horsemen. Fire, representing a color, stands for red, “as red as fire” being a frequent term of expression; jacinth, or hyacinth, for blue; and brimstone, for yellow. These colors greatly predominated in the dress of these warriors; so that the description, according to this view, would be accurately met in the Turkish uniform, which was composed largely of red, or scarlet, blue, and yellow. The heads of the horses were in appearance as the heads of lions, to denote their strength, courage, and fierceness; while the last part of the verse undoubtedly has reference to the use of gunpowder and firearms for purposes of war, which were then but recently introduced. As the Turks discharged their firearms on horseback, it would appear to the distant beholder that the fire, smoke, and brimstone issued out of the horses’ mouths. DR 507-509. . .

This supremacy of the Mohammedans over the Greeks was to continue, as already noticed, three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days. “Commencing when the one hundred and fifty years ended in 1449, the period would end August 11, 1840. Judging from the manner of the commencement of the Ottoman supremacy, that it was by a voluntary acknowledgment on the part of the Greek emperor that he only reigned by permission of the Turkish sultan, we should naturally conclude that the fall or departure of the Ottoman independence would be brought about the same say; that at the end of the specified period [that is, on the 11th of August, 1840] the sultan would voluntarily surrender his independence into the hands of the Christian powers,” just as he had, three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days before, received it from the hands of the Christian emperor, Constantine XIII.

This conclusion was reached, and this application of the prophecy was made by Josiah Litch in 1838, two years before the expected event was to occur. In that year he predicted that the Turkish power would be overthrown “in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August;” but a few days before the fulfillment of the prophecy he concluded more definitely from his study that the period allotted to the Turks would come to an end on August 11, 1840. It was then purely a matter of calculation on the prophetic periods of Scripture. It is proper to inquire whether such events did take place according to the calculation. The matter sums itself up in the following inquiry:

When Did Mohammedan Independence in Constantinople End?—For several years previous to 1840, the sultan had been embroiled in war with Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt. “In 1838 there was a threatening of war between the sultan and his Egyptian vassal had he not been restrained by the influence of the foreign ambassadors. . . . In 1839 hostilities were again commenced, and were prosecuted until, in a general battle between the armies of the sultan and Mehemet, the sultan's army was entirely cut up and destroyed, and his fleet taken by Mehemet and carried into Egypt. So completely had the sultan's fleet been reduced, that, when hostilities commenced in August, he had only two first-rates and three frigates as the sad remains of the once powerful Turkish fleet. This fleet Mehemet positively refused to give up and return to the sultan, and declared if the powers attempted to take it from him, he would burn it. In this posture affairs stood, when, in 1840, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia interposed, and determined on a settlement of the difficulty; for it was evident, if let alone, Mehemet would soon become master of the sultan's throne.”

The sultan accepted this intervention of the great powers, and thus made a voluntary surrender of the question into their hands. A conference of these powers was held in London, the Sheik Effendi Bey Likgis being present as Ottoman plenipotentiary. An agreement was drawn up to be presented to the pasha of Egypt, whereby the sultan was to offer him the hereditary government of Egypt, and all that part of Syria extending from the Gulf of Suez to the Lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre, for life; he on his part to evacuate all other parts of the sultan's dominions then occupied by him, and to return the Ottoman fleet. In case he refused this offer from the sultan, the four powers were to take matters into their own hands, and use such other means to bring him to terms as they should see fit.

It is obvious that as soon as this ultimatum should be placed under the jurisdiction of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, the matter would be forever beyond the control of the Sultan, and the disposal of his affairs would, from that moment, be in the hands of foreign powers. The sultan dispatched Rifat Bey on a government steamer to Alexandria, to communicate the ultimatum to Mehemet Ali. The ultimatum was placed as his disposal on the eleventh day of August, 1840! On the same day, in Constantinople, a note was addressed by the sultan to the ambassadors of the four powers, inquiring what plan was to be adopted in case the pasha should refuse to comply with the terms of the ultimatum, to which they made answer that provision had been made, and there was no necessity of his alarming himself about any contingency that might arise.

The facts are substantiated by the following quotations:

“By the French steamer of the 24th, we have advices from Egypt to the 16th. They show no alteration in the resolution of the Pacha. Confiding in the valor of his Arab army, and in the strength of the fortifications which defend his capital, he seems determined to abide by the last alternative; and as recourse to this, therefore, is now inevitable, all hope may be considered as at an end of a termination of the affair without bloodshed. Immediately on the arrival of the Cyclops steamer with the news of the convention of the four powers, Mehemet Ali, it is stated, had quitted Alexandria, to make a short tour through Lower Egypt. The object of his absenting himself at such a moment being partly to avoid conferences with the European consuls, but principally to endeavor, by his own presence, to arouse the fanaticism of the Bedouin tribes, and facilitate the raising of his new levies. During the interval of this absence, the Turkish government steamer, which had reached Alexandria on the 11th, with the envoy Rifat Bey on board, had been by his orders placed in quarantine, and she was not released from it till the 16th. Previous, however, to the poet’s [boat's] leaving, and on the very day on which he [she] had been admitted to pratique, the above-named functionary had an audience of the Pacha, and had communicated to him the command of the Sultan, with respect to the evacuation of the Syrian provinces, appointing another audience for the next day, when, in the presence of the consuls of the European powers, he would receive from him his definite answer, and inform him of the alternative of his refusing to obey; giving him ten days which have been allotted him by the convention to decide the course he should think fit to adopt.” DR 512-515. . .

On August 11, 1840, the period of three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days, allotted to the continuance of the Ottoman power, ended; and where was the sultan's independence?--GONE! Who had the supremacy of the Ottoman empire in their hands?--The four great powers; and that empire has existed ever since only by the sufferance of these Christian powers. Thus was the prophecy fulfilled to the very letter. DR 517.

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In the Quran - Sura 3:3, it states: “He sent down to you this scripture, truthfully, confirming all previous scriptures, and He sent down the Torah and the Gospel.” As you can see by this verse, the Torah (Old Testament) Scriptures, were honored and valued. And Christ the Messiah is honored in Sura 3:45, “The angels said, ‘O Mary, GOD gives you good news: a Word from Him whose name is ‘The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary. He will be prominent in this life and in the Hereafter, and one of those closest to Me.’”

“Christ is the only power born among men who overcame temptation. He alone has the authority to bind the devil with His “key.” Since the “key” (authority) originates with God in heaven, it must be Christ who gives the “key” (authority) to the “star” of Revelation 9:1. This may seem startling, but consider these terms in Revelation 9:1 (given the “key”) and Revelation 20:1 (having the “key”) carefully and prayerfully, and I believe you will reach the same conclusion. Yes, God empowered Muhammad just as He empowered Nebuchadnezzar to do His strange work on apostate Israel. Muhammad was born in A.D. 570, and remember what happened in prophetic history that started in A.D. 538 and extended to 1798. This was the time of the 1260-year reign of papal power over the then-known civilized world.” Islam—God’s Forgotten Blessing, p. 39.

"In his travels in Bokhara he found the doctrine of the Lord's soon coming held by a remote and isolated people. The Arabs of Yemen, he says, ‘are in possession of a book called ‘Seera,' which gives notice of the coming of Christ and his reign in glory, and they expect great events to take place in the year 1840.' ‘In Yemen I spent six days with the Rechabites. They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab. With them were the children of Israel of the tribe of Dan, . . . who expect, in common with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven.'" Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, p 377, 389, from the Great Controversy p. 361, Para. 4.

Now let us take a look at current events, and what happened with 9-11, when the believers in Muhammad and others, were behind the destruction of the World Trade Center. Was this a fulfillment in modern times, of the Sword of the Lord doing a strange work on apostate America? America used to be a Protestant nation, men were God-fearing and most followed the teachings of the Bible. Now that has all changed, and most Christians are in a high state of apostasy, this includes both Sunday and Sabbath keepers.

The Plagues have been falling in drops for a long time, now it is becoming a torrent. Worldwide there are severe storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, drought, one after another getting more severe with each passing year.

The Sixth Plague of Revelation 16:12, “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” Will the followers of Muhammad again be used as the Sword of the Lord against the Beast? Will they punish and then be punished?

What does “the great river Euphrates” represent in modern times? A hint can be found in the Bible, as stated in Isaiah 34:9, NIV. “Edom's streams [Euphrates] will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!”

Revelation 21:8 [Bible in Basic English] (Isaiah 34:9) “And its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire.”

What is it in the land of the river Euphrates that the current War in Iraq is all about? How about OIL! You put these text together and you have the oil “dried up,’ or turning into “pitch.”

“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Revelation 11:18.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.” Revelation 19:11