A comet has been predicted to strike the Earth by the end of the year, on what a controversial religious leader called 'the last day of this world.'

The doomsday warning came from the writings of Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi, a Pakistani spiritual leader and mystic, who claimed that God was sending a comet to collide with Earth because humanity had strayed too far from spiritual truths.

He founded several organizations to spread his teachings of 'divine love,' including the spiritual movement called Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam and the Messiah Foundation International (MFI). 

The prophecy, recorded in Gohar Shahi’s 2000 book 'The Religion of God,' states: 'A comet has been sent towards Earth for total destruction. The comet is expected to fall on Earth in the next 20-25 years. That will be the last day of this world.'

According to Gohar Shahi's followers in the MFI, the coming comet strike would unleash massive earthquakes, tsunamis, and widespread societal collapse, marking the end of the current world order. 

This celestial judgment, the followers claimed, stems from humanity's moral decay, including endless wars fueled by nuclear weapons and the relentless destruction of one another over minor differences.

Despite the warning, NASA and other space agencies have not announced any objects that are projected to threaten Earth before the calendar turns to 2026.

Several comets and asteroids, including the infamous space rock Apophis, have recently been removed from NASA's list of objects that had a slim chance of striking the planet. However, none were projected to reach Earth anytime soon.

Gohar Shahi mysteriously disappeared just one year after the book's release while in London in September 2001.

However, his followers continue to maintain that the spiritual leader, who would be 84 today, is still alive and is currently in hiding from the world.

Over two decades ago, Gohar Shahi added that the signs of this doomsday comet had already been seen in the solar system, with part of the space rock allegedly striking our distant neighbor, Jupiter.

'A fragment of the comet had already fallen on Jupiter, two years ago. The scientists are aware of this, and they plan to settle on the Moon or any other planet before the comet falls,' he claimed in the book.

Despite his detailed account of the comet's path, the only significant collision to take place at Jupiter before the book's publication occurred in 1994, when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was torn apart and pulled in by the massive planet's gravity.

Meanwhile, the most noteworthy object currently traveling through our solar system in 2025 and 2026 is the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS, which is projected to still be 170million miles away when it reaches its closest point to Earth on December 19.

Despite no obvious signs that Gohar Shahi's will be correct, a recent study did warn that Venus can potentially block our view of incoming asteroids, which have been hiding in the sun's glare, although there is no proof that it is happening right now.

At the heart of Gohar Shahi's teachings was the idea that true spirituality lies in divine love, a universal force uniting all religions. 

He blended Sufism, a mystical dimension of Islam, and Islamic eschatology, the religious focus on end times and the final destiny of the soul.

Gohar Shahi blamed world leaders for squandering billions on the still-ongoing space races and lunar missions instead of alleviating poverty, arguing that such greed has severed ties with divine love and invited God's wrath.

'If they are making all these efforts for scientific research, what is the benefit to humanity even if they have reached the Moon and Jupiter? Have they discovered a breakthrough medicine which can prolong the ageing process, or a medicine that can defeat death?' the religious leader questioned in his book.

However, the alleged prophet sparked fierce controversy among orthodox Muslims by claiming to be the awaited Imam Mehdi, Jesus Christ returned, and even the Hindu Kalki Avatar, which critics branded as blasphemous heresy.

In Pakistan, his claims led to blasphemy charges and a nationwide ban on his books and organizations in 2000.

The controversial religious leader's prophecy has resurfaced in the months following false claims that the biblical event known as the Rapture would take place on September 23.

The prediction by Pastor Joshua Mhlakela, a South African preacher, went viral and even influenced some believers to sell all of their belongings, thinking they were about to be instantly taken away from Earth to avoid Judgment Day.