بسم
الله الرحمن الرحيم
نحمده
ونصلى على رسوله الكريم
The
figure of Imam al-Mahdi (Allah be pleased with him) has raised quite a
storm of controvery in our day and age among the Muslim community. On the one
hand, there are those modernists and materialists who dislike the concept of a
future messianic figure whose purpose will be to restore justice in the
world and rejuvenate Islam. Many so called “Islamic” sects and parties outright
deny the concept of the Mahdi, claiming it is a Shi’ite concoction that has no
basis in the Holy Qur’an. This is especially true of the so called Ahl-al-Qur’an
(“Qur’anist”) sects who without exception deny the concept of the Mahdi.
Some
Muslim states, regimes and governments are also fearful of the concept of a
Mahdi, and this has been historically true of tyrannical Muslim dynasties like
the Umayyads. In their systems of education they downplay or altogether omit
the mention of the promised Mahdi. They are fearful that this idea may lead to
religious uprisings against the tyranny of the regime centered around a
charismatic figure whom the public may rally around understanding him to be the
Mahdi or Messiah. At present, the Saudi royal family which rules over Arabia is
perhaps most fearful of the concept of Mahdi, particularly considering what
happened in 1979 when the “Mahdist” cult associated with Juhayman al-Utaibi
seized control of the sacred Ka’ba in order to bring about the downfall of the
Saudi regime.
The
establishment ‘Ulema likewise seek to maintain their monopoly over the
religious and spiritual leadership of the Muslim Ummah and are nervous about
Mahdi claimants who cause disruption and schisms among their blind-followers.
Nevertheless,
the creed of the true Ahlus Sunnati wal-Jama’ah is that the idea of the
Mahdi is true, and there are numerous authentic Hadith which predict his advent
and describe his characteristics. These Hadith when examined closely
collectively (and not in isolation of each other) give us a clearer picture
about the Mahdi. We know that he is to be from the Ahl al-Bayt (Prophetic
Household), from the Prophet’s progeny through his beloved daughter Fatima
(Allah be pleased with her). He is described as having a broad forehead and an
aquiline nose, differing from the Prophet (peace be upon him) in physical
appearance, but resembling him in character and personality traits.
Furthermore, he will come to spread justice in an unjust world full of tyrannical
and oppressive governments.
It
is reported that one of the signs for the appearance of the Mahdi will be seen
in the heavens, such as a lunar and solar eclipse occurring in the holy month
of Ramadan.
Some
Hadith suggest that the Messiah (second coming of Jesus) and the Mahdi are
synonymous. For example the Hadith recorded in the Sunan of Ibn Maja:
لَا الْمَهْدِيُّ
إِلَّا عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ
“There is no Mahdi except Jesus son of Mary”
Although
there is weakness in the Sanad of this Hadith, an authentic Hadith
confirms that Jesus in his second coming is described as the Mahdi:
يُوشِكُ مَنْ عَاشَ
مِنْكُمْ أَنْ يَلْقَى عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ إِمَامًا مَهْدِيًّا ، وَحَكَمًا
عَدْلًا ، فَيَكْسِرُ الصَّلِيبَ ، وَيَقْتُلُ الْخِنْزِيرَ ، وَيَضَعُ
الْجِزْيَةَ ، وَتَضَعُ الْحَرْبُ أَوْزَارَهَا
“Whoever lives (long) among you will meet Jesus son of
Mary, Imam, Mahdi, a just arbiter. He will break the cross, slay the
swine, abolish the Jizya and put an end to war”
(Musnad of Imam Ahmad)
The
eminent Tabi (student of the Sahaba), and exegete, Mujahid b. Jabr (d. 722 C.E)
likewise stated:
الْمَهْدِيُّ عِيسَى
ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ
“The Mahdi is Jesus son of Mary”
(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba; Kitab-uz-Zuhd)
To
summarize this point, as we have repeatedly proven elsewhere on this blog
concerning the natural death of the original Jesus of Nazareth, the prophecy of
his second coming is best understood as the appearance of a righteous person
from within this Ummah who will be his resemblance. The above-cited Hadith and
reports suggest that it is the figure of the promised Mahdi, a man from within
the Ummah and from the progeny of the Prophet, who will fulfill the role of
Jesus’s second coming.
Apart
from those confused and mistaken Muslims, usually modernists, who deny
altogether the concept of the Mahdi, there are those on the opposite end of the
spectrum who have mythologized the Mahdi. They are the Shi’ites along with some
extreme and esoteric Sufis. They often describe the Mahdi as having supernatural
abilities. For example, the Ithna Ashari sect of Shi’a believe that the Mahdi
is Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-‘Askari. According to them, the eleventh Imam,
al-Hasan al-Askari, had a son who was born in secrecy to protect him from the
tyrannical Abbasid government. The Twelver Shi’a believe he went into Ghayba
(occultation), but is still alive, even though a millenia has passed
without his having re-appeared.
However,
many scholars and historians seriously doubt the existence of a son born to the
eleventh Imam. For example, a faction of the Imamiyah Shi’a disavowed the
Imamate of the eleventh Imam al-Hasan al-‘Askari because he died without a son.
They therefore claimed that he was not a true Imam, but that the true eleventh
Imam was his brother Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Hadi.
According
to the admission of the Twelver Shi’a themselves:
“Having
noted these two things, it must be pointed out that it was certainly decreed by
God that in such a threatening environment and in such a home of importance a
son had to be born to Imam Hasan 'Askari who should remain protected from all
sorts of dangers. It was for this reason that all necessary precautions had to
be taken. Hence, to begin with, according to the related accounts, there
were no signs of pregnancy in his mother. Moreover, Imam Hasan 'Askari did
not reveal her real name. In addition, at the time of the delivery only Hakima
Khatun, and probably some slave girls were present. This is despite the fact
that usually in such circumstances assistance is sought from a midwife and
other experienced women. In fact, nobody knew whether Imam Hasan 'Askari was
married or not and, if he was married, no one knew the identity of his wife.”
Now
it is quite interesting that on one hand the Twelver Shi’a admit that there
were no signs of pregnancy in the eleventh Imam’s alleged wife and mother of
the so called twelfth Imam, and on the other hand, a faction of the Imamiya Shi’a
at the time rejected the Imamate of al-Hasan al-‘Askari because he died without
issue. These are just some of the many compelling reasons to strongly doubt the
existence of the so called twelfth Imam Muhammad b. al-Hasan. Rather, what
appears to be the case is that the story of the birth of a son to al-Hasan al-‘Askari
was invented by influential leaders within the movement, who, claiming to be
his agents, collected the Khums from the Shi’a community on his behalf.
The
concept of the Ghayba (occultation) of the Imam al-Mahdi has no basis in
Sunni tradition. Rather it was invented as a
justification to deny the death of various Imams that were absent. For example,
the Kaysaniya Shi’a sect first made use of this idea of Ghayba when the Imam
Muhammad b. al-Hanafiya died. A faction of the Kaysanites denied that Muhammad
b. al-Hanafiya (Rahimahullah) had died, instead claiming that he had
gone into occultation on Mount Radwa near the sacred city of Medina. Likewise,
a faction of Shi’ites denied the apparent death of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (Rahimahullah)
and believed he had gone into occultation. Known as the Tawusiya, they attributed
the following saying to Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq: “If you see my head rolling to
you from the mountain, you should not believe that, for I am your Sahib.”
Likewise,
the infamous Waqifa sect of Shi’a claimed that the seventh Imam, Musa
al-Kadim (Rahimahullah) did not die but went into occultation.
The
Tayyibi subsect of Isma’ili Shi’a believe that their twenty-first Imam,
al-Tayyib b. al-Mansur, did not die but went into occultation. They are still
in existence, though divided into many branches such as the Bohra communities.
They are governed by the office of the Da’i al-Mutlaq who acts as an
agent of the twenty-first Imam for the duration of his occultation.
According
to a Hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) described the Mahdi as having the
name Muhammad son of ‘Abdullah, when he said:
اسْمُهُ اسْمِي وَاسْمُ
أَبِيهِ اسْمَ أَبِي
“His name is my name, and his father’s name is my
father’s name”
(Sunan Abi Dawud)
This
Hadith has been cited as evidence for the identity of the Mahdi as being the
great Imam Nafs al-Zakiya, Muhammad b. ‘Abdullah, a descendant of the Prophet’s
beloved grandson al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (Allah be pleased with him). He led an
uprising against the tyrannical Abbasids in the holy city of Medina in the
mid-8th century, C.E.
A
faction of Imamiya Shi’a known as the Fathiya or Aftahiya considered the
legitimate seventh Imam to be ‘Abdullah b. Ja’far al-Aftah. He apparently died
without issue, resulting in most of his followers rejoining the Shi’a
mainstream under the leadership of Imam Musa b. Ja’far. However, a faction of
the Fathite Shi’a believed that Imam ‘Abdullah had a son named Muhammad, and
claimed that he was the Mahdi, as he bore the name Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah. It
is interesting to see how another faction of Shi’a (the Fathites) before today’s
Ithna Ashariya emerged, had likewise invented a son for an Imam who apparently
died without issue, and then claimed that that son (also named Muhammad) was
the hidden Imam and Mahdi and is in occultation.
More
recently, Sayyid Muhammad Ahmad, son of ‘Abdullah, (1844 – 1885), and a
descendant of the Prophet (peace be upon him) through his grandson al-Hasan,
claimed to be the Mahdi and led an insurrection against the British in the Sudan.
However,
his rebellion was crushed, and six months after the British captured Khartoum,
he died of typhus. He instead became the founder of a new Silsilah known
as the Mahdiya or “Mahdists”, who till this day have an influential
position in Sudanese society.
Yet
another “Mahdist” sect are the followers of Syed Muhammad Jaunpuri (1443 – 1505). His
father’s name was ‘Abdullah, and he was a descendant of the Prophet (peace be
upon him) through the progeny of Imam Musa al-Kadim. His movement is still in
existence, including the Zikri sect found in the province of
Baluchistan.
In
modern times there have been many Mahdi claimants, most of them
inconsequential, though some having made an impact on history. We have already
mentioned in brief the seizure of the sacred Ka’ba in 1979 by Juhayman al-‘Utaibi,
who claimed that his brother in law, Muhammad b. ‘Abdullah al-Qahtani, was the
awaited Mahdi.
Hadrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908 C.E), founder of the successful Ahmadiyyah
movement, likewise claimed to be the Mahdi, and cited the occurrence of the
lunar and solar eclipse in the month of Ramadan in the year 1894 as a great
Heavenly Sign for the veracity of his claim. Nevertheless, his claim of being
the Mahdi (lit. “guided one”) was more in a linguistic sense from the meaning
of the title, and focused more on his claim of being the Promised Messiah. For
this reason, Ghulam Ahmad stated:
میرا یہ
دعوی نہیں ہے کہ میں وہ مہدی ہوں جو مصداق
من ولد فاطمة ومن عترتی وغیرہ
ہے
“I do not claim to be that Mahdi for whom it is said ‘from the
children of Fatima and from my progeny’, etc.”
Reference:
Ruhani Khaza’in; v. 21, p. 356
Regarding
the advent of such a Mahdi as described by the literal purport of the Hadith,
Ghulam Ahmad said:
اور ممکن ہے کہ امام محمدص کے نام پر بھی کوئی
مہدی ظاہر ہو
“It is
possible that a Mahdi with the name Imam Muhammad (S) will appear”
Reference: Ruhani Khaza’in; v. 3, p. 379
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