Universality of the Mahdi's Mission

V. the Mahdi in Muslim Traditions

With the exception of a small Salafi group, both the Caliphate and Imamte schools of thought believe in the coming of the Mahdi before End times. The Hadiths from the Prophet in this respect are too numerous and authenticated enough to defy. A slight difference however exits regarding whether the Mahdi was born or he will be born in the future.

Without being able to justify/identify the twelve rightful Caliphs, the Caliphate school followers sometimes raise feeble objections concerning the Imam's long life, the purpose of his occultation, and the like. Such objections cannot withstand any critiquing in the light of the Quran and the authentic Sunnah. A number of scholars thoroughly debated this matter7,8,9. I trust some speakers in this conference will address it, too.

VI. The Messiah in the Judo-Christian Texts

When Jesus started his mission, some Jews believed in him as being the Messiah. The original Old Testament must have spoken about this important prophecy. It is well known that Jesus did not come to change the Laws of Torah. Jesus' native language was Aramaic. Neither he nor any of his disciples wrote a book in this language. The New Testament was later written in Creek.

The Jews, who rejected Jesus, accused him of blasphemy. That was a sufficient accusation to justify the spilling of his blood. God in the Heaven raised him to protect him. Of course the Christians contend that he was crucified for the atonement of children of Adam's sins. Similar to the contemporary afore-mentioned stance towards the Mahdi, the Children of Israel were divided into two main groups. The Jews have long been waiting for the Messiah for their redemption. The Christians expect the (second) coming of Jesus.

In mid February 2008, I spoke at a Conference held in Qum on the contributions of (the late) Allamah Muhammad Jawad Al-Balaghi and highlighted the fact that he mastered the Hebrew and English languages to delineate a number of Islamic perspectives in the (present) Old and New Testaments - prophecies about Imam Mahdi was one of them.

Similar to the late Al-Balaghi who composed poetry on the Mahdi, millions send their daily salutation to him10,11. Here, I refer the researcher to a number of short clips12 on this subject, developed by the Turkish Muslim scholar - Harun Yahya. As a herald for a humanity that is preparing to greet its Saviour, my only hope is that this research paper will spin further interests.

VII. Concluding Remarks

1. The Book of Allah in its written form makes the universal message of Islam fairly known to the Muslims/non-Muslims who can read Arabic with understanding. Exhorting the believers to reach a higher understanding, Allah expects them to ponder at the deeper meaning of His last message to mankind. At this higher level, Muslim scholars have put excellent efforts to elucidate the deeper meanings of the Quran's verses.

Voluminous books were written for what is called Tafseer, i.e. interpretation. When it comes to the meanings intended by Allah, they are inaccessible except to the chosen Imams. Both the Quran and the practice of previous messengers naturally lead to the belief in Imamate. None but the purified can comprehend the Quran that is in the sight of Allah. Therefore, at this highest level of understanding Ta'weel becomes necessary.

2. True, neither the name of the first nor the last, nor any other Imam is being mentioned in the Quran. But, the Quran infers that Imam Ali is the one who possesses the knowledge of the Book. It also refers the Muslims to those who know the Ta'weel - i.e. the actual meanings of the revelation as intended by Allah. The Muslims contemporary to the Prophet Muhammad unanimously agreed that Ahlul Bait, i.e. the household of the Prophet as being introduced in the verses of Tatheer and Mubahalah, are the ones whom Allah entrusted with His knowledge - especially as it pertains to the implementation of justice in man's life.

It has become Mutawatar in the science of Hadith that the Prophet, not only appointed Imam Ali as a Vicegerent, but also declared the Imamate of his grandsons Hassan and Hussain, and the 9 Imams from Hussain's progeny. It was only the will of Allah on which the Prophet acted. This was very similar to giving his only daughter Fatimah in marriage to his cousin. Thus, the appointed 12th Imam (Muhammad bin Al-Hassan) was being introduced by the Prophet himself long before his birth in 255 AH.

3. Similar to the persecuted Israelite prophets, the Prophet of Islam's household have endured unimaginable suffering. The same way the mother of Moses had to put her newborn in a box (see Ark of the Covenant below) and throw him in the Nile River, Imam Mahdi's father had to hide his son from the henchmen of the ruling Caliph. But, the Imam was properly introduced to a close circle of 40 disciples.

After the poisoning of his father in 260 AH, the Imam executed his duties through four special representatives for 69 years. Since 329 AH, the Imam has been in occultation waiting for Allah's permission to appear for the eventual implementation of justice. His mission is undoubtedly universal.

As a minor resurrection, the Imam's appearance represents Islam's revival. For the divine knowledge he inherited, he is a true partner of the Quran. Only he knows the Ta'weel of the confuted (Mutashabahat) verses. The Muhkamat verses are self explanatory for the learned.

Quoting the Quran on the resurrection of a prophet 100 years after his death, and bringing back to life the youths of the Cave after 300 years, are proofs that the Middle resurrection is not a Shi'ah invention (as some ignorant call it). Raj'ah simply means the coming of specific persons back to life - by the leave of Allah.

Some of these are pious (like the above examples) and others could be ordinary witnesses (like the dead whom Moses smite by the tail of a slaughtered cow).

The ultimate judge is always Allah. The majority of the wrongdoers will undoubtedly be sentenced on the day of reckoning. However, the Quran declares that the ones who have persistently committed heinous crimes will have two deaths and two resurrections.

Imam Mahdi will bring such to the book, especially if they were the ones who laid the foundation of persecution of Ahlul Bait and subsequently caused the tragedy of Karbala.