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In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi (Arabic: مهدي / ISO 233: mahdī / English: Guided One) is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or nineteen years- (according to various interpretations)[1] before the Day of Judgment (yawm al-qiyamah / literally, the Day of Resurrection)[2] and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.[3]
In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious idea" and closely related as the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, whose return from occultation is deemed analogous with the coming of the Mahdi.[4]
In Sunni traditions, there are several hadiths referring to the Mahdi.[5]
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The mahdi is frequently mentioned in Sunni hadiths as establishing the caliphate. Among Sunnis, some believe the Mahdi will be an ordinary man, born to an ordinary woman.
"The guided (Mahdi) from us (nation of Muhammed) God reform him in one night, or guide him" Many Sunnis believe that Mahdi must repent to God or something like that so God forgive him and guide him. The believe is that night might change many things in his life, Mahdi later must know that something is happening to him. Though the true Mahdi will never proclaim that!
The world will not come to an end until the Arabs are ruled by a man from my family whose name is the same as mine and whose father’s name is the same as my father’s.[6]
His [the Mahdi's] aim is to establish a moral system from which all superstitious faiths have been eliminated. In the same way that students enter Islam, so unbelievers will come to believe.[7]
When the Mahdi appears, God will cause such power of vision and hearing to be manifested in believers that the Mahdi will call to the whole world from where he is, with no postman involved, and they will hear and even see him.[8]
I heard the Messenger of God say: "The Mahdi is of my lineage and family […]".[9]
The Messenger of God said: "He is one of us […]"[10]
The Messenger of God said: "The Mahdi is of my lineage, with a high forehead and a long, thin, curved nose. He will fill the earth with fairness and justice as it was filled with oppression and injustice, and he will rule for seven years.[11]
The Messenger of God said: "At the end of the time of my ummah, the Mahdi will appear. God will grant him rain, the earth will bring forth its fruits, he will give a lot of money, cattle will increase and the ummah will become great. He will rule for seven or eight years.[12]
A typical modernist in his views on the Mahdi, Abul Ala Maududi (1903–1979), the Pakistani Islamic revivalist, stated that the Mahdi will be a modern Islamic reformer/statesman, who will unite the Ummah and revolutionise the world according to the ideology of Islam, but will never claim to be the Mahdi, instead receiving posthumous recognition as such.[13]
Among those Islamic scholars who wholly reject the Mahdi doctrine are Allama Tamanna Imadi (1888–1972),[14] Allama Habibur Rahman Kandhalvi,[15] Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (1951- ),[16] and Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938).[17]
Sir Muhammad Iqbal wrote:
As I think, the concept of the Mahdi, Masih and Mujaddad is a completely Iranian and Ajmi perception. This concept has no link to the Qur'an, Islam and Arabic perceptions.[17]
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi writes in his Mizan:
Besides these, the coming of the Mahdi and that of Jesus from the heavens are also regarded as signs of the Day of Judgment. I have not mentioned them. The reason is that the narratives of the coming of the Mahdi do not conform to the standards of hadith criticism set forth by the muhaddithun. Some of them are weak and some fabricated; no doubt, some narratives, which are acceptable with regard to their chain of narration, inform us of the coming of a generous caliph; (Muslim, No: 7318) however, if they are deeply deliberated upon, it becomes evident that the caliph they refer to is Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz who was the last caliph of the early history of the Muslims. This prediction of the Prophet has thus materialized in his personality, word for word. One need not wait for any other Mahdi now.
In Shia Islam "the Mahdi symbol has developed into a powerful and central religious idea."[1] Twelver Shia Muslims believe that the Mahdi is Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, who was born in 869 CE and was hidden by God at the age of five (874 CE). He is still alive but has been in occultation, "awaiting the time that God has decreed for his return".
According to Moojan Momen, Shia traditions state that the Mahdi be "a young man of medium stature with a handsome face" and black hair and beard. "He will not come in an odd year [...] will appear in Mecca between the corner of the Kaaba and the station of Abraham and people will witness him there.[18]
The Twelfth Imam will return as the Mahdi with "a company of his chosen ones," and his enemies will be led by the one-eyed Antichrist and the Sufyani. The two armies will fight "one final apocalyptic battle" where the Mahdi and his forces will prevail over evil. After the Mahdi has ruled Earth for a number of years, Isa will return.[19]
Muhammad said:
The Mahdi is the protector of the knowledge, the heir to the knowledge of all the prophets, and is aware of all things.[20][21]
The dominion (authority) of the Mahdi is one of the proofs that God has created all things; these are so numerous that his [the Mahdi's] proofs will overcome (will be influential, will be dominant) everyone and nobody will have any counter-proposition against him.[22]
People will flee from him [the Mahdi] as sheep flee from the shepherd. Later, people will begin to look for a purifier. But since they can find none to help them but him, they will begin to run to him.[23]
When matters are entrusted to competent [the Mahdi], Almighty God will raise the lowest part of the world for him, and lower the highest places. So much that he will see the whole world as if in the palm of his hand. Which of you cannot see even a single hair in the palm of his hand?[24]
In the time of the Mahdi, a Muslim in the East will be able to see his Muslim brother in the West, and he in the West will see him in the East.[25]
Sadir al-Sayrafi says: I heard from Imam Abu Abdullah Jafar al-Sadiq that: ... He whose rights have been taken away and who is denied (hazrat* mahdi (as)) will walk among them, move through their markets and walk where they walk. but they will not recognize hazrat mahdi (as) until Allah gives them leave to recognize him, just as He did with the Prophet Yusuf (as).[26]
Muhammad al-Baqir, the Fourth (Isma'ili) or Fifth (Twelver) Imam said of the Mahdi:
The Master of the Command was named as the Mahdi because he will dig out the Torah and other heavenly books from the cave in Antioch. He will judge among the people of the Torah according to the Torah; among the people of the Gospel according to the Gospel; among the people of the Psalms in accordance with the Psalms; among the people of the Qur'an in accordance with the Qur'an.
Ja'far al-Sadiq, the Sixth Imam, made the following prophecies:
Abu Bashir says: When I asked Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, "O son of the Messenger of God! Who is the Mahdi (qa'im) of your clan (ahl al-bayt)?", he replied: "The Mahdi will conquer the world; at that time the world will be illuminated by the light of God, and everywere in which those other than God are worshipped will become places where God is worshiped; and even if the polytheists do not wish it, the only faith on that day will be the religion of God.[27]
Sadir al-Sayrafi says: I heard from Imam Abu Abdullah Ja'far al-Sadiq that: Our modest Imam, to whom this occultation belongs [the Mahdi], who is deprived of and denied his rights, will move among them and wander through their markets and walk where they walk, but they will not recognize him.[28]
Abu Bashir says: I heard Imam Muhammad al-Baqr say: "He said: When the Mahdi appears he will follow in the path of the Messenger of God. Only he [the Mahdi] can explain the works of the Messenger of God.[29]
The face of the Mahdi shall shine upon the surface of the Moon.[30]
According to Moojan Momen, among the most commonly reported signs that presage the advent of the Mahdi in Shia Islam are the following:
While portents that tell of natural calamities and wars can be rejected by some scholars simply on the grounds that “history repeats itself”, suggesting that sooner or later such events are bound to take place everywhere, the book “Nawaib Dahoor Alaim Zuhoor”, also relates some remarkable portents most of which could not possibly have happened before in history. This book by Hassan Mir Jahaani collects about 10,000 Hadith of the Twelver Shia Imams regarding the reappearance of the 12th Imam Mahdi from earliar Twelver Shia collections on the same topic, e.g. “Ikmaluddin wa Tamamuniemat” by Shaikh Saduq died 381 AH; “Kitab e Ghaibat by Shaikh Mufeed, 4th century AH; Ghaibat e Tusi by Shaikh Tusi, died 460 AH etc. Although the Shia scholars began their work in the same century as the Major Occultation (Ghaibat) of the 12th Imam, 329 AH (941 AD), still, however, sunni scholars reject their prophesies as they believe that these hadith do not conform to the standards of hadith criticism set forth by the Sunni muhaddithun. This set of standards is in turn rejected by Shia scholars. There are some outstanding prophesies mentioned in “Nawaib Dahoor Alaim Zuhoor” that are said to happen very "close" to the time of the "red and white deaths" a few of which are mentioned below:
The Mahdi is one of us, the clan of the Prophet. God will reform him in one night.(Reported by Imam Ahmad and Ibn Maqah)
The Mahdi is from my Ummah; he will be born and live to rule five or seven or nine years. (If) one goes to him and says, "Give me (a charity)", he will fill one’s garment with what one needs.
The Mahdi will be of my stock, and will have a broad forehead, a prominent nose. He will fill the earth with equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny, and he will rule for seven years.
The mahdi is frequently mentioned in Sunni hadiths as establishing the caliphate. Among Sunnis, some believe the Mahdi will be an ordinary man, born to an ordinary woman.
The world will not come to an end until the Arabs are ruled by a man from my family whose name is the same as mine and whose father’s name is the same as my father’s.[31]
His [the Mahdi's] aim is to establish a moral system from which all superstitious faiths have been eliminated. In the same way that students enter Islam, so unbelievers will come to believe.[32]
When the Mahdi appears, God will cause such power of vision and hearing to be manifested in believers that the Mahdi will call to the whole world from where he is, with no postman involved, and they will hear and even see him.[33]
I heard the Messenger of God say: "The Mahdi is of my lineage and family […]".[34]
The Messenger of God said: "He is one of us […]"[35]
The Messenger of God said: "The Mahdi is of my lineage, with a high forehead and a long, thin, curved nose. He will fill the earth with fairness and justice as it was filled with oppression and injustice, and he will rule for seven years.[36]
The Messenger of God said: "At the end of the time of my ummah, the Mahdi will appear. God will grant him rain, the earth will bring forth its fruits, he will give a lot of money, cattle will increase and the ummah will become great. He will rule for seven or eight years.[37]
A typical modernist in his views on the Mahdi, Abul Ala Maududi (1903–1979), the Pakistani Islamic revivalist, stated that the Mahdi will be a modern Islamic reformer/statesman, who will unite the Ummah and revolutionise the world according to the ideology of Islam, but will never claim to be the Mahdi, instead receiving posthumous recognition as such.[38]
Among those Islamic scholars who wholly reject the Mahdi doctrine are Allama Tamanna Imadi (1888–1972),[39] Allama Habibur Rahman Kandhalvi,[40] Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (1951- ),[41] and Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938).[17]
Sir Muhammad Iqbal wrote:
As I think, the concept of the Mahdi, Masih and Mujaddad is a completely Iranian and Ajmi perception. This concept has no link to the Qur'an, Islam and Arabic perceptions.[17]
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi writes in his Mizan:
Besides these, the coming of the Mahdi and that of Jesus from the heavens are also regarded as signs of the Day of Judgment. I have not mentioned them. The reason is that the narratives of the coming of the Mahdi do not conform to the standards of hadith criticism set forth by the muhaddithun. Some of them are weak and some fabricated; no doubt, some narratives, which are acceptable with regard to their chain of narration, inform us of the coming of a generous caliph; (Muslim, No: 7318) however, if they are deeply deliberated upon, it becomes evident that the caliph they refer to is Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz who was the last caliph of the early history of the Muslims. This prediction of the Prophet has thus materialized in his personality, word for word. One need not wait for any other Mahdi now.
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (1503–1566), in his fatwa entitled The Brief Discourse on the Portents of the Awaited Mahdi, said that denial of the Mahdi is disbelief.
Jalaluddin Al-Suyuti, in his The Rose Fragrance Concerning the Reports of the Mahdi, wrote: "This is the belief of Ahl al-sunnah, this is the belief of the Sufis, this is the belief of our sheikhs, and this is the belief of the true Shadhili sheikhs, whose path both Al-Suyuti and Al-Haytami followed. Whoever differs with them is a liar and an innovator."
In Ahmadiyya Islam, the terms "Messiah" and "Mahdi" are synonymous terms for one and the same person. Like the term Messiah which, among other meanings, in essence means being anointed by God or appointed by God the term "Mahdi" means guided by God, thus both imply a direct ordainment and a spiritual nurturing by God of a divinely chosen individual. According to Ahmadiyya thought, Messiahship is a phenomenon, through which a special emphasis is given on the transformation of a people by way of offering suffering for the sake of God instead of giving suffering (i.e. refraining from revenge). Ahmadis believe that this special emphasis was given through the person of Jesus and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad [42] among others.
Ahmadis hold that the prophesied eschatological figures of various religions, the coming of the Messiah and Mahdi in fact were to be fulfilled in one person who was to represent all previous prophets.[43] The prophecies concerning the Mahdi or the second coming of Jesus are seen by Ahmadis as metaphorical, in that one was to be born and rise within the dispensation of Muhammad, who by virtue of his similarity and affinity with Jesus of Nazareth, and the similarity in nature, temperament and disposition of the people of Jesus' time and the people of the time of the promised one (the Mahdi) is called by the same name. As the beliefs of all Muslims seems to be fulfilled yet in one person. Numerous Hadith are presented by the Ahmadis in support of their view such as one from Sunan Ibn Majah which says:
| “ | There is No Mahdi but Jesus son of Mary | ” |
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—Ibn Majah, Bab, Shahadatu-Zaman |
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Ahmadis believe that the prophecies concerning the Mahdi and the second coming of Jesus have been fulfilled in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (1835–1908) the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement. Contrary to mainstream Islam the Ahmadis do not believe that Jesus is alive in heaven, but that he survived the crucifixion and migrated toward the east where he died a natural death and that Ghulam Ahmad was only the promised spiritual second coming and likeness of Jesus, the promised Messiah and Mahdi.
In their book, Al Mahdi and the End of Time, Muhammad ibn Izzat and Muhammad Arif, two well-known Egyptian authors, identify the Mahdi in the Book of Revelation, quoting the hadith narrator Ka'ab al-Ahbar.
In one place, they write,
“I find the Mahdi recorded in the books of the Prophets… For instance, the Book of Revelation says: “And I saw and behold a white horse. He that sat on him […] went forth conquering and to conquer.”
Ibn Izzat and Arif then go on to say:
Various individuals have claimed to be the Mahdi. Similar to the notion of a Messiah in the Judeo-Christian religions, the notion of a Mahdi as a redeemer to establish a society has lent itself to various interpretations leading to different claims within minorities or by individuals within Islam.
A number of people have been claimed to be the Mahdi by their followers or supporters, including:
In 2011, an academic paper on polymers appeared in the journal Macromolecular Research (co-published with Springer), claiming to be written by Mahdi Moeud Ajjalallah (literally, "The promised Mahdi, may God hasten [his appearance]", as the first author, and Mohammad Reza Rostami Daronkola, as the second author.[52] Another paper with the same two authors was published online by Journal of Polymer Research, published by Springer Netherlands.[53] Mr Rostami Daronkola, a former[54] Assistant Professor at Tarbiat Modares University, when asked about the inserted coauthor, said "Why shouldn't the Imam of the Time, who is omnipresent, be present at chemistry labs?"[55] Tarbiat Modares University has protested the publication of the article, calling the act "offensive".[54] The faculty members of the university have also asked for a retraction of the article, saying that the name of the university has been "abused".[54]
Recently, Springer Publisher has responded as following:
"The result of our inquiry is that the corresponding author indeed used the name of the 12th imam, which is incorrect and not acceptable."
The editor-in-chief decided to withdraw the paper. At the moment they are preparing a retraction paper, which will be published and linked with the original paper. Additionally a grey watermark will be added on the PDF of the original article, which says that the paper is retracted. And the title of the paper will be updated. It will take a little bit of time until everything is done. (For scientific reasons, e.g. if someone has quoted the paper already, it’s not possible to remove it completely.)"