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Al-Mahdi is not only an embodiment of the Islamic belief but he is also the symbol of an aspiration cherished by mankind irrespective of its divergent religous doctrines. He is also the crystallisation of an instructive inspiration through which all people, regardless of their religious affiliations, have learnt to await a day when heavenly mission, with all their implications , will achieve their final goal and the tiring march of humanity across history will culiminate satisfactorily in peace and tranqulity. This consciousness of the expected future has not been confined to those who believe in the supernatural phenomena but has also been reflected in the ideologies and cults which totally deny the existence of what is imperceptible. For example, dialectical materialism which interprets history on the basis of contradictions believes that a day will come when all contradictions will disappear and complete peace and tranqulity will prevail. Thus we find that this contradiction experienced throughout history is one of the widest and the commonest psychological experience of humanity. The religion when it endorses this common consciousness and stresses that in the long run this world will be filled with justice and equity after having been filled with injustice and oppression, gives it a factual value and converts it into a definite belief in the future course of humanity. This belief is not merely a source of consolation, but it is also a source of virtue and strength. It is a source of virtue because the belief in Mahdi means the total elimination of injustice and oppresion prevailing in the world. It is a source of inexhaustabile strength because it provides hope which enables man to resist frustration, howsoever, hopeless and dismal the circumstances may be. The belief in the appointed day proves that it is possible for the forces of justice to face the world filled with injustice and oppression, to prevail upon the forces of injustice and to reconstruct the world order. After all prevalance of injustice, howsoever dominant and extensive it may become is an abnormal state and must in the long run be eliminated. The prospect of its elimination after reaching its climax, infuses a great hope in every persecuted individual and every oppresed nation that it is still possible to change the state of affairs. Although the concept of the Mahdi is more wide spreadthan the Muslim community, yet its detailed features, as determined by Islam, meet more fully aa the aspirations attached to it since the dawn of history. They are in greater conformity with
the feelings and sentiments of the oppressed and the presecuted of all times. It is Islam which has given a concrete shape to an abstract idea. It is no longer necessary to look forward to an unknown saviour who may come into the world at a distant future.
The saviour is already here and we simply have to look for the day when the circumstances are ripe for him to appear and begin his great mission. The Mahdi is no longer an idea. He is no longer a prophecy. We need not wait for his birth. He already
exists actually and we only wait for the inaugration of his role. He is a specific entity living among us in his real human form and shares hopes and disappointments and our joys and griefs. He witnesses all the acts of oppression and presecution which are
prepuated on the face of the earth and, somehow or other, he himself is affected by them. He is anxiously awaitng the moment when he will be able to extend his helping hand to everyone whom any wrong has been doneand be able to eradicate injustice and
oppression completely. |
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The figure more legendary then that of the Mahdi, the Awaited Saviour, has not been seen in the history of mankind. The thread of the world events have woven many a fine design in the human life but the pattern of the Mahdi stands high above even other pattern. He has been the vision of the visionaries in history. He has been the dream of all the dreamers of the world for the ultimate salvation of mankind he is the pole star of hope on which the gaze of Humanity is fixed. The Quranic prophecy of the inevitable victory of Islam will be realised following the advent of the Mahdi who will fight the wrong, remedy the evils and establish world order based on the Islamic teachings of Justice and virtue. Therefore there will be only one religon and one government in the world. It may be mentioned here that the movement for the establishment of a world government is already afoot and this point is engaging the attention of many promient intellectuals. The setting up of the United Nations is a step in this very direction. Inspite of the growing consciousness of its desirablity, unification of the World is still a distant dream. The vested intrests and the mutual rivalries of the regimes in the various countries and the mutual animosties of the divergent blocs consitute a big hurdle in the way of its materialization. Hence, its consumation cannot be expected to come off automatically. It will need the active struggle of a world reformer in the person of Mahdi. Anyhow , start has been made and the things are gradually turning out exactly as predicted by Islam 1400 years ago. The belief in an expected reformer and a Saviour of humanity is not peculiar to the Shia School of Islam. It is common not only to all the Muslim sects, but is also shared by all the great religons such as Chirstainty, Buddhists, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. In this quest for the truth about the Mahdi there is no distinction of any caste, creed, or country. The quest is universal, exactly in the same way as the Mahdi himself is universal. He stands resplendent high above the narrow walls in which humanity is cutup and divided. He belongs to everybody. For all that and much more. What exactly is the Mahdi? Surely that is a big question which the thinking people all over the world would like to ask. It is only Islam that has given this concrete shape to an abstract idea. The Mahdi is not to be born in the distant future. He is already living amongst and shares our joys and sorrows. His apperance will mean not only the mateiralization of an Islamic aspiration, but will also be the realization of a hope cherished by the entire humanity. Prof. Henry Corbin of Sorbonne University, says: To my mind the Shi'ite is the only sect which has preserved and prepatuated the link of Divine guidance between man and God through its belief in the Imammate. According to the Jews the Prophethood , a real link between man and God, came to an end with Moses. They do not believe in the Prophethood of Jesus and Muhammed. The Christians too, do not go beyond Jesus. The Sun'ite sect has also stopped at the Prophet Muhammed and believes that the man and God has been severed with the end of the Prophethood. It is only the twelever Shias who believe that the link still exists through the Mahdi and will continue to exist forever. It is hardly necessary to give an explaination as to why the Mahdi disappeared immediately after assuming the Imamate. Let it suffice to say that Allah in His Divine Wisdom ordained so. In the meantime it is duty of all the Muslims , espically the Shia'h, to strive steadfastly for the creation of the proper atmosphere and the right climate for the establishment of a world order based on justice , virtue and piet. They should not only mould their individual lives according to the teachings and high ideals of Islam, but they should also bend their efforts to set up an Islamic order on the collective and communal level. They should devote themselves to the service of the faith and be prepared to recieve the AWAITED SAVIOUR. That is what was meant by the Imams when they exhorated the muslims to keep waiting for the Mahdi. An authentic and universally accepted Hadith(tradition)reports the Holy Prophet (s) of Islam to have said explictily on several occasions that he would followed by twelve AMIRS.(1).(according to another version , tweleve caliphs) the first being Ali and the last Mahdi.(2) According to another reliable tradition he pinpointed the personality to Imam Mahdi when he said that the Mahdi would be desecendant of Imam Hussain in his ninth generation.(3) In certain other traditions the Holy Prophet (s) refferred in clear terms, to the last Imam's mission and narrated the events connected with his occulation and reappearance. In this connection it is intresting to note, as pointed out by the famous historian Tabari, that the reports about the occulation of the Mahdi were recorded in their books by the Shiah traditioalists during the lifetime of Imam Muhammed Baqir (5th Imam) and Imam Jaffer Sadiq (6th Imam) i.e. long before Imam Mahdi was born. This fact alone is enough to vouch for their genuineness. (1) Sahih Bukhari, p175 ,Egypt; Sahih Trimizi, Vol II, p. 45, Dehli (2) Sahih Muslim, Vol II, p191, Egypt; Sahih Abd Daud, Vol II, p207 Egypt; Masnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol V,p.106, Egypt. (3) Kifayat al-Athar, by Allamah Abu Abdullah bin Muhammed Yusuf al-Kanji al-Shafi'i; Bihar al-Anwar by Allamah Muhammed Baqir al-Majlisi; Yanabi al-Mawwadah by Shaykh Sulayman bin Ibrahim al-Qandozi. The Sunnite scholars have also mentioned and recorded hundreds of traditions about the Mahdi in more than seventy books by their own valued and dependable authorities of which we shall mention a few examples.
The authors of the above books, each one of them, died either before or shortly after Mahdi's birth. See also: Masahib al-Sunnah, al-Baghawi(d.516 A.H); Jame' al-Usul, Ibn Athir (d.606 A.H); al-Futubat al-Makkiyah, Muhyuddin ibn al-Arabi (d.638 A.H); Taskirah al-Khawas, Sibt ibn al-Jawazi (d.654 A.H); Fara'id al-Simtaya, al-Hamawi (d.716 A.H); Yanabi al-Mawaddah, Sulayman al-Qandozi (d.1293 A.H). Some Sunnite Scholars have written books especially about the Imam of the Age:
The other facts which can be gleaned from the prophecies of the Holy Prophet (s) about the Mahdi are briefly stated below:
According to the Islamic traditions Jesus will descend from heaven and espouse the cause of the Mahdi. The Christians and the Jews will see him and recognize his true status. The Chirstians will abandon their faith in his god-head. The Holy Quran says: " There shall be none among the people of the Scripture, but will believe in him (Jesus) before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them ". (4:159) Evidently at that time Jesus will not be following the Christian law which has already been repealed. He will be following the Mahdi, the master of the time,and that is why he will be offering prayers behind him. According to a tradition recorded in the celebrated books of the tradition, including Sahih Bukhari and the Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (s) is reported to have said: " How about you, when Mary's son will descend into your midst, while your Imam will be from among you? ". Here the word Imam refers to Imam Mahdi. This tradition clearly shows that Jesus at the time of his second advent, will be a follower of the Mahdi. According to these and many other prophecies handed down by the Holy Prophet (s) and the great Imams to the succeeding generations, Imam Mahdi was born in the city of Samarrah (IRAQ) in the middle of Shaban (According to Islamic Calender) in 255 A.H. His mother's name was Narjis. He succeeded to the Imamate at the early age of five on the death of his father, Imam Hassan Al-Askari, the eleventh Imam. Soon afterwards he (al-Mahdi) went into occulation from the scene of life but retained contact with his followers through his vicegerants. This period which spreads over 70 years is known as al-Gaybat al-Sughra, the period of minor occulation. During this period the people could refer their problems to him (al-Mahdi) and recieve his replies through his vicegerents. The minor occulation was followed by al-Ghaybat al-Kubra, the major occulation which still continues. During this period direct contact with him had been severed. Anyhow, those who are aware of the historical conditions prevailing at the time of his occulation know well that Abbasid rulers regarded the Mahdi as the biggest potential threat to themselves and their dynasty and were determined to remove him from their way at any cost. Hence, to foil an attempt on his (al-Mahdi) life, it was advisable for him to go into occulation. Several sayings of the Imams expressely refer to this situation. Taken from a Book "The Awaited Saviour" by Ayatullah Baqir Al-Sadr and Ayatullah MurtadaMutahhari. |
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