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Awaiting the Mahdi - Covenant or Creed? (Part 2)
By Sheikh
Salman al-Oudah, Saudi Arabia
This article was taken from
IslamToday
There are many hadith about the Mahdi,
possibly more than one hundred. Some of them are fabricated, some weak, others
good. There may even be some hadith that can be graded as authentic, but they
are very few.
One hadith is from `Ali b. `Abi Talib that
the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The Mahdi is one of us, from
our household. Allah will prepare him in one night.” [Related by Ahmad (645) and
Ibn Majah (4085).] Some scholars have graded it as a good (hasan)
hadith, but its chain of narrators is weak, since it contains Yasin b. Shayban
al-`Ijli. Al-Bukhari declares him questionable, which, coming from him, is a
statement of disapproval. Abu Zur`ah and Ibn Ma`in say there is nothing wrong
with him.
There are three hadith about the Mahdi
related on the authority of Abu Sa`id al-Khudri. All of them have been related
by al-Hakim. Some of them have also been related by Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn
Majah, Ahmad, and others.
One of these is: “The Mahdi will
come forth from the last generations of my nation.” [al-Hakim (8716).]
Al-Hakim declares it authentic, and al-Dhahabi concurs. There is some
disagreement about its chain of narrators.
Another is: “The Mahdi is from my
descendants. He will have a prominent forehead and a hooked nose. He will fill
the world with equity and justice just as it had been filled with tyranny and
oppression. He will reign for seven years.” [Sunan Abi Dawud (4285)]
Then there is the hadith related on the
authority of Thawban that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “If
you see the black banners coming from the direction of Khurasan, then go to
them, even if you have to crawl, because among them will be Allah’s Caliph the
Mahdi.” [Related by al-Hakim (8572) and Ahmad (22387).] All the
chains of transmission for this hadith are weak and inauthentic, though some
people have been overly lenient about it and declared it authentic by virtue of
the many chains of transmission that it has.
Some people have used this hadith to
support their claim that the Mahdi is from the family of al-Abbas and that the
Mahdi is from of the Abbasid dynasty. There were Abbasid Caliphs who went by the
name al-Mahdi. For this reason, we see Ibn Hazm, a supporter of the rival
Umayyad house, offer the following words in verse:
Since the banners have started to appear
black, it has become clear To the people of guidance that those have no way of
attaining sense.
The banners of the Abbasid State were
black. It is not hard to see how this weak hadith might have been fabricated or
at least tampered with to support the Abbasid cause.
Umm Salamah relates that the Prophet said:
“The Mahdi will be from my descendants from the line of Fatimah.” [Sunan
Abi Dawud (4086).] It has a weak chain of transnmission containing
`Ali b. Nufayl who is found in al-`Uqayli’s book on weak narrators. Al-`Uqayli
says: “None of his hadith on the Mahdi should be accepted. He is the only
narrator known to relate them, and all of these narrations were passed on from
him by Ziyad b. Bayan.” Al-Bukhari mentions this hadith of his, then says: “Its
chain of transmission is questionable.” On this basis, al-Mundhiri opines that
these are actually the words of Sa`id b. al-Musayyib.
There are many hadith that give an
established meaning when taken together, though most of them do not make the
grade of authenticity when taken on their own. It may be the case that only one
hadith out of all of them can actually be considered authentic. The hadith that
can be graded as good are very few. The vast majority of these hadith are weak.
Many scholars have written on the topic of
the Mahdi. One of these was Na`im b. Hamad who wrote on this matter in his book
al-Fitan. Though a leading scholar of the Sunnah, nevertheless Hamad used to
make many errors. Al-Daraqutni, al-Dhahabi, and Ibn Hajar have all made note of
this. Maslamah b. al-Qasim went so far as to say: “He relates many hadith on
battles that are to be rejected. He is the only person to relate them.”
Abu Nu`aym al-Isfahani’s book on the
subject entitled `Aqd al-Durur has been published. Ibn Kathir, al-Suyuti, al-Sakhawi,
al-San`ani, and al-Shawkani, among others have written on it, not to mention a
number of contemporary authors. Ibn Khaldun, in his Muqaddimah, writes: “The
popularly accepted view among Muslims is that the Mahdi is real. There is no
doubt that this is the correct view, for the vast majority of the leading
scholars and people of knowledge acknowledge the hadith about the Mahdi as a
whole, even though few of the individual hadith about him are free of criticism.
There are even scholars who have declared the hadith about him to be mutawatir,
especially among the later scholars. There are others, however, who have
rejected outright all the hadith pertaining to the Mahdi.”
[Note:
A
hadith is considered mutawatir if it has been narrated by such a large number of
people that it is a practical impossibility for them to have conspired on a
lie.]
Such outright rejection has been attributed
to Mujahid, as well as the claim the Mahdi is none other than the Messiah, the
son of Mary. This comes in a hadith: “The Mahdi is none other than the Messiah,
the son of Mary.” [Sunan Ibn Majah (4039) and al-Hakim (8412). It is weak.]
This same opinion has been attributed to al-Hasan al-Basri. Ibn Khaldun is one
of those who has dismissed and rejected this opinion as has Muhammad Rashid Rida,
Sheikh `Abd Allah b. Zayd Al Mahmud, and Muhammad Muhyi al-Din `Abd Al-Hamid as
well as others in recent years.
In summary, we can say that there are a lot
of hadith about the Mahdi to be found in the Sunnah of varying quality, running
the gamut between fabricated, weak, and good. Hadith graded as authentic are
few. However, belief in the appearance of the Mahdi is an established matter,
taking all of the evidence together. The Mahdi in Sunni and Shi`ah traditions:
Ahl al-Sunnah believe that a man from the household of the Prophet (peace be
upon him) will appear at the end of time in a very natural manner, born like any
other person is born. He will live just as others live. He may even fall into
error and need people to correct him just like anybody else. Then Allah will
decree a lot of good for the Muslims to come at his hands, as well as piety,
justice, and virtue. Allah will unite the Muslims around him. There is nothing
more to it than this. This is what is found in the hadith.
There is no textual evidence telling us
that it is an act of piety to wait for him or to anticipate his coming. It is
not appropriate for any Muslim to accept such a claim on the basis of mere
supposition. A claim must be backed up by sufficient evidence. Those making
claims are many. This has been the case since the dawn of history, as I will
soon make clear. A Muslim is expected to examine matters, verify them, and
approach them with caution. A Muslim must never be hasty and accept matters on
the basis of personal desires or wishful thinking.
Likewise, no aspect of Islamic Law is
dependent on the appearance of the Mahdi. Claims that such Islamic institutions
as the Friday prayer, congregational prayers, jihad, carrying out the prescribed
punishments, or applying the laws of Islam are contingent on his appearance are
baseless. Muslims must conduct their lives as normal. They must perform their
acts of worship, fulfill their duties, engage in jihad, reform their societies,
learn their religion, and teach each other. When this pious man does appear and
his identity is established with unambiguous, indisputable proofs, then we
should follow him. This was the attitude of the Companions and those that
followed them. The scholars throughout the ages have adhered to this view. The
idea that the Mahdi should be awaited and anticipated and the excessive emphasis
placed on him was a much later development.
The Mahdi in Shi`ah
traditions:
Belief in the Mahdi is a fundamental
article of faith for the Shi`ah. Their belief system is founded upon it. The
different Shi`ah sects disagree on many things, but they all agree on the idea
of the “Hidden Imam.” They mean by it al-Imam al-Mahdi, though they disagree
about who this Mahdi is.
This whole concept originated in the claim
that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had not died and shall return. The first
person to advance this claim was the Jew `Abd Allah b. Saba’. He said: “How
strange are those people who claim that `Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) will
return but reject the idea that Muhammad (peace be upon him) will return, and he
is more deserving of a second coming than is `Isa!”
This fanciful idea had a malicious intent
behind it. The man who proposed it wanted to corrupt a central tenet of Islam,
the belief in the finality of prophethood. This is the belief that Allah had
made Muhammad (peace be upon him) the last in the line of Prophets. Allah says:
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your
men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets.” [Surah
al-Ahzab: 40]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“I am the Seal of the Prophets. No Prophet will come after me.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhi
(2219) and Sunan Abi Dawud (4252)]
This is an indisputable tenet of faith in
Islam. For this reason, Muslims – whether laymen, scholars, or leaders –
unanimously declare as unbelievers anyone who claims that there is a prophet
after Muhammad (peace be upon him). This is why the Islamic courts have declared
the Qadiyani and Baha’i sects as outside the fold of Islam and their adherents
as unbelievers. This is because they claim some of their leaders to be prophets
after Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), like Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (in the case
of the Qadiyanis) and others. These people fall into unbelief because they
violate an indisputable tenet of the faith.
`Abd Allah b. Saba’ attempted to sneak this
idea into Islam through the back door by claiming that the Prophet (peace be
upon him) will return from the grave. He did not say that there was going to be
another Prophet, but this was just the beginning, for once the people, or at
least a group of them, bought into this idea and began waiting expectantly for
the Messenger’s return (peace be upon him), the matter became simple. Anyone
could come forward and claim that he was the Prophet (peace be upon him)
returned from the grave and not some other person claiming prophethood for
himself. This was the danger of such an idea.
Such a claim to prophethood violates the
beliefs of all the Muslims. It violates Islamic Law. It runs contrary to the
consensus of the Companions, the Successors and the early scholars. A person who
make such a claim must fall in one of two categories:
1. The person might be insane. This person
should receive psychiatric help.
2. The person is rational.
Every attempt should be made to make this
person understand and to convince him of the truth. If he persists in his claim,
then his case must be brought before the courts. In this way, the Qadiyanis of
Pakistan and other groups have been declared unbelievers in the most unambiguous
terms, so that the public would have no misunderstanding on the matter.
`Abd Allah b. Saba’ also made the claim
that `Ali b. Abi Talib was the Mahdi. He used to say: “If you brought me his
brain in seventy parcels, I would not believe that he has died.” He claimed that
`Ali would return and fill the Earth with justice just as it was filled with
iniquity. This claim subsequently changed to Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyyah, who was
the son of `Ali b. Abi Talib. One of the people who claimed that Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyyah
was the Mahdi was a man from Iraq named al-Mukhtar b. Abi `Ubayd who used to
claim that angels visited him. When the Companion Ibn `Umar was informed of al-Mukhtar
b. Abi `Ubayd’s claim to receive revelation, he said: “He is telling the truth,
for Allah says: ‘The devils inspire their helpers…’ [Surah al-An`am:
121] Ibn `Umar showed him no courtesy, in spite of the fact that he
was married to Safiyyah bint Abi `Ubayd, al-Mukhtar’s sister.
The sect that claimed that Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyyah
was the Mahdi was known as the Kisaniyyah.
One of their members was the famous poet
Kathir `Azzah, who wrote:
Nay, for the Imams are from Quraysh,
The leaders in truth, four of them peers.
`Ali and three from his household.
They are the grandsons, of whom there is no ambiguity.
One of them is the grandson of faith and
righteousness.
Another was taken away at Karbala'
The other will not taste death until
He leads the calvary carrying the banner.
He is hidden and unseen in our times,
In Radwa, he enjoys honey and water.
In another poem he writes:
Nay, say to the guardian, my soul has
ransomed you.
You have waited too long in the mountain.
You have harmed the people who are loyal to
you,
And who call you Caliph and Imam.
In you, the people of the Earth have again
become one.
You have kept away from them for sixty years.
Ibn Khawlah has not tasted death
Nor bequeathed his bones to the Earth.
He has his sustenance every day,
And drink following his food.
When Muhammad b. `Abd Allah b. Hasan rose
against Abi Ja`far al-Mansur, he acquired the title of Mahdi, hoping to be the
one foretold in the hadith. Then his army was routed and he was killed in the
year 145 A.H. His head was severed and paraded from Madinah to Iraq. In spite of
this, his followers split into three camps. There were those who admitted to his
death and discarded the notion that he was the Mahdi. Then there were those who
claimed that he would return, even though it was made to appear that he had
died. A third group decided that the Mahdi was someone else.
The strange thing is that this situation
has repeated itself throughout history. When the recent events happened in the
Haram in Mecca, some of those who claimed that their leader was actually the
Mahdi were so filled with the idea that, after he was killed, they claimed that
he did not die but had escaped and fled. A person is often willing to deny the
evidence of his own senses because of some notion that has enthralled him. He
cannot bring himself to admit that he was mistaken or deceived or that the idea
he held so dear was false.
The Mahdi, for the Shi`ah, moved from
person to person each time someone they vested their hopes in proved to be
false. After Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyyah, some of them began to look towards
Muhammad b. Ja`far, known as Ja`far al-Sadiq. After he died, some turned to
Isma`il b. Ja`far. These people are known as the Isma`iliyyah, a sect of the
Batiniyyah. After he died without leaving a son, some others began awaiting
Muhammad b. Isma`il. These people belong to another sect of the Batiniyyah known
as the Qaramitah. The most famous Shi`ah sect is the Ithna `Ashariyyah (the
Twelvers). They recognize twelve Imams, the last one being Muhammad b. al-Hasan
al-`Askari, the Mahdi. To them, he is an infallible Imam who went into
occultation in a subterranean cave over 1200 years ago. The truth is that his
alleged father, Muhammad al-`Askari, died without having sired any children. For
this reason the following verses were penned:
Never did happen the birth of the one in
the cavern
Who you spoke to in your ignorance. It did not happen!
Your intellects have fallen into disrepair.
To the griffon and goblin you have added a third! As for the Abbasid Mahdi, he
was named Muhammad by his father, the Caliph Abu Ja`far al-Mansur. He then gave
him the title of Mahdi because he was combating the problem of the alleged Mahdi
from the Ahl al-Bayt. He was compelled to fight fire with fire. In his private
assemblies, he used to say: “By Allah, neither the Mahdi of Ahl al-Bayt nor my
son is really the Mahdi. We are just fighting them with the same thing that they
are throwing at us.” Thus, the sun of Abu Ja`far al-Mansur claimed to be the
Mahdi out of his rivalry with another claimant known as the “Pure Heart.”
There have been many “Mahdis” throughout
history. There was the Mahdi Ibn Tumart in Morocco who established the Almohad
Caliphate. Then there was the Mahdi of the Sudan, Muhammad – or Ahmad – b. `Abd
Allah who established the Mahdist Movement, which still exists as a political
party in that country. He used to say that he was from the Prophet’s household (Ahl
al-Bayt) and claimed to receive revelation. He also claimed that Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) spoke to him in person and told him that he was the
Mahdi. Many people rallied around him. Admittedly, some good came out of the
movement, for it played a role in freeing the Sudan from colonial occupation.
There have been a number of “Mahdis” who
never rose to any prominence. Ibn Taymiyah writes: “I know of more than one
sheikh in our times known for piety, asceticism, and devotion, each of whom
thinks he is the Mahdi. Some of them might possibly be inspired with this notion
while they are awake, but they are hearing it from demons.”
Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani in his book
compiling the biographies of the notable people of the 8th century A.H.,
mentions one of these people: “His mental state deteriorated and he began making
exorbitant claims such as seeing Allah, ascending into Heaven, and having Allah
speak to him and inform him that he is the Mahdi.”
In the next installment, we shall take a
closer look at these historical events.
Back
Awaiting the
Mahdi...(Part 1)
Awaiting the
Mahdi...(Part 3)
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