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The Prophet (s.a.w) said: "Even if the
entire duration of the world's
existence has already been exhausted
and only one day is left (before the
day of judgment), Allah will expand
that day to such a length of time, as
to accommodate the kingdom of a
person from my Ahlul-Bayt who will
be called by my name. He will fill out
the earth with peace and justice as it
will have been full of injustice and
tyranny (by then)."
al-Bukhari, Arabic-English, v4,
Tradition #658
Sahih al-Tirmidhi, v2, p86, v9, pp
74-75
Jabir Ibn Abdillah al-Ansari (r.a) said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah
saying: "A group of my Ummah will
fight for the truth until near the Day
of Judgment when Jesus, the son of
Marry, will descend, and the leader of
them will ask him to lead the prayer,
but Jesus declines, saying: "No,
Verily, among you Allah has made
leaders for others and He has
bestowed his bounty upon them." Sahih Muslim, Arabic, part 2, p193
Sunan Abu Dawud, v2, p7
Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v1, pp
84,376; V3, p63
Al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn, by alHakim, v4, p557
• Imam Mahdi (a.s) is from the
progeny of the Prophet (s.a.w),
The Prophet (s.a.w) said: "al-Mahdi
is one of us, the members of the
household (Ahlul-Bayt)." -Sunni
reference: Sunan Ibn Majah, v2,
Tradition #4085
Prophet Jesus is not the Imam of
Muslims, and when he comes back,
he will be the follower of the Imam of
Muslims who is known as Imam alMahdi (a.s).
• Prophet Jesus (a.s) will come as one
of the followers of Imam al-Mahdi
(a.s) and will pray behind him in
congressional prayer.
It is evident from the above traditions
that Imam al-Mahdi (a.s) is from the
Ahlul-Bayt (a.s) of Prophet
Muhammad (s.a.w) so he cannot be
Jesus. Thus, al-Mahdi (a.s) and
• Imam Mahdi (a.s) is from the
Messiah are two different
progeny of Sayyida Fatima
personalities but they come at the
Zahra (a.s), the daughter of the
same time, al-Mahdi (a.s) as Imam
Prophet (s.a.w),
and Jesus as his follower. Another
The Prophet (s.a.w) said: “The Mahdi undeniable fact is that many leading
Sunni scholars have written books
will be of my family, of the
descendants of Sayyida Fatima Zahra after books exclusively about Imam
al-Mahdi (a.s).
(a.s) (the daughter of the Prophet
s.a.w).” - Sunan Abu Dawud, English Al-Hafidh Muhammad Ibn Ali alversion, Ch. 36, Tradition #4271
Shawkani (d. 1250/1834) wrote in a
(narrated by Umm Salamah r.a, the
book called "al-Tawdhih fi twawatur
wife of the Prophet s.a.w)
ma jaa'a fil muntadar wad-djjal wal
• Imam Mahdi (a.s) is different than
Prophet Jesus,
The Prophet (s.a.w) said: "What
would be your situation if the Son of
Marry (i.e. Jesus) descends upon you
and your Imam is among you?" Sahih
masih" (the explanation about the
frequent reports concerning the
Awaited one, the Dajjal, and the
messiah) in which he wrote about
Imam al-Mahdi (a.s) that: "The
traditions about al-Mahdi have been
related by numerous authorities and
A
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are therefore reliable beyond doubt or
confusion, because in jurisprudence
the qualification of Mutawatir is
valid even for (traditions) with less
than this number of narrations. There
are also many sayings of the
companions (of the Prophet) which
explicitly mention the Mahdi, which
have the status of narrations from the
Prophet since there is no question of
establishing such saying through
Ijtihad (one's opinion and research)".
The author gives the same opinion in
his other book "al-Fat'h al-Rabbani".
(In this connection see also
Mawsu'atil Imam al-Mahdi, v1, pp
391-392,413-414,434, and also Tuhfatul
Ahwadhi, v6, p485).
The best formulation of the belief of
all Muslims about al-Mahdi (a.s) has
been given by a person who himself
did not believe in his coming and
who denied the validity of the
traditions concerning this matter. He
was Ibn Khaldoon (d. 808/1406), a
famous historian, in whose book, "alMuqaddamah," wrote:
"Let it be known that it is a narrated
event by ALL Muslims in EVERY era,
that at the end of time a man from the
family of the Prophet (s.a.w) will,
without fail, make his appearance
and will strengthen Islam and spread
justice; Muslims will follow him and
he will gain domination over the
Muslim realm. He will be called alMahdi." (An Introduction to History,
by Ibn Khaldoon, English version,
London, 1967 Edition, pp 257-258)
The above quote proves that even Ibn
Khaldoon was in the opinion that the
belief in Imam al-Mahdi (a.s) was not
a characteristic of a special sect of
Islam, but was a common belief to
ALL Muslims.
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