SPOTLIGHT
IS THE ANTI-CHRIST A FALSE MESSIAH OR A FALSE MAHDI?
Just as there have been false Messiahs, there have been false Mahdis 1. It is a common belief in the Muslim community that the Anti-Christ will be a False Messiah. Similarly, some in the Jewish and Christian communities believe the Anti-Christ will be a False Mahdi.
Every Abrahamic religion has its own concept of the Anti-Christ, the villain in God’ s story who shall emerge during the end times to plunge the world into utter darkness. In medieval Judaism, he was known as Armilus. In Islam, his title is Dajjal, and more specifically, Masih ad-Dajjal which literally translates to The Deceptive Messiah or False Messiah.
It may be this translation that led some Muslim clerics to believe that the one recognised by the Jews to be the Messiah will actually be the Anti-Christ. Since Jews await the Messiah and Muslims await Imam Mehdi, such clerics perceive that Imam Mehdi and the Messiah are two different personalities who shall serve the interests of Muslims and Jews respectively. This misconception has spread far and wide in the Muslim community – perhaps in part because of the anti-Semitic attitudes that have prevailed since the politicisation of both Islam and Judaism in recent times.
On the other hand, some Western internet scholars perceive that the Anti-Christ is actually Islam’ s messianic figure, Imam Mehdi. This extremely dangerous and gravely misguided notion also seems to be influenced by the deterioration of Muslim- Jewish relations.
1
‘ Mahdi’ is a misnomer for the original title of the messianic figure in Islam, Imam Mehdi.‘ Mahdi’ means‘ Guided One’ whereas the original word,‘ Mehdi’ means‘ Man of the Moon’. The title of Imam Mehdi is in reference to the Messiah’ s image being prominent on the Moon.
THE TRUE MEHDI • ISSUE 02 • FEB 2017 5