Mahdi, who is he?

Recently, I have read a few articles and viewed some videos that mentioned Imam Mahdi. This peaked my curiosity and I did a little bit of research. I thought that perhaps others might find this topic interesting and decided to share it here.

First, who is Imam Mahdi and where did this concept originate:

Mahdi is a prophet that will bring justice to the earth, restore the true religion, and usher in a new age before the end of the world. He is supposed to rule for 7 years, but some translations say longer.

It is important to note that Mahdi is not mentioned in the Qur'an. He is found in the Hadith. Specifically the Partial Sunan Abu Dawud.

Book 36, number 4271: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The Mahdi will be of my family, of the descendants of Fatimah. Abdullah ibn Ja'far said: I heard AbulMalih praising Ali ibn Nufayl and describing his good qualities

Book 36, number 4272: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The Mahdi will be of my stock, and will have a broad forehead a prominent nose. He will fill the earth will equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny, and he will rule for seven years.

www.usc.edu... gagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/abudawud/036.sat.html

What is Hadith?

a: A report of the sayings or actions of Muhammad or his companions, together with the tradition of its chain of transmission.
b: The collective body of these traditions

dictionary.reference.com...

From my understanding on the Hadith, it is the oral passage of the life and teachings of Muhammad. From what I have gathered, it was around the 8th century when these teachings were recorded in written form.

There are different opinions on Hadith. Some Muslims follow them and some reject them. I think the biggest reason those that reject it do so is that the Qur'an is believed to be the uncorrupted word of Allah or God while the Hadith have been orally passed through generations by men. This leaves room for Hadith to be embelished or perhaps even reworded in a way that it is open to a different interpretation than was originally stated.

Mahdi has been linked to the bible as well. In the book Al-Mahdiand the End of Time" Revelation 19:11-21 is interpreted to be talking about Mahdi. These versus speak of one of the four horseman. A white horse ridden by a man that commands great armies and goes through the world conquering. This does coincide with what Mahdi is supposed to do, but it is my belief that this is a very liberal association.

On the flip side of this, Mahdi is also linked to being the anti-christ. When you take the time to research what is said about Mahdi the person, there are some similarities to what is taught in the Christian faith about the anti-christ. He will be charismatic, he will rule for 7 years which coincidentally is the duration of the time of tribulation, and that the leaders of the world will follow him.

This is a brief summary of the my findings. I am not trying to persuade anyone one way or the other on this topic, I am just presenting some information that I hope will ingnite some good conversation on the topic.





[edit on 23-8-2009 by Aaron_Justin]

Iran's President sparked some controversy with talks of Imam Mahdi in speaches.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's particular attention to the Mahdi in his speeches and actions -- soon after taking office he allocated $20 million to improve and enlarge the Jamkaran Mosque complex -- has been noted by Western critics.

So, too was Mr. Ahmadinejad's appearance in September at the United Nations General Assembly, when he said a prayer calling for the Mahdi's return: "O mighty Lord, I pray to hasten the emergence of ... the promised one .... the one who will fill this world with justice and peace."

www.post-gazette.com...

That is interesting. I have never heard about this before, I'll have to look into it and chime in after I have educated myself about Mahdi.

"All the great religions posit the idea of a further revelation to be given by a future Teacher. Christians hope for the return of the Christ, the Buddhists look for the coming of another Buddha (the Lord Maitreya), while Muslims await the Imam Mahdi, the Hindus a reincarnation of Krishna, and the Jews the Messiah.

Students of the esoteric tradition know all these as different names for the same individual- the Lord Maitreya, the World Teacher, the head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Masters, and they look for His imminent return now."


FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

According to Islam, the Mahdi isn't really a prophet (the last prophet was Muhammad). The coming of the Mahdi is supposed to foretell the return of Jesus. There was one hadith (I don't remember it exactly), where it is said that Jesus will come while the Mahdi is leading the prayer, and then will offer Jesus to lead the prayer.

Hi,

Here is a link to an EXCELLENT research project done on ATS by AshleyD and a partner.

If you are interested in the Mahdi and a Christian perspective on parallels between the Mahdi and the anti-christ, it's a fantastic resource.

www.abovetopsecret.com...


Eric