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 By Allah’s leave, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will begin his work at the age of around 35-40. When he first appears, aged around 40, people will not initially realize he is Hazrat Mahdi (as), though this will be understood in time.
Hazrat Mahdi (as) is not, as some people have maintained, someone who will have ethereal characteristics that identify him as soon as he appears, someone invulnerable to the atom bomb, tanks or artillery shells, or with angels clearly seen on a cloud above his head. The appearance of angels takes place only in the world of the angels and is visible only to them. (Allah knows the truth.) And there is no such description of any such Mahdi in the completely reliable hadith of our Prophet (saas). Under the holy law of Allah, every human being created is subjected to testing. No prophet has ever had such ethereally attributes.
Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be recognized through his many successes brought about by Allah using him as a means. Allah will use him as a means in bringing the moral values of Islam to prevail across the world, and will introduce Hazrat Mahdi (as) to people. However, it will only truly be realized that he is Hazrat Mahdi (as) when the Prophet Jesus (as) prays behind him under his imamate. Then people will say, “Allah knows the truth, this person is Hazrat Mahdi (as)”. |
Terms in the hadith of our Prophet (saas) about the End Times, such as "Hazrat Mahdi will live 14 years," "Hazrat Mahdi (as) will have a life of 30 years" and "Hazrat Mahdi will remain on Earth for 40 years ..." indicate that there will be various phases to Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) life, intellectual struggle and spiritual dominion based on the moral values of the Qur’an. Much detailed information about Hazrat Mahdi (as) is provided in the hadith and important stages in the life of this holy individual of the End Times are suggested. For example, the hadith describe how Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be subjected to terrible oppression, assaults and slanders before he emerges openly. Times of imprisonment, detention and oppression will represent one very important stage in Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) life. Like Hazrat Mahdi (as), his followers will also be persecuted by the deniers of the time and be put through severe tests. The intellectual struggle of Hazrat Mahdi (as) and his followers against the deniers, the hypocrites of the End Times, various scholars of religious law and the Dajjal of the End Times is another of these time frames. It is also revealed in the hadith that number of Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) followers will be 313. That number gives a good idea that it will take some time for that many people to gather around Hazrat Mahdi (as), to be educated and to grow in faith. All these developments show that there will be a long term between Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) appearance and assumption of sovereignty, and that there will be various phases within it.
As also set out in the hadith, it will take a long time for Hazrat Mahdi (as) to rule over all nations. Islamic scholars also state that it will take some while for countries to be spiritually and figuratively conquered by Hazrat Mahdi (as).
The things that will take place in the wake of the returning of the Prophet Jesus (as), the struggle against the Dajjal, and the Golden Age that will take place once Islamic moral values rule the world are all described in detail in the hadith as different periods.
These periods in Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) term of duty are narrated from our Prophet (saas) as follows:
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The Messenger of Allah (saas) said: "Hazrat Mahdi (as) will emerge from my ummah (nation), and HE WILL RULE FOR 5 OR 9 YEARS. A man will come to him and say: O Mahdi! Give me goods. And he will spread out his robe and fill it with as much as he can carry.”
(Yusuf Ibn Abi baqr Ibn Ahmet Ibn Yusuf al-Maqdi'si "Feraidu Fawaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam Al-Mahdi Al-Muntazar)
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"...He will divide goods and behave according to the Sunna of our Prophet (saas), he will reveal Islam to neighboring countries and REMAIN FOR 7 YEARS, after which he will die and Muslims will perform his funeral prayer."
(Ali Ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Kari al-Hanefi "Risalet al-Mashrab alwardi fi mazhab al-Mahdi)
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According to an account from Abu Abdullah Husayn Ibn Ali;
Hazrat Mahdi (as) will rule for 19 YEARS. Al-Uqayli, An-Najmu's-saqib fi Bayan Anna'l Mahdi min.
(Awladi Ali b. Abu Talib Ale't-Tamam ve'l Qamal)
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According to al-Tabarani and Abu Nuaym's accounts from Abu Said Al-Khudri; The Messenger of Allah (saas) said: "A man will appear from my Ahl al-Bayt. He will speak of my Sunna. Allah will send rain from the sky to serve him. The earth will give forth its bounty (by Allah’s command). He will fill a world that was previously full of oppression and injustice with truth and justice instead. HE WILL APPLY THAT SUNNA FOR 7 YEARS.”
(Mer'iy Yusuf Ibn Abi baqr Ibn Ahmet Ibn Yusuf al-Maqdi'si "Feraidu Fawaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam Al-Mahdi Al-Muntazar)
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According to an account from Hazrat Ali; Hazrat Mahdi (as) will eliminate all subsequent accretions from the faith and restore all the Sunna. He will conquer Constantinople, China and Mount Daylam. HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) WILL REMAIN IN THIS STATE FOR 7 YEARS. Each year of his will be like 10 of yours.
(Al-Uqayli, An-Najmu's-saqib fi Bayan Anna'l Mahdi min. Awladi Ali b. Abu Talib Ale't-Tamam ve'l Qamal) |
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According to Al-Daraqutni and Tabarani's accounts from Abu Hurayra;
The Messenger of Allah (saas) said: "Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be in my community. EVEN IF FOR AS LITTLE AS 7 OR 8 OR 9 YEARS, everyone in my community, sinner or non-sinner, will be blessed in a way never seen before...”
(Mer'iy Yusuf Ibn Abi baqr Ibn Ahmet Ibn Yusuf al-Maqdi'si "Feraidu Fawaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam Al-Mahdi Al-Muntazar)
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According to Nuaym's account from Zuhri;
Hazrat Mahdi (as) will live for 14 YEARS, after which he will die normally.
(Mer'iy Yusuf Ibn Abi baqr Ibn Ahmet Ibn Yusuf al-Maqdi'si "Feraidu Fawaidi'l Fiqr Fi'l Imam Al-Mahdi Al-Muntazar) |
According to Nuaym's account from Bukya Ibn Walid; Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) LIFE IS 30 YEARS.
(Mer'iy b. Yusuf b. Ebi baqr b. Ahmet b. Yusuf al-Maqdi'si "Feraidu Fawaidi'l Fikr Fi'l Imam Al-Mahdi Al-Muntazar) |
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According to Nuaym's account from Dinar b. Dinar; Hazrat Mahdi (as) WILL REMAIN ON EARTH FOR 40 YEARS.
((Mer'iy b. Yusuf b. Ebi baqr b. Ahmet b. Yusuf al-Maqdi'si "Feraidu Fawaidi'l Fikr Fi'l Imam Al-Mahdi Al-Muntazar )
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In his highly important work “Portents of Doomsday,” the great 17th century Islamic scholar and renovator Muhammad Ibn Rasul Al-Husayn Al Barzanji, of Medina notes one very important point about the duration of Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) dominion and says, based on Ibn al-Hajar’s Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar, “All these accounts about his coming and power are true.” In other words, ALL THE DIFFERENT TIMINGS SET OUT IN THE HADITH ARE TRUE, AND THESE TIMINGS REFER TO DIFFERENT PERIODS IN THE LIFE OF HAZRAT MAHDI (AS), WHO, BY ALLAH’S LEAVE, WILL HAVE A LONG LIFE.
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Muhammad Ibn Rasul Al-Husayn Al Barzanji makes the following important statements:
First, The Prophet (saas) says much about his community, the Ahl al-Bayt. He has described how they will be rescued from all kinds of oppression and persecution. This is solely dependent on a justice that will be applied over a long period. Short times such as seven or nine years are insufficient.
Second, Just like Dhu’lQarnayn and Sulayman (as), Hazrat Mahdi (as) will rule the whole world. He will establish mosques and buildings in other countries, and a short time such as nine years will be inadequate for his intellectual struggle and other activities.
Third, life spans will be extended in his time. The prolongation of life spans means that he will also be long-lived... otherwise, the extension of those spans would be meaningless.
Fourth, He will make a four-year peace treaty with the people of Rum. Under that he will live in Constantinople, for seven years. His going to and leaving there twice will of course take years. The same applies to his intellectual struggle against the Sufyan. Because as described above, the Sufyan will abrogate the treaty three years after swearing allegiance to him, after which he will have to struggle him on the level of ideas.
His conquest of India and other countries will naturally take many years. What I have described is also found in various accounts.
All these things show that the period of his sovereignty will last longer than nine years. That being the case, SEVEN YEARS ARE TOTALLY RESTRICTED TO HIS FULL RULE OVER ALL COUNTRIES, AND NINETEEN YEARS TO HIS INTELLECTUAL STRUGGLE AGAINST THE SUFYAN, HIS INTELLECTUAL DEFEAT OF HIM, HIS (FIGURATIVE AND SPIRITUAL) CONQUEST OF COUNTRIES AND ALL PEOPLE COMING UNDER HIS COMMAND... (in other words, the time involved in this is a period of nineteen years...)
 I have stated above: He will make nine years of peace with the Rum, his intellectual struggle against and victory over them will take the following ten years. His entry into Sham, the Sufyan swearing allegiance to him, and then retracting that allegiance three years later, and his thus embarking on an intellectual struggle against him and the passage of a number of years thereafter will take up a total of twenty-four years... His entry into Mecca, his demolition of the intellectual system of the Amr of Mecca, and therefore his conquest of all the countries of the Hejaz WILL TAKE SOME FORTY YEARS... Then, his figurative and spiritual conquest of all countries and the appearance of Hasheem of Khorasan will take no little time! It is likely that he will then rule for nine years or less following the coming of the Prophet Jesus (as)... (Portents of Doomsday, Muhammad Ibn Rasul Al-Husayn Al Barzanji of Medina, Pamuk Publications, pp. 185-186)
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May 11, 2009
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