Imam Mahdi - Yasir Qadhi So what is this Mahdi? What is the meaning of the word Mahdi? And who is the Mahdi? The Mahdi is not his name, it is his title. It is not his proper name, it is a title. And it is a description. And it comes from the root: (هُدَى) or (هَدَى) which means to guide, the opposite of (ضلالة) The Mahdi means the one who is guided. And also the one who will guide others. What is his name? The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "If there were only one day left of this world before the Day of Judgment, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) would make that day long, He would stretch it out. Until Allah sends a person from my progeny, from my ahlal bait. His name shall be my name. And his father's name, shall be my father's name." Therefore the name of the Mahdi will be Muhammad. And his father's name will be... Abdullah. So the Mahdi will be Muhammad ibn Abdillah. His name will be my name, and his father's name will be my father's name. He shall fill the earth with justice. As it was filled with dhulm and injustice. Ibnul Qayyim (رحمه الله تعالى), the famous student of Ibn Taymiyyah, he also said that most of the traditions mentioned that he shall be from the progeny of Al-Hasan Ibn Ali, and not from Al-Husein. And in this fact, this is Ibnul Qayyim speaking, that he shall be from the progeny of Al-Hasan is a very beautiful hikma, wisdom, and that is that Hasan (رضي الله تعالى عنه) give up the khilafa for the sake of Allah. So Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) will return the khilafa to his progeny. And Hussein (رضي الله تعالى عنه) desired the khilafa, he was keen on attaining the khilafa, and it was not granted to him. And Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) knows best. This is a quote from Ibnul Qayyim (رحمه الله تعالى). So he is saying that this was a beautiful wisdom that when Hasan (رضي الله تعالى عنه) gave up the khilafa, it is only befitting that as Prophet (ﷺ) said, "When you give up something for the sake of Allah, Allah will give you something better than that." So when he gave up the khilafa of the Muslims, his progeny shall get something better than that, which is the khilafa of the entire world. The Mahdi shall rule the entire world. Unlike the Umayyad, and even if Hussein had been the khalifa (رضي الله عنه), he would have ruled a small portion of the earth. At that time, the Muslim Empire was only to Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, and that's it. It had not yet reach China or Spain, this occurred in the Umayyah time. So Al-Hasan (رضي الله عنه) gave the khilafa up, and (إن شاء الله تعالى) in his progeny it shall return, and it shall be the entire ummah. Another aspect that the Prophet (ﷺ) told us, is that the Mahdi shall have a certain physical characteristic. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, the hadith is in the Mustadrak Al-Haakim and also the sunan of Abu Dawud, that the Mahdi shall have a large forehead, and he shall have an aquiline nose, we call it in English. A nose that is slightly pointed and long. It is in the Arabs, they consider it a sign of beauty and perfection. So these characteristics, the Prophet (ﷺ) told us the Mahdi will look like, and this is not how the Prophet (ﷺ) looked. Just like Ali (رضي الله عنه) said, "He shall resemble the Prophet (ﷺ) in manners and custom, but not in looks." So the Mahdi shall not look like the Prophet (ﷺ). Regarding his spiritual characteristic, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, reported in the sunan of Ibn Maajah, that, the Mahdi shall be from the ahlul bait. Allah (سبجانه و تعلى) will rectify him in one night, will make him good in one night. This is an interesting hadith, because it tells us that the Mahdi in the younger portion of his life, will not be as practicing of a Muslim as he should be. He will not be to the level that he is worthy of being. Something will happen, we don't know what. And in one night he shall repent. And he shall become basically the most pious person on earth. We also know that in the times that he will come. The Prophet (ﷺ) clearly said, that the time shall be of the worst of time. That the entire earth shall be filled with evil and injustice. And that is something that is very rarely happens. That the entirely earth, you see fitna and fasad. And you see Muslims blood being shed, and you see the Muslims being humiliated everywhere you look. Hardly ever has is occurred in the ummah. That when it doest occur, that is one of the time that we can expect to come a Mahdi figure. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, from the beginning of time until the Day of Judgment, there is no fitna that is more sever to mankind than the Dajjal. We don't want to be alive when the Dajjal comes. And when the Mahdi comes, in his life times the Dajjal will come. So we don't want to see that timing. And we seek Allah's refuge from being alive at that time. So don't sit there and say, "Oh (إن شاء الله) he is coming soon." Because you don't want to be at that time when all of these fitan will occur. Only Allah knows when the Mahdi will come. We don't know when he will come but we do know where he will come from. Now the location, the hadith mentioned in Ibn Maajah, and also in the Mustadrak al-Haakim that the Prophet (ﷺ) said, this is an authentic hadith. Three groups of people shall fight for your treasure. Three groups of Muslims shall fight for your treasure. And each of these three leaders will be sons of a khalifa. So three princes, if you like, - he didn't say princes, but sons of khalifas - will fight over your treasure. The scholars of hadith said, the treasure being referred to is the treasure buried underneath the Ka'bah. There is a major treasure buried underneath the Ka'bah. We don't know exactly where, it is buried to this day. It was buried by the tribe of Jurhum. It was buried in the ancient times before the coming of the Prophet (ﷺ), by many many many years. It was buried when the tribe was being attacked by neighboring tribe, and so they gathered all of their treasures, and they bury them in a location around the Ka'bah. We don't know where. And they also hide the well of zam-zam. And you all know that Abdul Muthalib discovered the well of zam-zam, he rediscovered it. When this invading army was coming, they hide the well of zam-zam, and they buried all of their gold, and all of the money that they had. They buried it there, because they didn't want the enemy tried to take it. So that treasures, three princes will fight over it inside of the Haram. There shall occur battle inside of the Haram. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, none of them shall win. They're not gonna find this, and none of them will win over the other two. Then he said there shall come black flags from the east. And then a war shall ensue between the Muslims, that the severity of the war, no ummah has ever under gone such a severe war. So he's saying black flags will come from the east, meaning the lands of Khorasan. Another narration, in Muslim and Imam Ahmad says, "When you see these black flags, realize that there will be the Mahdi." So he didn't say with them, and he said, "There will be the Mahdi, so when you see the black flags, give bay'ah to the Mahdi, even if you have to crawl on snow to get to him." Even if you have to crawl on snow. When you see these black flags, make sure you get to the Mahdi, and give your bay'ah to him. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "When a khalifa dies sometime in the future, civil war will break out. and so a person from my family, from the ahlul bait will leave Madinah." So he mentioned that the Mahdi shall come from Madinah. running away from it to Makkah. And he shall reach the Ka'bah, and the people will force him out of his house, and give him the bay'ah between the rukun and the maqam. What is the rukun here? It's not rukun Yamani. The rukun means the black stone. They shall give him the oath of allegiance between the black stone and the maqam. What is the maqam? Maqam of Ibrahim. So you all know where the black stone is, you all know where the maqam is, between them is the space of let say, 7-8 feet. That is it. The Prophet (ﷺ) said in this hadith, this hadith authentic, Abu Dawud. "A man shall come from Madinah, from my descendant, he shall flee, run away." Which means he will be scared, he is being targeted, he's being hunted down. This is what it means. He shall run to Makkah, seeking protection in Makkah. And the people will take him out. Meaning he's in hiding, he doesn't want the people to know who he is. The people will hunt him down. and take him out, and he doesn't want them to know. And they shall give him the bay'ah, between the rukun and the maqam. So the Mahdi does not want to be the amiir, he doesn't want to be the khalifa. The people will take him from his house, they will force him into the Ka'bah and give him the bay'ah. So this seems to be the correct opinion that that will happen. Simultaneously when this occurs, the other ahadith tell us that there's civil war taking place right? Three sons of the khalifa are fighting. So in this civil war, the people turn to the Mahdi as the solution to the civil war. So they give him the bay'ah, when they give him the bay'ah, simultaneously a group of Muslim from Khurasan shall march towards the Ka'bah. In order to help the Mahdi and become his army. And they shall have back flags as their banners. Therefore the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "When you see those black flags, that is the sign, this is the Mahdi." Scholars assumed and this is an opinion, that the Mahdi will be amongst the black flags. It would make sense right? But this hadith tells us, the Mahdi shall be from Madinah. So correct opinion appears to be, and this is the opinion I follow, the Mahdi will come from Madinah to Makkah, during this time of civil war, and there will be many people
claiming to be the khalifa. The people will see the Mahdi and recognize him to be the Mahdi. And they will want him to be the khalifa. So they will force him to take the bay'ah. And when this occurs, the news will spread, an army will march forth, and they will want to be the followers of the Mahdi. And when that army marches forth, that is the sign, the Prophet (ﷺ) says, "When you see that army, know this is the Mahdi, give him the bay'ah, even if you have to crawl on snow to get there." In this hadith the Prophet (ﷺ) said that, "I saw in a dream something very strange..." This hadith is in Bukhari and Muslim. "A group of people of my ummah..." Meaning Muslims. "...will intent to attack the Ka'bah." Very strange. An army will intent to attack the Ka'bah, why? "Because a man from my descendant, from the Quraish has sought refuge in it. He has turned to the Ka'bah, he has sought refuge in it, and he was running away from this army." So an army will come to attack this person, and as they are camped outside of Makkah, at a place called Bayda', to this day outside of Makkah, there is a suburb called Bayda', the same name. When they are camped at Bayda', Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) will cause the earth to open up, and swallow the entire army. This hadith is in Bukhari-Muslim, there's no doubt about it, muttafaq 'alaih. It does not mention the Mahdi by name. But it says, a man from the Quraish, a man from my progeny, meaning the Mahdi. Aisya asked, "Ya Rasuulallah, there are people in the army who are not intending to attack." Meaning there are people who are just traveling along. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "All of them shall be destroyed, and on the Day of Judgment, Allah will see what their niya was." Beautiful hadith, because when this time happens, there will be many Muslims in the army who don't understand the realization of what is happening. They're sincere Muslims. All of this is in the will of Allah, that Aisya asked this question, and so it be recorded for us as well. There will be people who are forced to go. If they don't go, they're gonna be killed or threatened. If any soldier doesn't do what he is told, he is court-martial, and thrown to jail and in some country is tortured and whatnot. So Aisya made an exception, for these people. That that time will come, when there will be a group of Muslims, but not all of them are evil. Another benefit that we have of the Mahdi, is that, he shall be the leader of the entire Muslim ummah. He is going to unite the ummah, after the world divided. The Mahdi shall come at the time of civil war. There will be many people claiming to be the khalifa. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, none of them shall be successful. Then the Mahdi will come and the entire ummah shall be gathered under him. And we also know that he shall enjoy the greatest khilafa ever known to the Muslims. Better that the Umayyad, better than the Abbasid is, better than the Ottoman is, better than... All of the other khalifas that we've had. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that there will be come a time where the Mahdi will come, he shall give money to everybody and not fear poverty, not even count it. And he said that food shall grow, and the crops shall produce, and everybody shall live in security and peace. This is after the Mahdi spread justice after the injustice. We also know that the Mahdi shall rule for seven years. The Prophet (ﷺ) said in the hadith in Abu Dawud that (يملك سبع سنين) He shall rule for seven years. So the time period of the Mahdi is not very long. There will be fitna and turmoil, the bai'ah will be given to him, he will become the khalifa, after he becomes the khalifa, seven years of perfect justice. Seven years where the earth shall be the best seven years of the time of the Muslims have ever enjoyed. But then, something will happen. Then something will happen, and that is Dajjal will come. Dajjal will come when the Mahdi is alive. The Mahdi will be alive and in charge of the affair of the ummah, and he shall battle the forces of Dajjal. He shall be fighting the forces of Dajjal, fully knowing that he'll never defeat them. And that is very depressing, but he will have to do it. He knows he cannot kill the Dajjal, he knows it because the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Isa ibn Maryam is the one who will kill the Dajjal." But what else are you going to do, you have to defend yourselves. So the Prophet (ﷺ) said that the time will come when the Mahdi, - he didn't say the word Mahdi. - He said, "A leader amongst you." And in this case it is the Mahdi. "...will be leading you in Demish, in Damascus." And he will be fighting basically the forces of Dajjal. And he will stand up to lead the fajr prayer next to the white minaret. He even said the white minaret. The scholars say, this is now the Umawi Masjid. The Umayyad Mosque which is one of the most ancient masjid that is still a functioning masjid of the Muslim world. Built over 1,200 years ago, it has a huge-white-minaret. Most of the 'ulama say that the reference is to this masjid. So he shall be leading the Muslims in Demish, in Damascus. And the call for fajr shall be given, the adhan will be given for fajr, when they stand up to pray, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, when the iqama is given, before the Mahdi says Allahu Akbar, before he says the takbeer, Isa ibn Maryam will come in front of them. So the Mahdi will be leading the Muslims, and before he starts the prayer, fajr prayer, Isa ibn Maryam will come down. As they're watching, they see in the sky and Isa ibn Maryam is coming down, and he shall be on the wings of two angels. Okay, he will be holding on to two angels like this, and he's coming down in front of the Muslims. The Mahdi will say, "This is your prayer to lead, lead the prayer for us." So the Mahdi will ask Isa ibn Maryam to lead the fajr prayer. The Prophet (ﷺ) said in Sahih Muslim, he said Isa ibn Maryam will say, "No." "It was called for you, the iqama was given for you." "So, you lead the prayer." This is a hadith, as a sign of respect to this ummah. Isa ibn Maryam will pray behind one of the descendant of the Prophet (ﷺ). This is the last mention of the Mahdi. We don't know anything more about him. What will happen to the Mahdi? Allahu a'lam.
