Imam al Mehdi (a.s.)
Title:
Al-Mehdi, Saheb-ul-Asr and Al-Hujjat
Kunyat: Abul Qasim
Born at Samarra, on Friday, the 15th Shaban 255 A.H.
Father’s name: Imam Hasan-al-Askari
Mother’s name: Nargis Khatoon
He is still living and will appear before the end of the end.
1st Heavenly concealment: 8th Rabi-ul-Awwal 260 A.H.
Final Heavenly concealment: 10th Shawwal, 328 A.H. (939 A.D.)
There existed a good deal of harmony
and uniformity between the aspects pertaining to the births of Prophet
Muhammad (S.A.W.), the last Apostle of God and Imam Mehdi, the last
Apostolic Imam. Just as the coming of the Holy Prophet was prophesied
well in advance by the preceding Prophets, similarly the impending news
of the gracious birth of Imam al-Mehdi (A.S.) was foretold by the Holy
Prophet (S.A.W.).
Innumerable traditions in this context,
quoted right from the Holy Prophet, from the glowing contents of many
books of Masanid, Sehan and Akhbar, and of Shia scholars (Ulama)
existed. Many Sunni scholars have accumulated these traditions in
complete volumes also, e.g.: "Albayan fi Akhbar-e-Sahib-al-Zaman" by
Hafiz Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Shafeyee and
"Zikrenaf-ul-Mehdi" by Hafiz Abu Nayeem Ispahani, as well as "Sehah-e-Abudaud"
and "Sunan Ibne-e-Maja". All of the above books recorded the traditions
bearing evidence of the coming of this Holy Imam. Out of those
traditions two are quoted below:
Prophecies:
1. Abdullah Ibne Masood
quotes the Holy Prophet as having said, "Even
when the entire time of the world’s existence will have been already
exhausted and one solitary day left to embrace the eve of Doomsday, God
will expand and make that very day swell to such a length of time as to
accommodate the ultimate reign of a person out of my holy progeny who
will be called after my name. He will then make the earth abound with
peace and justice as it will have been fraught with the injustice and
tyranny before him."
2. Hazrat Abdullah Ibne Abbas narrates
that the Holy Prophet said, "I am the leader of all the Prophets while
Ali is the leader of all the Imams (Successors of the Prophets). I will
be followed by twelve successors, the first amongst them being Ali and
the last one Mehdi." (Behar-ul-Anwar). The above tradition vouches well
for the fact that the twelfth Imam is the last Imam of the Holy Prophet,
and stands as the final Divine Authority (Hujjat) on earth. His
Apostolic career is divided into three important phases, i.e. the period
of his childhood, the period of his "Ghaibat" (concealment) and the
period of his "Zuhor" (Re-appearance).
Name Epithet and Titles:
The name of our twelfth Imam is Mehdi,
epithet Abdul-Qasim and his well-known titles are ‘Alqaim’, and
‘Al-Hujjat’, ‘Al-Muntazer’, Al-Mehdi’, and ‘Sahbe-uz-Zaman’.
Birth:
He was born on 15th Shaban 255 A.H. in
the city of Samarra. The momentous and singular aspects of his birth
greatly resembled those under which the Prophet Moosa (Moses) was born.
The birth of Hazrat Moosa had signaled the downfall and extinction of
the empire of Pharaoh, who had ordered the slaying of all the newly born
children of Bani-Israel. The Abbasids kings were similarly apprehensive
of the continuous traditions of the Holy Prophet about the birth of Imam
Mehdi, who was to bring about a curse to their (Abbaside) very empire.
They were, therefore, laying in ambush to discover the birth of the Imam
and to put an end to his life. But the event of the Imam’s birth was
enveloped and shielded by the same Divine protection and miraculous
phenomena which had marked the historical birth of Prophet Moosa. His
birth remained strictly confidential and his nursery shrouded in secrecy
except to a few devotees.
The Imam’s birth had coincided with
the reign of Al-Mutamad, the well-known Abbaside king. He, being aware
of the prophecy of the twelfth Imam’s birth occurring in his reign, was
extremely worried and anxious to trace him out. But on the death of
Imam Hasan Askari, when he was informed about the Imam’s funeral prayer
having been conducted by his four year old son, his perplexity knew no
bounds.
It struck his mind that this very boy
must be the Imam, but he managed to hide his inner concern at the news
of the existence of the young Imam. In order to get confirmation that
the young Imam did in fact exist, he ordered the arrest of the Imam’s
mother, Janab-e-Nargis Khatoon.
The Arrest of Janab-e-Nargis Khatoon:
When Janab-e-Nargis was brought before
Al-Mutamad and inquiries made about the birth of the twelfth Holy Imam,
she, in order to safeguard her own life as well as to protect her son,
replied that she had never the symptoms of maternity and labor pain; so,
for the moment, he did not harass her, but did put her under the most
strict surveillance of Qazi Abu Sorab, entrusting him with the task of
killing any child born to her.
Soon after this incident, the Abbaside
kingdom passed through a revolutionary phase which greatly bewildered
Al-Mutamad. He was forced to face the invasion of Sahib-al-Zanj, who
raided Hejaz and Yemen and let loose the hounds of loot and arson
throughout the Abbaside kingdom, subjecting the administration of
Baghdad, the capitol, to utter chaos. Al-Mutamad was, therefore,
naturally too occupied by warfare to pay any attention towards
Janab-e-Nargis, who was consequently
released after six months and questioned no further about the birth of
the twelfth Holy Imam.
Childhood:
The Holy Imam was brought up by his
father Imam Hasan Askari, the eleventh Imam who resorted to the same
underground and secret measures in rearing his child as Hazrat Abu Talib
had adopted in connection with safe-guarding the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(S.A.W.). He used to take care of his child in one portion of the house
for a few days and then shift him to another with a view not to let the
exact whereabouts be known.
While Imam Hasan Askari kept the birth of the young Imam-to-be and the
affairs of his infancy a well-guarded secret, he did put him within the
access of some exclusive devotees and sincere friends in order to
familiarize them with their would-be Imam to whom they would pledge
their allegiance. Below mention are the few names, quoted from the
authentic books of both Sunni and Shia sects, of people who had the
honor of having personally seen the Holy Imam Mehdi (A.S.).
It is mentioned by Abi Ghanim that when
Imam Hasan Askari’s son was born he named him after the Prophet Muhammad
(S.A.W.) and on the third day after his birth, bringing forth the child
to show him to some of his followers, declared thus:
"Here is my successor and your
would-be Imam! He is that very Qaim to whose reverence your heads will
bow down. He will reappear to fill the earth with blessings and justice
after it will have been abounding with sins and vices."
Muawiya Ibne Hakeem, Muah Muhammad Ibne
Ayyub and Muhammad Ibn Usman mentioned that they called upon Imam Hasan
Askari with a deputation of forty persons. The Holy Imam showed them
his newly born child and said,
"This is your Imam after me!
All of you should unanimously submit your allegiance to him and should
not allow any controversy on the subject which will lead you in peril!
Mind that he will no more be visible to you".
Imamat:
Imam Hasan Askari (A.S.) died on the
8th Rabi-ul-Awwal 260 A.H. and the day marked the inception of his son’s
Imamat and his elevation to the Apostolic office being the source of
spiritual guidance for the whole universe. As, according to God’s Will,
all the affairs pertaining to the Holy Imam were to remain strictly
behind the curtain, he commissioned some of his deputies and
ambassadors, who had been looking after the religious affairs from the
time of his father to act as the associates between the people and the
concealed Imam. They conveyed the problems and religious queries of the
people to the Imam and brought back the verdicts and the answers of the
Imam to the people.
It was by the Will of God that he
disappeared and will again reappear by the Will of God. This will be a
prelude to the Day of Judgment. Traditions have been reported
mentioning the signs for the time of the appearance who will arise
before the Day of Judgment. Some events that will take place before his
appearance are of the following: There will be an eclipse of the sun in
the middle of the month of Ramadon, there will be an eclipse of the moon
at the end of the month of Ramadon, the land will be swallowed up at
Bayda, it will be swallowed in the east, it will be swallowed in the
west, the sun will rise from the west during the afternoon prayer, a
pure soil will be killed in the outskirts of Kufa with seventy righteous
men, a hashimite will be slaughtered between the corner of the Ka’ba and
the station of Abrahim, the wall of the Mosque of Ku’fa will be
destroyed, al- Yamani will come out in revolt, the star will appear in
the west giving light just like the moon gives light, the new moon will
bend to its horizons, a fire will appear for a long time in the east
remaining in the air for three or seven days, the Arabs will throw off
the reins and take possession of their land, the people of Egypt will
kill their ruler and destroy Syria, horses will come from the west until
they are stabled in al-Hira, the black standards will advance towards
them from the east, the Euphrates will flood so that the water comes
into the alleys of Kufa, sixty liars will come forward all of them
claiming prophet hood, twelve liars will come forward from the family of
Abu Talib, all of them claiming the Imamate. There are thousands of
more signs. Most of them will happen and some of them might not happen.
Most of these signs did not happen, but
they don’t have to happen, because Judgment Day can come right now, and
as you can see, some or all of these signs didn’t happen.
God knows the best will take place. From God we seek help and Him do
we ask for success. Abul al Hasan informed us that there will certainly
be a voice calling from the sky the name of a man for the descendants of
Abu-Talib.
No one knows the exact date of year and day on which the one who will
rise (P.B.U.H.).
Imam Jafar, al Sadiq (a.s.) said:
"The one who will rise will not come forth
in an odd year: one, three, five, seven, or nine."
Imam Jafar, al Sadiq said: "All
voice will summon the one who wall rise on the night of the twenty-third
of the month and he will rise onto day of Ashura, the day on which al
Husayn ibn Ali (a.s.) was killed. It is as if I could see him on
Saturday, 10th of the month of al Muharam, standing between the corner
of the Ka’ba and the station of Abrahim and Gabriel (a.s.) on his right
will call for the pledge of allegiance to God. His Shia will come to
him from the ends of the earth, rolling up in great numbers to pledge
allegiance to him. Then God will fill the earth with justice as it was
filled with injustice."
Which direction will the Twelfth Imam come from?
Imam al Baqir said,
"It is as if I could see the one who will
rise on the Day of Judgment (a.s.), on the sand dunes of Kufa. He came
there from Mecca with five thousand angels. Gabriel was on his right
and Michael on his left. The believers were standing in front of him
and he was scattering the soldiers into the land."
Imam al Baqir mentioned the
Mehdi and said, "He will enter
Kufa and there will be three standards which will have become confused.
They will be clear to him. He will go in until he comes to the pulpit.
Then he will preach but the people will not know what he says because
of the crying. On the second Friday, the people will ask him to pray
the Friday prayer with them. He will order that a place of prostration
be marked for him with a red dye and he will pray there with them. Then
he will order that a river should be dug from the back of the shrine of
al Husayn (a.s.), which would flow to the Ghariyyan so that the water
would descend into al, Najaf. At its entrance, bridges and mills would
be working. It is as if I could see an old women, on her head a basket,
in which wheat is brought to those mills, and they grind it without
charging."
How long will Judgment Day be?
Judgment Day will be for seven years, but each day will lengthen so that
one of his years will be the same lengthen ten of our years. So the
years of Dominion will be for 70 years. On his coming, it will rain on
the people during the month of Jumada al Akhira and for ten days during
the month of Rajab with rain, the like of which creatures have never
seen. By it God will bring forth the flesh and bodies of the believers
in the graves. It is as if I could see them advancing from Juhayna
shaking off the soil from their hair.
The Description of Imam al Mehdi
(a.s.)
One day, Jabur al Jufi heard Abu Jafar
al Baqir (a.s.) say, "Ummar ibnal Khattab question the Commander of the
Faithful (a.s.). The man said,
"Tell me about the Mehdi, what is his name?
He answered,
"As for his name, the apostle (a.s.),
took a promise from me that I would never mention to until God sent him.
"Ummar said,
"Give me his description."
He answered, "He
is a young man of medium stature with a handsome face and beautiful
hair. His hair flows on to his shoulders. A light rises on his face.
The hair of his beard and head is black. By my father, he is the son of
the best mother. "
In our great heavenly book, the Qur’an, there are multiple verses which
give the glad tidings of a great manifestation. One selected verse is:
"God has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous
deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance
(of power) as He granted it to those before them that He will establish
in authority their religion - the one which He has chosen for them; and
that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived),
to one of security and peace. They will worship Me (alone) and not
associate ought with me. If they do reject faith after this, they are
rebellious and wicked."
(24:55)
This verse well shows that finally the rule on the earth will be free
of tyranny and oppressors and the righteous believers will rule over the
universe. Imam Ali ibn Husayn (a.s.), in commenting upon this verse,
said, "This group, I swear by
God, is those very followers of our school. "
The Holy Prophet of Islam said: "If
only one day remains from the life of the earth, which is filled with
tyranny and oppressors, with justice and equity."
In traditions of Imam al Sadiq, we read,
"When the time of the arising of
the rule of the Redeemer comes, he will establish it upon justice.
Tyranny and oppression, during his rule, will be eliminated; roads and
passage ways, during his rule, will be safe and the earth will be
blessed. Every right will be given to its rightful owner and he, among
the people, will judge like David and Muhammad. At this time, the earth
will reveal its treasures and it will reveal its blessings. No needy
person will be found because all believers will be without need.
(According to the book, The Twelfth
Imam, by Murtaza Lakha).
The Last Signs Heralding His Reappearance
There is a Hadith from Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) that for three or
seven consecutive days, one will see reddish yellow fire raging in the
East which is a sure sign that the advent of the Imam (a.s) will be
imminent. Some commentators have interpreted this Hadith to suggest
nuclear explosion. Indeed as much of the world as its two-thirds will
have been destroyed. Yet one finds that the lust for blood will not
have been quenched and two more wars will follow as a matter of course,
one after the other. The signs described by Aimma Alaihimussalaam are
that these two wars are almost a necessary pre-requisite to the Zuhur of
the Imam (a.s).
First, the emergence of the Sufiani. In so far as the Sufiani is
concerned, we know for sure from the Hadith of Imam Muhammad Baqir
(a.s.) as well as other Imam as reported in Qiyamat-e-Sugra by Syed
Muhammad Abbas Qamar Zaidi. Sufiani will emerge in Palestine, where he
will start a revolt in the month of Rajab. He will be a ruthless rebel
and his rule will last for eight consecutive months. That is to say,
that it will start in Rajab and it will stretch into Safar of the
ensuing year. The narration is that after he starts the revolt in
Palestine, he will march towards North Africa and conquer and rule Egypt
for four consecutive months. He will then move further west. He will
conquer Tunisia, Algeria and go as far as Morrocco. His greed will then
make him come back east to Palestine and conquer Jordan and from Jordan
get to Syria. He will cause tremendous destruction and chaos in Syria
but he will find it a suitable shelter and will make Damascus his
headquarters. This person, Sufiani, has been specifically described by
Aimma (a.s.) as an ugly, blistered, green-eyed person who will by an
enemy of the friends of the Ahl-lul Bayt (a.s.).
Imam Ali (a.s.) has said that Sufiani’s hatred of the devotees of the
Ahlul-Bayt will be such that any person named Ali, Fatema, Hasan,
Husein, Zainab, Ruqaiya will be arrested and beheaded straight away
without further investigations. In fact he will cause so much havoc
that people will be living in terror. Whilst a good number of us
perhaps today merely recite Allahummasalli Allah Muhammadin Waali
Muhammad Waajil Farajahum as a matter of course, the people in those
times will whole - heartedly be praying for emergence of Imam Mehdi
(a.s.). Indeed the order of the day will be that there will be a
general command from the administration that any person detected to be a
follower of Ahlul-Bayt should immediately be reported to the
authorities. There will be guards moving around watching for any sign
that would indicate that the person is a devotee of Ahl-lul Bayt.
Indeed, neighbors will be commanded to report neighbors, and the
situation will become so awful, so atrocious , that fathers will report
their children, brothers will report their brothers, neighbors will find
no safety from their neighbors, each reporting the other only to obtain
sufficient rewards from the administration to survive in those difficult
days of hardship. But apart from these torture and oppression that will
prevail, the Jewish soldiers acting for Sufiani, over seventy thousand
of them, will be so ruthless that there will be no woman whose chastity
nor no man whose neck will be safe. Traditions reveal quite clearly
that almost all of the seventy thousand in the army of Sufiani will be
illegitimate children. They will be ruthless and will cause chaos, they
will not only attack chastity, they will also attack humanity and there
will be open daylight robbery. Indeed in those days to find sustenance
will be difficult that Ahadith go so far as to say that a father will be
prepared to give away a young beautiful daughter only to obtain a loaf
of bread for his sustenance. Such will be the intensity of suffering
that will be imposed upon the public by Sufiani. The Sufiani terrors
will not end there. From Syria he will march into Iraq and he will
cause untold horror there also. He will reach the Mosque of Kufa, and
destroy its walls but then somehow he will become frightened. What
exactly will scare him away is not clear from the traditions but he will
flee back to Syria. One would have thought the oppression of Sufiani
would cool off, but that will not be so. He will then embark upon
attacking Medina. Ahadith say that the tortures and destruction caused
by Muslim bin Aqaba in the history we already know of will be
insignificant compared to the destruction and chaos that Sufiani will
cause in Medina, so much so that the Member of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w.)
will be ripped. The Holy House of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w.) which
contains his grave will be pulled down and used as a stable. Horses
will be tried in that Holy place.
Not content with all that, Sufiani will then decide to attack Mecca.
And his purpose in attacking Mecca will be twofold, firstly to
completely demolish of the Holy Kaaba and secondly, ruthlessly to kill
the entire population of Mecca. So his army will set out via Baghdad
but, as Allah would have it, when they get between Medina and Mecca, in
the desert of Baida, suddenly one night they will hear a voice from the
sky which will say, "O Baida eat up the entire army of Sufiani" and it
is said that the entire army numbering almost 100,000 persons will all
be swallowed up by the earth, except for two. And those two who will be
spared will narrate that the army was swallowed up by the land in such a
way that there would not even be a trace of a single man of the army.
Their vehicles, their weapons and all materials will be buried along
with them in one full swoop. The two who will be spared will suddenly
encounter an angel. He will slap both of them turning their faces right
round, looking behind instead of front. And that will be the time when
Imam A.S. will already have reappeared in Mecca. He will establish his
authority in the Holy Mosque at Mecca in the Haram. The angel will then
order one of them calling him Bashir, "O Bashir, go straight to Mecca,
into the Haram and inform the Imam A.S. that Sufiani’s army has been
swallowed up by the land". Bashir means a person who sends good
tiding. The other will be called Nazir who will be ordered to go to
Sufiani and tell him that the Mahdi A.S. has already appeared. He
should proceed straight to Mecca and declare allegiance to him.
We have just discussed the details of the tortures of which he will be
the cause, the murders and massacres which he will mastermind and
ultimately answer for. Indeed, he will prepare himself to attack the
Imam A.S. but will not have the courage. It is said that the Imam will
then move from Mecca and go to Medina. Once in Medina he will decide to
go after Sufiani to allay the fears of the people. Despite losing the
whole army swallowed up by the land his lust to kill and loot will not
have averted. People will be beseeching Hazrat Hujjat A.S. who would
already have reappeared to come to their salvation. Hazrat Hujjat A.S.
will march to Syria. At this point the traditions differ; one says that
the Imam A.S. will catch him in Syria and kill him in Damascus. The
other tradition says that Sufiani realizing the Imam is in hot pursuit
will escape to Palestine where the Imam A.S. will eventually catch him
in Jerusalem. There will be a direct confrontation at Baitul Muqaddas
and Sufiani will be killed at the holy hands of the Imam A.S. However,
the traditions on earth in Damascus and he will participate in attacking
the remnants of the army of Sufiani and kill a number of them. Indeed,
he will be with the Imam A.S. when Sufiani meets his fate. If the Imam
A.S. reappears in Muharram it will be a full month before Sufiani will
be killed. The Aimma Alaihimussalaam have repeatedly fore-warned us
about Sufiani, simply because of his intense hatred for the devotees of
the Ahl-lul Bayt A.S. Perhaps the persecution of the followers of Ahl-lul
Bayt in the days of the Omayyad and Abbaside rulers was less intense
than what awaits at the hands of Sufiani.
But whilst there will be such terror and tyranny here will also be
another army of hope, mercy and salvation. It is said that a Seyyid
descendant of Imam Hasan A.S. known as Seyyide Hasani, will star a
revolution immediately join him in great numbers and his slogan will be
Amr bil Maaruf wa Nahy anil Munkar. We have already seen how in those
days Amr bil Maaruf wa Nahy anil Munkar will be impossible. How many of
us see our friends doing wrong done publicly and are not able to redress
them? But in those days the situation will be beyond control and yet
this Seyyide Hasani will embark on such a mission. Propagating his
mission he will move right down to Kerman and up to Multan. He will
then decide to get into Iraq and see how he can confront Sufiani and how
he can put right the wrongs of the day. He will decide to travel by sea
and so he will get into the Gulf and eventually land in Basra. He will
influence the region around Basra. News will reach him that the Imam
A.S has appeared in Mecca. At this stage he will concentrate how to
meet the Imam A.S. Imam Hafar-e-Sadiq a.s reports quite categorically
that when this news will reach Seyyide Hasani he will be convinced that
the claim is of the true Imam Mahdi A.S. and not of an impostor.
However, to satisfy his army he will make investigations. He will
receive a word that the Imam has already left Mecca and is on his way to
Medina form where he will be proceeding to Kufa. So Seyyide Hasani with
his entire army, will diver t his journey form Basra to Kufa, where he
will have audience with the Imam A.S. However Shaitan will still be
alive on that day. He will cause chaos. A number of people in the army
of Seyyide Hasani will challenge the authenticity of the Imam A.S., so
Seyyide Hasani will ask for proof. He will, it is said in traditions,
as for the Ammamma (turban) of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.W.), the Imam
a.s. will produce it. But he will seek further proof and the Imam a.s.
will prove it by hitting it on the ground and immediately a tree will
grow and in split seconds will sprout branches and leaves and blossom
into fruits. The speed at which this will happen will be unnatural and
unheard of. Even that will not satisfy the Seyyid’s army. They will
ask for further proof. The Imam A.S. will then embark upon providing
proof of his own. He will produce the Standard, The Alam which will
have been unfolded. It is said that the Standard has been used only
twice. In the war at Badr and in the war of Jamal. They will ask the
Imam for proof that this is the same Standard. The Imam will instruct
the Standard: "disclose your identity". It is said that the flag will
become vocal and will say, "I am now being held by the rightful
descendant of the Prophet, the true Mahdi of the day." The Imam will
then produce Thulfiqar, (the sword) which will become vocal and will say
"I am in the hands of the rightful owner of mine, the true descendant of
the Prophet and the true Mahdi of this day." Even that will not satisfy
them. The Imam will then produce the A’saayah of Nabi Musa. They will
ask for proof that it is the walking stick of Nabi Musa. So the Imam
A.S. will repeat the miracle Nabi Musa performed when facing Pharaoh.
He will hit it one the stone and twelve streams of water will
immediately flow out of it. The Imam will then ask if the army is not
yet satisfied with his proofs. He will produce the ring of Nabi
Suleiman. When Nabi Suleiman wore the ring, immediately all the birds
would come in and gather near him and speak to him and he would speak to
them in their language. That episode will be repeated. Birds will
gather round the Imam A.S.; and will later disperse. After that Seyyide
Hasani himself will ask the Imam, "I know that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w.)
had an armor which can only fit his true descendant and nobody else."
Hazrat Hujjat A.S. will produce that armor and will first give it to
Seyyide Hasani. And the Imam will then say "Wear it on you". Seyyide
Hasani will then start trembling. He will say "I did not ask for
proof. I only asked for this to convince my army. My body is not
capable of taking this from your hands." The Imam will then insist.
The Armor will not fit Seyyide Hasani. The Imam will then challenge
anybody else to try it on. The Imam will eventually put in on himself.
It will be a perfect fit. With all these signs the Imam will say, "I
have now given you sufficient proof that I am the Mahdi of the time."
At that time the majority of the army of Seyyide Hasani will declare
allegiance to the Imam A.S., but 4,000 Yemenis who will be followers of
Zaid who was the son of the Fourth Imam A.S.. Although he never
proclaimed to be an Imam, some people regarded him so. They will refuse
to swear allegiance. For three days they will be persuaded but on their
refusal to swear allegiance to the Imam A.S. will be killed.
Two signs are a absolutely inevitable. It is only after the ,arrogance
of Seyyide-e-Hasani and Sufiani that the Imam’s arrival can be
expected. But the Ahadith are clear also that all these three events,
the emergence of Sufiani in Palestine, the emergence of Seyyide-e-Hasani
from Iran and the emergence of the Imam A.S. in Mecca will take place
during the same period of twelve months. That will be the crucial time.
Thus the position at that stage will be one chaos caused by Sufiani on
the one hand and the attempt by Seyyide-e-Hasani to bring people back to
religion on the other. In between these two, the Imam A.S. will
reappear and will kill all the enemies so as to bring about justice and
equity in the world. Apart from these, there are two other smaller
events will happen. A revolution will take place in Yemen and the
rebels will go right up to Mecca but will eventually be pushed back.
Another person will rise in Kuwait causing great dissension.
Propagating his ideology he will move right up to Syria, where
eventually he will be killed, perhaps by Sufiani.
The last eight months before Thuhr will have very clear signs, in fact
we can even start with about 11 months before Thuhr. Imam Jafar al
Sadiq (a.s.) has said to Jabir-Jaafi that in the month of Safar
preceding the emergence of the Imam A.S. there will appear a comet,
known as Al Qarb Zushifa. The Imam A.S. says that this comet had been
seen when the Abassid Khalifa visited Khorasan. It had become visible
just before the destruction of the followers of Nabi Nuh. It emerged
when Ibrahim was being thrown into the fire by Namrud. It was visible
before destruction of the Pharaoh in the time of Musa and it rose when
Yahya ibne Zakaria, was murdered in Damascus. So the appearance of this
comet has always been accompanied by dire events: when Ibrahim was to
be killed, when a complete Ummah of Nuh was to be wiped out, when
Nafs-e-Zakia, or Yahya ibn Zakaria was to be killed. This comet will
again appear in the month of Safar before the Thuhr. It is also
recorded that a two-tailed star will appear in the sky before the advent
of Imam Mahdi A.S. and it will be so bright that it will shine like a
full moon. That will also be in the month of Safar. Then we do not
know much of what is to follow for a few months but when we come to the
eighth month before Thuhr, the month of Jamadi-us-thani, it is said that
from the 16th of Jamadi-us-thani to the 10th of Rajab there will be
incessant and torrential rain which will cause great damage. In a way
it will be welcome because for three years preceding that period there
will be have been famine and drought. There will not have been a drop
of rain in the whole world for three years before that; this is why
people will be prepared to give away their daughters in living for a
loaf of bread. The rains will last up to the 10th of Rajab when Sufiani
will emerge. One calamity will be followed by another. Rajab will see
another sign. There will be a vision of a hand in the sun and a human
face will be seen in the moon and will startle the people. In that
month numerous other miracles will begin to appear. In the succeeding
month, the holy month of Ramadhan, there will be a lunar eclipse at the
end of the month and a solar eclipse in the middle of the month. The
ordinary position will be reversed. It will shock the people. It is
said that this will be a positive sign and that it will be the last holy
month before the emergence of the Imam A.S. But something even more
remarkable will happen in that holy month. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.)
has said that soon after the middle of that month which Imam Jafar al
Sadiq (a.s.) had elucidated as 23rd of the month of Ramadhan, Momineen
should spend the whole of that night in prayer. It will not only be a
lailatul Juma (Friday eve) but also Lailatul Qadr and the next morning
they should lock themselves in their houses. In fact, every effort
should be made to keep away from glass. Doors should be so bolted that
nothing should penetrate through them, because the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.)
and the Imam A.S. have warned that at about mid-day, a shriek will be
heard from the sky and it will be so powerful that it will be heard all
over the world and so strong that it will cause untold horrors and
destruction. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) has taught us, "When that
period comes, prostrate and recite, SUBHANAL QUDDUS, RABBUNAL QUDDUS"
and he said that those who would continue with this recitation would be
spared any harm from that shriek. Ahadith states that at least three
loud voices will be heard in that month. What will follow in Shawwal
will be great upheavals. The month of Zilqaad will see rifts everywhere
and in Zilhajj, caravans of Hujjaj will be looted, and the road to
pilgrimage will be blocked. What will happen during Zilhajj will be
horrible, but the horrors that will occur in Muharram are absolutely
beyond description and it is said that it is in that month of Muharram
that there will be the final emergence of the Imam A.S. These briefly
will be the signs that will portray with certainty the arrival of the
Imam A.S. The exact date is not known, even by the Imam A.S. himself -
only Allah knows.
But at far as it was possible for Aimma Alaihimusalam to guide us, this
is the pattern that has been unfolded. As was apparent from our
discussion the happenings of early days are more speculative in regard
to the emergence of the Imam. But as we progress nearer to the time of
Thuhr we are able to tell with exactitude from the signs of the
emergence of the Imam A.S.
Hazrat Ali (a.s.) has said that nine definite signs will precede the
emergence of Hazrat Mahdi A.S. First, he says, Dajaal will emerge.
Secondly, a loud voice will be heard from the sky. Thirdly, Sufiani
will appear and wage a fierce war. Fourthly, the army of Sufiani will
be swallowed by a sudden opening of the land between Mecca and Medina in
the desert of Baida. Fifthly, a revered wise saint will be murdered in
Mecca. Traditions have it that this will happen on the 23rd of Zilhajj
and that this Nafse Zakia will be a Hashimite descent. Sixth, a Seyyid
descendant of Imam Hasan (a.s.) will emerge with his army, the army of
Seyyid-e-Hasani and an image of a man will appear in the sky opposite
the sun. We have seen how this will happen in the month of Shaban.
There will be two eclipses in the holy month of Ramadhan contrary to the
normal order and calculation and the eclipse of the moon. The last is
that on three occasions a loud voice from the sky will be heard in the
holy month of Ramadhan. According to Hazrat Ali A.S., these signs are
absolute pre-requisite to the re-emergence of the Imam A.S. Finally,
Imam Jafar al Sadiq (a.s.) was asked, "When such will be the chaos and
the insufferable calamities of the time, how do we spare ourselves from
going astray?"
Indeed Ahadith say that at that time living the life of a Moomin will
be like treading on the edge of a sharp knife. Imam A.S. was asked how
one could come through the turmoil patiently and bear the sufferings
until the emergence of the Imam A.S. He taught us a small dua’a, "YA
ALLAH, YA RAHMANU, YA RAHIM, YA MUQALLIBAL QULUB, THABBIT QALBI ALA
DINIK".
This source of information was taken
from:
1. Lakha, Murtaza. The Twelfth Imam. Published by R & K Tyrrell.
London, 1993.
2. Lalljee N. Yousuf. Know Your Islam. Published by Tahrike Tarsile
Qur’an Inc. New York, 1986. |