Concept of Imam Al-Mahdi: Why Is Such a Saviour Needed?

In our previous write-ups we learnt that:

• Islamic eschatology explains the details of the events starting from Prophet Muhammad ﷺ until the doomsday on a measurable timeline.
• Such events/signs can be divided into two main categories i.e. Minor Signs and Major signs.
• We thoroughly studied that all of the minor signs have been completed and its now time for major signs.
• Major signs are four: 1. Imam Al-Mahdi 2. Dajjal/Antichrist 3. Return of Jesus 4. Gog Magog

The major signs require detail and attention from the readers. Since these events are yet to happen and we talk about future, the reader might get an impression that we are assuming stuff. But it should be noted that we are not talking on assumptions. We’d be providing authentic references from the sayings of the Final Messenger of Allah, Muhammad ﷺٴ. We’d also be providing the references to geo-political events and scenarios when we need to refer to such data points.

Before we prove if the figure if Imam Mahdi as a saviour is proven from Quran and Sahih Hadith or not, let’s try to understand the need of such a figure.

The concept of Imam Mahdi is as astonishing as it is desirable. Below we’ll learn how!

Purpose of Humans On Earth

Allah created many creatures before humans and jinkind. The earth, the sky, angels, birds, plants and all kinds of animate and inanimate creatures. The characteristics and details of all of them were different, but one thing was common, that they all glorified and prostrated to Allah in every situation and did not have the power to disobey His orders.

سَبَّحَ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ (الحدید)
“Whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Allah, and He is the All-Mighty, All-Wise.”.

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالطَّيْرُ صَافَّاتٍ ۖ كُلٌّ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُ وَتَسْبِيحَهُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَفْعَلُونَ (النور ۴۱)
“Do you not realize that Allah is glorified by whoever is in the heavens and on earth, even by the birds in formation? Each knows its manner of prayer and praise. Allah knows what they do.”.

تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ السَّمَاوَاتُ السَّبْعُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ ۚ وَإِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ ۗ إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا (بنی اسرائیل ۴۴)
“Praising Him are the seven heavens, and the earth, and everyone in them. There is not a thing that does not glorify Him with praise, but you do not understand their praises. He is Patient and Forgiving.”.

But the worship of all these creatures is devoid of passion and love, its because of compulsion. Allah has created them in such a way that they cannot do anything apart from what they have been commanded.

An example of this in today’s times is a laundry machine that does your work instantly on your cue. A machine that washes your clothes a thousand times does not deserve the praise and kindness that your child can get by bringing you a glass of water.
The main reason for this is that the machine has no choice but to listen to you and is built to do the laundry, whereas a child has a choice. Therefore, the child deserves praise and reward for giving priority to your command over his distractions and playtime.

The same is the case with the creatures of Allah. Its wonderful that the sun and moon praise Allah Almighty, it is also correct that the trees and the stars prostrate to Allah but rewarding them for their praise and prostration is meaningless.

Therefore, Allah, in order to bestow His infinite mercy and infinite rewards, created a creature whom Allah bestowed with the attribute of ‘volition’. And that creature was the Jinn.
Before Jinns, the best of Allah’s creations were the angels whom Allah created from His light. He created the jinkind from fire – the second best thing after the angels. These jinns were sent to a special testing platform called the earth.

Due to the origin of fire, the jinns turned out to be more evil than kind, more destructive than constructive. They filled the earth with fitna and corruption, slaughter and bloodshed. Instead of recognising Allah, they worshiped their desires and turned away from the reason of their creation.

Allah sent His angels who pushed these disobedient devils to the corners of the land.However, among the jinns, a vigilant one arose – who recognised his Lord, and made the purpose of his life to worship Allah. Because of his special grace, Allah exalted him to a special position in the ranks of the angels. His name was Iblis. But generally, jinnkind did not deserve the rewards of the Almighty due to their overall mischief.

Lord Almighty decided to create another creature i.e. humans to bestow His infinite mercy upon them.

اِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْاَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الْاَرْضِ وَ الْجِبَالِ فَاَبَیْنَ اَنْ یَّحْمِلْنَهَا وَ اَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَ حَمَلَهَا الْاِنْسَانُ-اِنَّهٗ كَانَ ظَلُوْمًا جَهُوْلًا (الاحزاب۔۷۲)
“We offered the trust to the heavens, and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid of it, and the human carried it. Surely, he is a harmdoer, and ignorant.”

Man is a strange creation of Allah. He was created from an origin that was the most despicable. That is, the soil of the land from which Allah had created the birds and animals, not any of conscious creations. and this soil sometimes became an example of contempt under the feet of animals, the jinn walked on it and gave it a message of contempt. But who knew the wisdom of Allah Almighty!

Allah decided to create such a high and exalted creature from this lowly soil; who, despite his lowly origin; despite the ability to disobey; despite the lusts & desires and despite the material needs and shortcomings, recognised his creator and became the most honorable creation. Allah gave this creation the name of ‘Insan’ i.e. humans and then announced to his then close creatures – the angels.

From Al-Baqarah 30:

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ
“And when your Lord said to the angels: I am about to make (my) vicegerent in the earth”.

The angels were well aware of the actions of the jinn before man. When they found out that another powerful being was about to be born in the earth, they immediately said :

قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ
“Do you want to make a vicegerent in this (land) who commits mischief and causes bloodshed while we glorify and sanctify you with your praises?”

But Allah knew that these creatures created from lowly matter would eventually be blessed with the blessings that the jinn were deprived of due to their ignorance. Therefore Allah said:

إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
He said: “I know things that you do not know.”

The exclusive wisdom that Allah did not reveal to angels was later revealed in Quran. That, the man will finally recognize his Lord the way he is meant to. And Muhammad the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) will be exalted to the best rank for any creation – namely, the rank of Mahmood.

In accordance with this exclusive wisdom, Allah ordered the angels – right after the creation of Adam – to prostrate to Adam (peace be upon him): Al-Baqarah 34:

وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ
“And when We commanded the angels to prostrate before Adam.”

This was not an act of worship, rather an act of respect. In other words, it was the issuance of Allah’s order that from today onwards, a creature has come into existence whose position is the most exalted one in the sight of Allah. But this was unacceptable for the Iblis:

فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ
“So they (angels) prostrated themselves, but Satan refused and became a disbeliever in pride.”

Allah was well aware of the intention of Iblis, but still He asked Iblis about it: Al-A’raf 12:

قَالَ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُكَ ۖ
“(God) said: When I commanded you, what prevented you from prostrating?”

So Iblis immediately declared his pride and hatred towards man:

قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِنْ نَارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِينٍ
He said “I am better than him. You have created me from fire and made him from clay.”

As a result of insolence in the court of the creator of the earth and the heavens, the only exalted one among the jinn, became the cursed one in Allah’s court: Al-A’raf 13:

قَالَ فَاهْبِطْ مِنْهَا فَمَا يَكُونُ لَكَ أَنْ تَتَكَبَّرَ فِيهَا فَاخْرُجْ إِنَّكَ مِنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ
“He said, “Go away, you don’t deserve to be proud here, so leave. You are (not better than man but) inferior.”

Here Iblis challenged Allah: Al-A’raf 16-17:

قَالَ فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
“(Then) Satan said, “You have cursed me. I will also sit on your straight path to (mislead) them.”

ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ
“Then I will come from before them and behind them from the right and from the left (that is, from all sides) and you will not find most of them grateful.”

As a result of this challenge, while Allah announced punishment for the followers of Iblis, He also announced some privileges for the man which were not available to the jinn: Al-Anbiya 18:

بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ ۚ وَلَكُمُ الْوَيْلُ مِمَّا تَصِفُونَ
“on the contrary, when we attack falsehood through the truth, then it will remove its influence and the falsehood will be annihilated at the same time. And the things you make are your own fault.”

In comparison to the evil of Iblis, Allah has blessed the man with a special package on His behalf so that man can fulfill his right to the position of the most exalted creation; so that the man can transcend the material veils; defy the material needs and desires; and fulfill his duty of worshipping his Creator, Allah Almighty.

This special package is the ‘divine knowledge’ that Allah has been blessing the man with, through His prophets and messengers.

Prophets and Messengers have been coming to the man in every era. There were times when multiple prophets were present on earth simultaneously. At one place was Abraham (peace be upon him) and on the other was Lut (peace be upon him). Afterwards Allah’s special mercy fell on Bani Israel. In their case – after Moses, there was a continuous chain of prophets. As soon as one prophet passed away, Allah sent a new one.

Despite this divine guidance, most of the people remained ignorant of the truth and chose to follow Iblis. The Jews associated with Allah their own Prophet Hazrat Uzair (peace be upon them) and the Christians called their Prophet Jesus (peace be upon them) the son of God. Nauzubillah.

The shortcomings of man and his disobedience of Allah, could not diminish the infinite mercy of Allah. Allah – with His special mercy, brought the purpose of creation of man to its completion through the Final Messenger Muhammad ﷺ. We are the lucky ones, through whom Allah will strike the falsehood with the truth InshaAllah. The Muslim Ummah is the blessed Ummah through which Allah will send a clear message to the people of falsehood and previous nations that I sent many Prophets but you did not heed the advice, I showered countless blessings on you; sometimes I sent down rain, sometimes I appointed a piece of cloud for your shadow, sometimes I sent a prophet who was born by a miracle, but you people did not follow the truth. Therefore, I will fulfil my order with the people of the Final Messenger.

Despite being such far from the divine message, this Ummah will be a blessed Ummah which will not only be united on Tawheed but will establish the order of the Creator on the whole earth – even without having a prophet among them.

About 600 years after Jesus left this world, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was sent. Within those 600 or so years, there was probably not a single servant on the whole earth who would be a monotheist anymore. About one and a half millennia have passed since Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) left this world. But thanks to the special mercy of Allah, even today, the majority of the Muslim Ummah is monotheist. Because of this separation from prophethood, many faults, shortcomings and weaknesses have certainly arisen, but according to the promise of Allah, this Ummah will remove these shortcomings, and establish one world order, one world government – the order of Allah! ^[1]Sahih, Ahmad

The Purpose of Humanity Will be Fulfilled through Imam Mahdi (AS)

The mankind who could not grasp the truth in the presence of many prophets, how will they recognise the truth while being so far away from prophethood? How will the common people complete the mission that was started by the prophets?

Allah has a special grace for this Ummah. Allah will not send Prophets and the new Sharia after Muhammadﷺ, but will continue to entrust some people of this Ummah with the responsibility of Reformers.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْعَثُ لِهَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ عَلَى رَأْسِ كُلِّ مِائَةِ سَنَةٍ مَنْ يُجَدِّدُ لَهَا دِينَهَا۔ ^[2] رواه أبو داود، رقم/4291
Abu Hurairah Radiyallahu Anhu says that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Allah will send to this Ummah at the beginning of every century a person who will reform its religion for it.”

Imam Mahdi (peace be upon him) will be the person through whom Allah Almighty will fulfil the purpose for which He created man on earth.

عن علي رضي االله عنه قال:قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: )لو لم يبق من الدهر إلا يوم لبعث االله رجلا من أهل بيتي، يملأ الارض عدلا كما ملئت جورا. ^[3]أخرجه أبو داود واحمد وابن أبي شيبة وهو صحيح
Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Even if there is only one day left before the Hour, Allah will send a person from among my household (lineage) to stand up and he will fill the earth with justice and fairness as this earth would be filled with corruption/injustice.”

عن تَميم الداري -رضي الله عنه-، قال: سمعتُ رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم- يقول: «ليَبْلغنَّ هذا الأمرُ ما بلغ الليلُ والنهارُ، ولا يترك اللهُ بيت مَدَر ولا وَبَر إلا أدخله الله هذا الدين، بعِزِّ عزيز أو بذُلِّ ذليل، عزا يُعِزُّ الله به الإسلام، وذُلا يُذل الله به الكفر» وكان تميم الداري، يقول: قد عرفتُ ذلك في أهل بيتي، لقد أصاب مَن أسلم منهم الخير والشرف والعز، ولقد أصاب من كان منهم كافرا الذل والصَّغَار والجِزية. ^[4]صحيح ۔ رواه أحمد

On the authority of Tamim Ad-Dari, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: I heard the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saying that this religion will reach every place where day and night cycle occurs and Allah will enter his religion in every house, whether it is accepted with honor or by disgrace. Those who reject it will be humiliated (in this world and the hereafter); and those who accept it with Honor will be blessed. Tamim Ad-Dari, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say, “I have seen the truth of this saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in my family, that whoever became a Muslim, he was blessed with goodness, nobility and honor, and whoever remained a disbeliever, he was subjected to humiliation, shame, and jizya.”

Thus Imam Mahdi will be the one who will establish the order of the Lord on earth. This order would not be limited to a piece of land, rather it would be established around the globe. Thus fulfilling the purpose of man on earth.

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Wassalam,

Awais Naseer
Aug 2, 2022
Muharram 3, 1444 AH