Imam Mahdi (A.S.) in
Sehah-e-Sitah:

The belief in Imam Mahdi
(A.S.) has been a topic of debate
since the very inception of Islam. Most of the Islamic scholars are so
deeply drowned in the pit of prejudice that they deny the existence of Imam
Mahdi (A.S.) in its entirety. They assert that it is an idea fabricated
by the Shias which has no origin either
in Quran or in Prophetic traditions and
is an unfounded belief. As far as Quran
is concerned, time and again in several articles
of Yamahdi.com we have proved the point. God-willing in this article
we shall try to prove the holy existence of Imam Mahdi (A.S.) from the
Prophetic traditions. We shall also try to establish that
not only this belief is not concocted by Shi'te
zealots but it is such a foundation of Islam which cannot be rejected. The
Holy Prophet (S.A.) and his companions
were awaiting such a 'Reformer'
who will establish justice and equity in
the world and thus fulfill the Divine
Promise of "so that it (Islam) may prevail upon all the religions" (Quran).

Why Sehah-e-Sittah?

Often it happens that when
Shia Scholars bring some proofs, then immediately the
Sunni learned men retort by, "If you
prove it from Sehah-e-Sittah we will believe.
We believe only in the references of Sehah-e-Sittah and nothing else." How
far their reply is correct or incorrect is beyond the limits of this
article. But it will not be out of place to mention that umpteen Sunni
beliefs are not to be found in Sehah-e-
Sittah. For instance the belief in
'Ashrae Mubashshirah', these are those
ten 'fortunate'
companions of the Holy Prophet (S.A.) who were promised paradise in their
lifetime. But, this belief
Of Ahle-Sunnat
is not to be found in any of the Sehah.
Nevertheless in order to exhaust the arguments, we will confine our
references and citations from Sehah Sittah alone.

Imam Mahdi (A.S.) is from the Holy
Ahlebait (A.S.)

1- Hafiz Abu
Abdullah
Mohammad bin Yazid Al
Qazvini narrates in his
'Sunane-Ihn
Majah' that Hazrat
Ali (A.S.) related from the Holy Prophet
(S.A.) that :

"The Mahdi is from us Ahlebait,
Allah shall organize his affairs within one night."

(Sunane-lbn
Majah, Kitabul
Fitan, Tradition No. 4085).
Bukhari has quoted the same tradition
ditto in his 'Tarikh'
but only Allah knows who advised him against quoting the tradition in his
'Sahih'.

2-
Saeed bin Musayyab relates that
once we were sitting in the company ofUmme
Salmah (R.A.)
when we mentioned about Mahdi, she replied that I have heard the Holy
Prophet (S.A.) saying :

"The Mahdi is from the offspring of
Fatema."

3- Anas bin Malik related
from the Holy Prophet (S.A.) that

"We, the progeny of
Abdul
Muttalib viz. I,
Hamza, Ali,
Jafar,
Hasan,
Husain and
Mahdi are the chiefs of inhabitants of
Paradise."

4- Abu
Isa Mohammad bin
Sauda narrates in
his
Sahihe-Tirmizi, that the Holy Prophet (S.A.)
said :

"The
world will not perish unless a man from my progeny will not rule on the land
of Arabs-."

(Sahihe-Tirmizi, Kitabul Fitan,
Chapter of The Reports on Mahdi',
Tradition No. 2230.)

Abu Isa opined that the tradition is also quoted
from Ali (A.S.),
Abu Saeed
Umme Salma and Abu
Huraira. This is a correct and authentic
tradition. Apart from this, classifying a separate chapter in his
Sahih about
Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) itself speaks
volumes about the importance of the subject.

There are
numerous such traditions from the Holy Prophecy
(S.A.) which proclaim that the Mahdi will
be only from Ahlebait (A.S.) and none
else. Two conclusions can be derived from such traditions. Firstly,
Haznit Mahdi (A.S.) is not an ordinary
person. He is such an extraordinary and sublime person of whom the Holy
Prophet (S.A.) is proud. He (S.A.) heaves a breathe of pride when he
announces that Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) is
from his own progeny. Secondly, these traditions exposed and unmasked all
those importers and
pseudo-Mahdi is who were neither related
to the Holy Prophet (S.A.) nor were in any way linked to his Ahlebait (A.S.).

The Reappearance
Of Imam Mahdi (A.S.) Is Inevitable

Some
persons reject the existence and the reappearance of
Imam-e- Zaman
(A.S.) because of his concealed birth,
occultation and longevity.

Today
when the majority of the Islamic sects
are scoffing at us because we are convinced of the existence of Imam Mahdi (A.S.)
then it should not be in the least surprising because the believers were
always made the target of mockery. (For details refer to Holy Quran). The Holy Prophet (S.A.) had
spoken a lot about Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) and declared emphatically
that Qiyamat
will never occur unless Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) does not arrive. Thus it has
been quoted from the Holy Prophet (S.A.) that:

"If a single day remains from the age of this
world then Allah will prolong that day to such an extent that, He will raise
a man from my progeny on that particular
day-."

(Sunane-Abi
Daud, Kitabul
Mahdi, Tradition No. 4282)

There
are numerous such traditions in the
books of 'Sehah-e-Sittah'. Often a
question arises

that why
always a similarity is struck between the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (A.S.)
and the occurrence of Qiyamat ?

The
reason is that Qiyamat is one of the promises of Allah, the Almighty, Who
always fulfills His promises. Similarly, Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) is also one of
the promises of Allah. Hence occasionally, he is also referred as
'Mahdi-e-Mauood' (The Promised Mahdi)
whose advent is mentioned in the Holy Quran in the following words:

"O
Prophet say) Then await certainly
I am awaiting too."
(Araf:81)

Hence if
Qiyamat is an irrefutable reality then the advent of Mahdi too is an
incontrovertible fact.

Secondly
the belief in Mahdaviyat is one of the
fundamentals of Islam and as much a basic principle as Qiyamat is. This
purports that the denial of the belief in Mahdaviyat is like the abnegation
of a basic fundamental of Islam, and denial of any of the fundamentals of
Islam is infidelity. All the same, Khwaja
Kalan Qunduzi
Hanafi narrates a tradition from the Holy
Prophet that :

"The one who denied the reappearance of Mahdi (A.S.)
then it is as if he has disbelieved in all that which was revealed upon the
(Prophet) Mohammad
(S.A.)."

Is there
any further proof required? The conclusion which is derived after keen
perusal of logical and traditional reasoning is that any one who denies the
existence or the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (A.S.) will be an infidel and
not a Muslim.

Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) And Justice:

Whenever
the Holy Quran has mentioned about the aims of Prophets then it has
mentioned about the establishment of justice as a chief objective of their
mission. As it is said in the Holy Quran that:

"So
that man
may deal with justice."

In Sehah
Sittah whenever Hazrat Mahdi
(A.S.)
is mentioned, then along with
it, his attributes also have been described. One of these
descriptions is that when he will come,
he will fill the earth with justice and equity as it would be fraught with
injustice and inequity. For instance

"He will fill
the earth with justice and equity as it would be rife with tyranny and
oppression".
(Sunane-Abi
Daud, Tradition
Nos. 2283, 4282)
It can be
inferred from these traditions that the
purpose of the reappearance of Imam
Mahdi (A.S.)
is the dissemination of justice.
Secondly, when he will arrive then injustice and oppression would be rampant
in the world. The oppressors would be obeyed and the disbelievers would be
disgraced. There will he only one person who will turn the tide whose name
will be on the name of Holy Prophet (S.A.)
and his epithet will be same as that of the Prophet (S.A.).
It will be the era of the fulfillment of Divine promises such as
:

"...
The last era is for the pious men"
(Araf:127) and

"... So
that
if (Islam) may prevail upon all religions
though the
polytheists may
resent."
(Tauba : 33)

and people will realize the truth of
the following
verse :

"Say ('0
Prophet) truth has come and
falsehood vanished, Surely falsehood was bound
to vanish."
(Bani
Israil; 80)

An Emphatic Command
For The Believers:

The revolution of Hazrat
Mahdi (A.S.) will not be an ordinary one.
It will bring a sea change in the cosmic order
in its wake. It is evident that for bringing about such an
unparallel revolution
Hazrat Mahdi (A.S
) will need a legion of companions who
are determined and can endure all sorts of untold calamities in their way.
Perhaps for this reason the Holy Prophet (S.A.) had laid emphasis on the
believers to aid and assist Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) when
he
reappears. He (S.A.) put the same in the following
words:-

"So
if you will see him then pledge allegiance to him even if you have to crawl
on an iceberg because he is the Caliph of Allah, the Mahdi."
(Sunane-lbne-Majah,
Tradition No. 4084)

It can
be inferred from this tradition that it has
been stressed to assist Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) in all
conditions, either in comfort or calamity. Alas
! the Muslims slaughtered the one whom the Holy Prophet (S.A.)
regarded as his son in Karbala and denied
the existence of one in whom he reposed all his hopes and expectations. Only
Allah knows how this community will face Him and His Prophet (S.A.) on the
day of Qiyamat.

Anyhow, all the topics discussed over here are extracted
from Sehah-e-Sittah which are unchallengeable and
undeniable. For, a majority of
Sunni scholars agree that whoever dared
to reject or question Sehah-e-Sittah has intact
repudiated the Holy Prophet (S.A.) and has consequently disbelieved in
Islam. Also it can be noticed that those compilers of
Sahih who have not narrated the
traditions regarding Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.) in their books have quoted the same
in their other books. If any of the Sehah
does not contain a proper and adequate narration about him then it does not
cast any serious impact on the veracity of the beliefs in Imam Mahdi (A.S.),
because in other Sehah it has been related redundantly. Here it was
mentioned only to apprise others that even Sehah-e-Sittah is not devoid of
the traditions regarding Hazrat Mahdi (A.S.).
This much should suffice to those who are skeptical of the
veritahility of this pristine belief.