The Awaited Saviour [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Prologue

A figure more legendary than that of the Mahdi, the Awaited Saviour,
has not been seen in the history of mankind. The threads of the world events have woven
many a fine design in human life but the pattern of the Mahdi stands high above every
other pattern. He has been the vision of the visionaries in history. He has been the dream
of all the dreamers of the world. For the ultimate salvation of mankind he is the Pole
Star of hope on which the gaze of humanity is fixed.

The Qur'anic prophecy of the inevitable victory of Islam will be
realized following the advent of the Mahdi who will fight the wrong, remedy the evils and
establish a world order based on the Islamic teachings of justice and virtue. Thereafter
there will be only one religion and one government in the world.

It may be mentioned here that the movement for the establishment of
a world government is already afoot and this point is engaging the attention of many
prominent intellectuals. The setting up of the United Nations is a step in this very
direction. In spite of the growing consciousness of its desirability, the unification of
the world is still a distant dream. The vested interests and the mutual rivalries of the
regimes in the various countries and the mutual animosities of the divergent blocs
constitute a big hurdle in the way of its materialization. Hence, its consummation cannot
be expected to come off automatically. It will need the active struggle of a world
reformer in the person of Mahdi. Anyhow, a start has been made and the things are
gradually turning out exactly as predicted by Islam fourteen centuries ago.

The belief in an expected reformer and a saviour of humanity is not
peculiar to the Shi'ah School of Islam. It is common not only to all the Muslim sects, but
is also shared by all the great religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and
Zoroastrianism.

In this quest for the truth about the Mahdi there is no distinction
of any caste, creed, or country. The quest is universal, exactly in the same way as the
Mahdi himself is universal. He stands resplendent high above the narrow walls in which
humanity is cut up and divided. He belongs to everybody. For all that and much more, what
exactly is the Mahdi? Surely that is the big question which the thinking people all over
the world would like to ask.

It is only Islam that has given this concrete shape to an abstract
idea. The Mahdi is not to be born in the distant future. He is already living amongst us
and shares our joys and sorrows: His appearance will mean not only the materialization of
an Islamic aspiration, but will also be the realization of a hope cherished by the entire
humanity.

Prof. Henry Corbin of Sorbonne University, says:

"To my mind the Shi'ite is the only sect which has preserved
and perpetuated the link of Divine guidance between man and God through its belief in the
Imamate. According to the Jews the Prophethood, a real link between man and God, came to
an end with Moses. They do not believe in the Prophethood of Jesus and Muhammad. The
Christians too, do not go beyond Jesus. The Sunnite sect has also stopped at the Prophet
Muhammad and believes that the link between man and God has been severed with the end of
the Prophethood".

It is only the Twelver Shi'ah who believe that the link still exists
through the Mahdi and will continue to exist forever.

It is hardly necessary to give an explanation as to why the Mahdi
disappeared immediately after assuming the Imamate. Let it suffice to say that Allah in
His Divine Wisdom ordained so.

In the meantime it is the duty of all the Muslims, especially the
Shi'ah, to strive steadfastly for the creation of the proper atmosphere and the right
climate for the establishment of a world order based on justice, virtue and piety. They
should not only mould their individual lives according to the teachings and high ideals of
Islam, but they should also bend their efforts to set up the Islamic order on the
collective and communal level. They should devote themselves to the service of the faith
and be prepared to receive the Awaited Saviour. That is what was meant by the Imams when
they exhorted the Muslims to keep on waiting for the Mahdi.

An authentic and universally accepted Hadith (tradition)
reports the holy Prophet of Islam (Peace and benediction be upon him and his infallible
progeny) to have said explicitly on several occasions that he would be followed by twelve Amirs,
(according to another version, twelve caliphs) the
first of them being Ali and the last Mahdi.

According to another reliable tradition he pinpointed the
personality to Imam Mahdi when he said that the Mahdi would be a descendant of Imam Husayn
in his ninth generation.

In certain other traditions the holy Prophet referred, in clear
terms, to the last Imam's mission and narrated the events connected with his occultation
and reappearance.

In this connection it is interesting to note, as pointed out by the
famous historian Tabari, that the reports about the occultation of the Mahdi were recorded
in their books by the Shi'ah traditionalists during the lifetime of Imam Baqir and Imam
Sadiq i.e. long before Imam Mahdi was born. This fact alone is enough to vouch for their
genuineness.

The Sunnite scholars have also mentioned and recorded hundreds of
traditions about the Mahdi in more than seventy books by their own valued and dependable
authorities of which we shall mention a few examples.

Musnad - Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241 A.H.)

Sahih Bukhari - Muhammad b. Ism'ail Bukhari (d. 256 A.H.)

Sahih Muslim -Muslim b. Hajjaj Nishapuri (d.261 A.H.)

Sunan Abi Dawud - Sulayman b. Ash'ath Sijistani (d. 275 A.H.)

Sahih Tirmizi -Muhammad b. Isa Tirmizi (d. 279A.H.)

The authors of the above books, each one of them, died either before
or shortly after Mahdi's birth.

The other facts which can be gleaned from the prophecies of the holy
Prophet about the Mahdi are briefly stated below: Sahih Bukhari, p.175,
Egypt; Sahih Tirmizy, vol.2, p.45, Dehli.

Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, p. 191,
Egypt; Sahih Abi Daud, vol. 2, p. 207 Egypt; Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, vol.5,
p. 106 Egypt; Mustadrak al-Hakim, vol.2, p.618 Hyderabad; Taysir al-Wusul 'ala
jame' al-Usul, vol.2, p.34 Egypt. Tarikh al-Baghdad, vol.14, p.353; Yanabi'
al-Mawaddah, p. 445 Istanbul; Muntakhab Kanz al-'Ummal, vol.5; p. 312.

Kifayat al-Athar, Allamah Abu
Abdillah b. Muhammad Yusuf al-Kanji al-Shafi'I; Bihar al-Anwar, Allamah Muhammad
Baqir al-Majlisi; Al-Amali, Abu Abdillah Muhammad b. Nu'man alias Shaykh al-Mufid; Yanabi
al-Mawaddah, Shaykh Sulayman b. Ibrahim al-Qandozi.

Masabih al-Sunnah, al-Baghwi
(d. 516 A.H.); Jame' al-Usul, Ibn Athir (d. 606 AH.); al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah, Muhyuddin
ibn al-Arabi (d. 638 A.H.); Tazkirah al-Khawas, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 654 A.H.); Fara'id
al-Simtayn, al-Hamawi (d. 716 AH.); al-Sawa'iq, Ibn Hajar Haythami al-'Asqalani
(d. 973 A.H.); Yanabi al-Mawaddah, Sulayman al-Qandozi (d. 1293 A.H.)

Some of the Sunnite scholars have written books especially about the
Imam of the Age.

(i) Al-Bayan fi Akhbar al-Sahib al-Zaman, AIlamah Abu
Abdillah b. Muhammad Yusuf al-Kanji al-Shafi'i.

(ii) Iqd al-Durar fi Akhbar al-Imam al-Muntazar, Shaykh
Jamaluddin Yusuf al-Damishqi.

(iii) Mahdi Ale Rasul, Ah ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Harawi
al-Hanafi.

(iv) Kitab al-Mahdi, Abu Daud.

(v) Alamat al-Mahdi, Jalaluddin Suyuti.

(vi) Manaqib al-Mahdi, Hafiz Abu Na'im al-Isfahani.

(vii) Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi 'alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar,
Ibn Hajar Haythami.

(viii) Al-Burhan fi 'alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-Zaman, Mulla
Ali al-Muttaqi.

(ix) Arba'in Hadith fi'l-Mahdi, Abul Ala' al-Hamadani.