According to what is revealed in the hadiths of our Prophet (saas), the Mahdi will appear in the End Times and cause Islamic moral values to prevail on Earth. With the coming of the Mahdi, all oppression and injustice in the world will come to an end and be replaced by justice, peace, love and security.
In the Qur’an, Almighty Allah (God) has revealed that He will cause Islamic moral values to prevail on Earth. In the hadiths our Prophet (saas), too, has stated that the Mahdi will be a means whereby this great and holy event duly takes place in the End Times. As a requirement of Qur’anic moral values, and as reported by our Prophet (saas), the rule of Islamic moral values will be brought about with love. When Islamic moral values come to prevail, the world will attain peace and security, and all forms of disorder, conflict, anarchy and terror will come to an end. Distressed by the disorder and oppression of the End Times, people will be delighted with the justice, compassion, generosity, love and interest of the Mahdi, who will cause Islamic virtues to prevail on Earth.
The glad tidings of the inevitable appearance of the Mahdi in the End Times is revealed as follows in the hadiths of our Prophet (saas):
If there were only one day left for the world, that day would be lengthened until a man from among my descendants or from among the people of my household, was sent; . . . He will fill the earth with justice and fairness, just as it will have been filled with injustice and oppression. 1
According to the information in the hadiths, the Mahdi will appear in the End Times and cause Islamic moral values to prevail on Earth. With the coming of the Mahdi all the oppression and injustice in the world will come to an end, and the Earth will be filled with justice, peace, love and security. These holy events are reported in these terms in various hadiths:
A man from my family appears to fill Earth with justice, just as it has been filled with corruption. So whoever reaches that [time] ought to come to them, even if crawling on the ice/snow. 2
He [the Mahdi] will practice the religion just as in the time of Our Prophet… 3
However, as our Prophet (saas) also tells us, want and difficulties will increase in severity prior to the appearance of the Mahdi, there will be no peace or security on Earth and all humanity will experience enormous suffering because of a succession of disasters. Indeed, it is reported in the Qur’an that our Lord has tested people by way of various troubles before the period of envoys and prophets:
We have never sent a Prophet to any city without seizing its people with hardship and distress so that hopefully they would be humble. (Surat al-A‘raf, 94)
As revealed in the verse, troubles and difficulties before the coming of the Mahdi, a holy personage who will cause people all over the world to live by Islamic moral values, who will bring peace and justice to humanity and who will be a means whereby they experience the period known as the Golden Age, are a requirement of the law of Allah. Our Prophet (saas) has revealed in great detail what form these troubles will take.
Disorder and Strife in the End Times Will Place People in a Difficult Position
According to what our Prophet (saas) tells us in the hadiths, the period prior to the appearance of the Mahdi will be a difficult one of widespread strife and disorder, when people suffer pain and trouble, of much want and of pitiless wars. Some hadiths on this subject read as follows:
BEFORE THE APPEARANCE OF MAHDI, COMMERCE WILL BE TERMINATED, ROADS WILL BE CUT among nations, FITNAH WILL MULTIPLY.... 4
WHEN DISORDER REIGNS ON EARTH, FITNAH APPEAR, the elderly do not feel compassion for the young ones, the young ones do not respect the elderly, Allah will SEND SOMEONE (the Mahdi) who will eradicate enmity from them, conquer the fortresses of perversion, who will uphold the religion in the End Times, just as how I did in the past and who will fill the Earth with justice which was formerly full of cruelty. 5
The information contained in the hadiths shows that in the End Times there will be great bloodshed, widespread attacks, increased violence, massacres, wars and conflicts, justice replaced by injustice and oppression, greater hunger and poverty, mutual distrust and fraud, lying will begin being regarded as a legitimate form of behavior among a large section of society, and there will be terrible moral degeneration. Accordingly, people will be subjected to a succession of disasters and woes, and trouble and suffering will be unending. In one hadith we are told that:
QUITE DIPLORABLE AND MISERABLE SITUATIONS, AND PAINFUL VIEWS ARE SEEN. Fitnah appear in succession…Among them appear FITNAH, VIOLENCE, DESTRUCTIONS AND VIOLATIONS. When people think they are over, they persist to continue. These events reach to such severity that no house entered, no Muslim being hurt remains left. 6
Our Prophet (saas) has imparted the glad tidings that it is the Mahdi who will be a means whereby people emerge into the light out of this dark environment, who will show them solutions, and will bring about the peace and security they long for.
The Mahdi Will Eliminate the Despair into Which People Have Fallen
It is the fact that people have turned their backs on the moral values of the Qur’an and on the holy Sunnah of our Prophet (saas) that lies at the root of the great troubles they will be subjected to during the End Times. People will experience enormous suffering in the End Times since the love, affection, honesty, justice, tolerance, moderation, patience and love of peace required by religious moral values will have been replaced by selfishness, ruthlessness, aggression, injustice and self-interest propagated by atheistic ideologies. One hadith reports how people will have departed from religious virtues in the End Times:
With one of my descendants, the Mahdi, Allah REANIMATES THE SUNNAH when they weaken due to the disappearance of the Sunnah, appearance of bi’dat ( false judgment and practices not sanctioned by the Qur’an), and disappearance of the opportunities of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. 7
As we are informed in the hadiths and in the works of Islamic scholars, the Mahdi will engage in a major intellectual struggle in order to overcome atheistic ideologies, to teach people about religious moral values and the essence of the faith, and to lead them in the direction of belief in Allah and moral virtue. Our Lord will make the Mahdi and his great intellectual struggle a means whereby the troubles of the End Times are eradicated. This attribute of the Mahdi is revealed in these terms:
THE PERSONAGE, the most auspicious of Muhammad’s ummah and YOUR GUARDIAN ELIMINATING YOUR DIFFICULTIES… He is the Mahdi.. 8
In another hadith, we are told that corruption will be brought to an end through the Mahdi, and that with this peace and security will take their place in the world:
Allah WILL RESOLVE BLIND FITNAH THROUGH HIM (the Mahdi) Everywhere will become secure... 9
According to the information contained in the hadiths, people suffering pain, difficulties and want will seek shelter behind the justice, compassion, love and generosity of the Mahdi. In one hadith it is reported that:
In the same way that bees gather round the queen, so people will gather round the Mahdi. He will fill the world, once filled with oppression, with justice instead.... 10
When the Mahdi causes Islamic moral values to prevail on Earth, want, hunger, suffering and troubles will come to an end, the flow of blood will cease, and people will find the true happiness, peace and security for which they have been searching for so many years. This climate of abundance and plenty, filled with love and peace, is described as follows in hadiths:
Once the Earth is full of cruelty and enmity, one of my line will emerge. He will fill the Earth with equity and justice, just as it was previously filled with oppression and tyranny. 11
He fills the Earth with justice and excellence. The Earth gives out its plants, the heavens pours its rain. My ummah attains unprecedented blessings. 12
At that time the heavens will hold not a single drop of rain and the Earth will attain abundance. 13
In his time, such justice prevails that the dead envies the alive. 14
The Mahdi Will Call People to Islamic Moral Values with Love and Compassion
The Mahdi is a personage with very superior virtues. The moral values of the Mahdi have been described in considerable detail and praised in many hadiths. One of the hadiths reported concerning the virtues of the Mahdi states that the moral values of this holy individual resemble those of our beloved Prophet (saas):
A descent of mine will appear whose MORALITY IS LIKE MY MORALITY. 15
With his moral values and faith, our Prophet (saas) was made superior to the worlds, and is a most worthy and superior personage who spoke of our Lord’s great blessings on him. Our Lord has given many examples of the superior moral values of our Prophet (saas) in the Qur’an. One of the regards in which he is a role model for all believers is the fact that he is full of love, consideration and compassion, and treats people kindly. The Qur’an tells us that:
It is a mercy from Allah that you were gentle with them. If you had been rough or hard of heart, they would have scattered from around you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them...(Surah Al ‘Imran, 159)
As can clearly be seen from the information in the hadiths, the Mahdi will approach people will love and compassion, just like our beloved Prophet (saas), will enable disputes to be resolved by peaceful means, and will patiently call people to faith and proper moral values. The Mahdi’s struggle against atheistic ideologies will be an intellectual one and will, as a blessing from our Lord, enjoy an intellectual victory over pagan ideologies using the most wise and rational methods. As we are told in the hadiths, this great intellectual struggle of the Mahdi’s will take place in such a calm, placid and orderly way that someone who is asleep will not even be awaken:
…the sleeping man will not be awakened and no blood will be shed. The world will return to the Age of Happiness. 16
The Mahdi will follow the way of the Prophet. He will not wake up a sleeping person or shed blood. No Sunnah will fail to be brought to life, and no bid’at (false judgment and practices not sanctioned by the Qur’an) will fail to be eliminated. 17
As the hadiths state, the Mahdi will cause Islamic moral values to prevail over the world by peaceful means. He will justly resolve tensions and disagreements in a manner that will please all parties, and will peacefully eliminate all problems. The Mahdi will call on people to abide by the compassion, patience, goodness and beauty commanded by Islamic moral values, and with his own virtues and behavior will be a role model to everyone in this regard, as in all others. This call of the Mahdi’s is revealed in these terms in one of the hadiths:
After performing the evening prayer, he (the Mahdi) will speak in the loudest voice: “O people! I remind you of Allah. I tell you what your place will be in the presence of Allah tomorrow, on the day of judgment. Allah has sent you much evidence and the prophets, He has revealed to you the Qur’an and commanded you to ascribe no partners to Allah but to maintain your obedience to Allah and His Prophet. Reanimate what is given life by the Qur’an, forbid what is forbidden and assist and support the Mahdi. Because the world is about to experience ill and to come to an end. I call on you to labor with His book, to eliminate the falsehood and to reanimate the Sunnah.” 18
All this information clearly goes to show that the path to be followed by the Mahdi will lead everyone to Islamic virtues with a global cultural movement.
Like Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) and the Prophet Sulayman (as), the Mahdi Will Rule through Peace
It is reported in the hadiths that the Mahdi will rule the world like the Prophet Sulayman (as) and Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as), who previously caused Islamic moral values to prevail over the Earth. One of these hadiths reads:
The Mahdi will rule Earth, just like Dhu'l-Qarnayn (as) and Prophet Sulayman (as). 19
In his famous work Letters, the great Islamic scholar Imam Rabbani also included hadiths reporting that like the Prophet Sulayman (as) and Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as), the Mahdi will make Islamic values prevail over the world. One of these hadiths states that: The Earth has four kings. Two of them are from believers, Dhu’l-Qarnayn and the Prophet Sulayman. The other two are from the nonbelievers Namrut and Buhtunnasr. The fifth king to rule the world will be from the people of the House (Ahl al-Bayt). In other words, Mahdi will be the ruler. 20
As reported in this hadith of our Prophet (saas), the two holy Muslim individuals who have to date made Islamic moral values rule the world are Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) and the Prophet Sulayman (as). The third Muslim who will rule the world, like these two prophets, is the Mahdi. The superior moral virtues seen in the Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) and the Prophet Sulayman (as) will also be seen in the Mahdi, who will cause Islamic moral values to prevail over the world.
It is revealed in the verses of the Qur’an that the Prophet Sulayman (as) and Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) were tolerant, forgiving and peace-loving. Some of the verses about the Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) read:
…until he reached the setting of the sun and found it setting in a muddy spring and found a people by it. We said, ‘Dhu’l-Qarnayn! You can either punish them or else you can treat them with gentleness. (Surat al-Kahf, 86)
(Dhu’l-Qarnayn said,) ‘But as for him who believes and acts rightly, he will receive the best of rewards and we will issue a command, making things easy for him.’(Surat al-Kahf, 88)
As stated in the verses, Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) adopted gentleness as a principle in the face of the society he encountered, and called it to the easy path. He treated both this society and, as revealed in verses, other communities he encountered subsequently, with justice and showed them a way out of their difficulties. He helped the community that sought his assistance with no expectation of any reward. Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) was described by the people around him as someone who prevented corruption and strife on Earth, and was a leader who brought people peace and well-being. There is no doubt that these things are the results of his living by the moral values commanded by our Lord in the finest possible manner.
As can be seen from the information in verses, the Prophet Sulayman (as) also established a most superior culture in the age in which he lived and maintained his rule though diplomacy, art and culture. Despite possessing very powerful, irresistible armies, he did not use military force. When the Mahdi appears he will also, like Dhu’l-Qarnayn (as) and the Prophet Sulayman (as), attach pride of place to cultural activities, employ diplomacy, attach great importance to art and aesthetics, and win the love of everyone through his justice and honesty. When Islamic moral values rule, there will be love, understanding and affection among people, rather than hatred, enmity and hostility. It is the Mahdi, the most beloved by people, he with whom they are most pleased, who will usher in this delightful period.
People Will Be Delighted with the Mahdi’s Moral Values and Justice
The period in which Islamic moral values will be brought to rule the world by means of the Mahdi is known as the Golden Age. As can be seen from the hadiths, this period will last more than half a century and will resemble the Age of Happiness. In describing this period, our Prophet (saas) reported features resembling those of Paradise, thus leading to it being given the name of the Golden Age.
Some of the main features of this age are an abundance of products and goods of all kinds, the provision security, safety and justice, peace and happiness, the use of all kinds of technological advances for people’s comfort, ease, joy, and nobody being left in a state of want, and anyone who asks being given much more than they request with nothing being measured out. The hadiths impart the glad tidings that the Earth will be filled with peace during this period. The Golden Age will see great brotherhood among peoples who had previously been involved in disputes, and conflict of all kind will be replaced by peace, friendship and love. Conflicts, wars, anarchy and disorder will come to an end. People will enjoy complete security, and all parts of the world will be safe.
People will be delighted by the love, friendship, security and peace of mind they enjoy in the Golden Age, and will feel a profound love for the Mahdi, the means whereby these delights come about, and will be totally happy with his justice and excellent moral values. This is how the hadiths impart the tidings that the Mahdi will be greatly loved by all:
Allah will fill ALL PEOPLE’S HEARTS WITH HIS (THE MAHDI’S) LOVE. 21
When the Mahdi appears, people will EMBRACE HIM WITH LOVE. 22
Some other hadiths describe how everyone will speak of the Mahdi’s excellent virtues and will constantly refer to his conversation. The love felt for the Mahdi is described in these terms in hadiths:
Mahdi is the best of people. The people that give their support and allegiance... At his front is Gabriel, at his middle is Michael and he is loved throughout creation. 23
They will drink his love and their talk is only about him. 24
Islamic Union Is No Obstacle to European Union
The age we are living in is the End Times, one of disorder, oppression, wars and disasters. However, as we can see from the hadiths, the End Times are also a period in which all these will be resolved, in which moral virtues will prevail on Earth and in which people will live together in peace. This period, in which an Islamic Union will be established, also raises the question of whether the Islamic Union will represent a hindrance to the European Union which is so frequently referred to these days. The fact is that this is a question stemming entirely from a misunderstanding of the moral values that represent the basis of the Islamic Union. The Islamic Union is based on love, solidarity, justice, peace and friendship. The aim behind the foundation of the Islamic Union is, by putting an end to disorder, conflict, injustice and ruthlessness, for everyone to live together in peace and well-being, for the basic rights and freedoms of all to be respected, and for all humanity to live together in peace with no discrimination on the basis of language, race or religion. The superior moral values that the Islamic Union will bring with it, the rights and freedoms, the climate of well-being, peace and security, are no obstacle to the European Union.
Conclusion:
The information we have looked at so far goes to show that the End Times is one of the most crucial periods in the history of the world, when very great events will take place. The poverty, conflicts, acts of violence and terror and moral degeneration going on in the world today reveal that the days when the Mahdi will appear and put an end to these using the very wisest and most peaceful means are approaching. By the will of Allah, when the Mahdi appears all humanity will attain a beauty, abundance and plenty, peace and security, the like of which have never been seen before. All these things are most valuable glad tidings at which true believers will feel deep joy and excitement. What Muslims need to do is to experience the joy of these tidings and to prepare themselves for this holy period with enthusiasm and excitement.
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1 Abu Dawud and Thirmidhi/ The Great Hadith Collection, Rudani vol. 5, p. 365
2 Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times, Jallaladdin Suyuti, p. 14
3 Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rasul Barzanji , Al-Isha‘ah li-ashrat al-sa‘ah, pp. 186-187
4 Book of Portents of the Awaited Mahdi, Ahmad Ibn-i Hajar-i Makki, p. 39-40
5 Tabarani and Abu Nuaym, al-Muttaki vr.84b; (Ibn Asakir) as-Suyuti, v. II p, 67
6 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times) p. 36
7 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times) p. 66
8 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times)p. 57
9 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times)p. 58
10 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times)p. 11
11 Ibid.
12 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times)p. 35
13 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times)p. 12
14 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times)p. 68
15 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times)p. 21
16 Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, (Book of Portents of the Awaited Mahdi) p. 42
17 Signs of Qiyamah, p. 163
18 Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, pp. 55-56
19 Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, (Book of Portents of the Awaited Mahdi) p. 29
20 Mektubat-i Rabbani, 2/251
21 Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, (Book of Portents of the Awaited Mahdi) p. 42
22 Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, (Book of Portents of the Awaited Mahdi) p. 37
23 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times) p. 58
24 Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, (Short Book of Portents of the Mahdi of the End Times) p. 53