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August 29, 2003
Speaker: Dr. Israr Ahmed, Founder Tanzeem-e-Islami,
Founder-President Markazi Anjuman Khuddamul Quran
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The Final Mujaddid (The Mahdi) & Allama Iqbal
In our times, two prominent and far-reaching tribulations,
related to the Islamic creed, have emerged:
(a) false claims to prophethood, and (b) rejection and
devaluation of Hadith literature. Leaving aside
the issue of false prophets, the second tribulation was
initiated by Syyed Ahmed. The followers of
Syyed Ahmed school of thought have either rejected the validity
of the entire Hadith literature, or
have devaluated and trivialized this second most sacred source
of Islamic law. This attitude is
strongest when it comes to the Hadiths concerning prophecies and
future events. Much of the
controversy revolves around two personalities mentioned in such
Hadiths: (a) the emergence of a
Perfect Reviver of Islam (Al-Mahdi), and (b) the reemergence of
the Prophet Jesus (AS) a prophecy
common among both Muslims and Christians. The role of the Mahdi
is prophesized as the leader who
will establish the Khilafah in Arabia; while Prophet Jesus (AS)
is prophesized as the key player to helpthe Muslims dominate the
whole of globe.
The opponents of such Hadiths advance three arguments against
the coming of the two personalities:
Firstly, that such ideas have been propagated from Magianism to
Judaism; from Judaism to
Christianity; and from Christianity to Islam; hence, such ideas
are not credible. My response to this
allegation is that, if an idea has presence in so many faiths
then this does not discredit it in any way;
to the contrary, it strengthens it. As such, the very argument
against the credibility of these Hadiths
should be counted in their favor.
Secondly, that based on these Hadiths, many people falsely
claimed themselves to be the Mahdi or
the Prophet Jesus. My response is that the wrongful attribution
of an idea to oneself does not discreditthe veracity of the idea
itself. Otherwise, using the same line of argument, the opponents
of prophetic
Hadiths should reject the institution of prophethood because
many people have falsely claimed
prophethood for themselves. However, a false claim to
prophethood does not invalidate the institution
of prophethood. Likewise, the false claim to the person of the
Mahdi or Jesus (AS) does not invalidate
their emergence.
Third argument put forth is that the prophetic Hadiths promote
passivity and idleness in the masses.
The response to this allegation is that there are many ways to
promote idleness. In fact, this is a
common disease among the people that they want to run away from
responsibility and take the easy
way out. This is a comfort zone for weak-willed. This disease
was present even in the times of the
prophet (SAW) in the form of the Hypocrites. On the same issue,
Iqbal has stated in one of his
couplets:
amal say farigh huwa musalman bana key taqdeer ka bahana
(The Muslim has freed himself from action on the pretext of
Qadr).
Based on the same argument, the concept of Qadr would also have
to be doubted or rejected because
Muslims become inactive and passive due to it.
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In summation, none of the three arguments holds any premise for
rejecting the emergence of the
Mahdi or Jesus (AS).
As to the person of Al-Mahdi, there are two variations in this
regard: one Mahdi is that of the Shiahs;he is their twelvth Imam
who was concealed in a cave some thousand years ago and will
appear
sometime in the future. The Shiah conception of Imamate is that
the Imams are innocent, absolved of
sin. In contrast, the Ahl-e-Sunnahs conception is not that of
Imamate, rather, that of Mujaddids. This
is evident from a Hadith in which the prophet (SAW) explained
that, at the head of each century, Allah
(SWT) will send a Mujaddid who will revive the Deen. Important
in this regard is the fact that all the
previous Mujaddids have been partial, in the sense that each of
them has revived some partial aspect
of the Deen mostly related to epistemological and/or dogmatic
issues. The perfect and complete
Mujaddid (Mujaddid al-Kamil) shall be the last one whom we call
Al-Imam Al-Mahdi. He shall be a
complete Mujaddid for he shall establish the whole Deen that is,
the Khilafah in the Arabian
Peninsula, as was accomplished by the prophet Muhammad
(SAW).
Regarding the collection of Hadiths related to the Mahdi,
twenty-four Hadiths were noted by IbnKhuldun, although, none of
them is reported either by Bukhari or Muslim. We, however, uphold
six
collections of Hadiths to be most authentic and the Hadiths
related to the Mahdi etc. do appear in the
other four collections. As such, they cannot be ignored or
brushed aside as unimportant. Let us glance
here at two of them. One Hadith relates:
The world shall not end until the land of Arabia is ruled by a
man from my household (ahl-
e-bait). His name shall be the same as mine. [Ibn Majah,
Tirmidhi, and Abu Dawood]
The other Hadith mentions:
Upon the death of a ruler, a conflict will arise. Thereafter, a
man will run away from
Madinah and take refuge in Makkah. People will follow him and
find him (hiding in Makkah).
They will take Baiyah (oath of allegiance) on his hand, despite
his reluctance, between al-
Rukn (corner of the Ka`abah near the black stone) and the Maqam
al-Ibrahim.
An army will be sent from Syria to quell the Mahdi, but Allah
(SWT) will cause the army to sink
beneath the land between Makkah and Madina. This will be the
sign for all the Muslims that he indeed
is the Mahdi, and Muslims will then accept him en masse.
Before these events, another significant event must take place;
that is, the Khilafah must first be
established in the east of Arabia. This is also mentioned in a
Hadith, that the forces will march to aid
the Mahdi, from the east and help establish his government in
Arabia. Presently, there are three
countries situated, in the east of Arabia: Iran, Afghanistan and
Pakistan. Hence somewhere in this
area, the Islamic government must have been established before
the emergence of the Mahdi (this
will be so as nothing short of a true Islamic government will
send forces to help the Mahdi, for they
will be, in effect, fighting against the whole non-Muslim
world).
As to the views of Iqbal on the subject, on the one hand, we
find Iqbal supporting Ibn Khaldun in his
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denial of prophetic Hadiths related to the Mahdi; and we also
find Iqbal negating outright the concept
of prophetic personalities in his letters. On the other hand, we
find in Iqbals poetry clear evidence in
support of the Mahdi and such Hadiths. This contradiction is
resolved by reflecting upon the fact that
there were two aspects of Iqbals personality: the Iqbal of the
day and the Iqbal of the
night. Implication here is that during the night, poetry was
revealed to him by way of
inspiration: whereas, during the day, Iqbal took on the role of
a rationalist philosopher.
Hence, in his rationalist impulse, Iqbal inclined towards the
rejection of Hadiths related toprophetic personalities; whereas the
spiritually inspired Iqbal asserted the same. An
instance of this assertion is apparent in the following couplet
from Zaboor-e-`Ajam:
Khizr-e-Waqt az khalwat-e-dasht-e-hijaz aa-yad baroon
Karwan zeen wadi-e-door-o-daraz aa-yad baroon
(The leader of the time, from the solitude of the desert of
Hijaz, shall emerge
The caravan, from this far away valley, shall emerge).
Notice that by utilizing the concept of solitude and future
emergence, Iqbal has encompassed both
the Shiah and Sunni conception of the Mahdi. Another instance of
Mahdis reference in Iqbals poetryis:
Meer-e-arab ko aee thandi hawa jahan say
Mera watan wohee hai, mera watan wohee hai.
(From whence the cool breeze reached the leader of arabia
That nation is mine, that nation is mine).
This couplet is based on a Hadith in which the Prophet (SAW)
said that a cool breeze has reached
me from Hind.
