The arrival of Mahdi bothers me a lot. Reading about him, I discovered that he will be born in this secular world and he will emerge in the time of chaos and trouble. So I asked myself, “Aren’t we living in his time? And will the world be more chaotic than this time?”

I imagine myself if he comes in this era how can I recognize him? And how would I react? How can I follow him?

I closely examined the personality of Mahdi and the events that will happen in his era. The many hadiths that I read showed me that the emergence of the Mahdi is a fact that should not be denied.

Towards the end of this life, the world will be in chaos; tyranny, oppression and injustice will prevail. According to many authentic hadiths, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) informed us that in this time that the Mahdi will take his role as a just ruler who will fill the earth with justice as it has been filled with oppression.

When the Mahdi emerges, Muslims are required to follow his footsteps.

We find the Mahdi mentioned in many hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Some are ranged between being fabricated, weak, sound, and authentic; the very sound and authentic hadiths are very few.

4 Authentic Hadiths

I searched for those authentic hadiths and I found the following:

1- Abu Nadra reported:

“We were in the company of Jabir b. ‘Abdullah that he said it may happen that the people of Iraq may not send their qafiz and dirhams (their measures of food stuff and their money).

We said: Who would be responsible for it?

He said: The non-Arabs would prevent them.

He again said: There is the possibility that the people of Syria may not send their dinars and mudds.

We said: Who would be responsible for it?

He said this prevention would be made by the Romans. He (Jabir b. Abdullah) kept quiet for a while and then reported Allah’s Messenger having said:

 There would be a caliph in the last (period) of my Ummah who would freely give handfuls of wealth to the people without counting it.

I said to Abu Nadra and Abu al-‘Ala: Do you mean ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-Aziz?

They said: No (he would be Imam Mahdi). (Muslim)

 

2- Ali Ibn Abi Talib quoted the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as saying:

Al-Mahdi is one of us, the clan of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah will reform him in one night. (Ibn Majah)

 

3- Al-Mahdi is from my Ummah; he will be born and live to rule five or seven or nine years. (If) one goes to him and says: ‘Give me (a charity), he will fill one’s garment with what one needs.’ (At-Tirmidhi)

4- The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

Al-Mahdi will be of my stock, and will have a broad forehead, a prominent nose. He will fill the earth with equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny, and he will rule for seven years. (Abu Dawud)