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Hudhaifah bin Al-Yaman reported that the Messenger of Allah
sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said,
"Prophethood (meaning himself) will remain with you for as long as Allah
wills it to remain, then Allah will raise it up wherever he wills to raise
it up. Afterwards, there will be a Caliphate that follows the guidance of
Prophethood remaining with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain.
Then, He will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Afterwards,
there will be a reign of violently oppressive [The reign of Muslim kings who
are partially unjust] rule and it will remain with you for as long as Allah
wills it to remain. Then, there will be a reign of tyrannical rule and it
will remain for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, Allah will raise
it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Then, there will be a Caliphate that
follows the guidance of Prophethood."
Then Hudhaifah said, "The Prophet stopped speaking." [As-Silsilah
As-Sahihah, vol. 1, no. 5]
Al-Mahdi Muhammad bin Abdullah All those who
are gifted with sound comprehension know that the Mahdi who the Shiites are
waiting for, does not and did not exist. The Muslim nation has faced
numerous hardships and calamities because of this mystical belief that the
Shiites carry and propagate regarding this Mahdi.
In the Shiite mythology, believing in the Imams is a cornerstone of their
faith. However such mythology is similar to Greek and Persian mythology, as
well as the beliefs of the other nations of Al-Jahiliyyah.
The Sunnis believe that Al-Mahdi will be an ordinary man, born to an
ordinary women raised by ordinary men and living an ordinary life with the
people of his time. He will not live in caves, as the Shiites believe. They
are waiting for their Mahdi to appear from an alleged cave, where they claim
he has been in hiding for over ten centuries.
In reality, Al-Mahdi will be an Imam and a Caliph, among other Caliphs who
rule Muslims with justice. However, what differentiates Al-Mahdi from other
Caliphs is that he will meet Jesus son of Mary sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam.
Also, Jesus, the Prophet of Allah, will pray behind Al-Mahdi. Allah will
give Al-Mahdi the ability to righteously rule the Muslim nation in the span
of a night. He will fill the earth with justice, as it was filled with
injustice. He will lead the Muslim nation to the second conquering of
Constantinople and possibly Rome.
A Caliphate That Follows the Guidance of the Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa
sallam
The Prophet Muhammad sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam mentioned that just before
the end of this world, the Muslim nation will be ruled by a Caliphate that
will follow the guidance sent with the Messenger of Allah sallallahu `alayhi
wa sallam.
Hudhaifah bin Al-Yaman reported that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu
`alayhi wa sallam said,
"Prophethood (meaning himself) will remain with you for as long as Allah
wills it to remain, then Allah will raise it up wherever he wills to raise
it up. Afterwards, there will be a Caliphate that follows the guidance of
Prophethood remaining with you for as long as Allah wills it to remain.
Then, He will raise it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Afterwards,
there will be a reign of violently oppressive [The reign of Muslim kings who
are partially unjust] rule and it will remain with you for as long as Allah
wills it to remain. Then, there will be a reign of tyrannical rule and it
will remain for as long as Allah wills it to remain. Then, Allah will raise
it up whenever He wills to raise it up. Then, there will be a Caliphate that
follows the guidance of Prophethood."
Then Hudhaifah said, "The Prophet stopped speaking." [As-Silsilah
As-Sahihah, vol. 1, no. 5]
The reason behind mentioning this Hadith here is to state that Al-Mahdi will
live in the last period of rightly guided Caliphs that the Messenger of
Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam mentioned himself sallallaahu `alayhi wa
sallam.
In this Hadith, the Messenger of Allah divided the history of the Muslim
nation into the following stages:
1. The reign of the Prophet Muhammad
2. A Caliphate that rules according to the guidance revealed to the
Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam This period is called the
reign of the rightly guided Caliphs, starting with Abu Bakr, then Umar, then
Uthman and ending with the murder of Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased
withthem all. Some scholars included the short reign of Al-Hasan bin Ali,
the grandson of the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam These
are the thirty years which the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa
sallam stated comprised the reign of the rightly guided Caliphs [The Prophet
sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam said? "The Caliphate will remain in my nation
after me for thirty years. Then, it will be a monarchy after that." Ahmad,
Tirmidhi and others, Sahih Al-Jami` ' As-Saghir no. 3341].
3. The reign of unjust rule. This reign contains some injustice to a varying
degree between one king and another. This period started after Al-Hasan bin
Ali and includes the Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluks and until the fall of the
Ottoman State in the twentieth century.
This period includes all states that ruled in the Muslim World during those
centuries. However, we exclude the reign of those rulers whose rule was
similar to the rule of the rightly guided Caliphs, such as the reign of
Abdullah bin Az-Zubayr and Umar bin Abdul-Aziz. These two are considered
among the just Caliphs from among the tribe of Quraish who ruled or will
rule the Muslim nation.
4. The reign of the tyrannical rule. This period started in the end of the
Ottoman state and continues. We ask Allah that He saves us from the evils of
this period and that we witness its end soon.
This reign includes all the regimes that ruled the Muslim World, whether
imperial, party oriented, governments controlled by the disbelievers, like
those after World War I, populist or republic, which all sought to deprive
Allah from His right as the Only Legislator in all matters of life and
religion.
When the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam mentioned the
periods that this nation will experience, he categorized them according to
the type of government, whether unjust, or that which follows the guidance
of the Prophet, or autocratic and tyrannical, as we experience today.
5. The return of a Caliphate that rules following the guidance of the
Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam This period requires the Muslims to be
prepared and strive for its imminent coming, by spreading the knowledge of
the Book and the Sunnah and the way of our righteous ancestors, As-Salaf
As-Salih. This is because nothing can resurrect this nation except that
which resurrected its ancestors. Until this final period comes, the religion
will become a stranger, the same way it started in Makkah, a stranger to its
masters and slaves, the powerful and the weak, its women, and its children.
Those who will strive to establish this righteous period are those ghurabaa
strangers as the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam called
them, who will carry this religion with knowledge, sound comprehension and
determination. They will willingly sacrifice their well-being, face
hardships, and persecution, with patience and steadfastness. They will
follow the advice of the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam
when he said,
"Therefore, hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided
Caliphs, hold it between your front teeth! And beware of innovations (in the
religion), for every innovation is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is a
deviation, and every deviation is in the Fire." [Sahih Al-Jami ' As-Saghir,
no. 2549]
The ghurabaa are the ones who, by the will of Allah, will correct that which
people have altered and changed of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah
sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam after his departure from this earthly life.
They will fight in the sake of Allah and dominate those who oppose them.
They will be unrelenting even in the face of those who abandon or defy them,
until Allah brings about His Decree (the Hour), while they are steadfast on
this path.
We ask Allah, the Praised and Ever-High One, that He grants us steadfastness
on the path of His Messenger sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam and the path
taken by the companions and those who followed theirlead until the Day of
Judgment.
Source : islaam.com
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