VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAHDI
WHAT DOES THE TERM "MAHDI" MEAN?
The concepts of the End Times and the Mahdi may not be that familiar to some people. It will therefore be useful to clarify them before going any further. According to Islamic belief, the End Times refer to a period close to Doomdsay, when Qur'anic moral values will rule the world and spread widely among the peoples of the world.
People always long for more and better, such as a prettier view, more delicious food, a better life involving no social problems, well-being, peace of mind, abundance and beauty. The End Times refers to a time that encapsulates all that is "greater" and "better." The End Times is a holy time that all believers have longed for down the years, when Islamic values will rule the world and when shortages and scarcity are replaced by plenty and abundance, when injustice gives way to justice, and when conflict is replaced by peace and security.
The hadith of our Prophet (saas) contain detailed descriptions of this period and its characteristics. Following our Prophet (saas), various great Islamic scholars also made important statements regarding the End Times. These indicate that the End Times will be full of significant phenomena taking place one after the other. The End Times is an age when the world will first suffer corruption and chaos, after which it attains salvation as people come to live by the true faith.
In the first stage of the End Times, the world will be corrupted by various philosophical systems that deny the existence of Allah. They will turn away from the reason for their creation, as a result of which there will be terrible spiritual emptiness and moral degeneration. Dreadful catastrophes, wars and suffering will take place, and people will look for an answer to the question "How can we be saved?"
This part of the End Times will be one when the faith has also been corrupted. Islam will have departed from its true essence because of various superstitions and beliefs that have found their way into it. People committing bigotry and hypocrisy under the name of faith will try to spread these superstitions and to prevent people understanding the moral virtues lying at the heart of Islam. Philosophies encouraging atheism on the one hand and these conservative forces eating away at the faith from the inside on the other, will lead mankind into terrible darkness.
However, Allah will lead people to salvation from these dark days of the End Times. He will make use of a servant with superior moral virtues and bearing the title of the Mahdi (he who leads to the truth) to call those people who have lost their way back to the true path. The Mahdi will first wage in intellectual struggle within the Islamic world and will return Muslims who have departed from the true essence of Islam back to true belief and moral virtues. The Mahdi will have three main tasks at this point:
1. The eradication of philosophical systems that support denial and atheism,
2. To combat superstition by freeing Islam from the hypocrites who have corrupted it. To reveal and apply true Islamic moral values based on the commands of the Qur'an.
3. To strengthen the Islamic world politically and socially, to establish peace, security and well-being, and to resolve social problems.
The hadith of our Prophet (saas) contain various portents regarding the beginning of the End Times. There are also verses in the Qur'an that allude to this period. The following section sets out various portents of the End Times in the light of hadith and verses of the Qur'an.