The Mahdi

by Sayyid Muneer Al-Khabbaz

  God also says,

  Do you suppose that you will enter paradise though there has not yet come to you the like of [what befell] those who went before you? Stress and distress befell them and they were convulsed until the apostle and the faithful who were with him said, ‘When will God’s help [come]?’ Behold! God’s help is indeed near![372]

  The Quran also spoke of the elite group of individuals that were alongside our Holy Prophet (s), like Imam Ali (a), Miqdad, Ammar, and Abu Thar. It says “Muhammad, the Apostle of God, and those who are with him are hard against the faithless and merciful amongst themselves.”[373] For every movement there is a base of supporters who follow through with conviction and are resolute on their path.

  As for the base that supported Imam Hussain (a), he himself said of them, “I don’t know of any companions better than my companions, nor a family more pure and rooted than my own.”[374] As for the gropu of individuals that will form the basis of support for Imam Mahdi (a), it is narrated that the Holy Prophet (s) once said, “O God, allow me to meet my brethren!” His companions were puzzled and asked, “Are we not your brethren?” The Holy Prophet (s) replied,

  No. You are my companions. My brethren are a people at the end of times who believed me without seeing me. God has taught me their names and the names of their fathers before He will extract them from the loins of their fathers and the wombs of their mothers. Each of them is most protective of his faith… and will be like one clasping a burning ember. They are the lanterns of the night. God will save them of every dark and murky sedition.[375]

  This is the base that Imam Sajjad (a) described in another narration saying,

  Surely, the people of the era of his [i.e. Imam Mahdi (a)] occultation who believe in his Immaculate Leadership and who wait his appearance are better than the people of any other era. That is because God, the Most Blessed and High, gave them the intellect, comprehension, and knowledge that allowed them to see occultation at the level of presence. He made them at that era at the status of those who struggled at war alongside the Messenger of God (s). Those are the real devotees, our true Shia, and the callers unto God’s religion in public and in privacy.[376]

  These are clearly the individuals described in the verse,

  Among the faithful are men who fulfill what they have pledged to God: there are some among them who have fulfilled their pledge, and some of them who still wait, and they have not changed in the least.[377]

  Those who have fulfilled their pledge are the companions of Badr and Karbala. Those who still wait are the companions of Imam Mahdi (a).

  Let us think about the statement, “Those who fulfilled their pledge.” Each individual expends his power and effort in pursuit of some goal. Many do it in pursuit of a worldly goal without thinking of reciting the Quran or the supplications. These people will be the most regretful when we they pass to the next world. The Commander of the Faithful (a) attempted to remind the people of this truth when he stood in one market and said,

  O slaves of this world and servants of its people! If you are engaged in trade during the day, asleep in your beds at night, and are heedless of the hereafter throughout, when will you prepare your provisions of think of the resurrection?[378]

  There are others who expend their energies and efforts in truth, both in words and in action. They are the application of the blessed verse, “Among the faithful are men who fulfill what they have pledged to God: there are some among them who have fulfilled their pledge, and some of them who still wait.” They were perseverant in their path of truth, “they have not changed in the least.”[379]

  How can we truly be of the true believers who are waiting for the emergence of our Awaited Imam (a)? Waiting involves preparing the earth for his emergence through enjoining good and forbidding evil. Waiting is not simply speech or by attending lectures and reading books. We cannot simply do these things and say we are waiting while we are consumed with our worldly lives. We must actively work towards preparing the world for his emergence. We must support charitable organizations and religious institutions that serve individuals and build towards our Awaited Imam’s (a) emergence.

  And amongst the instances of preparing the world for his emergence is through reviving the day of Ashura. The night of Ashura is not simply for weeping and commemoration. It is a night of worship and seeking closeness to God. We must extend the night with worship much like Imam Hussain (a) during his last hours.

  Guidance

  In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

  It is He who has sent His Apostle with the guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists should be averse.[380]

  The verse contains a divine promise that the religion of Islam will one day prevail over the entire earth. This promise has yet to be fulfilled. Since God will never renege on a promise, this promised day will surely come in the future. This will be the day of the reemergence of our Awaited Imam (a). It is reported that Imam Sadiq (a) once said when asked about this verse, “By God, its interpretation has not yet been revealed and will not be revealed until the reemergence of Al-Qa’im (a).”[381]

  When reading this verse, one wonders what is meant by “guidance and the religion of truth.” Is guidance not the same as the religion of truth? Why does God make a distinction between the two?

  The religion of truth is the set of beliefs that are adopted by the believers. Guidance, on the other hand, is the connection between this set of beliefs and willpower. An individual might adopt the set of beliefs that comprise the true religion, but there may be a disparity between these believes and his will and conviction. Many times, we believe in certain principles yet still act against them.

  For example, an individual that engages in theft does so knowing that it is a reprehensible crime. He knows that theft is bad and would be outraged if something of his was stolen. His actions and willpower are at odds with his beliefs. He may have the true religion but lacks that link between adopting a creed and applying it. This link is what is meant by ‘guidance.’ Guidance is the link between our held beliefs and our willpower to act in accordance with those beliefs.

  Stages of Guidance

  Guidance can be classified into two types – creational and spiritual. Every creature received the first type of guidance. God says in the Holy Quran, “Our Lord is He who gave everything its creation and then guided it.”[382] Every creature is guided towards its goal and purpose. A seed is guided towards becoming a tree. A beast is guided to find food and protect itself from predators. The sun and moon are guided on their orbits. “Neither it behooves the sun to overtake the moon, nor may the night outrun the day, and each swims in an orbit.”[383] Each is guided on its own path. That is what we mean by creational guidance.

  Spiritual guidance, which is exclusive to mankind, can also be categorized into two types. The first is the guidance that every individual deserves at birth. This is called mankind’s innate nature. God says, “Indeed We have guided him to the way, be he grateful or ungrateful.”[384] God also says, “So set your heart as a person of pure faith on this religion, the original nature endowed by God according to which He originated mankind.”[385] Every individual deserves at birth to be guided toward his Lord. This is a general type of guidance for all of mankind and without it humanity would have no purpose. God Almighty says, “O man! You are laboring toward your Lord laboriously, and you will encounter Him.”[386]

  The other type of spiritual guidance is a preferential one with which God endows on some of the believers. This type of spiritual guidance can be divided into three types.

  Opening the Heart

  The Holy Quran refers to this type of guidance and says,

  Is someone whose breast God has opened to Islam so that he follows a light from His Lord…? So woe to those whose hearts have been hardened to the remembrance of God.[387]

  Opening refers to the softening of the heart, as opposed to its hardening. God says, God has
sent down the best of discourses, a scripture [composed] of similar motifs, whereat shiver the skins of those who fear their Lord, then their skins and hearts relax at God’s remembrance. That is God’s guidance, by which He guides whomever He wishes.[388]

  If a person wants to test himself to see whether he attained this level or not, let him simply be mindful of himself when reading a supplication. If he enjoys reading the supplication and derives meaning and lessons from it, his heart is open and receptive to God’s guidance. However, if he finds himself unreactive to the supplication, then his heart is hard and unwelcoming to God’s guidance. God says, “Then your hearts hardened after that; so they are like stones, or even harder. For there are some stones from which streams gush forth…”[389]

  Rectitude

  God Almighty says, “We chose them and guided them to a straight path.”[390]

  When we read the Holy Quran, we sometimes see that the verses seem to be conflicting when taken at face value. God says, “As for those who strive in Us, We shall surely guide them in Our ways, and God is indeed with the virtuous.”[391] This verse explicitly states that there are “ways” to which God will guide, and not just one way.

  But we also read in another verse, “Say, ‘This is my way. I summon to God with insight – I and he who follows me.’”[392] In another verse “Whoever defies the Apostle, after the guidance has become manifest to him, and follows a way other than that of the faithful, We shall abandon him to his devices.”[393] These verses also seem to state that there is only one “way” to which God will guide.

  So how do we reconcile between these verses?

  This is a point that mystics address as follows. An individual may think at the outset that there are multiple paths to God. As he journeys on this road, however, he begins to discover that the path to God is one. For example, an individual who looks at the Abrahamic faiths may at first glance think that they are three different creeds. In reality, however, they are one.

  The creed of Prophet Abraham (a) was that of submission to God – “When his Lord said to him, ‘Submit,’ he said, ‘I submit to the Lord of all the worlds.’”[394] Abraham also said, “‘Our Lord, make us submissive to You, and [raise] from our progeny a nation submissive to You.”[395] Judaism and Christianity also share this common creed of submission before God. The Holy Quran says, “Should anyone follow a creed other than Islam, it shall never be accepted from him.”[396] In another verse we read, “Indeed, with God creed is Islam.”[397]

  This “Islam” is the shared creed of the Abrahamic religions. The name of our religion – Islam – is derived from the Arabic root that is ‘to submit.’ So the Abrahamic faiths share this creed. The difference between them lies in their prescribed laws. God says,

  He has prescribed for you the creed which He had enjoined upon Noah and which We have [also] revealed to you, and which We had enjoined upon Abraham, Moses and Jesus, declaring, ‘Maintain the creed, and do not be divided in it.’[398]

  In another verse God says, “For each [community] among you We had appointed a code [of law] and a path.”[399] The difference is not in creed but in the code of law which prescribes practical rules and the rituals of worship.

  If a person looks at a single religion at face value, he may also think that there are multiple paths within a single religion. Prayer is a path, fasting is another, and paying alms is a third. But in reality this is only one path towards seeking proximity to God. God says in the Holy Quran, “Certainly, the faithful have attained salvation – those who are reverent in their prayers.”[400] Reverence – or Khushu’ – is a single concept and attitude towards worship. It cuts across prayers, fasting, and all other rituals. So the many acts of worship are in fact a single path of reverence in the service of God. The Holy Prophet (s) once saw a man fiddling with his beard during prayer and said, “[.”[401] So reverence is a state of mind and heart which must be present during all worship.

  Certitude

  If a person continues on the path of guidance, he will reach a status where he can see the reality of his actions in this world. This is the level of certitude that will allow him to see reality in its entirety, including what most do not see and recognize.

  We read in one of the whispered prayers of Imam Sajjad (a), “My God, conceal my sins with the clouds of your mercy and send over my faults the rainclouds of your clemency.”[402] Why does the Imam (a) use this figurative language? It is because he has reached a level of certitude that allows him to see sin as a piece of hellfire. His certainty allows him to feel that fire. He asks for rainclouds that would put out the flame of sin.

  The third stage of spiritual guidance is this level of certainty that allows an individual to see reality.

  God says “Thus did We show Abraham the dominions of the heavens and the earth, that he might be of those who possess certitude.”[403] In another verse God says “Indeed, were you to know with certain knowledge, you would have surely seen hell [in this very life].”[404] In other words, if you believed with certainty you would see the truth of your actions. You would see hellfire manifested in any sin – in lying, in backbiting, and in any wrongdoing. God says in another verse “Rather, their hearts have been sullied by what they have been earning. Indeed, they will be alienated from their Lord on that day.”[405] Sins have sullied our hearts such that we cannot see the reality of our actions.

  The Holy Quran says, “We made them Imams, guiding by Our command.”[406] Every Imam appointed by God and given the command to guide can lead you through these three stages of guidance. Every individual is able to access this guidance through the Imams. Some individuals may only be able to attain the first level of an open heart. Others may reach the level of rectitude.

  There are some who are able to follow the guidance of the Imams and reach the level of certitude. These include Kumail ibn Ziyad who was guided by Imam Ali (a) to the level of certitude that allowed him to see the reality of this world.

  The Imam is the conduit of God’s guidance. God is the ultimate source of all guidance and blessings, but He has chosen to appoint conduits of his guidance and blessings such as our Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) and the Immaculate Imams (a) from his Purified Household.

  God’s Guidance

  The Holy Quran attributes guidance to God, but also attributes “leading astray” to Him. The Holy Quran says “Whomever God guides is rightly guided, and whomever He leads astray—it is they who are the losers.”[407] Another verse states “Whomever God leads astray, has no guide.”[408] Yet another verse states

  Whomever God desires to guide, He opens his breast to Islam, and whomever He desires to lead astray, He makes his breast narrow and straitened as if he were climbing to a height.[409]

  If it is God who leads astray, what fault do we have if we sin and why should we be punished? How can we ascribe ‘leading astray’ to God in the first place?

  There are two answers to these questions.

  First, what is meant by guidance is the opening the heart as described above. ‘Leading astray’ is the withholding of this blessing once an individual becomes stubbornly attached to sin and wrongdoing. God says “So when they swerved [from the right path], God made their hearts swerve.”[410] In another verse He says “Indeed God does not change a people’s lot unless they change what is in themselves.”[411] The meaning of “leading astray” is withholding the blessing of guidance and not an act of misguidance.

  Second, philosophers say that every action or thing has an abstraction. This abstraction itself is a form of creation. So who creates this abstraction? God says “Is there any creator other than God?”[412]

  If I want to do a good deed like prayer, I imagine the abstract thought of praying. This abstraction is a creation of God. The same goes for a misdeed – a person first imagines it abstractly and that abstraction is a creation of God. Accordingly, God is the creator of these abstractions whether good or bad – guidance or misguidance.

  Philosophers also say that every act of creation re
quires both a creator and a contingency. If I were to write a poem, for example, the contingencies must be ready if the poem is to be created. There needs to be a pen and paper to take my poem and manifest it in reality.

  The same could be applied to guidance and leading astray. God is the source and creator, but the contingency is the will of the individual. If the individual is willing to receive guidance, he will be guided by God. However, if the individual only wishes to stray from the path, then God will create the abstractions of misguidance in his mind. That is why the Holy Quran says, “So when they swerved [from the right path], God made their hearts swerve.”[413] God also says,

  Whoever desires this transitory life, We expedite for him therein whatever We wish, for whomever We desire. Then We appoint hell for him, to enter it, blameful and spurned. Whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it with an endeavor worthy of it, should he be faithful, the endeavor of such will be well-appreciated. To these and to those – to all We extend the bounty of your Lord, and the bounty of your Lord is not confined.[414]

  This is the reason behind the attribution of ‘leading astray’ to God. The granting of the blessing of guidance or withholding that blessing is ultimately contingent on each individual’s will and choices, there is no issue with God ultimately punishing those who chose to sin and continue in their wrongdoings.

  The Mahdi and Guidance

  Why the Title ‘al-Mahdi’?

  Why is the name ‘al-Mahdi’ – or the Guided One – given to our Twelfth Imam (a) particularly when all of our Imams (a) were guided? This is a question that can be asked about all of our Imams. Why was our Sixth Imam (a) named ‘al-Sadiq’ – the Truthful – when all of our Imams (a) were obviously truthful? Why is Imam Hussain (a) given the honorific title ‘al-Shaheed’ – the Martyr – when all of the Imams (a) were martyrs? Let us discuss the honorable names given to our Imams (a) by each other. We will leave out from the discussion titles historically given to the Imams (a) by others – such as ‘al-Askari,’ or the prisoner of the barracks, which was given to our Eleventh Imam (a).