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Newsletter for January 2009

 

Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12

 

Mahdism and the Second Coming of Prophet Isa

 by Mohammed Khaku - PA, USA

 Before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, Shiism was typically viewed as a relatively small and unimportant community of Islam, whereas today it is increasingly seen as a major power in international politics not just because of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, conflict in Iraq or war between Hizbuallah, and Israel, but because it is the most balanced society.

 

As beautifully said in the Holy Qur'an “And Thus We Have Made You a Justly-Balanced (Wasata) community   So That You Be Witnesses Upon People, And The Prophet  Be a Witness Upon You”{ Al Baqarah:143}. The term “Wasata” means justly Balanced community with no excess in your religion, no trespassing beyond truth, with no extremism  and is the community that follows the middle path.

 

Today Shiism is a force for political progressive and democratizes throughout the Middle East. Over the past two decades, parallel to the political developments in the world of Shiism there has been a corresponding resurgence in Shiite studies. However, persistent ignorance of Shiite theology, particularly in the West, has resulted in snap judgments which more often than not present ideological labels attached to Shiism such as “militant,” “theocratic,” “radical, terrorist, extremism. While one of the lesser-known aspects of Islam is Mahdism, a belief which centers on a "rightly guided one," who will at some point return to the earth to rally Muslims and all human beings to fill the world with justice. The Imam of the Era will bring the east and the west of the world to justice.

 

The Belief in the Messiah or Saviour is not only an essential doctrine deep-rooted in Abrahamic faith but rather it is an embodiment of human nature regardless of one’s religious affiliation.  More importantly, from the religious perspective the concept of the Messiah is the culmination of the human struggle in their path towards God, the Almighty.

 

The second coming of Jesus is a fundamental belief in Christianity so is the reappearance of the Mahdi to the majority of Muslims.  While Christians await the return of Jesus the Messiah to fulfill all of God’s prophetic promises to the people of God, Muslims await the reappearance of the Mahdi who will lead the humanity into a “Golden Age” of peace and harmony.  Muslims all over the world celebrated the birth anniversary of Imam Mahdi – the awaited Saviour on August 18th.  In Arabic, al-Mahdi means, “The Guided One” He is also sometimes referred to by Shi’a Muslims as Sahib Al-Zaman or  Al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar which translated mean “The Master of the Age” and “The Guided/Awaited One.”  The coming of the Mahdi is the central belief of all Islamic end-time narratives

  

Imam Mahdi is Islam’s Messiah, the term used in the Islamic context to translate the important concept of an eschatological figure, the Mahdi who as the foreordained leader “will rise” with Prophet Jesus to wage battle against the false Messiah (Dajjal or Anti-Christ) and launch a great social transformation in order to restore peace, justice and eliminate evil, corruption and oppression

 

Mahdism is the most genuine and fundamental Islamic belief. The Mahdi is the Twelfth (and the last) Imam in the line of the Twelve Imams of the Shias. He was born on 15th Shaban 255 A.H in the city of Samarra. The birth of Imam Mahdi resembled the circumstances under which the Prophet Musa was born. The birth of Prophet Musa had signaled the downfall and extinction of the empire of the Pharaoh, who had ordered the killing of all the newly born children of the tribe of Israelites (Bani-Israel). Imam Mahdi, by the will of God, will overpower fragile doctrines, and will pursue and accomplish the objectives of the Prophet Muhammad. He will remove ignorance and class discrimination from the world and will establish equality instead; he will exploit the earth's resources, distribute them among the poor and make them sufficient. His appearance will mean a victory for truth and the annihilation of falsehood.


Excerpted from an article in the Newsletter, "The Community on Friday."
Slightly edited for this site.

 

 

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