Since the hadiths that speak of the signs of the end of time, the events at the end of time, and the merits and rewards of certain actions have not been well understood, SOME SCHOLARS who rely on their reason have pronounced some of them to be either weak or false. While some of the scholars WHOSE BELIEF WAS WEAK BUT WHOSE EGOTISM WAS STRONG have gone as far as denying them.  (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Words, Twenty-Fourth Word, Third Branch)


Bediuzzaman Said Nursi reports that some ignorant religious scholars, who are strong in egotism but weak in faith and have strayed into materialist belief, will strive to convince people that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will never come. In the words “whose egotism was strong,” Bediuzzaman refers to these people as admiring their own intelligence, regarding themselves as very grand, perfect and superior, and even making idols out of their own lower selves. (Allah is beyond this.) In the words “whose belief was weak,” he describes this state of mind of the religious scholars concerned as stemming from their belief in Allah being weak, harboring doubts about the religion and regarding the religion as a job or a means to prestige.

But these people’s belief that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will never come is one of the portents of his coming, and shows that the day of Hazrat Mahdi (as)’s appearance is close at hand.

In his hadiths, our Prophet (saas) has revealed that some people will say, “Hazrat Mahdi (as) will never come, there is no such person as Hazrat Mahdi (as)” before he appears, and that their rejection of the idea of Mahdism is one of the portents of his coming. One such hadith reads:
 
 
"Allah will send Hazrat Mahdi (as) at a time when people are in despair and say, ‘THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HAZRAT MAHDI’…” (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 55)