He [Hazrat Mahdi (as)] will depart from them for a time, and thus people of deviance will be separated. So that the ignorant will say: There is no need for the Family of Muhammad [one from the line of our Prophet (saas)] in order to reach Allah.”(Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Numani, al-Ghaybah al-Numani, p. 161)
Throughout human history, Allah has sent prophets and messengers to tell every people of the true faith, proper moral values, the existence of the Hereafter and the temporary nature of the life of this world. Allah makes these messengers as an instrument to call people to salvation and the true faith.
Hazrat Mahdi (as) is alsoa messenger, whose coming our Prophet (saas) says will take place in Hijri 1400, and who will lead people to salvation. By the hand of Hazrat Mahdi (as) Allah will also intellectually neutralize the system of the antichrist those satanic systems such as Darwinism, materialism, communism and fascism that inflict suffering, tensions and war on the world, drowning it in blood and tears. In the time of Hazrat Mahdi (as) people will believe in Allah, adopt the moral values of the Qur’an, live according to the Sunnah of the Prophet (saas) and dwell in peace, brotherhood, unity and security.
Before that climate, however, Hazrat Mahdi(as) and his followers will live out of sight for a time. During that time, hypocrites who seem to be Muslims on the surface but who do not in fact believe will emerge from among his followers and abandon Hazrat Mahdi (as), saying things like; “We have no need of anyone descended from the line of the Prophet (saas) in order to believe in Allah.” In the same way that Allah’s prophets, messengers, mujaddids (revivers), mujtahids (scholar who derives legal rulings), great scholars and holy figures have been rejected by the deniers throughout the course of history, some hypocrites will also emerge from among his followers and reject Hazrat Mahdi (as):
If they deny you, those before them also denied the truth. (Surah Fatir, 25)
The fact is, however, thatat times when people turn away from religious moral values and when evil, violence, injustice and immorality increase, Allah has always called people back to the moral values of the true religion by sending prophets, messengers, mujaddids, holy figures and pioneer of salvation to tell communities about the true faith, forbid them from unlawful and enjoin them the right.
Children of Adam! If Messengers come to you from among yourselves, recounting My signs to you, those who have faith and put things right, will feel no fear and will know no sorrow. (Surat al-A’raf, 35)
In the End Times, when corruption and evil have grown, when lawful things are regarded as unlawful, and unlawful things as lawful, Allah will send Hazrat Mahdi (as), the greatest mujaddid (a great scholar sent at the beginning of every century in order to teach the truths of the faith according to the requirements of the time), judge, pioneer of salvation and Qutb al-A’zam (chief of Allah’s saints on Earth) of the End Times. The master Said Nursi describes in his Letters how Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be sent at the time of the worst corruption of the End Times:
“…at the time of the greatestcorruption at the end of time, Almighty Allah will send a luminous person as both the mujdahid (reviver), and mujaddid (great scholars and leaders who deduce decrees from the verses and hadiths), and ruler, and the Mahdi, and Murshid (guide), Qutb al-A’zam (the greatest leader of the time), and that person will be from Ahl al-Bayt, from the Family of the Prophet (saas). (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Letters, 29th Letter, Seventh Section, p. 514)
Hazrat Mahdi (as) will rule among people with the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of our Prophet (saas). No matter how much the hypocrites and deniers seek to hinder him, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will, by Allah’s leave, perform his duty in the finest manner possible.
The term “Family of Muhammad” also once again indicates that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be descended from our Prophet (saas).
