We are told in the Qur’an that the messengers of Allah and others who, like them, called on people to abide by religious moral values, were slandered and accused of such things as self-interest, madness, arrogance and magic. However, devout Muslims have always exhibited exemplary patience and submission in the face of the slanders to which they have been subjected, and have continued to call people to live by the moral precepts commanded by Allah and to invite them to the true path, despite all the pressure placed on them by unbelievers. In some verses of the Qur’an the situation encountered by messengers are described as follows:
Alas for My servants! No messenger comes to them without their mocking him. (Surah Ya Sin, 30)
How shall they be reminded when a clear messenger has already come to them? But then they turned away from him and said, “He is an instructed madman!” (Surat ad-Dukhan, 13-14)
Equally, no messenger came to those before them without their saying, “A magician or a madman!” Did they bequeath this to each other? Indeed they are an unbridled people. (Surat adh-Dhariyat, 52-53)
Remember when Moses said to his people, “My people, why do you mistreat me when you know that I am the messenger of Allah to you?” So when they deviated, Allah made their hearts deviate. Allah does not guide people who are deviators. (Surat as-Saff, 5)
As revealed in these verses, some people turned their backs on the messengers who called on them to believe in Allah, despite their having seen evident proof and miracles, and joined forces against them. It is stated in the Qur’an that this is a law of Allah, and that all Muslims may be tested with similar difficulties, be subjected to slanders of one kind or another, and be subjected to psychological pressure to make them turn away from the moral values of the Qur’an. Allah has revealed this in another verse: “Or did you suppose that you would enter the Garden without facing the same as those who came before you?...” (Surat al-Baqara, 214) In another verse of the Qur’an He describes how believers will be exposed to various forms of pressure from unbelievers:
You will be tested in your wealth and in yourselves and you will hear many abusive words from those given the Book before you and from those who are idolaters. But if you are steadfast and guard against evil, that is the most resolute course to take. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 186)
Again as a requirement of the law of Allah revealed in the Qur’an, every snare laid for believers was defeated right from the outset, and every slander turned out to be empty. In the Qur’an, Allah has revealed that such measures will always end in favor of believers. Allah also reveals that these people who unjustly oppressed His messengers and devout believers will receive a humiliating punishment in the Hereafter:
As for those who abuse Allah and His Messenger, Allah’s curse is on them in this world and the Hereafter. He has prepared a humiliating punishment for them. And those who abuse men and women who are believers, when they have not merited it, bear the weight of slander and clear wrongdoing. (Surat al-Ahzab, 57-58)
Unbelievers and idolaters opposed true believers because they thought that the message communicated by the messengers would damage the order under which they had furthered their own interests for so many years. This is a method that unbelievers have implemented for hundreds of years in order to prevent people believing in Allah and to neutralize the message of His messengers. In his hadiths our Prophet (saas) revealed that all the messengers and saintly personages who would come after him would be subjected to various difficulties in communicating and spreading their message. In one hadith our Prophet (saas) reveals that those descended from his line will be confronted by great many troubles and difficulties:
... We are such a household that Allah has preferred the Hereafter to the world for us. The Family of my House will surely suffer tribulations, be kidnapped, and exiled after me. The Family of my House will encounter trials and tribulations and be exposed to violence. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 14)
As our Prophet (saas) has stated in several hadiths, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will also be descended from the Prophet’s (saas) household, in other words he will be one of his line. One such hadith states:
Hazrat Mahdi (as) is one of us, one of the Ahl al-Bayt. (As-Suyuti, Al-Hawi Lil-Fatawi, 2/24)
It is also revealed in hadiths that, like other saintly personages and messengers, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will also be subjected to all kinds of injustice and harsh accusations:
... He prays two rakaat. When he returns from the prayer he says: “People! The Community of Muhammad and especially his Ahl al-Bayt have undergone many troubles and we have been subjected to distress and injustice …” (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 55)
In another account, we are told that pressure will be applied by the supporters of the antichrist against Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as), who will wage a great intellectual struggle against the antichrist during the End Times. According to the indications in the hadith, the antichrist and his supporters will set various traps to hinder, arrest, exile or kill Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as) in their intellectual struggle against the former.
It can be seen from all these hadiths of our Prophet (saas) that Hazrat Mahdi (as) and his community will have to combat an intensive campaign of character assassination and slander. Since the period concerned is the End Times, the profound skepticism, insecurity, impatience and disloyalty that prevail over a large part of mankind will lead most people to pay heed to these slanders, and not to trust true Muslims.
Bediuzzaman describes this period in the following extract:
... And being under destructive and violent oppression for twenty years it has suffered such moral degeneration and lost such fortitude and loyalty that perhaps one in twenty is not to be trusted… (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Kastamonu Addendum, p. 86)
As Bediuzzaman says, because of the moral degeneration in the End Times people will harbor doubts about Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as), will fail to appreciate the importance of their activities aimed at spreading the moral values of the religion of Allah, and will even seek to hinder these worthy individuals’ service. According to Bediuzzaman, that is why the Great Mujaddid so excitedly awaited by the whole Islamic world will not be popularly known by the title of Hazrat Mahdi (as) for many years. On the contrary, a large part of society will issue groundless slanders against him, as has been experienced by all Muslims in history, accusing him of corrupting their religion, perversion, falsehood and much more. However, as indicated in the hadiths, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will respond to all this character assassination and slander with a most superior fortitude and submission. He will make no concessions when it comes to his determination to live according to the moral values of the religion and preaching His message.
Our Prophet (saas) has referred to this superior moral virtue of Hazrat Mahdi (as) in his hadiths:
He will continue his struggle until people return to the truth. (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar , p. 23)
Days and nights will not come to an end until my Ahl al-Bayt has a member [Hazrat Mahdi (as)] who will not find it difficult to prevent fitnah and who cannot be dissuaded by killing him. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 12)
In another hadith our Prophet (saas) has indicated that all this pressure and these attacks will further strengthen Hazrat Mahdi (as):
When that Muslim personage [Hazrat Mahdi (as)] sees the antichrist, he says: “People! This is the antichrist of whom the Prophet (saas) mentioned.” The antichrist gives his order about him right away and that person is laid upon his stomach and then it is said: “Take him and beat him.” Then that person’s back and stomach is broadened by beating. This time he [the antichrist] grabs him by his two hands and two feet and hurls him. People assume the antichrist throws him into a fire. But in fact he is thrown away into a Garden. (Ibrahim Suleymanoglu, Mehdilik ve Imamiye [Mahdism and Imamate], p. 40)
This metaphorical term employed in the hadith may be indicating that all the traps set for him will further strengthen Hazrat Mahdi (as) and further increase the effect of his message. (Allah knows the truth.)
It is also indicated in the hadith that every verbal or written onslaught by the antichrist and his supporters, every slander and character assassination issued to damage the prestige of Muslims in the public eye, will still work in favor of the community of Hazrat Mahdi (as). All these activities intended against Hazrat Mahdi (as) may be means whereby true believers come to be better known the world over, whereby the virtues of believers emerge more fully, whereby their faith in Allah deepens, and whereby, by Allah’s leave, their degrees in Paradise are enhanced. (Allah knows the truth.)
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