WHEN THE HYPOCRITES AND PEOPLE WITH SICKNESS IN THEIR HEARTS SAID, ‘WHAT ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER PROMISED US WAS MERE DELUSION’.” (Surat al-Ahzab, 12)
In the Qur’an, Allah tells us that there will be people who say, “What Allah and His Messenger promised us was mere delusion.” In the indicated meaning, this verse refers to the situation of those people who have lost hope of the coming of the Prophet Jesus (as) and the Hazrat Mahdi. These people “deny the coming of the Prophet Jesus (as) and the Hazrat Mahdi,” which the Prophet (saas) reveals in the hadiths, and they claim that the Prophet’s (saas) words on this subject are supposedly “unfounded.” Many writings appear in many places today, saying that the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) will not be coming and, even more important, even people known as Islamic scholars issue statements along those same lines.
The truth of the matter is, however, that the fact that these people believe that “the coming of the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) is untrue” and a supposedly “empty promise” is one of the things that our Prophet (saas) has promised us will happen. Because one of the portents of the End Times in the hadiths of our Prophet (saas) that the coming of the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) is close at hand is the widespread nature of words to the effect that “Hazrat Mahdi (as) will not come and there is no such person as Hazrat Mahdi (as).”Some of the hadith on the subject read:
"Allah will send Hazrat Mahdi (as) when people have despaired and say ‘THERE IS NO SUCH PERSON AS HAZRAT MAHDI’.” (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 55)
"... HAZRAT MAHDI (as) WILL COME, with the standard of the Messenger of Allah (saas),WHEN HOPE OF HIS APPEARANCE HAS BEEN ABANDONED, and when scourges rain down on people’s heads…”(Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 55)
... HIS [HAZRAT MAHDI’S (AS)] COMING WILL BE AT A TIME OF HOPELESSNESS AND DESPAIR.(Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Numani, al-Ghaybah al-Numani, p. 274)
HE [HAZRAT MAHDI (AS)] WILL APPEAR WHEN PEOPLE HAVE LOST ALL HOPE OF HIS COMING! How fortunate those who live in his time and help him will be! Woe to those who harbor enmity toward him, to those who oppose him and his commands, and to his enemies!(Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Nomani, al-Ghaybah al-Nomani, p. 301)
Dawud ibn Kathir Riqqi says: “I asked Imam Abu Abdullah: ... This coming [of Hazrat Mahdi (as)] is taking so long that our hearts have shrunk and we are dying from profound sorrow. And he said, ‘THAT APPEARANCE WILL TAKE PLACE WHEN PEOPLE ARE EVEN MORE DESPAIRING AND WHEN SORROW IS EVEN GREATER.’”(Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Nomani, al-Ghaybah al-Nomani, p. 208)
This period, in which the portents of the End Times are taking place one after the other, shows that the return of the Prophet Jesus (as) and the appearance of Hazrat Mahdi (as) are close at hand. By Allah’s leave, these two holy personages will appear just as described in the hadiths of our Prophet (saas) and will cause Islamic moral values to prevail across the world.
