Passages from Said Nursi referring to Hazrat Mahdi (as) as an 'individual,' not a corporate entity

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24 December, 2009

To oppose him, A LUMINOUS INDIVIDUAL CALLED MUHAMMAD MAHDI OF THE FAMILY OF THE PROPHET WILL COME TO LEAD the people of sainthood and perfection, who are bound to the luminous chain of the Family of the Prophet, and he will kill the current of dissemblers, which will be the collective personality of the Sufyan, and scatter it.

(Letters / Fifteenth Letter - p. 79)

In his Letters, Said Nursi states that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be an individual descended from the line of our Prophet (saas). He clearly states in this extract that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is not a corporate entity consisting of a community or a society, but that he is a radiant individual descended from our Prophet (saas) and possessed of pure faith, and one who will assume the leadership of all guides. He says that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will wage an intellectual struggle against hypocrite tendencies that serve as the corporate entity of the Sufyan, one of the personages of the End Times, and that he will effectively neutralize these.

… THAT SUPREME PERSON of the Last Days will be a descendant of the Prophet (saas)…

(The Rays / The Fourteenth Ray - p. 440)

On page 440 of the Rays, the master reiterates that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is an individual descended from our Prophet (saas). Only a person can be descended from a family line, and there is no question of a corporate entity being descended from the Ahl al-Bayt. By referring to “that supreme person of the Last Days” the master is clearly discussing an individual, and to claim that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a corporate entity and not a person flies in the face of the facts.

Sayyid Salih Ozcan, one of the master’s most outstanding followers, stated that in a conversation the master said that he would not see Hazrat Mahdi (as), but that Sayyid Salih Ozcan would. This means that both the master and Salih Ozcan know that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a person and that he will appear after the master’s death.

THAT PERSON will make a program of research already conducted by that community and writing, by which he will have fulfilled his first duty.

(Emirdag Addendum, pp. 266-267)

The master says that when Hazrat Mahdi (as), whom he addresses as a personage, appears, following a long period of research and inquiry, he will adopt the Risale-i Nur as a ready-made program for him, and that he will undertake this first duty together with the Risale. The fact that the master refers to Hazrat Mahdi (as), who will appear in the End Times, as a personage shows he believes he will be a human being. The master also makes it clear, by the use of the word “him,” that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will make use of the Risale-i Nur as an individual, not as a corporate entity. The pronoun “him” is used to refer to individuals. This expression alone is significant evidence that the master knew that Hazrat Mahdi (as), who would appear after his own time, will be a human being.

Sheikh Nazim Kibrisi’s representative Sheikh Ahmet Yasin also referred to the 1400s (Islamic calendar) in which we are living as the century in which Hazrat Mahdi (as) would appear.

You can watch these statements in which Sheikh Ahmet Yasin says that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will emerge in the End Times in which we are living now on video on the

… And I told them: "I am not a sayyid [descended from our Prophet (saas)]. Descendants are unknown in this time. Whereas that GREAT PERSON of the End Times will be from the Ahl al-Bayt [be descended from the Prophet (saas)]

(Emirdag Addendum, p. 267)

The master says that he himself is not a sayyid and that no research into the sayyid line could be conducted in his own day, but that Hazrat Mahdi (as) who will appear in the End Times will very definitely be a sayyid, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (saas). This means that the descendants of the Prophet (saas) will be known in the time of Hazrat Mahdi (as), and that there will be documentary evidence of his status as a sayyid, which also proves at the same time that he is an individual.

I believe I am a servant of this WONDROUS PERSON WHO will appear in the future, a rear-guard to set a background for him, and a pioneering soldier of that GREAT COMMANDER...

(Barla Addendum, p. 162)

The master refers to Hazrat Mahdi (as) as a wondrous individual. This means that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will appear as an individual. The master also described him as coming IN THE FUTURE. This is a reference to years that lie ahead, and means that this wondrous person had not yet appeared at the time when the master was writing these words. That in turn means the master is referring to someone other than himself. The master’s use of the words AN INDIVIDUAL again shows he is referring to a single person and not to a corporate entity.

He also describes this person who will be coming in the future as A GREAT COMMANDER. Commander is a title bestowed on an individual. This is yet further evidence that the master is referring to Hazrat Mahdi (as) who will appear in the End Times as a single individual. The master also makes it clear that with the Risale he is merely preparing the way for Hazrat Mahdi (as), whom he will never personally see.

Since His custom has proceeded in this way, certainly, at the time of the greatest corruption at the end of time, He will send a luminous person as both the GREATEST INTERPRETER OF THE LAW, and THE GREATEST RENEWER, AND RULER, and HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) and as GUIDE, AND SPIRITUAL POLE, and THAT PERSON will be from the Family of the Prophet.

(Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - Seventh Section - p.515)

Bediuzzaman speaks in one passage of a “luminous personage.” One feature of this luminous personage is that he is from the Ahl al-Bayt, in other words, that he is a sayyid. Other characteristics of his are that he is;

1.    … an expounder of religious law

2.    …a mujaddid

3.    … a judge

4.    … Hazrat Mahdi (as)

5.    … a guide

6.    … kutb-u a'zam

7.    … a luminous personage.

As we have seen, none of the characteristics attributed by the master to this personage who will come in the End Times, when corruption is at its height, can belong to a corporate entity, only to an individual. No corporate entity, society or group can be a renovator, a mujaddid, a judge, Hazrat Mahdi (as), a guide or a qutb az-azam. These are titles that are all bestowed on a person. Like the mujaddid who have appeared at the beginning of every other century, Hazrat Mahdi (as) whom the master describes in these terms is an individual, and one who will come in the End Times.

In the broad sphere of life, its real owners, in other words, HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) and HIS STUDENTS come in the End Times, by Almighty Allah’s leave, and broaden that sphere and cause those seeds to flourish.

(The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, p. 172) (Kastamonu Addendum, p. 72)

The master’s reference here to “HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) and HIS STUDENTS” also described Hazrat Mahdi (as) as an individual with his own followers. In other words, the name Hazrat Mahdi (as) clearly and explicitly refers to a person, rather than to a corporate entity. This again makes it clear that the master believed that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is an individual who will come in the End Times. In addition, the master refers to the time of the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (as) and his students as “the End Times of the future...” In other words, the master is referring to a time in the future not his own time. This again shows that Hazrat Mahdi (as) had not come when the master wrote these words and had not yet begun working with his followers.

These three qualities being present at one time IN ONE PERSON or community, and their being perfect and not impairing one another seems very remote, or even impossible. In the End Times, they can only come together in the GREAT MAHDI and the collective personality of his community, who represent the luminous community of the Ahl al-Bayt [the line of the Prophet (saas)].

(Kastamonu Addendum, p. 139, The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, p. 189)

In this passage again the master states that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a person, this time by noting that he will be descended from the line of the Prophet (saas). Only a person can be a sayyid. It is out of the question for a corporate entity, a community or a group to be a sayyid. In addition, by speaking of “Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the corporate entity in his community...” he makes it clear that he considers Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the community loyal to him as separate entities. In other words, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be an individual, and he will also have his own community made up of Muslims who follow him.

In an interview with the magazine Feyz on 30 August, 2008, Nimetullah Hodja said that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will appear in the century in which we are living. In referring to Hazrat Mahdi (as), Nimetullah Hodja said he would possess those attributes mentioned in the hadith of our Prophet (saas), and would be a great scholar and imam descended from the line of the Prophet (saas). These descriptions of Hazrat Mahdi (as) by Nimetullah Hodja again demonstrate that he is awaiting an individual, and not a corporate entity.

This will be the century of Islam. It is certain the Hazrat Mahdi (as) will appear. Some people rather underestimate this subject. That is a great mistake. I have heard it personally from several elders. There are also many hadith on the subject. Belief in the Mahdi is of a great scholar, an imam, descended from the line of our Prophet (saas), who will unite all Muslims and fight against members of superstitious faiths prior to Doomsday. Those superstitious faiths will disappear, in intellectual terms as well as of their own existence, when Islam comes to prevail...

Feyz Magazine, 30 August 2008

…… The collective personality of the holy COMMUNITY REPRESENTED BY HAZRAT MAHDI (AS), has three duties.

(Emirdag Addendum, p. 265)

The master refers to Hazrat Mahdi (as) and his community having three duties, and the way that he emphasizes that he will be from the Ahl al-Bayt, descended from the line of the Prophet (saas), is of the greatest importance. Because that emphasis means that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a person. The master also refers to a holy community affiliated to him, clearly revealing that that the individual known as Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the corporate entity of his community are two separate concepts.

The most important and greatest and most valuable of the three duties of THE PERSON AWAITED BY THE COMMUNITY AND WHO WILL COME IN THE END TIMES is to spread the true faith and to save believers from deviation.

(The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, p. 9)

By referring to “the three duties of the person who will appear in the End Times...” the master is saying that the three duties to be performed by Hazrat Mahdi (as) in the End Times belong to an individual, and not to a corporate entity. The fact that he stated in other passages (Kastamonu Addendum, p. 139) (Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybi, p. 186) that Hazrat Mahdi (as) would perform these tasks together with his community shows that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will discharge these duties by personally assuming his place at the head of the community.

It appears from this truth that THIS HOLY PERSON WHO WILL COME LATER…

(The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, p. 9)

The master speaks of “THAT HOLY PERSONAGE WHO WILL COME LATER...”, a reference to a holy figure who will be appearing after his own time. That holy person will both implement the Risale-i Nur prepared by the master in a systematic manner, and will also spread it. The use of the word personage in this extract emphasizes that the master is speaking of someone other than himself, and that this person is an individual.

... There will be such intellectual trends at that time even IF THAT PERSON WHO IS TRULY AWAITED AND WILL COME IN A CENTURY’S TIME comes at that time, since he takes everything for his own account...

(Kastamonu Addendum, p. 57)

In this passage, the master explicitly refers to someone he says will come in a century after his. The term “THAT PERSON WHO WILL COME IN A CENTURY’S TIME” makes it clear that this holy individual will appear a full 100 years after the master, and that he will be a person, rather than a corporate entity.

... YET THAT GREAT PERSONAGE OF THE END TIMES WILL BE FROM THE AHL AL-BAYT [descended from the Prophet (saas)]…

(Emirdag Addendum, 247-250)

The master makes it clear that Hazrat Mahdi (as) who will appear in the End Times and perform three great duties, will be the greatest ever expounder of Islamic law, the greatest kutb-u azam and the greatest mujaddid, that he will be a person and will be descended from the line of our Prophet (saas). Contrary to what some people maintain, Hazrat Mahdi (as) of the End Times will be a person, not a corporate entity, and will come from the Ahl al-Bayt.

In the narrations are various different prophecies about HAZRAT MAHDI (AS)…

(The Rays / The Fifth Ray - Second Station - p.112)

The master draws particular attention to the accounts of our Prophet (saas) regarding Hazrat Mahdi (as) who will appear in the End Times. In these accounts from our Prophet (saas), it is clear that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is an individual. The Prophet (saas) provides explicit information about Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) physical features, such as his hair, beard, forehead, a mole on his back and his gait, about his manner of speaking, and how the prophet Jesus (as) will perform the prayer (salat) with Hazrat Mahdi (as) acting as imam, all of which can only refer to an individual.

His brow is broad, and his nose will be thin. (Hadith al-Tirmidhi)

Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be of average height.

(al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar, p. 41)

Hazrat Mahdi (as) will have the sign of our Prophet (saas) on his shoulder.

(al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar, p. 41)

The features set out by the Prophet (saas) in these hadith are ones applying only to an individual. Nobody looking at the End Times in the light of these hadith of our Prophet (saas) can maintain that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a corporate entity. The hadith of our Prophet (saas) contain hundreds of pieces of evidence that totally refute any such idea.

...Said stated in his protestation, saying: “I am not a Sayyid, AND HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) WILL BE A SAYYID,” thus refuting them

(The Rays / The Fourteenth Ray - p. 407)

On page 407 of the Rays, the master explicitly states that he is not a sayyid, but that Hazrat Mahdi (as), who will appear in the century after his, will be descended from the Prophet (saas) and will appear as an individual human being.

... But flowers appear in the spring, and the ground has to be prepared for sacred flowers such as that. I understood that with this service of ours we are preparing the ground for THOSE LUMINOUS PEOPLE.

(The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, p. 189)

The master refers to the great Mahdi (as) of the End Times as a sacred flower. He says that with the collection he has drawn up he has prepared the way for Hazrat Mahdi (as), and that to prepare the way for such worthy and holy people is a great duty. In this passage he once again reiterates that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a single person and not a corporate entity.

... Certainly, the elevated ardor in that huge force will surge up and HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) SHALL COME TO LEAD IT, guiding it to the way of truth and reality.

(Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - Seventh Section - p. 516)

In this extract the master refers to “...HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) ASSUMING THE LEADERSHIP,...” an explicit reference to Hazrat Mahdi (as) appearing as a person. He emphasizes that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will assume the spiritual leadership of Muslims, to direct their joyous efforts and endeavors them for good deeds and to encourage them on the path of Allah.

... a guide, a kind of Mahdi and reformer comes in every century, but in terms of discharging each of these three duties, none have received the title of THE GREAT MAHDI OF THE END TIMES.”

(Emirdag Addendum, p. 260)

The master notes that people who can be described as a kind of Mahdi come and serve in every century, but that none has been able to fulfill the three great duties of Hazrat Mahdi (as) of the End Times. This means that Hazrat Mahdi (as) who will come in the End Times will be a person, just like the earlier mujaddids. One of the main distinguishing features between them and him, however, will be that he discharges these three duties at once. None of these earlier people had been able to doall the three of these duties.

...one interpretation of these various narrations is this: THE GREAT MAHDI WILL HAVE NUMEROUS FUNCTIONS. He will carry out duties in the world of politics, the world of religion, the world of government, and in the many spheres of the world of jihad (intellectual struggle) ...

(The Rays / The Fifth Ray - Second Station - p. 112)

The master reports that with his three holy duties, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be very active in the fields of politics, religion and struggle. It is perfectly clear that in this passage he refers to Hazrat Mahdi (as) as a person and not as a corporate entity.

… HAZRAT MAHDI WILL HAVE NO TIME AND BE IN NO STATE TO PERSONALLY protect believers from depravity (prevent them straying from the true path) and to perform that duty for the whole world, leaving nothing behind, and with much research...

(Emirdag Addendum, p. 266-267)

The master says that the first of Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) duties is to protect believers’ faith. But the master also says that because this work is very broad and time consuming, Hazrat Mahdi (as) will have neither means nor time to do it all himself. The master says that, of Hazrat Mahdi (as), “...HAZRAT MAHDI WILL HAVE NO TIME AND BE IN NO STATE TO PERSONALLY...” By the use of the pronoun “personally” he once again states that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be a person.

…THAT PERSON WILL STRIVE TO PERFORM HIS GREAT DUTY with the help of all believers and the assistance of the Islamic union, and of scholars and teachers and of millions of loyal people from the Ahl al-Bayt (the line of the Prophet (saas)) present powerfully and in large numbers every century.

(Emirdag Addendum, p. 266-267)

The master refers to Islamic union being established in the time of Hazrat Mahdi (as), and that this union will be brought about with the help and solidarity of believers, and, furthermore, that a great union will be established with scholars and guides of the time and, in particular, millions of sayyid descended from the Prophet (saas) all following Hazrat Mahdi (as). Hazrat Mahdi (as) will discharge his great duty by means of this great spiritual union. The master explicitly state here that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a person, referring to him as “THAT PERSON.”

...We anticipate from the divine mercy that HIS community and the community of sayyids will fulfill those duties.

(Emirdag Addendum, p. 265)

In discussing the tasks that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will perform, the master emphasizes that he is an individual with the words “HIS COMMUNITY...” A corporate entity is a way of describing a community. There is therefore no question of a corporate entity having its own community and it being referred to as “his.” The term “his community” is an expression indicating that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a person and will have a community attached to him.

... THE PEOPLE who will disperse the darkness in a century’s time may be the students of HAZRAT MAHDI (AS).

(The Rays, p. 605)

The master says that Hazrat Mahdi (as) who will appear in the End Times is not living in his own day, but will appear around a century, a hundred years, afterward. It also clear from this extract for the master that the corporate entity made up of Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) students is a separate concept to Hazrat Mahdi (as) as an individual.

HAZRAT MAHDI'S (AS) LUMINOUS COMMUNITY...

(LETTERS / TWENTY - NINTH LETTER - SEVENTH SECTION - P. 516)

The title “Hazrat” is one bestowed on people. It is never used for a community, a society or a group. It is clear that the master believes Hazrat Mahdi (as) to be a person, from the way he constantly employs the title “Hazrat” for this holy individual.

Also, the CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE GREAT MAHDI do not fit the narrations alluding to the earlier Mahdis, and these have become allegorical Hadiths.

(The Rays, p. 582)

In this passage, the master sets out the differences between Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the other mujaddids who appeared at the beginnings of other centuries. The fact that the master compares Hazrat Mahdi (as) with the other mujaddids, who all appeared as individuals, shows that he believes Hazrat Mahdi (as) will be an individual, too. A person can only be compared with other people. A person cannot be compared with a group, a community or a society. A person can only be compared with another person.

... THOSE INDIVIDUALS OF THE END OF TIME will be known through the insight and the light of belief.

(The Words / Twenty-Fourth Word - Third Branch - p. 355)

The master states that only very attentive believers will be able to recognize the personages of the End Times, Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as). The master also explicitly refers to both Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as) as individuals.

Moreover, they imagined the mighty works belonging to the collective identity or community which those individuals represent to be in their persons and expounded them in that way, so that they ascribed a form to them whereby when THOSE EXTRAORDINARY INDIVIDUALS appear, EVERYONE WILL RECOGNIZE THEM..

(The Words / Twenty-Fourth Word - Third Branch - p. 355)

In this passage from the Words treatise, the master describes Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as) as “extraordinary individuals”, “individuals”, “persons”. This shows that Hazrat Mahdi (as) and the Prophet Jesus (as) are extraordinary individuals, and that both individuals will appear in the End Times, as foretold in the hadith of the Prophet (saas).

..The fact that the fifth and sixth signs are connected personally to HAZRAT MAHDI (AS) and that this command refers to THIS GLORIOUS INDIVIDUAL is a truth like a powerful Sun that will eliminate the skepticism of those who harbor doubts and reinforce their credence.

(Barla Addendum - Letter No: 111 - p. 1452)

The master again uses the term “Hazrat” to refer to the Mahdi (as) in this passage, emphasizing that he is the Great Mahdi (as), whose coming is awaited in the End Times. He also makes it clear he believes Hazrat Mahdi (as) to be a person by referring to him as “a great personage.”

Collective personality

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will come as an individual