Metaphorical language is employed in some of the hadiths concerning Hazrat Mahdi (as), and in their commentaries Islamic scholars have made interpretations of what these accounts may be referring to. Islamic scholars are agreed that the antichrist will make use of all the technological possibilities of the age in which he comes in order to distance people from rightness and truth. One of the hadiths on this subject has been reported by Nawwas ibn Saman, and says that the antichrist “will stay on Earth for forty days, but will travel to all places, from east to west, and from north to south.” Other hadiths state:
We said: “Allah's Messenger, how quickly would he [the antichrist] walk upon the earth?” Thereupon he said: “Like cloud driven by the wind.” (Sahih Muslim, Book 41, 7015; Sunan Abu Dawud, Malahim: 14; Tirmidhi, Fitan: 59; Sunan Ibn Majah, Fitan: 33; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 6: 455-456)
The earth will be spread out beneath his feet like a ram’s hide is spread out … (Mustadrak al-Hakim, 4: 529-530)
All these reports have been interpreted by Islamic scholars that the antichrist will spread his sphere of activity across the whole world by using such modern means of transport as planes and high-speed trains and will also employ modern means of communications. (Al-Hakim's Al-Mustadrak, 4: 529-530; Nursi, p. 509; Saban Dogen, The Mahdi and the Antichrist, Genclik Publishing, Istanbul, p. 76-77)
According to these statements by Islamic scholars, the antichrist will be active all over the world in order to prevent the recognition of the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) and to obstruct the intellectual struggles based on the truth and the auspicious activities of these holy individuals, and may make use of all the opportunities offered by today’s technology. (Allah knows the truth.) In the present day, when information can be exchanged just about everywhere in the world by way of the Internet, when anyone in any country in the world can be tracked by satellite, when news reports can be transmitted everywhere thanks to television channels that broadcast internationally, and when one can contact people in even the remotest places by the use of cell phones, how and for what purposes these opportunities are employed assumes the very greatest significance. According to the indications in the hadiths, the antichrist will use all these means to ensure that the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) are not recognized and to prevent them from bringing Qur’anic moral values to reign on Earth. (Allah knows the truth.)
Again according to the signs in the hadiths, slanders similar to those once uttered against the prophets will be made against these holy individuals in the End Times by the antichrist. He will spread these slanders very rapidly by making use of modern technology, and a great many people will be taken in by this groundless propaganda emanating from several sources at one and the same time. Because of this influence established by the antichrist, some people will fail to understand that the Prophet Jesus (as) is a holy prophet and that Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a great savior, the tidings of whom were imparted by our Prophet (saas) 1400 years ago, and will be unable to recognize them. They will be unaware that these holy personages are calling them to salvation and that they need to follow them, but will turn their backs on them. (Allah knows the truth.)
According to what is indicated in the hadiths of our Prophet (saas) and in explanations by Islamic scholars, the antichrist will also set traps for believers, aimed at arresting them, exiling them from their lands, subjecting them to various forms of torture and even taking their lives. He will attempt to apply the same kind of fake measures against the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) as the pagans of Mecca did against the Prophet Muhammad (saas), his own people against the Prophet Abraham (as), Pharaoh against the Prophet Moses (as) and leading members of their tribes against the Prophet Noah (as), the Prophet Jethro (as) and the Prophet Jacob (as). These people who have opposed the prophets throughout the course of history have always used all the material and psychological means available in their own times and have had no hesitations over using all they possessed in order to forbid the believers not to have faith and to call others to the faith. This is a characteristic of the unbelievers. This is revealed as follows in one verse of the Qur’an:
Those who disbelieve spend their wealth barring access to the Way of Allah. They will spend it; then they will regret it; then they will be overthrown. Those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell. (Surat al-Anfal, 36)
As stated in this verse, by the will of Allah, all these endeavors on the part of the unbelievers will come to nothing. For that reason, even if the antichrist does use advanced technology in the course of his own struggle in the End Times and even if he does possess the widest ranging material means, he will never be able to attain his desired end and, by Allah’s leave, believers will eventually emerge triumphant. It must not be forgotten that all strength and power in fact belong to Almighty Allah. Our Lord has revealed in His verses that it is His messengers and those who follow them who will always be victorious:
Allah has written, “I will be victorious, I and My messengers.” Allah is Most Strong, Almighty. (Surat al-Mujadala, 21)
This superiority achieved by devout believers will, by Allah’s leave, come about with the intellectual defeat and elimination of the antichrist, the elimination of ideologies that are incompatible with religious moral values, and with the moral values of the Qur’an coming to prevail over the whole world. Our Lord will grant this holy success to the Prophet Jesus (as) and Hazrat Mahdi (as) in the End Times, and through them the whole world will be illuminated by the radiance of Islamic moral values.
