As we have comprehensively described in previous articles, organizations such as ISIL that act on the basis of a belief, albeit a false one, do not cease to exist through military operations. On the contrary, military operations prepare the way for terror organizations to acquire more adherents, to easily prosecute wars that can last for many years and to carry out actions far beyond their own regions. For example, the aerial bombardment in Iraq will destroy the existing infrastructure in Iraq and the ruins will become positions to hide for terrorist organizations. Cities with destroyed buildings and no remaining infrastructure are fabulous opportunities for terrorists. As a matter of fact, the situation in Afghanistan proved this fact to the U.S. in the clearest terms possible.
- The U.S. has previous experience from Vietnam, Cambodia and Afghanistan that land operations supported by aerial bombardments do not produce results. The time has now come for the USA to try the right path, which has not been tested before. Terror grows in a specific ideological ground, and ideologies cannot be eliminated by force of arms. ISIL is developing a strategy based on various accounts and fatwas in traditional orthodox Islamic sources, and is translating those into action. It is therefore not enough to keep emphasizing that Islam is a religion of peace. Of course Islam is a religion of peace, and God forbids all forms of cruelty; however, this is the true form of Islam God described in the Qur’an. The polytheistic conception of Islam found in orthodox sources is, on the other hand, very different.
- Therefore, the USA cannot neutralize the terror for which a polytheistic conception of Islam prepares the foundation with Muslims who espouse a polytheistic conception of Islam. Sad to say, the great majority of Islamic scholars interpret matters in the light of the prevailing conditions and their own interests, and these people have little effect on the populace. The collective statements of hundreds of Islamic scholars saying ‘We condemn ISIL’ will neither stop ISIL nor prevent people from joining it. It needs to be made very clear, with the verses of the Qur'an, that ideas such as ‘the stoning to death of adulterers and the killing of people who do not pray or give alms or even those who say that they do not like zucchini’ that appear in traditional orthodox sources are not to be found anywhere in the Qur’an and that such concepts have no place in Islam. None of the Islamic scholars that the U.S. has thus far brought together or backed could ever openly state that fact. For one reason, most of those scholars themselves hold orthodox views. Secondly, such a statement would be a major event in the Islamic world and could only be made by someone regarded as their leader by the whole Islamic world.
- What the U.S. needs to do is to search for and find that person. All groups in the Middle East act on faith in the systems of the Mahdi and the Messiah. All organizations and political bodies believe in the idea and the ideal of the system of the Mahdi, albeit in different forms. This century represents the End Times, when all the portents foretold by the Prophet Muhammad 1,400 years ago have come about, one after the other. (You can find out about more than 600 portents that have come about on http://awaitedmahdi.com/).The USA must therefore realize that we are in the End Times before it is too late and before the current scourges grow any worse.
- One of the main features of the End Times is an increase in the number of false Mahdis and their systems. ISIL is one such false system: It holds to the perverse belief that it can impose Islamic moral values through killing, oppression and cruelty. The fact is that God wishes people to believe and to live by the faith of their own free will. According to the Qur’an, even the Prophet (saas) only had a responsibility to preach the faith. Nobody is ever given the task of compelling others to live by the faith.
- One of the main distinguishing features differentiating the true Mahdi from the false Mahdis is that the true Mahdi will act according to the Qur’an, not the orthodox conception of Islam. Indeed, many great Islamic scholars say in their works that when the Mahdi comes, numerous scholars will object to him, saying, ‘This person is opposed to our faith.’ For example, Ibn Arabi says in his well-known work:
"In his [Hazrat Mahdi’s (pbuh)] time, the religion will be completely purged of all subsequent accretions and restored to its original form. He will oppose the ulema of the schools in many of his pronouncements; for that reason, they will keep away from him [Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)]. According to their presumptions, they will accept that God truly did not leave a renovator (mujtahid) after the imams."(Ibn Arabi, "Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya", Chap. 66 Vol. 3, pp. 327- 328)
In other words, the feature of the Mahdi is that he will rid Islam of all the orthodox interpretations that have been added on to it and will ensure that people live by the faith as it was in the time of the Prophet. That means that he will do away with sects and restore the faith to its essence. That is why it will be Islamic scholars who make the greatest objections to him.
One very important thing to remember is that it is impossible for someone who advocates orthodox views expounded in sources from the various sects to be the Mahdi. The Mahdi is beyond sects. It is impossible for someone who favors sects to be able to effectively rebut the ideology of ISIL. If most of the scholars who are speaking out against ISIL were to come face to face with the leaders of ISIL, it would quickly become apparent that the two sides in fact subscribe to exactly the same errors. Obviously it is impossible for people with the same sickness to heal one another.
- Another characteristic of the true Mahdi is that he ‘will not permit one drop of blood to be spilled.’ That is because the Mahdi acts in the light of the Qur’an, and God forbids bloodshed in the Qur’an. The hadiths describe how the Mahdi will not permit bloodshed as follows:
[Hazrat Mahdi (as)] will follow the way of the Prophet (saas). HE WILL NOT wake up a sleeping person or shed blood. (Al-Barzanji, Al-Isha'ah li-ashrat al-sa'ah, p. 163)
Those swearing allegiance to him [Hazrat Mahdi (as)] will swear allegiance between Rock and Pillar (around Ka’bah). They never wake a sleeping person, NEVER SHED BLOOD. (Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, p. 24)
The Mahdi will always address even the most evil and wicked people in the language of love, understanding, compassion and affection. He will show the way through love. He will work with reason and virtue. If a group sheds blood in the name of Islam, it is a false movement. Only the true Mahdi can stop the movements of these false Mahdis, who are shedders of blood.
- The USA must strive to locate that right person. If it acts sincerely, it is impossible for a country with such advanced intelligence resources and technology to fail in such a quest. The USA must find the right person. To that end, it must forge an alliance with those already on the path that the right person will follow and must stick to the path shown by them. Otherwise the turmoil in the Middle East will become insoluble. The key to resolving that predicament is the system of the Mahdi and the Qur’an. That key should be found and that path should be followed before the tragedies grow any worse. If the USA goes along with those who stick to the way of the system of the Mahdi, she can become a peace force that brings tranquility to the Middle East and the whole world.
As can be seen there is an explicit truth we can observe here: Classic political and military tactics that have been tried for the past two centuries - and that are now bankrupt - can no longer be used in the Middle East. We are now in the End Times. Our Prophet has foretold the problems that will arise in these times and the path to solution as well. What a superpower such as the USA must do is understand, before it is too late, that we are living in the End Times and follow the certain path that will bring results, rather than heading down a difficult dead-end. That path is the one shown to us by God. The keys to that path are the Prophet Jesus and the Mahdi.
