Question
I have a hadith of which I would like to find out the extent of its soundness. It was narrated from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Prophet of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “At the end of time my ummah will suffer a great calamity, such as has never been heard of, such that the earth, vast as it is, will become straitened for them, and the earth will be filled with oppression and injustice, and the believer will not be able to find any refuge from injustice. Then Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, will send a man from my family who will fill the earth with fairness and justice, just as it had been filled with oppression and injustice. The inhabitants of heaven and earth will be pleased with him, and the earth will not keep any of its seeds inside it, but it will bring them forth, and the heaven will not keep any drop of water but Allah will send down abundant rain upon them. That will last for seven or eight or nine years, during which the living will wish that the dead were with them because of what Allah will bestow upon the people of the earth of His abundant blessings.”
Answer
Praise be to Allah.
This hadith was narrated in full by al-Haakim in his Mustadrak (8438) where he (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya at-Tameemi informed me: Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ibraaheem ibn Haydar al-Himyari in Kufah said: al-Qaasim ibn Khaleefah told us: Abu Yahya ‘Abd al-Hameed ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan al-Himmaani told us: ‘Umar ibn ‘Ubaydullah al-‘Adawi told us, from Mu‘aawiyah ibn Qurrah, from Abu’s-Siddeeq an-Naaji, from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “At the end of time my ummah will suffer a great calamity, such as has never been heard of, such that the earth, vast as it is, will become straitened for them, and the earth will be filled with oppression and injustice, and the believer will not be able to find any refuge from injustice. Then Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, will send a man from my family who will fill the earth with fairness and justice, just as it had been filled with oppression and injustice. The inhabitants of heaven and earth will be pleased with him, and the earth will not keep any of its seeds inside it, but it will bring them forth, and the heaven will not keep any drop of water but Allah will send down abundant rain upon them. That will last for seven or eight or nine years, during which the living will wish that the dead were with them because of what Allah will bestow upon the people of the earth of His abundant blessings.”
Al-Haakim said, immediately after narrating it:
This hadith has a saheeh isnaad, although they (al-Bukhaari and Muslim) did not narrate it.
But its isnaad includes ‘Umar ibn ‘Ubaydullah, who is unknown (majhool) and no one classed him as trustworthy (thiqah).
Concerning ‘Abd al-Hameed al-Himmaani, Ibn Ma‘een said: He was trustworthy, but he was feeble-minded. He was classed as da‘eef by Ahmad, Ibn Sa‘d and al-‘Ijli.
See: Tahdheeb at-Tahdheeb (6/120)
Al-Qaasim ibn Khaleefah is a Shi‘i whose status is not known. No one classed him as trustworthy. See: al-Jarh wa’t-Ta‘deel (7/109).
Concerning al-Hasan ibn Ibraaheem ibn Haydar, we have not found any biography for him.
Therefore adh-Dhahabi rejected al-Haakim’s classification of the isnaad of this hadith as saheeh, by saying: Its isnaad is muzlim (lit. gloomy). End quote.
So this complete version of the hadith cannot be proven as narrated. It was also classed as da‘eef by al-Albaani in Takhreej al-Mishkaat (3/184).
It was also narrated by the following:
Ma‘mar in his Jaami‘ (20770), and via him by al-Baghawi in Sharh as-Sunnah (15/85);
Nu‘aym ibn Hammaad in al-Fitan (1038);
Al-‘Aqeeli in ad-Du‘afa’ (4/259) from Abu Haroon al-‘Abdi, from Mu‘aawiyah ibn Qurrah, from Abu’s-Siddeeq an-Naaji, from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri, in a marfoo‘ report.
Abu Haroon al-‘Abdi was accused of lying. He was classed as a liar by Hammaad ibn Zayd, Ibn ‘Aliyyah, Ibn Ma‘een, al-Jawzjaani,, and others. Shu‘bah said: Being brought forward to have my neck struck is dearer to me than narrating from him.
See: Tahdheeb at-Tahdheeb (7/413)
Parts of the hadith were narrated via different isnaads:
With regard to the beginning of it, Abu Nu‘aym narrated in Tareekh Asbahaan (1/112) from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab that he said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “At the end of time my ummah will suffer a great deal from their rulers, and no one will be saved from that except a man who knows and practices the religion of Allah in his words, in his heart and in his deeds…”
This hadith was mentioned by al-Albaani in ad-Da‘eefah (6725), where he said: It is da‘eef.
With regard to the emergence of the Mahdi, who will fill the earth with fairness and justice, this is proven in many hadiths, among the most famous of which is that which was narrated by Ahmad (11313) and al-Haakim (8669) from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The Hour will not begin until the earth is filled with oppression, injustice and transgression, then there will emerge from my family one who will fill it with fairness and justice, as it was filled with injustice and transgression.”
Classed as saheeh by al-Haakim according to the conditions of the two shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim), and adh-Dhahabi agreed with him. Al-Albaani said in as-Saheehah (4/40): It is as they said:
See the hadiths about the Mahdi in the answer to question no. 1252
With regard to the words “The inhabitants of heaven and earth will be pleased with him”, they are mentioned in the hadith of Abu Sa‘eed that was narrated by Ahmad (11326) with a da‘eef isnaad. See: ad-Da‘eefah (1588).
With regard to the words “and the earth will not keep any of its seeds inside it, but it will bring them forth, and the heaven will not keep any drop of water but Allah will send down abundant rain upon them. That will last for seven or eight or nine years”, there is a corroborating report in the hadith of Abu Sa‘eed that was narrated by al-Haakim (8673), where the wording is: “At the end of my ummah the Mahdi will emerge; Allah will send rain for him and the earth will bring forth its vegetation; wealth will be distributed equally, livestock will increase and the ummah will become great, and that will continue for seven or eight years.”
Classed as saheeh by al-Haakim, and adh-Dhahabi agreed with him. Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in as-Saheehah (711).
Ahmad (11163) narrated it via Zayd ibn Abi’l-Hawaari from Abu’s-Siddeeq an-Naaji, from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri in a marfoo ‘ report, the wording of which is as follows:
“The Mahdi will emerge among my ummah (and remain for) five or seven or nine years” – Zayd was not sure – then he said: “The sky will send down abundant rain, and the earth will not withhold any of its vegetation, and wealth will be abundant.”
Zayd is da‘eef.
With regard to the words “the living will wish that the dead were with them because of what Allah will bestow upon the people of the earth of His abundant blessings”, we have not seen these words in any report.
And Allah knows best.
Question
Will the expected Mahdi resemble the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? What about the voices that have emerged in recent times and claim that he is here and has been born, i.e., he exists at present?.
Answer
Praise be to Allah.
The appearance of the Mahdi at the end of time, when he will fill the earth with justice and fairness after it had been filled with injustice and wrongdoing, is something that is mentioned in the saheeh Sunnah, and some of the scholars of hadeeth said: The ahaadeeth about the Mahdi are mutawaatir because of their large number, and the descent of ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (peace and blessings be upon him and our Prophet) and his praying behind him is something that is well known. The name of the Mahdi and the name of his father will be like the name of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the name of his father; he will be one of the descendents of Faatimah (may Allaah be pleased with her).
It should be noted that this Mahdi who is mentioned in the ahaadeeth is not the so-called awaited Mahdi mentioned by that deviant group, the Ithna’ ‘Ashari (Shi’ah) who claim that he entered the tunnel and is awaiting the order to emerge, and whose name they say is Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-‘Askari. This is an illusion and a myth, and the refutation of that is discussed in books, and there is no room to go into it here.
But we advise you to read Minhaaj al-Sunnah by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah and summaries of it such as Manhaj al-I’tidaal by al-Dhahabi, and Tuhfat al-Ithna ‘Ashariyyah by Muhibb al-Deen al-Khateeb. It is essential to note that every group is awaiting a Mahdi such as the Jews who are awaiting the Mahdi, but for them he will be the Dajjaal who will be followed by the Jews of Isfahaan. The Christians are awaiting a Mahdi which is the descent of the Messiah (Second Coming of Christ). We Muslims have no doubt about the descent of ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him), when he will break the cross and kill the pigs, and will abolish jizyah and rule according to the sharee’ah of Islam, and at that time there will be no war.
Throughout history there have appeared liars who claimed to be the Mahdi. Some historians have counted them and said that there were more than thirty of them, including Ibn Tumart in Morocco and the Mahdi of the Sudan, etc.
As for the view that he exists at present and that he has been born, this is merely a claim that is made by some people, but there is no evidence for it. It is most likely that it is a myth. The ahaadeeth that have been narrated about the Mahdi do not mention where he will be born or when, and they do not tell us to look for him or to bring him up, rather they say that Allaah will prepare him in a single night and that the Muslims will swear allegiance to him as their caliph and will be united behind him.
When will that happen?
Only Allaah knows.
And Allaah knows best.
