SMHMShaheed Mudassir Hussain Mehdi
← Ahlul-Bayt

محمد المهدي

Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi

peace be upon him

المهديal-Mahdithe guided one
القائمal-Qa'imthe one who will rise
صاحب الزمانSahib al-Zamanthe master of the age
ولي العصرWali al-Asrthe guardian of the age
المنتظرal-Muntazarthe awaited
بقية اللهBaqiyyat Allahwhat remains with God; the remnant of God
الحجةal-Hujjathe Proof of God
الموعودal-Maw'udthe promised
خاتم الأوصياءKhatam al-Awsiya'the last of the successors
الغائبal-Gha'ibthe hidden one
المنتقمal-Muntaqimthe avenger
أبو القاسمAbu l-Qasimhis kunya, the Prophet's own

His life

  1. The son of Imam al-Hasan al-Askari and the twelfth Imam of the Shia: the promised saviour who, in Shia belief, is alive and hidden, and will rise to fill the earth with justice. He bears the Prophet's name and kunya, Muhammad and Abu l-Qasim; because narrations forbid speaking his name, al-Kafi and Kamal al-Din write it in separate letters, M-H-M-D. He is best known by his titles al-Mahdi and al-Qa'im (al-Najm al-Thaqib of al-Nuri).
  2. His mother is named Narjis in the account of his birth, and also Rayhana, Sayqal and Susan (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi; Ithbat al-Wasiyya of al-Mas'udi). In one narration of Kamal al-Din she was a Byzantine princess; other narrations say only that she was raised in the house of Hakima, the daughter of Imam al-Jawad (Kamal al-Din of al-Shaykh al-Saduq).
  3. Born in his father's house in Samarra, at dawn on 15 Sha'ban 255 AH (869): the date given by al-Kulayni, al-Mas'udi, al-Saduq, al-Mufid and al-Tusi among the Shia, and by Ibn Khallikan and Ibn al-Sabbagh al-Maliki among the Sunnis (al-Kafi; Kamal al-Din; al-Irshad). Some reports give 256 AH, or the month of Ramadan. The Shia celebrate his birth every 15 Sha'ban.
  4. Imam al-Askari asked his aunt Hakima to stay the night of 15 Sha'ban, for that night God would bring forth His Proof on earth. She witnessed the birth, and in her account the newborn bore witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His Messenger, then sent blessings on Amir al-Mu'minin and each Imam down to his father (Kamal al-Din of al-Shaykh al-Saduq).
  5. The Abbasids knew from the narrations that the twelfth Imam would be al-Mahdi, and watched Imam al-Askari's house; al-Mu'tamid had midwives search the houses of the sayyids, above all his (Muntakhab al-Athar). So the birth was kept hidden. Imam al-Sajjad said that the Qa'im carries a tradition of Abraham: a hidden birth and seclusion from the people (Kamal al-Din).
  6. During his father's life a few trusted Shia saw him; al-Mufid names Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Musa ibn Ja'far, Hakima, Abu Ali ibn Mutahhar, Amr al-Ahwazi and Abu Nasr Tarif (al-Irshad). Imam al-Askari showed him to Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Amri and some forty others and said: This is your Imam after me and my successor among you; obey him and do not dispute about your religion (Muntakhab al-Athar; al-Ghayba of al-Tusi).
  7. Sunni historians also record the birth of Imam al-Askari's son: Ibn al-Athir (al-Kamil fi l-Tarikh) and Ibn Khallikan (Wafayat al-A'yan). Ibn Talha al-Shafi'i (Matalib al-Su'ul) and Ibn al-Sabbagh al-Maliki (al-Fusul al-Muhimma) also identify him as the promised Mahdi.
  8. The Prophet said: Al-Mahdi is from my progeny, from the children of Fatima (Sunan Abi Dawud 4284, from Umm Salama). He said: If only one day of this time remained, God would raise up a man from my household who would fill the earth with justice as it has been filled with oppression (Sunan Abi Dawud 4283, from Imam Ali). And: Al-Mahdi is from us, the Ahl al-Bayt (Sunan Ibn Majah 4085, from Imam Ali).
  9. When Imam al-Askari died in 260 AH (874), his son, then five, became Imam. The caliph's agents sealed the house, seized the property, searched for the son and examined the bondwomen for pregnancy, keeping one under watch for two years (al-Kafi; Kamal al-Din). His uncle Ja'far claimed the Imamate and the inheritance and urged the authorities to search the house (al-Irshad; Kashf al-Ghumma).
  10. When some Shia doubted that Imam al-Askari had left a successor, the Imam answered in his own hand: God has appointed guardians since Adam; whenever a sign disappears another appears, and whenever a star sets another rises. God has not annulled His religion nor cut the link between Him and His creation, and it will never be so until the Resurrection (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi).
  11. His Minor Occultation lasted from 260 AH, or from his birth in 255 AH as al-Mufid (al-Irshad) and al-Tabrisi (I'lam al-Wara) hold, until 329 AH. In it he reached the Shia only through four deputies, each named by the one before at his command, who carried their questions of belief and law and their dues to him and his answers back.
  12. The four deputies were Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Amri, who traded as an oil-seller and carried what the Shia sent in oil containers; his son Muhammad ibn Uthman, appointed by the Imam's letter at his father's death; Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti, from 305 AH; and Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samuri, from 326 to 329 AH (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi; Kamal al-Din). Imam al-Askari had said: Amri and his son are both trustworthy; whatever they deliver or they say is from me (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi).
  13. Others falsely claimed to be his deputies, among them Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Numayri and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shalmaghani; they were disowned and cursed (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi).
  14. Days before al-Samuri's death, a letter came from the Imam: You will die within six days; finish your affairs and appoint no successor, for the second occultation has now begun, and there will be no reappearance until God permits (Kamal al-Din; Kashf al-Ghumma). Al-Samuri died on 15 Sha'ban 329 AH (941), and the Major Occultation began; al-Saduq and al-Tabrisi place his death in 318 AH (Kamal al-Din).
  15. Of the sects that formed after Imam al-Askari, al-Shaykh al-Mufid wrote in 373 AH that only the Twelver Imamiyya remained: those who hold the Imamate of al-Hasan's son, the Prophet's namesake, and are certain of his life until he rises with the sword (al-Fusul al-Mukhtara of al-Sharif al-Murtada).
  16. Before the occultation he lived in Samarra, worshipping in the cellar (sardab) of his father's house, where he was often seen (Kamal al-Din); the Shia revere the place for that. The claim of Ibn Qayyim and Ibn Khaldun that the Shia believe he lives in the cellar and will come out from it is not found in Shia books (al-Manar al-Munif of Ibn Qayyim).
  17. Imam al-Sajjad said the Qa'im carries a tradition of Adam and Noah: long life (Kamal al-Din). Imam al-Hasan said that God will lengthen the life of the ninth from his brother al-Husayn's progeny, then bring him forth as a young man looking under forty (Kamal al-Din).
  18. The narrations say he will appear at Dhi Tuwa and go with 313 companions to Mecca, where they will pledge allegiance to him between the corner of the Black Stone and the Station of Abraham (al-Ghayba of al-Nu'mani), and that Kufa will be the seat of his rule (Bihar al-Anwar).
  19. Shia exegesis reads his rule in the Qur'an: one narration says the righteous servants who inherit the earth (21:105) are al-Mahdi and his companions (Ta'wil al-Ayat al-Zahira); al-Tabrisi, citing Imam al-Sajjad and Imam al-Sadiq, applies God's promise to make the faithful successors in the earth (24:55) to the Ahl al-Bayt after al-Mahdi rises (Majma' al-Bayan); and on There is a guide for every people (13:7), Imam al-Sadiq said that in every age there is an Imam from the Household who guides people to what the Messenger of God brought (Bihar al-Anwar).
  20. Ziyarat Al Yasin, which reached the Shia in a letter of the Imam to Abu Ja'far al-Himyari in the last years of the Minor Occultation, is the best-known greeting to him; it opens with peace upon the progeny of Yasin, read as the family of the Prophet (al-Ihtijaj of al-Tabrisi; Bihar al-Anwar).

Days

  1. 255 AH869 CEBorn in Samarra, 15 Sha'ban
  2. 260 AH874 CEHis father martyred; his Imamate and the Minor Occultation begin
  3. 260 AH874 CEUthman ibn Sa'id al-Amri, the first deputy
  4. 305 AH917 CEHusayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti, the third deputy
  5. 326 AH938 CEAli ibn Muhammad al-Samuri, the fourth deputy
  6. 329 AH941 CEAl-Samuri dies; the Major Occultation begins

Family

الحسن العسكريImam al-Hasan al-Askari
محمد المهديImam al-Mahdi

In the Qur’an

وَنُرِيدُ أَن نَّمُنَّ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسۡتُضۡعِفُواْ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَنَجۡعَلَهُمۡ أَئِمَّةٗ وَنَجۡعَلَهُمُ ٱلۡوَٰرِثِينَ ٥

And We desired to show favour to those who were abased in the land, and to make them imams, and to make them the heirs,

The promise to the oppressed · Al-Qasas 28:5

وَلَقَدۡ كَتَبۡنَا فِي ٱلزَّبُورِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ ٱلذِّكۡرِ أَنَّ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ يَرِثُهَا عِبَادِيَ ٱلصَّٰلِحُونَ ١٠٥

Certainly We wrote in the Psalms, after the Torah: ‘Indeed My righteous servants shall inherit the earth.’

Al-Anbiyaa 21:105

وَعَدَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ مِنكُمۡ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ لَيَسۡتَخۡلِفَنَّهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ كَمَا ٱسۡتَخۡلَفَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمۡ دِينَهُمُ ٱلَّذِي ٱرۡتَضَىٰ لَهُمۡ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّنۢ بَعۡدِ خَوۡفِهِمۡ أَمۡنٗاۚ يَعۡبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشۡرِكُونَ بِي شَيۡـٔٗاۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعۡدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡفَٰسِقُونَ ٥٥

Allah has promised those of you who have faith and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the earth, just as He made those who were before them successors, and He will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change their state to security after their fear, while they worship Me, not ascribing any partners to Me. Whoever is ungrateful after that—it is they who are the transgressors.

The verse of succession on the earth · An-Noor 24:55

هُوَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَرۡسَلَ رَسُولَهُۥ بِٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَدِينِ ٱلۡحَقِّ لِيُظۡهِرَهُۥ عَلَى ٱلدِّينِ كُلِّهِۦ وَلَوۡ كَرِهَ ٱلۡمُشۡرِكُونَ ٣٣

It is He who has sent His Apostle with the guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists should be averse.

At-Tawba 9:33

وَيَقُولُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لَوۡلَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيۡهِ ءَايَةٞ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦٓۗ إِنَّمَآ أَنتَ مُنذِرٞۖ وَلِكُلِّ قَوۡمٍ هَادٍ ٧

The faithless say, ‘Why has not some sign been sent down to him from his Lord?’ You are only a warner, and there is a guide for every people.

For every people there is a guide · Ar-Ra'd 13:7

Peace be upon the progeny of Yasin.

Peace be upon you, O caller to God and master of His signs.

Peace be upon you, O remnant of God on His earth.

Peace be upon you, O promise of God, which He has guaranteed.

Sources