“The Awaited Savior!” (Islam & the Antichrist, Part 2)

 

“The Awaited Savior!” (Islam & the Antichrist, Part 2)

Here is the link to Part One:

The following is taken from the book The Islamic Antichrist by Joel Richardson:

...the most anticipated and central sign that Muslims await is the coming of a man known as “the Mahdi.” In Arabic, al-Mahdi means “the Guided One” -- “the Awaited Savior.”

“...mankind will have reached a stage of great suffering. Then the awaited Mahdi will appear;”

The coming of the Mahdi is the central crowning element of all Islamic end-time narratives. According to Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, “The coming of the Mahdi is established doctrine for both Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, and indeed for all humanity.”

Ayatullah Baqir al-Sadr and Ayatullah Murtada Mutahhari, both Shi’a Muslim scholars, in their book, The Awaited Savior, describe the Mahdi this way: A figure more legendary than that of the Mahdi, the Awaited Saviour, has not been seen in the history of mankind. ... He has been the vision of the visionaries in history. He has been the dream of all the dreamers of the world. For the ultimate salvation of mankind he is the Pole Star of hope on which the gaze of humanity is fixed…. In this quest for the truth about the Mahdi there is no distinction of any caste, creed, or country. The quest is universal, exactly in the same way as the Mahdi himself is universal. He stands resplendent high above the narrow walls in which humanity is cut up and divided. He belongs to everybody. (emphasis mine)

In the simplest of terms, the Mahdi is Islam’s messiah or savior. The Islamic messiah, thus, embodies the aspirations of his followers in the restoration of the purity of the Faith which will bring true and uncorrupted guidance to all mankind, creating a just social order and a world free from oppression in which the Islamic revelation will be the norm for all nations. (emphasis mine)

Thus it is fair to say that the “rising” of the Mahdi is to the majority of Muslims what the return of Jesus is to Christians. While Christians await the return of Jesus the Messiah to fulfill all of God’s prophetic promises to the people of God, Muslims await the appearance of the Mahdi to fulfill these purposes. Sheikh Kabbani likewise identifies the Mahdi as Islam’s primary messiah figure: “Jews are waiting for the Messiah, Christians are waiting for Jesus, and Muslims are waiting for both the Mahdi and Jesus. All religions describe them as men coming to save the world.”

~ Joel Richardson, The Islamic Antichrist, pg. 20-23.

HERE is the link to Part 3: