Question:
As’salamu alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa barkatuhu,
1) If the hadith of Prophet Muhammd (saws) in the beginning , Imam Mahdi (as) in the middle and Syedna Eisa (as) in the end of Muslim Ummah is authentic then:
a) Will it not contradict with the narration about the age of Muslim Ummah being 1500+ years? Is it wrong to interpret the narration in orde of emergence as periodical – in terms of years of the age of the ummah from hijri.
b) Will it also not conradict with the narration of both Syedan Eisa (as) & Imam Mahdi (as) meeting each other? Is it true that Taftazani also rejected this narration?
2) Is it true that Imam Nawawi stated in his Sharah that the Mujaddid of 10th centruy Hijri will be the Mahdi?
Answer:
wa `alaykum salam,
The Arabic word which you translate as “middle”, wasat, can be used for anything distinct from the beginning and the end, and it is established that the Mahdi will rule for seven years but `Isa (upon both of them peace) for 40, so there is no contradiction. I have no knowledge of the claim attributed to Imam al-Nawawi.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
