Question:
What does Mahdi mean?
Answer:
Question:
What does Mahdi mean?
Answer:
The short answer is that mahdi has three main meanings, the first two generic and the third specific: (i) every believer; (ii) exceptionally righteous leaders; (iii) the awaited son of Sayyida Fatima (upon her peace) who will bring back a caliphate of justice and peace to the earth at the end of times.
(i) Linguistically mahdi is a passive singular masculine adjective meaning “guided”, derived from hada, to guide, of which the active present participle is haadi, “guiding”. In the Qur’an the term muhtadee is used, which is synonymous with mahdi:
{Those who believe and obscure not their belief by wrong-doing [i.e. polytheism, shirk], theirs is safety and they are rightly-guided (muhtadeen)} (6:82).
The Holy Prophet (upon him and his family blessings and peace) said in his famous du`a between the Sunnah of Fajr and the Fard: “O Allah, make us haadeen and mahdiyyin [guiding and guided], not daalleen nor mudilleen [misguided and misguiding]” (Tabarani, Ibn Abi Shayba, Bayhaqi). In the above two examples the term “mahdi” applies to all believers.
(ii) By extension, someone who is well-guided is also a good guide, i.e. mahdi is also understood in the sense of hadi, and vice-versa. It is in that sense that the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) said:
عليكم بسنتي وسنة الخلفاء الراشدين المهديين
“You must keep to my Way (sunnah) and the way of the upright, well-guided caliphs after me.” (Sunan Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Musnad Ahmad, and others. Ibn Rajab’s commentary on this important hadith has been translated and published inside volume II of our Sunna Notes.)
These “well-guided caliphs after the Prophet” are:
– the Caliphs Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, `Ali, al-Hasan, `Umar b. `Abd al-`Aziz (r);
– leaders in piety and knowledge of Allah and His Religion such as Ibn Mas`ud and `Ammar b. Yasir, since a sahih Prophetic hadith commands: “Hold fast to the covenant of Ibn Umm `Abd [= Ibn Mas`ud] and follow `Ammar’s guidance” (Tirmidhi)
– every righteous Prophetic descendant, since another sahih Prophetic hadith commands to hold fast to the Qur’an and the People of the House for true guidance until Resurrection (Tirmidhi), such as Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya and the rest of al-Hasan’s progeny, and al-Husayn and his progeny, all of whom are deserving of the adjective mahdi, until the Prophet’s last descendant, who embodies that title in absolute terms and as a proper noun as explained in the next paragraph.
(iii) Even more specifically, when used with the definite article as a proper noun for a particular person, the term al-Mahdi, the Guided One, generally refers to that specific descendant of the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) who appears at the end of time and spreads justice in the world, “the one whom Allah guides to truth, and for that he was called al-Mahdi, and he is the one about whom the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) gave good tidings” (Lisan al-`Arab). This definition is based on the hadith:
Even if only one day for the life of this world remains, Allah shall send forth a man from the people of my House who will fill it with justice just as it had been filled with injustice and oppression. (Abu Dawud from `Ali b. Abi Talib)
Another authentic variant states:
A man from the people of my House shall come forth, his name identical to my name and his character to my character, who will fill the earth with justice and goodness just as it had been filled with injustice and oppression. (al-Tabarani and Ibn Hibban from Ibn Mas`ud)
For further reading see:
https://eshaykh.com/doctrine/belief-in-mahdi/
https://eshaykh.com/halal_haram/kingship-in-islam/ (sections 4 and 5)
https://eshaykh.com/doctrine/habib-ali-jiffri-imam-al-mahdi/
Hajj Gibril Haddad
