The Awaited Imam

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Imam Mahdī (علیہ السلام) as the Last Caliph

58. “It is narrated by Jābir ibn Samurah (RA): I heard the Messenger of Allāh (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) say: Islam will remain established until twelve caliphs have ruled over you. The Ummah will be united on all of them.

“Then I heard the Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) say (something) which I could not understand. I asked my father: what is he saying? He told me that he had said: all (the twelve caliphs) will be from the Quraysh.”

59. “Jābir ibn Samurah (RA) has narrated that he heard the Messenger of Allāh (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) say: Islam will remain dominant until twelve caliphs have passed.” Jābir (RA) said: (at this) people said (loudly:) “Allāh is the greatest” and it became noisy all around. Then the Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) said something quietly. I asked my father: O father! What did he say? (My father told me:) he said, “All those (twelve caliphs) will be from the Quraysh.”

Imam Suyūtī comments on Abū Dāwūd’s narration in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:85):

“Abū Dāwūd has devoted a chapter to Imām Mahdī in his book as-Sunan (4:86). In the beginning of the chapter a narration of Jābir ibn Samurah (RA) is given. The Messenger of Allāh (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) said: “until twelve caliphs have passed, on whom this Ummah will unite.” According to another tradition, “this dīn will remain dominant till the twelve caliphs have passed and all of them will be from the Quraysh.”

“In this chapter Abū Dāwūd has referred to the opinion of scholars who believe that Imām Mahdī is one of those twelve caliphs.”

The conclusion Suyūtī has drawn from this is that Imām Mahdī will be the twelfth and last Imām on this earth.

Abū Dāwūd, after introducing the chapter with these two traditions, has included the following narration:

“Narrated by Umm Salamah (رضي الله عنها) that she heard the Messenger of Allāh (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) saying: Mahdī will be from my family and from the children of Fātimah.”

Before it he has described the tradition which says that even if only one day remains in the arrival of the Day of Judgment, Allāh will send a person (named Mahdī) from the Prophet’s family who will fill the earth with justice and fairness just as it was formerly filled with tyranny and affection.

60. “Abū Sa‘īd (RA) has narrated that the Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) said: In the last days when so many disruptions will appear, at that time there will be a person called Mahdī. His contributions will be (very) pleasant.”

61. “Zuhrī has narrated: when Sufyān’s (army) and Mahdī’s army will face each other for battle, on that day a voice will be heard from the sky: ‘beware! Surely, the friends of (Imām) Mahdī are the friends of Allāh.’

“And Asmā’ bint ‘Umays said: the sign of that day will be that a hand will be seen hanging from the sky which (all) the people will see.”

62. Narrated by ‘Alī (RA), he said: I said (to the Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم)): O Messenger of Allāh (صلى الله عليك وسلم)! Will Mahdī be from us, the family of Muhammad or from others? He said: no, but he will be from among us, Allāh will re-establish Islam through him as he did so (in the beginning) through us, and these people will be rescued from mischief through us (Mahdī) as they have been saved from polytheism. And through our means (Mahdī) Allāh will create love in their hearts after the hatred of mischief as He created love in their hearts after the hatred of polytheism. And through our means people will become brotherly amongst each other after the rivalry of turmoils as they have done so in Islam after the rivalry of polytheism."

63. “Artāh has narrated that a person (Mahdī) will appear from the Prophet’s family who will fight in the city of Rome and he will be the last leader (Imām) of Muhammad’s Ummah. Dajjāl will appear in his time and in his time also ‘Īsā (علیہ السلام) will descend (from the heaven).”

“Imam Suyūtī in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:80) after listing the signs of the arrival of Imām Mahdī, comments:

“All these signs which I have summarised from the book “al-Fitan” by Nu‘aym ibn Hammād who was a hāfiz (of hadīth) and one of the teachers of Imām Bukhārī.”

64. “Jābir ibn ‘Abdullāh (رضي الله عنهما) narrates that the Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) said: In my Ummah, soon, there will be a caliph who will distribute goods generously without keeping a record of who has received what.”

65. “Narrated by Jābir ibn ‘Abdullāh (رضي الله عنهما) that the Messenger of Allāh (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) said: There will be a caliph in my Ummah who will generously distribute wealth without keeping a record of it. And I swear by the One who controls my life! Certainly that the dominance (of Islam) will return (that is, Islam will recapture its lost glory and retrieve its status during his reign).”

66. “Narrated by ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd (رضي الله عنهما) that Messenger of Allāh (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) said: if there was only one night left for this world to stay in tact, Allāh will lengthen it until a member of my family becomes the ruler whose name will be the same as my name and the name of his father will be the same as the name of my father. He will fill the world with justice and fairness just as it was filled with tyranny and exploitation. He will distribute things equally among the people and Allāh will also fill their hearts with content. He will rule for seven or nine years. Then after the caliphate of Mahdī, there will be a total end to goodness (and virtue).”

  1. Abū Dāwūd narrated it in as-Sunan, b. of Mahdī, 4:86 (#4279); ‘Asqalānī, Fath-ul-bārī (13:212); and Bayhaqī in Dalā’il-un-nubuwwah (6:520).
    Ahmad bin Hambal transmitted it with different words in al-Musnad (5:93, 92, 98).
  2. Abū Dāwūd narrated it in as-Sunan, b. of Mahdī, 4:86 (#4280, 4281); Ahmad bin Hambal, al-Musnad (5:93, 97, 98, 101); and ‘Asqalānī in Fath-ul-bārī (13:211).
    Muslim related it with some different words in as-Sahīh, b. of imārah (emritage) 3:1453 (#7/1821).
    Suyūtī, al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:85).
    Related by Abū Dāwūd in as-Sunan, b. of Mahdī, 4:88 (#4284).
    Ibn Hammād transmitted it in as-Sunan-ul-wāridah fil-fitan (5:1057, 1061 # 575, 581).
    Dhahabī graded it marfū‘ (traceable) in Mīzān-ul-i‘tidāl fi naqd-ir-rijāl (3:126).
  3. Related by Suyūtī in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:63).
  4. Related by Suyūtī in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:76).
  5. Suyūtī narrated it in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:61); Tabarānī, al-Mu‘jam-ul-awsat (1:136 # 157); Ibn Hammād, al-Fitan (1:370, 371 # 1089, 1090); and Haythamī in Majma‘-uz-zawā’id (7:316, 317).
  6. Ibn Hammād narrated it in al-Fitan (1:402,408#1214,1234); and Suyūtī in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:80).
  7. Related by Suyūtī in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:60, 61).
  8. Hākim graded it sahīh (sound) according to the conditions of Muslim in al-Mustadrak (4:454 # 8400), while Dhahabī kept quiet about it.
    Haythamī said in Majma‘-uz-zawā’id (7:316) that Bazzār had related it, and its men are those of (sahīh) sound hadīth.
    Ibn Hammād narrated it in al-Fitan (1:362 # 1055); Suyūtī, ad-Durr-ul-manthūr fit-tafsīr bil-ma’thūr (6:56); and Bayhaqī in Dalā’il-un-nubuwwah (6:330,331).
    Muslim related it with different words in as-Sahīh, b. of fitan wa ashrāt-us-sā‘ah (turmoils and conditions of the Last Hour) 4:2234 (#67/2913); Ahmad bin Hambal, al-Musnad (3:317); Hindī, Kanz-ul-‘ummāl (14:263 # 38659); and Ibn Kathīr in al-Bidāyah wan-nihāyah (4:599; 10:44).
  9. Suyūtī narrated it in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:64); Tabarānī, al-Mu‘jam-ul-kabīr (10:133, 135 # 10216, 10224); Dānī, as-Sunan-ul-wāridah fil-fitan (5:1055 # 572); Haythamī, Mawārid-uz-zam’ān (6:129 # 1877); and Hindī in Kanz-ul-‘ummāl (14:269 # 38683).
    Haythamī also narrated it through Abū Hurayarah (rta) in Mawārid-uz-zam’ān (6:128 # 1876).
    Suyūtī narrated it with a difference of words at another place in al-Hāwī lil-fatāwā (2:58).

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