Mehdi in Ahadith (Traditions)
(Part-I)
By: Hazrath Syed Ali Bartar

The traditions (Ahadith) pertaining to Mehdi are very many. They are in hundreds. Some of them are contrary to others. So all of them cannot be true Ahadith. Look to these two Ahadith. One says Mehdi will be a descendant of Hazrat Hasan, the first son of Bibi Fatima. Another Hadith says Mehdi will be a descendant of Hazrat Hussain, the second son of Bibi Fatima. These two Ahadiths are contradictory to one another. Only one of them will be the real (true) Hadith. Take another example. A hadith says that Mehdi will be a king. Many people especially Mahdavis do not believe in Mehdi’s kingship of the earth. They say that the kingship in the Deen of the prophets and caliphs of Allah (khalifatullah) is quite different from the kingship of the kings of the earth. Hence it was very necessary to distinguish the real Ahadith from the concocted traditions inserted by vested interests. Not only in the case of Mehdi, but in other things also there are so many concocted and fictitious traditions inserted as the Ahadith of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alahi wa sallam).

Great efforts were made to separate the real from the unreal. The traditions quoted by six traditionalists (those who collected traditions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) are taken to be sahih and acceptable mostly. These are Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, Nisayi, and Ibn-Maja. However, it can not be asserted that all the traditions quoted by these persons are real and true and those quoted by other traditionalists like Hatim, Tibrani, Ibn-e-Abi-Sheba etc., are all fictitious. Hence these standards are not final. As for traditions about Mehdi, Bukhari and Muslim have not mentioned any. This is because they did not form a separate section for Mehdi as they did for other traditions pertaining to prayers etc. The other four of the six persons have mentioned traditions about Mehdi. Besides, other traditionalists have also quoted many Ahadith.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had already foretold that after him, there will be many traditions, which might be real or unreal. He further said that if a tradition quoted from him relied on the basis of Qur’an, it might be considered true otherwise not. This is of course an acid-test set by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Hazrath Syed Muhammad Jaunpuri, Mehdi-ul-Ma’ood (pbuh), sets another acid test pertaining to the traditions about Mehdi (pbuh). He said if a tradition resembles to the telling, acting, and state (Qaul, Fail, and Hall) of Mehdi (pbuh), that tradition will be true. Otherwise there are so many fictitious traditions about Mehdi. That standard cannot be questioned because it is the uttering of a Caliph of Allah (khalifatullah). There are many events and traditions pertaining to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) with Jews and Christians. All of them cannot be considered true. Only those are true which state the real happenings, acting and state of the Prophet (pbuh). This is believed by all Muslims. Similarly as the Mahdavis believe in the Mehdi-hood of Hazrath Syed Muhammad Juanpuri (pbuh), they take the standard set by Mehdi (pbuh) as true and final.

Hazrath Mehdi (pbuh) has also said that if any of his uttering is quoted, it must be based on any ayah of the Qur’an (Qur’anic verse). If it is not, it might be rejected as untrue. It is to be noted that Mehdi (pbuh) has based his final declaration of his being Mehdi at the Barly (India) on a Qur’anic verse (Surah Hud, verse 17) instead of basing it on some hadith (tradition) because a hidith may be acceptable for some and not acceptable for some others and a Qur’anic verse is acceptable for all Muslims.