(Sayings of Mehdi-ul-Ma'ood Alaihis-Salaatu Wassalaam)
 Dr. Syed A. Ishaqui Alam

1. (Transliteration of the Persian script)
MEERAN FARMUDAND "MANN KITABULLAH RA PESH KARDAM WA QALQ RA SOO-E-TOWHEED WA EBADATH, DAWATH ME KUNAM WA MANN MAAMOOR BARA-E-EEN KAAR, AZ BARI-E-TAALA" 

Translation: 
"Meeran said I have presented the Holy Quran to invite people towards His Oneness and His worship and I have been appointed by Allah for this task".

In this naqual, The Mahdi (pbuh) points out that God Commissioned him as Khalifathullah(viceroy of Allah on earth) to invite people towards oneness of Allah and for His worship as it was taught by the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) in the shariah and also to teach the lesson of self negation. According to The Mahdi (pbuh) one's ownself or "I" is also considered as an idol and a seeker of Allah cannot achieve Allah's gnosis unless he renounces this idol. The Mahdi (pbuh) also said that one must remove the difference of Thou and "I". Only through constant practice of intense Meditation (remembrance of Allah) i.e. Zikr-e-Qafi, one can considerably remove the duality and then only could he be considered as the Real monotheist. But it is not so easy to knock out the idol of one's own self and to replace it with the love of Almighty. This requires total submission to the will of God, as The Mahdi (pbuh) himself said: "Surrender to the will of God" In the words of Quran: "Be not exalted arrogant against me, but come to me as Muslim (true believer) who submit to Allah with full submission" (Surah Namal 27, Verse-31) "But oh: thought soul at peace returned unto thy Lord contented his good (pleasure)" (Sura 89, Verse 27-28).

 In addition to this the Mahdi (pbuh) also said: 

2. "BEY EKHTIYAAR SHAU, EKHTIYAAR SHOOM AST"

Explanation: It means a man should totally surrender himself to the will of God and the desire of the seeker should be the the will of Allah. Rememberance should be rigourous enough to get total certainity and confidence in reaching Allah, the Quran bears witness to this:- "you worship your God to the utmost certainity". Therefore, the Mahdi (pbuh) taught specific method of Zikre Qafi (through Paas-o-Anfaas) by inhaling and exhaling of kalama La ilaha Illallah in one's breath. According to the Mahdi a seeker of Allah must think that there is nothing at all but God, while inhaling and he must realize the negation of himself while exhaling. This constant practice of meditation is known as "ZIKR ALLAH" during which the idol of one's ownself is annihilated. That is why The Mahdi (pbuh) vehemently stressed upon Zikr Allah. The Mahdi (pbuh) said that God has commissioned him as khalifathullah to guide people towards monotheism, which is the essence of Islam. The term "khatama-e-wilayath-e-Mohmmadia" refers to the seal of vilayath of prophet Mohammad, which is attributed to The Mahdi (pbuh) who taught the Ihsan(wilayath).

Here it would be quite apt to mention a Hadith taken from the book "Hadis Al Bukari", narrated by Abu Huriara: "One day the prophet was sitting in the company of his Sahaba(companions). Gabriel (A.S.) came and asked what is faith?. Allah's messenger(pbuh) replied faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and to believe in resurrection. Gabriel further asked what is Islam?. Allah's messenger (pbuh) replied, to worship Allah only and none else, to offer prayers (Iquamat as salat), to give Zakat, to observe fast during the month Of Ramazan, and to perform Haj. Gabriel further asked what is Ihsan?. Allah's messenger replied to worship Allah as if you see HIM and if you cannot see HIM, then you must consider that He is seeing you."