Ilm al Khilaf - Imam Mahdi

Another way of looking at Imam Mahdi's Hadiths

The status of hadiths regarding Imam Mahdi is Hadith Ahad. It's a hadith masyur, about 25 narrators to be exact but not to the extent of Mutawatir(presumption of non deceitfulness). However, not all are sahih, some are hasan, dhoif and mawdhu. Thus, making it a Zanni Dilalah, meaning unauthentic and uncertain in meaning and implications.

There are hadiths with authentic and certained characteristic like the hadith about Isra' and Mikraj which are clasified as Mutawatir and are certain in it's implications and meaning(Qati al Tsubut). We can find Surah Isra' in the Quran but nothing much about Mikraj(taking of the '5 daily solat' commandments), where it was explained to us through hadith. One of the main reason for such revelations is to test the faith of the believers:

"And We granted the vision (ascension to the heavens) which We made you see (as an actual eye witness) was only made as a trial for the people." (QS 17.60)

So in another word, there are revelations to the Prophet(pbuh) which are not stated in the Quran. But it is important to note that the Prophet is just a normal human just like you and me except he was guided with revelations from God, irregardless whether it was stipulated in the Quran or not. The Quran clearly says:

Say, "I am only a man like you, to whom has been revealed that your god is one God."(QS 21:73)

If you were to observe these hadith, their role is to support, strengthen and further detailed a verse or surah from the Quran. In fact, most if not all hadiths has such characteristic. Hadiths are actions taken by the Prophet by obeying the commandments of the revelations from God. Therefore, if there are hadiths that contradict with the Quran, go through this checklist:

1) What's the contradiction - matters of ibadah or muamalat
- The default is Halal, everything is halal except proven haram

2) Check it's authenticity
- sanad and matan, whether it's sahih, hasan, dhoif or mawdhu

3) Check it's certainty of meaning and implications
- Qati or Zanni

4) What is the maqasid behind the hadith
- the purpose and objective or intention behind the hadith

5) Ilmu Balaghah
- check the translation, both Quran and Hadith

6) Did it contradict with Qawaid al Fiqhiyyah
- http://ilmuislamuallaf.blogspot.com/…/qawaid-al-fiqhiyyah-l…

7) Find out what the previous scholars have to say about it.
- always ask yourself what if i am wrong. Is there any other way to reach my conclusion. Is there any other source of information, compare the khilaf of scholars etc.

Having saying that, let's have a quick run through on the hadiths about Imam Mahdi. I use the term 'quick run through' because it will take at least days if not weeks just to cover this subject Therefore, i am going to disclose only on one area: khilaf or different opinion of scholars on who is Imam Mahdi. So, checkout these hadiths:

1) Nabi s.a.w. mendoakan Muawiyah, “Ya Allah! Jadikanlah dia (Muawiyah) Haadi (pemimpin) lagi Mahdi (yang terpimpin) dan pimpinlah manusia dengannya.” (Hadith Riwayat At-Tirmizi)

2) Daripada Ibn Umar bahawa dia pernah berkata kepada Ibnul Hanafiyyah, “Al Mahdi digunakan oleh mereka sebagai istilah untuk orang yang baik.”

3) Mahdi yang sebenarnya ialah seperti yang disebut di dalam hadis-hadis Rasulullah s.a.w. “ Akan datang di akhir zaman. Dia akan memenuhi dunia ini dengan keadilannya setelah ia dipenuhi dengan kezaliman.

4) Hadith-hadith sahih berhubung dengan perkara ini tidak menyebutkan perkataan “Al Mahdi” atau namanya dengan terang.(Muqaddimah Ibn Khaldun ms.312, 316 & 322)

5) Tidak ada satu pun hadith Al Mahdi tersebut di dalam Bukhari dan Muslim. Yang ada hanyalah:

Diriwayat daripada Abu Hurairah r.a. bahawa Rasulullah SAW bersabda: “Bagaimana agaknya kamu bila Isa Ibnu Maryam turun(QS 43:61) di antaramu dan pada ketika itu imam kamu adalah salah seorang daripada kamu”.
(Hadith Riwayat Bukhari dan Muslim) - (No mentioning of Imam Mahdi name)

6) Jumhur ulama fuqaha seperti Imam Ahmad bin Hambal (w.241H) telah meriwayatkan beberapa hadith berhubung dengan kemunculan Al Mahdi di dalam musnad mereka. Daripada sikap mereka dapat difahami pendirian beliau tentang kemunculan Al Mahdi adalah sebagai satu aqidah.

(Maksud Akidah - Pegangan atau perkara yang perlu di-imani(faith). Just like the Isra' Mikraj hadith. It's is something that was revealed to us through the Prophet to test our faith)

From the above information, we can summarize that the objective behind the Imam Mahdi hadiths are to tell us that there will always be a good guy defeating the bad guy(dajjal) and we must have faith in it when times are bad and never to give up hope on Allah SWT Mercy.

What matter most is to have a correct perspective on these hadiths and continue with the more important task ahead of us, which are 'amal makruf, nahi mungkar, unity in the ummah and dakwah. And not forgetting to increase our iman and ibadah towards Ilahi.

Wallahu'alam