False Claimants of Mahdi

Excessive discussion and interest amongst the masses with regards to the awaited Mahdi, led many desirous of power and glory to claim being the Mahdi. At times, deviated sects sought to legitimize themselves by claiming their leaders to be the Mahdi, for which they publicized false evidences that fit these leaders. Apart from them, there were those who had some qualities, or who adopted some characteristics, by which people misunderstood them to be the Mahdi. Allamah Hamoud At-Tuwaijri explained, The Mahdi will not demand for himself to be called the Mahdi at the onset, like what the claimants to Mahdiship do by lying and forgery, certainly people from Makkah will come to him, and will choose him while he is reluctant, and will give the bayaah (oath of allegiance) to him, then the people will give him the title of Mahdi after they see his righteousness, justice and his eradication of injustice and oppression. [AlAhtajaaj bil Athr ala man Ankara Al-Mahdi al-Muntazir, p. 302]

were claimed by various Shi'a groups to be their Imam. Additionally, one group also believed that Ja'far did not really die but would return one day. Those who took Ismail bin Jafar, as the 7th Imam, came to be known as the Isma'iliyah (a sect of the Batiniyyah). After Ismail's death, they declared him the last Imam. They are thus Seveners (sab'eeyah) and believe in Ismail's return before the last day. As for the twelvers, they took Musa alKaathim from amongst the sons of Ja'far as-Sadiq as the 7th Imam. Upon his death, the story repeated, i.e. some of the Shi'a denied his death and claimed he will return, while others agreed to take one of his son's as Imam. Some chose Ahmad, while others chose the other son Ali ar-Rida (8th). After him they took as their Imam his son At-Taqi (9th), and after him his son Ali al-Hadi (or an-Naqi) (10th). At the death of Ali al-Hadi they looked upon his son Hasan al-Askari as their 11th Imam. Hasan al-Askari died at the young age of 28 without having sired a son. This landed the Shia in an enormous predicament, because the continuation of the Imamah is central to Shi'ism. The shia were thrown in mass-disarray, and splintered into 14 sects (according to the Shia writer Hasan an-Nawbakhti) or 20 separate sects (as the historian al-Mas'udi said). As in earlier cases, some denied Hasan alAskari's death, claiming he would return in the future; others sought to extend the Imamah to Hasan's brother Ja'far; and yet others, whose view would later became the dominant one, claimed that al-Hasan al-Askari did in fact have a son. This idea was forwarded by some of the 'Imam's representatives' who had been assigned to collect money from the general shia for the Ahlul-Bayt. At the head of them was 'Uthman ibn Sa'id al-'Amri', who claimed that Hasan al-Askari was not childless but had a 4-year old son, Muhammad, with whom no one but he (i.e. ibn Sa'id) could have contact. From then on, he was the sole representative (wakeel) of the Hidden Imam and collected money in his name. Hasan al-Askari's own family were completely unaware of the existence of any child, and when Hassan's estate was divided, it was distributed to his mother and brother. Stories have been circulated about the union between Hasan al-Askari and a Roman slave-girl, who is variously named as Narjis, Sawsan or Mulaykah. She is mentioned as the daughter of the Roman emperor, 'Yusha', a direct descendant of the apostle Simon Peter. Historical evidence shows no such Roman emperor, and neither he nor any other emperor is known to be a descendant of Peter. Everything about the child is enveloped in a thick cloud of mystery. The period of exclusive communication with the hidden-Imam lasted 70 years, until the fourth 'representative', 'Abul Hasan as-Samarri' put an end to the hoax by proclaiming on the hidden-Imam's behalf that until the day of his reappearance, he will never be seen again, and anyone who claims otherwise is a liar. The Shi'ah term the period of indirect contact with the hidden-Imam as the 'lesser occultation' (al-Ghaybah as-Sughra), and the period
S

Following is a short list of some famous people who have claimed Mahdiship. The Mahdis of Shi'ism (Based upon, Myth of the Shi'i
Mahdi' by Abu Muhammad al-Afriqi)

The foundation of the Shia faith is to believe that the Imams from the progeny of Ali are appointed by Allah to be the spiritual and political leaders of the Muslim, and they enjoy all the distinctions and privileges of the Prophet r, but unlike Prophethood, the reign of the Imams cannot end as the well-known Shia hadith says, the world cannot exist without an Imam, and if the earth were to be without an Imam for a single day, it would sink. When Ali died, the Jew, 'Abdullah bin Saba' was the first to deny his death and claim Ali to be the Mahdi who will return to establish justice. Whereas, other Shia accepted Ali's departure and a need to appoint his successor, which was to be his son alHassan; and after him al-Hussain. Abdullah bin Saba's nonsense was to become a pattern with the shia, that whenever an Imam of theirs died, some of them would deny his death and declared him alive in occultation (hidden from view), and await his return as the Mahdi. Their Mahdi thus moved from person to person, each time someone they hoped to be the Mahdi was proved to be false. After Hussain's death, some claimed that his half-brother Muhammad bin al-Hanafiyyah was the Imam. When he died, 'Al-Mukhtr bin Ab Ubayd' and the Kisaniyyah sect claimed he was alive at a place with springs of water and honey called Jabal Ridwaa; and he would return back as the Mahdi. [Al-Mukhtar
also used to claim that angels visited him, to which the sahabi Ibn Umar replied, He is telling the truth, for Allah says: 'The devils inspire their helpers'(6:121) see. Tafsir Ibn Katheer]

As for the other Shia they sought to limit the Imams to the progeny of Faatimah, so after Hussain they took his son Zayn al-Abidin (4th Imam), and upon his death, his son, Muhammad al-Baqir (5th Imam). When al-Baqir died some elements from the Shi'a denied his death and claimed he would return, while others took his son Ja'far as-Sadiq as their 6th Imam. Ja'far's death brought mass confusion amongst the Shi'ah: each of his sons Isma'il, Abdullah, Muhammad, Zakariyya, Ishaq and Musa

s28

For Islamic books, articles and DVDs, visit us at http://www.qsep.com | Quran Sunnah Educational Programs

henceforth of no contact as the 'greater occultation' (al-Ghaybah al-Kubar), which has already lasted over 1,000 years. Though the shia claim that their Imams are appointed by Allah, their history shows the choice of the Imam is a result of human selection and elimination. Furthermore, their identification of someone as the Mahdi is far from credible, and their fables of the unknown hidden-Imam are a repeat of what have emanated from them in the past. It should also be noted that even though the shia claim the last-Imam to be a treasure-house of Prophetic knowledge, none of the four representatives who had the alleged exclusive access to the last-Imam produced any book. Al-Kafi, the most authentic book of Shia Hadith, was written during the latter decades of the Lesser Occultation. It scarcely contains a reference to any of the four representatives as narrators from the Hidden Imam. Instead, Al-Kafi's author, 'al-Kulayni', had to trace back information to the fifth and sixth Imams through doubtful channels, instead of taking knowledge directly from the lastImam's representatives. The fact that in the presence of the infallible last-Imam, who is the guardian of the legacy of Ahlul-Bayt, the shia have to depend upon a fallible person like Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni to get their narrations, is in itself a proof of the hidden-Imam hoax. Furthermore, the shia scholar Aqa Muhammad Baqir Khwansari recorded in his book Rawdat al-Jannat that the 'Hidden-Imam' approved of Al-Kafi, saying, This is enough for our Shi'ah and this book has in it Shirk, Kufr, utter blasphemy and incidents that the shia rather not mention, like Ali ibn Abi Talib wedding his daughter to Umar ibn al-Khattab. Nine centuries later, the Shia Muhaddith, Mulla Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, in his commentary on 'al-Kafi' named Mir'at al-'Uqul, declared that 9,485 out of the 16,121 narrations in al-Kafi are unreliable. So much for the infallible Imam's endorsement!!! Therefore, the hidden-Mahdi that the shias claim, does not have any proof of existence, or any witness, or any effects in terms of his contribution to knowledge. Rather is a witness to the falsehood and conjecture upon which the Raafidah have based their religion.
[Note: As for the status of those whom the twelvers declare their Imams; Ali, Hassan and Hussain are noble Sahabah; Zain alAabideen, al-Baqir, Jaafar as-Saadiq and Moosa Kaadhim are trustworthy and reliable scholars; their 8th through 11th Imam did not shown a great deal of knowledge; and the 12th hidden-Imam, does not exist at all. ]

through al-Hassan, and was known for his knowledge and piety, hence the title, 'an-Nafs az-Zakiya (the pure soul).' He was a chief of the Hashimites in his knowledge, courage and honor. His family named him 'al-Mahdi', perhaps because of his name (i.e. Muhammed ibn Abdullah), his being a descendant of Faatimah, and his confronting the injustices of the Ummayads. Muhammed ibn Abdullah was given the bay'ah by a group of people from Hijaz, amongst who was Abu Jafar al-Mansoor - the Abbasid Caliph, whose dynasty was not in power then. When the Abbasids came to power, Abu Jafar al-Mansoor became the second Abbasid caliph, after his father's death. When Jafar was being given the bay'ah (oath of allegience), Muhammed when into hiding fearing harm from Jafar; while Jafar feared that Muhammed would rise and claim the caliphate. When Jafar was unable to find Muhammed, he imprisoned his close relatives instead; many of whom died in prison. Weary of hiding, Muhammad ibn Abdullah decided to rise against Jafar. He went to al-Madina, seized its leader and imprisoned him. The people gave him their bayah and he was declared the Mahdi. He then wrote to al-Mansoor as the Mahdi, and mentioned his superiority and right to Khilafah. AlMansoor brought an army of ten thousand soldiers and defeated him. When Muhammad died, his Mahdiship was under question for he had been unable to fulfill the prophesy of ruling the earth for seven years and Eesa u had not appeared. His staunch followers claimed he could not die until the earth was filled with justice. Others claimed that he is in the mount Haajar in Najd until he will be ordered to come out and own the earth. Ubaidullah ibn Maymoon al-Quddah (d. 322H): His fitnah occurred after 150 years of Abbasid rule, when the Abbasids were weak and faced a stream of rebellions against their rule by groups of Khawaarij, Qaraamitah and others. A series of rebellions by the Qaraamitah (a sect of Baatiniyyah) in Maghrib (North Africe) enabled them to seize power and instate 'Ubaidullah ibn Maymoon al-Quddah' as head of state. They believed him to be the Mahdi, and claimed he was from the progeny of 'Muhammed bin Ismail bin Jaafar as-Saadiq' while it is know to the scholars of lineages that Muhammed bin Ismail died without any successor. [see. Al-Farq Baynal Firaq p.282/283] Ibn Taymiyyah described them to be inwardly Mulhids, ostracized from all the sects, extreme disbelievers whose way was based on the Magians, the Sabians and philosophers with expressions of Shi'ism. He also listed scholars who have authored books exposing them like al-Qadi Aboo Bakr alBaqllani and al-Qadi Abdul Jabbar al-Hamdani and the book of al-Ghazzali and others. [Minhaaj us-Sunnah 4/211] This was the beginning of the great calamity of Fatimi rule. Ubaidullah 'Mahdi' continued his attacks upon the Abbasids from North Africa. The other Qaraamitah of Iraq under the leadership of 'Abu Tahir Sulaiman bin Abi Sayeed Janani' continually rebelled against the Abbasids and terrorized parts of Iraq. Despite being within Abbasid territory, the Qaraamitah read the name of 'Ubaidullah Mahdi' in their Friday sermon, and recognized him as caliph. In 318H, Abu Tahir raided Macca during the hajj season, and started to slay the hujjaj and loot 29
S

Haarith bin Suraij (d. 128H) : He rebelled against the prince of Khurasaan in 116H in the era of Caliph Hisham bin Abdul Malik and claimed to be the possessor of the black flags*, and he took over some cities of Khurasaan but was defeated by the Ummayad army, and fled to the land of the Turks. Jahm bin Safwan supported him and used to narrated his exploits in the mosques and streets, until they were confronted by Nasr bin Siyaar (the prince of Khurasaan) and many of Haarith's companions were killer including al-Jahm bin Safwaan. [see. Al-Bidaayah wan-Nihaayah 10/26] * Referring to
the Munkar (rejected) narration, If you see the black flags coming from Khurasan, join that army, even if you have to crawl, for in it is Allah's Caliph Al-Mahdi.' See as-Silsilah ad-Daeefah 85.

Muhammed ibn Abdullah ibn Al-Hassan (An-Nafs Az-Zakeeyah) (d. 145H): He was a descendant of Ali

For Islamic books, articles and DVDs, visit us at http://www.qsep.com | Quran Sunnah Educational Programs

their belongings. He did not hesitate to kill pilgrims in the Kaabah, threw their bodies in the Zamzam well and broke the Kaaba's door. He carried the black stone with him to Hajr (the capital of Bahrain), and it remained with the Qaraamitah for 22 years. Muhammad ibn Toomart (485-524H) Maghrib, North Africa. He was a liar and an oppressor, who took power by force. He put some of his followers inside graves and asked them to tell the people that he was the Mahdi. He would then destroy the graves at night whilst they were still inside, burying them alive so that his deceit would be safe.' [Al-Manaar al-Muneef fisSaheeh wad-Da'eef by Ibn al-Qayyim (153). Quoted from al-Ashqar]

Khundmir and is referred to as, 'Aqida-e-Sharifa.' According to it, anyone who refused to believe in the Mahdiship of Jaunpuri, was declared by him to be a disbeliever in Allah, the Qur'aan and the Messenger.
[This was also mentioned by Ali al-Muttaqi (author of 'KunzulUmmal) in his refutation, 'Ar-Radd ala man Hakama wa-Qada anna al-Mahdi qad jaa wa-Madaa'. He also said in 'al-Burhan fi alamaat Mahdi Aakhir az-Zamaan (p.6)', Their killing of the scholars is enough proof of the falsehood of their belief, it is a proof of absence of proof for their beliefs, and their failure to establish their beliefs.]

Timirtash bin an-Nauwain Jawbaan (d. 728H): AlHafidh Ibn Hajr says, 'He was a courageous assassin except that he had less intelligence so he claimed being the mahdi..' [Durar al-Kaaminah (2/53)] Ahmed ibn Abdullah bin Haashim al-Maltham (658-740H): His actions showed him to be a liar, or afflicted by satanic activities, or suffering from mental illness. Originally from the land of the Turks, his family settled in Cairo, where he studied Shafiee Fiqh and accompanied 'Taqi ud-Din bin Daqiq Al-Eid' for 10 years. In 689H, he claimed to be the Mahdi due a dream of his Meraaj through the seven heavens during which he was bestowed Mahdiship by Allah. He swore about many such dreams in his books but later backed down saying he was a Mahdi only in the literal sense (i.e. just a guide to the people). He is also known to claim Messengership, but later disowned this claim saying he meant only an ordinary messenger (i.e. a daee) sent to warn the people. Only Allah knows in what state he died. Sayyid Muhammad Yusuf ibn Sayyid Khan Hussaini Jaunpuri (847-910H) Jaunpur, India: He claimed lineage to Ahlul-Bayt through Moosa Kaadhim and studied under a soofi shaikh. His preoccupation with meditations led him to abandoned his family and wandered in deserts and mountains, and upon his return, he claimed to be the Mahdi. [See, Nuzhat al-khawatir wa bahjat al-Masami wa alNawazir, (7/324-6)]

Jaunpuri claimed, 'all elucidations, explanations and commentaries of Qur'aan, not in conformity with his own statements and interpretations were not correct.' [Aqida-e-Sharifa] With this he allowed himself complete freedom to apply unrelated Qur'aanic verses to himself and his followers. 'If a person cited the traditions (Hadeeth) of Prophet Muhammad to argue his point, the Imam (i.e., Jaunpuri) used to say that there was great contradictions among various traditions and it was difficult to correct them. The Imam said a tradition was correct if it is in conformity with the Qur'aan and the events (taking place around the Imam).' [Aqida-eSharifa]

This argument of the inability to distinguish between authentic and fabricated narrations generally enumerates from modernists and Hadeethrejecters, who for most part deny the Mahdi, as he is not mentioned in the Qur'aan. It is thus strange that Jaunpuri sheds doubts about hadeeth-verification, for if Hadeeth cannot be verified as authentic or not, then on what basis did Jaunpuri stake his claim in the first place? Jaunpuri realized that he will never be able to fulfill the most well-known quality of the Mahdi as mentioned in the mutawaatir Hadeeth that the Mahdi will fill the earth with justice and fairness after it had been filled with injustice and wrongdoing. [Sunan Abi Dawud], therefore he interpreted this Hadeeth different from its apparent meaning and said, In reply, the Imam said all believers believed accepted and obeyed him. i.e. by the acceptance of the Mahdiship by his followers, justice and fairness was established !!! His soofi education caused him to adopt many of soofism's heresies as beliefs and practices for his sect; like his saying that the desire to see Allah was obligatory on every man and woman, one should not be a true believer until he or she had seen Allah through physical eyes or in a dream. He also stressed on soofi idea like renouncing the world, accompanying ascetics and seclusion from society. Muhammed Ahmed bin Abdullah Sudani (12591302H): He established the Mahdist Movement, which still exists as a political party in Sudan. He claimed to be from Ahl al-Bayt, to received revelation and to have spoken to the Prophet * in person, who allegedly inform him of being the Mahdi. He railed the people and played a role in freeing the Sudan from colonial occupation. Muhammed ibn Abdullah al-Qahtani (d. 1400H): Juhaimaan's Companion. [Details in article on the
Khawaarij]

Abu Raj'aa Shahjahaanpuri said, '(Jaunpuri) changed his father's name to Abdullah and his mother's name to Amina and publicized them, and he compiled a book of principles for the madhhab, from them are, (1) He is the promised Mahdi and is superior to Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan and Ali, rather he is superior to Adam, Nuh and Ibraheem, Moosa, Eesa' (and from the principle are) He is equal in position to the Prophet Muhammad r. Whatever he opposes from the Qur'aan and the Sunnah in statement and action, was incorrect (before)...' [See, alMukhtar al-Masoon min A'laam al-Quroon (2/876-877)]

His deviant beliefs are mentioned in Al-Qaul al-Mahmood [An Introduction to Mahdavi Beliefs by Hazrat Syed Ali Yadullahi]. It mentions, 'In his character, Imam Mahdi is equal to Prophet Muhammad, except for Prophet-hood and messenger-ship . As the vice-regent of Allah, Imam Mahdi (AHS) is better than Abu Bakr Siddiq, the first Caliph of Prophet Muhammad. The beliefs taught by Jaunpuri to his followers have been narrated after his death by Syed

References: Al-Mahdi by Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Ismaeel al-Muqaddam, History of Islam by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi

Compiled by Sajid A Kayum

s30

For Islamic books, articles and DVDs, visit us at http://www.qsep.com | Quran Sunnah Educational Programs