Skip to main content

Shi'a Islam, the Mahdi and the Twelvers

For background on the Mahdi see this article in which we learn
Traditional Islamic eschatology predicts a period of great conflict at the end of time preceding the final resurrection and judgement. This tribulation period is characterized by natural catastrophes and terrible wars. An Antichrist figure (the Dajjal) appears, allied to Jews and Christians, who causes corruption and oppression all over the world, deceiving many by his miracles and false teachings. A heaven-sent saviour, the Mahdi (the rightly guided one) appears to fight the forces of Satan, restore Islam to its original perfection and glory, and set up God’s (Islamic) kingdom on earth
.
Sounds familiar in several ways, does it not? But note how easy it is for contemporary Shi'as to read today's world through that lens especially if feeling humiliated, or excluded, or the victim of unjust systems. The current Iranian administration is heavily into the 'Twelver' version of mahdism;
For Twelver Shi‘a, the expected Mahdi is their Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who was born in 869 and disappeared in 873 in Samarra when still a child. He is called the Hidden Imam, as it is firmly believed that he did not die, but lives on in a spiritual invisible mode (occultation) and will return as the Mahdi at the end of days
And it is an activist version -making preparations to hasten the day rather than passively waiting.

Christians are acquainted with similar kinds of mentality and so it should not be hard for us to follow the logics. It's interesting, of course, because it also can have the effect of helping us to enter imaginatively into how some versions of Christianity may look to others ... that's nearly always one of the fascinating things about this kind of interfaith encounter.
� 17/08/2006 - TWELVER SHI‘A MAHDISM AND PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD OF IRAN - Barnabas Fund
Filed in: , , , , ,

Comments

philjohnson said…
Andii

A minor point of clarification is warranted here concerning Shi'ite Islam. Shi'a is Arabic for "party", and here it refers to the party of followers of 'Ali. 'Ali was the 4th Caliph after Muhammad ruled 656-661 AD, and he was related to the Prophet both as a cousin and then as the son-in-law of the Prophet. He was assassinated in 661. 'Ali is regarded by the Shi'a as the rightful successor to the Prophet (meaning the three intervening caliphs were not regarded as true leaders of the community).

The Shi'a are distinguished from the majority of Muslims (i.e. 90% of the world of Islam is Sunni; about 8% are Shi'a) over the question of succession re 'Ali, and on quesions of law and authority. Where Suni and Shi'a differ in law covers matters about marriage and inheritance rights; in matters of ritual the Shi'a have a slight difference in their Call to Prayer. In authority they have a political view of the Imam as head or leader that differs from Sunni views of the Caliphate.

Now Shi'a Islam is not uniform but consists of three main branches.

1. The Ithna 'Asharis or Twelver Shi'ites (you have referred to above).
2. The Isma'ilis (acknowledge seven early Imams).
3. The Zaydis (Zaydiyya).

The Ithna 'Asharis - those committed to the Twelve Imams - are those found primarily in Iran and 50% of the population of Iraq.

The Zaydis are largely found in the Yemen. The Isma'ilis are present in many places but especially in East Africa, and throughout the Indian subcontinent.

Both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims have an eschatology related to the Mahdi ("one who is rightly guided"). However the Shi'a position is connected with their understanding of the hidden twelfth Imam who is to return.

It should also be noted (separate to the Shi'a view of the Mahdi) that Jesus (known as 'Isa) is viewed in early eschatological hadiths as the one who will return at the end of time to oppose the antiChrist figure al-Dajjal (Father of Lies). There are a few suras that also imply a 2nd coming at the end (Surah 4:159; 19:33)

Kenneth Cragg remarks:
"As we have seen, Al-Masih as a title for Jesus, is honorific not definitive. Antichrist is defeated eschatologically by Jesus as the agent, but by Islam in the event, and not by virtue of the Cross and the love that redeems. The hope of history is the final triumph of the prophetic, as culminated in Muhammad but assigned to his nearest predecessor. In terms of inter-faith converse there is an intriguing potential of gain and loss in this situation. We have a Jesus in emphatic, final espousal of Islam: we have a Muhammad in ultimate accomplishment only through the agency of Jesus. Whatever either awaits, neither attains by the means their faiths assume. Jesus prevails, not through the Cross, Resurrection and grace, but with the Qur'an. Muhammad is final, not by Jihad and Daulah, but by heaven's Jesus. What this strange eventuality teaches us is not readily agreed."
(Jesus and the Muslim: An Exploration, Oxford: Oneworld, 1999, p. 59 [originally published in 1985 by Allen & Unwin]).
Andii said…
Thanks Phil, very helpful value added comment! I had assumed much of that, but for readers who haven't as much background, that is an excellent summary. Ta!

Popular posts from this blog

Foundation, Empire -and the mission of the church

 I've been watching the TV series 'Foundation'. I read the books about 50 years ago (I know!) but scarcely now remember anything but an outline and some character names. A lot has happened in my life since I read the series and now watch it adapted to television. For one thing, I committed my ways to Christ and have a role which involves official ministry in the church's mission. In the intervening years, a constant companion for me has been concern for ecology, for creation. Latterly this has become a more urgent concern and I have realised that we have collectively run out of time. We are living on borrowed time. In fact, some of us, globally speaking, are not even living on borrowed time. All through my adult life I have unconsciously (I now realise) assumed that we would have time, that there was time to persuade and to change and to head off the worst. That assumption, that naive hope, has now been stripped from me. The situation of living on borrowed time  needs t

Pray ceaselessly, but how?

I've just had an article published on emergingchurch.info. It's an adaptation of some of my book, but I thought I'd share it and give you a taster... ... ask ourselves whether there is a way of understanding the command to pray ceaselessly in a way that doesn't conflict with loving our neighbour. Paul may have meant his readers to pray as much as they could, whenever they could. However that would be to read a meaning into the text based, perhaps on a sense of realism faced with an understanding of prayer that involves giving God full and exclusive attention. We don't have to be bound by that interpretation. I'm going to suggest a deeper fulfilment of the exhortation. One that makes contact with Paul's command to his Roman readers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12.1-2). Perhaps Paul was suggesting making life into prayer rather than making prayer into a life emergingchurch.info > reflection > andii bowsher : Filed in: prayer

The Lords Prayer in Aramaic

I came across this a year or two back and was quite concerned that it was being purveyed as a translation when it quite clearly is not. Now my Hebrew is not extensive but enough that when combined with training in linguistics and biblical interpretation I can tell when a 'midrash' is being offered. [PS inserted here. Since I wrote this originally and noting that this post gets a lot of hits, I have continued to research and would like to encourage readers to visit more recent posts here and here and I tend to add thinngs from time to time to a Squidoo Lens dedicated to the topic of Aramaic Lord's prayer] Anyway, see for yourself the discrepancy between the quantity in the original and the English (as far as I can tell, the orthography is vaguely german, so 'j' is a 'y' sound etc.) The Prayer To Our Father (in the original Aramaic) Abwun "Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes, d'bwaschmaja who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.