I am no expert in the field but the following are a few thoughts and observations based on a an article which I read a while ago.
It seems as the hadith concerning the Mahdi all advocate a passive, pessimistic and submissive community. This is totally contrary to the Islamic spirit of striving for the good in the name of God and in the way of God. Therefore, encouraging the Muslims to hang their hopes on something called the Mahdi can be viewed as a subtle attempt to make defeatists and pessimists out of them. The suffocating belief in fate: to make the Muslims submissive to other than God and to wait for someone else to come along to save them. The truth is that no one will help us unless we help ourselves first. God does not change the condition of any people, unless they change themselves.
Could it be that he belief in the Mahdi arose from the Jewish belief in the coming of a savior? This savior, as foretold in their scripture, was Prophet Muhammad whom they rejected when he arose among the Arabs. It is also consonant with the Christian belief about the Second Coming of Christ. It is possible that the Shi’ites, when they lost political power to the Umayyads, similarly created their own myth about the return of the 12th Imam. He was believed to have disappeared, and will return towards the Last Days as the Mahdi who would rule the world with justice.
Fazlur Rahman says that these hadith reflect the ulama’s thinking and their objectives with regard to the factionalism and the civil war that was going on between the Muslim factions. To them the hadith appeared as very handy tool to neutralize the dissenting and damaging effects of the Khawarij and the Mu’tazilites camps. By this simple means of creating hadith and attributing it the Prophet, the orthodox Ahl’ul-Sunna wa’l-Jamaah hoped to save the community from its internecine warfare. Although these hadiths were advocated to serve as a bridge to link up all the warring factions in peace and harmony, it became evident soon enough that these hadith standing on their false foundations would collapse. How could the advocating of pessimism and passivity guarantee peace and harmony, unity and justice? Obviously the orthodox scholars were very short sighted. And on top of everything, all these false teachings were clearly against the teachings of the Quran.
It could be argued that a careful reading of the Quran and and any serious discussion would point out the errors of these hadith? So how did the ulama handle this potential threat? Very simple. They sought to cut off all intellectual discussion and inquiry in Islam. They came up with the not-too-original but effective idea that only the ulama, the priestly class, would be allowed to handle all matters pertaining to the religion. Despite the fact that Islam never allowed any priesthood, the ulama would go on to successfully set up not only a priestly class but a whole hierarchy of priests. Much like the Brahmins of Hinduism, they would seek to impose this hierarchy upon the Muslim masses and deny the masses any access to a true understanding of the religion without first being screened by them. Unfortunately, these ulama have been most successful to this day.
That is a good criticism of the Ulama in light of the hadith literature. I don't know enough about the topic of the Mahdi to comment. I don't have access to hadith. I have heard others who deny belief in the Mahdi. Perhaps someone can post some information on the Mahdi from the different sources. In particular information from the Qur'an would be valuable, since all schools of Islam agree on its authenticity. Does the Qur'an mention the coming Mahdi?
The jews at the time of hazrat Isa were waiting for a warior who will fight wars (and they are still waiting) and get them their land but this didn’t happened. The muslims now are doing the same mistake by waiting for a killer mahdi and maseeh. they should atleast learn some lessons from jews.
I read your post -- the piece that caught my attention and merits discussion is reproduced below:THE MULLAHS HAVE TOO MUCH POWER AND HOW DO WE REDUCE/NEUTRALIZE THE POWER OF THE MULLAHS?
"It could be argued that a careful reading of the Quran and and any serious discussion would point out the errors of these hadith? So how did the ulama handle this potential threat? Very simple. They sought to cut off all intellectual discussion and inquiry in Islam. They came up with the not-too-original but effective idea that only the ulama, the priestly class, would be allowed to handle all matters pertaining to the religion. Despite the fact that Islam never allowed any priesthood, the ulama would go on to successfully set up not only a priestly class but a whole hierarchy of priests. Much like the Brahmins of Hinduism, they would seek to impose this hierarchy upon the Muslim masses and deny the masses any access to a true understanding of the religion without first being screened by them. Unfortunately, these ulama have been most successful to this day".
Camille has pointed out a very important issue. The coming up of a reformer is not specific to the teaching of Islam or Christians or Jews, in-fact every religion is waiting for someone to come. Sikhs / Buddhists/ Hindus etc etc etc
Now the two important questions arise;
1) Why he has to come, and what will be his tasks?
2) Will there be a separate Reformer for every religion?
I need some time to debate on this issue.. please excuse me for some time.
For now I just want to support the idea of Achtung and Abdul Malik. I agree will with your opinions. Its a misinterpretation of Ulema’s. They are dividing and trying to rule over Muslims. I am also not sure if Imam Mehdi is referenced beside Ahadiths. Quran says about Messiah to come. To me both are the designations of the same personality. And as far as other religions are concerned, I believe there will be need of only one person who metaphorically resembles all. That’s the only solution to gather all under one platform, otherwise it will be a never-ending story.
In support of Yasir’s reply; It has been foretold in Jewish scriptures of that their old Prophet Elidjha (Ilyaas) will descend. When Jesus pointed out that the John the Baptist is the same Elidjha, they rejected him. and are still bowing in front of “dewwaar-eGirya” for Elijha’s arrival. Similar is the attitude of Muslims, they are waiting for Eesa’s(as) physically descend. Islam has become a fairy tail now with all sorts of fantasies along with jinn, bhoot and paryeaan. They should realize, its high time now.