:salam2:
My questions are:
1- How to tell/explain others that who is “Imam Mahdi”?
2- How one came to knows that who is the true “Imam Mahdi”?
3- If real name of that person will be “Imam Mahdi” or the people of that time will call (name him as) “Imam Mahdi”
Re: Imam Mahdi
If we look at meanings of words then word imaam is from root ALIF, MEEM and MEEM. It has various meanings but the concrete root meaning of this word is mother, something from which come other things. A foundation upon which are based or built other things. It has various derived root meanings eg nation, leadership etc etc.
Word MAHDI comes from root HAA, DAAL and YAA. Its concrete root meaning is distinction ie some sort of marking that distinguishes a concept or an object from the rest of concepts or objects objectively. It too has various other derived root meanings eg sacrificial offering, mode, guidance, daylight, instruction, explanation, present, road, mannerism etc etc.
Coming to imaam mahdi, I think it means a person who is able to understand proper guidance from the proper sources of islam the best and is able to guide ummah or make clear for ummah the right way.
It would seem that as time goes by islam becomes covered up in make beliefs of people and at time such scholars come along who try to put before ummah the proper islam.
Any other concepts about imaam mahdi, would require continuation of divine revelation which will cause conflict within the quranic teachings. I think people who believe in continuation of divine guidance on basis of direct divine messengership are seriously mistaken. Most ahadith would seem either misinterpreted by various sects or that they may not be ahadith at all but forgeries.
If imaam mahdi meant anything special needing attention of the ummah, the quran ought to discuss the issue in great detail. So imaam mahdi is any person who works for revival of islam and muslims on basis of his knowledge about islam from the original islamic sources.
The idea that imaam mahdi is someone better than prophet muhammad with supernatural power is totally unacceptable and seems a concoction or invention in islam by mullahs to derail the message of islam. This was the trick used by chiefs and priests always against the divine messengers. They instilled beliefs in heads of people that men of God have supernatural powers and that is how you know they are from God. This is clearly a false belief because Allah sent prophets only to educate people not to put up magic shows like tricksters. Each and every divine messenger proved his divine authority by using the message he received from God. No magic tricks whatsoever.
People who claim supernatural powers for creatures need to think hard as to what they are really saying and the implications of that sort of beliefs. Please refer to my other posts to see for more detailed explanations.
Re: Imam Mahdi
Peace LLK
Imam Mahdi will be the person at whose hands the ummah will align at the military level. He will appear in a time of great strife and will resist being appointed the leader until he is forced to accept it.
He will never claim to be the Mahdi and that is his sign, he will be from ahl-al-bayt … And he will be noticed in Makkah and move to Syria with a campaign.
His name will be Muhammad ibn Abdullah and his kunya will be Abu Abdillah
He will lead the first prayer that Isa (AS) will pray on his (AS)'s return.
There is no basis for any claims that Mahdi will have supernatural powers. Those people who insist in ridiculing the karamat or mu’ajizaat that will be apparent and are so to the Awliya and anbiya have their own problems.
Re: Imam Mahdi
Walikum Assalam,
‘the Mahdi is no other than the Messiah’ (Ibn e Maja)
Another one states : "How would it be with you when the son of Mary will descend among you and you will have a leader raised from among you " (Bukhari Kitabul anbiya).
short answer.. look for solar and lunar eclipse in the month of ramadan
Since I said Messiah and Mahdi are one and same person, the ahadith mentioning about His name etc is to show that He a.s will act and preach the exact same teachings of Islam taught by Muhammad PBUH. Hence, His name being called Muhammad, His father name being called same as Him, and its also said that he will be buried in my grave, pointing at total submission to the holy prophet Muhammad PBUH.
If everything is mapped for us and we take everything literally then there is no imaan bil ghaib. As Muslim, we are told not to follow the steps of jews.
Re: Imam Mahdi
Best way to know to recognize Imam Mahdi is to pray hard... pray to Allah, that whenever He sends His promised Mahdi, we are able to recognize him. fill your namaz with this prayers... and Allah will guide us to Sirat-e-Mustaqeem and open our eyes, ears & hearts whenever Imam Mahdi will come! :)