The True Nature of the Mahdi — Page 59
59 except after the passage of centuries, by the will of Allah the Doer, after corruption in the earth, enemy onslaughts, and rampant error. So when corruption manifests in the land, aggres - sion increases, and debauchery and disobedience spread, and divine understanding decreases—and the people become like the blind, and they become ignorant of the limits set by Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, and corruption infuses works, actions, and speech—the state of the Religion becomes divided and it nearly disappears, and the enemies extend their hands towards the Muslim community, and the prac - tices of the faith approach extinction, and nothing remains with regard to the capacity of the scholars to return the people to righteousness and piety—rather, the scholars are languishing and have forgotten ser - vice to the faith, and swagger towards the lowly world, and no portion of belief or certainty remains among them—when disorder, transgression, and misguidance becomes so severe that it may be likened to the ter - tiary stage of a disease, and no hope remains that mere speech can cure the people, thereupon, a Reformer is sent, who has been granted knowledge, understand - ing, truthfulness, purity, and uprightness from his