The Reality of Khilafah — Page 78
SIRRUL-KHILAFAH— 78 Also, for those given to reflection, there are indications of these tribulations in the name ‘Mahdi’. This name indicates that this person will be raised among a people who will have gone astray and that he will find guidance from Allah who will save him from the transgressors. Undoubtedly, this name inherently points to a time of darkness and vices, dangers and tribulations, and speaks of the extraordinary things God would do to help the weak and help- less. It provides categorical proof that the Mahdi would appear only upon the emergence of great tribulations and deep darkness, when righteous deeds would have become extinct and mere ver- bal claims would abound. All this would necessitate that God should bestow His guidance upon someone from among the people, and that darkness itself should fall in supplication before Allah and seek His light to illuminate the straight path. Then, by the command of the Almighty, angels and the Holy Spirit would descend upon that darkness and a man would be ordained as the Mahdi. The Spirit would be vouchsafed upon him and his heart and his vision would be illumined. He would be given honour and ascendancy as a gift; piety would be his inherent attribute, and he would be counted among the succoured servants of Allah. When transgression would reach its climax, it would be the day of arbitration and decree upon which Allah’s help and His boun- ties arrive. If Allah did not repel the evil-doers by means of the righteous, the earth would indeed have been filled with chaos, the doors of salvation would have been forever closed, and peo- ple would have been destroyed. For this reason, it is Allah’s eternal practice that He does not