Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 481
28 SEPTEMBER 1905 mentioned in the ahādīth that the Mahdi will wage war when he comes. PROMISED MESSIAHas-You do not know. This concept is completely false. All ahādīth of this type about the Mahdi have been declared by the Muhaddithin [scholars of Hadith] to be majrūh [questionable]. There is only one hadithلَا مَهْدِيَ إِلَّا عِيسَى meaning, 'There is no Mahdi to come except for the Promised Messiah, the very Promised One who is referred to in [Sahih al-Bukhari as 2 إِمَامُكُمْ مِنْكُمْ ]Imamukum minkum— 'your Imam from among you']; that is, the one who is to come from this very Ummah. Further, it is not written anywhere about him that he will fight wars. On the contrary, in [Sahih al-Bukhārī, which is أَصَحُ الْكُتُبِ بَعْدَ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ ]the most authentic book after the Book of Allah] it is clearly written that 3 يَضَعُ الْحَرْبَ yada ul-barb-he will end warfare']. In other words, there will be no religious wars during his time. This is because there is no need for war- fare anymore. Our adversaries do not wage war against us. They criticize with the pen. So, how great a weakness would it be failing to reply to the pen with the pen, but rather resorting to weapons for this? In such a situation when attacks are occurring with the pen, it is verily our duty to stop them with the pen. Moreover, if it was the intent of Almighty Allah that the advancement of Islam during this era would be through war, 481 1. Al-Mustadrak 'ala aş-Şahīhayn, Kitābul-Fitan wal-Malāhim, regarding the hadith of Sa'd ibn Malik, Hadith 8363 [Publisher] 2. Şahih al-Bukhārī, Kitāb Aḥādīth al-Anbiyā', Bāb Nuzūl ‘Īsā ibn Maryam 'alay- hima as-Salām, Hadith 3449 [Publisher] 3. Şahih al-Bukhārī, Kitāb Aḥādīth al-Anbiyā', Bāb Nuzūl Īsā ibn Maryam 'alay- hima as-Salām, vol. 1, p. 490, Qadeemi Kutub Khana, Karachi, published in 1961 [Publisher]