¶ The Mahdi’s Manifesto
By Aba Al-Sadiq Abdullah Hashem
To all the oppressed people around the World…
To the Poor….
To the Orphan…
To the Widow….
To the Excluded from Society…
To the Righteous who want a change…
The Power for Change is in your hands.
¶ Introduction
The Jewish people have been waiting for the Messiah to appear and establish justice on Earth for 2600 years. The Buddhists have been awaiting the arrival of the Maitreya to enlighten the Earth and teach the pure Dharma for 2500 years. The Christians have been waiting for Jesus to return for over 2000 years. The Muslims have been waiting for the appearance of the Mahdi for 1400 years. And yet, when each does appear or when each had appeared, depending on the religion which you follow, (for the Christians believe that the Jewish Messiah did appear), the establishment of justice on the Earth or a Divine Just State is not something which one man can establish alone.
Rather, God himself states, that even He does not change what is with a people until they change what is with their own selves (The Holy Qur’an 13:11)1 . So change begins with us, justice and equality begins with us and a Divine Just State or a world without suffering will never be possible until we establish justice and equality amongst our own selves first. In this Manifesto, we will put forth our beliefs, outline our goals and demonstrate the most effective plan and roadmap to building a Divine Just State on Earth, leaving the rest in the hands of the believers to heed this call to action. Verily, what you have been promised has arrived.
¶ Chapter 1: Find a Leader
Every town, county, city, state, country, every corporation, company, organization, foundation, every movement, revolution, community and society needs a leader or else it is doomed to fail. A more recent example comes to mind when thinking of the 2011 Arab Spring. I was a youth who was on the frontlines of the Egyptian revolution and I risked my life to topple the Egyptian dictator Mohammed Hosni Mubarak. I camped out in Tahrir square, I was attacked by government agents and Egyptian police forces, I had dodged bullets and engaged in deadly battles and I was arrested and tortured. In the end, we won. The Egyptian people won, and the power of the people changed history and the old Pharaoh was forced to go away. Much like the story of Moses, that old Pharaoh, Hosni Mubarak, could have been struck by the ten plagues and he still would not have given up his throne, but he stood no chance against the power and will of the people. And yet, when it was all said and done, and the dust settled and the sound of the cheering and laughter and joy had gone silent, the revolution that toppled the Pharaoh was without its Moses. With no leader to follow, the Egyptian revolution ended up being stolen by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Evil Islamic organization that had long opposed the government of Egypt. The people were left with a choice to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Mohammed Morsi or for a candidate who was from the remnants of the former regime, Ahmed Shafik. The enthusiasm for change began to die and Morsi came to power, and a new page opened for Egypt which was worse than the page before. This was indeed the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) which stated, “There shall not come a time upon you except that the one after it is worse.”2 And indeed, after that was even worse, when Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, a military commander, lead a coup against the dictator Mohammed Morsi and came into power in 2014, and remained ever since, leading the country of Egypt into chaos and darkness. The Egyptians still say to this day, if only we had a leader for the revolution, that was our one mistake. The crowd moving without a leader was like a body running around without a head. Without an adequate leader, the people are forced to choose between inadequate ones. The feature of any truly successful nation is to be lead by the best of its people. But how does one find who is the best fit to lead? Can people actually determine who is best to lead? We have seen the choice of the people result in the rise of some of the world’s worst tyrants, such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. For those who believe in God, especially the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the choice of the people is irrelevant when it comes to a leader, in fact it is strictly prohibited. In the Hebrew Bible, God becomes infuriated with the Israelites and considers that they rejected Him when they decided to engage in choosing for themselves a leader. “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”3
In the Gospels too, it is clear that the people do not have the ability to correctly choose for themselves, for when they were given a choice between their savior and between a criminal, they chose the criminal over their own king and Messiah. “And they had then a notorious prisoner, called Barab′bas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Barab′bas or Jesus who is called Christ?”…Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the people to ask for Barab′bas and destroy Jesus.”4
In the Qur’an as well it is said, “And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from the way of Allāh. They follow not except assumption, and they are not but misjudging.”5 Imam Ali (PBUH) said, “Do not hate the path of truth because of the few that take it.”6 And so, there we see, the path of truth and righteousness is not followed by the majority, and the rule of the crowd or the mob, as Socrates (PBUH) said, will always lead to tyranny. As Socrates puts it, “when this noxious class and their followers grow numerous and become conscious of their strength, assisted by the infatuation of the people, they choose from among themselves the one who has most of the tyrant in his own soul, and him they create their tyrant.”7 The leader then, for the believers, and for the righteous movement that seeks God’s divine favor, must not be chosen by the people, but chosen and appointed by God Himself. Men can judge only by the apparent while God is capable of choosing a leader by their inside or by their heart. “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”8 A leader chosen by what lies in his heart rather than what comes out of his mouth is a leader that would embody all of the traits needed in a good leader; honesty, integrity, and empathy. A leader chosen by God comes with other benefits as well, for a leader chosen by God and recognized by his people as having been appointed by God, is capable of truly uniting his people, for anyone who dares to oppose him is opposing God almighty. Due to the enormous powers that this leader would yield, the fear remains that a person not appointed by God manages to rise to such position. For that reason, God would have had to have a way of clearly appointing this individual. Indeed, there is a way to recognize and confirm the identity of this divinely appointed individual.
- The Will: In the beginning it was God who appoints Adam, and He states very clearly in the Qur’an: “Verily I am making a Caliph in the land.”9 God made it clear He is the one who chooses the leader, and He made it clear whom his choice was. The angels had to prostrate or obey Adam afterwards. Following the appointment of Adam (PBUH), God interacted with mankind through his divinely appointed Caliph or messenger, starting with Adam (PBUH). The narrations make it clear that Adam (PBUH) named in his will the names of his successors, up until the time of Noah (PBUH), thus relaying the Divine will of God and the names of the divinely appointed chain of rulers to mankind. Abi Abdullah (From Him is Peace) said: “Verily Cain approached Seth (PBUH) and said to him: “My father gave you from the knowledge that he had, and I was older than you and had more of a right to this knowledge than you, but because I murdered his son, he became angry with me and preferred you with this knowledge over me. I swear by God, if you mention anything from the knowledge which you have inherited from your father in order that you show off in front of me and act like you are better, I shall kill you as I killed your brother.” Seth then hid everything he had of the knowledge he earned until the state of Cain and his rule comes to an end. And for that reason we practice dissimulation (taqiyah), because we have an example in the son of Adam, and Seth told his son about the Covenant in secret, and since Seth passed the Will to his son, by God, the sunnah has been to pass down the Will, scholar to scholar, and they would open the Will every year on one particular day and they would talk about how their father gave them a prophecy and glad tidings concerning the coming of Noah (PBUH).”10 So God appointed Adam (PBUH) and Adam (PBUH) delivered the appointment of his successors from Seth to Noah (PBUT) to the people by writing their names in his Will. As such do we find the prophets, messengers and divinely appointed figures in the Hebrew Bible, Gospels, Qur’an and Hadiths, always appointing their successors in their wills. We found Moses (PBUH) in his last testament appointing Joshua son of Nun (PBUH) and giving glad tidings of Jesus (PBUH), we found Jesus (PBUH) being appointed on the tongues of the prophets such as Isaiah and John the Baptist (PBUT) and we find Jesus (PBUH) also appointing his own successor in his will, Simon Peter (PBUH). Jesus said to Simon Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”11 We find Jesus (PBUH) giving glad tidings of the coming of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), the promised second Paraclete or comforter, “I am the Messenger of Allâh unto you confirming the Taurât [(Torah) which came] before me, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmed.”12 The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) in turn also, before leaving this world and on his deathbed, dictated to Imam Ali (PBUH) his will, with which he gave a divine promise, and stated that whoever holds on to it would never go astray, “When the time of the death of the Prophet approached while there were some men in the house, and among them was ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, the Prophet said: "Come near, let me write for you a writing after which you will never go astray.” ‘Umar said: "The Prophet is seriously ill, you have the Qur’an, so Allah’s Book is sufficient for us.”13 So then a few nights later, on the night of his passing, the Prophet said, “O Father of Al Hassan, bring me a pen and a paper’, so the Messenger of Allah (PBUH & His Family) dictated his Will until he came to this position where he said: ‘O Ali, there will be twelve Imams after me and after them there will be twelve Mahdis. So you, O Ali, are the first of the twelve Imams, Allah The Exalted has named you in His heavens Ali Al-Mortadha (Ali the Content), Amirul Mo’mineen (the Commander of the Believers), Al-Siddiq Al-Akbar (the Greater Truthful), Al Farouq Al-A’tham (the Greater Judge and Differentiator between truth and falsehood), Al-Ma’moun (the Trusted), and the Mahdi (the Rightly Guided). These names may not be attributed to other than you. O Ali, you are my Vicegerent/ Guardian over my family, their living and their dead, and upon my women: Whomever you affirm, she shall find me tomorrow, and whomever you divorce me from, I am innocent of her, I will not see her and she will not see me on the Day of Resurrection. And you are my Successor (Khalifa) on my nation after me. If death comes to you, hand it over to my son Al-Hassan, the Righteous and Benevolent. Then if death comes to him, let him hand it over to my son Al-Hussein, the Martyr, the Pure and Murdered. If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, the Master of Worshippers, Dhul Thafant (the one with hard skin on his knees) Ali. If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed Al-Baqir (the Revealer of Knowledge). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ja’far Al-Sadiq (the Truthful). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Musa Al-Kadhim (the Patient). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ali Al-Ridha. If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed Al Thiqa Al-Taqqi (the Trustworthy, the God-Fearing). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ali Al-Nasih (the Advisor). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Al-Hassan Al-Fadhil (the Meritorious). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed the Safeguarded of the Family of Mohammed, peace be upon them. Those are the twelve Imams. Then there will be twelve Mahdis after him, so if death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, the first of the close ones, he has three names, one like mine and my father’s and it is Abdullah (Servant of God), and Ahmed (the Praised), and the third name is Al-Mahdi (the Guided) and he is the first of the believers.”14 So there you have it, the perfectly preserved method of appointing the divinely appointed leader, through their name being mentioned in the will of the prophets and messengers before. If a leader does not have proof that his name was mentioned before on the tongue of a divinely appointed prophet or messenger or Imam, he cannot be chosen as leader by the people because he simply was not appointed by God. That is the first test of qualification which he must pass, for all divinely appointed leaders have been mentioned by God on the tongues of their predecessors.
- Knowledge: The second criterion for a divinely appointed leader by God is that he has divine knowledge, knowledge that others do not have, God given knowledge and wisdom. Adam (PBUH), after having been appointed by God, was instructed to inform the angels of their names, and to name all things in the world of creation. “He taught Adam the names of all things, then He presented them to the angels and said, “Tell Me the names of these, if what you say is true?” They replied, “Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are truly the All-Knowing, All-Wise.” Allah said, “O Adam! Inform them of their names.” Then when Adam did, Allah said, “Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of the heavens and the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you conceal?”15 And in the Torah it states, “And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.”16 So clearly the person who is appointed by God is given knowledge by God and knows that which everyone else does not. Abi Abdullah (PBUH) was once asked, “By what is the companion of the matter known?” It was answered, “He is known by his tranquility, dignity, knowledge and the will.”17 The type of knowledge which this divinely appointed person must possess is not necessarily knowledge of worldly sciences, for example, he is not expected to be a jack of all trades, the best biologist, the best physicist, and the best architect, but rather the knowledge is knowledge of religion and the unseen, spiritual knowledge. “Imam Ali (PBUH) said, O people, ask me before you lose me. Behold! I know the paths of the heavens better than I know the paths of the earth.”18 Imam Ali (PBUH) was saying here that he is more versed in the spiritual sciences than in the material worldly sciences. Spiritual science includes the knowledge of God’s jurisprudence and laws, the knowledge of the prophets, messengers and angels; and part of spiritual knowledge is the knowledge of the souls, who is good and who is bad, who is weak and who is strong, who is right and who is wrong, who is guilty and who is innocent, who is appropriate for a particular job and who is not, who has faith and who conceals disbelief. Jesus (PBUH) was able to demonstrate knowledge of this kind, “But when Jesus felt [persistence in] disbelief from them, he said, "Who are my supporters for [the cause of] Allah ?" The disciples said," We are supporters for Allah. We have believed in Allah and testify that we are Muslims [submitting to Him].”19 So even though they declared faith, Jesus knew what was in their hearts. Prophets David and Solomon (PBUT) ruled by their divine knowledge and they judged amongst the people accordingly and the Qa’im rules as such, through his divine knowledge which is given to him by the Holy Spirit. Ammar As Saabati reported: “I asked Abu Abdullah [as] : “On what will you rule if you are made the rulers?” He replied: “By the rule of Allah and the rule of David. And if we are confronted by a situation which we cannot solve, Gabriel will reveal it to us.”20 Other narrations state that the Qa’im will judge without asking for proof or evidence in cases, but he will rule and judge based on what knowledge is placed in his heart from God. So thus, the knowledge which accompanies the companion of the Will, is divine knowledge, knowledge that allows for the divinely appointed individual to judge justly amongst the people and place the right people in the right positions much like the Philosopher King does in Plato’s Republic.
- The Banner: The third criterion by which the individual can rest assured that the person is truly divinely appointed after having heard that he is claiming his name to have been mentioned in the will of a former Prophet or Messenger or Imam, as well as having confirmed that this individual is indeed wise and holds knowledge like none other, is through the banner which he holds. Every leader or ruler or king raises a banner, every noble house has a house banner, every sports team or organization or company has a logo or banner or motto which they uphold. The same is true for the divinely appointed Caliph, his banner and slogan is ‘Allegiance is to Allah’. This means that he is calling towards the idea of the Supremacy of God, the idea that only God can appoint the leader, only God has the authority and ability to choose the ruler and every divinely appointed prophet, messenger, and imam was sent as a ruler or king, “And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by permission of Allāh.”21 And indeed, when one looks into the Torah, Bible, and the Qur’an, we see clearly that God always appointed the rulers, and his wrath came down upon man when they refused to obey the ruler and chose instead for themselves their own rulers and guides. God appointed Adam and gave him authority over the land, God appointed Noah and gave him the entire Earth, God appointed Abraham and granted him a land for him to rule over, God appointed Moses and made him break his people free from the grasps of the false leader, Pharaoh, and lead them to the promised land, God made Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and the judges who succeeded them rulers over the Israelites. God appointed Samuel, David, Solomon and Jesus over the Israelites. He sent Jesus as a King to be obeyed but the people chose to crucify him and reject their king instead. God appointed Mohammed and the Imams as rulers over this nation of Muslims, and yet the Muslims killed them and rejected them and took Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, the Umayyads, and the Abbassids as their rulers and kings. The divinely appointed Messenger or leader always returns people to the will and to the true meaning of Islam, or submission, to submit to the divinely appointed leader or ruler, just as the angels prostrated and submitted to Adam. The divinely appointed ruler or leader becomes a compass and distinguisher whereby people come to know who is good and who is bad, who is an angel and who is a devil, for all those who prostrate to and obey and take the divinely appointed leader as a guide is like the Angels who accepted Adam’s appointment; and everyone who rejects the divinely appointed leader, out of hatred and not out of ignorance, is like Satan who refused and thought himself better. So in short, if a man comes and claims the will, and displays knowledge and calls towards the supremacy of God, then he is telling the truth, but if a man came and claimed a different system of rule for the nation of believers, for example, he calls towards a system that allows the people to choose or appoint their own leader in any way, shape or form, whether it be democracy, communism, a monarchy system or any other system other than that, then this person is a Samiri, a false prophet, an Antichrist. And the narrations state that the banner of Mohammed and Ali (PBUT) goes to the Qa’im and the banner of the Qa’im has written on it, ‘Allegiance is to Allah’.
¶ Chapter 2: Entering a Covenant
We believe that these three criteria apply to every divinely appointed prophet, messenger, judge, king, and imam from the time of Adam (PBUH) until today. We believe that Adam (PBUH) wrote his will mentioning the names of all the divinely appointed successors until Noah (PBUH). This is because Adam (PBUH) came with the first covenant from God, the first jurisprudence and law from God, and the first set of commands. All the successors from Adam until Noah followed the law and way of Adam (PBUT). At some point human beings break the covenant established by Adam (PBUH) and they incur God’s wrath and are eliminated by the flood. Noah (PBUH) established a second covenant after that, and brought down a new jurisprudence and law and he writes a will before his death, mentioning the names of all his successors up until Abraham (PBUH). The same thing occurs, all those between Noah (PBUH) and Abraham (PBUH) follow the law and ways of Noah (PBUH) until humans break the second covenant and a punishment befalls them, this time being the confusion of languages. Abraham ( PBUH) establishes a third covenant, and comes with a new law and set of jurisprudence and mentions his successors up until Moses (PBUH). The same thing occurs, and history repeats itself, and mankind break their covenant with God and a punishment comes down. Moses (PBUH) establishes a fourth covenant and before his death, writes a will in which he dictates the names of all his successors from Joshua until Jesus (PBUT). And the same occurs and Jesus (PBUH) comes with the fifth covenant and a new set of laws, and the same occurs and he writes his will and mentions all the successors between himself and Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). And the same occurs, and Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) is sent forth with a sixth covenant and a new set of laws and rules. And the same occurs, and the Muslim nation breaks the sixth covenant through the slaughtering of the Family of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and the elimination, and imprisonment of all the divinely appointed leaders mentioned in his will. The muslims incurred the wrath of God and a punishment came down upon them, and there is another punishment that is yet to come down upon them for their transgression against God, through their oppression of Mohammed and his Family. And the Mahdi was sent forth with a seventh covenant and call. This is clear in the narrations that state in the time of the Mahdi, Islam would be lost, and the most evil of creatures would be the scholars and jurisprudents, and the Mahdi or the Qa’im would call to a new book and a new matter.22 Like all previous covenants, it comes with a new jurisprudence and law, and being a member of this covenant defines if a person is a believer or not, and determines if the person is to be saved or not. Believing in the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) is now irrelevant if one does not accept this seventh covenant and pledge allegiance to the Qa’im and his successors in the will of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). We believe that the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) pointed out who his successors were very clearly. He stated in his will which we previously supplied the names of twelve Imams, starting with Imam Ali (PBUH) and ending with Imam Mahdi Mohammed Son of Al-Hassan Al-Askari (PBUH), and there has come to the Earth all of them, and no man claimed to be them or claimed their name was mentioned in the will of the Prophet Mohammed except for them. As such, the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) mentioned the names of the first three Mahdis, Abdullah, Ahmed and the third name being Al-Mahdi. In 1400 years, from the time the will was written and until now, no one has claimed to be Abdullah in the will except for me, Abdullah Hashem. No one has claimed to be Ahmed in the will except for Ahmed Al-Hassan. Both Abdullah and Ahmed have displayed divine knowledge which was attested to by thousands of people, both of us were the only people in this day and age to call towards the idea and notion of the supremacy of Allah. Every other so-called Muslim scholar and representative or leader, whether Sunni or Shia, have called towards elections or obedience to the tyrant king of their country or region, or have called to something else other than the will of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). This makes us unique and truthful in our claim, and makes us the divinely appointed successors of our time, and the only rightful heirs to the prophets and messengers and imams, for we came with the exact same proofs and in the exact same sunnah or way as they have. We are to the Muslims what the twelve Imams are to Shia Islam, we are to the Muslim nation what the Pope is to Catholics and what the Dalai Lama is to Tibetan Buddhists and what the Messiah is to the Jews. Furthermore, because we believe that Jesus (PBUH) named his successors up until Mohammed (PBUH & His Family), we believe that the current Pope is illegitimate and the only true successor of the Prophets and Messengers are Abdullah, Ahmed, and Al-Mahdi. We believe that from the time of Adam (PBUH) and until now, the divinely appointed rulers and successors have continuously been pushed away from power and authority and have been replaced by imposters and usurpers, such as the Umayyads and Abbasids whom usurped the authority of Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed (PBUH & His Family). The ultimate goal of the Prophets and Messengers and Imams was to establish a Divine Just State on Earth, one in which the authority returns to the Divinely appointed King or ruler. Abi Abdullah (PBUH) said, “Verily God made religion two states, the state of Adam and it is the state of Allah, and the state of Iblis, and if God wants to be worshipped in public, it is the state of Adam, and if God wants to be worshipped in secret, it is the state of Iblis.”23 He also said, “Our Shiites in the state of falsehood will have nothing but sustenance. Go east if you wish or west, you will not be provided with anything but sustenance.”24 Imam Ali (PBUH) said, “The state of the wicked is the trial of the good.”25 Thus, there is a state of God, which existed in the garden of Eden, and it will be brought back into existence, as it is the promise of God that the state of Adam returns one day, and that is what the prophets and messengers worked for, a return to the garden of Eden at the hands of the Qa’im. A state where God can be worshipped openly through obedience and acceptance of the divinely appointed leader and representative of God. That is in fact why all the righteous return to this Earth, to support him in this goal. And the narrations are many which speak about the reincarnation of the different companions and prophets and messengers in the time of the Qa’im, to help him in the final battle against Satan and his companions, and in order to establish a new Eden or a Divine Just State. But in order to establish a Divine Just State, we had to first find a leader, and second, we have to enter into a new covenant with God, and entering into a new covenant with God requires that we find the Imam of the time, pledge allegiance to him, and then obey him in all things, and accept from him religion and the new jurisprudence and law from God. As the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said, “Whoever dies and doesn’t have a pledge of allegiance in their neck dies the death of ignorance, and whoever dies and doesn’t know the Imam of his time dies the death of ignorance.”26 So religion is a man, and entering into a covenant with God or being in the Wilaya of God means that you are obedient to that man. As Imam Al-Ridha (PBUH) said, “Allah said; ‘The words ‘there is no God but Allah’ is a fortified fortress, whoever says those words are protected from My punishment, but it has conditions and I am from those conditions.”27 As such, every divinely appointed successor is a condition from the conditions of faith, in order for your faith to be accepted, you must accept God’s authority which He appoints on Earth. Abdullah, Ahmed and Imam Mahdi are the conditions for this time and age. No one is a believer except if they pledge allegiance to them and believe in them, and religion is received through them and them alone. Now once the believers unite around a common leader and a common religion with its own unique jurisprudence, yet it is still the same original religion from the time of Adam until now, the believing body and future citizens of the divine just state have a common culture. The believers are now part of one family, one tribe, the family of the Mahdi (Aal Al-Mahdi).
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
¶ Chapter 3: Forging a Community
The community of believers which make up the body of believers in the call of the Mahdi (PBUH) see themselves as not only members of one faith, but members of one family, for the Qur’an said, “The believers are but siblings.”28 The community of believers also view themselves as God’s chosen people, for the chosen people of God are but the people whom God has a standing covenant with, and that is us, for the Jews, Christians, and Muslims all broke their covenants with God. The community of believers see themselves as the true children of Israel. The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said, “I am the servant of God, my name is Ahmad, and I am the servant of God, my name is Israel, so whatever he commanded him, he commanded me, and whatever he meant for Israel, he meant for me.”29 Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH) also said about the interpretation of the verse in the Qur’an ‘O Children of Israel’, "It is specific to the Family of Mohammed.”30 So now we know and realize that the promise of the return to the promised land mentioned in the Torah, the promise of the gathering of the lost tribes of Israel mentioned in the Bible, and the promise of God’s everlasting blessings and hand over the nation of Israel is actually speaking about Mohammed and his successors (PBUT). The ones who will inherit the land are them and their followers. In the Bible it says, “They were from the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve thousand from each tribe: Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd—no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”31 As such, the tribes of Israel (Mohammed’s family and Shia) gather to the Qa’im in the narrations, “When our Qa’im (PBUH) will establish himself, Allah will gather the people of the East and West. These people will come together in one place in the same manner as the leaves gather in one place in autumn.”32 The companions whom gather around the Qa’im are the future citizens of the Divine Just State. God is gathering them as he gathered the Israelites before in the time of Moses (PBUH). First, the Israelites took Moses as a leader, then they entered into a covenant with God by obedience to him, and the believers then left Egypt and their old lives of slavery to follow Moses (PBUH) as he leads them out of the clutch of Pharaoh and through the sea. As such, the believers in this day and age are commanded to travel to the Qa’im, even if it were on ice, or through the clouds, or even if it were at great risk to their own selves, in order that they may form a community around him and be part of the promised nation that he will lead out of slavery and into the promised land. This task requires great patience as it did before with previous prophets and messengers. The narrations state that Noah (PBUH) preached to his people for 950 years before the flood came and the believers inherited the Earth. The narrations also state that Moses (PBUH) first appeared amongst his people attempting to save them at the age of forty and led them out of Egypt at the age of eighty. As such, the call of the Qa’im requires people whom understand the sunnah of the previous prophets and messengers, and are willing to dedicate their lives, time, efforts and resources to establishing a state. Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan the Yamani said, “I do not want anyone who gets tired or gets bored,” and he said, “Work and work and work until your breath is cut out,” and he also said, “in order to pass this, one needs patience, and then patience, and then patience, and then submission.” He also said, “The Divine Just State will never be established until it is established amongst you first, O believers.” So we believe that during this time where the believing community goes from being a diaspora or dispersed nation that was exiled by the tyrants from their land to a strong community gathered around the Qa’im, justice must be established amongst the community. The community should live by God’s rules and by being an example of, “You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them.”33 We must become a true embodiment of the values and teachings of the Prophets and Messengers and Imams, and an example for all nations of what a true Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Hindu, etc. should be. Through the divine example which the community sets for the world, they will not only gain God’s favor even more, but they will gain the admiration and respect of all nations. As they demonstrate themselves to be the ideal nation and the ideal people, the ideal state and the ideal religion, they are propagating the faith in every and all ways. When people see the example of the community, they compare it to their families, their friends, their states, their countries, and they envy our nation and our people, and wish to be like us and with us. This will eventually result in the manifestation of an actual Divine Just State for the believers, where we have an actual country with actual borders. As the body is a physical manifestation of the soul which comes before it. As such, the gathering of the community serves as the archetype, prototype, and soul of the physical state and country which comes after. This great gathering will cost money, for those who migrate to the Qa’im will be many, and they will marry and they will fulfill the Adamic covenant and be fruitful and multiply, and more resources will be needed to sustain the nation. The community must emulate the previous communities and nations of the prophets and messengers. Every new member must adhere to the stipulation that Jesus (PBUH) put forth to anyone who wished to follow him. Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”34 And the poor are those poor who emigrate to the Qa’im, those believers who are the oppressed on the Earth, those who believe in the Supremacy of God. The community must live as the apostles of Christ lived, rather even more so than them if they wish to be the nation that Jesus (PBUH) returns to, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”35 Those members of the community whom arrive must also be prepared to work serving the community in one way, shape or form. A gigantic platform should be built to spread the call, a media machine, so to speak. This will require men and women whom are dedicated to spreading the call of God and serve as writers, television presenters, editors, debaters, missionaries, etc. and it requires a system to support them. There must be believers whom are willing to cook and feed the community of saints, prophets and messengers. There must be drivers willing to take the believers wherever they need to go, cleaners willing to clean after them and maintain their properties, builders willing to build homes and offices and temples, doctors willing to heal and medicine the sick, teachers and tutors willing to teach and help the children, until there remains no job in an actual state that is not fulfilled by believers in our community. They would be the plumbers, mechanics, doctors, engineers, teachers, workers, and leaders that are needed for our divine just state. There should be no currency exchanged between the believers. All needs of any member of the community should be fulfilled for free. The value of each community member would not be determined by how much they accumulated in material wealth like the rest of the nations, but rather by how much they served God through their service to the community and fellow man. That is their worth, as the Prophet said, “Creation is the children of God, the best of you is the best to the children of God.”36 The community of believers should work to never have any differences between them, but if they ever did, they would all recognize the authority and judgement of their leader and they would accept it. The community of believers would be like a bee hive working for a common cause, with each member willing to sacrifice himself or herself for the survival of the hive. The community members are like one family, like siblings born from the same parents, and they fulfill their rights to one another as such. They give up their physical parents and take the divinely appointed leader as their father, and they give up their physical friends, brothers, sisters, and take the believers in their place. So much so that the believer inherits from his brother in the community and in the soul world, and does not leave his inheritance for his physical family. The community serves as an ideal example of love, peace and prosperity, seeking to guide all mankind, and without causing any trouble for the country which hosts them while they are still a nationless people. They respect all the laws of the land that they are in, they show appreciation to the nation and people that hosted them, allowing them to practice their faith freely in the same way that Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and the Muslims showed love and respect to the Ethiopian Christian King who allowed them freedom to live as a community of Muslims in his land.
¶ About us
The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light is the name of the organization formed to represent our religion and is officially registered in the United States of America with 501c3 status. We are also an officially registered charity in the United Kingdom. We are also known as The Black Banners of the East, the Ansar of Imam Mahdi and the companions of the Seventh Covenant.
If you are interested in learning more about the faith or about our community, please contact us at [email protected] or visit our website https://theahmadireligion.org/
¶ Sources
1 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 13 (Ar-Ra’d), Verse 11
2 Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Bukhari, the Book of Trials (Kitab Al-Fitan), Hadith no. 7068
3 The Holy Bible, Book of 1 Samuel, Chapter 8, verses 4-7
4 The Holy Bible, Book of Matthew, Chapter 27, verses 16-17, 20
5 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 6 (Al-An’am), verse 116
6 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 67, p. 107
7 The Republic, Plato, Book IX
8 The Holy Bible, The Book of 1 Samuel, Chapter 16, Verse 7
9 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), verse 30
10 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 11, p. 241
11 The Holy Bible, Book of Matthew, Chapter 16, verse 19
12 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 61 (As-Saf), verse 6
13 Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Bukhari, Book of Patients, Chapter 17, Hadith no. 5669
14 Ghaybat Al-Tusi, Al-Shaikh Al-Tusi, Vol. 1, p. 174
15 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), verses 31-33
16 The Holy Bible, The Book of Genesis, Chapter 2, verse 20
17 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 25, p. 138
18 Mizan Al-Hikma, Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 2, p. 1218
19 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 3 (Aal Imran), verse 52
20 Al-Kafi, Al-Shaikh Al-Kulayni, Vol. 1, p. 398
21 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4 (Al-Nisa) verse 64
22 Al-Kafi, Al-Shaikh Al-Kulayni, Vol. 8, p. 308; Kitab Al-Ghayba (Book of Occultation), Al-Numani, Vol. 1, p. 236
23 Al-Kafi, Al-Shaikh Al-Kulayni, Vol. 2, p. 372
24 Al-Kafi, Al-Shaikh Al-Kulayni, Vol. 2, p. 261
25 Mizan Al-Hikma (Scale of Wisdom), Mohammed Al-Reyshahri, Vol. 2, p. 936
26 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 23, p. 94
27 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 49, p. 123
28 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 49 (Al-Hujarat), verse 10
29 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 24, p. 397
30 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 24, p. 397
31 The Holy Bible, The Book of Revelation, Chapter 7, verses 4-9
32 Moajam Ahadith Al-Imam Al-Mahdi, Ali Al-Korani, Vol. 3, p. 100
33 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 3 (Aal Imran), verse 110
34 The Holy Bible, The Book of Matthew, Chapter 19 verse 21
35 The Holy Bible, The Book of Acts, Chapter 4, verses 32-35
36 Wasa’il Al-Shia, Al-Hurr Al-Amili, Vol. 16, p. 345