The Mahdi Between Fact and Fiction - Corrected Khutba

The Mahdi Between Fact and Fiction

Opening Hadith

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Ibn Majah Hadith 4084)

"Black flags will appear from the lands of the east, and they shall fight and they shall kill you like no other nation has been killed. When you see them, then give them allegiance, even if you have to crawl over snow to get to them, because they shall have the Khalifa of Allah, the Mahdi in their midst."

Khutba Opening

Bismillah and Opening Praise

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Verily, all praise is due to Allah. We praise Him and we seek His help. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and the consequences of our deeds. Verily, whomever Allah guides, there is none who can misguide him. And whomever He misguides, then none can guide him to the straight path. I bear witness and I testify that there is no deity that is worthy of our worship except for Allah. And I bear witness and I testify that Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is His final Prophet and His perfect worshipper.

The Incident of 1979: A False Mahdi

The Dawn of a New Century

As to what follows, the 20th of November, 1979, appeared by all means to be a normal day in Mecca. To be sure, it was a unique and auspicious day, for it so happened that the 20th of November, 1979, corresponded to the first of Muharram, 1400 after the Hijrah, the dawn of a new century, the beginning of a new era.

But little did Muslims know, as they shuffled and jostled one another in the crowd outside of the Haram in Mecca, to enter the Masjid al-Haram to pray the Salat al-Fajr, that this day was to mark one of the most horrific and evil days in the history of the Ummah.

The Deception Unfolds

As was typical and still is, a number of coffins and biers were led to the gates of the Haram, and the crowds made space for them in order to give them the right of way, out of respect for the dead, and to hasten their funeral procession. But it was not dead bodies that respect was being given to, but rather rifles, guns, ammunition and other weapons. For indeed, hidden under the white sheets were not corpses, but weapons intended to create corpses. And they were smuggled in under the very eyes of the guards that were meant to protect the Haram.

The Attack During Fajr Prayer

When the Fajr prayer began, the people lined up to pray to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) in the beautiful air, in the sweet scent surrounding the Kaaba. And as the Imam finished the prayer and said the Salam, signaling the new day, the dawn of a new century, suddenly a group of men pulled out their guns and other weapons, took control of the microphone, and began announcing that the promised Mahdi was in their midst, and that he had come finally to end this world of the deceit, of the evil, of the corruption that was rampant in their times, and that he would fill the earth with justice, just as it had been filled before with injustice.

The False Claimants

The name of this announcer was Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Saif al-Utaybi. And the name of the supposed Mahdi was just as the hadith had predicted it, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, who was from the pure Arab tribe of Al-Qahtan, from the descendants of the Quraysh.

This Mahdi, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, made his way to the Kaaba, stood between the black stone and the station of Ibrahim, and began taking the oath of allegiance from his followers. Juhayman then demanded that all of the Muslims inside the Haram should do the same, for here, he claimed, was the promised Mahdi.

The False Signs

Here, he said, is the Mahdi who is fulfilling the signs mentioned in the hadith. His name is the name of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The name of his father is the name of the Prophet's father, Muhammad ibn Abdullah. This is the Mahdi coming from Medina, the Mahdi that was supposed to seek refuge in the Haram in Makkah.

And of the signs was that the oath of allegiance will be given to him in front of the Kaaba, between the stone and the station of Ibrahim. All of these signs were clear and apparent. Here was the Mahdi, why not give bay'ah to him simultaneously.

The Siege Begins

The followers of Juhayman, all around the Haram, overpowered the guards of the entrances. And of course, the guards were completely unprepared for something of this nature. And they shut down and barricaded the doors of the Haram.

Bewildered and confused, the Muslim masses, thousands of men, women and children, were completely dumbstruck.