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SIGNS OF THE MAHDI IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT AND OTHER JUDAIC TEXTS
Belief in the coming of the Mahdi is one of Judaism's fundamental beliefs. Ever since the 12th century, the Jews have regarded Rabbi Maimonides (or in Arabic, Ibn Maimun) as the greatest scholar of the Old Testament. Maimonides stated that of the 13th fundamental dogma of Judaism, the 12th was "To believe in the coming of the Messiah [Mahdi]." According to these principles, Jewish belief regarding the Mahdi is set out as follows: "I sincerely believe in the coming of the Messiah [Mahdi], and even if his coming is delayed, I await his coming every day."
The Mishnah, one of the Judaic scriptures, describes the position of those who deny the coming of the Mahdi:
Whoever does not believe in him, or does not await his coming, denies not only [the statements of] the other prophets, but also [those of] the Torah and of Moshe, our teacher. . . . (Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Laws of Kings 11:1)
In addition, the Shmoneh Esrei prayer, which Jews perform three times every day, refers to the coming of the Mahdi being close at hand. They recite this prayer in the expectation of the Mahdi, for the reconstruction of justice as a requirement of religious moral values, for immorality, sin and evil to come to an end, and for the truth to prevail.
This section contains those parts of the distorted Torah that concern the Mahdi and that agree with the verses of the Qur'an and the hadiths of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
HE EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE APPEARANCE
OF THE MAHDI IN JUDAIC SOURCES
According to Jewish tradition, before the appearance of the Mahdi (or Messiah, as they refer to him), there will be a huge moral collapse stemming from atheism. People's feelings of shame will decline. Pride and oppression will grow. No one will have any compassion, the devout will be reviled, and corruption and denial will spread. On the larger scale, there will be a succession of wars and oppression. The lands will become increasingly less fertile, and the cost of living, famine and poverty will increase.
Some of the features of this period preceding the coming of the Mahdi are described in Judaic scriptures:
1. The appearance of portents in the End Times:
And I . . . am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them. . . . (Isaiah 66:18-19)
2. The spread of atheism:
The generation in which [the Mahdi] will come. . . all the governments will be turned over to Minuth (will embrace the religion of the Minim [atheism]), and no preaching will avail. . . . (Talmud, Sanhedrin 11:97a)
"Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness," declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:11
The [Mahdi] will not come until the whole world is converted to the belief of the heretics. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 11:97a)
3. The abandonment of religious values:
In the generation in which the [Mahdi] will come. . . truth will be missing. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
4. The reviling of the devout:
In the footsteps of the [Mahdi]. . . Fearers of sin will be despised, and truth will be lacking. (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
. . . and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. . . . He who departs from evil will be dubbed a fool by his fellow-men. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a
5. Admiration of the wicked:
In the generation in which [the Mahdi] will come . . . an evil man will be honored. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
6. The abandonment of religious education:
[The Mahdi] will not come. . . unless the disciples will decrease. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 11:97a)
7. State leaders turn their backs on religious values:
In the footsteps of the [Mahdi] . . . The government will turn to heresy, and there will be none [to offer them] reproof. (Talmud, Sotah 49:2)
8. Rulers become immature:
And I will make children their chiefs, and foolish ones will have rule over them. (Isaiah, 3:4)
9. A rise in female leaders:
. . . a babe is their master, and women rule over them. . . . (Isaiah 3:12)
10. Leaders look to their own interests:
The generation in which [the Mahdi] will come. . . The leaders of that generation will have the nature of dogs. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
. . . judges are wolves of the desert, they leave not a bone for the morrow. (Zephaniah 3:3)
11. The wicked become strong:
. . . They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness . . . (Jeremiah 23:14)
. . . their course is evil, and their force is not right. . . . (Jeremiah 23:10)
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. . . . (Zephaniah 3:3)
12. No one is left to establish justice :
The [Mahdi] will not come until all judges and officers are gone. . . . (Talmud, Sanhedrin, 98a)
13. Increasing poverty:
[The Mahdi] will not come . . . until the pockets will be empty... (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
14. An increase in unfair earnings:
. . . the plunder of the poor is in your houses. . . . What do you mean by. . . grinding the faces of the poor? (Isaiah 3:14-15)
15. Hunger and famine
. . . in the seven-year cycle at the end of which the [Mahdi] will come. . . the arrows of hunger will be sent forth; . . . a great famine, in the course of which men, women, and children, pious men and saints will die. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
16. The land becomes less fertile:
. . . the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come. Smiting upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine; for the land of my people whereon thorns and briers come up; yea, for all the houses of joy and the joyous city. (Isaiah 32:9-13)
| . . . the seeds are shrivelled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, . . . flames have burned up all the trees of the field. . . . (Joel 1:17, 19) |
| The fields are ruined, the ground mourns; the grain is destroyed . . . . grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. (Joel 1:10-11) |
17. A decrease in sources of fresh water:
The [Mahdi] will not come until a fish is sought for an invalid and cannot be procured, as it is written, "Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
. . . the water brooks are dried up. . . . (Joel 1:20)
18. Drought:
The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers. . . . (Isaiah 24:4)
. . . the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. . . . (Jeremiah 23:10)
| The vine withers. . . . (Isaiah 24:7) |
| The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and apple tree--all the trees of the field--are dried up. . . . (Joel 1:12) |
19. Animals suffer:
How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of the sheep are suffering. . . even the wild animals pant for you. (Joel 1:18-20)
A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps. (Zechariah 14:15)
20. A time of trial and tribulation:
The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. . . . (Zephaniah 1:14-15)
Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. (Jeremiah 23:12)
| . . . in the generation when the [Mahdi] will come, . . . and as for the rest [other than scholars], their eyes will fail through sorrow and grief. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a) |
| Let him [Mahdi] come... When one goes out into the field and meets a bailiff, it is as though he had met a lion. When he enters the town, and is accosted by a tax-collector, it is as though he had met a bear. On entering his house and finding his sons and daughters in the throes of hunger, it is as though he were bitten by a serpent!. . . Ask you now, and see whether a man travails with child? Wherefore do I see every man [geber] with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b) |
21. A succession of disasters
. . . in the generation when the [Mahdi] will come, . . . evil decrees will be promulgated anew, each new evil coming with haste before the other has ended. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
"When will the [Mahdi] come?" He replied, "When darkness covers those people." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 99a)
When you see a generation overwhelmed by many troubles as by a river, await him, as it is written, when the enemy shall come in like a flood. . . the Redeemer [the Mahdi] shall come. . . (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
In the generation in which the [Mahdi] will come . . . [There will be] test after test. (Talmud, Kethuboth 112b)
| . . . a curse consumes the earth. . . . (Isaiah 24:6) |
| Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare... (Isaiah 24:18) |
22. A rise in corruption:
...in the generation when [the Mahdi] will come... Multitudes of trouble and evil decrees will be promulgated anew, each new evil coming with haste before the other has ended... (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path. (Isaiah 3:12)
. . . But they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did. (Zephaniah 3:7)
23. The rule of despair:
[The Mahdi] will not come . . . unless they will renounce their hope to be redeemed. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
24. The spread of prostitution:
In the generation in which the [Mahdi] will come, the houses of assembly will be converted into houses of prostitution. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
| . . . and traded boys for prostitutes. . . . (Joel 3:3) |
| The land is full of adulterers. . . . (Jeremiah 23:10) |
25. A decline in people's sense of shame:
. . . in the generation when [Mahdi] comes . . . a son will not be abashed in his father's presence. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a)
Insolence will increase and honor dwindle. (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
A son will not feel ashamed before his father. (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
| . . . the child shall behave insolently against the aged, and the base against the honorable. (Isaiah 3:5) |
26. Increasing immorality:
The [Mahdi] will come only in a generation that is . . . altogether wicked. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
When you see a generation ever dwindling, hope for him [the Mahdi]. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a)
In the footsteps of the [Mahdi] . . . Youths will put old men to shame, the old will stand up in the presence of the young. (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
In the footsteps of the [Mahdi] . . . The meeting-place [of scholars] will be used for immorality. (Talmud, Sotah 49:2)
| . . . all of them become . . . as Sodom, and . . . as Gomorrah . . . (Jeremiah 23:14) |
27. An increase in lies and fraud:
. . . [they] walk in lies. . . . (Jeremiah 23:14)
In the generation in which the [Mahdi] will come . . . [trhere will be] plunderers and plunderers of the plunderers. (Talmud, Kethuboth 112b)
... (Mehdi'nin) çağı gelmeden önceki sürede... gençler yaşlıları utandıracak ve yaşlılar gençlerin itibarını savunacak... (Talmud, Sota 49:2)
. . . people shall oppress one another, every man his fellow, and every man his neighbour. . . . (Isaiah 3:5)
28. Faces grow ugly:
The face of the generation [of the Mahdi] will be like the face of a dog. . . . (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
29. The marginalization of feelings of love and compassion:
In the footsteps of the [Mahdi]. . . The dewellers on the frontier will go about (begging) from place to place without anyone to take pity on them. . . . (Talmud, Sotah 49b)
30. A growth of disrespect:
In the footsteps of the [Mahdi], insolence will increase... (Talmud, Sotah 49:2)
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