Fatwa #1427026 May 2006Pakistan
riwayaat of Ahadees about Hazrat Mahdi are not present in mo'ta Imam Malik(ra), and Imam Malik(ra) had spent his life in Madina so according to him it is proved that people of Madina does not know anything about Hazrat Mahdi
Question
i want to ask somethong about the appearance of Hazrat Mahdi near qayamat. i am in discussion about this topic with someone who said that the riwayaat of Ahadees about Hazrat Mahdi are not present in mo'ta Imam Malik(ra), and Imam Malik(ra) had spent his life in Madina so according to him it is proved that people of Madina does not know anything about Hazrat Mahdi. He said that all riwayaat about Hazrat Mahdi include the raavees of "koofa", and he said that people of koofa introduced their selfmade belief of Hazrat Mahdi in the name of Islam, and this is why Imam Malik(ra) does not find any Hadees about Hazrat Mahdi. He also said that the name of Hazrat Mahdi is not even mentioned in Sahi Bukhari and Sahi Muslim too. he said that Imam Malik(ra), Imam Bukhari(ra) and Imam Muslim(ra) never had a belief on Hazrat Mahdi because they have not write any Hadees which clearly indicates about Hazrat Mahdi. he also said that the book of Hadees named "mustadrak" was compiled by shia.
Please reply as soon as possible because there are different people and they may confuse on this issue.
Answer
1. Contrary to your claim, there is a Hadith found in Muslim regarding the appearance of Imaam Mahdi (vol.2 pg.395; Qadeemi). Sahih Muslim is the second most authentic book of Hadith.
2. Imaam Maalik has recorded many Ahaadith in his Kitaab. If Imaam Maalik [ra] did not mention any Hadith on Imaam Mahdi, it does not mean that he was unaware of Ahaadith pertaining to Imaam Mahdi, or these Ahaadith do not exist. Many Ahaadith of Imaam Mahdi appear in the Saheehayn.
3. To make a general statement that the people of Kufa are fabricators is incorrect, because there could also be narrators in Madinah who are also fabricators. The criteria of determining the strength of a Hadith is not according to which place the Hadith originates, but rather according to the strength of the chain of narrators. If a narrator is considered authentic, then his Hadith will be accepted.
4. It is erroneous to believe that Bukhari and Muslim are the only authentic books on Ahaadith. Each expert in Hadith laid down their own criteria in determining the strength of Hadith. Accordingly, they will record Ahaadith in their Kitaab. Bukhari [ra] himself in his Muqaddamah, i.e. ‘I have left out many Sahih Ahaadith’.
5. To say that the people of Madina did not know about Imaam Mahdi is incorrect, because there are Sahaaba from Madina who narrate Ahaadith on Imaam Mahdi like Abu Sa’eed al-Khudriy and Jaabir ibn Abdullah [radhiallaahu anhuma].
6. More references on Ahaadith regarding Imaam Mahdi: Abu Dawud (vol.2 pg.238; Rahmaniyah), Tirmidhi (pg.47; Qadeemi)
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai