A Battle in Imam Mahdi's (A.S.) Time
Hadith:
An army would attack this House in order to fight against the inhabitants of this House and when it would be at the plain ground the ranks in the centre of the army would be sunk and the vanguard would call the rear flanks of the army and they would also be sunk and no flank would be left except some people who would go to inform them (their kith and kin). (MUSLIM)
Allah's Messenger (SAW) said: They would soon seek protection in this House, people who would have nothing to protect themselves in the shape of weapons or the strength of the people. An army would be sent to fight (and kill) them and when they would enter a plain ground the army would be sunk in it. 'A'isha(RA) reported that Allah's Messenger (SAW) was startled in the state of sleep. We said: Allah's Messenger, you have done something in the state of your sleep which you never did before, Thereupon he said: Strange it is that some, people of my Ummah would attack the House (for killing) a person who would belong to the tribe of the Quraish and he would try to seek protection in the House. And when they would reach the plain ground they would be sunk. We said: Allah's Messenger, all sorts of people throng the path. Thereupon he said: Yes, there would be amongst them people who would come with definite designs and those who would come under duress and there would be travellers also, but they would all be destroyed through one (stroke) of destruction. though they would be raised in different states (on the Day of Resurrection). Allah would, however, raise them according to their intention. (Muslim)
Umm Salamah narrated that the Prophet (SAW) mentioned the army that the earth would swallow, so Umm Salamah said: 'Perhaps there are those among them who are averse to it." He said: "They will be resurrected on their intentions."(TIRMIZI)
The above hadiths can be broken down into following points :-
- Mahdi(A.S.) and a group of people(his companions) taking refuge in a house(house type mosque).
- This group won’t have any weapon to fight and their number will be less.
- A field in front of the house..
- The rebellion army against Mahdi(A.S.) are of this ummah only.
- Conditions occuring on the middle group then first group calling the last group for help.
- The army is sunk(humilated) in earth.
- Collapsing of market place.
- Wayfarer and helpless people getting Allah’s wrath
- Only the informer is saved from Allah’s wrath.
Note:-
The point (6) tells us that the army will sink in earth. The word used for sink is “khasaf” which has multiple
meanings.the various meanings are –
- sink
- wither
- humiliation
In Quran Allah(SWT) has used the word khasaf for the withering of moon and stars.
When khasaf is used with a person then it might mean either sink or humiliate. So if in the above prophecy if either of the meaning gets fulfilled then the hadith is fulfilled. So if the army really gets sunk in the earth then may be it will known worldwide but if they are humiliated then it might occur on small scale.
From the above hadiths it is clear that the army would come at the place where Imam Mahdi(A.S.) will migrate. As discussed earlier we come across that Mahdi will flee from emerging city to some place in a house type mosque which may be mecca or some other place resembling mecca geographically. So this prophecy might occur in that region only and may not be known worldwide and may be known to that region people only.
The people of this Ummah think that this battle will take on a large scale but one must note that prophecies on a rahbar is always emphasised so much that people began to assume that it will take on large scale but when it gets fulfilled on small scale then people due to their immense desires reject the true rahbar and thus miss the blessings of his time. The jews and christians also did the same thing when Prophet (SAW) claimed prophethood. They also had many huge desires related to the last Prophet’s arrival and thus when those things happened on a small scale, they rejected the last Prophet.
We, due to our huge desires about the coming rahbar, shouldn’t reject the true and thus miss the blessings of his time as the previous nation did.