THE MAHDI & THE QURAN
If you were to research the topic of Al-Mahdi in Islam, you'll find that everyone seems to agree that The Mahdi is not mentioned in the Quran, at least not directly. Some like the Shia school for example would point out many verses that they believe to be about the position of Imam or about The Mahdi directly which is often a verse related to some promise of God that has yet to take place. Of course the concept of Imamate is at the core of the Shia theology so there is no dispute over whether they believe in The Imam Mahdi, it's makes them different than Sunni Islam.
The Sunnis however also consider the believe in the Mahdi to be a condition of their faith. As in to say the belief that he's a certainty and their obligation to support him and align with his cause is religiously mandatory to be considered a Muslim. At least that's the official stance. But aside from The Mahdi, whom they believe would be recognized and declared by their religious scholars, Secular Democracy is the way to go - At least that's the alternative route to the Imamate they chose, which didn't take long before it turned into dynastic rule that only got less and less democratic up until our very present day. They do consider or considered Imam Ali to be an Imam but only over matters of faith. He was only considered the authority over the affairs of the state and governance in general when he also became Caliph. This means the Mahdi figure is the only Imam they acknowledge as a divinely appointed leader and authority over them in all matters, faith and otherwise.
What is strange about all of this is that despite the elevated status about this figure among those who don't even consider Imamate in the same light as the Shia, their reasoning seems to rely on hadiths that "hint" towards him. The Idea of the Mahdi is not rare in any school of Islamic thought and has played a major role in the history of middle east and beyond. What is scarce however is the justification attributed to such a deep rooted idea of history. Because they base the conclusions of the scholars and this staple belief in the Mahdi on a scattering of hadiths that point to this figure which they use to connect together and make a play by play story of what's going to happen or what MUST happen, according to some.
So if you were to research the Quranic evidence or basis for The Mahdi, or watch any Sunni or Shia Youtube video on the topic, the first thing that's often said is that this concept doesn't come from the Quran. In fact, they assert that the Arabic root word itself "M H D" is not found anywhere in the Quran. If it's a Sunni sourced video, then that's usually followed by the statement that he's also absent from their 2 main sources of Hadiths (Bukhari & Muslim) but that they think they elude to him in some hadiths as I mentioned.
In fact, if it wasn't for the role these prophecies played in the regional politics of the last 2 decades and the rivalry between Sunnis and Shias, you would probably find it much more difficult to even find resources on the topic.
Now I'm not accusing them of purposefully opening the door for people to doubt in the idea or to take it less seriously than they would have otherwise. And I'm going to be very careful here to make sure I state correctly what my experience was like watching these videos. Because their the claim that they make is that the Arabic word "مهد" (pronounced MAHDI) is not in The Quran and neither does it mention the concept of "the Mahdi" (spelled with the definite articles AL like so: المهد).
Notice that I'm talking about English speakers claiming that THE CONCEPT of THE MAHDI and the Arabic word for Mahdi are no where in the Quran. The problem with that is the fact that THE ARABIC CONCEPT AND WORD FOR "THE MAHDI" or "AL_MAHDI" ARE!
That means that they use the fact that the word MHD wouldn't appear without the definite articles AL to state that it's not mentioned anywhere - why would it be without AL given what it means? And then to avoid having to say that word Al-Mahdi is in the Quran, they switch back to the CONCEPT of THE MAHDI knowing full well that the word for it is but since it's misinterpreted to mean something else then they're "in the clear". Now whether they do this on purpose or not isn't for me to say. This section is purely to set the record straight for anyone who cares, knowing full well that most probably don't.
PART I) THE TALKING BABY JESUS
In this first section I'm going to look at 3 verses where the Arabic word AL-MHD appears and why I believe is the first bundle of verses that is referring DIRECTLY to THE CONCEPT and PERSONHOOD of "THE MAHDI". The Mahdi is mentioned in these verses as a consequence of describing Jesus's role or assignment that God has given him. In other words the verses are describing Jesus or talking about him in a manner that underscores his role in Preaching about the coming Kingdom, as we would say today. And the verses are:
3:46
وَيُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا وَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
3:46
And a preacher of The Mahdi to the people, and full of wisdom and from the righteous
5:110
اِذۡ قَالَ اللّٰهُ يٰعِيۡسَى ابۡنَ مَرۡيَمَ اذۡكُرۡ نِعۡمَتِىۡ عَلَيۡكَ وَعَلٰى وَالِدَتِكَ ۘ اِذۡ اَيَّدتُّكَ بِرُوۡحِ الۡقُدُسِ تُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِىۡ الۡمَهۡدِ وَكَهۡلًا ۚوَاِذۡ عَلَّمۡتُكَ الۡـكِتٰبَ وَالۡحِكۡمَةَ وَالتَّوۡرٰٮةَ وَالۡاِنۡجِيۡلَ
THE FEAST 110
And God said: Oh Issa, son of Mary, remember my blessings upon you and your mother, supporting you with the holy spirit, preaching The Mahdi to the people, filled you with wisdom, I taught you Modeling ("book") and sound judgment, the Torah and The Gospel.
19:29
فَأَشَارَتْ إِلَيْهِ ۖ قَالُوا كَيْفَ نُكَلِّمُ مَن كَانَ فِي الْمَهْدِ صَبِيًّا
Mary 29
Thus she led them to him, they said how can we speak to a novice in the matter of The Mahdi
As someone who speaks Arabic, I took the liberty of translating the verses for you using basic common sense and hold the right to revise or improve on my translations should anyone present a reasonable objection to my understanding or why any different reading is more justified. But before you revolt or accuse me of reading whatever I want to see or inventing whatever suits my story, let's remember that the existence and status of THE MAHDI is not in dispute and not only agreed upon but a condition of faith according to most scholars. So you might only hear about the pillars in your daily life but there is a lot more to being a muslim according to scholars, and denying what they consider authentic and true is no different than denying everything else, pillars included. So the fact that I read The Mahdi and understood the meaning to be about The Mahdi isn't the reading that requires further support. Especially when it fits perfectly with Jesus' story and the message about the Kingdom which in Islamic context would be about The Mahdi's Rule. Not to mention that most people are initially surprised when they learn or be told that The Mahdi isn't in the Quran if they hear about him from other sources or by reputation first - Given the implications and weight of his prophecised role. In fact, I linked a list of references where Jesus is discussing this very topic and there is a lot more I can add to this but I think I'll save them for a different discussion about Jesus and his preachings.
If you still aren't satisfied, then lets be clear about what your objecting to this in favor of. Because they current official interpretation of these verses is that Jesus didn't speak "of Al-Mahdi", he spoke "in Al-Mahdi" because "Al-Mahdi" here means "Cradle". In other words it's a miracle of God that he made Jesus talk as a baby in the cradle. That is the position you are defending or demand that I debunk before you consider or accept my interpretation. Normally I wouldn't, but since it's technically my very name we're talking about here, then let's do this.
3:45
إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ
3:46
وَيُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا وَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
Another word that fell victim to distortion was the word "الكهل" which means something closer to "wise" but has been altered to mean "old". I imagine it was easy to lump "elderly man" with "wise man" given that wisdom often came with age. And I'm guessing whomever was behind this effort of masking the name of THE MAHDI thought it would make it easier to push "Cradle" as its meaning if "كهلا" was also a description of Jesus's age. This is why the "tafsir" (explanation) of "كهلا" appears to be missing from all the early sources {see image below}. It wasn't until later that they decided that it means "old".
Source: مقالات في علوم القرآن و أصول التفسير
Accepting "old" to be the meaning over "wise" means accepting that God deemed it necessary to tell us on 3 separate occasions that Jesus was able to speak when he was old. Without getting into how moot it is to point that out, this contradicts your belief that Jesus was "raised up to God" when he was still a young man. On the other hand, the fact that Jesus was granted wisdom in his youth would be something worth mentioning in the Quran.
The next layer of "strain" being applied on these verses to make this false understanding stick is in the grammar. If you're going to accept "Mahdi" to mean "Cradle", then how do you explain writing "كهلا" as an adverb? Because grammatical cohesion demands that we write "الكهل" with "و" or "في" instead. In fact, people often quote the verse using "و الكهل" phrase because I'm guessing it doesn't sound correct to them the other way.
"كهلا" wasn't the only word that fell victim as a consequence of the distortion of the word "Mahdi". In a similar fashion, the meaning of the word "صَبِيًّا" has also been twisted beyond recognition in:
19:29
فَأَشَارَتْ إِلَيْهِ ۖ قَالُوا كَيْفَ نُكَلِّمُ مَن كَانَ فِي الْمَهْدِ صَبِيًّا
In this verse, "صَبِيًّا" has been understood to mean "infant" or "newborn" when it simply does not! The correct meaning is closer to "novice" or "amateur", as in a person lacking experience in the subject matter. Even today, the word never refers to a newborn (unless it's referring to its gender which i will address shortly). This is the definition I found in the dictionary
صبي : الذي يجري تدريبه على مهنة في خدمة معلم
Translation: Someone undergoing vocational training under a master, a.k.a. an apprentice
The only other mention of the word "صَبِيًّا" is in:
19:12
يَا يَحْيَىٰ خُذِ الْكِتَابَ بِقُوَّةٍ وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْحُكْمَ صَبِيًّا
If we understand "" as "infant" then we're accepting that God granted John the power to make sound judgement as a baby. Keep in mind, there is already a word believed to mean "infant" in the Quran that can be seen:
22:5
يٰۤـاَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اِنۡ كُنۡـتُمۡ فِىۡ رَيۡبٍ مِّنَ الۡبَـعۡثِ فَاِنَّـا خَلَقۡنٰكُمۡ مِّنۡ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ مِنۡ نُّـطۡفَةٍ ثُمَّ مِنۡ عَلَقَةٍ ثُمَّ مِنۡ مُّضۡغَةٍ مُّخَلَّقَةٍ وَّغَيۡرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍ لِّـنُبَيِّنَ لَـكُمۡ ؕ وَنُقِرُّ فِى الۡاَرۡحَامِ مَا نَشَآءُ اِلٰٓى اَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ثُمَّ نُخۡرِجُكُمۡ طِفۡلًا
40:67
هُوَ الَّذِىۡ خَلَقَكُمۡ مِّنۡ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ مِنۡ نُّطۡفَةٍ ثُمَّ مِنۡ عَلَقَةٍ ثُمَّ يُخۡرِجُكُمۡ طِفۡلًا ثُمَّ لِتَبۡلُغُوۡۤا اَشُدَّكُمۡ ثُمَّ لِتَكُوۡنُوۡا شُيُوۡخًا ؕ وَمِنۡكُمۡ مَّنۡ يُّتَوَفّٰى مِنۡ قَبۡلُ وَلِتَبۡلُغُوۡۤا اَجَلًا مُّسَمًّى وَّلَعَلَّكُمۡ تَعۡقِلُوۡنَ
The fact that the word "" is accepted to mean "baby" and wasn't used in lieu of "صبي" should be more than enough to dismiss the understanding it means "baby". But let's continue our discussion about "صبي" to further support my interpretation.
One great example of the use of this word can be seen in the popular TV Show "Bab Al-Hara" which tries to depict a historical version of "Al-Sham" region of the Middle East - which I will later prove to be the location of the prophet when the Quran was being revealed. Those who are familiar with the show would know that "صبي" was the term used by trade master like bakers, blacksmiths, merchants etc... called their "apprentices", even when they weren't really so young and often married with kids even.
And I am sure some of you are thinking that maybe God said "صبي" as in "boy" as we are used to saying today. I'm not sure why God would be specifying the gender of the "Son of Mary" to us but again, that is simply not what the word means. In fact, I often hear the word used by mothers or family members describing a girl "صبية" or group of girls "صبايا" who are no longer "children" - often to point out that they have reached marriage age. This goes against both understandings that the word refers to either the age or gender of Jesus. Additionally, there are already words accepted to mean "son" or "boy" in the Quran like "وَلَدٌ" and "غُلَامٌ".
There are also two other mentions of "M, H, D" with the vaiation of an extra "Aleph" that wouldnt have been there in the original version of the Quran that didn't include these additional grammatical rules. Regardless of the Aleph, the word is still considered to be the same with the meaning of "cradle", and they are: "مهاد" and "مهدا". I will address those in a later section below but it was worth noting it under this section that compares other mentions of words in a contradictory manner.
TESTING OUR FINDINGS
If we let my LAST NAME's meaning play a role in this, then we should go even further and "TEST" our alternate "theory" based on what else we would expect to see if the meaning was forcibly and intentially changed to suite whatever political goals benefiting from people turning a blind eye to things. Afterall, making people more tolerant of injustice and corruption is the biggest impact and main reason for ruling bodies/tribes&houses to push to make people "forget" or stop "believing" in this figure.
So, if my "theory" that a forced false meaning was given to the word "مهد" {MHD} was correct then we would find narrations about an other "talking baby" in refference to someone preaching of the Mahdi. And as expected, a very quick search of the Arabic web returned a whole bunch of example. The button below will take you to a few that I copy pasted from a forumn that happened to be counting them:
PART II) THE ONE WHO IS GUIDED BY GOD
7:178
مَنْ يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِي
Aaraf 178
Whomever God guides is The Mahdi
17:97
وَمَنْ يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِ
Al Israa 97
And whomever God guides is The Mahdi
18:17
مَنْ يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِ
Al Kahf 17
Whomever God guides is The Mahdi
PART III) THE REAL MEANING OF GUIDANCE IN THE ABSTRACT LANGUAGE OF SCRIPTURE
78:6
ألم نجعل الأرض مهادا
THE REVELATION:6
20:53
الذي جعل لكم الأرض مهدا
TAHA:53
If you aren't big on math symbolism, you can think of The Mahdi to Reality and the Creation Story, what a funnel is to water falling into it all over the wider area around the opening in the center. Hence his role as DRIVER of all events, which we didn't touch upon much here but you can maybe see why, AND his GUIDANCE towards PEACE / Success etc... if you apply the funnel to the "currrent State of affairs" (enough said I hope), because that would mean that Humanity's Trajectory towards its Promised Point is also a consequence of the Mahdi Complex. Since it's the Structure that RESISTS AGAINST DEPARTURE/DEVIATIONS Aways from the REST/PEACE state, which means whatever or whomever you think is the person who will restore , at least the RIGHT DIRECTION, than this messiah you believe in is serving as the manifestation of this very object (a live version of it obviously - but for the big picture their function is the same as a funnel)
Section 1- Go over the meaning of "EARTH" in Quranic Context and Language..The Gradient Field guiding "events on the ground"
and bringing in our formal definition of POINTS OF PEACE or STATES OF PEACH in context of any change or event, and the Degrees of Uniqueness and their role into Identifying the specific states intended and the words God uses to associate the two...
Section 2- The Arabic/Phoenician Letters and their individual symbolic meanings
the H and D states
....and so on....to link to M(H-D) as the GUIDE or CONTAINER of the CHANGE for transfering the two STATES H to D....
the HUDHUD of Soleiman example, or the HDHD title of the one that carried messages to and from him to the Queen of sheeba..and that story's connection
Notice the "cradle" is designed to resist against the Babie's attempts to get out of it and falling off, hence it operates by excerting greater pressure or force the more off track or off centered you get, i.e. the more off course you get from the Point of Peace of the system. And for CREATION'S STORY, that Point as we will Prove it to be is the PROMISED POINT. And you can make the connections to why THE PROMISED ONE was called THE MAHDI even by those who didn't know or think it was going to be his real name.
Section 3 - Examples of how MHD is used by applying the abstract meaning of the Quran to the different Subvolumes of Creation, hence the use of the arabic word for "GUIDANCE" in seemingly unrelated contexts like when used to tell someone to TAKE something from you when as you hand it to them to tell them to GRAB/HOLD/TAKE it
1) To Guide the Hand towards the item
links to the meaning of "GIFT"....ANd of course, WHY THEY USE IT TO A BABY'S CRADLE!!
2) To CALM DOWN EMORIONALLY, hence to apply the GRADIENT FIELD to your EMOTIONAL STATE to get to the Point of Peace or POP that "GUIDANCE" revolves around (i.e. identified by its relationship to a CENTER that is a POP of COmfort, rest...etc)
3) Guidance or a Guide obviously......
And the LIFEEVENT OF THE ONE/MESSIAH/MAHDI etc... explained adequetely and reference the "mystical" surahs that describe this very same structure by the different roles and functions that go hand and hand with it being the GUIDING FORCE OF ALL EVENTS "ON THE GROUND" (and in Heaven). ....
Which means that every CHANGE, BIG or SMALL is following the path outlined by what we'll come to know as the CHRIST COMPLEX, which a different version/way of describing of the MAHDI COmplex. Hence all CHANGES OR EVENTSPACES combine into the CREATION STORY EVENT, which is unfolding in the same way a fluid falling into this funnel would. Hence the WAQIAH and other similar toned surrah's describing the very same process using human friendly concepts and language - when interpreted correctly obviously which you'll have to do on your own.
........................
PART IV) THE ONLY REASONS LEFT
Another point deniers of The Mahdi should consider is that the name "Muhammad" is mentioned far fewer times than other prophets or the name mahdi. So if you want to base your standards for belief on the frequency of a name in the Quran, then not only you run the risk of disbelieving in the Prophet himself, but at the very least you have to acknowledge his status as far below the prophets who appear very frequently all over. Unless of course this whole idea to count names was concocted to give yourself the excuse that will deliver you to your PRE-DETERMINED DESTINATION. Hence, here again we see a failure of excercising ABULUTION before PRAYER and washing away any preconcived notions and desired conclustions you want your feet to land on.
Also,
BABIES CAN'T TALK!
....
يا ربّ إن قومي الذين بعثتني إليهم لأدعوهم إلى توحيدك اتخذوا هذا القرآن مهجورا
Oh my Lord, my people to whom you sent me to call on to them to worship you only have received and abandoned this Quran
AL FURQAN : 30
Now I've mentioned that The Mahdi is accepted by all branches of Islam as a Condition of Faith and while some scholars reference the Hadiths, others also reference a few specific verses in the Quran and maybe a direct hadith from the Imams linking them. And while I stand by my initial statement that the overwhelming majority of the Quran is about the Mahdi or concepts associated directly with his event and those leading up to it, I'll mention only a simple way to read about him and perhaps explain why the "Shia" also know him by his title of "Al-Qa'im" (The Riser/Uprighter/Straitner/Aligner)).
Explain the meaning of QIYAMA
But one of the main, sadly forgottenو reason is the fact that his coming is reffered to as "يوم القيامة" {yawm-ul-qiyama) in The Quran which is often translated as "The Day of Judgement". But "القيامة" means "The Rising" according to the Arabic Language, not to say that judgment isn't included in the "rising process". But I have to point out that little detail before I can point out that this means all the verses and passages talking about "The Day of Judgement" are a refference to the coming of The Mahdi - and this isn't even scratching the surface yet. For the non-muslims following along in addition to the overwhelming majority of "Muslims", here is a list of the verses that contain the phrase "Judgement Day" so you can get a sense of whether or not The Mahdi is "mentioned" in The Quran.
Note: These are only the verses that mention the entire phrase, it doesn't include those that reffer to the act of "Rising" or other phrases reffering to him. But soon my dears, very soon....For right now,
Another point deniers of The Mahdi should consider is that the name "Muhammad" is mentioned far fewer times than other prophets or the name mahdi. So if you want to base your standards for belief on the frequency of a name in the Quran, then not only you run the risk of disbelieving in the Prophet himself, but at the very least you have to acknowledge his status as far below the prophets who appear very frequently all over. Unless of course this whole idea to count names was concocted to give yourself the excuse that will deliver you to your PRE-DETERMINED DESTINATION. Hence, here again we see a failure of excercising ABULUTION before PRAYER and washing away any preconcived notions and desired conclustions you want your feet to land on.
اَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ اَنۡ يُّتۡرَكُوۡۤا اَنۡ يَّقُوۡلُوۡۤا اٰمَنَّا وَهُمۡ لَا يُفۡتَـنُوۡنَ وَلَقَدۡ فَتَـنَّا الَّذِيۡنَ مِنۡ قَبۡلِهِمۡ فَلَيَـعۡلَمَنَّ اللّٰهُ الَّذِيۡنَ صَدَقُوۡا وَلَيَعۡلَمَنَّ الۡكٰذِبِيۡنَ
29:2-3
Did the people seriously think they will be left saying "we have faith" without being tested? We surely tested those who came before them and God will surely know who has accepted the truth and who has denied it.
As we can see, for a presupposed believer in the idea of this figure called The Mahdi, and his mission/role in the story of God's creation, it should seem very unreasonable that the intended meaning of what we went over aligns better with what is currently accepted than it would with what I presented.
THE MAHDI means THE MAHDI