The belief in the appearance of a savior and the expectation of the rise of a promised personality named Mahdi (aj) is one of the authentic and deep-rooted beliefs of the Shia and forms part of the identity and common ideal of the followers of Ahlul Bayt (as). The importance and centrality of this belief has caused the enemies of this school and those who strive to create discord and conflict among Muslims to focus on this subject and attempt to undermine this fundamental belief by fabricating baseless stories or exaggerating unimportant details and aspects, accusing Shias of superstition and irrationality.
This is while the logical arguments for this belief, its deep history in all divine religions, and the numerous credible evidences in Sunni narrative sources have transformed the expectation of the promised savior and the ideology of Mahdism into an unshakeable foundation that not only has the necessary capacity to create unity and harmony between Islamic sects but can also provide the basis for coexistence and cooperation between followers of all divine religions.
The large number of hadiths related to Mahdism in reliable Sunni sources and the narration and confirmation of this subject by major Sunni scholars leaves no doubt that belief in the appearance of the promised Mahdi (aj) is not exclusive to Shias and all Islamic sects have accepted it as a necessary and definite belief. This is clear not only in dozens of independent books and treatises about Imam Mahdi (aj) written by Sunni scholars but is also explicitly emphasized in the six canonical books (Sihah Sitta) which are considered their most important and reliable hadith sources.
Of course, the vision of Islamic sects is not identical in all aspects and details of the belief in Mahdism. Some aspects of this belief are identical and common between the main Islamic schools, and in some parts there are differences of opinion. For a better understanding of the subject, it is necessary to know these points of convergence and divergence and to answer the questions and doubts surrounding them.
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The above content was published on 20/3/2025 on Imam Ali (AS) Foundation Library