With the exception of a small Salafi group, both the Caliphate and Imamte schools of thought believe in the coming of the Mahdi before End times. The Hadiths from the Prophet in this respect are too numerous and authenticated enough to defy. A slight difference however exits regarding whether the Mahdi was born or he will be born in the future.
Without being able to justify/identify the twelve rightful Caliphs, the Caliphate school followers sometimes raise feeble objections concerning the Imam's long life, the purpose of his occultation, and the like. Such objections cannot withstand any critiquing in the light of the Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah. A number of scholars thoroughly debated this matter.
The Messiah in the Judo-Christian Texts
When Jesus started his mission, some Jews believed in him as being the Messiah. The original Old Testament must have spoken about this important prophecy. It is well known that Jesus did not come to change the Laws of Torah. Jesus' native language was Aramaic. Neither he nor any of his disciples wrote a book in this language. The New Testament was later written in Creek.
The Jews, who rejected Jesus, accused him of blasphemy. That was a sufficient accusation to justify the spilling of his blood. God in the Heaven raised him to protect him.
Of course the Christians contend that he was crucified for the atonement of children of Adam's sins. Similar to the contemporary afore-mentioned stance towards the Mahdi, the Children of Israel were divided into two main groups. The Jews have long been waiting for the Messiah for their redemption. The Christians expect the (second) coming of Jesus.
In mid-February 2008, I spoke at a Conference held in Qom on the contributions of (the late) Allamah Muhammad Jawad Al-Balaghi and highlighted the fact that he mastered the Hebrew and English languages to delineate a number of Islamic perspectives in the (present) Old and New Testaments - prophecies about Imam Mahdi was one of them.
Similar to the late Al-Balaghi who composed poetry on the Mahdi, millions send their daily salutation to him. Here, I refer the researcher to a number of short clips on this subject, developed by the Turkish Muslim scholar - Harun Yahya. As a herald for a humanity that is preparing to greet its Saviour, my only hope is that this research paper will spin further interests.
source : www.tebyan.net
