JOEL RICHARDSON: Letӳ begin. If you could share with us some of the most essential elements of what you believe with regards to the Mahdi.

ADNAN OKTAR: Yes. Hazrat Mahdi (as) is a person who will appear before the coming of the Prophet Jesus, who will unite Muslims in the Islamic world, whose aim is love, who will take affection and compassion as basis, who seeks to eradicate all weapons from the world, who will disarm the world, who will eliminate all weapons from the world and build peace and brotherhood. But false Mahdis and false Messiahs will come before Hazrat Mahdi (as). That also appears in the Bible. We are told that a false Muslim leader will appear and that false prophets will emerge. This also takes place in the hadith as well. These false prophets and messiahs have appeared to date. But now is the time of the real Mahdi (as), we can see all the portents of the true Mahdi (as) now. The greatest characteristic of the true Mahdi (as) is that he will take love, affection and brotherhood as basis. For instance in one account it says: Ԉazrat Mahdi (as) will be so compassionate that in his time neither the sleeper will be woken nor will anyoneӳ nose be made to bleed.ԠHazrat Mahdi (as) will perform such great and important services that it is said in accounts that not only people will be delighted with his rule, but also will all the creatures of the earth and sky. Accounts say that in the same way that the people of the earth and sky will be pleased with him, so will the birds in the air, wild animals in the forests and even the fish in the sea. In his, Hazrat Mahdiӳ (as) time, the wolf and the sheep will graze together, snakes will not hurt children, and a man will sow one handful but reap 700 handfuls. El-Kavlu’l Muhtasar Fi Alamet-il Mehdiyy-il Muntazar. This is an entirely trustworthy book of hadith. InshaӁllah, in the time of the Mahdi (as) the world will be disarmed for the very first time and a true climate of peace will emerge.

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