Among the popular beliefs of Islam--and it is one common to every sect,
Shiite and Abadite, as well as Sunite--is this one, that in the latter
days of the world, when the power of God's worshippers shall have grown
weak and their faith corrupted, a leader shall arise who shall restore
the fortunes of the true believers. He shall begin by purging the earth
of injustice, fighting against oppressors wherever he shall find them,
Mohammedan as well as Infidel, and he shall teach the people a perfect
law which they shall have forgotten, and he shall reign over Islam in
place of their Khalifeh, being called the Mohdy, or guide. To this some
add that he will arise of a sudden in some distant corner of the earth,
and that he will march towards Mecca, and that everywhere the blood of
Moslems shall be shed like water, and that he shall enter Mecca when the
streets shall run with blood. In support of this coming of the Mohdy
many traditions exist which are held to be authentic by the Ulema. Thus
it is related on the authority of Abdallah ibn Messaoud that he heard
the Prophet say, "When there shall remain but one day of the days of the
earth, God shall prolong that day, and shall send forth from my house a
man bearing my name and the name of my father (Mohammed ibn Abdallah),
and he shall purify the earth from injustice and fill it with that which
is right.
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