Interesting reading regarding the "Mahdi" which is the incoming messiah for muslims. I didn't know that and the author deserves some respect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Darmesteter/e entire text:
Code
https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Le_Mahdi_(par_Darmesteter)/Texte_entier
MAHDI THEORY
You know how Mohammed went about practicing his religion. When it appeared, there were in Arabia, alongside the old national paganism, three foreign religions: Judaism, Christianity and the religion of Zoroaster, that is to say the religion which reigned in Persia before the Muslim conquest and which had spread to Arabia, to the North by trade, and to the South, in Yemen, by conquest. Mahomet did not spare himself for originality: he took his dogmas from the Jews and Christians; he took his mythology from the Jews, the Christians and the Persians: there has never been a religion manufactured more cheaply. However, a trait that was common to these three religions was the belief in a supernatural being who should,at the end of time, to bring back into the world the order and justice which have been banished from it and prelude the reign of immortality and endless happiness.
This is not the place to write the history of this idea, which we call the messianic idea: you have all read the admirable pages devoted to it by the author of the Life of Jesus . For our present purpose, it is sufficient here to remind you that this conception, which was born in Judaism and which gave birth to Christianity, had only taken its definitive form among the Jews and Christians themselves under the influence from Persian mythology. From there, in its three forms, Jewish, Christian and Persian, despite a certain variety of details, a deep resemblance in broad outline. In all three religions, the arrival of the Savior had to be preceded by an immense unleashing of the forces of Evil, personified among the Jews by the invasion and ravages of Gog and Magog; among Christians, by the Dragon or the Beast of the Apocalypse and by a falseprophet, the prophet of Satan, called the Antichrist; among the Persians, by the serpent Zohâk, incarnation of Ahriman, the evil principle (1) . On three sides also, the Savior was to be directly descended from the most august personage of the national tradition: among Jews and Christians, he was called the Messiah and descended from the prophet-king of Israel, David; among the Persians, he was called Saoshyant and was son of the prophet of Persia, Zoroaster (2) : it was necessary that the figure who, in the three religions, dominated the history of the world, also dominated the end of the drama.
The messianic doctrine of Muslims is borrowed from Christianity. Muslims believe, like Christians, that Jesus must, when the day comes, annihilate the unleashed demon, the Beast of the Apocalypse, the false prophet of the last hour, the Antichrist, whom they call Deddjâl, that is- i.e. the imposter. But Islam could not leave the supreme and decisive role to Jesus. Islam believes in the mission of Jesus, but not in his divinity. Five prophets untilMuhammad have appeared since creation: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, each greater than his predecessor, each bringing a more complete and higher revelation than the previous one. Jesus is above the prophets of the old law, but he is below the prophets of the new law, that which Mohammed inaugurated. In the final struggle he will therefore only be the servant and auxiliary of a more august character: this character is the Mahdi .
The literal meaning of this word Mahdi is not, as is generally said in the newspapers, He who directs , a meaning in fact more satisfactory for a European; Mahdi is the past participle of a verb hadaya , to direct, and means One who is directed . The fundamental idea of Islamism is the inability of man to direct himself, to find the truth, the right path. Fortunately, God occasionally sends to ignorant humanity men in whom he places his knowledge and to whom he reveals what is and what must be done: these are the prophets. THEprophet, by himself, is as ignorant, as frail, as narrow-minded as the rest of his brothers; but God dictates to him, makes him his spokesperson, and, if he is the director of men, it is because he himself is alone “the Well-Directed”, the one directed by God, the Mahdi . The word Mahdi is therefore only an epithet which can be applied to any prophet and even to any creature; but, used as a proper name, it designates the Right-Leader among all, the Mahdi par excellence, that is to say the Prophet who must close the drama of the world. Of this Jesus will only be the vicar. Jesus will come to slaughter the Antichrist, massacre the Jews, convert Christians and idolaters to Islamism, and, having done this, he will assist the Mahdi in the celebration of a supreme office, the last celebrated here on earth, and will obediently repeat the prayer that the Mahdi pronounces, just as the faithful in the mosque repeats the words that the imam (3) , leader of the prayer, pronounces. Then the fanfares of the resurrection will resound, and God will come to judge the living and the dead (4) .
This post was edited by Meanwhile on Dec 1 2023 12:59pm