The name “Mahdi” means someone who is rightly guided. That is derived from the word “هدي guidance”. Anyone can name his child Mahdi without the claim of being the reformer of the last hour; as anyone can also name his child Isa without claiming being the expected messenger of Allah; there is no prohibition in this.
Meanwhile, this name “Mahdi” as referred to the reformer and revival of the last hour, is a title of a person called Muhammad ibn Abdillah Al Mahdi. It is not his specific name rather a title.
Also, you need to note that no verse of the Qur’an directly or indirectly say something about Al-Mahdi.
While we have over twenty ahadeeth of the Prophet which directly and indirectly talked about the Mahdi as a sign of the last hour.
Ahaadith in Saheeh Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim did not explicitly mention the name “Mahdi”, they rather say Imam; but there are ahadeeth in these two books narrated indirectly relating to the Mahdi.
This, gave birth to ambiguity in the minds of some Muslims who are ahlu sunnah and among them are scholars(Sheikh Rasheed Rido in his Tafseer Al Manaar volume 9 page 499 – 504, also Ibn Khalduun and many others), and believe the appearance of Mahdi is a superstition propagated by the Shiites and not something real.
This, we will believe that is one of the errors of the scholars who opined so; many ahadeeth of the Prophet described the characteristics and appearance of the Mahdi and many scholars also authored books in refuting those who believe the appearance of Mahdi is a superstition.
Nonetheless, there is no an exact saheeh hadeeth that mentioned Mahdi by the name but there are several Hassan(good) ahadeeth in other books of hadeeth that mentioned Mahdi by the name; while in saheeh Bukhari and Muslim, the concept and characteristics of Mahdi are mentioned without the specific title. Abu Daawud in his Sunnan has a chapter he named “Chapter of the Mahdi”, the same as in Sunan Tirmidhi and other Mustadrak books of hadeeth.
Ahadeeth which mentioned the characteristics and concept of the Mahdi in Saheeh Bukhari and Muslim(saheehayn) are as follows:
1: The hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah, he said: the Prophet said:
“كيف أنتم إذا نزل ابن مريم فيكم، و إمامكم منكم؟!”
Meaning: “in what state will you be when Isa the son of Maryam descended, and your leader(Imam) is amidst you?!”
You can see in this hadeeth in both Bukhari and Muslim, there is no mention of Mahdi specifically. It was only described as Imam.
2: The hadeeth of Jaabir bn Abdillah, he said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah saying, when Isa descend, their Ameer will say to him: come and lead us in the solaat, Isa will say: No, you have an Ameer among you and he should be the one to lead the solaat”.
Isa will descend on a solaatul Fajr after the iqaamah have been said, people in the mosque in Damascus will see him descending with 2 angels beside him, they will wait for him before starting the solaat and the Ameer of the Muslims then(Mahdi) will lead the solaat.
3: The hadeeth of Jaabir also, the Prophet said: “in the last hour of my Ummah, there will be a leader(caliph) that will make wealth be in a very huge abundance”.
In this hadeeth also, Mahdi was regarded a leader and not by his actual name.
There are also ahadeeth in other books of hadeeth that mentioned the Mahdi by his name and attributes.
1: Abu Sa’eed Al Khudriy narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “At the end of the time of my Ummah, the Mahdi will appear. Allah will grant him rain, the earth will bring forth its fruits, he will give a lot of money, cattle will increase and the ummah will be great. He will rule for seven or eight years.”
This is in Mustadrak of Imam Haakim. And Imam Dhahabi and some other scholars of hadeeth said its isnad(chain of transmission) is sound.
2: Ali bn Abee Taalib narrated, the Prophet said: “Al Mahdi is from we the household of the Prophet, Allah will reform him to good in a night”.
This hadeeth is in Musnad Imam Ahmad and Sunan Ibn Maajah.
3: Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri also said: “The Messenger of Allaah said: The Mahdi is of my lineage, with a high forehead and a long, thin, curved nose. He will fill the earth with fairness and justice as it was filled with oppression and injustice, and he will rule for seven years.”
This is in Sunan Abi Dawud, Kitaab al-Mahdi, 11/375, Mustadrak al-Haakim, 4/557.
To mention but few.
You can see in all these ahadeeth in other books of hadeeth, the name Mahdi is explicitly mentioned unlike in Saheeh Bukhari and Muslim.
Also, in some of the ahadeeth which discuss the appearance of Mahdi, it was said that Mahdi will be from the lineage of Hassan Ibn Aliy radiya Allahu anhum.
The Shiites say it will be from the side of Hussein, so the Twelve-Imams shittes fabricated a 12th Imam that does not even have a relationship to Hussein, because the 11th Imam did not give birth to any children. He didn’t leave behind an heir, so they fabricated a 12th Imam so that the chain can remain intact.
Meanwhile, there is no evidence that the Mahdi will be from the lineage of Husssein, the evidence from Faatimah radiya Allahu anhaa says the Mahdi will be from the lineage of Hassan.
Ibn Qayyim Al Jawzih opined, this is because Hassan gave up the khilaafah for the sake of unity even when he is the rightful person to it; but Hussein did not give up the khilaafah and kept fighting for his right (though he is not wrong), so Allah will make the Mahdi come from the lineage of Hassan as a reward and compensation for him.
To be continued…