Signs of the Reappearance of Imam Mahdi (Part 1)
”The Hour has come near, and the moon has split [in two]. The Day the Caller calls to something forbidding," (the Moon: 1; 6) According to a Hadith, it is believed that the said hour will be when Imam Mahdi will end his occultation and then he shall call on people for a faith which shall be unknown to them [because of malpractices by Muslims], while they deny it and they will not believe that it is the religion of Islam.
Imam Sadiq (A.S) describes some features of the Islamic faith at the time as such: When Imam Mahdi reappears he shall go to Kufa and destroy four mosques there, [because they are not consistent with the principles of Islam], and on the earth, those mosques which are with overlook and have balcony shall be destroyed and shall be rebuilt without balcony and overlook; large roads will be expanded, the remaining walls on the streets and everything that exists on them such as balconies, gutters and ... shall be removed; all heresies shall be eliminated and all traditions shall be revived; the Constantinople states and their cities and China shall be under his governance and the mountains of Deilam shall get open up; and these shall last for 7 years each of which shall be as long as 10 normal years, then he shall do what God has ordained him to do. The narrator asked: how do years become longer, he said: ”The Almighty God shall command the heavens and time to move slower, thus the days and years will become longer.”
Abu Basir, the narrator of this tradition, asked again: They say if the heavens’ movements change (heavens stop their normal movements or they become slower) they will be destroyed. He said: ”these are the words of atheists. However, Muslims do not follow those sayings, because the Almighty God split the moon for Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and even earlier God turned the Sun to the other side and this was for the sake of Yusha bin Noon, and more importantly, he even said that each day might be as long as the resurrection day which is as long as 1,000 normal years. (1)
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi
1) Nur al-Saqalayn Interpretation, the Moon section, 1, 6 – Bihar, Vol. 52, p. 333-337 and 339.
Other links:
Moment by moment expectation due to the unpredictability of the time of rising
The Beginning of the Belief in the Mahdi
The Mahdi from among the Descendants of the Prophet
The Sunni hadith on the Subject of the Mahdi
Ibn Khaldun and the Traditions about the Mahdi
