The Creed of the Followers of the Sunnah and Transmitted Tradition Concerning the Awaited Mahdī

By Shaykh ‘Abd al-Muhsin al-‘Abbād, Lecturer at the University

All praise is due to Allah, who guided us to Islam. We would never have been guided had Allah not guided us. We praise Allah for His blessings and ask Him for more of His bounty and generosity. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from our evil deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can lead astray; and whomever He leads astray, none can guide. I bear witness that none is worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner. He sent His Messenger Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religions. Addressing him, He said:

“And indeed, you guide to a straight path.”

I also bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, His intimate friend, and His chosen one from among His creation. Allah sent him to all mankind before the coming of the Hour, as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner, as one who calls to Allah by His permission, and as a shining lamp. Through him, Allah brought His message to completion, both in what it relates and in what it commands. Its rulings are just and its accounts true. He does not speak from his own desire; it is nothing but revelation revealed to him.

He informed his community about past nations through accounts that faith requires them to believe, affirming that these events occurred just as he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, related them. Thus they became witnesses over mankind. He likewise foretold future events which must be believed, with the conviction that they will occur just as he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reported. He left nothing that draws one nearer to Allah without directing his community to it and encouraging them to pursue it, nor any evil without warning them against it. May Allah bestow the fullest and most perfect blessings and peace upon him, his family, and his Companions, whom Allah honored with his companionship and the privilege of beholding his face in this worldly life. He completed His favor upon them by making them bearers of his Sunnah. May these blessings and peace also be upon those who follow their example and walk their path until the Day of Judgment.

To proceed: Since among the future events that will occur at the end of time, when Jesus son of Mary, blessings and peace be upon him, descends from heaven, is the emergence of a man from the Prophet’s household, a descendant of al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him, whose name will match that of the Messenger, may Allah bless him