Who is Imam Mahdi(pbuh) in Islamic context?

In the Name of Allah



“O’ Allah, set a relationship between us and him [Imam Mahdi (Peace Be Upon Him)], that grants us the honor of the company of his ancestors.

Welcome: How can you make presentation about Imam Mahdi(pbuh) in English?

Description: This Web Quest will introduce students to the ways of making presentation about Imam Mahdi(pbuh) in English

Grade Level: intermediate

Curriculum: English / Language skills

Keywords: Imam Mahdi, presentation

Authors: Elaheh Homafar, Marzieh Majdolashrafi, Sally Mirsayyah

Hello dear students and welcome to the group

This web Quest is designed for you to enhance your English proficiency level in Islamic fields. Here you are going to search and know more about Imam Mahdi (pbuh).

In order to be successful you must be able to understand, report on, explain and even illustrate, the subject matter to others who do not know anything about the topic.

 Your precious comments or thoughts are welcome, anytime.

waiting for your activities.

Good luck

In this web quest, you will be involved in various activities that will help you develop a deeper understanding of Imam Mahdi (ATFS).

1. Answer the following questions, list 3 main points for each part.

       a. Explain why is it necessary to know about the Imam of our time?

       b. Discuss the concept of Imam Mahdi in non-Islamic religions.

Submit your answers preferably in MS Word file with your name on it.

2. Scan the two following passages and reflect on your answers to the first task.

3. Use skimming strategies and find detail information, list the new words and write your own sentences.

4. search about characteristics of a good presentation, choose a related topic and try to do your best to make it yourself.

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Passage 1

In this lesson we study about

• Necessity of knowing Imam Mahdi (ATFS).
• Quranic verses supporting the importance of Imam.
• Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) hadith about the importance of knowing Imam of our age.
• The two sides of knowing Imam

Necessity of Knowing Imam Mahdi (ATFS)

 In the Shia school of thought, Imam Mahdi is the 12th Imam, that along with other infallible imams, has been appointed from God for our guidance. Nevertheless, believing in Mahdi and expecting him is a general belief in the whole Muslim world. Furthermore, it can be considered as the specific instance of a universal credence, which is known as the Messianic Leader. [1]

The necessity of the Islamic nation to receive God’s guidance (also known as Imam) that explains and expounds the Holy Quran and removes the disagreements among the Muslims, after the messenger of Allah, has been well discussed/established in Shia theology since the prophet era. Here we only suffice to one verse of the Quran and one Hadith of the prophet to clarify this necessity.

The Holy Quran says: “(Remember) the day when We will call every people with their Imam…” [2]

Therefore on that day (The Day of Judgment) Allah (SWT) differentiates people in groups determined by their Imams (leaders) and no one is left behind. However, not all Imams guide to the right path. Some who follows wrong Imams may be lead to the Hell as Quran says: “And We made them Imams who call to the fire, and on the day of resurrection they shall not be assisted”. [3]

When every one will be considered with an Imam and some Imams lead to Hell, wise people understand they have to put their ultimate effort to know the true Imam that guides them to the right path.

The messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP) has emphasized on this necessity by a Hadith, which is very well known among Shia [4] and Sunnis [5]:

" من مات ولم یعرف امام زمانه مات میته جاهلیه "

“Whoever dies and doesn’t know the Imam of his age, he dies the death of ignorance.”

 

According to this Hadith, someone who has admitted that there is no god but Allah and Mohammad (PBUH&HP) is his messenger, who prays every day, fasts the holy Ramadhan month but he doesn’t know the Imam of his age “he dies the death of ignorance”. Ignorance or “Jaheliyat” refers to the pre-Islam era, which was worse than the dark ages before the renaissance  in Europe. Those who died in the Jaheliyat, were far from Islam and were in deep ignorance; therefore, this Hadith says that without knowing the Imam of the age, other beliefs and good deeds do not make a distinction between a Muslim and those who lived before Islam. In other words, Islam doesn’t benefit anyone, unless he knows his Imam. In Shia we have lots of Hadiths that emphasize this meaning. [6]

The messenger of Allah was the Imam of his age and after him the master of believers, Imam Ali (PBUH) had this position. T Then the appointed Imams, among the prophet’s progeny. All of whom, one after another, held up that  until today  Imam Mahdi is the Imam whom we must know, if we want our belief to Tawhid, Nabovvat, Quran and also piety and good deeds to benefit us. Knowing Imam has two sides: 1- The virtue of Imamat. 2- The person who holds this position.*

These courses have been prepared to discuss this important subject and to provide the essential knowledge we should have about our Imam based on Quran and traditions and to answer common questions that may come to the mind about him. May Allah give us this opportunity and make haste the appearance of the Imam of the age, Inshallah.

 

Footnotes:

[1] We will discuss it in details later.

[2] Bani Israel(15)/71

[3] AL-Qasas(28)/41

[4] Kafi, vol. 1, p 377 and Kamal-al-din, chapter 39, 410-411.

[5] Mosnad (Hanbal), vol. 2, p 73. Sahih Bukhari, vol.5, p13. Sahih Moslem, #1849.

[6] For example look at the first chapter of Vasael-ol-shia and its Mostadrak.

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Passage 2

In this lesson we will study about

• The existance concept of Imam Mahdi in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism
• The concept of Imam Mahdi in dialectical materialism.
• Benefits of the concept in a religious text.
• Shia concept of Imam Mahdi. 
• Benefits of belief in a living saviour. 

Originality of the concept of Mahdi (Messianic Leader)

Originality of the concept of Mahdi (Messianic Leader)

In this course we are going to investigate the concept of the Mahdi or the Messianic leader of the world in other religions and ideologies. Further, we will shortly address some of the benefits that may be concluded from this belief. Let us be clear that we have no intention of proving the existence of the promised Mahdi through this approach, nor are we in need of doing so. Our intention is to show that the belief in the appearance of the unique saviour of the world is a constructive universal belief and almost all nations are awaiting his emergence.

A) In other religions

Ayatollah Sadr says:

The concept of the Mahdi is not just the embodiment of an Islamic doctrine possessing a religious character, but rather signifies a universal aspiration of mankind with the variety of its religions and creeds. It represents an innate aspiration through which people, despite the variety of their beliefs and their means of recourse to the Unseen (Qayeb), perceive that there is, for all mankind on the earth, a promised day wherein the divine messages with their momentous significance will be fulfilled and their ultimate objective will be realized, bringing the long and arduous human journey through history to its ultimate destination. [1]

The tidings are found in books like the Zand and Pazand, and Jamas (names of the Zoroastrians), the Torah and other Biblical books of the Jews, and the Gospel of the Christians. Such information can also be seen, more or less, among the Hindus and the Buddhists. Each tradition recognizes this figure with a different name and a specific title. The Zoroastrians call him Saoshyant (meaning the “saviour of the world”); the Jews know him as the messiah, whereas the Christians regard him as Christ. The advantage of Islam is that in Islam this saviour has been fully introduced, whereas in other religions the general concept has not been elaborated to this level. [2] [3]

B) Even for nonbelievers

In fact, the consciousness of this unseen day and the awaited future is not limited to the religious believers in the Unseen (Qayeb), but includes others as well, being reflected even in ideologies and creeds most vehement in their rejection of the Unseen and everything that relates to it, such as dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism, which interprets history in terms of contradictions, believes in a promised day in which all the contradictions would be resolved and peace and harmony will prevail. Similarly, we find that the psychological experience pertaining to this perception of mankind through the course of history is one of the most widespread of experiences and the most common among individuals.

C) Benefits of this concept in a religious context

Although believing in a prosperous and just future has obvious good results in general, its special profits appear in the religious context. Shahid Sadr explained it as:

When religion affirms this general perception and asserts that the world will eventually be filled with justice and equity after rampant injustice and oppression, it gives an objective value to this perception by transforming it into faith in the future of humanity. This faith is not merely a source of comfort and solace, it is rather a source of strength and resourcefulness, because the faith in the Mahdi is faith in the removal of injustice and tyranny even if it darkens the entire world and is an inexhaustible source of strength and resistance, as it is a ray of hope which removes despair from the human spirit by keeping the flame of hope lit in gloomy times when injustice assumes monstrous dimensions. … It implies that when injustice becomes monstrous and worldwide and spreads its tentacles over human destiny-that is an unnatural condition which is bound to terminate. This great and inevitable defeat of injustice, at a time when it is at its zenith, gives a great hope to every victim of injustice and reassurance to every oppressed nation of the ability to tilt the scales and build a new order.

D) Advantages of Islamic/Shia belief in a living saviour

The detailed teachings furnished by Islam have shifted the concept of Mahdi from the plane of transcendence to that of concrete reality and from the future to the present.  The Shia school of thought especially, gives a greater vitality to all the aspirations which led to the emergence of this concept at the dawn of religious history, because according to Shia belief:

“The Mahdi is not a saviour whose birth is awaited or a prophecy whose fulfilment is sought; rather he is a present reality whose active involvement is awaited and a particular individual living with his flesh and blood in our midst, whom we see and who sees us. ... He witnesses everything going on in the world stage, the sufferings of the tormented, the misery of the miserable, and the tyranny of the tyrants, and, from far and near; feels them all intensely, and, with his grief, awaits the moment when he may extend his hand towards every victim of oppression, deprivation and distress, and crush the tyrants.”

In the next course lessons, we will study some of the teachings of the Quran and Hadith about Imam Mahdi (ATFS), Inshallah.

 

Footnotes:

[1] Shahid Sadr, http://al-islam.org/al-tawhid/default.asp?url=mahdi/discussion.htm

[2] http://al-islam.org/mahdi/nontl/Chap-3.htm#n3

[3] For more detailed discussion in this subject refer to: “relevance in religions”, author: “Mohammad Tagi Mohaseel”

You will read the passage in four sections, which will be divided by you.







After each section is read, you will talk about the characters, the themes, and your feelings about the story's  progression with your classmates and the teacher.







Once the class has developed an understanding of the texts key events and elements, you will complete the task (or your choice of task) that pertains to the section of the passage the class is working on.







These tasks will help you get new related information and learn English new words plus English phrases about Imam Mahdi. therefore you will be able to make better presentation.

You will find the discussion questions we will use to guide our analysis of the passage by clicking on the link provided. 

• Click on the link provided below.
• Read on more related passages
• Click on the document file, video file and Power Point file provided below.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L49kBk-rP0

• http://al-islam.org/al-tawhid/default.asp?url=mahdi/discussion.htm

•  

  http://al-islam.org/mahdi/nontl/Chap-3.htm#n3

• https://www.al-islam.org/al-imam-al-mahdi-just-leader-humanity-ayatullah-ibrahim-amini/chapter-3-mahdiism-jews-and-iranians#n3

• https://www.al-islam.org/message-thaqalayn/vol11-n2-2010/doctrine-mahdi-and-pluralism-mohammad-hussein-mokhtari

• https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=2ahUKEwjt3NCFwNrcAhUSL1AKHeaSBaoQFjAGegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duas.org%2Fppt%2FknowImam.ppt&usg=AOvVaw2TYILsauGn6srEAJDVUqqX

• https://media.islamicleaders.net/how-is-it-possible-for-someone-imam-mahdi-to-live-more-than-a-1000-years-part-1/

• https://media.islamicleaders.net/imam-mahdi-the-leader-of-all-nations/?list

• https://media.islamicleaders.net/preparing-imam-mahdis-advent/?list

• Respond to the reflections on questions on first question of the task part.

• Please print your responses sheet to share with your classmates during our discussion of the author and themes.

• and be ready to present your research.

*Teachers*

Lesson: intermediate level, English



Student Description: at least 3 groups of students;  not very different in reading and comprehension levels



Goals: Read passages, learn ESP in Islamic context, make new vocabularies lists, collaborate in teamwork research



Objectives: Focus skills include: fluency/expression, pronunciation, comprehension, character analysis, text to real-life connections, collaborative discussion, writing skills, communication skills



Procedures:

1. Discuss and build background knowledge                                     

            -  discuss passages

            - students browse through webquest, understand objectives and procedures

            - make predictions



State Standards

 establish the purpose for reading a type of text before reading



identify the basic ideas and facts in text using strategies and information from other sources to make predictions about the text



 Demonstrate after reading understanding and interpretation of both fiction and nonfiction text. Summarize the major ideas, themes or procedures of the text. Relate new information or ideas from the text to that learned through additional reading and media. Clarify ideas and understandings through rereading and discussion. 



Enhance fluency and comprehension in reading.



2. Begin reading                                                                    

 -  read as a group in class, Discuss events and characters at end of each period

- Utilize webquest throughout texts, complete activities and discussions



State Standards

*  Compare the use of literary elements within and among texts

* Read and respond to answers

* Write multi-paragraph informational; Use relevant vocabularies

* Relate new texts to what is know, predict the result, retell actions in sequence, identify new concepts, summarize the selection

3. Conclusion of text                                                                  

- main points, characters, main events, comparisons

- discuss feelings and book reviews, preview next two passages



State Standards

* Listen to other. Ask pertinent questions, distinguish relevant information, take notes when prompted

*  Speak using skills appropriate to formal speech situations

*  Contribute to discussion/Participate in small and large group discussions and presentations

* Use media for learning purposes. Access information on the Internet.

Materials: laptops plus online network(when needed)

Rubric: along with 20% point participation grade for weekly reading and discussion, the webquest (broken into 4 parts) will be worth 80 points for the tasks.

20% participation + 80% webquest = 100 point project

Sources

https://media.islamicleaders.net/how-is-it-possible-for-someone-imam-mahdi-to-live-more-than-a-1000-years-part-1/

http://university.etrat.net

http://al-islam.org/al-tawhid/default.asp?url=mahdi/discussion.htm

http://al-islam.org/mahdi/nontl/Chap-3.htm#n3