Signs of the Reappearance of Imam Mahdi

Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi

”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)

Modern science supports these ideas

1- The prolongation of days and years during the time of reappearance of Imam Mahdi does not contradict modern science, and in fact it is supported by modern science.

Given the fact that gravity can affect all heavenly and cosmic bodies as well as the earth substances, it also affects the gravity of the moon, water of the seas, soil and land, and halting  of the earth.

Since long time back people have known that there is a relationship between the moonrise, moonset, and high tide and low tide of the waters of seas. However they did not know how it happens and what makes these things happen until Isaac Newton, the great genius of the world of science solved this mystery for the first time and explained perfectly how these phenomena happen. The phenomenon of pulling (high tide and low tide of the water) is principally produced by the force of gravity of the moon. Obviously sea waters are more flexible compared to the terrain of the earth. So, naturally waters can have lesser resistance against the pulling force of the moon. Due to this reason, certain amount of water is collected under the moon (on the earth) and will form the phenomenon of ”high tide”‌ which means pulling up.

At the time of creation of the ”high tide”‌ facing the moon, another ”high tide”‌ shall be created on the other side of the earth, so the waters of the other side of the earth that are far from the moon are lesser affected and they lag behind and form a huge volume of water, thus, every part of the surface of the sea gets affected twice a day by the ”high tide”‌ and twice a day by the ”low tide”‌ which means pulling inward.  So, the average time between two consecutive tides is 12 hours and 25.5 minutes. Exactly half the time it takes to complete one orbit around the earth which is 24 hours and 51 minutes.

The high tide and low tide follow the apparent motion of the moon from the eastern horizon of the observer towards the western horizon. The effect of the gravity of the Sun on the tide comparing to that of the moon is of the second degree in importance, since its distance from the earth is more (about one hundred and fifty million kilometers); because of this fact the power of the Sun for creating tide is only about seven percent of the moon’s power.

When these forces act in coordination, the tides are in their maximum force, like when the crescent is new and both are on one side of the earth, and they are called spring tides, the other is when the Sun and the moon together make an angle of 90° (quadrature), at this time the tides are at their minimum force, which are called Iveap tides.

The proximity of the moon has also an effect on the height of the tides. When the moon is close to the earth, the force of gravity is 20% higher than normal situation.

The gravity of the moon not only creates swelling on earth waters but it also creates swelling on the lands, which are intangible compared to the swelling of waters.

The force resulting from moon’s gravity and the turbulence resulting from the accumulation of waters cause the earth’s axial spin (rotation axis) to be stopped slowly. Thus, this process results in the lengthening of days and nights.

The study of the growth of coral fossils shows that 350 million years ago the length of day and night was shorter by about 3 hours compared to today’s normal day and night, and the length of solar year was about 400 days.

Study of the records of the past solar and lunar eclipses indicates that the increasing trend of the earth day’s length has been about 0016% of second per century. (2)

2-  Probably the following verse of the Holy Qur’an has pointed to One Who has created this fundamental and foundational force which is called gravity that prevails throughout the universe (in all things, bodies and the cosmic bodies):  ”Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you see, and He is firm in power and He made the Sun and the moon subservient (to you); each one pursues its course to an appointed time; He regulates the affair, making clear the signs that you may be certain of meeting your Lord.”‌ [The Holy Qur’an,13:2]

The Almighty God has the power to reduce the duration of days and years (the time of revolution and rotation of the earth), make the Earth’s rotation ten times faster to reach 240 hours and increase the speed of the earth revolution ten times faster. In other words, He can reduce the speed of the earth which is about 30 kilometers per second to about 3 kilometers per second.

In order to dismiss the astonishment of Abu Basir, Imam Sadiq (A.S) stated: ”As the moon was split for the Prophet (PBUH) [there are a lot of Hadithes from Sunni and Shia sources about its authenticity], and also prior to that God opened the Sun for Yusha bin Noon [most probably for few hours the earth changed its original rotation from right to left (from west towards east).

Today, astronomers who are expert in the Venus planet believe that unlike that of the earth, the rotation of the Venus is from east towards west. Thus, in Venus the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east. So it is very much possible to create such condition for the earth for a few hours as it was created for Venus during the time of Yusha bin Noon. And above all, it is about the Day of Judgment about which  the Holy Qur’an states: ”And they ask you to hasten on the punishment, and Allah will by no means fail in His promise, and surely a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you number.”‌[The Holy Qur’an, 22:47]

The holy Qur’an also states: ”He regulates the affair from the heaven to the earth; then shall it ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is a thousand years of what you count.”‌ [The Holy Qur’an, 32:5]

3- Sun comes to a halt

The written notes of Seyed Ismail Aqili can be a further confirmation in supporting the words of Imam Sadiq (A.S) on change in the direction of Sun’s rotation, , which we explained earlier as backward rotation of the earth. He has written about the signs of the reappearance of Imam Mahdi: Among the signs is the halt of the Sun in the middle of the sky from high noon until late afternoon without having any movement. This is a confirmation to the change in the movements of the cosmic bodies (3) and there are comments by the historians about the following verse of the Qur’an:

”If We please, We should send down upon them a sign from the heaven so that they would bend their necks in humility.”‌ [The Holy Qur’an, 26:4]

Abu Bsir says: ”Commenting on the said verse, Imam Sadiq (A.S) said: ”Very soon God will do so about them,”‌ I said: Who are they? He said: ”they are Bani Umayyad and their companions;”‌ I asked what are those signs?

Imam Sadeq (A.S) said:  ”The halt of the Sun between noontime till late afternoon and the appearance of a person-whose lineage is known and whose face up to his chest could be seen in the Sun. This event shall happen in period of Sefyani, when Sefyani and his companion shall be killed.”‌

Imam Sadiq (A.S) said: ”there are five signs which will appear before the reappearance of Imam Mahdi: ”

1- A heavenly call: ”his Holiness will enter Mecca and appear on the side of Kaba, and prior to sunrise  the caller shall make an announcement that can be heard by everyone on the earth and heavens,”‌ he says:

”O people! Bear in mind that this is Mahdi of the Household of Muhammad (PBUH).”‌ He shall be called with his name and the title of his forefather Prophet (PBUH) of Islam.

2- Sefyani: He shall rise in a desert which is located between Mecca and Al-Sham (Damascus). Sefyani is an ugly man, broad-shouldered, blue-eyed and has a face with scars of smallpox; his name is ”Usman ibn Anbasa”‌ who is one of the children of Yazid bin Muawiyah; he shall capture Damascus, Homs, Palestine, Jordan and Qansarin cities.

3- The Sefyani army shall disintegrate in a desert between Mecca and Medina. He has an army of about 300,000 men. Eventually Sefyani shall be killed by the army of Imam Mahdi in Bait-ul-Muqaddas (Jerusalem).

4- Zakyah is a boy from the dynasty of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who will be martyred between Roknm and Magham.

5- Yamani: The uprising of Yamani shall happen in Yemen. Some records show that Yamani, Khorasani and Sefyani shall rise at the same time (in a certain day of a month and a certain year). Among them, Yamani shall lead the people to God. (4)

1)Nur al-Saqalayn Interpretation, the Moon section, 1, 6 – Bihar, Vol.  52, p. 333-337 and 339

2) Patrick Moore, Gary Hunt, Atlas of the Solar System, translated by Abbas Jafari, p. 94, Gitashenasi Publishers, summer 1995.

3) Sayed Ismail Noori Aqili, Kefayat al-Movahedin, Rabea article; Mohaddes Qomi, the explanation of some of the signs of Reappearance, Montahaal-Amal, Chapter 7, in some of the signs of Reappearcen - Nur al-Saqalayn Interpretation under the verse Al-Shoara.

4) Ibid.

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