ll have forgotten, and he shall reign over Islam in
place of their Khalifeh, being called the Mohdy, or guide. To this some
add that he will arise of a sudden in some distant corner of the earth,
and that he will march towards Mecca, and that everywhere the blood of
Moslems shall be shed like water, and that he shall enter Mecca when the
streets shall run with blood. In support of this coming of the Mohdy
many traditions exist which are held to be authentic by the Ulema. Thus
it is related on the authority of Abdallah ibn Messaoud that he heard
the Prophet say, "When there shall remain but one day of the days of the
earth, God shall prolong that day, and shall send forth from my house a
man bearing my name and the name of my father (Mohammed ibn Abdallah),
and he shall purify the earth from injustice and fill it with that which
is right." The same was heard also by Ali Ibn Abu Taleb, the Prophet's
son-in-law, and by Hadhifat Ibn el Yaman, who relates that this prophecy
was delivered by Mohammed one Friday at the Khotbah, or sermon, in
Medina. Salman el Faris, another witness, declares that he afterwards
approached the Prophet and stood before him and asked him, "From which
of thy descendants, O Apostle of God, shall the Mohdy be?" And the
Prophet answered, stretching his hand towards his grandson Huseyn, "From
this child shall he come."

Besides this general belief, which, though not a positive dogma of their
faith, is common to all Mussulmans, the Shiites, always prone to
exaggerate and embellish, maintain that the Mohdy's duty is not limited
to teaching, guiding, and purifying the law, but also that he shall
revenge the blood unjustly shed of the Imams; and they cite in support
of this a tradition of Ali ibn Abu Taleb, who thus addressed his son,
Huseyn, the same who was afterwards martyred at Kerbela, "I swear to
thee, O my son," he said, "I swear by my soul, and by my offspring, and
by Kerbela, and by its temple, that the day shall come in which our
beards shall be dyed with blood. And I swear that afterwards God shall
raise up a man, the Mohdy, who shall stand in our place, the lord of
mankind. He it is who shall avenge us, nay, he shall avenge thy blood
also, O Huseyn. Therefore have patience. For the blood of one man he
shall shed the blood of a thousand; and he will not spare them who have
helped our enemies."

The Shiites say also that this Mohdy will be no new personage, but that
he lives already in the flesh