It has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an that Islam will...

It has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an that Islam will become the universal religion of mankind and that all other religions will perish or be overshadowed by Islam which is another one of the outcomes of the holy being of the Promised al-Mahdi.

“He is it who hath sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religions, however much the idolaters may be averse.” 4 He sent this religion through His Prophet so in the end He will make it victorious over all other religions in this world, which means all the people in the world will become the followers of this religion (and other verses as such). After the Qur’anic verses comes the issue of the Prophet’s sayings.

What has the Prophet said in this regard? If the sayings related to the Promised al-Mahdi were exclusive to Shi‘ah narrations, then there will be a point for skeptics to be critical of. If the issue of the Promised al-Mahdi is real, then the Prophet must have mentioned it; and if the Prophet has mentioned it, then it should have been narrated by other Islamic sects and not only the Shi‘ahs alone. Coincidentally, narrations about the Promised al-Mahdi have not only been narrated by the Shi‘ahs.

The Sunnis also have narrations regarding this issue if not more than the Shi‘ahs. Books have been written in this regard which can bare witness to this fact. During the years we were in Qum, two books were written concerning this issue. One is by the late Ayatullah Sadr (may God raise his status), which of course is written in Arabic and is entitled, “al-Mahdi” and has, I think, been published as well. In that book, all the narrations he has quoted are from Sunni sources.

When one studies it, he will see that the issue of the Promised al-Mahdi is more visible in the narrations quoted by the Sunnis than those quoted by the Shi‘ahs. There is also another book which, fortunately, is in Farsi, titled, “Muntakhab al-Athar”. It is written by one of the scholars of Qum Theological Center (who is fullah Safi” (Golpaygani).

It was*still in Qum) called, “Aqa Mirza Lut written under the supervision of the late Ayatullah Bojnurdi; that is, he gave a general request for this book, chose the design, layout and customs of the book. It was followed up by this gentleman who later wrote the book. If you read this book, you will see that many Sunni traditions have been quoted in it in this regard, for various definitions and contents.