HOLIEST WARS
Islamic Mahdis, their jihads & Osama bin Laden
By Timothy R. Furnish. Praeger Publishers (http://www.greenwood.com/international). 180 pages. £25.99
ISBN 0 275 98383 8
Christians look forward to the return of our Lord Messiah Jesus to earth. But Christians are not always aware that most Muslims, too, believe that he is still alive in the heavens and will return to earth. However, there is a significant difference: Muslims believe that he will return as a Muslim and correct the ‘error’ of those who worship him as the Son of God. Furthermore, many believe he will return as the assistant of the Mahdi, God’s end-time world ruler.
Who or what is the Mahdi? ‘Mahdi’ means ‘rightly-guided one’. The future Mahdi is expected to be a man of Arab stock who will arise somewhere in the Near East to usher in worldwide Islam, and so restore the Caliphate which has not really operated since the death of the Muhammad’s four successors, or ‘rightly-guided caliphs’. He is expected to rule for seven or nine years, after which he will die a natural death. The Prophet Jesus is also expected to die a natural death after having married and raised a family.
