"Confirming what is with you, you shall believe in him and you shall support him." He said, "Do you affirm and take this covenant upon me?" They said, "We affirm." Then be witnesses, and I am with you among the witnesses.
Regarding the interpretation of this verse, there are several interpretations, including: Ibn Jarir narrated from Ali, who said: Allah did not send a prophet from Adam and after him except that He took a covenant from him regarding Muhammad, that if he is sent while he is alive, they will believe in him and support him, and He commands him, so He takes the covenant from his people, then he recited: "And when Allah took the covenant of the prophets..." (verse). Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Al-Suddi regarding the verse, similar to this. Ibn Jarir and Ibn Al-Mundhir narrated from Ibn Abbas, similar to this.
What strengthens this interpretation is what is narrated from Jabir bin Abdullah: That Umar bin Al-Khattab came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, with a book he found from some of the People of the Book, and he read it to the Prophet, peace be upon him. The Prophet was surprised and said: "Are you confused about them, O son of Al-Khattab? By Him in whose hand is my soul, I have brought you a clear and pure message. Do not ask them about anything, so they will inform you of the truth and you will deny it, or of falsehood and you will believe it. By Him in whose hand is my soul, if Moses were alive, he would have no choice but to follow me."
Therefore, the current era is called the era of division, because the Ummah is divided into several states.
Therefore, the current rule has no legitimacy, except that it is for the benefit of the Islamic Ummah, or a part of it. And the rulers whom the Mahdi will fight will have their allegiance either from a council that controls the Ummah, or they took it by force, and they do not have the allegiance of the scholars of the Ummah, the people of binding and loosing. The allegiance of the Mahdi will be based on the Islamic method prescribed by the scholars of Islam throughout the ages. The forms of the Mahdi's allegiance are:
- A divine revelation from heaven, by the saying of the Messenger, peace be upon him, and by authentic hadiths.
- His allegiance is by the gathering of seven scholars from different countries of the Islamic world. These are the people of binding and loosing. 313 of the best people, knowledgeable and religious, have pledged allegiance to each ruler in their countries. It is narrated in the narration: "When trade and roads are cut off, and tribulations increase, seven scholars will emerge from different horizons without prior appointment, and each man will be pledged allegiance by three hundred and thirteen men, until they gather in Mecca. The seven will meet and some will say to others: What brought you here? They will say: We came in search of this man by whose hands these tribulations will be calmed, and Constantinople will be conquered. We know him by his name, his father's name, his mother's name, and his description. The seven will agree on that, and they will search for him and find him in Mecca.
Belief in the matter of the Mahdi:
A Muslim cannot be free to believe in any matter of the definitive tenets of religion. As is known, the Mahdi is a definitive matter. All the scholars of Islam have included his matter in the chapter of creed and monotheism. Among their explanations is that every Muslim must believe in the matter of the Mahdi, and in the manner mentioned in his name and descriptions, as well as what the hadiths have brought: that whoever dies without the allegiance of a Muslim imam on his neck, dies the death of ignorance. As for our time, there is no imam for the Muslims, and that is only because of the fragmentation of the Ummah and the establishment of the unity of the Muslims under one imam, and this is one of the strongest means of unity that Allah Almighty has commanded. As for the system of choosing a caliph for the Muslims, it is by the gathering of the scholars of Islam from different countries who are the people of binding and loosing, and they are the ones who appoint a caliph or depose him. Allah will gather these for the Mahdi so that his matter is a revelation from heaven, as well as the gathering of the people of binding and loosing. As for the elections today, they are nothing but a strange system in which there is no good for the Ummah. The simplest and greatest flaw is that it equates the opinion of a knowledgeable person with that of a foolish, ignorant person. If the latter are many, the Ummah will be in their hands. Can we hope for good from foolish ignoramuses who have no opinion or religion? And in the end, what the people of binding and loosing agree upon is obligatory for the rest of the Ummah to hear and obey.
Why does the Mahdi begin his life with fighting, even though the call of reformers does not involve war, and the call of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, began with peace?
One of the methods that Allah Almighty has approved for His prophets, and also approved for the preservation of the call and the religion, and if Allah Almighty had not approved this, all Muslims throughout history would have perished, and only every unjust infidel would remain on Earth. As for the reformers, the matter of peace for them is in the Islamic society or the non-Muslim society, which is non-violent, based on argument and proof.