Muhammad Al-Mahdi - Sunni View

Sunni View

The majority of Sunni Muslims do not consider the son of Hasan al-Askari to be the Mahdi nor to be in occultation. However, they do believe that the Mahdi will come from Muhammad's family. Sunnis believe that the Mahdi has not yet been born, and therefore his exact identity is only known to Allah. Aside from the Mahdi's precise genealogy, Sunnis accept many of the same hadiths Shias accept about the predictions regarding the Mahdi's emergence, his acts, and his universal Khilafat. Sunnis also have a few more Mahdi hadiths which are not present in Shia collections, such as the following:

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri narrated that Muhammad said:

Our Mahdi will have a broad forehead and a pointed (prominent) nose. He will fill the earth with justice as it is filled with injustice and tyranny. He will rule for seven years —Abu Sa'id al-Khudri,

Shia books do not explicitly mention the Mahdi having a pointed (prominent) nose.

However, the Shi'a traditions do state (about Imam Mehdi's nose): "His Nose; Abu Sa‘īd al-Khidri narrates from the Messenger of Allah (a.s) that he said, 'The Mahdi is from us the Ahl al-Bait, a man from my Ummah. He has a high nose. He will fill the earth with equity as it will be full of corruption.'"

Other Sunni hadith regarding the Mahdi are virtually identical to their counterparts in Shia books:

Umm Salamah said:

I heard the Messenger of Allah say: "The Mahdi is of my lineage and family" —Umm Salamah,

Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri said:

The Messenger of Allah said: "He is one of us" —Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri,

In the light of traditions and interpretations, the personality of the Promised Mahdi would be as such:

It is said "predictions and lore concerning the Mahdi abound" Among them are that the promised Mahdi would be a Caliph of God and that to make a covenant with him is obligatory. He would belong to the House of Muhammad and would be in the line of Imam Hassan. His name would be Muhammad and his family name would be Abul Qasim, his father's name would be ‘Abdu’llah, and he would appear in Mecca. He would protect the Muslims from destruction and would restore the religion to its original position.

Sunnis also believe that Jesus will return alongside the Mahdi, with the only difference being that they disagree with the Shia regarding exactly who the Mahdi is.