What is your position regarding the events that occurred in the Haram, in which Juhayman claimed to be the Mahdi?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Now, regarding the issue that has been much discussed, which is the issue of the events in the Haram.
The Shaykh : Yes, I do.
The questioner : We want to clarify this issue, meaning, to make it clear?
The Shaykh : I, like other people, had absolutely no knowledge of it at all. But the year, or the season, following the fitnah, I was, as usual, performing Hajj. By the grace of Allah, I had an old car that I used to perform Hajj and 'Umrah every year. That year, I was surprised and feared that some of the young Muslim men who adhere to the Book and the Sunnah might catch up with us. I was staying in the tent of one of our Egyptian brothers residing in Saudi Arabia, Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Banna. He was my neighbor in Madinah in teaching, and he also taught at the university in the secondary level. We were, meaning, in the best of understanding with each other in teaching and neighborliness, until we agreed with him on a proposal we submitted to Shaykh Ibn Baz to organize a trip for the students every Thursday. The lesson would end with the Zuhr prayer, and we would go out with them to some villages or areas, sometimes to the Red Sea coast. We would ride the bus with between forty and forty-five students, sometimes from the higher level, sometimes from the secondary level, me and this Shaykh al-Banna. A great deal of good would happen, and something that catches the eye and gladdens the heart. The bus would turn into a school from its departure from the university to the station where we were scheduled to get off. And it was not just like that; hardly had the first tent been set up before the Albanians would sit down and a circle would be formed around them, and so it was day and night. It was scheduled that we would stay there for two nights, Friday night and Saturday night, and in the morning we would be at the university. This Shaykh al-Banna—may Allah reward him with good—I used to stay in his tent whenever I performed Hajj. So I noticed that year a large number of students from these brothers who adopt the call of the Book and the Sunnah asking questions about the Mahdi, when he will appear, and so on. And I heard from them that the Mahdi had appeared. Where?
They tell me, "I swear to Allah, they say I don't know, Hail, I don't know what town they were calling it." So I was amazed at them on one hand and joking with them on the other, saying: "My brothers, what has the Mahdi brought to you? The Mahdi will appear from us, meaning, in Damascus, and the Mahdi is present! And they named him this name, you heard it in the newspaper, Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Qahatani."
So, glory to Allah! I used to wonder what this talk means. And they say, "The evidence that the Mahdi is this one is that the visions agreed." They cite the hadith when the Companions saw that the twenty-seventh night was Laylat al-Qadr, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:, so they argue with the agreement of the Companions' visions. So I used to say to them: "Where are you and where are the Companions?!"
The Shaykh : Yes, I do.
The questioner : We want to clarify this issue, meaning, to make it clear?
The Shaykh : I, like other people, had absolutely no knowledge of it at all. But the year, or the season, following the fitnah, I was, as usual, performing Hajj. By the grace of Allah, I had an old car that I used to perform Hajj and 'Umrah every year. That year, I was surprised and feared that some of the young Muslim men who adhere to the Book and the Sunnah might catch up with us. I was staying in the tent of one of our Egyptian brothers residing in Saudi Arabia, Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Banna. He was my neighbor in Madinah in teaching, and he also taught at the university in the secondary level. We were, meaning, in the best of understanding with each other in teaching and neighborliness, until we agreed with him on a proposal we submitted to Shaykh Ibn Baz to organize a trip for the students every Thursday. The lesson would end with the Zuhr prayer, and we would go out with them to some villages or areas, sometimes to the Red Sea coast. We would ride the bus with between forty and forty-five students, sometimes from the higher level, sometimes from the secondary level, me and this Shaykh al-Banna. A great deal of good would happen, and something that catches the eye and gladdens the heart. The bus would turn into a school from its departure from the university to the station where we were scheduled to get off. And it was not just like that; hardly had the first tent been set up before the Albanians would sit down and a circle would be formed around them, and so it was day and night. It was scheduled that we would stay there for two nights, Friday night and Saturday night, and in the morning we would be at the university. This Shaykh al-Banna—may Allah reward him with good—I used to stay in his tent whenever I performed Hajj. So I noticed that year a large number of students from these brothers who adopt the call of the Book and the Sunnah asking questions about the Mahdi, when he will appear, and so on. And I heard from them that the Mahdi had appeared. Where?
They tell me, "I swear to Allah, they say I don't know, Hail, I don't know what town they were calling it." So I was amazed at them on one hand and joking with them on the other, saying: "My brothers, what has the Mahdi brought to you? The Mahdi will appear from us, meaning, in Damascus, and the Mahdi is present! And they named him this name, you heard it in the newspaper, Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Qahatani."
So, glory to Allah! I used to wonder what this talk means. And they say, "The evidence that the Mahdi is this one is that the visions agreed." They cite the hadith when the Companions saw that the twenty-seventh night was Laylat al-Qadr, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: