# Do Muslim beliefs about the Mahdi, Jesus and Gog and Magog mirror Jewish messianic texts?

*Qadhi on the Midrash: a minor and a major messiah, and 'what a coincidence'*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/23/
- Date: 2021-03-02 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #204 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:46:36–1:50:26)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1OOltqtPTw&t=6396s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/

**Topics:** Dajjal, Mahdi and the signs; Christians and other faiths; The second coming of Jesus

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** In the clip Qadhi sets out the Jewish belief in a minor and a major messiah alongside Gog and Magog, mirroring Muslim end-time beliefs; Mufti Abu Layth mocks his 'what a coincidence'.

## Longer summary

In the clip Qadhi turns to Jewish scripture: Maimonides made belief in the messiah one of his thirteen principles of creed, and the Midrash speaks of a forerunner, a minor messiah who defeats the enemies of Israel, meaning the children of Israel, among them Gog and Magog, after which the real messiah comes, judgement takes place and the righteous are rewarded. Mufti Abu Layth interjects with the hadith that Muslims would follow the ways of the Jews and Christians. Qadhi notes that one midrashic paragraph mentions two figures, Gog and Magog and the Day of Judgement, just as Muslims have the Mahdi, the Messiah, Gog and Magog and the Day of Resurrection, and asks whether Muslims took it from them or both simply had it, which Mufti mocks as 'what a coincidence'. The clip goes on to say there is bizarre material in Muslim books and that being written in Arabic does not make something true, which Mufti sets against Qadhi's earlier appeal to what the scholars said, and Qadhi begins to suggest that the notion of a living tribe of Gog and Magog may not be correct.

## Sources and names cited

- Yasir Qadhi
- Maimonides
- the Midrash
- Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog)
- Mahdi
- report: you will follow the ways of the jews and the christians

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:46:36–1:50:26)

[1:45:59] down being like so wow and then what he does is runs around chases pigs and just wants to kill all the pigs on the globe i mean has it you know hasn't jesus got a better thing to do i mean you know he's here you know wow god's gonna break the laws of nature send down a man two thousand years later and the man just chases around pigs trying to kill them i mean that that is that not in many ways disrespectful to the prophet jesus and to god to state that but still let's let's pay attention

[1:46:36] it says that there will be a the midrash says you see note here he's going to go into jewish scripture there will be a forerunner to the messiah we talked about the concept of messiah in judaism remember you guys remember right and moses maimonides put belief in the messiah as a part of his thirteen points of al-qaeda so jewish scholars had as part of the iraq a belief like maimonides and others that they will be a messiah but also a forerunner 11 to the 12 point

[1:47:14] we're going to believe in the messiah a day will come when the messiah will come it is a part of jewish literature buddhism believe in two types of messiah the minor messiah and the major messiah very interesting isn't it jewish people believed in a minor messiah and a major messiah okay they say that there will be a forerunner to the real messiah and this forerunner will defeat israel's enemies when they say israel they don't mean the country they mean bani israel remember this right when the midrash says israel they mean muslims jews from their perspective you understand they don't mean the country

[1:47:51] so they say that this jewish messianic precursor the minor messiah so the minor messiah this is jewish literature the midrash not us yet obviously we too as the hadith says whatever the jews and the christians you two will go down that road so okay we'll defeat israel's enemies gog and magog and then the real messiah will come and then judgment will take place and then the righteous will be rewarded meaning with jannah if that's their reward now this is interesting because this is midrashic literature

[1:48:28] and it mentions two figures and it mentions gog and magog and it mentions judgment day all in the same paragraph allahu alam we have the mahdi we have the messiah we have gog and magog we have yom al-qiyama all in the same paragraph as well then they ask how did we get how is it conceivable we got influenced by jewish literature he goes on to say well you know people say maybe we took it from them but maybe we both just had it right what a coincidence you you hey what a coincidence what a coincidence

[1:49:08] you can dance okay so let's go back here people okay now we have some really bizarre interpretation so what do do we have crazy stuff in our books our books muslim books do we huh that are found in our books and again and we have to again be a bit more discerning just because it's written in arabic doesn't mean it's the allah knows best so note here very quickly a moment ago saying that look uh you know our scholars have said this blah blah

[1:49:45] now by the way we have bizarre stuff in our books anyway so what if it's written but let's go perhaps perhaps this notion of a living tribe of is not correct keep in mind that all the scholars of the past the dawns [Music] his jesus video the islam

[1:50:25] the greatest authority in islam imna even all of them believed in this this ya judah mahjud but he's about to say well this is actually this on big problem you know i have to say i was relieved to find classical scholars some of them did problematize this hadith so the fact that he found one or two scholars disagreeing gave him great relief amongst them who said that this tradition this tradition seems to be uh it's an ill or a hidden defect that it is not

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment b1OOltqtPTw/s/23. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/23/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.