Sadly, Yasir Qadhi Distorts "Non-Sunni" Understanding of Imam Mahdi During Sept 18 Lecture

Muslim scholars should be confident enough in their own beliefs that they don't have to make up lies or talk in a derogatory way about the teachings of other schools of thought.

In a lecture given on September 18, 2019, called "The Mahdi: Explained," Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, a popular speaker and an academic who holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Yale University, said the following:

"Within non-Sunni Islam. the concept of Mahdi really went far left. Within non-Sunni Islam, this concept became something totally different from within Sunni Islam, and, of course, the most obvious group is that of the Twelver group of non-Sunni Islam, the Imamia. And if you know their history, when the eleventh Imam died young without having been married so there is no progeny, there is no heir to the eleventh Imam [Hasan al-Askari (A)], they invented a mysterious nonexistent twelfth Imam and they said this twelfth Imam is the Imam al-Ghayb, the Hidden Imam and he is the Mahdi.  And they took the concept from Sunnism and they tacked it on to their unknown nonexistent twelfth Imam and they said he is the Mahdi and they then made an entire cult and entire supernatural mystery around the Mahdi and they said he controls the ilm al ghayb [knowledge of the unseen], controls the future, knows this and that and gave him all these types of characteristics that we know not to be correct." (minutes 1:00 53--1:02 04)

A quick Google search tells us more accurate information about the "Non-Sunni" concept of Imam Mahdi than Qadhi did!

As Qadhi said in his lecture, all Muslims agree that Imam Mahdi will come to unify Muslims under his leadership and bring justice on earth, and "there's a lot of work that we need to do" as we wait for him to come.

This effort towards unity starts with scholars correctly educating themselves (here's a start) and then others on the the beliefs of different schools of thought so we can overcome negative stereotypes and misunderstandings and work together in achieving common goals. Influential scholars like Qadhi should definitely not be adding to the lies, confusion, and division!

On that note, there are at least thirty traditional Sunni scholars who hold the same beliefs as "Non-Sunnis" regarding Imam Mahdi. You won't hear that from Qadhi but you can find details here.