Who can legitimately claim to be the Mahdi?

0:00 Outline
0:21 Who are Arabs?
0:54 Who are Ishmaelites?
2:05 Who is Muhammad?
4:07 Who is the Mahdi?
5:03 Spurious claimants
8:24 Legitimate claimants

Muhammad taught that the twelve tribes of Israel (whom Romans called “Palestinians”) were sent prophets in succession—notably the Twelve Minor Prophets (Nevi’im)—in keeping with their covenant that they would become a “holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). Similarly, the twelve tribes of Ishmael would become a “great nation” (Genesis 17:20) ruled by Twelve Caliphs (Nasi’im), and many others in succession (Ibn Majah 24:119 & Abu Dawud 38:1).

This video explains how the Mahdi is the lawful successor of Muhammad. Indeed, the scriptures can be read from a purely secular perspective as the sacred lore and law of royal succession among Abrahamic people (Qur’an 4:54).

Note that Ummi can also refer to a gentile (e.g., Bukhari 23:108; cp. Qur’an 3:75 & Deuteronomy 23:30; cp. also Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 12:9 & Isaiah 42). Muhammad correspondingly claimed to be the “Apostle to the Gentiles” instead of Paul of Tarsus (Qur’an 7:157, Muslim 43:190 & Romans 11:13) and to have been inspired with an epistle (Risala) from the Holy Spirit (Qur’an 16:102), namely the Qur’an (lit. recitation): a compendium of the Law and Prophets in the angelic tongue (Bava Metzia 86b:16), as opposed to glossolalia (Acts 2:4) according to a Greek text (Qur’an 16:103).

Paul’s and Muhammad’s followers consequently accused each other of being acolytes of the False Prophet and the False Messiah (Qur’an 68:1-6 & Muslim 43:190). Note that all the antichrists in the Bible including Goliath in the Old Testament, Antiochus IV in the Books of Daniel and Maccabees, Emperor Nero in the Book of Revelation and Armilus (Heraclius) in the Secrets of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai, are Western/Roman; see OpenjusticeDotNet, “Who is the Devil in the Bible?” (22 Jun 2025) Rumble <https://rumble.com/v6v6593-who-is-the-devil-in-the-bible.html>.