# How to Stop Falling for Fake Mahdis | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

**Author:** Tom Facchine
**Series:** Imam Tom Live
**Published:** 2025-10-01
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/AKC3fDb4va8
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-stop-falling-for-fake-mahdis-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine
**Topics:** History, Politics & Practical Theology

## Description
Believing in the coming of the Mahdi is an aspect of creed and Islamic theology, but is there a point where fixating on it crosses the line? Are we using the Mahdi as a fallback, one that allows us to put in less effort and deflect our responsibilities to the Ummah? It’s time to acknowledge that...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** The Mahdi has appeared and he lives in Manchester. Every 3-5 years somebody is on the internet claiming to be the Mahdi or the Mahdi's representative. However, the way in which people are fixated on the Mahdi, I have concerns.

**[0:20]** I have concerns that they're using it as an escape. I have concerns that they really want to, rather than do the work. Okay, Palestine is occupied, Muslims are getting slaughtered in Sudan, in East Turkestan, in Myanmar, across the world.

**[0:36]** Wouldn't it be convenient if we just say, oh the Mahdi is going to come and fix everything? You're not waiting for a figure that's going to revive the Ummah. You see yourself as part of a group of revivers, bi-idhnillah ta'ala. And the Mahdi is a continuation of Mahdiyyin, Mahdis.

**[0:54]** The Prophet (ﷺ) called them al-Khulafa al-Rashidun, al-Mahdiyyin, the guided, righteous Khulafa. But the idea of an awaited figure that justifies us sitting back and accepting our situation, that's not what this Ummah is made of.

**[1:12]** And I see that when people fixate on the end times, that this is a depoliticizing narrative. They stop being concerned with what does Allah want from you now in this situation? How does He want you to behave? You cannot continue to drink your Starbucks and eat your McDonald's when Palestine is being occupied and people in Gaza are being slaughtered.

**[1:34]** That's a lack of wala' wal bara', that's a lack of solidarity that is crossing a line and you're going to be asked about it on the Day of Judgment. When we move just to the eschatological, we're just talking about the end times and the signs and the Mahdi, it's almost like an opiate.

**[1:50]** That we can just take stock in the fact that the Mahdi is going to sort everything out. So I would express extreme caution and I would tell everybody that yes, eschatology is important. This is part of the deen, it's part of the study of 'aqidah, it's understanding the signs of the end times.

**[2:11]** But there are some people that obsess about it so that everything that happens they're only thinking about does that mean the Mahdi is here? Does that mean the Mahdi is about to come? Where is he going to come? What's he going to look like? Is he going to run fundraisers on YouTube?

**[2:26]** First of all let's be clear, eschatologically, talking about the end times, that we have not yet experienced any of the major signs of the end times. We have experienced minor signs and that's typical, like there were minor signs that occurred at the time of the Prophet (ﷺ).

**[2:45]** And according to the hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ), it's true that relatively speaking the end times are near. They have been near since the time of the Prophet (ﷺ). You should be focused about what Allah wants from you and what is the wajib of the time.

**[3:03]** How can you be, yes, as an individual, a better husband, a better father, a better wife, a better mother, a better son or daughter, a better community member. But also what are the things, how can you take care of your brothers and sisters? What can you do for your brothers and sisters abroad throughout the Ummah in order to take care of your responsibility to the Ummah of Muhammad (ﷺ).

**[3:33]** Thank you.

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