Crawl Over Ice to Reach Mahdi

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Three people will fight over your treasure. All three will be sons of Khulafa (kings). This will not come into the hands of any of them. Then black flags will appear in the east. They will fight with you in a way that nobody has fought with you before.” Then the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said something. Then he said: “When you see them then give the pledge of allegiance to them even if you have to crawl over snow to reach them. Because he will be Allah’s Khalifa Mahdi.” [Al-Mustadrak. Hakim and Imam Dhahabi graded this hadith Sahih on the conditions of Bukhari and Muslim. Imams Tirmidhi, Ahmad and Ibn Majah have also narrated it.]

The pledge of allegiance to Hazrat Mahdi, as the awaited Imam Mahdi, will be taken in the Haram, but prior to this pledge he will be with the people who fight with black flags in a land to the east of Arabia.

This hadith is clear and unequivocal in telling Muslims to support and pledge allegiance to the people who are with him even before he is recognized as the Mahdi. His army is recognized as the one fighting with black flags in Khorasan, a land to the east of Arabia.

Crawling over snow is not easy or painless but the importance of supporting this army (Mahdi’s army) is such that should one even need to crawl over snow capped mountains to reach them, every Muslim must.

Allamah Ibn Kathir (rahmatullah) in his famous “An-Nihaya fil Fitn wal Malahim” says expounding on this hadith: “The people in the east will support Imam Mahdi. They will establish his rule and strengthen it. Their flags will be black…. Because the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam)’s flag was also black which was called ‘Al-Iqaab’. In summary, Imam Mahdi Mamdooh, the awaited of the end times, will appear and emerge first in the east and his pledge will (later) be taken in the house of Allah (Kabah). The text of the hadith proves this.”