Is the Mahdi and the Hidden Imam the same guy?
Nope.
I’m sure my husband will eb along to give details, but here’s my quick understanding.
In Shia, or at least in some sects, there are 12 Imams. There are and will ever be only 12, as the last guy didn’t have a clear successor, or any. Since he theologically cannot have died with no successor, he must still be alive somewhere but hidden. Not dead after some hundreds of years. Really.
The Mahdi is your basic Messiah type guy.
So- Hidden Imam- not dead but not here
Mahdi- Not yet arrived on the scene
HennaDancer
(please realize this is an extremely brief overview from an outsider)
No, actually, that is not quite correct. In Isma’ili and Imami Shi’ia eschatology the Hidden Imam and the Mahdi are more or less synonomous. In the the Isma’ili view the Hidden Iman who will become the Mahdi is Isma’il, the first designated successor to the Sixth Imam, Ja’far al-Sadiq, who according to Isma’ili theologuy was occultated by God and will one day reture. Imami Shi’ism on the other hand regards Isma’il as simply having predeceased Ja’far al-Sadiq in 760, after which he designated another son as successor, Musa al-Kazim, through which then proceeded the legitimate line of the Imamate, terminating over one hundred years later with Hasan al-Askari who supposedly had a son called Muhammed al-Mahdi ( the ‘al-Mahdi’ part is a title ) who was the legitimate Twelth Imam that was occultated by God and will return as the Mahdi ( I won’t even get into the difference between the Lesser Occultation that lasted until 941 and the Greater Occultation currently in effect ).
The extinct Shi’a sect of the Kisaniyah considered Muhammed al-Hanfiya ( died, or according to the Kisaniyah, occultated in 700 ) to be the Hidden Imam and future Mahdi.
Meanwhile the Zaydi Shi’ites believe in neither a Hidden Iman nor the concept of the Mahdi.
Many Sunni Muslims believe in the concept of the Mahdi ( though it should be noted that the Mahdi is never mentioned in the Qur’an and not much if it all in widely accepted Hadith, so some reject the concept as a cultural accretion that was acquired in the first few centuries of Islamic history ), but none believe in a Hidden Imamate.
So whether the Hidden Imam ( or whether there is a Hidden Imam in the first place and who it is, if there is ) is the Mahdi ( and again, whether such an individual does or will exist ) depends entirely on the individual Muslim you ask.
- Tamerlane
While we’re asking questions about Islam:
When they pray 5 times a day, are they praying, like, a specific prayer?
Like, at the first prayer time, they pray Prayer A.
At the second, Prayer B.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Or do they just pray whatever’s on their heart?
Far as I know, they don’t pray about whatever’s on their hearts, they recite a set formula of words each time. 5 times a day every day at specific times.
I don’t know if it’s:
prayer 1 = A
prayer 2 = B
etc
But they are reciting a set formula. Even the way they bow is formulaic - touching the head to the floor at certain points, standing up at certain points.
This is, I understand, one of the classic christian arguments against islam - that christians pray because they want to whereas muslims pray because they HAVE to.
Dunno whether the argument holds any validity myself though. Sounds convincing on the surface.
Eh, that doesn’t hold any water. Ritual prayer is part of most Christian religions. Quakerism is probably closest to the no-rital ‘ideal’ - it has no hierarchy and no set prayers; but it does have a holy day = designated time to pray.
The daily prayers are not “for” anything. They simply show our obedience to God’s command.
Muslims pray in groups for only three things. The annual Prayer for Rain (the King calls for it in the winter here) and The Prayer for the Eclipse (I was here for a total eclipse, way cool) and finally for the soul of the dead at memorial services.
My students pray for a passing score whenever and wherever they choose, but that is not a congregational prayer.