Bediuzzaman Said Nursi reports that some ignorant men of religion, who are strong in egotism but weak in faith and have strayed into materialist belief, will strive to convince people that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will never come. In the words “whose egotism was strong,” Bediuzzaman refers to these people as admiring their own intelligence, regarding themselves as very grand, perfect and superior, and even making idols out of their own earthly desires. (Allah is beyond this.) In the words “whose belief was weak,” he describes this state of mind of the religious scholars concerned as stemming from their belief in Allah being weak, harboring doubts about the faith and regarding the faith as a job or a means to prestige.

But these people’s belief that Hazrat Mahdi (as) will never come is one of the portents of his coming, and shows that the day of his appearance is close at hand.

In his hadith, our Prophet (saas) has revealed that some people will say, “Hazrat Mahdi (as) will never come, there is no such person as Hazrat Mahdi (as)” before Hazrat Mahdi (as) appears, and that their rejection of the idea of the Mahdi is one of the portents of his coming. One such hadith reads: