Marrying Imam Mahdi?

 I have been reading more and more into Islam. I'm 15 and by my own choice, I embraced Islam at the age of 13. I was born into a Muslim Pakistani family but wasn't a religious Muslimah before. Now, I try my best to be religious and pious. I even wear an abaya! I know there's always room for improvements so I am not saying I am not perfect. I am not at all perfect, just trying to be the best Muslimah I can be. But like I said, lately I've been reading more  into Islam. It's very interesting especially reading about all the prophets (peace be upon them). My mom was telling me about how the family of the prophets (peace be upon them) will enter Jannah first. I was happy for them at first. I'm still happy for them but now I feel sort of...jealous. I mean, I'm not entirely jealous, but I just wish I could be in their place. They're so lucky to be related to Prophet Muhammad (sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam). I wish I was directly related to our Prophet (PBUH). And the wives of the prophets? They're so lucky, Masha-Allah!                                                                                                                                    I'm just pouring out my thoughts here. I know that Imam Mahdi and Prophet Jesus (PBUH) will be arriving soon, Insha-Allah. I can't help wondering if I would make a good enough wife for one of them. I know I probably wouldn't be good enough but I try. But I also know that I wouldn't be good enough because I'm Pakistani and they'll probably choose an Arab girl, anyways. Plus, I doubt that Prophet Jesus (PBUH) would ever marry me because he won't be coming any time soon. I'll probably be crippled old or dead by the time he comes. ): (This makes me sad!)                                                                                                                                   Then I thought that I always have the chance of marrying Imam Mahdi. He may not be a prophet, but he'll be the final rightly-guided Khalifa, Masha-Allah. I mean, if he comes from 2012-2025, I'll still be young enough. And the good part is that his nationality isn't mentioned yet, so if he does marry, he could marry a Pakistani girl (like me).                                                               So basically, I have become obsessed with marrying a rightly-guided man, such as a prophet or an Imam. I'm not saying that I deserve to be married to these men. I'm sure that other women deserve more than me. But I honestly do try my best to be pious. Like I said, I used to have a bad sinful past. I stopped now - I really have! I've been heartbroken so many times in my life. I will never be attracted to another man in my life! I am not lustful to being married to prophets or Imam. I just want a good pious husband so that we can work our way together to Heaven, Insha-Allah. But I know that no man is as pious as the prophets. And the wives of the prophets - they're blessed! They're so lucky! I wish I were them. I wish I were special and favored in the eyes of Allah Subahanahu Wa Taala. I know that I have my imperfections but I try so hard. And now I'm determined to be the wife of at least Imam Mahdi. I know he'll be 40. I don't care if he's 50 and I'm 20.  I know I sound crazy. I am crazy.

I think that if I don't get to marry a prophet or Imam, I will just not marry at all. Maybe if I make it to Jannah, Insha-Allah, I can ask to be married to a prophet, but other than that, I keep myself away from other men because none of them are pious enough. Now that I've let everything off my mind, do you think you would be able to help me, Dear Sis? Maybe, possibly, talk me through this. It's okay if you can't. (: May Allah keep you happy & shower His blessings upon you. Ameen! (:

Dearest Troubled,

First of all, can I just say that this was as cute as a pink twirly swirly cupcake? For real. Your email just brought the hugest smile on my face!

Second, let me say that I'm really weally truly proud of you for choosing to come back to Islam and for repenting from your mistakes, ma'shaAllah. May Allah keep us all guided.  And I just want to reassure/remind you that it's not about "where" you "begin", but what your ending is. That's what matters =)

Anyways! On to the rest of the email :)

On the surface, it looks like your question is: Would it be possible for you to marry Imam Mahdi? Or maybe even possibly Isa alyhee as salam?

But you know what I think? I think we can actually break down your question into 2 major issues here.

A.    Your desire to be in jannah (and have someone support you on the path to jannah)

B.    Your fears that there is no man "pious enough"

Hun, I can't tell you if you can marry Imam Mahdi or not. I don't know any thing really about his wife, but I can tell you this.

Marrying somebody pious doesn't necessarily grant you jannah.

Your spouse can be a major support to "Jannah", but he's not going to be your "Ticket" to jannah.

There's this great quote that I read on the Internet which says:

You might be married to the worst man ever, like Asyah was married to Pharaoh - but it didn’t change her and her loyalty and love to Allah (her aqidah). You might be married to the best of men, like Prophets of God, and still not enter Heaven - like the wives of Prophet Nuh and Prophet Lut. You might be not married to any man, like Maryam (alaiha salam), and Allah can make your rank higher than any women on the Earth. Know your priorities. Love and trust is with Allah first. 

The truth, darling, is that the wives of the Prophets were truly blessed….

But so are we.You and me :)

There are many ayaat and hadiths…soooo many…that show how high our own position can be, too! You don't have to be married to the prophet to go to paradise. You simply have to FOLLOW the prophet!

Let's take a look:

And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger - those will be with the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favor of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions. (2: 69)That is the bounty from Allah, and sufficient is Allah as Knower. (2: 70) 

I know that you said that you are "obsessed" right now with "marrying" a prophet. Well, what do you think of being considered like the prophet's sister?

As is narrated by Abu Hurayra, One day Prophet Muhammad (sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam) came to the graveyard and said:

 O dwellers of the land of believers! Peace be upon you. With God willing, we will also join you. Then he sighed with longing and added, How I miss to see my brothers! The companions beside him said, O Messenger of God, are we not you brothers? The Prophet replied, You are my companions; my brothers have yet to come
The companions asked him:  O Messenger! How will you recognize these people from your community who have yet to come?
Whereupon, the Prophet asked: If someone has a horse with white signs on the forehead and the feet, can he recognize it among black and gray horses?
The companions replied:Yes. He said, “They (my brothers) will come with white streaks from their ablutions, and I will receive them at my cistern. [But there will be some who will be driven away from my cistern as a stray camel is driven away. I will call them to come. It will be said, ‘They changed matters after you,’ then I will say, ‘Be off, be off.”‘] (Related by Muslim.)

What else?

Rabi’a Ibn Ka’eb was once helping out the Prophet with water for his wudu’ (ablution) when the Prophet sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam said to him, “Ask me (meaning that he would pray for Rabia' whatever he wanted and the prophet's prayers were always answered).”  Rabi’a replied, “I ask to be with you in Paradise.”  “Anything else?” The Prophet asked. “Only that”, Rabi’a said.  To that the Prophet replied, “Then help me to help you (get there), by performing much sujood.”

So you see now, in order for you to be close to the prophet sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam and the best people in janah, you don't have to be married to a prophet. You have to lower yourself and do sujood. You have to make sure your heart and every part of you is saying "Glory and Perfection be to you, Allah, Exalted". 

According to another hadith, someone asked our blessed and exalted Prophet, "When shall come the Day of Judgment?" Our Prophet asked him "What preparation have you made for the Day?" The man said, "Nothing, but I have love for Allah and for His Messenger." The Prophet said, "You shall be (on that Day) with whom you love."

 What do you think of the prophets being jealous of you?

 Mu'adh said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, says, "Those who love one another for My majesty will have minbars of lights. The Prophets and martyrs will envy them."'" [at-Tirmidhi] 

The truth is that Allah chose the Companions of the prophets and their wives, with full Wisdom and Knowledge. He chose us to be the "followers" also in His Wisdom and Knowledge. Our place and time was decided by Al Hakeem, alhamdullilah.

That doesn't mean that you can't be "favored" or seen as someone special in the sight of Allah. You still can be! We know what we have to do and the extra things that we can do: fasting, charity, helping a neighbor, etc.

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (sallah Allahoo alyhaee wa salam) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said:Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him.It was related by al-Bukhari. 

 We have to actively work on ourselves. We can't expect "our spouses" to fix us or get us into paradise. 

Okay, well, what about the fact that there is no man "pious" enough out there?

Hun, you really got to cut the guys some slack. They're not perfect. Neither are we.

So you met some "unpious guys"..and you had some really bad experiences. You got to remind yourself that you met these people when you were (probably) not as religious as you are now. Those were the people from your past. But not every single guy is like that.

Really! When the time comes, inshaAllah, it will be different from the experiences you had.  Your family will be involved. It will be out and in the open. It will begin in the name of Allah, inshaAllah.

Did you know that there are people living with us right now who (Allahu' Alim if it is this time, though) could be getting the exact same reward as 50 companions?

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Ahead of you are days of patience, during which being patient will be like grasping a hot coal. The one who does good deeds then will have a reward like that of fifty people who do such deeds.” And, someone else added, they said: O Messenger of Allah, the reward of fifty of them? He said: “The reward of fifty of you(Companions)!” (Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidh). 

The point is that there are good guys out there. Guys who decide to grow beards even though they know that they'll be made fun of because they want to be like the prophet sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam. Guys who are memorizing the Book of Allah, seeking ilm, trying to do dawah. 

Guys who are honest business people because they know that the Prophet sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam said: "A trustworthy and truthful merchant will be raised up with prophets, the truthful, and martyrs on the Day of Resurrection." 

Guys who want to be doctors to help cure sick people and save lives that the Quran says:  "And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely."

Guys who obey their mothers no matter how uncool it is.

And somewhere out there is the guy for you :) Someone praying for a religious wifey who will help him raise a wonderful family that will make the Prophet proud =)

So, sweets, don't write "marriage off" or think that you have to marry a prophet/ daee to find a good guy. Instead, turn to Allah and ask Him for a good spouse who will help you come closer to Him!