A powerful figure has emerged in the Muslim world, and his newly founded religion is gaining followers worldwide. Shockingly, on Easter Sunday, his followers declared him to be the new pope, and the next day, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had passed away.
Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq, commonly known as Abdullah Hashem, was born in 1983 in Indiana to an Egyptian father and an American mother. He is an Egyptian-American and the founder of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL), not to be confused with the Ahmadiyya community discriminated against in Pakistan. He claims to be the Qa’im Al Muhammad, the reincarnation or second coming of Muhammad and the Mahdi (Messiah). Adherents of the religion believe him to be the second of twelve Mahdis appointed in the will of the Prophet Mohammed.
The AROPL began in Iraq in the late 1990s and is now active across 40 countries. It estimates that 7,000 people have had contact with the movement. In 2018, the movement had a base in Sweden, but since 2021, it has had its headquarters in England. The group’s central mission is to build the Divine Just State, which a divinely appointed king will rule. This will be a theocratic state with the king appointed by, and a representative of, God rather than through a democratic election process. The AROPL is opposed to the idea of democracy.
He claims to be the “living successor of both Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ,” and his sermons bring “a divine message to the global Christian community.” He also claims to be “the successor to Simon Peter, the successor to Jesus Christ, the true and legitimate Pope.”
“Aba Al-Sadiq reveals that the vacancy of the Papal Throne is no accident, but a divine sign: the time has come for the rightful heir to assume his position,” his YouTube channel states. “As the true Pope and bearer of the Covenant, he calls upon the people of the Gospel to recognize the fulfillment of prophecy and return the Throne to whom it belongs. This is not merely a message—it is a call to truth, unity, and divine justice.”
The AROPL claims al-Hasan personally fulfills three “divine criteria” qualifying him and the Qa’im: being named in the last will, possessing exceptional knowledge, and advocating for God’s supremacy over human rule.
He claims to have fufliled ten prophecies mentioned in Islamic narrations. One of the prophecies concerned the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2015. AROPL also interprets the Muslim prophecy of the “sun rising in the West” as a prediction that Abdullah Hashem will rule over the Christian world.
Another prophecy is that Abdullah Hashem will establish a “new covenant”.
“Throughout history, God has established six previous covenants with humanity, well-known to those familiar with the Torah and the Bible, but all were ultimately broken by the people,” AROPL states. “The sixth covenant was God’s covenant with Prophet Mohammed. However, the savior of mankind is prophesied to come with a new covenant—the seventh covenant.”
In a manner that contradicts the edicts of mainstream Islam, this “seventh covenant” established by Abdullah Hashem will include members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Another “prophecy fulfilled” took place recently.
“On Easter Sunday, believers in the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, followers of Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq, took to the streets and gathered outside churches in countries around the world—including Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Vatican City, the United Kingdom, Spain, Croatia, Serbia, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Senegal, and Bangladesh—to announce to the world that a man had been chosen by God to lead humanity as the true Pope,” the website claimed, noting that Pope Francis’ death was announced the next day. “Believers declare that God has made His will known to all: a new Pope has indeed been chosen.”
“In an astonishing confirmation of their announcement, Pope Francis passed away the very next morning,” they claim. “Many believers—and even onlookers—are calling this event a direct sign from God, a visible miracle to affirm the legitimacy of Aba Al-Sadiq’s divine mission.”
“The vacancy of the Papal Throne is no accident, but a divine sign: the time has come for the rightful heir to assume his position,” his video claimed in a message aimed at Christians and Catholics. “As the true Pope and bearer of the Covenant, he calls upon the people of the Gospel to recognize the fulfillment of prophecy and return the Throne to whom it belongs. “
While this mixing of religions may sound confusing to most Westerners, this is an essential element of Muslim eschatology. There is no direct reference to a messiah in the Koran. However, Islam has a strong tradition of Mahdi, a redeemer of Islam who will come as a ruler. Islam has a strong belief in the Muslim Issa (Jesus) as the last and greatest prophet of Muhammad. In Islam, Jesus is not the son of God or divine, and did not die on the cross. Jesus ascended to heaven and is waiting for the Mahdi (Messiah).
The arrival of the Mahdi will coincide with the arrival of Jesus, who will be the Mahdi’s assistant in fighting the Masih ad-Dajjal, the false messiah, or anti-Christ. According to Muslim tradition, the Mahdi will reappear along with Jesus, who will declare himself a Muslim, and kill Christians who refuse to convert. After this, Issa will be rewarded with a natural death and be buried alongside Muhammad in the fourth reserved tomb of the Green Dome in Medina.
Mahdi is also seen as a time when everyone will convert to Islam. In the Hadith, quotes from Umm Salama, one of Muhammad’s wives, state that when the Mahdi arrives, non-Muslims will all convert. According to Shia Islam, the Mahdi will be preceded by an era in which two-thirds of the world’s population will die – one-third by plague and one-third by war. The time before the arrival of the Mahdi will also see a great war in Syria and Iraq that will destroy both countries, accompanied by a great fire and “redness in the sky.”
For Sunni Muslims, the Mahdi is the Prophet Muhammad’s successor who is yet to come. For most Shia Muslims, the Mahdi was born but disappeared and will remain hidden from humanity until he reappears to bring justice to the world. As in Judaism and Christianity, Muslim leaders have claimed to be the Mahdi through the ages, though his arrival is still anticipated.
The Shia Islamic concept of Mahdi includes the resurrection of the dead, especially of their dead imams and leaders, and the belief that the Mahdi will conquer Constantinople, the capital of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, instrumental in the rise of Christianity. Constantinople was later conquered and became the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire.
Christians have responded by labelling Abdullah Hashem as the antichrist, the character in Christian eschatology that opposes the Messiah and falsely substitutes himself as a savior in Jesus’s place. Abdullah Hashem refutes this claim, saying he is a messenger sent by Jesus to rule over Christians. He is equally as critical of Christianity, claiming it has distorted Jesus’ monotheism as stated in the Shema prayer found in Deuteronomy 6:4, as well as Mark 12:29. He blames Emperor Constantine and his Council of Nicaea for creating the doctrine of the Trinity.
