According to the Hadith I have mentioned in the beginning, other than being 72 in number, this set will resemble Jews in their behavior as one shoe in a pair resembles the other. I shall not go into details of the behavior of 72 sects however, would just like to mention resemblance of these sects to the Jews of the time of Messiah (Jesus^(as)) in their beliefs.

Jews of that time believed that a previous Israelite prophet Elijah (Ilyas^(as)) had ascended to heaven in his chariot of fire and before the advent of the Messiah, he will descend from heavens in his chariot and prepare the grounds for the advent of Messiah and then the Messiah will appear. So when Jesus^(as) made a claim to Messiahship, they rejected him saying we did not see Elijah (Ilyas^(as)) descending from heavens. When Jesus^(as), claimed that John the Baptist (Yahya^(as)) is the Promised Elijah (Ilyas^(as)), Jews insisted that he should have descended from heavens if he was Elijah (Ilyas^(as)) and so they rejected both Jesus^(as) as well as John (Yahya^(as)). These 72 sects of Islam, at the time of the Promised Messiah^(as) without any exception held the belief that Jesus^(as) ascended to heavens with his body and soul and it would be the same Jesus^(as) who will return as the Messiah for the Muslim Ummah. They insist on seeing him descend from heavens with his hand on the wings of two angles on the white Minaret.

Just like the Muslims of the present times, the Jews of the time of Jesus^(as) were waiting for two figures to appear, a priestly Messiah (equivalent of Islamic Mahdi) and a warrior Messiah, a king who would come and deliver Israelite from the bondage of slavery. Lawrence H. Schiffman in his article “Jewish Sectarianism in Second Temple Times” [12] says:

“They believed that the coming age would indeed begin with a great war and punishment, yet they saw the leadership of the people in the hands of two Messianic figures. A priestly Messiah would take precedence and re-establish Jerusalem sacrificial cult. Along with him a Dividic Messiah would rule over the re-established temporal kingdom.”

Thus when Jesus^(as) preached peace and tolerance and non-violence, Jews mocked at him and rejected him. Today Muslim well aware of the mistakes Jews made, insist on the coming of a Mahdi (the guided one) for the religious reformation of the Ummah and a warrior Messiah. They await a Messiah whose sole job will be to lead Muslims in a holy war against all the other powers of the world and shed blood and kill Dajjal and that’s how, most of the Muslims of the present time believe, Messiah will save them.