Salaam all,
@Fahad Sani sought to teach us a lesson by comparing the cowardice of Caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman for running away in battles to the alleged cowardice of Imam Mahdi being in occultation aka ghaybah. I heard this several times from other wahabis and salafis so this is nothing new. But I do feel it is incumbent upon me (us) to discuss this topic and either learn from him or teach him.
Claim:
@Fahad Sani's reasoning is that if we call the Caliphs cowards for running away from a few battles, then Imam Mahdi is a bigger coward for being on the run for 1,400 years.
Analysis:
Let's discuss what is ghaybah:
Allah is in Ghaybah since no one can see him
Hz Musa (as) went into hiding for several years from Pharoah
Hz Yusuf went into hiding for several years fearing his brothers
Hz Khizr is still in hiding (2,500+ years)
Hz Isa is in hiding fearing his life (~2,000 years)
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) went into hiding fearing his life.
Caliph Abu Bakr cried while hiding fearing his imminent discovery and death.
Based on Fahad Sani's claim, we can determine that Allah and several of his prophets are cowards for hiding fearing their life
OR
we can say that saving one's life is paramount when not in a state of war. As a matter of fact, occultation, ghaybah, saving one's life is ESTABLISHED SUNNAH.
Conclusion:
Occultation aka ghaybah is established sunnah. However, there is no instance of any Prophet EVER running away from a field of battle. Once jihad is proclaimed, there is no running from it UNLESS you are a caliph of course. Therefore, ghaybah is not cowardice; running away from several battlefields IS cowardice.
Cowardice of Occultation - Myth Busted.