God may now answer the prayer of people

[إبن سينا]

All people all over the world: Jews, Christians, Muslims and others now pray and supplicate God .. their suffering has become so extreme, they have much difficulty and hardship

Jews also claim they may be helped by God .. although He did not command them to come to Palestine .. the Zionism commanded them .. anyhow they pray and supplicate, dreaming that God may respond to them

Christians await for the coming of Jesus Christ .. some of them say: Elijah will come first

Muslims await the Mahdi .. the Shia'a say he is the twelfth imam: the claimed Mohammed son of Hassan Al-Askari who disappeared in the tunnel of Samarrah (1000 years ago) and will appear later on

Most of Sunni await for the Mahdi and they think he is a loyal friend of God who will be helped by God (although some of the Sunni say no Mahdi and no need for any Mahdi

Other religious sects (other than these three major religions) also await someone to come

All these people pray and supplicate God to give them a miracle and to help correct the situation

Therefore, I think God may now answer the request and prayer of people and send them the Mahdi or Elijah of the Last Days (or the Comforter

This may be prior to their punishment in case they do not believe

therefore, their deserved punishment may be postponed to see what their reaction will be (And God is the All-Knowing! this is only my opinion

This is in the Quran 25: 77, which means
{Say [O Mohammed, to these associaters
"My Lord would not make any concern for you, were it not for that you prayed [and supplicated in the time of distress and prayed Him to send you the promised messenger
but now you have denied [the messenger], so [the punishment] will befall you

It means: before the sending of Prophet Mohammed, people supplicated and prayed God to send them the promised messenger to save, promote and teach them, and that they would then believe and support him

But then when He sent them Prophet Mohammed and revealed the Quran to him, they denied and opposed him, because he invited them to discard their idols

So, God sent them the messenger according to their prayer and request, but when they denied him, their punishment was justified

More explanation here
http://quran-ayat.com/pret/25.htm#a25_77

[إبن سينا]

Unless God guides people, they will not believe in the coming Mahdi or Elijah

All these people belonging to all these religions have their traditions, and they want the Mahdi or Elijah come to confirm them and confirm their beliefs

But it can't be as do they desire .. because most of them follow the falsehood and the corrupt traditions and idolatry

The Mahdi or Elijah will come to fulfill God's will, not the desire of people. And he will call people to be just and worship God alone without associate and to follow the Quran which is the last heavenly book

So unless God guides people (or oblige them) and support the Mahdi or Elijah with the miracles and with His help .. most people may not believe God is the All-Knowing; this is only my opinion