Selected Narrations about the Twelfth Imam volume 2

Section Four

The traditions that show that his name and epithet (al-kunya) are the same as the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, and that his appearance, speaking, and actions are more similar to him than any other person, and that he will act according to his traditions (sunna)

Comprised of forty-five traditions

491. Al-Fitan[^1]: Narrated to us al-Walīd, from Abū Rāfi`, from someone who narrated to him, from Abū Sa`īd al-Khudrī, may Allah be satisfied with him, from the Holy Prophet, Allah’s blessings be on him [and his family], who said: “The name of the Mahdī is [the same as] my name.”

492. `Iqd al-durar[^2]: From `Abd-Allah b. `Umar, from the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him [and his family], who said: “In the end of times a person will emerge from my descendants. His name is like my name and his epithet is my epithet (kunyatuhū kunyatī). He will fill the earth with justice just as it will be filled with injustice.”

493. Al-Burhān fī `alāmāt Mahdī ākhir al-zamān[^3]: Nu`aim b. Ḥammād has also recorded from `Alī, peace be on him, that he said: “The name of the Mahdī is Muḥammad.”

494. Sunan al-Dānī[^4]: From Abū Sa`īd al-Khudrī, from the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him [and his family], who said:

A man from my Ahl al-Bait will emerge. He will act according to my customs (sunna). Allah will send down blessings for him from the sky. The earth will throw out its treasures for him and it [i.e. the earth] will be filled by him with justice just as it will have been filled with unfairness and injustice. He will rule over this nation for seven years and will dismount at Bait al-Maqdas.

495. Al-`Arf al-wardī[^5]: Nu`aim has also recorded from ibn Mas`ūd from the Holy Prophet, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, who said: “The Mahdī’s name is Muḥammad.”

496. `Iqd al-durar[^6]: From `Abd-Allah b. Mas`ūd, may Allah be satisfied with him, that the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him [and his family], said: “The Hour will not be established until a person from my Ahl al-Bait rules the earth. His name is like my name.”

This tradition has been recorded by al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī.

497. Kamāl al-dīn[^7]: Narrated to us Ja`far b. Muḥammad b. Masrūr, may Allah be satisfied with him, from al-Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad b. `Āmir, from Muḥammad b. Abī `Umair, from Abū Jamīla al-Mufaḍḍal b. Ṣāliḥ, from Jābir b. Yazīd al-Ju`fī, from Jābir b. `Abd-Allah al-Anṣārī, from the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, who said:

The Mahdī is from my progeny. His name is my name and his epithet is my epithet. He is the most similar of people to me in creation and character. He will go in an occultation in which the nations will be deviated. Then, he will emerge like a shining meteor. He will fill it [i.e. the earth] with justice and fairness just as it will be filled with injustice and unfairness.

498. Kamāl al-dīn[^8]: Narrated to us my father, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan, and Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Mutawakkil, may Allah be pleased with all of them, from all of the following: Sa`d b. `Abd-Allah, `Abd-Allah b. Ja`far, and Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-`Aṭṭār, from all of the following: Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. `Īsā, Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim, Aḥmad b. Abī `Abd-Allah al-Barqī, and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī l-Khaṭṭāb, from Abū `Alī al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb al-Sarrād, from Dāwūd b. al-Ḥaṣīn, from Abū Baṣīr, from (Imam) al-Ṣādiq, Ja`far b. Muḥammad, peace be on him, from his forefathers, peace be on them, that the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, said:

The Mahdī is from my descendants. His name is my name and his epithet is my epithet. He is the most similar of people to me in creation and characteristics. He will have an occultation and a bewilderment. It will be [so severe] that the people will deviate from their religions. When this happens, he will emerge like a shining meteor and will fill the earth with fairness and justice just as it will be filled with unfairness and injustice.

499. Kamāl al-dīn[^9]: Narrated to us `Abd al-Wāḥid b. Muḥammad b. `Ubdūs al-Nīsābūrī al-`Aṭṭār, may Allah be satisfied with him, from `Alī b. Muḥammad b. Qutayba al- Nīsābūrī, from Ḥamdān b. Sulaimān, from Aḥmad b. `Abd-Allah b. Ja`far al-Hamdānī, from `Abd-Allah b. al-Faḍl al-Hāshimī, from Hishām b. Sālim, from al-Ṣādiq Ja`far b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his grandfather, peace be on them, from the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, who said:

The Qā’im is from my descendants. His name is my name, his epithet is my epithet, his features are my features, and his customs (sunna) are my customs. His will make the people establish my religion and my nation (yuqīmu al-nas `alā millatī wa sharī`atī) and he will call the people to the Book of my Lord, Mighty and Majestic be He. Whoever obeys him has indeed obeyed me and whoever disobeys him has indeed disobeyed me. Whoever denies him in his occultation, then indeed he has denied me and whoever refutes him, has indeed refuted me. Whoever acknowledges him has acknowledged me. I will complain to Allah against those who reject what I say about him, those who deny my word about his status and those who deviated my religion from his path,

“And soon those who act unjustly will know to what final place of returning they will go to” (Quran Surah Shuaraa 26:227).

The traditions with the following numbers also show the aforementioned concept: 245, 255, 265, 272, 279, 288, 289, 321, 339, 354, 355, 357, 397, 400, 402, 406, 409, 428, 441, 461, 484, 485, 506 (which says: “he has two names, one that is concealed and one that is apparent”), 525, 529 (which says: “his epithet will be Abū `Abd-Allah”), 535, 544 (it comprises of what shows that one of his agnomens will be that of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir, peace be on him), 546 (which says: “he will have two names: Khalaf and Muḥammad”), 562, 563, 564, 569, 597, 653 (which says: “it is prohibited for them to say his name”), 693, 726, 784, 791, 792, 797, 799, 800 (which says: “his epithet will be Ja`far,” 804, 806, and 810 (which say: “no one is permitted to address him by his name or by his epithet”).

[^1]: Al-Fitan, vol. 5, under “Fī ism al-Mahdī,” p. 197. I say: The sentence “his father’s name is my father’s name,” which has been recorded by Zirr, from ibn Mas`ūd, from Maimūn al-Qaddāḥ, from ibn al-Ṭufail, has not been issued by the Holy Prophet. For, it has been narrated like this: “Zirr from ibn Mas`ūd” or “someone from the narrators from whom he has narrated. I have heard [this tradition] numerous times without the aforementioned sentence. Another thing that denotes the weakness of this addition (i.e. “his father’s name is my father’s name”) is its absence in Musnad of Aḥmad in what he has narrated from ibn Mas`ūd, along with the fact that the chains of narrators of some of his traditions are exactly like the chains in al-Fitan. See Aḥmad’s al-Musnad, vol. 1, pp. 376, 377, 430, and 448. Soon, more evidence will be mentioned to prove this, Inshā’Allah. Al-Malāḥim wa l-fitan, under the first section in which he has dedicated to the book of Fitan by Nu`aim b. Ḥammād, chap. 162, p. 74; al-Burhān fī `alāmāt Mahdī ākhir al-zamān, chap. 3, p. 101, no. 9; al-`Arf al-wardī (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 2, p. 148

[^2]: `Iqd al-durar, chap. 2, p. 32; Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ, p. 377, with the addition of “This is the Mahdī” at its end.

[^3]: Al-Burhān fī `alāmāt Mahdī ākhir al-zamān, chap. 3, p. 101, no. 8.

[^4]: Sunan al-Dānī, pp. 100–101; `Iqd al-durar (citing al-Dānī’s Sunan and Abū Nu`aim’s Ṣifat al-Mahdī), chap. 1, p. 20, and chap. 7, p. 156; Similar to this has been narrated in al-`Arf al-wardī (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 2, p. 131, citing al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Ausaṭ and Abū Nu`aim; Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 472, no. 25, citing Abū Nu`aim’s al-Aḥādīth al-arba`īn. I say: There is no contradiction between this tradition and those that indicate that the capital of his government is other than Bait al-Maqdas, because it has not been mentioned that he will stay there as a place of permanent residence.

[^5]: Al-`Arf al-wardī, no. 648.

[^6]: `Iqd al-durar, chap. 2, pp. 30–31.

[^7]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 1, chap. 25, p. 286, no. 1; I`lām al-warā, chap. 2, sect. 2, p. 243; Kifāyat al-athar, chap. 7, pp. 66–67, no. 6; Yanābī`’ al-mawadda, chap. 94, pp. 488 & 493; Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 521; Farā’id al-simṭain, vol. 2, pp. 334–335, no. 585; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 3, chap. 32, p. 460, no. 103; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 1, pp. 71–72, no. 13.

[^8]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 1, chap. 25, p. 287, no. 4; Yanābī`’ al-mawadda, chap. 94, p. 493; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 1, p. 72, no. 16.

[^9]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, chap. 39, p. 411, no. 6; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 1, p. 73, no. 19.