and tyranny.1
This very sense has also been transmitted in the hadith of Umm Salama and others.
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “The Mahdī will be from the progeny of this son of mine,” and he pointed to al-Ḥasan.2
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) likewise said, “In the latter days there will arise a caliph who will distribute wealth by the handful.”3 This is an authentic hadith.
Thus the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) told us that his name is Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, not Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. Whoever asserts that his father—or indeed his forefather—is al-Ḥusayn, and that his teknonym is al-Ḥusayn Abū ʿAbd Allāh, is simply turning a teknonym into a personal name. It is clear to anyone who fears Allah that this is a distortion of words from their proper places, akin to the fanciful interpretations of the Qaramita.
(1) Al-Tirmidhi records the hadith with the wording: “The world will not end until a man from my household assumes authority.” It is also transmitted by Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawud on the authority of Ibn Masud (may Allah be pleased with him), and is cited by al-Suyuti in al-Jami al-Saghir, no. 7490. Al-Tirmidhi judged it “hasan sahih.”
Al-Manawi, commenting on this report, writes that it disproves the claim of the Rafidah that the Mahdi is Imam Abu al-Qasim Muhammad al-Hujjah, son of Imam Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Khalis, for although his personal name corresponds, his father’s name does not; see Fayd al-Qadir, 5/332.
(2) I have not located this hadith with the exact wording quoted, but I did find its purport in the narration of Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her): the Messenger of Allah said, “The Mahdi is from my lineage, from the offspring of Fatimah” (reported by Ibn Majah); and in the narration of Ali b. Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Mahdi is from us, the People of the House; Allah will set him aright in a single night” (recorded by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad).
(3) Recorded by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Tribulations, chapter 18, hadith nos. 67–69.