Section: The Mahdī Who Will Appear at the End of Time

He is counted among the Rightly Guided Caliphs and rightly guided imams. He is not the “Awaited One” whom the Rāfiḍah claim to be concealed in the cellar of Sāmarrāʾ, anxiously waiting for his re-emergence—an illusion that has no reality, substantiation, or traceable report. They allege that he is Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī and that he entered the cellar when he was five years old. What we shall discuss, however, is affirmed in the ḥadiths transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: a Mahdī will appear at the end of time, and I believe his emergence will precede the descent of Jesus son of Mary. Both figures will fill the earth with justice after it had been overwhelmed by tyranny and oppression, as the prophetic reports make clear.

Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—may Allah have mercy on him—said: Ḥajjāj and Abū Nuʿaym narrated to us; both said: Fitr narrated to us, from al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazzah, from Abū al-Ṭufayl. Ḥajjāj added: I heard ʿAlī say that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:

“Even if only a single day of this world remained, Allah would raise up a man from us who would fill it with justice just as it had been filled with injustice.”

Abū Nuʿaym reported it with the wording “a man from me,” and on another occasion he transmitted it from Ḥabīb, from Abū al-Ṭufayl, from ʿAlī, from the Prophet ﷺ. Abū Dāwūd likewise recorded it from ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah, from Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn. (1)

Imam Aḥmad also said: Faḍl ibn Dukayn narrated to us; Yāsīn al-ʿIjlī narrated to us, from Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, from his father, from ʿAlī, who related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“The Mahdī is one of us, the People of the Household; Allah will set his affairs aright in a single night.”

Ibn Mājah transmitted it from ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah, from Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī, from Yāsīn al-ʿIjlī—who is not Yāsīn ibn Muʿādh the oil-seller, for the latter is weak, whereas this Yāsīn al-ʿIjlī is more reliable. (2)

Abū Dāwūd said: I was informed that Hārūn ibn al-Mughīrah narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays narrated to us, from Shuʿayb ibn Khālid, from Abū Isḥāq, who related: ʿAlī looked at his son al-Ḥasan and said,

“This son of mine is a leader, as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ named him so. From his loins a man will emerge who bears the same name as your Prophet ﷺ; he will resemble him in character, though not in appearance.” He then mentioned the story that this man “will fill the earth with justice.” (3)

Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī—may Allah have mercy on him—devoted an independent section in his Sunan entitled “The Book of the Mahdī.” At its outset he recorded the ḥadīth of Jābir ibn Samurah from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

“This religion will remain standing until there are twelve caliphs over you, all of whom the community will agree upon.”

In another wording: “This religion will remain exalted until there are twelve caliphs.” He said: The people then uttered the takbīr and clamoured; afterward he spoke a word in a low voice. I asked my father, “What did he say?” He replied, “All of them are from Quraysh,” and