the awaited figure whom the Rāfidah claim exists and whose emergence from the cellar in Samarra they hope for. There is no reality to this, nor any tangible sign or trace of it. They claim that he is Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-‘Askarī and that he entered the cellar at the age of five. As for the figure we shall discuss, the hadiths narrated from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, state that he will appear at the end of time. I think his appearance will precede the descent of Jesus son of Mary, as the hadiths indicate.”
He then cited several hadiths from the Sunan collections and elsewhere, including some reports concerning the black banners and the report of ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning his son al-Hasan: that a man bearing the Prophet’s name, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would emerge from his descendants. He then said:
“This account alludes to the rule of the Abbasids, as noted earlier when we began discussing their rule in the year 132 AH. It also indicates that the Mahdi will appear after the Abbasid dynasty and that he will belong to the Prophet’s household, being a descendant of Fātimah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through al-Hasan, not al-Husayn. This was expressly stated earlier in the report narrated from ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him—and he knows best.”
He then said:
“Ibn Mājah also said: Muhammad ibn Yahyā and Ahmad ibn Yūsuf narrated to us, both saying: ‘Abd al-Razzāq narrated to us, from Sufyān al-Thawrī, from Khālid al-Hadhdhā’, from Abū Qilābah, from Abū Asmā’ al-Rahabī, from Thawbān, who said:
‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Three men will fight beside your treasure, each of them the son of a caliph, but it will pass to none of them. Then black banners will appear from the east, and their bearers will slaughter them as no one has ever done before.” He then mentioned something I do not remember, and said: “When you see him, pledge allegiance to him, even if you must crawl over snow, for he is Allah’s caliph, the Mahdi.”’
Ibn Mājah alone narrated this, and its chain of transmission is strong and authentic. The treasure mentioned in this account is the treasure of the Kaaba. Three sons of caliphs will fight beside it in order to seize it, until the end of time comes and the Mahdi emerges. He will emerge from the lands of the east, not from the cellar in Samarra, as the ignorant among the Rāfidah claim. They maintain that he is there now and await his emergence at the end of time. This is a form of delirium and a grievous and profound failure brought about by Satan, for there is no evidence or proof for it—in the Book, the Sunnah, sound reasoning, or reasoned judgment.
Al-Tirmidhī said: Qutaybah narrated to us; Rashīd ibn Sa‘d narrated to us, from Yūnus, from Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī, from Qutaybah ibn Dhu’ayb, from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Black banners will come forth from Khurāsān, and nothing will turn them back until they are raised in Aelia.”’
This hadith is singular. These banners are not those with which Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī advanced and wrested power from the Umayyads in the year 132 AH. Rather, they are other black banners that will accompany the Mahdi, who is Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh, a descendant of ‘Alī, Fātimah, and al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him. Allah will set him right in a single night—that is,