and thus they do indeed establish the reality of this promised man and the certainty of his emergence. He is “Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh, of the line of ‘Alī and al-Hasan, a descendant of al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him.” This imam will be a mercy from Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to the community at the end of time. He will emerge, establish justice and truth, and prevent oppression and injustice. Through him, Allah will raise the banner of goodness over the community, bringing justice, guidance, success, and right direction to the people.
I have examined many of the hadiths concerning him and found them to be as al-Shawkānī and others, and Ibn al-Qayyim and others, have said: some are authentic, some are good, some are weak but strengthened through corroboration, and some reports are fabricated. What suffices for us is whatever has a sound chain of transmission, whether authentic in itself or through corroboration, or good in itself or through corroboration. Likewise, when weak hadiths gain strength through corroboration and support one another, scholars regard them as authoritative evidence.
The hadiths they accept fall into four categories: authentic in themselves, authentic through corroboration, good in themselves, and good through corroboration. This is apart from mass-transmitted hadiths, all of which are accepted, whether mass-transmitted in wording or in meaning. The hadiths concerning the Mahdi belong to this category: they are mass-transmitted in meaning. They are therefore accepted on the strength of their mass transmission, given their varied wording and meanings, their numerous routes of transmission, and their multiple sources. Trustworthy scholars have explicitly affirmed that they are established and mass-transmitted. Indeed, we have seen scholars establish many matters on less evidence than this.
The truth is that the majority of scholars affirm that the matter of the Mahdi is firmly established, that it is true, and that he will emerge at the end of time; indeed, there is agreement on this. As for anyone who departs from the scholars’ position on this matter, his statements on it are not to be heeded.
As for what the hadith master Ismā‘īl ibn Kathīr, may Allah have mercy on him, stated in his Quran commentary on Sūrat al-Mā’idah when discussing the leaders—that the Mahdi may be one of the twelve imams—this is open to question. For the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“The affairs of this community will remain firmly established so long as twelve caliphs govern it, all of them from Quraysh.”
His words, “The affairs of this community will remain firmly established,” indicate that during their time the religion is firmly established, authority is effective, and the truth prevails. It is well known that this was the case only before the Umayyad state came to an end. Toward its end, discord arose, causing people to divide and bringing calamity upon the Muslims. Muslim rule was divided into two caliphates—one in al-Andalus and one in Iraq—and well-known upheavals and evils ensued,