and similar claims, is explicit disbelief by the consensus of the Muslims. The same applies to what he meant by “the Succour,” namely the claim made by some of them that there are three hundred and ten-odd men on earth whom they call “the Noble Ones.” From among them, seventy are selected as “the Overseers”; from among these, forty are “the Substitutes”; from among these, seven are “the Poles”; from among these, four are “the Pegs”; and from among these, one is “the Succour.” They claim that he resides in Mecca, and that whenever the inhabitants of the earth suffer a calamity affecting their provision and support, they turn to the three hundred and ten-odd men. These in turn seek help from the seventy, the seventy from the forty, the forty from the seven, the seven from the four, and the four from the one.
Some of them add to or subtract from these numbers, titles, and ranks, for they hold various views concerning them. Some even say that a green sheet descends from heaven onto the Kaaba, bearing the name of the Succour of the age and the name of its Khidr—according to those among them who say that Khidr is a rank and that every age has its own Khidr, for they hold two views on this matter.
All of this is false. It has no basis in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger, nor was it stated by any of the early generations of this nation, its imams, or the great shaykhs of earlier times who are worthy of being followed. It is well known that our master, the Messenger of the Lord of all worlds, and Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with them—were the best of creation in their time. Yet they lived in Medina, not Mecca.
Some of them have narrated a hadith concerning “Hilāl,” the slave of al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba