4. The Hidden Reformer
WehaveatleastthreehundredahadithfromtheProphetandfromfive
Imams about Imam al-Mahdi(a.s.).From these ahadith,it isclearthat
theMahdi istheninth sonofHusaynbin‘Ali; thathis fatheris Hasan
al-‘AskariandhismotherisNargisKhatun;thathisnameisthe sameas
that of the Last Prophet; that the Mahdi would be born during his
father'slifetimeinSamarra;thathisfatherwoulddiewhenhewouldbe
young;thathewillliveaslongasGodwishedit;thathewillre-appear
and the world will be filled with justice andequality at a time when
there will be injustice everywhere.
Andwhenhecomes—mayGodhastenhisappearance—hewilllean
againsttheKa‘bahandcryoutandcallforhisfollowers,whowillnum-
ber 313 persons.Prophet‘Isa(Jesus)willcomefromtheheavendownto
the earth,andwillpraybehind the Mahdi.TheTwelfth Imam willen-
forcethecommandsofIslamallovertheworld;andtheearthwillbelike
heaven.
There are many ahadith related by the Shi‘a and Sunni scholars on
manyaspectsconnectedwiththisgreatImam,andthesearementioned
in books likeBihāru ’l-Anwārof ‘Allāmah Majlisi (d. 1010 AH)
andMuntakhabu ’l-Atharof Shaykh Lutfullah as-Safi.
Whenwe lookatthe ahadith onthissubject, we cometo realizethe
ahadithmentioningal-Mahdi(a.s.)havebeennarratedmostfrequently,
andthattherearefewsubjectsinIslamwhichhavebeenmentionedin
hadithsooften.Thus,inthislight,anyonewhobelievesinIslamandits
Prophetmustnecessarilydeclarehisbeliefintheexistenceoftheprom-
ised Mahdi who is now in occultation.
NowweshallrelatetwoahadithonthisissuefromthefamousSunni
book,Yanābi‘u 'l-Muwaddah:
1.TheProphetsaid,“Al-Mahdiisadescendentofmine.Hewillbein
concealment,andwhenhemanifestshimself,theearthwillbecomefilled
with justice just as it was previously filled with injustice.”
2.Salmanal-FarsisaysthathewenttotheProphet whenHusaynbin
‘Ali was sitting in his lap and the Prophet was kissing his eyes and