1. Al-Bayān fī akhbār Ṣāḥib al-Zamān, chap. 7, p. 116; Kanz al-`ummāl, vol. 14, chap. 266, no. 38673. He has recorded it from Abū Nu`aim in the Book al-Mahdī from Abū Sa`īd; Muntakhab kanz al-`ummāl, vol. 6, p. 30; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 54, p. 706, no. 73; al-Burhān fī `alāmāt Mahdī ākhir al-zamān, chap. 9, p. 158, no. 1.
2. A city in Syria with the Arabic name of Ḥalab-Trans.
3. Al-Ṭabarānī, Ghāyat al-ma’mūl (Sharḥ al-tāj al-jāmi` lil-uṣūl), vol. 5, p. 365; Is`āf al-rāghibīn, p. 147, and he says, “Similar to this [has been recorded] in ibn Ḥibbān’s Ṣaḥīḥ, in Imāmat al-Mahdī”; al-`Arf al-wardī (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 2, p. 158: “From Abū `Amr al-Dānī in his Sunan, from Ḥudhayfa, from the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him [and his family], who said: “The Mahdī will turn... (to the end of the tradition)”; al-Ṣawā`iq al-muḥriqa, under the twelfth verse from the verses which are about [the Ahl al-Bait, peace be on them], p. 164, citing al-Ṭabarānī and Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān; Yanābī` al-mawadda, chaps. 73 and 85, pp. 433 & 469; Jawāhir al-`iqdain, sect. 2, under no. 8, from Ḥudhayfa. He says: “al-Ṭabarānī has recorded it, and in ibn Ḥibbān’s Ṣaḥīḥ similar to it has been recorded from the tradition of `Aqabat b. `Āmir about the Imamate of the Mahdī; al-Burhān fī `alāmāt Mahdī ākhir al-zamān, chap. 9, p. 160, no. 9, citing Abū `Amr al-Dānī’s Sunan; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 54, p. 719, no. 121 (short version) from Mu`jam al-Ṭabarānī and Abū Nu`aim’s Manāqib al-Mahdī.
4. Al-Fitan, vol. 5, p. 200.
5. Al-Fitan, vol. 5, chap. “Nisbat al-Mahdī,” p. 200; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 54, p. 719, no. 123; Yanābī` al-mawadda, chap. 78, p. 449.
6. Ibn Abī Shaiba, al-Muṣannaf, vol. 5, “Kitāb al-Fitan,” p. 198, no. 19495; al-I`lām bi ḥukm `Īsā `alayhi al-salām (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 2, p. 299; al-`Arf al-wardī (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 2, p. 135.
7. Al-Malāḥim wa l-fitan, chap. 83, p. 153, from what he has recorded from Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Salīlī’s al-Fitan.
8. Al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 2, p 243; al-I`lām bi ḥukmi `Īsā `alayhi al-salām (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 2, p. 298; Majma` al-zawā’id, vol. 7, chap. “Mā jā’a fī l-Dajjāl”, p. 342; Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 4, pp. 216-217, similar to it; al-Taṣrīḥ bi mā tawātara fī nuzūl al-Masīḥ, pp. 162-164, no. 12; al-Mustadrak, vol. 4, p. 478.
9. Sunan ibn Māja, vol. 2, pp. 1359-1362, no. 4407; Sunan Abī Dāwūd, vol. 4, p. 117; Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Khuzayma (Manuscript); al-Mustadrak, vol. 4, p. 536, and al-Dhahabī has endorsed it Talkhīṣ al-mustadrak; Fatḥ al-bārī, vol. 6, pp. 358 and 450, and vol. 13, pp. 83-84, 87-88, and 93; Tafsīr ibn Kathīr, vol. 1, p. 581; al-Taṣrīḥ bi mā tawātara fī nuzūl al-Masīḥ, pp. 142-156, no. 13; `Iqd al-durar, chap. 10, p. 231; Ḥilyat al-auliyā’, vol. 2, p. 712, no. 94 (short version), and vol. 6, p. 108; al-I`lām bi ḥukm `Īsā alayhi al-salām (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 3, p. 298; al-Burhān fī `alāmāt Mahdī ākhir al-zamān, chap. 9, p. 160, no. 6; Nūr al-abṣār, p. 188.
I say: This tradition does not clearly state that Jesus will pray behind the Mahdī-peace be on them-but this meaning is apparent from the context of similar traditions and also the current tradition; because Jesus’s turning away from the congregational prayers, not praying behind him, and praying along with the Muslims is highly improbable. It seems as if the narration has been summarized and only the details have been mentioned.
10. `Uyūn al-mu`jizāt, p. 141.
11. `Uyūn al-mu`jizāt, p. 64.
12. Al-Tafḍīl, p. 24.
13. Ḥāshiyatu fatḥ al-mubīn (Egypt: 1307 AH), p. 76; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 54, p. 712, no. 94, citing al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū `Abd-Allah.
14. Anwār al-tanzīl (under the saying of Allah, the Exalted, ‘And surely, it is a knowledge of the Hour’ [Quran, 43:61]), vol. 2, p. 370; al-Sīrat al-Ḥalabiyya (Egypt: Maṭba`atu Mustafa Muḥammad), vol. 1, p. 226; Rūḥ al-bayān and al-Kashshāf under the mentioned verse; Rūḥ al-ma`ānī, vol. 25, p. 95; al-I`lām bi ḥukm `Īsā `alayhi al-salām (al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī), vol. 2, pp. 297-299.
I say: It has been mentioned in some Sunni traditions that Jesus-peace be on our Prophet, his family, and him-will kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), whilst reliable traditions narrated from the Ahl al-Bait, peace be on them, clearly establish that it is the Mahdī, peace be on him, who will kill the Antichrist (see vol. 3, section 7, chap. 7). It is possible to
reconcile between these two traditions by considering the verb killing as passive or by supposing that he will assist the Mahdī in killing him or he will undertake the task of killing him by the order of the Mahdī.
15. Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 1, p. 158, under verse 4:159; Al-Majlisī, al-`Arba`īn, p. 411, no. 28, similar to it from `Alī b. al-Ḥusayn, peace be on him; Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī, vol. 1, p. 411; Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalain, vol. 1, p. 473; Tafsīr al-burhān, vol. 1, p. 426; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 34, p. 619; al-Maḥajja, p. 62; Majma` al-Bayān, vol. 2, p. 137. Regarding this verse, he says: “There are numerous views about this verse. Some say both the pronouns refer to Jesus. In other words, no one from the People of the Book-the Jews and the Christians-will remain but that they will believe in Jesus before Jesus’ death, when Allah sends him to the earth at the time of Mahdī’s reappearance in the end of times to kill the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl). Consequently, all the nations will be united [under one religion] and that will be the true religion of Islam, the religion of Ibrāhīm; ibn Abbās, Abū Mālik, al-Ḥasan, Qatāda, and ibn Zaid [have said] that is when becoming faithful will not benefit them; al-Ṭabarī also has this view and he has said, ‘This verse is specifically for those who will live in that era.’ `Alī b. Ibrāhīm has mentioned in his Tafsīr that his father has narrated from Sulaimān b. Dāwūd al-Minqarī... (he then mentions the tradition).”
16. `Uyūn akhbār al-Riḍā, vol. 2, chap. 46, pp. 200-202, no. 1.
I say: In this noble tradition the Return (raj`a) has been mentioned. Authentic and mutawātir traditions from the Ahl al-Bait prove it conceptually and synoptically. The Holy Quran also establishes it. For example, “And on the day that We will gather from every nation a party from among those who rejected Our signs, then they will be formed into groups” (Quran 27:83). There is no doubt that the day is not the day of the great rising (qiyamat al-kubrā) because in that day all the nations will be raised as Allah, the Exalted, says, “And We will gather them and will leave none of them behind” (Quran 18: 47). A group of the early scholars have written exclusive books to prove it. Therefore, it is compulsory to believe in it in general without the details mentioned in the singular (āḥād) traditions except what has been proved through mutawātir narrations or by other means which one can become certain.
What he means by “the Quran has spoken about them” are the verses of the Quran that have spoken about it. For instance, the saying of Allah, the Exalted, “Or like the one who passed by a town and it had fallen down upon its roofs. He said, ‘When will Allah give it life after its death?’ So Allah took his life for a hundred years, then raised him [to life again]” (Quran 2:259), and His saying, “Have you not considered those who abandoned their homes for fear of death-and they were thousands-then Allah said to them, ‘Die’ then He gave them life [again]” (Quran 2:243), and His saying to Jesus, peace be on him, “and you give life to the dead by My permission” (Quran 5:110), and His saying, Mighty and Majestic be He, about the chosen ones from the people of Moses for the meeting of his Lord, “Then We raised you up after your death so that you might be thankful” (Quran 2:56), and His saying in response to the supplications of Job (Ayyūb), “Therefore We answered [his prayers] and took off what harm he had, and We gave him his family and the like of them along with them” (Quran 21:84). All such discussions concerning raj`a, views about it, questions about it and their answers, and its occurrence in the end of times are dealt with in exclusive books written on the subject like Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 53, chap. 29, pp. 39-144 and al-Majlisī, al-Arba`īn, pp. 400-448, no. 28.
17. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Quran, vol. 1, p. 89, no. 14.