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The author of «Eqdud-Durar» in the third chapter of section No. 3 narrates from the book «Sefat al-Mahdi» of Hafez Abu Naeem Esfahani who in turn narrates from Ali-ibn-Hallal who narrates from his father as such:
'I received the honour of visiting the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.A.) at the time when his soul was about to depart and Fatemah was crying besides him. He recited the afore-said lengthy tradition and in the end of it he said: 'O Fatemah, I swear by the One Who rightly appointed me that Mahdi of this 'Ummah' will be from those two (i.e. Hassan and Hussein).
The world will become such that chaos and disturbances will be intensified all path (of solution) will be served and people will fiercely fall upon one another such that neither the elders will show mercy upon the young nor the children will honour the old. When this happens, Allah will appoint someone (i.e. Mahdi) who shall conquer the deviated castles and open out the sheathed hearts (a metaphoric remark that Hazrat shall dominate over the false religions and tame the deviated hearts towards Islam). Indeed he shall revolt at the end of time just as I revolted at my time. He shall fill the earth with Justice just as it had been filled with oppression.
The author says: This tradition has been narrated by Ganji from the book «NETAL-MAHDI» of Abu Na'eem Esfahani and «Mu'ajam Kabeer» of Abul Qasim Tabarani and most of the experts of tradition too, have narrated this tradition in their respective books with slight differences in wordings. In some of them, the words 'from us' has been written instead of 'from those two'.(43)
The author of «Yanabi-ul-Muwadda» on page 432 writes: 'The author of Jawaher al-Aqdain says; 'As per research, the effects of the Holy Prophet's 'dua' (invocation) at the time of marriage of Ali and Fatemah (peace be upon them) became apparent in the offsprings of Hassan and Hussein. Thus, from their offspring are those who have passed away and those who are still to come, If there will not come anyone in the future except Mahdi, suffice it will be for the invocation of the Holy Prophet to have come into effect.
In this regard, the author says: 'Just as we saw in the tradition of Ali-ibn-Hallal, Hazrat's swearing, in spite of being truthful and trustworthy was only to emphasise the matter. From amongst the seven-fold characteristics, Hazrat has set aside Mahdi and sweared by him only, showing the importance of this matter.
However the reason that Mahdi (A.S.) is from the sons of «Sebtain» (A.S.) (offsprings of Ali) is that Hazrat Baqer's mother (i.e. Fatemah) was the wife of Hazrat Ali-ibn-Hussein Zain-ul-Abedeen (A.S.) and daughter of Hazrat Abu Muhammad Hassan Mujtaba (A.S.) and about this woman, Imam Baqer has said:-
'Fatemah is a righteous woman. So Abu Jafar Muhammad-ibn-Ali Baqer is from the sons of Hassan and Hussein and he and his honourable sons are amongst those who have attained this honour. Mahdi, the Awaited one too is from this propitious splendour and blessed family tree because, he is Muhammad-ibn - Hassan-ibn-Ali-ibn-Muhammad-ibn-Ali-ibn-Musaibn-Jafar-ibn-Muhammad - ibn - Baqir-ibn-Ali-ibn-Hussein-ibn-Ali-ibn-Abi Talib Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.)
In the first chapter of «Eqdud-Durar» its author narrates from Hafez Abu Na'eem from his book «Sefat al-Mahdi» who in turn narrates from Huzaifa-ibn Yamaan who said: 'The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.A.) delivered a sermon. Then, he disclosed for us all that was sure to take place till the Day of Judgement. Thereafter he said: If there remains not more than a day from the life of the earth, God Almighty will set the day so long until a person from my progeny who carries the same name as me shall appear. Then Salman stood up and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, from which of your progeny he shall come?
The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) replied: 'He shall be from this son (and he put his hand on Hussein's head) of mine.
The author of «Yanabi-ul-Muwadda» on page 49 says: In the commentary on Nahjul-Balagha (most probably he is referring to commentary of Ibn-Abil Hadeed) Qazi-ul-Quza'at narrates from Kafi-ul-Kufa' at, Abul-Qasim Ismail-ibn-Ebad a tradition where the chain of transmission is linked to Ali (A.S.) who mentioned something about Mahdi and then said:
'Verily he is from the children of Hussein.(44)
The author says: Traditions in this regard are «Mustafiza» traditions. Rather, the consensus amongst we Shia Imamiah is the same and what is famous among the scholars of our brethren Sunnis too is the same. However in some of the rare traditions (very few) we find something which is opposite to this meaning.
Among them, Abu Dawoud in his 'Sahih' (Vol. 4, Pg. 89) narrates from Abu Ishaaq who said:
Ali (may Allah's peace and blessing be upon him) looked at Hassan and Said: «Surely my son is «Sayyid» (Chief) just as the Holy Prophet called him by this name. Soon a person will emerge from his rear. His name shall be the same as your Prophet's name. In creation he will be similar to the Prophet but in behaviour he will not be so. He shall fill the earth with Justice».
Some of Sunni 'Ulemas' have reckoned Mahdi to be from the children of Abu Muhammad Hassan Mujtaba (A.S.).
Amongst them, Ibn Hajar in his 'Sawa'eq' on page 99 writes: «Abu Dawoud in his 'Sunan' has narrated a tradition that Mahdi is from the children of Hassan and its mystery lies in this that Hassan waived his Caliphate for the sake of Allah and his affection for his people. Thus Allah placed the «Qa'em» (who shall emerge at the time of dire strait) amongst his children so that he fills the earth with Justice. The traditions which say that he is from the children of Hussein are weak.»
The author says: 'As per the prescribed rules in 'Usul-e-Fiqh' (Principles of Jurisprudence) relying on the afore-said tradition is not correct for the following reasons:
Firstly, there exists a discrepancy in the narration of Abi Dawoud as the author of 'Eqdud-Durar' narrates from 'Sunan' of Abi Dawoud that Ali looked towards Hussein.
Secondly, a group of experts on traditions have narrated the same tradition in its exact form except that Ali looked at Hussein.
Thirdly, there is the possibility of an error because the words of Hassan and Hussein are sometimes erroneously written for one another especially in the Kufi script.
Fourth, the tradition is contrary to what is famous among the Sunni Ulemas.
Fifth, the said tradition is contradicting most of the other traditions which are more authentic in their chain of transmission and more evident in expression.
Some of these traditions have already been mentioned and Allah-willing, the rest too will be mentioned later on.
And Sixth, this tradition is probably a false and fabricated one for this reason that they wanted to get near to Muhammad-ibn-Abdulla known as 'Nafs-e-Zakiyah'. Thus they resorted to fabrication merely to please him.
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