10) Believing in the Return and the Mahdis pbut:

10) Believing in the Return and the Mahdis pbut:

There has been a great deal of confusion lately, because some scholars are claiming that the Mahdis pbut mentioned in the Will of the Messenger of God pbuhap that was written on the night of his death are also the twelve Imams. This is what some of them believe. Others consider the Mahdis to be successors and Hujjas (Proofs), but think that their presence and role takes place only in the Return. The people with a third point of view have lost their way when it comes to unifying the two groups. They claim that a conflict exists between the two groups of accounts, and they give priority to the accounts pertaining to the Return.

Sayed Ahmed Al-Hasan pbuh has responded to such opinions, saying:

May God grant you success. There are many frequently narrated religious accounts saying that there are twelve Mahdis from the progeny of Imam Al-Mahdi pbuh, and that they are the vicegerents of God on His earth. There are also many religious accounts saying that there is a return, so both beliefs are proven in many of the frequently narrated accounts. A person who denies one of them is either an ignorant person whose intellect is of no help and who does not have the knowledge to compile and integrate these accounts in an acceptable and correct manner, or he is a stubborn and arrogant person who wants to cover the sun with a sieve. Otherwise, what does it mean to deny a reality that has been mentioned in countless religious accounts and has been mentioned by Shia scholars, generation after generation?!

As for those who ignorantly say that the Mahdis are only present in the Return, they are ignorant and wandering to and fro. This is because the Return is for people who lived in this physical world before. Also, since the Return is for those who were completely pure in their faith, then the Mahdis are among those who were completely pure in faith in this physical world before their return.

Therefore, those who say that the Mahdis will be present in the Return have testified that the Mahdis pbuh play a very important role in this physical world. The matter has been turned against them, because when they proved that the Mahdis are Hujjas (Proofs) of God upon His creation that return, they also proved their role in the physical world, and that they are Hujjas of God. Thus, where would their role as Hujjahs of God be in the physical world? Shouldn’t it be after the twelve Imams?!

There are those who persist in their foolishness and claim that the Mahdis are the Imams. I do not think that this deserves a reply. The religious accounts make it clear that the Mahdis are from the sons of the Qaim, who is from the progeny of Al-Hussain and from the sons of Ali and Fatima. Therefore, how can the Mahdis themselves be the Imams, while the religious accounts have stated that they are from the sons of Al-Hussain pbuh? Is Al-Hassan or Ali from the progeny of Al-Hussain?! So how can they be the Imams when the religious accounts state that they are from the progeny of Imam Al-Mahdi pbuh? Are Ali and Al-Hasan and Al-Hussain and the Imams from the progeny of Imam Al-Mahdi?!

The truth is, these claims just prove the foolishness of their claimants.

In addition, the religious accounts clearly mention the Mahdis, reveal their time period, which is after the Imams pbut, and do not say that they are in the Return. There is not a single religious account that says they are present only in the Return. Where do they come up with these foolish lies? Whoever hears them would think that God has stripped them of their intellect, and would thank God for the blessing of the intellect that He has given them.

He also says:

Also, know that the Mahdis are signs of the hour and its appointed time. The physical world ends with the last Mahdi, and then the World of the Return begins and after that, the Day of Judgement: {They ask you about the new moons. Say, "They are measurements of time for the people and for Hajj." And it is not righteousness to enter houses from the back, but righteousness is [in] one who fears God. And enter houses from their doors. And fear God that you may succeed} Quran Chapter “The Cow” 2:189 (Al-Hasan, 2010a, vol. 4, Q180).