12) The Return is Two Returns:

12) The Return is Two Returns:

The first return is one of similarity and counterparts. It is the one that occurs at the time of the Qaim’s pbuh rise. The second is a return in terms of souls and bodies that are suitable for it. This is the one we are discussing in this book as another world, and another of God’s greatest days. It has been made clear that it occurs in the first heaven.

The ignorance of the scholars regarding this important truth has been a reason for their lack of understanding of the Return, and for the appearance of numerous claims that are nowhere near the truth, some of which were mentioned previously.

In his explanation of the two returns, Sayed Ahmad Al-Hasan pbuh says:

There are two returns: a return during the Qaim’s rise in terms of similarity, and in the World of Return (the First), a return in terms of souls and bodies appropriate for that world after God causes them to forget their states and their first and second tests^[9] (Al-Hasan, 2010a and 2010d).

In his explanation he also says the following:

It is narrated that the companions of the cave that will be dispatched with the Qaim pbuh are certain loyal people from among the companions of the Messenger of God pbuhap, and from among the companions of the Prince of Believers, Ali pbuh, such as Malik Al-Ashtar. The intended meaning is not those individuals themselves. What is meant from these religious accounts is their counterparts from among the companions of the Qaim pbuh. In other words, there is a man from the companions of the Qaim pbuh that is the counterpart of Malik Al-Ashtar in terms of bravery, sophistication, leadership, and fervor in the essence of God and in obeying God, and in terms of his noble morals and many other attributes that Malik Al-Ashtar had. For this reason, the Imams describe him to be Malik Al-Ashtar.

This is not much different than the eloquent, well-spoken masters of Ahl al-Bayt pbut, such as when the poet Al-Husseini described Ali Al-Akbar stepping into the battlefield by saying: “Muhammad pbuhap has stepped into the battlefield,” because of the extreme similarity of Ali Al-Akbar in terms of appearance and behavior to the Messenger of God, Muhammad pbuhap. This is also given the fact that the companions of the Imams that were completely pure in truth will come back in the World of the Return after the twelve Mahdis, and specifically in the time period of the last Mahdi, who is the last Qaim of truth from the progeny of Muhammad pbut, and Al-Hussain Ibn Ali pbut will meet him. This is the last Mahdi, or the last Qaim. No one will succeed him, and he will have no children (Al-Hasan 2010a, vol. 2, 72).

In the book Al-Muhkamat Ala Ahakiyat Al-Wasi Ahmad Al-Hasan [The Clear Evidences for the Truthfulness of the Successor Ahmed Al-Hasan] by the Ansar of Imam Al-Mahdi pbuh, the Return, in terms of similarity, is explained:

As for the Return in terms of similarity, it is the one that occurs in the days of the Qaim pbuh and his great divine call. The following are some narrations that confirm this:

Abu Marwan said: I asked Abu Abdullah pbuh about the saying of God Almighty: {Indeed, He who imposed upon you the Quran will take you back to a place of return} Quran Chapter “The Stories” 28:85. He said to me: “No by God the world will not end or be destroyed until the Messenger of God pbuh and Ali pbuh meet in Al-Thawiya. They will meet and build a mosque that has 12,000 doors in Al-Thawiya, meaning a place in Kufa” (Al-Majlisi 1983, vol. 53, 113-14).

It will be a mosque that the Qaim pbuh will build during his days, because the people will tell him: “. . . the mosque is not big enough for us. Then he will say: ‘I will return to you soon.’ He will go to Al-Ghari and build a mosque which has one thousand doors that is big enough for the people” (Al-Majlisi 1983, vol. 2, 331).

This is what Imam Al-Baqir stated by Imam Al-Baqir pbuh . Therefore, what is meant by

"the Messenger of God and Ali" in the previous hadith is their two counterparts, since their

advent is similar to that of the Prophet and Ali, peace be upon them both, and their families. ^[10]

From the saying of Imam Al-Sadiq pbuh, we also see that there is a return of “similarity” during the time of the Qaim:

The Qaim will bring out twenty-seven men from the rear of Kufa, fifteen from the people of Moses that used to guide with truth and were just, and seven from the companions of the cave, Joshua Ibn Nun, Salman, Aba Dajana Al-Ansari, Al-Muqdad, and Malik Al-Ashtar. They will be his supporters and leaders (Al-Mufeed 1993b, vol. 2, 368).

In other words, he will have supporters who will be counterparts, similar to those mentioned individuals. It is not that those individuals themselves will come.

And to be more certain of these two days (the day of the Qaim and the day of the Return), you can review the above religious account, which stated that the Prophet pbuhap is the one who, with a spear of light, kills Iblis (may God curse him) on the Appointed Day.^[11] And if you did not know that other religious accounts state that the Qaim pbuh is the one who kills him in the Kufa mosque, you now know that it is the Prophet pbuhap who kills Iblis on the Appointed Day in the World of the Return, and that the Qaim pbuhap kills Iblis in this world at the Kufa Mosque during his rise of truth-and his rise is the Day of the Return in terms of similarity, as I have explained.

So if we now know of the existence of two men in the age of the blessed appearance, one is a counterpart to the Messenger of God pbuhap and the other a counterpart to the Prince of the Believers pbuh, would we find any vicegerent of God except Imam Al-Mahdi Muhammad Ibn Al-Hassan and his son and guardian the first Mahdi (Ahmad)-the first of those to believe in him and the first of those close to him as stated by the Messenger of God Muhammed pbuhap-in his Will?