Al-Mahdi (a.s.)

then, some of those present asked: 'what do our sunni brethrens say in this regard and whether any tradition(s) has been narrated from their sources which is compatible with our traditions or not'?

i replied: 'yes. as per their own research, they are possessing, diffused (mustafiza) and authentic (mustawatir(1) and some among them have also written books in this regard. however, a few of them have spoken about this subject from the view-point of its originality, characteristics and other points which we believe.

yes, to them there exists controversies and (uncertainties') improbabilities which one generation usually inherits from the previous one and they speak about them and mention them in their books or writings with differences only in wordings but similar in meaning.

thereafter one inquired: 'can you write an article with regard to this matter and restrain yourself in your writing to only those traditions which have also appeared in their references and then mention those difficulties and improbabilities (which they are disturbed with) and then give its reply'?

i replied: 'entering into such kind of affair will cause the lines of friendship to tear apart and i do not wish such a split to happen especially at present when we are in need of unity among the muslims.'

then one of them said: 'discussions in matters pertaining to knowledge will not bring any harm if such a discussion proceeds through observing the rules of debate and if one's words do not go beyond the boundaries of courtesy and morals. in fact no one has any right to speak harshly or rebuke the others.

indeed, man is free in his views and doctrines and it is his right to stand by them. however we see in this respect that some have harmed others through their words and hence should bear the responsibility.

thereafter i replied: 'i accept your reasoning and shall enter this field by depending on the strength and power of Allah and by observing the customary etiquettes. indeed Allah guides to the right path whomever he whishes.

from among the books written by our sunni brothers in this respect which will be made use of, is only a few in my possession. i examined all of them one after the other and how inquiringly i performed my task! in most of them, the traditions about Mahdi have not been mentioned in the specific chapters. thus i collected a sufficient number of the traditions needed to serve our objective and arranged them under specific topics.

i wrote every tradition under the specific topics which were related to them and with regard to those traditions which comprised of many points, i have brought each one of those points under the same related topics and then mentioned the severance of the tradition.

let it not remain unsaid that i have narrated the afore-mentioned traditions from the very books which i had (those traditions) in my possession and with regard to those particular books which were not in my possession, i have narrated them by relying on their respective honourable scholars.