Al-Mahdi (a.s.)

«Mahdi is from quraish»

in the first chapter of «eqdud-durar», the author narrates from imam abu abdullah na'eem-ibn hamad who narrates from ibn-wa'el who narrates from imam abul hussein ahmad-ibn-jafar manawi who narrates from qatada who said: 'i asked sa'eed-ibn-maseeb whether Mahdi was on truth and he replied: 'yes'. i asked: 'to which tribe does he belong? he replied: 'quraish'. i asked: 'to which clan does he belong?' he replied: 'bani-hashim'. i asked: 'to which family does he belong: 'he replied: 'he is from the offspring of abdul-muttalib'. i asked: 'which one of the families?' he replied: 'from the progeny of fatemah'. i asked: 'which one of her sons?' he replied: 'that is enough now.'

also, the afore-mentioned book narrates (in the seventh chapter) from the book «al-fatan» of hafez abu abdullah na'eem-ibn-hemaad which in turn narrates from ishaaq-ibn-yahya-ibn-thalha who narrates from ta'oos who said: «omar ibn-khattab was on death-bed and bidding farewell to his family members. he then said: 'i do not know of any treasure which i can bestow. the house, and all that it contains from wealth and weapons should be spent in the way of Allah.

then ali (may Allah be satisfied with him) said: 'o amir ul-momineen, leave aside this matter because you are not the owner of (this) wealth. rather its owner is a young man from the tribe of quraish who shall, at the end of time distribute it in the way of Allah.(23)

ibn - hajar writes on page 99 of his book «sawa'eq» as such:-

'ahmad and maawardi have brought a tradition from the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) who said: «glad-tidings be to you about Mahdi. he is from the quraish; from my progeny.(24)

esa'af-ur-raghebeen too has narrated the same in his book on page 151. the author believes: 'quraish is the same nazr-ibn-kanane. in ja'ame-ul-latif we read as such: 'know that there exists differences in quraish as to why they were called by this name. so it is said: they were titled in the name of a beast living in the sea - a beast which eats and itself is not eaten; conquers and itself is not conquered (a metaphoric remark signifying power and magnificence) and this tribe too is similar to that beast due to their toughness and significance'.

in madarek we read: quraish is a mighty beast which plays with the ships and except for fire it cannot be repulsed by any other thing. its diminutive form is due to reverence.'

some others say: the reason they were called as quraish was that the leader of their tribe ibn-yakhled ghalib-ibn-fahr was named as quraish. thus it was said: the tribe of quraish came; the tribe of quraish went and in this way they became famous by this name.

still some others have said: qusi (--) who was one person belonging to their tribe gathered them together and brought them to mecca and «qurash» means «to gather together». thus, as he gathered them together he was named as «--» (gathering) just as we saw in the poem of fazl-ibn-abbas-ibn-utba and also in his following poem: