Al-Mahdi (a.s.)

thereafter he said: 'once the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) stood near a place called «hema'a» situated between mecca and medina and delivered a sermon. after praising and extolling god almighty and then exhorting the people, he said: 'o people, i am a human-being and it seems that my lord's emissary (i.e. izra'eel) is going to come and take away my soul. i am leaving amongst you, two precious things. the first of them is the book of Allah wherein you will find guidance and light. so take hold of the book of Allah. in this regard, he incited and exhorted the people toward the book of Allah. thereafter he said: the other is my ahlul-bait. i remind you of Allah with regards to my ahlul-bait. i remind you of Allah about them.

then hasain told zaid-ibn-arqam as such: 'o zaid, who are his ahlul-bait? are his wives the ahlul-bait!?

he replied: 'no, his ahlul-bait are those upon whom alms is forbidden.(38)

«Mahdi is from kinsfolk»

when it is proved that Mahdi (a.s.) is from the progeny, descendant and family of the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) and from the offspring of ali, fatemah, hassan and hussein then it is automatically proved that he is from « - zolghorbâ» (kinsfolk) where their friendship has been made obligatory upon all.

the author of «yanibiul-muwadda» narrating from bukhari and muslim writes on page 106 of his book as such: 'it was asked from ibn-abbass that to whom in the verse of « - alghorbâ» referred to? then sa'eed-ibn-jubair said: they are the near ones of the progeny of muhammad (s.a.w.a.).

the author of «matalib-us-su'ool» narrates from tafseer of imam abul-hassan ali-ibn-ahmad wahadi (the chain of transmission which ends in ibn-abbass) as such: when the verse

was revealed, it was asked: 'o messenger of Allah! who are these people whom Allah has commanded us to love?

the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.). replied: "ali, fatemah and their children." ibn-hajar in his «sawa'eq» (page 101) and qunduzi in «yanibi-ul-muwadda» (page 106) have brought a tradition (bearing the same contents) under the afore-said verse narrating from the great mu'ajam of tabarani, tafseer-e-ibn-abu hatim, manaqib of hakem, waseet of wahadi, helyat al-aulia of abu na'eem, tafseer-e-sualabi and fara'ed as-semtain.

ibn-hajar in «sa'waeq» (page 101) narrates from zain-ul-abedeen at the time when he was taken as captive after his father hussein was killed; and on the way to syria some of the foul-mouthed people said: all praise be to Allah for having caused the killing of you all, turning you into a wretched state and severing the root of sedition.