Al-Mahdi (a.s.)

firstly, there exists a discrepancy in the narration of abi dawoud as the author of 'eqdud-durar' narrates from 'sunan' of abi dawoud that ali looked towards hussein.

secondly, a group of experts on traditions have narrated the same tradition in its exact form except that ali looked at hussein.

thirdly, there is the possibility of an error because the words of hassan and hussein are sometimes erroneously written for one another especially in the kufi script.

fourth, the tradition is contrary to what is famous among the sunni ulemas.

fifth, the said tradition is contradicting most of the other traditions which are more authentic in their chain of transmission and more evident in expression.

some of these traditions have already been mentioned and Allah-willing, the rest too will be mentioned later on.

and sixth, this tradition is probably a false and fabricated one for this reason that they wanted to get near to muhammad-ibn-abdulla known as 'nafs-e-zakiyah'. thus they resorted to fabrication merely to please him.

«Mahdi is from the ninth
descendant of hussein (a.s.)»

the author of «yanabi-ul-muwadda» on page 493 narrates from «manaqib» of muwaffaq-ibn- ahmad khawrazmi who narrates from sulaim-ibn - qais hallali who narrates from salman farsi who said: 'i got the honour of visiting the messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.). what i saw was hussein-ibn-ali sitting on his lap and the holy prophet kissing over his eyes and licking his clothes and then saying:

you are a chief, son of a chief and brother of chief. you are an imam, son of an imam and brother of imam. you are a divine proof, brother of a divine proof and father of nine divine proofs, the ninth of them being the «qaem».