Al-Mahdi (a.s.)

again he says: let's accept that the term «'» denotes the meaning of 'part' but on what basis is it not permissible to consider that 'part' is to denote the caliphate of ali and say that has been used here in its plural form just to show the honour and great position of ali or as a reference to hazrat and his eleven offsprings after him.(7)

«from the sayings of the holy
prophet»

abu dawoud in his 'sahih' on page 87, vol. 4 narrated from abdulla a tradition from the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) as follows: 'if there remains not more than a day from the life of the earth, god almighty will set the day so long until he appoints a person from my progeny.'

thereafter he says - similarly it has come in hadith sufyan that the holy prophet has said: 'the life of this world shall not end until an arab from my progeny will rule over the world.'(8)

the same book on the afore-said page and volume mentions a tradition from ali (a.s.) who narrates from the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) as follows: 'if there remains not more than a day from the life of the earth, surely god shall appoint a person from my progeny.'

tirmidhi in vol. 2 of his 'sahih' on page 270 narrates a tradition from abdullah who narrates from the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) that he said: 'the life of this world shall not cease to exist until an arab from my progeny shall come and rule.'

tirmidhi says: this tradition is (acceptable) and (correct) and the same has also been narrated from ali, abu sa'eed, umm-salma and abu huraira.

also, in the afore-said book on the same page of the same volume, a tradition has been narrated by abu hurair from the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) as follows:

'if there remains not more than a day from the life of the earth, god almighty will set the day so long until a person from my progeny shall come and rule.' then he says: this 'hadith' is (acceptable) and (correct).(9)

ibn-hajar in his «sawa'eq» on page 97 says: abu ahmad, abu dawoud, tirmidhi and ibn maaja have narrated from the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) as saying: