أحمد بن إدريس بن أحمد

“Mahdi is a man from the progeny of Fatima. He is of wheaten complexion.”

“I am the first of this Ummah, Mahdi is the middle of it, and Isa is the last of it. And in between there are calamities and tyrant rulers.”

“No, by Allah, he is not from my progeny. He is from the progeny of Ali (a.s). Bliss be for the one who reaches his time. Through him, Allah will relieve the Ummah’s stress, until he makes the earth full of equity and justice...”

“This son of mine is a master, as the Messenger of Allah named him a master. Allah will bring forth from his seed, a man with the name of your Apostle – who will be similar to him in his character as well as his looks – in a time of oblivion of the people and death of righteousness and manifestation of injustice. By Allah, if he should not rise, his neck will be struck. The dwellers of the heavens will rejoice his rise. He would fill up the earth with equity, as it will be replete with injustice and oppression.”

“Behold, by Allah, the world will not end until Allah sends a man from my seed, who will kill from you one thousand and with the thousand another thousand and with the thousand another thousand.” I asked, “May I be your ransom. They are the sons of so-and-so and they do not reach this number.” The Imam said: “Look at you! At that time, a man will have from his seed so-and-­so many men, and their chief will be from themselves.”

Imam Musa Kadhim (a.s) said: “By Allah, that to which you look forward to, will not come about, except after you are distinguished and subjected to a test till, except for a few, none of you Shia will remain…then he recited the following verse: “What! do you think that you will be left alone while Allah has not yet known those of you who have struggled hard …” (9:16) …and those who are patient.

My father, Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) said to Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari: ‘I have some work with you. So, when would it be possible for you to give me some time so that I may ask you something?’ Jabir replied, ‘Whenever you wish.’ Thus, when my father (a.s) met him in privacy, he (a.s) asked, “O Jabir! Tell me about the Tablet, which you saw with my mother, Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (s) and what did she tell you as to what was written in it?” Jabir replied, ‘I hold Allah as witness that I went to visit your mother, Fatima (a.s) during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (s) to congratulate her for Husain’s birth. I saw in her hand a green Tablet, which I thought to be of emerald and its writing was as bright as sunlight. I asked her, ‘May my parents be sacrificed for you, O daughter of Allah’s Messenger (s)! What is this Tablet?’ She (s) replied, “This is the Tablet, which Allah, Mighty and Glorified be He, has gifted to the Messenger of Allah (s). In it is the name of my father, the name of Ali, the name of my two sons and the names of the successors from my progeny. In turn, my father gave it to me so that I may rejoice through it.” Jabir said, ‘Thus, your mother Fatima (a.s) gave it to me. I read it and copied it.’ My father (a.s) asked, “O Jabir! Can you show it (the copied manuscript) to me?” He replied in the affirmative. My father (a.s) accompanied Jabir to his house, where he took out a book from a parchment and giving it to my father said, ‘I hold Allah as witness that this is what I saw written in the Tablet: [Text of the Tablet of Fatima (Lauh Fatima)] In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful This is a Book from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise to Muhammad, His light, His ambassador, His veil and His proof. The trustworthy spirit (Jibraeel) has descended with it from the Lord of the worlds. O Muhammad! Magnify my names, be grateful for My bounties and do not deny My endowments. Verily I am Allah; there is no god, but Me, the Destroyer of the oppressors, the Degrader of the tyrants and the Establisher of the Day of Judgment. Verily I am Allah, there is no god, but Me. Whoever expects grace from other than Me or fears other than My justice and My punishment, I will punish him in such a way that I will not punish anybody in this manner in the worlds. Hence, worship only Me and rely only on Me. Indeed, I did not raise a messenger, completed his days and terminated his duration, but that I appointed for him a successor. Certainly, I made you superior over all other Prophets and made your successor superior over all other successors. After him, I honored you with your two grandsons: Hasan and Husain. I made Hasan the mine of My knowledge after the end of the days of his father and I made Husain the treasure-chest of My revelation, honored him with martyrdom and sealed it for him with eternal bliss. So, he is the best of the martyrs and the highest of them in grade before Me. I have placed My perfect word with him and the complete proof near him. Through his progeny, I shall reward and I shall punish. The first of them is the chief of the worshippers and the adornment of My past friends, then his son (Muhammad), who resembles his grandfather al-Mahmud , the splitter of My knowledge and the mine of My wisdom. Soon, those who doubt concerning his son, Ja’far will be destroyed. He who rejects him has rejected Me. I speak the truth, I will indeed honor the position of Ja’far and make him happy vis-à-vis his Shias, his helpers and his friends. After him, I have selected Musa and there will be a blinding, dark corruption so that the spark of My obedience is not terminated, My proof is not hidden and My friends are not afflicted with misfortune. Beware! Whoever denies even one of them, he has denied My bounty. Whoever changes one verse from My Book, then indeed he has attributed a lie unto Me. Then woe unto the liars, the deniers with the termination of the duration of My servant, My beloved and My chosen one, Musa. Verily, the one who denies the eighth is as if he has denied all My friends (Imams). Ali is My friend, My helper and the one, upon whom I have placed Prophethood’s burden of proof and conferred upon him mastership. An arrogant devil will murder him. He will be buried in a city, which the righteous servant has built, next to the worst of My creatures. I speak the truth; I will soothe his eyes with Muhammad, his son and his successor after him. He is the heir of My knowledge, the mine of My wisdom, the place of My joy and My proof upon My creatures. None shall believe in him, but that Paradise will be his abode and I will allow him to intercede for seventy of his family members, even if all of them are eligible for Hell. I will complete his bliss with his son Ali, My friend, My helper, My witness amongst My creatures and My trustee upon My revelation. From him, I will bring forth Hasan, the caller to My path and the treasurer of My knowledge. Thereafter, I will complete this (chain of Imamate) with his son, M-H-M-D, mercy for the worlds. He will possess the perfection of Musa, the brightness of Isa and the patience of Ayyub. Soon, My friends will be humiliated in his time and their heads will be gifted as trophies like the heads of Turks and Daylamites. They will be killed, they will be burnt, they will live in a state of fear, terror and trepidation. The earth will be colored with their blood and wailing and sobbing will be commonplace among their womenfolk. They are My true friends! Through them, I will repel all blinding and dark mischief, remove the earthquakes and do away with the burdens and the chains. They are those upon them is the blessing of their Lord and mercy. And they are the guided ones. Abdur Rahman bin Saalim said: Abu Basir says, ‘If you do not hear in your time anything, but this tradition, it will suffice for you. Hence, conceal it, except from those who are worthy of it.’

“The man of this matter disappears twice. The first occultation lasts long until some people say that he has died, some say that he has been killed and others say that he has gone. Till only a few of his companions will remain. None of his children and others would know his location, except a servant, who manages his affairs.”

Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s) said: “If you hear of a disappearance with regard to your Master, do not reject it.”

“When His Eminence, Salman Farsi entered Kufa, he glanced at it and mentioned all the troubles and events that were to occur in it till he mentioned about Bani Umayyah rulers and the period after them. After that he said: ‘When all this is over, you must remain confined to your houses till the reappearance of the master of the affair, the pure one, son of the pure and purifying. The one who has occultation and who is the ‘Shareed’ and ‘Tareed’

“Abul Hasan Musa bin Ja’far al-Kadhim (as) said to me: “O Ali, the Shia have been brought up with hopes since two hundred years.” Yaqteen said to his son Ali: “What is the matter?! What had been said (by the infallible imams) to us occurred but what had been said to you did not occur-he meant the fate of the Abbasids.” Ali said: “What had been said to you and what had been said to us were from the same source but the time of your matter came and it occurred as it had been said to you whereas the time of our matter did not come yet so we justified that by hopes and wishes. If it was said to us that this matter would occur after two hundred or three hundred years, our hearts would be hard and then most of people would apostatize but they said to us that it would be so near in order to attract the hearts of people and to make them feel that deliverance was about to come.”

There would be two occultations for Imam Qaim (a.s). We asked: What for? He replied: Because he fears for his life.

“If only two men remain on the earth, one of them will be the Hujjah over the other.” The same was narrated by Muhammad bin Ya’qoob from Muhammad bin al-Hasan from Sahl bin Ziyad from Muhammad bin Eessa.

“Once I came to Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (as) and said to him: Are you the man of this matter?” He said: “No.” I said: “Is he your son?” He said: “No.” I said: “Is he your grandson?” He said: “No.” I said: “Is he your grandson’s son?” He said: “No.” I said: “Who is he then?” He said: “It is he, who will fill the world with justice after it has been filled with injustice and oppression. He will come after a cessation of imams as Prophet Muhammad (as) has been sent after a cessation of prophets.”

I said to Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s): Your respected father, Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) used to state that the coming of Sufyani is inevitable, the call from the sky is inevitable, the rising of the sun from the west is inevitable and he used to mention the same about many things. Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s) said: And mutual discord in Bani so-and-so is inevitable, killing of Nafse Zakiyyah is inevitable and the rising of Imam Qaim is also inevitable. I asked: What the call from the sky would be? A caller will call out from the sky in the morning: Know that the truth is with Imam Ali (a.s) and his Shia. And then in the evening the Iblis will call out from the sky: Know that the truth is with Uthman and his followers. This call from Iblis would make the people of falsehood fall into doubts.

I heard Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) say: “Without any doubt, Imam Qaim (a.s) will not reappear till there is a call from the sky, which the ladies in veils and people of each corner of the world hear. It is about this point that the following verse is revealed: “If We please, We should send down upon them a sign from the heaven, so that their necks should stoop to it.” (26:4)

I heard Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s) say: “Allah will bring forth in this Ummah, a man who belongs to me and I belong to him. Allah will send the blessings of the heavens and the earth through him. The heavens will rain down its drops; and the earth will grow out its seeds: and its beasts and brutes will live in harmony; and it will be full of equity and justice, as it had been replete with oppression and injustice. He will put so many on the sword that the ignorant will say, ‘If he were from the progeny of Muhammad, he would have been merciful.”

I was in the company of Abu Ibrahim, Imam Musa Kadhim (a.s). The Imam said: Indeed, Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s) said: A man is fortunate, who before his death sees his successor from his progeny. After that the Imam pointed out to his son, Ali and said: Almighty Allah has pointed out this son, who is from my life, as my successor.

“Some of us were talking about the Qaim in the presence of Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s); he turned to us and asked: “What are you talking about? How far! How far! That, which you anticipate, will not be until you are tested. How far! That, which you anticipate, will not be until your good and bad are not separated. How far! That, which you anticipate, will not be until you are sifted. That, which you anticipate, will not be, except after despair. That, which you anticipate, will not be until he, who is to be wretched, becomes wretched and he, who is to be fortunate, becomes fortunate.”

Harun bin Saad Ajali said to me: Ismail, to whom you are inclined [and in whose Imamate you hope], has died. Ja’far [Imam Sadiq] is also aged and would pass away these days and you would remain without an Imam. I did not know what to reply. I mentioned this to Imam Sadiq (a.s). Imam (a.s) said: Never, by Allah! The Almighty Allah would never discontinue the matter of Imamate as long as the days and nights endure. When you meet him, tell him: This Musa bin Ja’far is growing up and we will get him married and he would get a son, who would be his Caliph and successor, if Allah wills.