chapter one
«the world would bend towards us after having been refractory just as the biting she-camel bends towards its young.» a metaphoric remark that just as during the time of the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) the apparent and esoteric 'vilayat' (mastership) were both found in his household, in the same way and at the time of the reappearance of hazrat mahdi (a.s.), the apparent government and esoteric 'vilayat' will be made ready for that leader). thereafter, he recited this verse- (and we desired to bestow a favour upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the imams, and to make them the heirs) ibne abil hadeed mo'tazali in his commentary on nahjul - balagha says on page 329 vol. 4 as such: 'our companions mention that is this verse, allah has promised the imam and leader that he would have possession of the land and gain control over all the nations. in the seventh chapter of «eqdud - durar», abu abdulla na'eem - ibn - hemad narrates as such: 'imam abu ishaaq salbi in 'tafseer' (interpretation) of the divine saying of (hamaasaq) has quoted ibn - abbass as saying: (the 'h') refers to the battle between quraish and the slaves in which the quraish would be the victors; (the 'm') refers to the kingdom and government of bani - umayyah; (the 'aa') is the sign of exaltation and honour of bani - abbass; (the 's') refers to the age of mahdi and (the 'q') is a symbolic sign of the coming of isa at the time of emergence of mahdi. the author says that some have interpreted (s) as the brightness of mahdi and (') as the power of isa-ibn-maryam. (i.e. jesus christ) ibn hajar in his sawa'eq (page 16) interprets the
divine saying « as such: the author of «nur-ul-absar» on page 228 has narrated from abu abdullah ganji as such: «about the interpretation of allah's words sayyid-ibn-jubair says; 'it refers to mahdi from the progeny of fatemah - the one who, by decree of this verse shall dominate over all other religions.» in «yanabi-ul-mawadda» page 443 it is narrated from manaqib - khawrazmi from jabir-ibn-abdulla ansari a lengthy incident wherein a jew approaches the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) and asks him various questions which results in his converting to islam. one of the questions which the convert had asked was about the successors to the holy prophet himself and the prophet's reply that they were twelve in number. he counted each one of them by name until he got to the name of imam muhammad hassan askari. thereafter he said: 'after him shall come his son muhammad who will be known as mahdi, qa'em and hujjat(5). then he will disappear temporarily, reappear again and when he does so he shall fill the earth with equity and justice. since by then the earth would have been filled with cruelty and oppression. blessed are those who are patient during the period of his occultation and blessed are those who are steadfast in their love towards him. they are those whom allah has praised in his book with such words- [(quran is a guide to those who guard (against evil), those who believe in the unseen i.e. mahdi and his occultation] also, allah says:- [they are those who belong to the party of allah; know that the party of allah are the victorious ones.] «tradition ends» in the afore-said book, on page 448 he quotes from the book of «fara'ed-us-semtain» a tradition which hassan - ibn - khalid has narrated from abu hassan ali-ibn-musa reza (a.s.) about mahdi where he mentions that he would be the fourth from his descendants and that when he reappears, the earth would be engulfed with the divine light. thereafter imam continued as such: he is the one whose reappearance shall coincide with the call of a caller from the sky such that all the inhabitants of the land shall hear this cry:- 'know that the hujjat (proof) of allah has appeared near the house of allah. so follow him since the truth is in him and with him. the word of allah too refers to the same. [if we please, we should send down upon them a sign from the heavens so that their necks should stoop to it.] naishabouri in his «tafseer» (vol. 1.) in interpreting the verse of ( ' )-says: some of the shias believe that (i.e. unseen) in this verse refers to mahdi, the awaited one; the one who allah has promised about him in his book as such: [allah has promised to those of you who believe and do good that he will most certainly make them rulers in the earth.] moreover, about him the holy prophet (s.a.w.a.) has mid the following: «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 who carries the same name as mine, shall appear and fill the earth with justice opposite the extent it had been filled with injustice and oppression.(6) naishabouri further says that according to the ahl-e-sunnat, the afore-said verse gives indication to the imamate of «khulafa-e-rashedin» (rightly-guided caliphs) because the word of «menkom» in the holy verse indicates 'part' (of) and it is necessary for this 'part' (of) to be present at the time of addressing. also, it is well-known that those four caliphs (abu bakr, omar, osman and ali) were men of faith and virtue and at that time were present. consequently the matter of caliphate and victory was certain for them. therefore it becomes necessary to say that this verse refers to them. thereafter he says: a group have gone against them arguing why it is not permissible to say that the word of denotes exposition. they consider succession over the earth to mean possession and domination over it just as it was so in the case of bani isra'il. 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)
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