 عوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم، بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين، وحبيب إله العالمين، أب القاسم المصطفى محمد وعلى أهل بيته الطيبين، الطاهرين، الهدات المهديين، واللعنة الدائمة على أعدائهم أجمعين إلى يوم الدين قال الله تعالى في كتابه الكريم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، ونريد أن منا على الذين استضعفوا في الأرض ونجع لهم أمة ونجع لهم الوارثين صدق الله العلي العظيم أولا، يجب أن يجد أن كل أحد الهدات في هذا العالم today يت dreams and hopes for a day in which all the tyranny and the corruption and the aggression and oppression and evil that exists in this world they hope and dream that one day all of this will come to an end and one day the world will be filled with justice and peace every human being has hope that one day all human beings can be treated with dignity and respect now yes maybe some human beings they may believe that this will remain as a dream for eternity and it will never realize but they are a minority because the majority of human beings believe that no a day will come in which things will change corruption evil tyranny will come to an end and the world will be filled with justice and that will be upheld and established at the hands of a messianic figure that messianic figure will rise and he will do he will spread the justice and the peace that every human being is looking for look at Muslims look at Jews look at Christians look at Zoroastrians look at Hindus and Buddhists the followers of all these religions they all believe in a messianic figure that will bring justice to this world now we may differ on the name but the notion we all agree on so humanity has had enough of this bloodshed they're tired they're sick of this bloodshed and this tyranny that exists and they are all looking for that day in which that messianic figure that messiah will come and put an end to this so this is why the first reason why this is an important topic because every human being is waiting for that day in which that messiah comes and brings the justice that's number one number two we the followers of Ahlulbayt we have even more reasons to be concerned about the 12th Imam or the awaited savior why because we believe as being the followers of Ahlulbayt that Imam Al-Mahdi عد الله فرجه الشريف he is the Imam of our time he is our leader we are the Shia of Imam Mahdi and how difficult it is for us the Shia of Ahlulbayt to be disunited to be far from our imams we living in the period of Al Ghaybah we cannot see our Imam we cannot benefit from the Imam what an honor it is for a person just to see the beautiful face of the Imam when I take that beautiful look at the face of the Imam and it's illuminating with Imam do you know what a beautiful effect that has on the human being how it softens his heart just a look just one look if I see the Imam how it softens my heart how it takes me closer to Allah Subhanahu و تعالى how it makes my Imam stronger but we living in this period of Al Ghaybah we have been denied this honor we cannot see our Imam we cannot benefit from our Imam we cannot benefit from his knowledge from his wisdom from his guidance and that's why every single one of us here we wait for that day in which we can finally see our Imam finally benefit from our Imam finally we could be alongside him and become one of his companions and sacrifice our lives just like the followers and the companions of Imam Hussein sacrifice their lives for Imam Hussein what do we say don't we say we wish we were with you we wish we were with them and that we wish we can be with Imam المهدي and we could support Imam المهدي our Imam is the most precious thing that we have in our lives this is one of the qualities of a Shi'a he loves the Imam more than his children more than anyone in this world so how hard is it difficult to live your entire life and you do not see your Imam even once so every single one of us wants to see that day wants to see that day that we can see the Imam we can be with him become one of his supporters and companions and friends and that's why many of us we ask when will the Imam finally reappear when can we finally have that honor and blessing of seeing the Imam of being with the Imam how can I prepare for the Imam and how can I become one of the companions of the Imam when he does reappear how many of us think about these things because the Imam is very dear to our heart and we are in a state of distress in the غيبة because we do not have our leader with us we do not have the Imam to guide us and be with us do we not read every night in دعال افتتاح that we will insha'Allah read tonight do we not read in it every night اللهم إنا نرغب إليك في دولة كريمة تعز بها الإسلام وأهله وتذل بها النفاق وأهله do we not read where the Imam he says the دعال افتتاح it's narrated from Imam Al-Mahdi himself عجل الله فرجه الشريف every believer says this in دعال افتتاح ya Allah we wait and yearn for that day in which the government of Imam Al-Mahdi will come دولة كريمة in which we the believers we will have our dignity and might back and honor and respect and the enemies of Allah they will be the enemies of Allah they will be weak on that day and you will give us our dignity and we will see peace and justice filling the world this is one of the wishes of every single believer in the school of thought of so this is number two this is an area of concern because we in the state of we are lost from our Imam we are lost without our Imam and we wait every second every hour that passes by we wait for that day in which we can finally be reunited with our Imam so this is number two number three why the belief in the Imam is a very important aspect and why this is a very important topic that concerns all of us is that you find that the belief in the Imam Imam Al-Mahdi is a pillar in the belief of every Muslim every Muslim has to believe in Imam Al-Mahdi it is wajib incumbent, necessary, mandatory upon every Muslim to believe that Al-Mahdi will come now the only difference between we the followers of Ahl al-Bayt the Shi'a and the rest of the schools of thought is that we believe he was born but they believe he will be born but we both, we all agree every Muslim believes that Imam Al-Mahdi will come one day and he will fulfill this task fulfill the world with justice and this belief is wajib if I am a Muslim I have to believe in Imam Al-Mahdi and that's why the famous Hadith of Rasool Allah says ماتميتة جاهلية this is a Hadith that all the Muslims accept and narrate whoever dies he does not know the Imam of his time or in some other Hadith من ماتب غير إمام or من ماتب من غير بيعة لإمامه they are all different terms but the same meaning whoever dies not knowing his Imam of his time whoever dies not giving بيعة to the Imam of his time the allegiance to the Imam of his time the prophet says this person has died a death of جاهلية before Rasool Allah meaning this person has died a death of ignorance he is not a Muslim you are not even a true Muslim if you do not know who the Imam of your time is you are not a true Muslim this is the Hadith that all of them accept who is the Imam of our time who is other than Imam Al-Mahdi that's why it's narrated in history عمر he came one day to Al-Kufa and he came to the palace of Al-Hajjaj Al-Hajjaj he was the governor of Al-Kufa and he was a very ruthless vicious governor he used to kill so many people especially the followers of Ahl al-Bayt so he comes one night usually you do not see the governor at night you wait during the work hours during the day it's urgent he's the son of the previous Khalifa so they let him in Al-Hajjaj tells him what's going on why have you come at this time he said I have come to give you my bay'a he tells him why now why couldn't I wait till tomorrow he said no I am afraid that if it waited till tomorrow I may have died and I would have died without a bay'a out of died without knowing my Imam so I have come to give you my bay'a right now Al-Hajjaj he belittled him he was very normal so he told him you know what I am busy right now usually when you want to give bay'a the leader the Imam whoever that was he would take out his hand and then you would wipe your hand on his hand and this was considered the bay'a so Al-Hajjaj he said I am busy right now I can't lend you my hand what did he do he took out his foot he gave him his foot he told him give bay'a to my foot so he is mocking him he is belittling him like he is a little kid so he says do bay'a of my foot some reports they say that Al-Hajjaj was eating he was busy eating and his hand was oily so he did not want to give bay'a with his hand he put out his leg and Abdullah ibn Umar he gave bay'a to the leg of Al-Hajjaj and by the way the same man Abdullah ibn Umar they say that when Imam Ali became the Khalifa he resisted giving the bay'a because he thought the bay'a of Imam Ali was there something wrong with it he was afraid from giving bay'a to Imam Ali but he then gave bay'a to Al-Hajjaj many years later سبحان الله you see the contradictions so anyway all the Muslims they accept that if I die without the bay'a of my Imam without knowing my Imam of my time then I have died not Muslim death of Jahiliya so that's why it's important for me to know who the Imam of my time is there's a hadith narrated by Zorara one of the closest companions of Imam Al-Sadiq he says that one day Imam Al-Sadiq told me if you lived until you saw the Mahdi now the Imam knew Zorara won't live because Zorara lived maybe 150 years before Imam Mahdi but this is a hadith so that the Shia that will come later will hear if you lived until the day that the 12th Imam will come and you will live in the time of his غayba Imam Al-Sadiq told Zorara about the غayba because Imam 100 100 years before it happened he told him if you live up to that time then do not forget about this there is an important that we have to always read in the occupation of the Imam that we are living in what's that the Imam tells Zorara if you ever come across the time of the غayba then read this say Allahumma عرفني نفسك ان لم تعرفني نفسك لم عرف نبيك يا الله I ask you to help me in knowing you because if I don't know you يا الله I will not know your messenger if you don't know Allah how will you know his messenger and then say this Allahumma عرفني نبيك أو رسولك فانك ان لم تعرفني نبيك لم أعرف حجتك يا الله I ask you to help me in knowing who the prophet is because if I do not know who the messenger is how will I know who the successor of the messenger is who the Imam of my time is if I do not know رسول الله of course I will not know the imams because رسول الله is the one that appointed the imams by the order of Allah so if I don't know رسول الله I will not know the imams either and then this is the cornerstone of the dua this is the main line of the dua he says Allahumma عرفني حجتك فانك ان لم تعرفني حجتك ظللت عن ديني يا الله I ask you to help me in knowing the Imam of my time the proof of Allah on this planet because if you do not help me in knowing who the Imam is ظللت عن ديني I will deviate from my faith I will go astray my faith will be incomplete so this is a dua that we always have to read in زمن الغيبة so that if I want to be close to Allah I have to be close to the Imam of my time so this is number three the belief in the Imam of Mahdi is an important belief that every Muslim should believe now as I said the only difference is that we say he was born they say he will be born now I'll speak a little more about that in a few minutes so this is number three point number three and then we come to point number four the four threes and why the belief in the twelfth Imam and the awaited savior is very important we have numerous hadith from the imams of Ahlulbayt all saying this point that if I pray to Allah and I fast and I go to Hajj and I do so many good deeds but however I do not know the Imam of my time or I do not accept the Imam of my time I do not pay my bay'a my allegiance to the Imam of my time Allah will not reward me for any Amad that I do numerous Ahadith not just one or two many entire chapter you'll find about this in the books of Ahadith and that's why it's narrated that one day this happened during the time of Prophet Isa that there was a man the hadith says he prayed for 40 days with his family and they had Hajjat all of them they got what they wanted to accept him why am I not getting my Hajjat why is Allah not answering my prayers so he went to Prophet Isa when he was not being answered Isa he asked Allah Allah tells him tell that person that he has been praying and doing dua and supplicating to me while he has doubt in his heart about my messenger about Isa as long as you have doubt about my messenger I don't care how many Salah you do I don't care how many good deeds you did first you have to what you have to believe in the messenger and then the Hajjat of Allah those are the details so if you do not have conviction in the Imam Allah will not accept the Quran so this man he said okay I believe in Isa and only then Allah accepted his deeds and numerous Ahadith like I said if I do not have the willaya of Ahlul Bayt I do not know the Imam of my time I do not accept the willaya of the Imam of my time Allah says I don't want this listen to this Hadith يقول أن رجلا قام ليله وصام نهاره وحج دهره وتصدق بجميع أمواله ولم يعرف ولاية ولي الله في وليه ولم يعمل بجميع أعماله بدلالته إلي لم يكن له على الله حق في ثوابه if any human being the Imam says every night he spend it in the night till fajr and every day he fast we only fast 30 days out of the year imagine if someone fast the entire year take the 2 days of aid out that you can't fast all the other days of the year he fasts and in addition to all his money he gives it for the sake of Allah for the poor for anything that's for the cause of Allah and he goes to Haj every single year but however the Imam says but he does not know the Imam of his time he does not have the willaya of the Imam of his time he does not accept the willaya of the Imam of his time then this person the Imam says he will not receive any reward from Allah nothing Allah says in the Holy Quran so many people in this world they spend their entire lives they think they have a mountain of reward the Holy Quran says on the Day of Judgment we will come and we will destroy all their Ibadah nothing فجعلناه هباء من ثورة we will make it into ash into dust because where is the Imam that I asked you first bring the Imam and then bring the Ahmad we said the Imam is the pillar it's the pillar can you have a building a structure without the pillar it's like you keep on building you keep on adding floors on a building that does not have pillars that does not have the correct pillars it's all going to get destroyed and fall down and number 2 you might ask why doesn't Allah give me the reward number 2 if you do not accept the Imam of your time or the Imam of Ahl al-Bayt how do you know your أعمال are صحيح how do you know your Salah is the correct way how do you know that your Hajj is the correct way Imam Al-Sadiq says Salah خمان زكات is this way أبو حنيفة مالك the other ones they say it's in a different way so if you do not follow Imam Al-Sadiq and the Imam of Ahl al-Bayt how do you know you're doing your أعمال the correct way maybe you're doing all these the wrong way so if you want to make sure you're doing what Allah wants follow the Imam because he is the one that has the knowledge not the others it is the Imam of Ahl al-Bayt and that's why the belief that Imam Al-Mahdi is so important may God forbid that I am resurrected on the day of judgment and I see all my life I did so many good deeds but Allah SWT did not accept any of them because there was a fault in my عقيد in my conviction I did not believe in the 12th Imam or any of the Imams of the Imam of Ahl al-Bayt where I had doubts in my heart for them Allah says you want me to reward you you have to believe in the Imam and this is why this topic of Imam Al-Mahdi is a very important topic صلى الله عليه وسلم and because the Imam is the Imam of our time he is the Imam of this period of me, of my father of my grandchildren, my children my great grandfather and because this topic is so sensitive and so important and has a huge effect on our عبادات on our faith and our Imam I will go over the topic of Imam Al-Mahdi and insha'Allah we can touch up upon the different aspects of Imam Al-Mahdi and because you see that this topic of Imam Al-Mahdi is so important Allah SWT did not forget to mention the Imam in the Quran Imam Al-Mahdi is mentioned in the Quran numerous times how many times some علماء have counted the verses that speak about Imam Al-Mahdi up to 130 verses up to 130 verses in the Quran speaking about Imam Al-Mahdi now don't go open the Quran tonight and look for the word Mehdi this is not mentioned in the Quran because Mehdi is not even the name of the Imam Mehdi is one of the titles one of the nicknames of the Imam the name of the Imam is the same as the name of Rasool Allah so that's his name but when we say the Imam is mentioned that speaks about the government that will come at the end of time and that will bring justice and peace and will get rid of all tyranny Allah has mentioned this in the Quran 130 times now you may ask why didn't Allah just mention his name directly in the Quran for the same reason why Allah didn't directly mention the name of Imam Ali we need to give an entire lecture to explain why didn't Allah say directly in the Quran Ali ibn Abi Talib is the successor there's many reasons and this question was posed to Imam Al-Sadaq it's a thousand years ago one of the companions he asked Imam Al-Sadaq that the Muslims the non-Shia Muslims they say why isn't Ali mentioned in the Quran if you say Imam is so important and Imam Ali is this and that so why didn't Allah mention Imam Ali in the Quran the Imam gives a beautiful answer there's many answers but in this hadith he gives a beautiful answer he tells him go tell these Muslims the most important wajib you see the Sunnis they pray the most important thing to them so you say Salat and we also we narrate the hadith from Rasulullah where he says so go and tell them Allah you say that Salat is the most important thing in faith now where in the Quran show me does Allah say that where in the Quran does Allah SWT that Salat is the most important thing and Subhan Allah just yesterday on my flight when I was coming here I was sitting next to someone who Subhan Allah by chance it was a Muslim and we spoke about some topics and we spoke about Imam Al-Mahdi and I saw this person doesn't even believe in Imam Al-Mahdi and he's a Shia he has a beard he prays everything but he has doubts about Imam Al-Mahdi so I had to give him the same analogy I told him that where in the Quran does Allah SWT I told him that Imam Al-Mahdi his name everything is mentioned in the hadith but the Quran refers to him he says no no we don't need that hadith I told him if you don't need that hadith how do you know how to pray who told you Salat Al-Mahdi it's not mentioned in the Quran yes Salat is mentioned in the Quran as a general point principle Salat is mentioned but the details you get it from the Sunnah of Rasulullah and from Ahlul Bayt likewise Imam is mentioned in the Quran but the details the names you get that from the Sunnah of Rasulullah so Imam Al-Mahdi is referred to 130 verses at least in the Quran now sometimes he's referred to in the تفسير and other times in the تأويل what do we mean when we want to understand the Quran they say there's always two stages number one there's the تفسير تفسير is the appearance meaning that most of us understand and then there's a second stage for the believers for those that have knowledge and this is called تأويل تأويل is the hidden meaning and this hidden meaning we can only get it from Ahlul Bayt almost every verse in the Quran has an appearance meaning and then it has a hidden meaning many of these verses تأويل of these verses is about Imam Al-Mahdi I'll give you some examples I'll mention you 5 verses when I speak about Imam Al-Mahdi in the Quran the verse that I began my lecture with Allah says in the Holy Quran ونريد أن منا على الذين استضعفوا في الأرض ونجع لهم أمتا ونجع لهم الورثين and we want to bestow a favor upon those that were weak or those that the human beings deemed them as being weak they're not necessarily weak but the human beings saw them as weak we want to bestow upon them a favor and Allah says we want to make them what ونريد أن منا على الذين استضعفوا في الأرض ونجع لهم أمتا ونجع لهم الورثين we want to make them imams we want to make them rulers and we want to make them waritheen inheritors what do they inherit they inherit the entire world the entire world will be at their hands who's this verse speaking about our Ahadith indicate that when our 12th Imam was born الله سبحانه وتعالى he gave him the ability to speak and he spoke he read this verse ونريد أن منا على الذين استضعفوا في الأرض ونجع لهم أمتا ونجع لهم الورثين and then he said this is me Allah is speaking about me just like Allah gave prophet Isa the ability to speak while he was a baby in his cradle so our Ahadith all indicate that this verse is speaking about the 12th Imam this is the first verse the second verse that speaks about the 12th Imam الله سبحانه وتعالى وعد الله الذين آمنوا منكم وعملوا الصالحات ليستخلفنهم في الأرض وليستخلفنهم في الأرض كما استخلف الذين من قبلهم وليمكنن لهم دينهم الذي ارتضالهم وليبدلنهم من بعد خوفهم أمنى أن الله سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى ماذا الله سبحانه وتعالى أنه سأجعل منك خلفاء فقط كما أفعل خلفاء before you خلفاء means leaders and then Allah says and I will make their religion prevail over all the religions and I will give them security and I will give them safety so that they no longer have to live in fear our Ahadith all say this is speaking about إمام المهدي we read about this دعال افتتاح we reach a point in which we begin to mention the name of Rasool Allah every Imam after the other and then we mention the 12th Imam after we mention the 12th Imam دعال افتتاح what do we say and then well والقائم بدينك and then what do we say we live him in the earth كما استخلفت الذين من قبله مكن له دينه الذي ارتضيته لا أبدلهم من بعد أمنه خوفاً يا عبود الكلايش the same verse that we read إمام المهدي he applies this to himself because we said دعال افتتاح is narrated by Imam المهدي so we read the dua we say ya Allah we ask you to make the Imam the Khalifa that you promised in what the Khalifa meaning what the ruler the apparent Khalifa that you promise in the Quran and make his religion prevail over the religions so this is the second verse that speaks about the Imam the third verse الله سبحانه وتعالى refers to the Imam الله سبحانه وتعالى says that he is the one that sent his messenger our prophet he sent him as a guidance and he sent him with a true religion so that his religion would prevail over all the religions now I ask you during the life of Rasool Allah and up to today since the beginning of Islam till now was Islam able to reach a state in which it basically ruled the entire world never even during the time of Rasool Allah even at the height of the Khalifa of the Muslims whether you look at it at the time of Bani Al-Abbas or whether you look at the for example the Ottomans the Ottoman Empire when they were the most powerful country they were not the country or the or the empire that ruled the entire world Europe you had you had India and you had Asia and you had southern Africa this was not in their control and obviously this part North America which wasn't even discovered or it had inhabitants but the point is Islam didn't reach here so the Quran is saying at time will come الله سعر Rasool Allah so that a day will come in which Islam will become the overwhelming religion throughout the globe our Imam tell us that the this verse will only apply when our 12th Imam reappears and only then the entire world will become Muslim and I'll speak more about that a different night how this will happen exactly the Hadi tell us that every land in this world will call every land in the world will be what will be in the hands of Imam Al-Mahdi so this is what this is the third verse that speaks about the 12th Imam the fourth verse الله سبحانه وتعالى speaks about the 12th Imam about the awaited saviour Imam Al-Mahdi عجر الله فرجو شريف الله says in the Quran بقية الله خير لكم إن كنتم مؤمنين he says بقية الله how many times have we heard بقية الله بقية الله what is بقية الله بقية الله my dear brothers and sisters is the name of the Imam it's one of the titles of the Imam one of the companions he asked the Imam if we see the Imam how do we say Salam to him the Imam says say Assalamu Alaikum بقية الله just like أمير المؤمنين the title of our 12th Imam is بقية الله what is بقية الله is the remnant of Allah so basically Allah says in the Holy Quran that what I have placed for you and saved for you as a remnant is much better for you if you are a mu'mineen the Ahadith tells us that بقية الله is our 12th Imam he is what Allah has saved for us because he's in the occultation now so he's saving the Imam until the day that he will rise inshallah and in a story I'll mention later right now one of the companions of Imam Al-Asqari by the name of Ahmed ibn Ishaq he's very well known and the Imam Imam Al-Asqari he ordered Ahmed ibn Ishaq to build a Masjid in Qom he lived in Qom during the time of Imam Al-Asqari and the Masjid still exists it's called Masjid Imam Al-Hasan Al-Asqari he built it over a thousand years ago by the order of Imam Al-Asqari and he was one of the closest companions now when the 12th Imam was born I'll speak about this tomorrow there was lots of confusion about his birth I'll speak more about that tomorrow Ahmed ibn Ishaq says I left Qom I went to Samarra I asked the Imam the 11th Imam I want to see your son he showed me the Imam he was a young baby and then he told the Imam I want to see a sign a miracle at the hands of this because they knew that if I want to follow a new Imam there has to be a miracle to show me that this is the new Imam so as soon as he told Imam Al-Asqari I want to see a sign Ahmed ibn Ishaq he says I see this little baby he began to speak he told him I am what Allah has saved so do not have any doubts in me after this he says I left and I was very happy about this so this is the 4th verse بقية الله is our 12th Imam and finally the 5th verse that I'll mention there's much more verses but I'll only mention this verse the 5th verse Allah سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى و لقد كتبنا في الزبور من بعد الذكر أن الأرض يارثها عباد يصالحون الله says and we wrote in the زبور the Psalms of David what did we write in the Psalms of David in the زبور that the righteous ones the good believers they will inherit the world they will rule the world the day will come in which they will rule the entire world go open the bible today we say the bible lots of it is distorted it's changed but go open the bible today the Old Testament go open the Psalms of David it's available go to Chapter 37 I thought verse 9 it says and those that have hope in the Lord they will inherit the world so that same verse Allah mentioned in the Quran Allah says that we wrote in the زبور it's still protected it's still in the Psalms where Allah says that the righteous ones will inherit the world it's still in the bible so these are 5 verses he speaks about the 12th Imam in the Quran and like I said there's many verses and if you want to read about all these verses there are books written about the verses of Imam Al-Mahdi in the Quran amongst the best of these books or one of the best of these books is Al-Mahdi in the Quran you type it on google you'll see it online it's written by so this is the Quran and then we come to the Sunnah the أحاديث of رسول الله and Ahlulbayt the أحاديث that we have from رسول الله and Ahlulbayt about Imam Al-Mahdi are tremendous overwhelming do you know how many Ahadith we the Shia and the Sunnis all together how many Ahadith we have about Imam Al-Mahdi how many of those have I read 5? 10? 100? if I've read 1,000 then that's only one 6 and I bet most of us we haven't even read maybe 50 of them 6,000 Ahadith from رسول الله and Ahlulbayt about Imam Al-Mahdi so much details why would they concentrate so much on this topic if it was unimportant why waste people's time what does this show you it's an important topic if it was not so important why did the Sunnis narrate hundreds of Ahadith about Imam Al-Mahdi hundreds upon hundreds of Ahadith they have narrated and there is a book called المعجم الموضوعي للمام Al-Mahdi by Sheikh Al-Kurani he has compiled most or all of those Ahadith it's a very fat book it's probably as much as 4 or 5 volumes but he's put it all in one volume put all those Ahadith in a beautiful organized way in that book it's also available online and amongst the Ahadith that our Sunni brothers narrate from رسول الله is this hadith where رسول الله says المهدي من عترة من والد فاطمة the Mahdi that will come at the end of time and bring peace and justice he is from my progeny he's from the children of Fatima you find this hadith you find Bukhari Bukhari narrates it he does not narrate it in his book you see Bukhari has a few books the most important book he has is Sahih Al-Bukhari which is the most important Sunni book of Hadith now in Sahih Al-Bukhari he does not mention this Hadith he does mention Imam Al-Mahdi but he only mentions a Hadith that refer to him there's no name but this term Al-Mahdi he narrates it in one of his other books called تاريخ Al-Bukhari he has a book called تاريخ Al-Bukhari he mentions the history of Islam and he narrates this Hadith says Al-Mahdi and there's many other Hadith about Imam Al-Mahdi and about some what will happen when the Imam reappears the sign of reappearance the Sunnis they all narrate this and one of the most important Hadith brothers and sisters that we use to prove that the Imam is alive today remember we said that most Muslims they say no the 12th Imam is not born he will be born whenever he wants to rise so if the Imam will rise in a thousand years he'll be born a few years before that but we say no he was born a thousand years ago and he's alive right now one of the most beautiful ways and strongest ways to prove that the Imam is alive till now is a very well known Hadith that all of you have heard the Hadith is called Hadith of Thaqlain is a Hadith that all Muslims accept what's Hadith of Thaqlain is that on the day of Ghadir Khum the day of Ghadir what Rasool Allah appointed Imam Ali as the Khalifa before he appointed Imam Ali he gave the sermon what did he say he told them I'm going to die but I will leave for you I will do two things two heavy elements he told them what are those two heavy elements يا رسول الله كتاب الله number one is the Quran obviously that's number one that's a book of guidance for you to go back to and then the Hadith says and then there's a third set of Hadith that narrate it differently how? we see many times you'll hear some people they will say Rasool Allah said I will leave the book of Allah and Sunnah why? so that there's no name of Ahlul Bayt the book of Allah and the Hadith of Rasool Allah Sunnah there's no Ahlul Bayt and you'll see many unfortunately many lecturers in the Islamic world from the Sunni Islamic world when they mention Hadith of Thaqlain they mention Sunnah not Ahlul Bayt while when you go back to their books you find the Sahih version the correct version of this Hadith is you see go back to Sahih Muslim go google it tonight search about it do your research Rasool Allah didn't say Sunnatin Sahih Muslim when he narrated says Ahlul Bayt I'm leaving the book of Allah and my family even though we accept the Sunnah of Rasool Allah but that's not what he said he said the book of Allah and my progeny Ahlul Bayt but unfortunately they want to what? some of them they want to forget about Ahlul Bayt neglect Ahlul Bayt so they say Sunnatin and they themselves their Ulama they accept they all admit this that this Hadith what Sunnatin is it's unauthentic the correct Sahih version is Itrati Ahlul Bayt is my family in my progeny so after Rasool Allah said this that I'm leaving the book of Allah and I'm leaving my family he says اني تاركم فيكم الثقلين and then he says ما انتمسكتم بهم لا انتظلوا بعده as long as you adhere to these two together Quran and Hadith you will never go astray you will be safe so if there are some people when they ask you why such and such haram why is this haram you tell them Hadith says it they tell you no no I want from the Quran these people are going against the Hadith of Rasool Allah Rasool Allah says Quran and Ahlul Bayt you say just Quran unfortunately I find this and I gave a lecture about this many times some people when they ask you where does the Quran say music is haram where does the Quran say you can't shave your beard for the man where does the Quran say you can brother why are you saying the Quran the Quran there's Quran Rasool Allah said Kitab Allah itrati ask where in the Quran or the Hadith of Ahlul Bayt when you bring them a Hadith of Ahlul Bayt they say no no I don't want this I want Quran this is your following whom the man that said the Quran is enough Rasool Allah said Quran and Ahlul Bayt that man that came became the second Khalifa he said no Quran is enough he rejected Rasool Allah his words so the prophet said Kitab Allah itrati the Quran and the Hadith of Ahlul Bayt as long as you adhere to both of them you will not go astray so if you say just Quran that means you're going astray you're going the wrong way and then Rasool Allah after that he says ما انتمسكتم بهما لن تظل بعد أبدا and then he said وإنهما ليفتريقا حتى يردها and this is the important point in this Hadith he said and these two will never separate until the day of judgment they will never ever separate what is this Hadith this proves that even today there is an Imam infallible معصوم Imam that's amongst us why because our Sunni brothers they say رسول الله died there was a few good Khulafa they were the Hajj of Allah right now there is no Imam of our time infallible Imam and then the Mehdi will come whenever in a thousand years so you ask them then who is the Khalifa of Allah right now who is the Imam of Allah who is the successor of Rasool Allah from the Itra right now then Rasool Allah say my book and my Itra they will never separate so is there an Imam from the descendants of Rasool Allah alive now or no they say no then you tell them that means they have separated Quran is alive Itra Rasool Allah is dead they have separated correct the Prophet says they will never separate as long as the Quran is alive there has to be Imam from the Itra of Rasool Allah alive so this Hadith proves that the Imam is alive even today because the Quran the Prophet said they will never separate as long as the Quran is there the Imam will be there so you say no there is no Imam that means they separated it also proves Imam is معصوم because if the Imam never separates the Ahlulbayt never separate from the Quran that means they are معصوم because the Quran is معصوم so if someone that's with the Quran never separate from the Quran is معصوم never goes against the Quran see how important this Hadith is that sometimes we forget about it and we neglect so through this Hadith we understand that no the 12th Imam is alive today because as long as the Quran is there there has to be the walking speaking Quran because the Imam is the embodiment of the Quran don't we say السلام عليك يا شريك القرآن when we do Ziara of the 12th Imam we say يا شريك القرآن he is the partner of the Quran because you cannot have Quran by itself Quran and the 12th Imam these two come hand in hand together so that's why brothers and sisters you see the Ahadith of Ahlulbayt you see the Quran you see the world religions they are all concerned about this messiah that will come and that will bring peace to this world إن شاء الله for the next few nights I will go over the topic of Imam Al-Mahdi so that we can acquaint ourselves better with our Imam some of us we have no clue who Imam Al-Mahdi is we just hear Imam Mahdi عج الله فرجع who is Imam Al-Mahdi what are his traits when will he reappear how will he reappear who are his companions what will happen what are the signs of the reappearance how can I prepare myself for that day the life of Imam Al-Mahdi before he went into Qaiba why did the Imam go into Qaiba some of us we don't know we have no clue what's the purpose of an Imam in Qaiba these are important points that are very essential to our عقيد to our belief system that I will إن شاء الله go over through the course of these nights I ask Allah Subhanahu و تعالى to accept our عمال in this onset of month of Ramadhan I ask him to give us the Tawfiq that we can follow in the footsteps of Ahlulbayt and we can be true Shi'a of Imam Al-Mahdi عج الله فرجع الشريب الله سبحانه و تعالى to accept our صيام our قيام to answer our دعاء and I ask Allah Subhanahu و تعالى to bless us all during this beautiful month of Ramadhan إن شاء الله we will end with this دعاء that we do for our 12th Imam may Allah extend his reappearance everyone together بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم اللهم كل وليك الحجة بن الحسن صلواتك عليه أبائه في هذه الساعة وفي كل ساعة وليان وحافظة وقائد وناصر ودليل وعينة حتى تسكنه أرضك طوع وتمتعه فيها طويلة برحمتك يا أرحم الرحمين وصلى الله على محمد وآله الطاهرين الفاتحة مع الصلوات