 On that day, every soul is paid for what it earned, and none shall be unjustly treated. No, God is swift to reckon. And upon his family, the good and the pure, and his companions, the faithful. Praise be to Allah, Who made us from the righteous, with the help of the Lord of the Lord, and the Lord of the Highest. Our son, Abu Talib. Praise be to Allah, Who guided us to this. And we were not to be guided, if Allah had guided us. As for what Allah says in His Noble Book, In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Say, I will not ask you for a reward except for the material in the near future. The first of Abu Salawat is the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him. The second is the Prophet of the believers, Ali Ibn Abi Talib. The third with your loudest voices, and one of the Imam of our time, Imam Sa'hab Al-Asri, was Zaman. Respected scholars, brothers and sisters, peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah. Imam Muhammad Ibn Ali Al-Mahdi. Salawat Allah, peace be upon him. Imam Muhammad Ibn Hassan Ibn Ali Al-Mahdi was born on the 15th of Sha'ban in the 250th year after Hijrah. Revealed by many as the Messiah of the religion of Islam. His life has to be examined in depth, for he is the awaited savior of the religion. The one who will bring justice and remove all forms of oppression and indeed all forms of cruelty and tyranny. You find that the discussion concerning the Imam is a vital one which affects each and every one of our lives. A discussion from which many a lesson may be learnt and indeed many examples may be derived. Principles may be gained theological, ethical as well as jurisprudential. And a discussion with a historical basis and a contemporary significance. Contemporary on the idea that every religion in the world today believes in a Mehdi. Every religion in the world today believes in an awaited savior. If you were to study the scriptures of each and every religion in the world, you'll find within their scriptures there is the discussion concerning an awaited savior. A savior who will remove all forms of tyranny, will remove all forms of oppression and instill justice and peaceful equality within the world within which we live. For example, if you were to study the Avesta, the Zoroastrian scripture, you'll find that it mentions a man by the name of Saushiant. Saushiant is the awaited savior, the one who will come and bring complete goodness in the universe. If you were to study the Bhagavad Purana, the Hindu scripture, you'll find that there is a man by the name of the Kalki and that this is a man who will come at a time when the politicians will be corrupt and full of deceit and will be abusing the innocent people, he will come and remove all the corruption and all of the deceit. If you study the Ravada, the scripture of the Buddhists, you'll find that Buddha Guatam speaks of a final Buddha, a Buddha who will bring enlightenment at a time of darkness to the earth. If you look within Jewish scripture, you'll find that there is a discussion of a messiah from the children of David who will come and remove all types of tyranny and injustice. If you look at Christian scripture, there is the second coming of Jesus as the messiah who will come with the word of God and will bring justice and equality. In other words, we find that the belief in the Mehdi is a belief not just for Muslims, but a belief of every religion in the world today. Every religion believes in an awaited savior. Likewise, when you look within the religion of Islam, you find that Sunni and Shi'a have more in common than they have differences on this issue. It is obligatory on every Muslim, Sunni and Shi'a, to believe in the Mehdi. The only difference is being concerning whether he is alive or whether he is to be born. Other than that, you will find that there are numerous traditions, both in Sunni literature and in Shi'a literature, which refer to a man by the name of Mehdi from the sons of Fatima whose name is the name of the Prophet who will come and bring injustice and remove all types of injustice. Therefore, on the first level, the need to dissect the biography of the Imam is because this is the topic which refers and applies to every religion in the world today. And on the second level, the famous narration we have from the Holy Prophet, Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the famous narration which states The one who dies without knowing, the Imam of his time dies the death of someone in ignorance. Naturally, every Muslim has this belief that there is a need to know the Imam of our time. There is a need to understand his biography. And many questions arise concerning the Imam today. As in many times, people ask the question, how many people did Imam al-Asqari tell about Imam al-Mahdi? What is the origin of Imam al-Mahdi's mother? Was Imam al-Mahdi with his parents for the first few years of his life or no? What was the need of a minor Ghaiba and who were his representatives? What was the wisdom behind a major occultation? What are, for example, the signs of his reappearance? You find that these are all questions that are being asked today. And would you believe there are certain elements within our own communities today who have begun to question the position of the Imam? But this allows for free thought. There is no harm. Let the people come and discuss with evidence, with texts, in order that we are able to get acquainted with the biography of the Imam of our time. As we said, when we come to discussing Imam Muhammad ibn Hassan ibn Ali al-Mahdi, we begin that he was born when he was born on the 15th of Sha'ban in the year 255 after Hijrah. The question arises, what was the environment surrounding his birth? As we know very well, his father, our 11th Imam, was around 22 when he received his Imamah. There were two factions of people who were interested in understanding who his successor was. The first of them were naturally going to be his own adherents. Naturally, they were going to be the people from his own school, from the religion of Islam and from the school of Ahlul Bayt. These people had traditions at the time, which had spoken about the fact that there will be 12 Imams after the Prophet. Or that there will be 12 Khulafa after the Prophet, as in if you were to dissect from the time of our 6th Imam. When people around that time, like Abu Sa'id al-Asfari in his Asal, which is available until today, people such as later in the time, Imam Al-Bukhari in his Sahih, Imam Al-Bukhari was living in the time of Imam Al-Jawad, Imam Al-Hadi, and Imam Al-Asfari. You find Al-Qasim ibn Ibrahim al-Rassi in his book Al-Rad'ala Al-Rawafiz, Fadal ibn Sha'dan, all of these had spoken of the names of the Imams of Al-Muhammad or had spoken about the number of the Caliphs after Rasulullah or had spoken about a Mahdi being born from the line of the Prophet. As in you find Imam Al-Bukhari, his Sahih, Sahih Al-Bukhari is with us until today. Imam Al-Bukhari was living in the time of Imam Al-Jawad, Imam Al-Hadi, Imam Al-Asfari. Imam Al-Bukhari in his book Sahih Al-Bukhari has written down about the fact that not only there will be 12 Caliphs after the Prophet, but that there will be a man by the name of Mahdi from the line of Fatima who will come and bring justice and remove all forms of tyranny. In other words, there were many texts which were available, which at the time were already discussing the Mahdi. The Shia of Imam Al-Asfari were wondering when is the Mahdi going to be born. They were one faction who were interested in the birth. Another faction that was interested in the birth was the Abbasid Khulafa. Naturally, today you will find some people who say, what's your evidence that Imam Al-Mahdi was born then? Imam Al-Mahdi is not born. Imam Al-Mahdi will be born later. Our reply is that number one, you already had texts which mentioned 12 Imams and his name. But that number two, if Imam Al-Mahdi there was no sign of his birth, then why would the Abbasid Caliphs put Imam Al-Hadi and Imam Al-Asfari on the house arrest? Imam Al-Hadi and Imam Al-Asfari, what did they have? Huge armies, did they have 100,000 people standing outside their houses? If you look at the life of Imam Al-Hadi and Imam Al-Asfari, they had relatively few followers who had access to them. Therefore today when someone says to you, I don't believe Imam Al-Mahdi was born. What's your evidence? Alongside texts such as the texts of Fadal bin Shadan or Abu Sa'id Al-Asfari or for example the texts which mentioned the Imams, say to them then why were the Abbasid Khulafa standing outside his house? Waiting for one of the women of the house to give birth. If there's no such thing as Imam Zaman, then why would the Abbasid Khulafa put Imam Al-Hadi and Imam Al-Asfari on the house arrest? In other words, these two groups were surrounding the house and I need to make something very clear for you. This discussion is the most vital discussion of all the Imams which I need you to understand because it has some delicate points. Imam Al-Asfari, did he tell a lot of people about Imam Al-Mahdi? I don't believe he did. I don't believe Imam Al-Asfari told many people about Imam Al-Mahdi and I believe if you research the sources you'll find Imam Al-Asfari did not tell many people. If you count them, I am even willing to go as far as saying that some of Imam Al-Asfari's closest confidants and advisors did not know about Imam Al-Mahdi's birth until the day of the birth. Someone will say, what do you mean? I'll say who are the ones who knew about Imam Al-Mahdi is only a very close group of people. Who are they? You find, for example, amongst them, Abu Hashim Al-Jafari, he knew about the Imam. Ahmed bin Ishaq, he knew about the Imam. Two ladies, Imam Al-Asfari's aunties, Imam Al-Asfari had two aunties from his father, Imam Al-Hadi's side, Hakima, who was buried in Samara, and Khadija. And amongst the other close confidants, people like Abu Al-Adiyan, other than these, I don't think Imam Al-Asfari told many people about the birth and I will go a step further in saying that I do not even believe Hakima knew about the birth of the Imam until even the day of the birth. Someone will say why? Because Imam Al-Asfari had to be very careful who exactly knew about his son. Imagine, your son is going to be Hujjat Allah fi Ardi. Your son is going to be the proof of Allah. Do you stand outside your house and say, everyone, my son is born, please come and visit him. We will have a baby shower or something. You are more than welcome to come. On the contrary, Imam Al-Asfari, no way would he tell that many people. Even later on, people when they asked why Imam Al-Asfari didn't tell because Imam Al-Asfari knows there are certain people we can't trust even from our own family. From our own family, there are certain people we can't trust about Imam Al-Mahdi. And even there were people in the house of Imam Al-Asfari who did not know which of the ladies in his house would give birth to Imam Al-Hujjat. What do I mean? This is the first important point. There were a number of ladies in his house. There was a lady by the name of Narjis. There was a lady by the name of Saleek. In the books of Hadith, we have traditions about the wife of Imam Al-Asfari. Saduk says and Tusi says and Ibn Rustam Al-Tabari says and Masoudi says she is Narjis Khatun who is of Christian ancestry. Kulaini says that she is of African ancestry. The question arises here that today some people have come and said is Narjis of Christian ancestry or is she of African ancestry? Let's look at Narjis firstly. Narjis and Saleek were the two women who people had claimed were in the house of Imam Al-Asfari when it was the time to give birth. Narjis who was she? Narjis, Imam Al-Hadi one day told his companion Bishr. He said Bishr, you are of the people of Medina, of the Ansar. I want you, O Bishr, I want you to do what? I want you to go to the river Forat on the banks of Baghdad. Here take 220 gold dinar with you. Bishr said why, O Imam? He said go there and you will see that a ship arrives and that there is a man who takes out a number of slaves. And when this man takes out the number of slaves, the man's name will be according to different narrations you find that his name was Omar bin Yazid and you find that this person will come out with a number of slaves. When he comes out you will see one particular slave who will come out. People will be bidding her and he will try and make her move her veil but she says to him please do not touch my veil. And when the people are bidding she keeps rejecting whoever bids, she keeps rejecting, she keeps rejecting until eventually you will find someone will say I bid 300 dinar and I'll give you whatever you want and she turns around and she says that even if you gave me the kingdom of Suleiman I will still not come towards what you want. Then you go forward and you pay 220 gold dinar and give this letter to her. When she reads the letter you will see that she kisses it and then she will come with you. Bishop says I went, the bidding began. I went, I gave the letter, she kissed it and she came with me and then she began speaking in Arabic her whole story. She said my name is Malika or Malika. I am the daughter of the Caesar of Rome. I am here and I will tell you my story. My father wanted me to get married to my cousin. He invited more than a thousand dignitaries, priests and all of the holy personalities came. On the day we want to get married there was like a shaking in the building. The wedding was called off. Again there was a day when we want to get married there was a shaking in the building. Again it was called off. My father was worried, why is this bad omen happening to us? She narrates that in my dream after all of this had happened I saw a dream where I saw the Prophet Jesus come with all of his companions towards the Prophet Muhammad and all of his sons. And the narration says that the Prophet Muhammad said to the Prophet Jesus we want to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage for our son Hassan al-Asqari. The Prophet Jesus said it was our honor. She said I woke up from this dream and fourteen nights later I saw a dream having accepted this dream in my head I saw a dream where I saw Fatima al-Zahra speak to Maryam and in this dream I asked when will I see Hassan al-Asqari and Fatima al-Zahra said to Maryam when your daughter when she comes towards the religion of Islam then there will be a union between the two of them. She said I was waiting to see when this union will be and I was told by Imam al-Asqari when I saw him in a dream that you will come there will be a war between the Muslims and the Romans you will come on the riverbank and you will be sold for this amount when the person offers this much and there is a Roman letter accept it and that is how I came and Bishar says I took her to Imam al-Hadi and when I took her to Imam al-Hadi as I took her to Imam al-Hadi Imam al-Hadi said to her that you are on it by Allah on this earth this is the narration about Narjis now there is a question here and I need you to understand these delicate points in order that we understand the basis of our Imam's biography Al Kulaini mentions that the mother is from Africa Sadoq has a narration like Tusi, like Ibn Rustam al-Tabari they all talk about the fact that she is from Rome why would one say from Africa the other would say from Rome even the close confidants of the imams themselves they knew there were a couple of women present in the house of Imam al-Asqari one was called Narjis the other was called Saleek when the Abbasid soldiers were surrounding the house of Imam al-Asqari Saleek came forward and said when they asked is there any woman who is pregnant here it's as if Saleek knew that she wasn't the pregnant one she came forward and said I am the one who is pregnant to defend the life of Narjis very important point and that's why the Abbasid soldiers kept on watching Saleek until after a year and Abaidullah bin Khakan passed away that's when the Abbasid soldiers finally gave up on Saleek and watching her some people came and said, for example that the only reason you say Narjis is because Narjis was of high nobility and you didn't want to say that Imam's mother was a slave girl on the contrary we in the school of Ahlul Bayt before Imam Mehdi there were other imams whose mothers were slave girls we could have easily changed their story others say you only made it a story related to Christians because at the end Jesus and Mehdi will come together so you try to make it this happy story this romantic story of the togetherness on the contrary we believe in Jesus even before any of this story our Quran spoke about Jesus 250 years before this story in other words what you find is that the first vital point is what the first vital point is those who come today and say but Al-Kulayni mentions this and so on there wasn't only one woman in the house and that's why the Abbasid soldiers were led into thinking that it was the lady of the African descent this is number one number two so what happened you see on the night of the 15th of Sha'ban Hakimah the auntie of Imam al-Asqari herself says I did not know which of the ladies is the one who's going to give birth she says I don't know Hakimah says I don't know do you know why because Nader just did not have the signs of pregnancy on her someone says how can you not have the signs of pregnancy what are you talking about Musa's mother had the signs of pregnancy did Musa's mother have the signs of pregnancy or no no why did Musa's mother not have the signs of pregnancy because Far'aun would have cut the baby into pieces with the mother isn't it so didn't Allah subhanu wa ta'ala conceal her pregnancy if Allah can conceal the pregnancy of the mother of Nabi Musa why can't he conceal the pregnancy of the mother of Imam Zaman Hakimah says I did not know which of the ladies was going to give birth until Imam al-Asqari my nephew came up to me and said auntie tonight you're going to come to my house break Iftar at my house and I want you to stay in my house for tonight Allah's proof on earth will be born say the Hakimah narrates that I went to the house that night and I looked at Nurgis and Nurgis did not have the signs of pregnancy she said even when the Imam said to me tonight is the night I'm looking at the woman that got the signs of pregnancy I came Nurgis came to clean my feet I said to her no I have to clean your feet you are going to be the mother of the Imam of this time she narrates that that night the baby was born and she narrates that we heard a verse come out from the mouth of that baby on that night when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned surah 28 verse 5 when we read to him when we read to him you find that this verse was read by the Imam as soon as he was born therefore on that night we need to understand the concept not everybody around Imam al-Asqari of his Shi'a were told about the birth of the Imam no there were some you can't trust the first of them Imam al-Asqari is brother Ja'far Ja'far do you know what he used to do when Imam al-Asqari would fall ill Ja'far would go behind his back and come home now the Mahdi is going to be surely leading his prayers and that's why there's a fundamental question which I need you to all understand Imam al-Mahdi he's born in the year 255 do you agree 255 Imam al-Asqari when did he die which year 260 excellent so he's born there's something which needs to be asked when a baby is born in a house say the soldiers have been outside that house the soldiers are surely going to recognize after six months after a year 18 months 24 that there's a baby they've never seen before isn't it so how can he live in Samarra that long without no one knowing him hasn't that question ever bothered you if he's born 255 AH and Imam al-Asqari died 260 and we always say that the Abbasid soldiers have surrounded the house haven't they surrounded the house Allah concealed the pregnancy that's how I understand she gave birth that night that's how I understand surely there's going to be a son walking around and we say that he wanted to go back the age of 5 yes? when did it begin? the age of 5 or 4 years and 7 months for example let's say so where is he? you see if you say he's around Samarra this whole 5 years people will turn around to you and say listen are these soldiers blind they can't see a kid walking around it's because he wasn't in Samarra he wasn't his father sent him shortly after birth first he sent him outside Samarra for 40 days and then after that his father sent him to stay with his grandmother Hodeitha in Medina if he's in Samarra the soldiers going to look at the child and say hold on a minute why are we all getting confused there kill the child send him to live in Medina when I'm about to pass away that's when he has to come back from Medina Imam al-Mahdi's first few years in his life were in Medina not Samarra if you say they were in Samarra your whole argument falls it's impossible he was in Samarra Imam al-Asqari has to send him out to Medina and that's why when some of Imam al-Asqari's companions would come and say to him where's your son? he'd say if you go to Mecca for Hajj you'll see him and if you go to Medina you'll see him it's because there was no way his son was living with him in Samarra if I'm Imam al-Asqari and I'm walking in a house and my son's next to me you think the Abbasid soldiers going to look at me and say masha'Allah your son looks good today? so Imam al-Asqari sends his son where? to Samarra and that's why when Imam al-Asqari died you know we always remember the time of 8th Rabi'a and around that period don't we remember Aida al-Zahra and so on when Imam died 15 days before he died do you remember the story I narrated yesterday? he told our Abu al-Adian in 15 days I'm going to die please listen to the wording so we know how the story develops in 15 days our Abu al-Adian I'm going to die here are the letters for my Shia in Baghdad I have answered all of their jurisprudential issues go to them you will see Ahmad ibn al-Hasan there when you go to Ahmad ibn al-Hasan over there go there answer their questions when you come back in 15 days please listen to the wording when you come back in 15 days you will hear that Hasan al-Asqari has died you will have with you the letters and you will see the one who asks you for them and the one who prays over me and the one who knows the answer to how much is in the yellow bag he is my successor Abu al-Adian Abu al-Adian what did he do? Abu al-Adian left he went to Baghdad he stayed in Baghdad after Baghdad Abu al-Adian came back Abu al-Adian narrates when I came to Samara Samara everybody had come out Hasan al-Asqari has died he said I went I went where? and do you know when Imam al-Asqari was ill do you know who told the Abbasid Khulafa that he is ill? his brother Ja'far his brother Ja'far brother of an Imam tells the Abbasid Khalif listen Hasan al-Asqari is ill I am advising you quickly go to the house and check and that's why Imam al-Asqari didn't tell everybody where Imam al-Zaman is because Imam knows you can't trust those close to you Abu al-Adian he doesn't even tell him Abu al-Adian he says look out for these signs see how particular the word is look out for the signs if Abu al-Adian even Abu al-Adian I can't say to him exactly everything I give him signs Abu al-Adian when he returns he says I saw Ja'far saying I am the new Imam he was about to begin his Salah someone came and removed him and I have a greater right on this prayer now question if Imam Zaman was living in Samarra all those years would the people be confused as to who he is? no they wouldn't they'd know who he is but what if someone out of the blue came after living in Medina and came and let the prayers do you see how it adds up now if Imam al-Zaman let those prayers someone can turn around to you and say hold on so you're telling me a 5 year old came to leave the prayer and nobody had ever seen him in Samarra before but he wasn't living in Samarra he was living in Medina he came back to Samarra to bury and to do the Salah of his father because an Imam always prays over an Imam isn't it so when the Imam came he said to me I have a greater right Abu al-Adian said Ja'far was being used who is this person? if Imam was living with Ja'far in Samarra would Ja'far be surprised? but because the Imam from a young age went to live in Medina Ja'far was like who is this so he let the prayer everybody quickly because people are all queuing up no one's concerned who's leading people are trying to get there for the meyit everyone's queuing up queuing up then the Imam comes to Abu al-Adian Abu al-Adian says I was just standing there the 5 year old came up to me and he said to me Abu al-Adian give me the letters he said I took the letters I gave it to him because I remember the Imam said to me the one who asks for the letters the one who prays over me and now number 3 by the time of number 3 Ja'far started getting suspicious he went into the Abbas al-Khaliba quickly the Mehdi is here quickly come the chief judge of Samarra came everybody came they entered a person from Qom had entered saying where is al-Asqari they said he's dead they said well we have some khums to give him how much khums is this if you are the real Imam Ja'far said would you think I know the unseen then a person came and said 1010 dinar the people gave it to him Abu al-Adian said I looked at him where are you going he said I'm going back to my Imam al-Hujja ibn al-Hasan al-Mahdi Salawatullahu salamu alaykum in other words the first 5 years of Imam al-Mahdi's life are very much understood in our communities and need more clarification many people wonder how did this all occur Imam al-Mahdi was not living in Samarra Imam al-Mahdi was living in Madina as soon as he was born Imam al-Asqari made movements for him to move away if Imam al-Mahdi stays in the same house for 5 years you think the Abbas al-Khaliba will not kill him and that's why from that period Imam al-Mahdi went on what is known as Ghaybat al-Sughra Ghaybat al-Sughra was part of a system which was begun from Imam al-Sadaq what do we mean Imam al-Sadaq began an underground movement called al-Wikala the deputies Imam al-Sadaq knew there's going to be the beginning of imams who are under prison arrest or house arrest or indeed government security so Imam al-Sadaq began Ghaybat al-Sughra someone says what do you mean how could he begin Ghaybat al-Sughra Imam al-Sadaq began the underground movement where if you couldn't get access to an imam because of the imam being under house arrest then the imam appoints someone for you to go and see on his behalf Imam al-Sadaq for example had Mualla ibn Khunais Imam al-Qadim had Othman ibn Isa Rawasi Imam al-Ruza had Safwan ibn Yahya Imam al-Jawad had Abdelrahman ibn Hajjaj Imam al-Hadi had Ayyub ibn Nuh all of these do you know what their role was collect zakat of the shi'a collect the khums of the shi'a and answer the questions of the shi'a on behalf of the imam Imam al-Asqari had families for him the Nubahti family the Mahziar family the Hamadani family they were all working on the imam al-Asqari Imam al-Hujjah as soon as he went on Ghaybat al-Soghra why did he go on Ghaybat al-Soghra in order to prepare us that when he is absent there's going to be people who we can go to for all solutions the first of them of his four representatives Ghaybat al-Soghra was how long 69, 70 years the first of his representatives was Othman ibn Said and Othman ibn Said the narration say to us that this Othman ibn Said used to work for Imam al-Jawad from the age of 11 and then he worked for Imam al-Hadi then he worked for Imam al-Asqari Imam made him his first representative you know these four wakala in many cases this Shia would come to them and they would ask them questions because in Ghaybat al-Soghra they still had access directly to the Imam these four wakala Othman later his son then Hussain ibn Rouh Hussain ibn Rouh you know with these four some of the Shia would say if you truly are in touch with the Imam then send us some of our proposals and questions which we have they'd want them to perform miracles Ali ibn Qummi comes to Hussain ibn Rouh the third of the wakala of the Imam third out of the four he comes to him and he says to him O Hussain my name is Ali al-Qummi he says yes he said I'm trying to have sons from my wife but I can't have any can you ask the Imam to pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for the Imam to pray to Allah that Allah honours me with sons Hussain ibn Rouh said what Hussain ibn Rouh said leave this to me I will speak with the Imam and as soon as I speak to the Imam I will come back with the confirmation he spoke to the Imam the Imam that first Ghaybat was getting us ready for the Ghaybat al-Qubra he went to speak to the Imam told him tell him the wife he has now will give him no children but he is going to marry another wife from Dailem who is going to give him three sons Muhammad, Hasan and Hussain Muhammad and Hussain will be ulama of this ummah and truly when he went and told him he had three sons he had Muhammad, Hasan and Hussain his son Muhammad, son of Ali is the man famously known as sheikh al-Sadooq that's why sheikh al-Sadooq was born from the prayers of Imam Sahiba al-Asr al-Zaman all thought of the renowned text so many texts you can mention but arguably the most famous one manlaya hadaruh al-Faqih one of our four main canonical books alongside al-Kafi by sheikh al-Kulani by al-Ahkam and al-Sabsaar by sheikh al-Tusi manlaya hadaruh al-Faqih is arguably the second most important book when it comes to Islamic law sheikh al-Sadooq was the compiler Hussain ibn Rouq spoke to the Imam the Imam's prayers sheikh al-Sadooq was born until the last of them who was to leave that last of them the narrations what do they say is the Imam told him in six days time you will pass away and I am going to go on my major occultation and I will return when the hearts are hardened and the earth is full of wickedness and tell my followers that if they sincerely want me to return I would return for them straight away in that ghayba this long when people ask the question number one the first question can we ever see the Imam in this period and the Imams of Ahlul Bayt tell us in many narrations that the Imam visits a number of people a year and that there are three occasions in particular when the Imam is present of those occasions number one in the period of Hajj this year inshallah it will be my honor to be going with the group from Dara Salam with Hajji Jassa and the group and I hope that every group that goes to Hajj this year has the honor of seeing the Imam of our time that's the first on the second in a funeral of a man who has no deaths and number three when someone is trouble that is when the Imam will always be there for the people someone asks why the ghayba the reason the ghayba came for three please understand these reasons the first reason of the ghayba is that definitely the natural reason that they wanted to kill the Imam because they knew of the prophecy of the Imam so they wanted to kill the Imam Allah to come into ghayba number two so that God will not allow the Imam to pledge allegiance to anyone in his lifetime Imam Al-Hujja will not pledge allegiance to anyone he will be his own leader number three and the most important is that it is a test for the followers of Imam Al-Hujja that this period of a prolonging many people ask the question that we are unfortunate we cannot see our Imam we wish we can see him do you know what the narration say to us one day a person came to our sixth Imam and he said who are the greatest ever Muslim generation the sixth Imam said the greatest ever Muslim generation are the followers and believers in Imam Al-Hujja sixth Imam was asked why he said because that generation believes in a man who they cannot see and that if they work hard to prepare his return Allah will raise them as if they were martyrs alongside the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam number one he was to be killed number two he doesn't pledge allegiance to anyone no government will Imam put his hand on their leg number three as a test for his followers and that's why you find many people today ask certain questions some of them say how could a man so young age of five how could he have such great knowledge we in the religion of Islam believe Jesus spoke from the cradle and when the Imam returns Jesus will pray behind the Imam so if Jesus speaks from the cradle with knowledge and he prays behind the Imam then what knowledge does Imam have someone asks another question if Imam is alive today he would be one thousand more than one thousand and two hundred years of age or in and around that figure they say how can this be we reply the Quran says prophet Nuh alaihi sallam lived for three thousand years didn't he the Quran says Nabi Yunus when he was in the belly of the whale Allah says I wouldn't mind keeping you there till the day they are raised how many years would that be and even there's an existence by the name of shaitan you might have heard of him he's been around for a very long time therefore if someone believes in shaitan for long for that time then why don't you believe Imam in that time someone says how can you believe in an Imam you cannot see I say he's not the first the prophet Jesus alaihi sallam is he alive yes can we see him no prophet khidr prophet Idris other prophets of God as well who are alive can we see them no do the Muslims believe in them yes even our holy prophet on the night of hijra Subhanu wa ta'ala create a barrier where they couldn't see him leave the house if Allah can do that for the grandfather of Mehdi why can he not do that for Mehdi himself and you find that there are many a sign which we have to beware of signs which remind us about the Imam amongst the signs is the appearance of the dajjal that our sixth imam says the day of judgement will not come in the rising until 30 dajjals appear dajjal as in an ideology which represents opposition to the truth of the religion of Islam the Sufiani will appear where he will control Syria and Palestine and Jordan and the Bilad-i-Sham area from the lineage of Abu Sufyan are we aware who the Sufiani may be today who is the dajjal system today and you find that the imam will rise with 40 of his companions at Hajj the year before he rises he will be at Hajj he meets his companions they don't leave Hajj until the 15th of the dajjal and these companions from the 16th until the 22nd of the dajjal with the imam then the imam says to them which one of you is willing to announce and to stand up between the Rukun and the Maqam one of his companions by the name of Nafs al-Zakiyyah the pure soul and you will find that he is killed and it's only a matter of 15 days later most probably on the 10th of Muharram when the imam rises and when the imam rises he calls on an army of 313 generals followed by over 10,000 soldiers will come to follow the imam and the question arises what are the signs that Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari narrates that I one day saw him a dream and this dream confused me and when I met imam I told him I saw this dream imam Ali said the signs in your dream are the signs of the return of the imam Jabir says the first thing that I dreamt that I saw pieces of cloth hanging from the sky and people were coming and taking pieces of the cloth but leaving other pieces so I said oh imam what does this mean imam Ali said before the return of the Mahdi Muslims will take some parts of the religion and neglect other parts of their religion ask yourself today have we taken some parts and neglected others there are some parts we are very strict in masha Allah we are strict fasting we are strict other acts we are strict but then there are other acts unfortunately we show no strictness in whatsoever we are showing neglect we have become part time Muslims when we feel like being religious in Ramadan and Muharram all of us are religious whereas when we do not feel like being religious we do not mind breaking the rules in order that we follow our own ways imam said before the Mahdi comes people will take parts of the religion and leave others then he said oh imam I saw the sick animals and I saw healthy animals and I saw people going and taking and milking the sick animals and not the healthy imam said that's the governments before the time of the imam they will take taxes from the rich and make sure they will take taxes from the poor and make sure that the rich do not have to pay any then he said oh imam I saw sick people for the sick visiting the healthy and the healthy not visiting the sick and the imam looked at him and he said in the period before the return of our imam the qaim of al muhammad in that period before him you will find that the sick are the poor and they have to go and beg the rich for donations then he said oh imam I saw animals with two heads what does that mean? imam looked at him and he said before imam al mahdi comes you will find that the human will have two heads they earn money in halal they earn money in haram they earn money which is in a good way and in a bad way and they will not feel any remorse doing this ask yourself do any of those applied to us today are some of us earning in halal and in haram are some of us taking parts of Islam and rejecting other parts are some of us making the poor beg us for money even though we see so many poor we don't give anything from our pockets are some of us making the poor pay taxes while us the rich are bribing ourselves away without taxes imam gave him all these signs to tell him what to tell him that you want to know when the imam is near what are the signs of his reappearance and that's why you find imam will make his central government in kufa where in kufa in masjid al-sahla may Allah grant all of us the ziyara of masjid al-sahla and also amongst the acts of the imam when he returns we say it in du'a nudba one of the acts which is recommended for us to recite try and wake up on a Friday morning sisters after salat al-fajr try your hardest to read du'a nudba that du'a which imam used to say that the real lovers of imam al-mehdi after salat al-fajr open du'a nudba they stay awake and they read du'a nudba in that du'a there are some memorable lines amongst those lines comes that line when we say ayna al-hasan ayna al-husayn ayna abna al-husayn where is hasan where is husayn where are the sons of husayn salihon ba'da salih ba'da saliq and we continue by talking about where are the sons where are the moons that used to light up this earth and you continue in your talking towards the imam you say about the imam ayna sabab al-muttasil where is that connector between the heavens and the earth ayna taalib bidamil maqtul bi karbala where is that man who will come to avenge what happened at karbala as in when the imam returns his mission is to remove injustice his mission is to remove tyranny never make the imam sound like a person only for Muslims the imam is for the Hindus the imam is for the Zoroastrians for the Buddhists the imam is for the Sikh for the Christian, for the Jew every single religion in their books talks of the imam and the imam comes back as a man who seeks to build the government where the world is a world of justice where the world is a world of equality and where the world is a world where the tyrannical leaders are removed we pray to Allah subhanu wa ta'ala all of us together on a night like this how many examine the biography of the imam Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem Allahumma kulli waliyyika al-Hujjat ibn al-Hasan raise your hands Allahumma kulli waliyyika al-Hujjat ibn al-Hasan salawatuka alayhi wa ala aaba'ih in this hour and in every hour waliya wa hafida wa qaida wa nasira wa dalila wa aina so that you can rest we pray to Allah subhanu wa ta'ala the another dua Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem Allahumma inna nargabu ilayka fi daulatin kareema tuaizdu biha al-islama wa ahla wa tudillu biha an-nifaqa wa ahla wa tajaluna fiha minad du'ati ila taatik wal qadati ila sabilik wa tarzukuna biha karamata dunya wa al-akhra Allahumma maa arraftana minal haqeef hamilna we pray to Allah to allow us to be amongst the soldiers of iman sahb al-asri wa zaman Ya Allah allow us to be amongst His servants allow us to be amongst those who are raised with the imam of our time allow all our actions to be dedicated to the imam and to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the name of the imam all of us pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for all our muslim brothers around the Islamic world especially those of our brothers who are ill Ya Allah, in the name of al-Hujjah cure them Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem أما يجيب المصطار إذا دعا ويكشب السوء أما يجيب المصطار إذا دعا ويكشب السوء أما يجيب المصطار إذا دعا ويكشب السوء أما يجيب المصطار إذا دعا ويكشب السوء أما يجيب المصطار إذا دعا ويكشب السوء أما يجيب المصطار We pray to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wa Surat Al-Fatiha But before that the loudest of your salawat And here and here and now we're done Just take the left of the yellow