 والله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين وحبيبي 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 من على الذين استضعفوا في الأرب ونجع لهم أئمة ونجع لهم الوارثين صدق الله العلي والعظيم أخوه السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته أحد من الأشياء الأسيحية والتباقية عن أمام المهدي عد الله تعالى فارجه الشريف هو أمام المهدي من هو أمام المهدي كيف كان أمام المهدي عد الله وكيف كانه أمام الأشياء الأسيحية في حياته أمام العسكري هذه are very important questions that we must understand in order for us to get closer to our Imam because the more we know about him the closer we are to our Imam We mentioned yesterday that every Muslim believes in the awaited savior in al-Mahdi and we said that most Muslims do not believe that he was born they say he will be born in the end of time before he rises and fails the world with justice but we the followers of Ahl al-Bayt the Shi'a, the Jafari school of thought we unanimously believed that Imam al-Mahdi was born in the year 255 after the Hijra of Rasulullah so almost 1200 years ago and then he went into a state of ghayba and Allah has prolonged his life until today until he will reappear one day and fail the world with justice and today this belief that Imam al-Mahdi was born almost 1200 years ago it has become an unquestionable an undeniable belief and creed of a Shi'a so you won't find any scholar from the Shi'a or any educated Shi'a that will doubt the fact that Imam al-Mahdi was born it's very clear cut and we all believe in that point now however if we go back in history what you'll find is things weren't always like that between the Shi'a the Shi'a weren't always at a state in which all of them knew and agreed that Imam al-Mahdi was born if you go back you find times of confusion where the Shi'a themselves they had disagreed in this point is Imam al-Mahdi born or is he not born and to better understand this point we will insha'Allah go over three main points number one who was the mother of al-Mahdi and what's her story and number two the second important question how was Imam al-Mahdi born and in what circumstances was our Imam the Imam of our time born and number three the third important question that we must go over why was there so much disagreement and confusion about the Imam about our Imam and how did he live the first years of his life under his father so we begin with the first point number one who was the mother of Imam al-Mahdi الشيخ الصدوق رحمه الله in the book of Kamal al-Deen and الشيخ الطوسي رحمه الله in the book of al-Ghayba two of our great scholars that lived over a thousand years ago they both narrate the story of the mother of Imam al-Mahdi the story begins during the time of Imam al-Hadi our tenth Imam Imam al-Hadi lived in Samarra Imam al-Hadi had won a companion by the name of Bishar ibn Sulayman Bishar ibn Sulayman narrates the story he says one day Imam al-Hadi summons me he tells me I need you to do something for me what is it he says I need you to go to Baghdad and I want you to go to Baghdad and buy a slave a female slave for me he gives me a letter in that letter it's not Arabic it's written in either Greek or Latin in the language of the Roman Empire of that time he says go to Baghdad he gave me 220 dinars and go buy me a certain slave he told me exactly where to go and who to buy he said go stand by a river you'll see a caravan it will arrive you'll see in that caravan it's filled with female slaves and the owner selling them go and buy a certain slave with certain traits he told me about for this amount of money he said I did everything that Imam al-Hadi asked me I went to Baghdad I took the letter and the money I went and I stood by that river all of a sudden I saw indeed a caravan came and it was filled with slaves female slaves so I went to the owner I said can I check your slaves he said yes I saw I looked I see subhanallah I found the one Imam al-Hadi speaking about with this trait with this feature she looks like this she's wearing this so then I tell the owner I want to buy her and then before I told him that I took the letter of Imam al-Hadi and I gave it to that female slave he said as soon as the slave opened the letter and she began to read it she began to cry and weep he says I don't know what's going on so I tell the owner I want to I want to buy the slave he says I'm not sure when she hears that she looks at the owner she tells him look I swear if you do not sell me to this man I will commit suicide I'll kill myself and you'll lose the whole money so sell me and get rid of me so the owner when he sees this he says fine he says I gave him 220 dinars and I took this female slave I took her to the city of Baghdad in a place to rest and then tomorrow we'll go to Samarra so when we arrived at the resting area I asked her what's your story and I see her she takes out the letter the same letter of Imam al-Hadi and I didn't tell her who this letter is from I didn't tell her anything I just gave her a letter I saw she took out the letter she began to rub it on her face and her eyes and she began to kiss it like a baraka so I told her what's your story what's going on she tells him look no one knows my story about you so we have to keep this a secret until we arrive to Samarra what is it she tells him that I my name is Malika and I on my father's side I am the granddaughter of the Roman emperor the Roman emperor is my grandfather he's my father's father and on my mother's side I am a descendant of one of the disciples of Isa Jesus Jesus we know here he had 12 disciples the 12 حواريين the close companions one of them by the name of Simon Peter he's my grandfather if you go back in history he's my grandfather so you see both on her father's side and her mother's side it's a very noble lineage royalty and what and the disciple of Jesus so then she tells him this is my story that I'm very close to my grandfather my grandfather who's the emperor and he loves me a lot I'm very dear to him he said she says one day my grandfather decided that I must marry my cousin who's also his grandson so he said I must marry him he held a huge extravagant magnificent wedding for us he invited thousands of people all the dignitaries all the officials the military officials everyone in the country and he held a huge wedding he said as the wedding she says as the wedding was about to start it was either in a church or in the palace of the emperor there were crosses that were hung in the place as soon as the wedding began the crosses began to shake they fell they broke the pillars of the building they began to shake and they collapsed everyone started running chaos the wedding was called off it was ruined one of the priests he told my grandfather look it appears that there is a curse in this marriage this wedding this marriage should not happen there's a curse you saw what happened the crosses fell so these two shouldn't marry she says but my father my grandfather insisted no they must marry so once again a few days after he held a second wedding and the same thing happened again this time when the crosses and the building it collapsed he said the pillars began to collapse my grandfather now he realized that yes there is a curse it can't be just out of coincidence twice in a row this happens but he was very distraught he was very distressed and upset that this wedding cannot happen she says that night I saw a dream it was a very unbelievable dream a great dream what did she see she said I saw in my dream that Issa Prophet Issa with my grandfather Simon Peter the disciple of Issa they come and they enter the palace of my grandfather the emperor from one side from the other side I see the prophet of Islam Prophet Muhammad SAW when he enters from the other side and they come and they greet each other SAW they come and they greet each other they hug each other and then the prophet he tells Issa our prophet tells Issa that I have come to propose from your disciple one of his granddaughters for one of my grandsons I want one of my grandsons our Rasulullah tells Issa to marry one of the granddaughters of your disciple who? Malika me my grandson and she says I see there was a few people around the prophet and amongst them was Imam Al-Asqari now she didn't know Imam Al-Asqari who he was but the story in the story in the dream was Imam Al-Asqari so then Issa he looked at Simon Peter and he told him you should accept this honor this is Rasulullah proposing your daughter this is the greatest honor so accept it she said my grandfather accepted and then there was a huge member in my dream Rasulullah she attended the member and he married us now صلى الله عليه وسلم she says I woke up after this dream after this unbelievable dream between Rasulullah and Issa and all of this I woke up and I was so happy but I had loved Imam Al-Asqari that man that I got married to in my dream I fell in love with him all I could think about was Imam Al-Asqari all I could think about all that was on my mind was Imam Al-Asqari she says I was in love so much with Imam Al-Asqari that I would not eat food or drink to an extent that I fell sick I fell ill and my grandfather would bring the doctors I wouldn't say what's wrong with me I didn't tell the story to anyone because I was afraid if I tell them this you make this up and so on and so forth so I just told them I'm sick they brought all the doctors they couldn't do anything for me my grandfather was so upset what's wrong with you so he came one day and he told me my dear granddaughter is there anything he tells him yes my dear grandfather if you do one thing I may feel better what is it I want you to free all the Muslim prisoners under the Roman Empire now that time it was the Byzantine Empire so I want you to free all the Muslim prisoners she had started to love Muslims because she what because in her dream she became the wife of Imam Al-Asqari one of the Imam of the Muslims so I want you to free them and I want you to give charity give them charity and if you do that Allah Jesus will cure me so he says fine if that will cure you if that will help you I'll do it she says my grandfather freed all the Muslims and he gave them charity she says I didn't become better because I was still missing Imam Al-Asqari I wanted to see Imam Al-Asqari but she says I started to pretend that I am better to please my grandfather so once he saw I am better I'm starting to eat and drink he became so happy he started to become so generous with the Muslims and the Muslim prisoners and I was also happy because of that she says a few days later I see another dream she says I see another dream in this dream she's telling the story to Bishr ibn Sulayman the companion of Imam Al-Hadi I see Maryam the mother of Isa she comes to me and she's walking with another woman a noble woman her face is all Imam I ask Maryam who is this she says this is Faltima tuzzahra this is the best woman in the universe and she tells me that remember in your first dream when Rasool Allah married you to his grandson Faltima is the grandmother of Al-Asqari the man that you were married to in the dream so she says I went to Faltima and I began to complain to her in my dream why hasn't Al-Asqari come to me in my dream why has he neglected me just one dream and that's it I fell in love with him why has he come Faltima tells her in the dream the reason why Al-Asqari my grandson hasn't come to you is because you're not a Muslim embrace Islam only then he'll come to you you're not a Muslim he can't come so she says if I become Muslim he'll come to me Faltima says yes and if you become Muslim if you say the Shahadatain Allah سبحانه وتعالى will be happy with you Isa you're a Christian she was a Christian Isa will be happy with you and Maryam she's right there she'll be happy with you and Maryam says yes so she says I saw no choice but to say and I became a Muslim she says as soon as I became Muslim Faltima hugged me and said now from now on expect to see my grandson Al-Asqari in your dream she says I woke up I was even more eager to see Imam Al-Asqari that same night the following night finally I see that man the Rasool Allah married me to Al-Asqari he comes in my dream and I tell him I begin to complain where were you all these days where were you why didn't you come in my dream and see me he tells him he tells her Faltima told her because you were not Muslim I couldn't come now that you have embraced Islam I will come every night and see you and now Malika she tells Bishr ibn Sulaiman ever since that story maybe a few days ago maybe a few months ago every night Imam Al-Asqari comes to me الحمد لله now after she tells him the story he's astonished that this is a princess this is a royal princess from the Roman Empire and how did she how did she turn into a slave so she asked her so how did you turn into a slave and I bought you she tells him one night Imam Al-Asqari he told me that in a few days your grandfather the emperor he will send some troops there will be a fight between you and the Muslims he will send the troops to some Muslim area I need you to disguise yourself as a servant as a female servant so conceal your identity and go with the troops and enter the Muslim lands you will be what held as captive and from there we will take you so he promised her in the dream so she says I went with them we lost the battle they took me as a prisoner of war and they sold me as a slave and this is where you came and bought me and then he asked her so how do you speak Arabic she tells him my father my grandfather the emperor he loves knowledge and he loves reading and he loves the different cultures and languages so that's why he wanted me to learn Arabic so he brought me a teacher and he taught me Arabic and then what about the letter what was in the letter the letter of Imam Hadi as soon as I saw it I knew that this had to do with my dream and this was from Al-Asqari or his father and from Ahlul Bayt and that's why I began to cry and I began to rub it on my eyes and my face so she tells him the story and then Bishr ibn Sulaiman says okay we spend the night tomorrow I take you to Samarra the next day Bishr ibn Sulaiman takes Malika to Samarra he goes to the house of Imam Hadi he tells her he tells him this is the slave that you want me to buy she enters the house of Imam Hadi Imam Hadi tells her did you see how Allah سبحانه وتعالى showed you that Islam is the true religion and how we kept our promise didn't ask her he tell you in the dream that do as I tell you and you will reach to us and we will take you from there and here you are in Samarra and I am Imam Hadi I'm the one that wrote the letter and then he tells her I have great news Malika now she told him during the when she was telling the story that my true name is Malika but I didn't want anyone to know that I am a princess so I told them I'm just a slave and I'm just a normal woman and my name is Nergis so she changed her name from Malika to Nergis Imam Hadi he tells her now that I have great news for you Malika or Nergis what is it that you will give birth to one of the greatest men in history the greatest man of his time and he will rule the world in the end of time he will rule the world with justice she doesn't know what he's talking about she tells him who will be the father he tells her do you remember the dream my grandfather who did he marry yeah that man will be your husband and this is when Imam Hadi sends Malika to Imam al-Asqari and she becomes the wife of Imam al-Asqari so you see the mother of Imam al-Mahdi as a royal princess now what you find is there are a few there are a few historians and few scholars who have objected to the story they say that they cannot accept the story because there are some historical inconsistencies about the story and I'll mention three objections that they have mentioned and I'll answer them number one they say first of all we can't accept the story that the mother of Imam al-Mahdi is the granddaughter of the Roman emperor and so on why? because number one the story says Malika says that my grandfather his name is Qaisar in the hadith she says my grandfather's name is Qaisar and English is Caesar they say out of all the Roman emperors that's Julius Caesar and that's Julius Caesar this story happened in the 9th century AD Imam al-Asqari Imam al-Mahdi they were in the 9th century Julius Caesar lived what? before AD he was in BC so he lived maybe 900 or 1000 years before this story so how could he be the grandfather of this woman so obviously this story is made up so how do we answer how do we reply to this objection that some historians have said now first of all when we go to the 9th century we find that when we go to the Roman Empire that was known as the Byzantine Empire at that time the ruler of the Byzantine Empire the emperor in the mid 9th century during the life Imam al-Asqari Imam al-Hadi Imam al-Jawad was a man by the name of Michael the Third you'll find it in any history book or encyclopedia now Michael the Third they say that history says that he was incompetent to rule he was young he had no expertise he was far from the politics he was always getting drunk and so on and so forth so who was the real ruler during his time it was his uncle he had an uncle by the name of Bardas you could google him you'll find him his uncle Bardas he was the de facto effective ruler of the Byzantine Empire for 10 years now when he became the effective ruler people began to call him Caesar and that's why if you write in google Caesar Bardas or Bardas Caesar you'll find an entire chapter on him in all the encyclopedias so he was called Caesar Caesar so he could have possibly been who the grandfather of Malika the mother of Imam al-Mahdi so this objection is not correct we've solved it and also what you find is amongst the things that Malika tells the when he asked her how did you learn Arabic she tells him my grandfather the emperor he loves knowledge and he spreads knowledge he spreads it in the empire what we find is the university of Istanbul in turkey today back then it was called the university of Constantinople because that was the name of Istanbul before the Muslims opened it the university of Constantinople if you find if you search in encyclopedias it was established by Caesar Bardas he was the one that established what that university because of his love of knowledge so this also proves that the story is true so this objection we solved it we come to the second objection against the story a second objection against the story some historians have said that in this story we find that how was she caught in a battle between the Muslims and the Romans the Byzantines now they say that when we look at the mid eighth ninth century the life of Imam Askari Hadi there were absolutely no wars between the Muslims and the Romans so how did she go with those troops and she got caught so obviously whoever made up the story wasn't able to put it in a time in which there was a war this is what they claim how do we reply to this now when we go back to history we find no this is not true we see Sunni historians who do not even accept the story they admit in their books that no there were a few wars during the life of Imam Jawad Imam Ahadi Imam Askari between the Muslims and between the Roman Empire but they were small battles for example go back to the book about the Zahabi a Zahabi is a big scholar from the Sunnis he has a book called Tariq Al-Islam and another scholar Ibn Al-Athir they have their book by chapters each chapter is the events of the year so they start with for example the death of Rasool Allah until I don't know how many years after that 200-300 years after that go to the year 248 after Hijra how many years before Imam Mahdi is born 7 because Imam Mahdi was born to 55 so this is during the life of Imam Ahadi and Askari now they say both of them they say that in the year 248 after Hijra the Khalifa of the Muslims by the name of Al-Muntasr Al-Muntasr what did he do he gathered up to 10 or 12,000 troops and he sent them to fight the Romans and there was a battle between the Muslims and the Romans this is in the year 248 in the same year the Khalifa died Muntasr the next Khalifa came Al-Musta'een Al-Musta'een he had another battle with the Romans and he conquered some of their lands this is the year 258 the year 251 4 years before there's also a battle between the Muslims and the Romans the year 253 there's also a battle and so on and so forth so there's many battles and this story of Malika could have happened in any one of these battles so we can't say that there was no battle this is number 2 and number 3 some historians and some scholars have said we cannot accept this report because there are conflicting reports in our Ahadith like what they say Al-Kulaini one of our greatest علماء is Al-Kulaini he has the book of Al-Kafi I'm sure you've heard of these books that we have in our Ahadith it's a book filled of Ahadith of Ahlulbayt Al-Kulaini he does not mention this Hadith of the mother of Imam Mahdi being the royal princess and so on and so forth they say Al-Kulaini says that the mother of Al-Mahdi was a slave a black slave from where from Sudan so wait a minute we have conflicting reports and Al-Kulaini was before Shaykh Al-Tousi he lived a couple of decades before he created a question mark on the story of the mother of Imam Mahdi being a royal princess so how do we reply to this we reply to this by going to the book of Al-Kafi first of all whoever wrote this objection which many have mentioned has not understood the book of Al-Kafi because Al-Kafi Al-Kulaini and Al-Kafi does not mention any of his views in it it's just a book of Al-Hadith he does not talk in it he does not say I think this I think that it's all books it's all without putting any footnotes so why were these scholars misled into thinking that Kulaini believes the mother of Imam Mahdi was a slave from Sudan because if you go to the book of Al-Kafi Al-Kulaini he narrates a hadith he narrates a hadith in the chapter of Imam Al-Jawad because he has a chapter for each Imam in the chapter of our ninth Imam Imam Al-Jawad he mentions a story that happened between Imam Jawad and his uncles and Imam Al-Rıza in the story he mentions a hadith he quotes رسول الله Imam Al-Rıza says in Al-Kafi in this hadith you can find it today he says رسول الله said this what did رسول الله say? he's speaking about Imam Jawad Imam Al-Rıza and then he says رسول الله says بأبي ابن خيرت الإماء ابن النوبية رسول الله didn't say who is he talking about but he said this he praised the greatest slave his mother is the greatest of the slaves and his mother is النوبية meaning from Sudan النوبية means from Sudan now some historians they understood that the رسول الله is speaking about whom is speaking about Imam Al-Zama Imam Al-Mahdi and that's why Colaini wrote it in his book so that means Colaini believes the mother of Imam Al-Mahdi is what is from Sudan but this is incorrect because when we go back Colaini wrote this in which chapter in the chapter of Imam Al-Mahdi no in Imam Jawad and the whole حديث is about Imam Jawad so what does it have to do with Imam Mahdi and that's why all our علماء and historians they say yes the mother of Imam Jawad she was a black slave from Sudan do you accept this she was a nobia Imam Al-Rıza married that black slave and Imam Al-Jawad was born so this speaking about Imam Al-Jawad now about Imam Al-Mahdi so there is absolutely no conflict of reports about the mother of Imam Al-Mahdi so these are three objections that we understand the reply to when it comes to the mother of Imam Al-Mahdi Malika or Nerjas so now that we understand who the mother of Imam Al-Mahdi is now we go to the second question how was Imam Mahdi born after she went and lived with Imam Al-Mahdi how was Imam Al-Mahdi born likewise we go back to our علماء books of for example Shaykh Al-Tousi Al-Ghaiba Kamal al-Deen and other books they mention that حكيم the aunt of Imam Al-Asqari the sister of Imam Al-Hadi she narrates to us how Imam Al-Mahdi was born she says one day it was Midsha'ban it was the eve of the night of Midsha'ban so tomorrow is Midsha'ban tonight is the night of Midsha'ban it was before Maghrib I'm at the house of my nephew Al-Asqari he tells me my dear aunt tonight have your iftar with us and please spend the night with us why? because tonight حجة الله on the earth will be born my successor will be born حكيم had no clue she says سيدي مولاي مام عسكري who's the mother we have no pregnant woman your wife if the Imam had more than one wife none of them are pregnant so what do you mean how is she gonna be born who's the mother how is he gonna be born who's the mother Imam Al-Asqari tells her the mother is نرجس or مليكة she says I want to know just I just saw her yesterday that there's absolutely no signs of pregnancy there's so many signs the stomach she's gonna have contractions she's gonna have certain moods and she's gonna want certain things absolutely no signs of pregnancy I said how? there's no signs of pregnancy he told me trust me he will be born tonight he said she said this is an Imam I have to submit she said I went and I slept I was doing my Ibadat and everything and then she says the night kept on going and going until it was close to Fajr nothing I go I see you sleeping there's absolutely no signs she should give birth Fajr was very close maybe half an hour an hour before Fajr she said I began to doubt maybe it's the wrong night maybe not tonight she said I just had this idea in my mind I began to doubt it Imam عسكري from his room he told me I did not doubt this is the plan of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala we'll have patience she says a few moments after that I see Nergis she goes into labor Subhanallah everything happened so fast she went into labor just like that out of absolutely she went into labor and all of a sudden I helped her and she delivered حجة الله على أرضا الإمام المهدي عجل الله فرجه الشريف صلى الله عليه وسلم she says إمام المهدي he fell down he went automatically into the state of sujud this is an Imam this is not an ordinary man he went into the state of sujud he was holding his finger towards the sky and then he said the Shahadatein and then he mentioned the names of all the Imams his grandfathers from Imam Ali to Imam Askari I said Subhanallah this is the next Imam this is a miracle so she then she says I took Imam Imam Imam المهدي I put him in a cloth and I took him to his father to see Imam Imam Imam العسكري عليه السلام so this is a story of how Imam العسكري how Imam المهدي was born now an objection here they say this is impossible the mother has to be at least 7 8 9 months before she delivers not just those absolutely no signs of pregnancy so how is this possible this is a made up story how do we reply to this we tell them first of all this is not impossible yes naturally it won't happen but supernaturally with the powers of Allah miracle of Allah everything is possible correct Allah سبحانه وتعالى if he wants he could what he could have someone he could have someone be born with just one minute or two minutes of labor Allah didn't he create Adam without a father without a mother Allah سبحانه وتعالى the father the story of Jesus Isa he had no father how was he born and this is impossible and likewise you see Maryam her labor was only a few hours before that there was absolutely no signs of pregnancy all of a sudden she sees that she is what pregnant and a few hours later she delivers Isa likewise we have two prophets that Allah hid their pregnancy for the entire 9 months who are they number one that hadith say Prophet Abraham and number two which all of us maybe have heard about is Prophet Musa why because Namrud who was the dictator of the time and Pharaoh the ruler of that time they had heard from their soothsayers and their dreams they saw that your rule will end at the hands of Abraham or at the hands of Musa so they wanted to make sure that if there was any child born it would be killed that they would not be given a chance to live and that's why they would go and they would take the pregnant mothers if it's a boy they kill them right away so Allah hid the signs of pregnancy of Musa and Abraham to protect the lives of these two prophets if Allah can protect the lives of the prophets by hiding the signs of pregnancy of their mothers why can't he do that to Imam Al-Nahdi what's the difference he can do it there but not here so if Allah did it a few times he can do it again there's nothing abnormal about that with Allah Subhanahu سلم and that's why there's a hadith by Imam Al-Sradik that says that Pharaoh killed up to 20,000 children to make sure that Musa what will not be born but he was not able because Allah is more powerful than Musa Musa was born and Allah hid his birth and it was at the hands of Musa that Pharaoh was killed now the same thing applies to Imam Al-Mahdi why did Allah hide the signs of the pregnancy and the whole birth story and there was fear العسكرين knew if they know they'll kill him now why was there fear why were they searching after Al-Mahdi Imam Al-Asqarin one hadith he mentioned two reasons number one he says they're always after us likewise but more they're always after the imams why he says number one because they know that they are not entitled to Khilaf they know this they're not entitled and they know we are more entitled this is our Khilaf so because they know they're not entitled they're not qualified they always have a sense of what a sense of you know insecurity that the imams of that time they want to what they want to hold an uprising that the people will go after them not after us so they were always seeing the أهل البيت as what posing a threat to their rule that's why all the imams were killed okay why would you if you're just a normal historian the imams had no weapons the imams had no people the imams wouldn't mobilize why were every one of the imams killed imams اينا العابدين killed imams الباقر poisoned imams صادق all of them all of them why are they killed because the threat so imam العسكر he himself he was killed so imam العسكر you know if he leaves them they'll kill him that's number one number two he says because they had heard the so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many so many لماذا؟ لأن أمام العسكري now he has two tasks number one he has to tell his Shi'a that the next Imam is born or else if he keeps it a complete secret nobody is going to know who is going to follow Imam Mahdi فأس he has to tell his Shi'a so this is on one side on the other side he can't make a general public announcement because the authorities have spies and they're searching for Mahdi so he has to what keep a fine balance between telling his Shi'a but not saying it in a public way so obviously there's not going to be a baby shower there's not going to be a Waleema for a child because the authorities will know so he had to secretly tell his Shi'a and it was a very difficult job but he managed to do so how did Imam العسكري tell his Shi'a that my next my son the next successor the next Imam is born three ways number one as soon as the Imam was born Imam العسكري ordered one of his وكلاء by the name of أثمان ابن سعيد who became the first ambassador of Imam المهدي that we'll speak about insha'Allah he ordered him to what he ordered him to go and do عقيقة عن أمام المهدي عقيقة is what عقيقة any time a child is born I have Allah may God give us children when my child is born it is a highly recommended that on the seventh day after he's born he's one week old I buy a sheep I slaughter it and I give it as what charity on behalf of the child this is called عقيقة and our حديث say if you do that number one that will prolong the life of your child and number two it will keep harm away from him it's like صدقة so it's like a صدقة for your child and even if you did not do it on the seventh day do it later even the علماء they say that if you for example you're old now and you hear the حكم عقيقة and you remember that your father never did عقيقة for you do it now you're 20 years old do it now you're 50 years old you're 9 years old do it now it's highly recommended so the حديث says إمام العسكري not one sheep how many sheep did he do عقيقة for امام مهدي 300 sheeps subhan Allah doesn't it prolong our lives إمام مهدي is going to live thousands of years so he needs 300 sheeps possibly so 300 sheeps they were killed and given to Benny Haisham and the shee and the إمام عسكري says congratulations today the new إمام is born but keep this a secret because I have not told anyone but the best of the companions the close companions only only people the إمام can trust they will not exploit this and expose the secret so this is the second thing the third thing إمام العسكري did was what he would show sometimes his son to some of his companions and this was very rare but there are a few instances number one one of the servants of إمام العسكري by the name of أبو غان من one حديث he says that on the third day after إمام المهدي was born إمام العسكري gathered some of the close shea companions a trusty ones he told them I need to show you something he brought إمام المهدي a small baby he told them look I have a son I haven't told anyone and this is the next إمام this is number one number two some of the very close shea like أحمد ابن أسحاق another one like ساعد ابن عبدالله القومي these are big علماء مرجعز in their time if they were living today they would be higher than مراجع but because they lived during the time of the إمام the إمام obviously overshadowed them they came from قوم to see إمام العسكري they said we entered the house we see there is a child on the lap of the إمام we ask him who's this he tells us this is my son المهدي and he is the next إمام this is a second time a third time another one of the companions إمام عسكري يعقوب ابن من خوش it's narrated in history he says I went and I asked the إمام one day do you have a son is there a successor or no he says do you see this veil this curtain remove it and you'll see something he said I removed the veil and I see a young beautiful boy his face is illuminating with إمام he has shining eyes he says this is my son and this is my خليفة after me and number four the أحاديث الشيخ الطوسي and الشيخ الصدوق they narrate in their books 40 days before إمام عسكري died he gathered 40 of his big صحاب 40 he told them I have something very important to tell you they came to his house it was a secret meeting no spies the إمام he said they came they asked him about the خليفة he told them yes this is why I have gathered you the إمام went he brought his young son he was maybe what four years old he brought his son they saw him and he told them this is my son this is my خليفة after me the إمام after me the 12th إمام of أهل البيت obey him after me and then he told them get a good look at him because you will never see him again he's going into غيب so you find the إمام made sure that the important personalities in the world of تشيع they knew yes maybe the ordinary shea they did not know because maybe we can't trust them but the علماء the trustworthy ones the important figures in of his companions they were all known they were all informed that إمام المهدي was born صلى علام محمد وآلي محمد now where did إمام المهدي the last question where did إمام المهدي عبد الله فرجه الشريف spend those five years those last five years of his father's life because we said he was born 255 إمام العسكة دايت 260 so he lived five years with his father and then the إمام دايت مام عسكة دايت where was he doing those five years because you would imagine if إمام العسكة is trying to hide that there's a child and there are so many spies and soldiers outside the house now if there's a child isn't he gonna cry isn't he gonna laugh isn't he gonna go run out for for example during five years he's gonna probably go outside one day so how was the إمام able to hide all that that's very strange where was the إمام during these five years we have two حادث that tell us the إمام was not in Samarra those five years what they're both narrated by Hakima the aunt of إمام عسكة one حديث says she says that after إمام المهدي was born the story I mentioned to you she said I took إمام المهدي to إمام عسكة and he was a baby and then there was an angel in the house I saw إمام عسكة my nephew he raised his hand and he began to speak to an angel he gave إمام عسكة to an angel and he told that angel take him to Allah because it's not safe for him to stay here take him to Allah and bring him once every 40 days so إمام المهدي was taken by the angel to Allah now where was he taken we don't know the heavens to the throne of Allah there is a حديث that says after إمام المهدي was born two angels they took him by Allah to the throne of Allah maybe he's with Prophet he was with Prophet Isa because we believe Prophet Isa was also taken to the heavens the point is he was not in Samarra it was not in this world he was in the heavens and he would only come once every 40 days and that's why some Sahaba they used to see him like the stories I mentioned in that 40 days in that 40 day period so she says that he took him and they left this is one حديث the other حديث says حكيمة she says that after إمام مهدي was born I came the next day where's إمام مهدي I can't find him where's the child he's not there I asked إمام عسكة where's your son مهدي was born yesterday he told me my dear aunt I have entrusted my son المهدي with the one that the mother of موسى entrusted him with موسى we know what did she do with her child after he was born she can't keep him in the house it's dangerous she took him in a crib and she placed him in the river correct she placed him in the river she placed him in the hands of Allah so إمام عسكة he told her I likewise placed my son in the hands of Allah he went to the heavens but this حديث says إمام عسكة he told her if you want to see him come on the seventh day the first حديث said the 40th day the second seven so it's either once every seven days or once every 40 days إمام مهدي would come once and then the rest of the five years he would spend where he would spend with Allah سبحانه وتعالى place where we don't know now this continued until a few months before إمام عسكة he died إمام عسكة he two maybe three months before he died إمام مهدي finally came down to settle in this world المسعود one of our علماء he mentions the story he says in his كتاب إثبات الوصية he mentions that a few months before العسكة he died he called his mother the mother of العسكة what was her name حديث or حديثة so the grandmother of إمام مهدي he called he told her look I'm gonna die in a few months I need you to leave some of it's not safe to stay here I need you to go to حاجة was had season and back then until they go and come back a couple of months go and take my son المهدي with you take him with you and then he farewell إمام مهدي and he left so the last month this حديث says that this historical analysis says the report says that he spent it with his mother and mecca or maybe in مدينة so the point is finally the day reached in which إمام العسكة was on his deathbed what happened the Imam never showed up until those last moments when Imam عسكة was on his deathbed he came to be with his father on those final moments now the Imam he spent his final moments with his father إمام العسكة and then the Imam passed away now no one saw إمام مهدي until this occasion when أبو الأديان who was also one of the close companions of إمام العسكة he narrates the story he says I went to إمام عسكة one day he had some business with me he told me يا أبو الأديان I need you to take these letters to the city of مدان مدان is where it's in عراق it's close to بغداد go from سامرات مدان I need you to go give them the letters wait for the reply bring back the letters to me you will come back in 15 days the whole journey will take you 15 days when you come back you will when you enter the city of سامرات you will hear mourning and crying because you will find me on my you'll find me in my كفن in my تابوث I will have passed away then أبو الأديان tells him so if you have died then who do I give the letters to who will be the إمام after you the إمام tells أبو الأديان I can't tell you his name because it's dangerous even أبو الأديان the إمام doesn't want to tell him his name and we'll speak more about this later about even the name of إمام مهدي was banned on the شيع do not mention the name of إمام مهدي because this is how secretive it has to be so he told them I'll give you three signs whoever you find these three signs and he will be my خليف he says okay what's the first sign he says whoever asks you for my letters no one knows about my letters except my خليفة whoever tells you أبو الأديان give me the letters that's the first sign the second sign whoever leads the صلاة الميت on me صلاة الجنازة because as we know we have a hadith from أهل البيت that when an إمام dies only an إمام can pray on him a non-إمام can never lead the صلاة on the إمام so whoever prays leads the صلاة on me and number three you'll see a group of people they will come with a belt there's money in the belt whoever informs them of the amount of money in the belt that is your إمام after me أبو الأديان says I went to مداء and I came back subhan Allah I see crying I went to the house I see إمام عسكري's died who is basically greeting the people I see the brother of إمام عسكري جعفا man by the name of جعفا it's an Imam Hadi people are consoling him and they're congratulating him they're telling him مبروك you're the new إمام so I said wait a minute this is the new إمام this is the man that إمام عسكري was speaking about أبو الأديان says جعفا is not a religious man so if this is the new إمام على الإسلام السلام إمام has finished because this man can't be the إمام and there are a Hadi that say جعفا the brother of Imam عسكري wasn't so religious and he was practicing a religious Muslim and he claimed that he was the إمام and that's why he was called جعفر الكذاب but there are a Hadi that say he did repent after that there's a Hadi for Imam مهدي that says that he repented just like the brothers of you have repented and that's why he was called جعفر التواب after being called جعفر الكذاب جعفر the liar جعفر the repenter so anyway so I went inside I said سلام to جعفر he didn't say anything about the letters جعفر I didn't say anything either so the first time didn't happen he said then we went inside the house of إمام عسكري we saw the body of إمام عسكري is placed on in the cafe and everything and then it's time for صلاة the servant he automatically called جعفر he told جعفر come and pray on your brother he says okay then جعفر this is the first sign whoever leads the صلاة and the إمام he says جعفر he came and the other there was lots of people officials people so many to come that they had come to the funeral جعفر he came he wanted to say الله أكبر to lead the صلاة he says all the sudden أبو الأديان says we saw a young boy he came quickly he cut his weight he came to the first line he held the abaya of جعفر he told him تنح يا عم move away my uncle because I am more entitled to pray on my father than you so now all the sudden a young boy is saying this is my father so he's the son and I have to pray on him not you he says جعفر was dumbfounded he didn't say anything you see the إمام even when he's young when it's the إمام tells you something you can't say no so جعفر he moved back he says that young boy I said this is the first sign but he's a young boy and then he says after the صلاة he came to me that young boy and he told me give me the letters of my father from I said this is the second sign this is the he said I was waiting for the third sign all the sudden he said شيعة came from قوم شيعة was all قوم was all شيعة back then until now so you see that they entered they're asking for إمام عسكري they didn't know he died news hadn't reached إمام had recently died so they came where's إمام عسكري he died who's the خليفة the خليفة some pointed جعفر you see جعفر he's the خليفة so they went to جعفر they told him we have some we have some money and we have a belt we want to give you this belt let us tell you one thing every time we would bring money to your brother عسكري and before that to الهادي they would always tell us how much money was there before they would know this is the miracle of the إمام so tell us how much money is in this and then we'll give it to you جعفر doesn't know he's not the إمام he tells them what you want me to know علم غيب it's all me Allah knows this he starts to create some chaos they tell them thank you you're not the إمام so they were about to leave أول أديان says I'm waiting a servant comes of that young boy of إمام مهدي he comes he tells them my master says that in the belt there is 1,000 دينار and he tells them this 1,000 دينار who's it from 50 is from فلان 100 from فلان and it's 1,000 they saw it's all correct they gave him the money to that servant I said Subhan Allah this is the third sign that young boy is the son of إمام العسكري and he is the Khalifa of إمام العسكري عليه السلام and this is what I knew that this is I knew إمام عسكري and this brother and sister shows you how much confusion there was after إمام عسكري died the Shi'a now we all know that he was born and he was the rightful 12th إمام but the Shi'a not all of them knew this during that time why? because remember we said it was a time of fear تقيا the Imam couldn't say this and that's why the time after إمام عسكري was called what? الحيرا it was called where to go to who's the next إمام? because you find many of the Shi'a they had never heard the Imam say I have a son they had never seen إمام المهدي some had heard but they were skeptical why don't we see him how come he's never there how can a 6, 5 year old boy be the Imam so you find that the Shi'a they began to divide المسعود he mentions one of our علماء that the Shi'a they divided into how many sex after إمام عسكري up to 20 some of them they believed that the Imam because he had no son so he's not even an Imam some of them believe that there's no Imam after إمام عسكري some of them believe جعفر is the Imam he's the brother others they said no, جعفر can't be the Imam he's not religious and we have a hadith from the imams that two brothers can never be imams only حسن and حسين after حسن and حسين no such thing it's always father, son father, son so it's not جعفر so some of them said what? that if it's not عسكري obviously he died so if it's no إمام مهدي then maybe إمام عسكري will come back he's the قائم some believed إمام عسكري didn't die it was all a show it was chaos everyone believed in one thing but obviously the knowledgeable they knew إمام مهدي was the next and that's why this time was called a time of what? confusion حيما they did not know who to turn to and it was not until the غيبة started the إمام Imam المهدي he appointed so fara ambassadors they began the Shia began they believed إمام مهدي all of them before that it was not clear because the Imam has it shown himself he's a young boy إمام العسكري kept it a secret and it was a very difficult time to live in and by the way this didn't just happen during after إمام عسكري go read history even after إمام صادق there was a time of حيرا the Shia even the close Shia at least after إمام عسكري the close Shia they knew that says one of the big Shia scholars مؤمن الطاق one of the big Shia another one أبو بصير they had no clue who's the next Imam because there was a time of إمام صادق couldn't say who's the next Imam that we thought it was Abdullah the oldest son of إمام صادق we asked him questions he doesn't answer right we said there's no Imam after إمام صادق let's go become سوفي let's become مرجع let's become خوارج it wasn't until إمام القادم and he showed them that he's the Imam so this was the this was the the circumstances of most of the إمام that it wasn't easy just to say I'm the next Imam or the my son is the next Imam because the authority is just like they killed إمام صادق just like they killed إمام عسكري don't kill the next Imam to get rid of this entire family so if the imams did not do تقية and hide who the next خليفة is obviously that خليفة would be killed and that's why he sent a letter to the governor of el-madina what did he tell him he told him go and look for the will of صادق جعفر الصادق who is a successor kill him whoever he mentioned as well who is my successor kill him they went to the will of Imam صادق he had right I have five successors one of them is the governor of el-madina so he has to kill himself why does Imam do that of course he put إمام القادم and his other son عبد الله تقية just like صدام time just like right now if you go for example under in Syria and Iraq where Daesh where ISIS they control you could say you can't say this is the leader this is the Imam of the what are they going to do to him so this was a time of confusion after Imam صادق and after Imam but like I said it wasn't after years after that during the غيب الصغرة that the they began to realize no imam is our imam tomorrow by now we understand how the imam was born and all the controversies and all the objections that surround this topic and we have answered them I ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to bless us to accept our عمل to give us the power to follow in the footsteps of Ahlul Bait and Imam صاحب العصري والزمان I ask him to accept our عمل in our days and our عمل