The Crushing Reply to the Claimants of Mahdism and the Criterion of the al-Sabur Mosque.. The Signs of the Reappearance of al-Qaʾim Are Definitive Matters and Truths above Doubts

In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful

The Signs of the Reappearance of the Qaʾim of the Family of Muhammad (s)

Definitive Matters and Truths above Doubts and Falsehoods

And blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad and his pure Family, and the curse of Allah be upon the enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt, from the first to the last; then blessings and peace be upon the guardian of our affair, the Master of the Age and the Time, Imam al-Mahdi, the Awaited, may our souls be the ransom for the dust of his coming.

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Since the Occultation of our greatest guardian, the Proof of Allah over His creation, Imam al-Mahdi, the Awaited (aj), the faithful have been living in steadfastness of creed upon what the Most Noble Prophet (s) brought concerning ʿAli and his pure Household, the last of whom is their Qaʾim, by whose blessed hand Allah the Exalted has promised to realize absolute justice on earth. The times and ages have not passed without challenges confronting the creed which the Ahl al-Bayt (a) enjoined their Shiʿa to grasp as one grasps live coals, through the culture of awaiting (intiẓār) which they infused into the Shiʿi entity, to protect it from going astray and deviating amid the course of the sifting and the winnowing of faith—and this is the way of Allah the Exalted among the worlds. The Exalted has said: “And so that Allah may purge [the hearts of] those who have faith and that He may wipe out the faithless. Do you suppose that you would enter paradise, while Allah has not yet ascertained those of you who have waged jihad and He has not ascertained the steadfast?” (Qurʾan 3:141–142)

The way of Allah the Exalted operates in the Occultation of the Master of the Age and the Time (aj), as in al-Kafi: “From Yaman al-Tammar, who said: We were sitting with Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), and he said to us: ‘The Master of this affair has an occultation; the one who holds fast to his religion during it is like one who strips the tragacanth of its thorns’—then he gestured thus with his hand—‘so which of you can hold the thorns of the tragacanth in his hand?’ Then he bowed his head for a long while, then said: ‘The Master of this affair has an occultation, so let a servant be wary of Allah and hold fast to his religion.’”[1].

So, in the course of the years, the Ahl al-Bayt (a) informed their Shiʿa that they would encounter pretenders to Mahdism and to ambassadorship on behalf of the Master of the Affair, and they warned them against being drawn after their seditions, and [enjoined] patience in the wilāyah of the Twelve Imams and none other.

The Islamic arena in general has witnessed many of those who raised the banner of Mahdism or of the special ambassadorship on his behalf (aj); all of them, together with the deception and seditions they brought, have become forgotten things among the leftovers of history, and some of those weak in faith and knowledge fell by its wayside, owing to the paucity of their faith and knowledge.

The Sedition of the Two Ahmads (al-Bahrani and al-Hasan)

Recently there has appeared a person named Ahmad al-Bahrani (from Bahrain) who claims, in a statement of his, that the Imam, the Master of the Age and the Time (aj), met with him and informed him that the claim of the so-called Ahmad al-Hasan (in Basra)—who claims that he is the messenger of Imam al-Mahdi (aj) to the world, leading the stage of preparation for the Reappearance—is upon the truth, and that the stage of the Reappearance has actually begun. The proof of that—according to his claim—is that one of the signs has been fulfilled, namely (the al-Sabur Mosque) in Bahrain, about which it is popularly known that it does not accept being roofed until the reappearance of al-Hujjah. He claims that the Imam told him to call people to roof it so that they would see that the mosque will accept roofing after it had remained for many long years without it.

(Ahmad al-Bahrani) considered that a sign of the truthfulness of the claimant to Imamate and Mahdism (Ahmad al-Hasan), and that all people must submit to him and obey. So how do we deal with such claims?

The sufficient and concise answer to such claims in the era of the Occultation is what the Imam, the Master of the Age and the Time (aj), issued in his signed rescript after the end of the Minor Occultation and the beginning of the Major Occultation, in which he informs of the end of the time of witnessing of the kind the Four Ambassadors had:

“Among my Shiʿa there will come those who claim witnessing. Behold, whoever claims witnessing before the emergence of al-Sufyani and the Cry is a lying fabricator.”[2].

The Imam has thus made known that there will be no communicative witnessing of the Imam, as by a messenger and special ambassador who conveys to people from the Imam what the Imam wants of them, since the noble Reappearance will come about in accordance with what the Ahl al-Bayt (a) have told us. As for the Imam’s care and kindnesses toward his Shiʿa, they are not hidden, through various ways; this is not the place to discuss them.

We could content ourselves with this insight, and it is sufficient for one who has a heart and gives ear, being attentive; but we will mention some points that have been raised recently concerning the subject of claiming the Imamate and the Reappearance, especially in the context that Ahmad al-Bahrani brought in his statement.

The Criterion of the Book and the Progeny

1 – In every disputed question we ought to refer to the criteria of the Noble Qurʾan and to what is established of the Sunna transmitted from the Prophet (s) and his pure Household. Indeed, the Ahl al-Bayt (a) referred us to that when two hadiths from them (a) conflict for us: whatever agrees with the Book and with what is established of the Sunna is to be taken, and whatever contradicts them is to be rejected.

The Exalted said: “O you who have faith! Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those vested with authority among you. And if you dispute concerning anything, refer it to Allah and the Apostle, if you have faith in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more favourable in outcome.” (Qurʾan 4:59)

Therefore, among the established certainties of the true creed, as brought by the Muhammadan Sunna, is belief in twelve Imams after the Prophet (s), on account of the mutually corroborating narrations. So anyone who comes adding a new Imam has innovated an opinion contrary to the Sunna; his case is the case of one who subtracted an Imam, like the Waqifiyya. Yet the one for whom Ahmad al-Bahrani calls claims that he is an Imam whose obedience has been made obligatory by Allah, Almighty, and indeed that after him there are 11 Mahdis. This is an explicit doctrinal deviation from the course of the Twelver Imamate, and this is the truth that Ahmad al-Bahrani ought to have mentioned to people in his statement; it necessitates rejection in whole and in detail. There no longer remains anything disputed in his case: his case is clear and evident, like the sun at high noon.

The Consensus of the Sect on the Continuation of the Occultation

2 – Among the strange things that Ahmad al-Bahrani claimed is that the sect (al-taʾifa) is divided within itself in answering the question: has the Major Occultation ended, or does it continue? This is laying the foundation for (doubt), if not for (deception). The sect is unanimous on the continuation of the Major Occultation, and is fully aware that the affair of the Imam (aj) will be clear at his Reappearance. They have agreed that before him there are five clear signs that will indicate his noble Reappearance to all the people of the world, the most prominent of which are the Cry and the call from the heavens, as narrated from Shurahbil: Abu Jaʿfar (a) said—and I had asked him about al-Qaʾim (a)—: “It will not be until a caller calls from the heavens whom the people of the east and the west hear, so that even the young woman in her private chamber hears him.”[3].

If there is a difference in identifying some of the signs whose fulfillment is hoped for, this does not mean that there is a difference over the principle of the clarity of the holy Reappearance; there has been no division in this respect. Rather, there are some pretenders to the Imamate who deviated from the constants of Shiʿism with their beliefs, among them Ahmad al-Hasan.

Doctrinal Proof Is Clearer than Sensory Proof

3 – Ahmad al-Bahrani claims that the wager of roofing the al-Sabur Mosque is a sensory criterion for one whom the proofs have failed, whereas the proofs are established and clear regarding the falsity of Ahmad al-Hasan’s claim, through proofs that he has been unable to distort. We have mentioned one of them, namely the established fact that the Imams are twelve, and the clarity of the Imam’s (aj) Reappearance. So the people of knowledge and insight have not been in need of ambiguous sensory indications that would divert them from their firmly rooted creed.

Yes, it may be said that this matter is binding on Ahmad al-Bahrani himself, given that he had a different claim, since he held the idea of (taʾwīl, interpretation) as a method through which he claims infallible knowledge of all the sciences of religion and the sciences of the world. His method did not help him to remain firm in creed, so he resorted to sensory criteria to straighten his crookedness and correct his leaning; but he strayed further than his first straying, and so went deeper into deviation from the main road of what is right.

A Crushing Paradox between the Two Ahmads

4 – A paradox that everyone following the proponents of dubious claims needs in this subject: Ahmad al-Bahrani has a previous claim, the gist of which is (his discovery of a method for knowing the sciences of the Qurʾan exactly as the Ahl al-Bayt (a) know it; and he claims infallibility for this method, since—according to his claim—he discovered it, and the whole community and the scholars, from the era of the Major Occultation until the time of his discovery in the nineties of the last century, were in intellectual misguidance)[4]. In contrast, Ahmad al-Hasan came in the year 1999 (claiming that he is the messenger of the Mahdi and the first of the twelve Mahdis after him, and at the same time, before him, a preparer for the Reappearance, and claiming that the Imami Shiʿa have been in misguidance since the Major Occultation because they believe in the Imamate of twelve Imams only and do not believe in the other twelve).

Before this paradox there emerge many questions, discoveries and conclusive refutations of the two of them, among them the state of misguidance that the two of them claimed, and how the Imam, the Master of the Age and the Time, dealt with it throughout these years. This lays the ground for a shock to Ahmad al-Bahrani through his comparison and his acknowledgment of the Imam’s meetings with some scholars of the sect and of his noble care for them, and how he would have been—supporting the prevailing misguidance—and we seek refuge with Allah! So either he believes in the Imam’s care in the story of the al-Sabur Mosque and other things, or he believes in the Imam’s care for the approach of Ahmad al-Hasan; it is not valid that the Imam should care for truth and misguidance at one and the same time.

This paradox also points to a subtle issue that demolishes their edifice from its foundation, namely that the narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) always point to the dimension of (steadfastness) and (remaining) upon the creed in times when misguidance and those who misguide appear, which means that the light of the truth is continuous in the sect until his Reappearance (aj), as narrated from al-Baqir (a): “And likewise our Shiʿa will be distinguished and sifted until there (remains) of them a band whom the trial does not harm.”[5].

By my life, this indication is sufficient to demolish the hollow ideas they have set down, and the discerning reader may let his thought range over this paradox in order to discover the kind of feebleness and intellectual fragility that underlies such calls.

The al-Sabur Mosque versus the Inevitable Signs

5 – The signs of the holy Reappearance of the Imam, the Master of the Age and the Time—may our souls be the ransom for the dust of his coming—are signs that the Ahl al-Bayt (a) mentioned in many narrations; indeed, they divided what has come of them into two categories: an inevitable category whose very occurrence is certain to be realized, and a non-inevitable category, in which Allah may have badāʾ.

In contrast comes the popular story of the al-Sabur Mosque and its being one of the signs. Regardless of whether it is sound or not, and regardless of the certainties that Ahmad al-Bahrani put forward in his statement—that the story is (above doubts, that everyone receives it with acceptance, and that it is above criticism), which is something that departs from what is right, since we know that there are those who cast doubt on it and those who regard it as among the possibilities, not the facts—regardless of all that, if we were to consider the acceptance of the roof one of the signs, would it be classified among the inevitable signs or the non-inevitable ones?

Without the slightest doubt, the inevitable signs were mentioned by the Ahl al-Bayt (a), and serving as the criterion at times of disagreement falls to them alone. Therefore al-Bahrani’s wager is a wager steeped in confusion.

It is narrated from Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) that he said: “Al-Qaʾim has five signs: the appearance of al-Sufyani and of al-Yamani, the Cry from the heavens, the killing of the Pure Soul, and the sinking into the earth at al-Baydaʾ.”[6] And from him (a), in Kamal al-Din: “Before the rising of al-Qaʾim there are five inevitable signs.”[7].

The Understanding of Sedition, and the Sensory Criterion

6 – Ahmad al-Bahrani has a methodological confusion in his understanding of sensory proofs (and here we are not speaking of miracles). He has adduced some Qurʾanic examples in order to make the reader imagine that they flow smoothly and support the course of the discussion, so as to accept the claimed sensory criterion of (the roofing) as being a criterion between truth and falsehood. He stated: “The sign of the al-Sabur Mosque comes in the context of the ways that took place with the messengers before. The sign of the mosque is like the offering that both Abel and Cain were commanded to present, to settle their dispute; it is like the shirt of Joseph, by which—through knowing that it was torn from behind—the truthfulness of Joseph was established; and like the Ark of Tranquility that supported Saul,” until he said: “And thus has the sign of the roof of the al-Sabur Mosque proceeded: if the roof holds firm, then the affair of the sect is in the hand of the messenger of the Mahdi, Ahmad; and if the roof falls, then the affair of the sect is in the hands of the marajiʿ!”.

We will clarify that in points:

A – Ahmad al-Bahrani confused disagreement over the basis of the belief with disagreement over the instance after the belief has been established. The sect, with its scholars, was not in agreement on the basic idea such that he could lead it to a wager, by a sensory proof, on some instance; for the disagreement is over the foundations of the doctrinal structure adopted by Ahmad al-Hasan, who added other Imams to his creed. It is not reasonable for a debater to call to the Imamate of Ahmad al-Hasan rather than anyone else, when the sect awaits none but its hidden Imam (aj).

B – The sensory proofs that will accompany the holy Reappearance are confirmations and signs that will indicate his noble Reappearance without the slightest doubt, and those far and near will know of them; and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) worked to educate their Shiʿa about what will take place in it. What is like the proofs of the prophets is the Cry in the heavens, his being aided by terror, what the Imam will do in perfecting the intellects of his companions, and other things before which intellects will fall silent and souls will be led, as global, cosmic events that are not hidden.

C – Ahmad al-Bahrani has adduced a set of examples of sensory proofs in which he claimed that the roofing of the mosque is a sign for his companion Ahmad al-Hasan and his claim. Through these examples the reader realizes the extent of the confusion between these sensory proofs and his fabrication of the analogy. (As for Cain and Abel, they agreed on the basic necessity of the choosing (the belief) and differed over the instance, as we indicated earlier); and (as for the story of the Prophet of Allah Joseph, it is a criminal case concerning the incident of the attempt by the wife of al-ʿAziz to seduce him, and it was not about the matter of belief in Joseph’s prophethood or his creed; so the tearing of the shirt from behind was an indication of his refusal of the seduction), while in establishing his prophethood he brought from Allah what no human being is capable of; and (as for the example of Saul, the people were awaiting a (king) to lead them, after their request “when they said to their prophet, ‘Appoint for us a king’” (Qurʾan 2:246); so when Allah wished to appoint the king for them, they differed over who he was, thinking that they were more entitled to kingship than he, so the sensory criterion came from the prophet in identifying him, as he said: “Their prophet said to them, ‘Indeed the sign of his kingship shall be that the Ark will come to you, bearing tranquillity from your Lord and the relics left behind by the House of Moses and the House of Aaron, borne by the angels. There is indeed a sign in that for you, should you be faithful.’” (Qurʾan 2:248). So it was the prophet in whom they believe who defined the criterion for them.

The confusion regarding the sensory criterion, according to the Qurʾanic examples adduced by Ahmad al-Bahrani, casts doubt on his ability to understand the Noble Qurʾan, let alone his ability to discover a method for knowing its interpretation (taʾwil).

D – Sensory proofs were never devoid of doctrinal certainty. No Qurʾanic verse came to tell people to believe in this tangible trace without setting out for them the intellectual basis of the creed that is supported by Allah the Exalted with tangible things. Therefore, if we look at the reverse of the equation, we will find that the sensory trace is sometimes an entry point for Satan to lead human beings astray, and it is a source of challenge to how firm the believer is in his faith and creed—like the magicians about whom Allah said: “So when they threw, they bewitched the people’s eyes and overawed them, producing a tremendous magic.” (Qurʾan 7:116), and like the calf of the Samiri, which was the material of seduction, for the Exalted said: “Then he produced for them a calf—a [lifeless] body with a low—and they said, This is your god and the god of Moses, so he forgot!” (Qurʾan 20:88).

The Ahl al-Bayt (a) worked to educate their Shiʿa concerning Imam al-Mahdi (aj) so that Satan would not confuse them through his doing, and people will be sifted at that time. At the time when people hear the Cry in the heavens mentioning Imam al-Mahdi (aj) in the voice of Gabriel, it will be followed by another voice from the heavens, of Satan’s doing, which will claim that the truth lies with the Imam’s enemies; so whoever holds a firmly rooted creed will be among those who remain steadfast upon it.

The Claim of Sighting among Those Who Differ

7 – Concerning Ahmad al-Bahrani’s claim of meeting the Master of the Age and the Time (in a dream or in waking sight), which he foresaw would be denied by the scholars, so that he resorted to the criterion of roofing the mosque as proof of both matters—of his meeting and of the rightfulness of the so-called Ahmad al-Hasan—we will not enter into casting doubt on the soundness or unsoundness of the meeting, so that he does not respond with the possibility of truthfulness and the absence of any evidence of lying; and, assuming truthfulness, doubt would come regarding the person who was seen, and then would come the discussion of interpreting the content. But we point to an important fact in this field, namely that Ahmad al-Bahrani must realize that there are numerous claims of meeting the Imam: among them are those that support the prevailing belief among the Shiʿa, and these are the majority; among them are those who claim to be the gate (babiyya) and ambassador on his behalf (aj); and among them are those who have claimed Mahdism itself. Consequently, this does not enter into the evidentiality under discussion at all.

Through its claimed content, Ahmad al-Bahrani established a legal ruling based on his understanding of the phrase that he said the Imam said to him, namely (call for the roofing of the mosque); indeed, he went so far as to make the ruling binding on the scholars and the people of Bahrain. But as long as the throne is not established, engraving is not possible, and you cannot write on water.

A Whisper to the Method of Taʾwil (Ahmad’s Reply to Ahmad)

8 – Through reading both methods that the two Ahmads brought—(taʾwil) and (the messenger of the Mahdi)—you will discover that each of the two methods belies the other. Ahmad al-Hasan claims infallible Imamate and the twelve Mahdis after Imam al-Mahdi, and he claims that none understands the Qurʾan except this lineage and no other. This blows apart the method that Ahmad al-Bahrani brought in his book al-Taʾwil, in which he claims that anyone can possess knowledge of taʾwil as the Ahl al-Bayt (a) know it, and follows certain resemblances and parallels in the Qurʾan and the Sunna in order to know truth from falsehood—according to his claim. Yet al-Bahrani said that he sought intercession through the Imam (tawassul) in order to know the truth about Ahmad al-Hasan, that is, his method failed him in reaching the truth. On the other hand, we remind Ahmad al-Bahrani of the number of the chiefs of the Children of Israel, concerning whom the Prophet (s) said that the number of the Imams is twelve, like the number of the chiefs of the Children of Israel—by way of numerical analogy. And in another respect, Imam al-Sadiq (a) mentions to us concerning the era of the Occultation and the sifting: (Twelve ambiguous banners shall surely be raised). Is it not valid that the claimed twelve whom Ahmad al-Hasan added are the ambiguous banners?!! Thus his claim is void.. So each of the two methods invalidates the other.

In Conclusion.. The Affair of al-Qaʾim Is Clearer than the Sun

We content ourselves with this brief presentation in refuting the doubts mentioned concerning the pretenders to the Reappearance and the Imamate, and we conclude by mentioning a narration that suffices to refute all that they have, like the narration with which we opened the subject, namely:

From al-Mufaddal ibn ʿUmar, who said: I heard Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) say: “Beware of publicizing! By Allah, your Imam shall surely be absent for years of your time, and you shall surely be sifted, until it is said: ‘He has died,’ ‘He has been killed,’ ‘He has perished,’ ‘In which valley has he gone?’ And the eyes of the faithful shall surely shed tears over him, and you shall surely be overturned as ships are overturned in the waves of the sea. None will be saved except one whose covenant Allah has taken, in whose heart He has written faith and whom He has strengthened with a spirit from Him. And twelve ambiguous banners shall surely be raised, it not being known which is which.” He said: So I wept, then said: “So what shall we do?” He said: Then he looked at the sunlight entering the portico and said: “O Abu ʿAbd Allah, do you see this sun?” I said: “Yes.” He said: “By Allah, our affair is clearer than this sun.”[8].

Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi

www.mosawy.com