This was the opinion of Ibn Mas’ud and Mujahid.

This was the opinion of Ibn Mas’ud and Mujahid.[^13] Imam al-Zuhayli has this exegesis of the verse, as well: اذكر أيها النّبي لقومك قصة خلق أبيهم آدم، حين قال اللّه للملائكة: إني متخذ في الأرض خليفة، يقوم بعمارتها وسكناها، وينفذ أحكامي فيها بين الناس Mention, O Prophet, to your people the story of the creation of their father Adam, when Allah said to the angels, “I will appoint in the earth a khalifah who will uphold its structure and its residence and will implement my Laws in it among the people.”[^14] And, al-Mahalli (d.

864 H) and al-Suyuṭi (d. 911 H) in their Tafsir al-Jalalayn , cap everything: {و} اذكر يا محمد {إذ قال ربك للملائكة إني جاعل في الأرض خليفة} يخلفني في تنفيذ أحكامي فيها وهو آدم {And} remember, O Muhammad {when your Lord said to the angels: I will appoint in the earth a khalifah } who will substitute for Me in the implementation of My Laws in it , and he is Adam.[^15] Adam and all the other prophets, ‘alaihim al-salam , were khulafa of Allah on the earth.

Each one of them was His khalifah over his people. Without doubt, is the supreme khalifah of Allah in our Ummah . However, there are others too besides him among us, non-prophets like us, who are his successors in the khilafah . He has specifically named Imam al-Mahdi as one of these khulafa of our Lord in our blessed Ummah . Imam al-Bazzar (d.

292 H) records: حدثنا أحمد بن منصور، قال: حدثنا عبد الرزاق، قال أخبرنا الثوري، عن خالد الحذاء، عن أبي قلابة عن أبي أسماء عن ثوبان، رضي الله عنه، قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: يقتتل عند كنزكم هذا ثلاثة كلهم ابن خليفة، ثم لا يصل إلى واحد منهم، ثم تقبل الرايات السود من قبل المشرق فيقتلونكم قتلاً لم يقتله قوم، ثم ذكر شيئا فإذا رأيتموه فبايعوه، ولو حبوا على الثلج فإنه خليفة الله المهدي. Ahmad b.

Mansur – ‘Abd al-Razzaq – al-Thawri – Khalid al-Hadha – Abu Qilabah – Abu Asma – Thawban, radhiyallahu ‘anhu : The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “Near this treasure of yours, three people will kill one another. Each of them is a son of a khalifah . But it will not reach any of them.

Then the black flags will come from the East, and they will kill you in a way that no nation had ever done been killed.” Then he mentioned something (and said): “When you see him, pledge allegiance to him , even if you have to crawl on snow, for verily he is the khalifah of Allah, the Mahdi .”[^16] Al-Bazzar himself comments: فإنا اخترنا هذا الحديث لصحته وجلالة ثوبان وإسناده إسناد صحيح.