Shādhān...

Shādhān, from Muṣabbiḥ, from Abū `Abd al-Raḥmān, from whom he had heard from, from Wahb b. Munabba, from ibn `Abbās (in a lengthy narration) in which he said, “O Wahb! Thereafter, the Mahdī will appear.” I asked, “[Is he] from your descendants?” He replied, “No, by Allah! He is not from my descendants but from the descendants of `Alī, peace be on him. Salvation is for the one who lives in his era. Through him, Allah will grant relief to this umma until he fills it with fairness and justice . . .

(to the end of the narration). Ma`ānī l-akhbār[^5]: Narrated to us Abū l-`Abbās Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq al-Ṭāliqānī, may Allah have mercy on him, from `Abd al-Aziz b. Yaḥyā al-`Alawī in Basra, from al-Mughairat b. Muḥammad, from Rajā’ b. Salma, from `Amr b. Shimr, from Jābir al-Ju`fī, from (Imam) Abū Ja`far Muḥammad b. `Alī, peace be on him, who said: Amīr al-Mu’minīn `Alī b.

Abī Ṭālib, peace be on him, delivered a sermon in Kūfa after returning from the Battle of Nahrawān because he had heard Mu`āwiya was abusing and cursing him and killing his companions. He stood up and said . . . (He then narrates the sermon in which `Alī, peace be on him, mentions the virtues bestowed by Allah upon his Prophet and himself . . . until he says) and from my descendants is the Mahdī of this nation. Ghaybat al-Shaykh[^6]: Narrated to me a group from Abū Ja`far Muḥammad b.

Sufyān al-Bazaufarī, from Aḥmad b. Idrīs, from `Alī b. Muḥammad b. Qutayba al-Naishābūrī, from al-Faḍl b. Shādhān, from Naṣr b. Muzāḥim, from Abū Lahī`a, from Abū Qubail, from `Abd-Allah b. `Amr b. al-`Āṣ, from the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, who said (in a lengthy tradition): Then, the Mahdī will emerge who he is a man from his descendants. (Then the Prophet, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, pointed towards `Alī b.

Abī Ṭālib.) Through him, Allah will destroy falsehood and will conclude the era of hardships. Through him, Allah will remove the disgrace of slavery from your necks. I am the first of this nation, the Mahdī is its middle, and Jesus is its end and between these is a crooked old man.