14; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol.

14; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 7, chap. 32, sect. 27, pp. 77–78, no. 500; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 52, chap. 26, p. 353, no. 109. [^4]: There is no contradiction between this tradition and those that indicate he will follow the customs of the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family. For, when it is said he will follow his customs, it means he will rise with the sword, which differs from Jesus’ approach from amongst the prophets.

His similarity to him, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, is in destroying the signs of disbelief, and ending wicked habits and false regulations and the laws that will appear in the end of times. [^5]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 13, p. 232, no. 16; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 52, chap. 26, p. 353, no. 111; `Ilal al-sharā’i`, vol. 1, p. 210, with some variations in the chain of narrators; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, pp. 628–629. [^6]: Tafsīr al-Qurtubī (al-Jāmi` li-aḥkām al-Quran), vol. 14, p.

107; Tafsīr al-`Ālūsī (Rūḥ al-ma`ānī), vol. 21, p. 121; Rūḥ al-bayān, vol. 21, p. 124, from al-Lubāb from Tafsīr al-Naqqāsh: “The lower [chastisement] will be high prices and the greater [chastisement] will be the reappearance of the Mahdī with the sword”; Tafsīr al-tibyān, vol. 8, p. 306, from Ja`far b. Muḥammad, peace be on him: “The lower punishment will be famine and the greater will be the emergence of the Mahdī with the sword”; Al-Maḥajja, p. 173, from al-Mufaḍḍal b.

`Umar: “Lower refers to the punishment in the grave and greater refers to the Mahdī with the sword”; From Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Shaibānī in Kashf al-Bayān: “Lower refers to famine and drought and greater refers to the emergence of the Riser, al-Mahdī, with the sword in the end of times”; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, p. 59, and Ta’wīl al-āyāt al-ẓāhira, p.

437: “Lower chastisement refers to high prices while greater refers to [the reappearance of] the Mahdī with the sword; It has been mentioned in Ilzām al-Nāṣib that “Lower refers to the punishment in Hell and greater refers to [the emergence] of the Mahdī, peace be on him, with the sword in the end of times.” I say: It is legitimate to interpret ‘lower punishment’ as famine and other things that will take place before the appearance of the Mahdī—may my mother and father be sacrificed for him—and it being one of its examples.

Such an interpretation will not contradict the other interpretations which can be found in various exegeses.