Sālim, Ja`far b.

Sālim, Ja`far b. Bashīr, and others have narrated from him.’” [^2]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, chap. 57, p. 653, no. 18; Ḥilyat al-abrār, vol. 2, chap. 15, p. 557, and chap. 42, p. 639; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 52, chap. 27, pp. 317–318, no. 16. [^3]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 3, pp. 212­214, no. 1. [^4]: `Iqd al-durar, chap. 3, pp. 40–41; al-Burhān, chap. 8, p. 157, no. 7; Is`āf al-rāghibīn, chap. 2, p. 139, which says: “It has been mentioned in some traditions, ‘. . .

surely the Mahdī, peace be on him, will bring out the Ark of the Covenant (tābūt al-sakīna) from the cave of Antioch (Anṭākiya) and the Scrolls of the Torah (asfār al-turāt) from a mountain in Syria—by which he will argue with the Jews. Consequently, many of them will accept Islam.’” I say: The biography of ibn Shaudhab has been mentioned in Tahdhīb al-tahdhīb and his full name is `Abd-Allah b. Shaudhab al-Khurāsānī.

We have mentioned what he has said amongst these hadiths on the basis that people like him do not express their own views about these events which are not known to anybody except those who has been given knowledge by Allah, the Exalted; except something that reached them from the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessings be on him and his family.

Nevertheless, when similar things are narrated by him from Ka`b al-Aḥbār—whose condition is well-known—it is probable that he was the source of what ibn Shaudhab and his ilk have narrated, without relying on the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, and hence, one cannot rely on those traditions. Previous…