Descriptions of the Mahdī عليه السلام

[1] The “Ordinance” in this case is the Reappearance, advent and tenure—as an Imam—of the hidden Imam who is the Mahdī, not the overall ordinance of Imamate, or else Imam al-Ḥusayn would have obviously answered in the affirmative.

[2] What is well-known is that Imam al-Mahdī’s عجل الله فرجه default teknonym is Abū’l-Qāsim. However, according to ʿAlī al-Yazdī al-Ḥāʾirī in volume 1 of his Ilzām al-Nāṣib, the Master of the Era has other teknonyms. See the following in the section “The third benefit—concerning his names, epithets, and teknonyms (سلام الله عليه وعلى آبائه),” on page 481: (الاولى) أبو القاسم…(الثانية) أبو عبدالله…(الثالثة) أبو جعفر. The first: Abū’l-Qāsim…the second: Abū ʿAbd Allāh…the third: Abū Jaʿfar. And we find, in Ibn ʿAnaba’s ʿUmdat al-Ṭālib fī Ansāb Āl Abī Ṭālib, on page 199, that Imam al-Mahdī عجل الله فرجه had two uncles (although al-Mufīd and others have recorded al-Ḥusayn, another of his uncles) named Jaʿfar and Muḥammad, who have the teknonyms Abū ʿAbd Allāh and Abū Jaʿfar, respectively: علي الهادي « ع » (٢)…أما علي الهادي…أعقب من رجلين هما الامام أبو محمد الحسن العسكري « ع »…واسم أخيه أبو عبد الله جعفر الملقب بالكذاب…(٢) ولد ثلاثة الحسن العسكري وجعفر الكذاب ومحمداً أبا جعفر. ʿAlī al-Hādī عليه السلام (2)…As for ʿAlī al-Hādī…his offspring includes two men, who are Imam Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī عليه السلام…and his brother’s name is Abū ʿAbd Allāh Jaʿfar, known by the title “al-Kadhdhāb” (the liar)…(2) He had three sons: al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, Jaʿfar al-Kadhdhāb and Muḥammad, (whose teknonym is) Abā Jaʿfar.