The Book of Occultation — al-Ṭūsī · Hadith 400 (#Ḥadīth #1)

فصل: فأما الكلام في ولادة صاحب الزمان وصحتها فأشياء إعتبارية وأشياء إخبارية: فأما الاعتبارية فهو أنه إذا ثبت إمامته بما دللنا عليه من الاقسام، وإفساد كل قسم منها إلا القول بإمامته ثبت إمامته وعلمنا بذلك صحة ولادته إن لم يرد فيه خبر أصلا. وأيضا ما دللنا عليه من أن الائمة اثنا عشر يدل على صحة ولادته، لان العدد لا يكون إلا لموجود. وما دللنا على أن صاحب الامر لابد له من غيبتين يؤكد ذلك، لان كل ذلك مبني على صحة ولادته. وأما تصحيح ولادته من جهة الاخبار فسنذكر في هذا الكتاب طرفا مما روي فيه جملة وتفصيلا، ونذكر بعد ذلك جملة من أخبار من شاهده ورآه، لأن استيفاء ما روي في هذا المعنى يطول به الكتاب.

We will discuss the birth of Imam Mahdi and its authenticity in two ways: (1) Rational and (2) Textual. As for the part which is rational - it comprises of the fact that when the birth of Imam is proved from different sayings and reports, through which we proved the Imamate of His Eminence; and all the statements, except belief in his Imamate are proved invalid. From the same aspect, even if no report had been recorded about it, we would have known about the correctness of report of the birth of His Eminence. In the same way, reasoning based on that the Imams are twelve also proved the authenticity of the birth of His Eminence, because the completion of the figure proves validity of this belief. In the same way, reports which say that the Master of the Age is having two occultations, is support and verification of the birth of the Imam, because all these secondary matters are based on the validity of the birth of His Eminence. As for proving the birth of Imam through traditional reports, we will soon present some of them, which are mentioned in brief or in detail. After that we would mention the reports of those who saw the Imam. We will mention only some, as to mention them all would prolong the book.

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).