The Light of Truth — Page 351
THE HADITH ON THE ECLIPSES إن لمهدينا آيتين لم تكونا منذ خلق السماوات والأرض ينكسف القمر لأول ليلة من رمضان وتنكسف الشمس في النصف منه. 351 [For our Mahdi, there are two Signs that have never occurred since the creation of the heavens and the earth': The moon shall be eclipsed on the first night (of its nights) in Ramadan and the sun shall be eclipsed on the middle day (of its days) during it. ] Al-Baihaqī and other scholars of Hadith have related similar tra- ditions. The author of ar-Risalah al-Hashariyyah, Shāh Rafi -ud-Din ad-Dehlawi, who is a luminous scholar from the ulama of Islam, said that a jamāʻah [community] from the people of Makkah will recognize the Mahdi with complete discernment. He will be circumambulating between the Rukn and the Maqām, and they will offer their baiʻah [pledge of allegiance] to him even though he will not be desirous of taking the bai'ah of the people. And an indication of this incident according to the Muslim scholars of Hadith is that the sun and moon will have eclipsed in Ramadan prior to this event. I am not aware of the chains of narrators of these traditions, or the ways in which these reports were documented; however, I do know of [the reliability of] these narrations through al-Qadr al-Mushtarak, resulting from the 1. Darāqutni, Kitābul-'Idain, bābu Şifati şalātil-khusūfi wal-Kusūfi wa hay'atihi- mā, Hadith 1795, vol. 2, p. 419-420, Mu'assasatur-Risalah [Publisher] 2. Shah Rafi-ud-Din ad-Dehlawi (1749-1817 CE. ) was a renowned Islamic scholar and the son of Shah Waliullāh ad-Dehlawīta, who is recognized as the Mujaddid (Reformer) of the 12th century of Islam. [Publisher] 3. Rukn refers to ar-Rukn al-Yamānī, or the southwest corner of the Holy Ka'bah in Makkah, which faces Yemen, while Maqām refers to Maqam Ibrahim, the place where Prophet Ibrahimas [Abraham] stood to raise the walls of the Ka'bah. [Publisher] 4. Lit. 'Common value'; refers to a wealth of corroboration from various sources such that the authenticity of a report becomes evident, due to the impossibil- ity of collusion upon a lie across myriad sources. [Publisher]