Scholarly Note and Clarification

the Hasani will say: "Do you possess a sign so that I may pledge allegiance to you?" Thereupon, the Mahdi will gesture toward a flying bird, and it will descend and alight upon his hand; and he will plant a dry branch into a piece of barren earth, and it will instantly turn green and sprout leaves. The Hasani will then say: "O my cousin, it belongs to you."

This is clear evidence that the Mahdi is from the progeny of al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him). The Hasani only said: "I have more right than you" because al-Hasan stepped down from the caliphate in favor of Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) in order to spare the blood of the Muslims. Since he did not attain what he intended, his right remained intact, so Allah granted the caliphate in his lineage.

If it is asked: If this Hasani is the one who came with the black banners, it has already been mentioned that he sent the pledge of allegiance from Kufa and did not come to the Hijaz, but rather met him in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem); and if he is someone else, then how could he dispute with him after all the people of the Hijaz, the people of the East, and Iraq had already pledged allegiance to him?

The answer, as stated in al-Isha'ah, is: If we say that the one who comes with the banners is his brother, as in some narrations, then this Hasani is definitely someone else. In that case, the basis of his claim was that allegiance to the Mahdi is intended for whoever embodies those attributes, not for a specific designated individual, so he claimed that the allegiance belonged to him thinking that he was the Mahdi; but when it became clear to him that he was not the Mahdi and that the Mahdi was indeed the other man, he pledged allegiance to him. And if we say that he is his cousin, then if he is someone other than this Hasani,

then the answer is what has already passed. But if he is the very same person, then the meaning of encountering him is that he sent to him