'the one who shall rise of the family of Muhammad') is an epithet for the Mahdi,[1][2] the eschatological figure in Islam who is widely believed to restore the religion and justice in the end of time.
[2] The term was used as early as the eighth century to refer to a future member of the family of the Islamic prophet Muḥammad who would rise against tyranny in the end of time and restore justice.
[4][8] During the Major Occultation (941-present), his life has been prolonged by divine will until the day he manifests himself again by God's permission to fill the earth with justice.
[4] In particular, there is no direct communication during the Major Occultation,[9][8][10] though it is popularly held that the twelfth Imam occasionally appears to the pious in person or, more commonly, in dreams and visions.
[14] As early as the Minor Occultation (874–941),[15][16] or possibly much earlier,[17] Twelver sources identify the twelfth Imam with the messianic figure of Mahdi in Islam,[16] though he is often referred to as al-Qa'im and less frequently as al-Mahdi.
"[19] There is also a tradition ascribed to Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 765), the sixth Imam, which explicitly identifies the promised al-Mahdi with al-Qa'im, which might indicate some confusion among the Shia about this.
As a wahid hadith, this report is not viewed as reliable by experts, writes Majlesi, especially because it contradicts the Twelver belief that the earth cannot be void of Imam at any time, as the hujjat Allah (lit.