The following claim is circulating in some social networks:

The messenger of God (sws) had said: ,, A group from the people will rise from the east and prepare the groundwork for the government of Mahdi (ajf).”

This is a distortion in which the statement of the Sunni scholar Ibn Majah († 887) is made to appear as the statement of the Prophet (s.).

In the 51st volume of Bihar-ul-Anwar, page 85 – 87, it says:

٣٨ – كشف: ذكر الشيخ أبو عبد الله محمد بن يوسف بن محمد الشافعي في كتاب كفاية الطالب في مناقب علي بن أبي طالب وقال في أوله: إني جمعت هذا الكتاب وعريته من طرق الشيعة ليكون الاحتجاج به آكد فقال: في المهدي عليه السلام الباب الأول في ذكر خروجه في آخر الزمان [ … ] الباب الخامس في ذكر نصرة أهل المشرق للمهدي عليه السلام عن عبد الله بن الحارث بن جزء الزبيدي قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: يخرج ناس من المشرق فيوطئون للمهدي يعني سلطانه هذا حديث حسن صحيح روته الثقات والاثبات أخرجه الحافظ أبو عبد الله بن ماجة القزويني في سننه

“38 – Kashf (ul-Ghummah): The Shafi’ite scholar Abu Abdillah, Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad, in the book Kifayat-ut-Talib Fi Manaqib cited Ali ibn Abi Talib and said at the beginning of it: ﴾I compiled this book and kept it free from the paths of the Shi’ites, so that as a result the argumentation becomes more irrefutable.﴿ Hereupon he said: ﴾About the Rightly Guided (Mahdi). The first chapter: About his coming forth in the end of times [ … ] The fifth chapter: On the mention of the support of the people of the East for the Rightly Guided One. From Abdullah Ibn Harith Ibn Jaz’ Az-Zubaidi who said: the Messenger of God (s.) said: “People will come forth from the East, whereupon they will prepare the way for the Rightly Guided One (Mahdi).” He means his rule. This is a good saying (Hasan), sound (Sahih). It was narrated by the trustworthy and reliable. Hafiz Abu Abdillah Ibn Majah Al-Qazwíni brought it out in his Sunan.﴿”

The statement “he means his rule” is not the wording of the tradition, but an assertion by Sunan Ibn Majah († 887). This deception is made for the purpose of presenting the Iranian republic as a prophecy.

Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah writes:

حدثنا حرملة بن يحيى المصري وإبراهيم بن سعيد الجوهري قالا حدثنا أبو صالح عبد الغفار بن داود الحراني حدثنا ابن لهيعة عن أبي زرعة عمرو بن جابر الحضرمي عن عبد الله بن الحارث بن جزء الزبيدي قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: يخرج ناس من المشرق فيوطئون للمهدي يعني سلطانه

“We were narrated by Harmalah Ibn Yahya Al-Misri and Ibrahim Ibn Sa’id Al-Jawhari who said: We were narrated by Abu Salih Abd-ul-Ghaffar Ibn Dawud Al-Harrani: We were narrated by Ibn Lahi’ah, by Abu Zur’ah Amr Ibn Jabir Al-Hadrami, by Abdullah Ibn Harith Ibn Jaz’ Az-Zubaidi who said: The Messenger of God (s. ) said: ﴾People will emerge from the East, whereupon they will prepare the way for the Rightly Guided One (Mahdi).﴿ He means his rule.” [As-Sunan, Hadith 4088]

Comment:

Did Al-Kulaini and An-Nu’mani emerge from the East and did they prepare the way for the Imam (a.) through their effort and work? Would it be possible that Ibn Majah was mistaken, who, by the way, was not considered trustworthy (thiqah) by any classical Imamite scholar? Let us assume that Sunan Ibn Majah guessed correctly and they are preparing the rule of the Imam (a.). Who says, that this must mean establishing an Iranian republic? Whoever does not truly recognize the Imam (a.) as an authority and associates false leaders and representatives with him, then all the state power in the world will get him nowhere [Read here!]