Reviewing and Criticizing the Tradition “یوطئون للمهدی”

The tradition “یخرج‏ ناس‏ من المشرق فیوطئون للمهدی” (there are people (probably Iranians) who rise from the East and prepare the ground for Mahdi’s governance), in the past years, has been used enormously in the discussions of preparation of the ground for the appearance in general and in scientific papers in particular. The abundance of using this narrative and the analyzes and comparisons carried out has doubled the necessity of the evaluation of this tradition. The first time, Ibn Majeh Qazvini (M/273 AH), in the book of “The Sunnah” has considered this tradition to be the words of the Holy Prophet (PBUH); however, no one considered this tradition to be valid until it was inserted in the Shia tradition sources through the book of “Kashf al-Ghameh” of Arbali (M/692 AH). This paper, organized with a descriptive-analytic-critical method, is an attempt to answer this question that how valid the tradition of «یوطئون للمهدی» is. Regarding the nascency of the tradition in the mental atmosphere of the Sunnis and their interest in the government of Imam Mahdi (AS), and not the appearance itself, this tradition points to the assistance in establishing the government and is not related to the preparation of the ground for the appearance of Imam Mahdi (AS).