nvestigation and analysis of Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Khalid Barqi's approach to Mahdavi narrations with emphasis on the book "Al-Muhasan"

The necessity of detailed, comprehensive, and coherent research on the previous Shiite sources is very important and superior to the mere descriptive representation of hadith texts. As the first and the oldest remaining source from the beginning of the Minor Occultation, the book Al-Maḥāsin authored by Ahmad bin Mohammad bin Khalid al-Barqi, can be explored with the approach of Mahdiism. The present article deals with the approach of Barqi in relation to the Mahdavi narratives, through a descriptive-analytical method as well as personality of Ahmad bin Mohammad Barqi and his work. As a result, there are fourteen Mahdavi narratives from the total remaining narratives from the book Al-Maḥāsin. These hadiths were taken from the Sheikhs living in Qom and Kufa. Apart from Muhammad bin Ali Kufi known as Abu Samina, his other sheikhs are Thiqa (reliable transmitters of hadiths). The content of his narratives has been expanded with three approaches: waiting (for Imam Mahdi), the age of reappearance and Imam Mahdi's governance lifestyle (sirah). One of the most important hadiths of his that has been passed down to the later era is his special report of Hazrat Khizr's meeting with Imam Ali in Al-Maḥāsin and its reflection by specifying the names of the twelve imams in later sources.