Ibrahim, Hassan Ahmed, and Zain, Ibrahim Mohammed. “The Development of Mahdiyyah in Hadith Production: A Study of the Relationship Between Renewal and Sanctification," Year 1, Issue 4 (Spring 1416 AH/ 1996 CE), Pp. 17-58.

Abstract

Hassan Ibrahim and Ibrahim Zain analyze the literature regarding the Mahdi (the Rightly Guided) and the concept of Mahdiyyah in hadiths and transmittance from al-Bukhārī, Muslim, and Abū Dāwūd by examining them within the context of the development of production in the science of hadith on the one hand, and by invoking the historical facts and social conditions on the other. Their study explains how Islamic sources dealt with the Mahdi, and presents the four attitudes of hadith narrators towards hadiths of the Mahdi and Mahdiyyah, the extent of their validity or weakness, and the purpose of emulating Prophet Muhammad as a model in the hadith books of Bukhārī and Muslim.  It then examines the evolution of the concept of Mahdiyyah in Sunnan Abū Dāwūd. Their study concludes by explaining the methods and procedures of narrators in dealing with the hadiths regarding the Mahdi and Mahdiyyah.