Survey the references of Sheikh Mufid in Chapter 12 of the book al-Irshad

Most of Mahdavi's works written by Imami Shia’s are on theological demonstration of Mahdaviat and narrating traditions about the Twelfth Imam. In the meantime, Sheikh Mufid's al-Irshad book which is on the life of the Twelve Imams deals with historical-theological of Imamate and the last section is devoted to the history of the Twelfth Imam. Given to the importance of this book and the position of its author, Sheikh Mufid, it is necessary to identify the references used in this book in order to clarify the strengths or weaknesses of the book's narratives and traditions. The authors of present article attempt to gain access to the references of this book by surveying its narratives and traditions in the section of Imam Mahdi (as) life. To this end, some of the narrations of al-Irshad were compared with the works previously written and now available. The result of the article is that despite the fact that some of the references of this book are specific, a number of them are unknown.