A Critical Analysis of Attributing the Heterogeneous Titles and Agnomens to Imam Mahdi

Use of titles, agnomen or non-famous attributes for Infallible Imams, peace be upon them, were common practices among Shia narrators who have enjoyed it more because of the dissimulation. Hence, some rijal scholars, authors of dirayah or hadith commentators spent part of their effort in suchcases to identify the Infallible Imam. Meanwhile, the incidence of factors such as tashif and tahrif (slip of pen, misspelling, misplacement of diacritical marks etc.), lack of sufficient accuracy in document classification and existing evidences in text, lack of analysis of similar interpretations, and relying on the reports of their predecessors or undocumented fame which made it difficult to identify the extension of these titles and agnomens. To mention an example, we can point to the title "`Alil" (the Disabled) whichhas been attributed to Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance, in some books of dirayah. The author of the present paper has considered unfounded attribution of titles, such as "Abu Saleh" to Imam Mahdi. He tries to explain the origins of these phenomena and their causes.