Those who have made the Mahdi two: the Mahdi of Shias and the Mahdi of Sunnis, have gone astray; because the Mahdi is one, and he is a man from the offspring of the Prophet from the children of Fatimah, who will come in the end time to fill the earth with justice and equity as it has been filled with oppression and cruelty, and helping him is obligatory for every Muslim. There is no disagreement over this matter between the two groups. Their disagreement is only over the name of his father and the time of his birth. One group believes that he is the son of Hasan and was born before, and the other group believes that he is the son of Abdullah and it is not known whether he was born or not. However, this disagreement does not affect preparing the ground for his advent; because preparing the ground for his advent is obligatory in both cases, whether his father’s name is Abdullah or Hasan, and whether he was born before or will be born later; as explained by Allamah Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani in the book Geometry of Justice, where he has said:

Those who insist that the Mahdi has not yet been born, and see no role for themselves in his existence, and wait for it to happen by chance, do not realize that the existence of the Mahdi is not a coincidental matter and does not follow the law of probabilities. Rather, it is a divine plan that follows the unchanging traditions of Allah, and it will happen at the right time, and the right time for it is when people are ready for and deserving of his sovereignty and the realization of universal absolute justice. Otherwise, the Mahdi’s existence or non-existence will be the same to them. No doubt that the birth of the Mahdi, even though it happens by the power of Allah, is conditional on the readiness of people; because without the readiness of people, the birth of the Mahdi will be pointless and counterproductive, and it will not lead to his sovereignty or the realization of universal absolute justice; because it is certain that the Mahdi’s existence alone is not enough for the realization of his sovereignty and universal absolute justice, and people’s complete obedience to him is also a condition for it. Based on this, as long as people are not ready to completely obey him, it is impossible that Allah creates him, and even if He creates him, it is impossible that He reveals him to people; because they will probably kill him. Similarly, when people are ready to completely obey him, it is impossible that Allah does not create him, or does not reveal him if He has already created him; because this, too, will be counterproductive and even contrary to Allah’s justice, and Allah is not unjust to the servants. From here, it is understood that people are responsible for the Mahdi’s existence and non-existence, and they are obligated to create the right conditions for his existence and arrival, and therefore, his non-existence and non-arrival is the result of their failure to fulfill this obligation.[1]

Based on this, the Mahdi is the Imam of all Muslims and does not belong to any of their sects. It is obligatory for all of them to prepare the ground for his advent and help him, regardless of their disagreement over some of his attributes.