Translation of the saying:
Some of our companions informed us, they said: “One day we were sitting in the presence of Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani in a mosque. Then one of our companions turned to him and said: ‘I swear to God, my heart is about to come off its place, so will you allow me to speak?!’ Then Mansoor looked at him and gestured for him to speak, so the man said: ‘I bear witness that you are calling [people] to the truth, and there is no call in the world like your call, but who is there to listen to your call while there is a call raised from every side, some of which are louder than some others?! There is a preacher in every street who is being listened to, a scholar in every city who is being imitated, and a ruler in every country who is being worshipped! In addition to philosophers who fabricate philosophies, jurists who issue fatwas, narrators who discover hadiths, and demons who cast doubts, each of whom increases people’s confusion! In addition to dozens of sects, each sect has an imam whom it obeys and invites people to, not by declaring disbelief and sin, but by arguing using the Quran and Hadith and claiming dignities and miracles! So I wish these rabble-rousers, who have filled the world with calls, would cut off my head and instead be silent for an hour so that your call could be heard in the world; because you are calling [people] to the truth, and there is no other call in the world like your call!’ Then he started crying and fell silent, waiting for Mansoor to say something, but he did not say anything until the time for prayer came and people entered the mosque, so Mansoor rose to perform prayer, and we rose with him too, then people came and performed prayer behind him. Then, when he finished, he went on the steps of the pulpit and gestured for people to come near, then he mentioned God, praised Him, and sent peace to the Prophet and his family, then he said:
‘O people! Listen to my call and do not let various calls stop you from listening to it; because I speak about life and death, and there is life in what I say as there is in water. Indeed, your lives have been spoiled and are falling toward annihilation, and now they will not be reformed except by an Imam from God; because there is no reform except from God, and the imams who are not from Him are corrupters and destroyers, even if you have taken them to your hearts. So turn away from your imams and seek an Imam from God, may you gain salvation or enjoy life for some time.
Now God has remembered His covenant with Ibrahim, fulfilled His promise with Muhammad, and appointed a man from their offspring as an Imam for you, and he is indeed Mahdi about whom you have received knowledge. So take him as your Imam and do not take imams other than him about whom you have not received any knowledge lest they divert your attention away from him and take you to dark paths and throw you into the valleys of annihilation, then you will not be helped!
So now be vigilant; because Satan, who took your father out of Heaven, will not leave you with one Imam so that you will gather around him, but rather he will send dajjals from his offspring to you to tell you that they are imams other than Mahdi. So when they call to you and say: “We have seen many dreams, heard authentic narrations, and said excellent wisdom so you may take us as imams other than Mahdi,” do not answer them; because you have no Imam other than Mahdi, and they are Satan’s toys that he plays you with them to divert your attention with them and stop you from your Imam. Rather, if you hear or see with your own eyes mighty wonders from them and then they say: “We are imams other than Mahdi so that you may obey us as you obey him,” do not listen to them and sprinkle dirt on them; because God, your Lord, puts them as a trial for you to test you with them and see whether you will fulfill His covenant or break it, while whoever fulfills His covenant does so for his own good, and whoever breaks His covenant does so to his own loss, and there is a great punishment for him. So fulfill His covenant and do not take any imam other than Mahdi, even if they speak beautiful words, do wonders, and scare you that if you do not obey them, the punishment of God will descend on you; because their words are out of deception, their actions are out of magic, and the punishment of God is closer to them, when they make extravagant claims, read false narrations, have confused dreams, get help from evil spirits, and say tempting words to shake weak hearts and mislead deficient minds, dragging them into this disbelief that they are imams from God, while they are not imams from God, and His covenant is not with them. So beware, do not call them imams; because God has not called them imams, nor has He sent down any proof for them! Do you then inform God of something He does not know in the heavens and the earth, or do you say about Him what you do not know?! Undoubtedly, this is polytheism that Satan has made fair-seeming to you to misguide you with it while you think you are guided. Know that I call you to your Imam, Mahdi, and warn you against misguiding imams so that you may become pious.’
Then he looked at people and saw them looking at him in astonishment as if they did not understand what he was saying. So he wanted to come down from the pulpit, but one of them turned his head in anger and said: ‘You are constantly going from one place to another and talking about an Imam from God! Do you have no other wish but that we abandon the existing imams and follow an Imam who does not exist?! Where is Mahdi?! Why do we not know him among us if you are telling the truth?!’ Then Mansoor looked at him and said:
‘Woe to you! Do you think that God has created the earth in vain, left its people to themselves, and did not leave anyone to reform it?! What a bad thought you have of your Lord! It is not so, but rather His promise is true, and His earth is not empty of an Imam that He is the Appointer of him; so do not let those who have no certainty discourage you that you turn your heads and say: “Where is Mahdi?! Why do we not know him among us?!” Indeed, he is among you, but he is afraid of you; because you have become fearsome and wicked, cause corruption on the earth, obey oppressors, imitate your sheikhs, devour eat each other’s belongings falsely, and spend your life in vain! You do not perform prayer as it is deserving, nor do you pay Zakat as you must, nor do you enjoin right or forbid wrong! You do not use your intellects, nor do you try to understand the religion, and think that you are better than others, while you are nothing! What are you but a flock of lowly people who are only after the enjoyment of this world and sell their religion to anyone who gives more coins?! You are selfish, capricious, liars, unreliable, stubborn, foul-mouthed, cowards, and incompetent! You always complain about the destruction of the earth, but when you are called to reform it, you turn away; because you are the causes of destruction! Fie on you for having long tongues and short hands and always changing from one color to another! Are there not free people among you who will gather to help this man[1] so that he may introduce himself to them?! I swear to God, if a sufficient number of you gather to help him with their wealth and lives and love him more than their parents, wives, and children, he will indeed introduce himself to them and lead them in the way of God, but the fact is that there is no good in you! The love of calves has penetrated your hearts, and the worship of idols has been firmly established in your heads as if you are bewitched! I swear to God, I am frustrated by talking to you and eager to move away from among you; because you have neither a firm foot in belief nor a pious hand in deed! You are like weeds that neither bear fruit nor leave others alone!
O God! Melt and boil their hearts; because I call to them: “Prepare for the kingdom of your Lord,” but they do not turn to me, and most of them do not believe in Your promise! O God! Deal with their scholars; because they issue fatwas for them without knowledge and hinder them from your way; so they do not do anything for Your Caliph, nor do they leave me to do something! So count them all and let none of them escape from Your control when You send Your kingdom down on the earth and have Your Caliph gain power over it to judge between nations with an iron rod.’
Then he came down from the pulpit and left the mosque in anger.”
Explanation of the saying:
For more information on the existence of the Caliph of God on the earth, refer to “Lesson 19” of His Honor’s lessons, and for more information on the existence of Mahdi at present, refer to “Question and Answer 6”, and for more information on how to prepare the ground for his advent, refer to the book Geometry of Justice; a narration of a dialogue with Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani.