Most of the narrations with regards to the signs prior to the appearance of Imam Mahdi (a.f) are either weak in terms of their Esnad (chains of narrators) or very ambiguous. I think that’s why you don’t find any such narrations in al-Kaafi and in the other books that are the four most reliable for the Shi’a.

For instance, the Hadith you have mentioned is Morsal, meaning that the author (al-Tabresi died in 548 AH) does not mention his Esnad to Saif Ibn Omar. So, although Saif and Bakr are both authentic, there must be several narrators between them and the author who was living in the 6th century, and as their names are not mentioned, the Hadith is unreliable. Moreover, Sheikh Tousi in al-Ershad confirms that Khorasani and Yamani will be allied against Sofyani (Ershad 2:368).

As with regards to who these people are (if we accept the authenticity of such narrations), we really don’t know, but what we do know is that none of them exist or have risen yet. Note, the Hadith you mentioned says that they all rise in the same year, month, and day.

What we know for sure and we must believe, and many authentic narrations confirm is that: A day will come in the future when Imam Mahdi (a.f) will appear and spread justice and fairness on Earth, after it is filled with injustice and unfairness.

Answered by: Sheikh Mansour Leghaei