The authenticity of the Hadith is supported by the following facts:
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Firstly its not a Hadith.
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The root of the prophecy lies in the Holy Quran since the eclipses of the moon and the sun are mentioned as important signs of the approach of Resurrection in the Holy Quran and the time of the advent of the Promised Spiritual Reformer is also the Latter Age. The Holy Quran says:
He asks: When will be the day of Resurrection? When the eye is dazzled, And the moon is eclipsed, And the sun and the moon are brought together, On that day man will say, whither to escape? (Ch. 75: vs.7-11)
When the solar eclipse occurs, the sun and the moon are in conjunction, i.e. they are in the same direction as viewed from the earth. Hence the words and the sun and the moon are brought together signify solar eclipse.
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Brought in line does not mean brought together, there is hell of difference. Secondly, these are signs of Qiyamah and there is not indication what so ever that Qiyamah is anywhere near horizon.
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The unique nature of the prophecy and its magnificent fulfillment also indicate that the source is the Holy Prophet sa. *When the prophecy in the Hadith has been fulfilled the criticism against the narrators loses significance. *
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How can a prophecy be thought to have been fullfilled when it was never made, that is, Rasoolullah pbuh did not make the Prophecy. Secondly for prophecy to be fullfilled, you also have to "prove" that Mirza Sb was actually a Mahdi and not the other way around.
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Hadhrat Ali Bin Umar Albaghdadi Ad Dare-Qutani, the compiler of the Hadith, was a very respected saint and was scrupulously careful in recording the saying of the Holy Prophet sa. Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz, Muhaddis of Delhi, another eminent elite of Islam, comments about Imam Dare-Qutani in his book Naubatul Fikr thus:
i) Imam Dare-Qutani once said, ‘O residents of Baghdad. do not even think that any narrator would be able to refer any false or incorrect statement to the Holy Prophet of Islam sa during my life time.’ Naubatul Fikr, (Footnote p.52).ii) The article under review has expressed doubts as to whether the narrator of the Hadith is really Hadhrat Imam Baqar. Muhammad Bin Ali is considered as Hadhrat Imam Baqar in Iqtirabus Saat by Nawab Siddique Hasan Khan Saheb (p.1061). A photocopy of the relevant page is given in The Advent of Imam Mahdi - A Great Heavenly Sign by Muhammad Azam Ekseer, 1994, p.88. In this connection it may also be noted that Allama Shaikh Shahabuddin Ibn Al Hajar-al Hashimi wrote:
Muhammad Bin Ali, an elite among the Ahle-Bait, narrates that there will be two signs for Imam Mahdi which have never been shown to mankind since the creation of the heavens and the earth. One of these is the eclipse of the moon on the first of its nights in the month of Ramadhan, and the eclipse of the sun on the middle of the days. (Kitabul Fataw Al Hadeesiyya, p.31, Egypt)
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Will you accept all Ahadith narrated in Dar Qutni?
As i said earlier there is no proof that Imam Baqir said these words, with the type of chain this saying has.