2:257 Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein.
4:141 And never will Allah grant to the unbelievers a way (to victory) over the believers
7:96 If the people of the towns had but believed and feared Allah, we should indeed have opened out to them (all kinds of) blessings from heaven and earth, but they rejected (the truth), and We brought them to book for their misdeeds.
16:97 Whosoever doeth right, whether male or female, and is a believer, him verily we shall quicken with hayat an-tayyiba, a good life, and We shall pay them a recompense in proportion to the best of what they used to do.
30:47… and it was due from Us to help those who believed
40:51 Lo! We verily do help Our messengers, and those who believe, in the life of the world and on the day when the witnesses arise
55:60 Is there any reward for good, other than good?
Know, according to both schools, Sunni and Shi’ite, the forty Abdaal are real. Twenty-eight are Nujaba, and twelve are Nuqaba, existing in every era. This number does not increase nor decrease.
Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq said, “the Abdaal are visible to me. I see them, and dispatch them to the nations of the earth”.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal relates, “…By virtue of them (the Substitutes: Al Abdaal), Allah Almighty provides rain and by virtue of them, Allah Almighty provides help against the enemies. By virtue of them, Allah Almighty’s punishment is averted.” (Musnad-e-Ahmad)
Narrated ‘Abd Alllah Ibn Mas’ud, “The Messenger of Allah, salutations and blessings be upon him and his family said:”Allah Almighty has created…forty people whose hearts are like Moses…Such a person will live among the people, and through his prayers, by Allah Almighty’s permission, life and death, rain and prosperity will come and calamity will be averted.” (Hilyat-ul-Awliya)
According to a narration from Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, the Abdaal were the messengers of Imam ‘Ali and the subsequent Imams from his progeny.
Seek them out. They exist in every era. Pledge fealty to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam only through them, since they are the messengers of the Imam, who is the caliph of the Prophet.
This is why throughout Muslim history, kings would sit at the feet of the Abdaal.
For example the last Ottoman caliph and emperor Sultan Abdul Hamid II was initiated in multiple Sufi Orders, as were the Mughals, the early Safavids, the Qajars, the early Hashemite kings of Hejaz, Syria, Jordan and Iraq, and the North African Muslim kings. All Muslim kings venerated the Abdaal and constructed shrines for them after their passing.
Among those Abdaal, the Substitutes, authorized to collect our pledges after the era of the Mahdi began, the Naqib, Chief, is Ghawth al-Adham Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani; who inherited the khirqa of Imam Hasan al-‘Askari through Junayd al-Baghdadi and Sirri al-Saqati. Even Shaykh al-Akbar Muhiuddin Ibn Arabi who is venerated and claimed by Sunni and Shi’ite alike, pledged fealty to the Prophet and his successors fromhis progeny through al-Jilani. After him, came the likes of the venerable Khwaja Baha al-Din Shah Naqshband Bukhari, Khwaja Qutb al-Din Mawdud Chishti, Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi, etc., all grandsons of the House of the Prophet.
During the era of the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir, in the year 922, the famed Sufi martyr Mansur al-Hallaj declared in a letter to Abu Sahl bin Ismail bin Ali Nawbakti (whom the Shi’ites considered a deputy of the Mahdi);
“I am a deputy of Sahib uz-Zaman ‘alayhi salam and am instructed by him to write to you so that you may believe and not fall into doubt and skepticism.” (Shaykh Tusi pg. 233)
The Sunni Ulema signed a declaration for the Abbasid caliph to have him executed for heresy, and Nawbakti rejected him. After his execution at the hand of the Abbasid, the Sunni ulema began venerating him as a Saint, while four hundred years later Ayatollah Ruhollah Musawi Khomeini wrote in in his Ghazl-e Irfan, “I forgot my own existence and proclaimed the slogan “I am the Truth”, and like Mansur Hallaj volunteered my self for hanging”.
Know, because they are messengers to the Imam, pledging fealty through the forty Abdaal will result in the manifest fulfillment, as before, of the following covenant Allah made with the Prophet and the believers; who are not you and I in this specific verse, since there can only be one real caliph in each time, but rather are his twelve successors from his progeny,
24:55 Allah hath promised such of you as believe and do good work that He will surely make them to succeed (the present rulers) in the earth even as He caused those who were before them to succeed (others); and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He hath approved for them, and will give them in exchange safety after their fear. They serve Me. They ascribe no thing as partner unto Me. Those who disbelieve henceforth, they are the miscreants.
Find and pledge to the Prophet Salallahu ‘alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam with these Abdaal, and find your kingdom, faith, and honor restored.
Reject them, and you will continue to kill yourselves, or beat yourselves with blades and knives until you bleed profusely and are unconscious.
Name of Imam Hasan al-‘Askari at Masjid an-Nabawi
Name of Muhammad al-Mahdi at Masjid an-Nabawi