The decisive word concerning the Imam al-Mahdi affair.

... and after the advent of the Prophet; the door of sorcery was opened, and the impostors multiplied over the land, and the priests' claims were exposed. The people were convinced by the remnants of the news, despite the intensity of the impostors' deception towards them, so the Almighty said: "So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, then say, 'This is from Allah,' to purchase a small price." The people used to judge based on the remnants of the narration that was prevalent among the sons of the priests and the sorcerers. Their claims were famous, as was the case with the story of the woman Bint 'Utah, who, when her husband died, the priest ruled that she was a widow, and that her husband had left her and her property to Mu'awiyah. So he lived in a state of dependency, where she was dependent on the opinions of others, from the lies of the narrators, the sons of the impostors, and their weak chains of transmission from the priests and the charlatans. This was the extent to which it was possible to extract information from the stories of the seers. For the narrators, the sons of the impostors, were not necessarily lying, for they might tell the truth. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "The devil tells you the truth, and he is a liar." Similarly, it is not necessary that what the priests say is true. This and that! But the question that arises is: why did the multiplicity of seers lead to Islam? As for after the advent of the Prophet, peace be upon him, lying became disbelief, and the impostors were revealed. As for those who did not have books in their hands, the hand of burning destroyed them. The Almighty said: "So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, then say, 'This is from Allah,' to purchase a small price. So woe to them for what their hands write, and woe to them for what they earn."