In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Introduction: Praise be to Allah, the One, the Almighty, the King, the Tyrant, who causes the day to merge into the night and the night to merge into the day. And peace and blessings be upon His chosen Messenger, the bearer of good tidings and the warner, the lamp that illuminates, whom the Most Gracious chose to bring mankind out of the worship of men to the worship of the Lord of mankind, and upon his pure family and his noble companions, and grant them abundant peace.

And thereafter: I will place before the reader a brief research on a personality about whom much has been said in traditions and narrations, and whose reality has borne witness to. This personality is one of the personalities of the End Times and the signs of the Hour, and he is Al-Sufyani, whose emergence will coincide with the emergence of the Mahdi (peace be upon him). It is as if they are two rival horses. Their emergence will be a non-gradual and historical turning point in the life of the Ummah, leading to the witnessing of a manifest era and a new stage, which is the stage of the Islamic Caliphate upon the methodology of the Prophethood. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has granted me success in completing this research in response to the request of my Ansar brothers, as it will facilitate much hardship for them and for the reader and remove ambiguity about this personality. In my research, I have relied on authentic narrations from Ahl al-Sunnah and have included weak traditions and narrations. I have also cited some narrations from the Household of the Prophet found in Shi'ite books that align with what Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah hold, for corroboration and support. I have applied the narrations to some existing personalities in reality, seeing the matching of attributes upon them, striving in that. However, the matter remains speculative and not certain until the truth of what we have adopted becomes clear to us in the coming days. And all knowledge belongs to Allah alone, and He is the guide to the right path.

And praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.