And similarly, this plague, and the diseases and epidemics that follow it, will inevitably be followed by famines and food shortages.

This means the Mahdi, peace be upon him, will appear in the year 2220 AH, and will be pledged allegiance to in 2220 AH, or he will appear at the end of 2220 AH and be pledged allegiance to in 2222 AH.

From Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali, peace be upon them, that he said: "The Sufyani and the Mahdi are in the same year." (Al-Durar al-Manthur by Al-Qudsi) The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "The emergence of the Sufyani is after thirty-nine years." (Al-Fitan by Nu'aym ibn Hammad) The Sufyani is one of the strongest signs of the Mahdi. And the mentioned year is from the Hijri calendar.

So the emergence of the Sufyani will be after that, meaning in the year 2220 AH.

Therefore, the emergence of the Mahdi will be in the year 2220 AH, or 2222 AH.

From Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: "If the emergence of the Sufyani is in thirty-seven, his reign will be twenty-two months, and if he emerges in thirty-nine, his reign will be nine months." (Al-Fitan by Nu'aym ibn Hammad) The two mentioned years are 2020 and 2222, respectively, as previously stated, the last years of the Hijri calendar, and nothing has been achieved in the year 2020 AH.

Therefore, the date of the emergence of the Sufyani is 2222 AH, or close to it.

So the appearance of the Mahdi and his pledge of allegiance will be in the year 2220 AH, or 2222 AH, or close to them.

Jabir ibn Abdullah said: "It is likely that the people of Iraq will not have a qafiz or a dirham brought to them. We said: From where? He said: From the Persians, they will help them. Then he said: It is likely that the people of the Levant will not have a dinar or a mudd brought to them. We said: From where? He said: From the Romans. Then he was silent for a while. Then he said: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: In the end of my Ummah, there will be a caliph who will give wealth by handfuls, not counting it." (Sahih Muslim) And "al-hunayya" is a period of time estimated by many to be fifteen years, or so.

And Iraq was not besieged for approximately (al-hunayya) except during the siege of America and the West upon it, from the year 2020 AD until the year 2042 AD. The period was thirteen years, and this siege will also be by the Romans.

And what Al-Nawawi mentioned in Sharh Muslim, and Ibn Hajar al-Haythami in his book Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi 'Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, in explaining this: That this siege will not occur unless the Mahdi has been born and lived for more than twenty years, because he will emerge soon after the siege (the siege of Iraq). And it is one of his signs that the siege of Iraq and the Levant will precede him.