The Ruling on the Claim of the Mahdi's Appearance and His Signs

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This is more than one question that has come in, stating that people are now claiming that the Mahdi has appeared in the East, and that he will come with black banners. The question is: What is our position regarding these reports? And what are the signs and characteristics of the Mahdi?

Answer:
The Mahdi is a hidden matter, and they say the Mahdi has appeared. Every sect claims that their leader is the Mahdi. The Mahdi about whom the hadiths were transmitted, and whose reports are mass-transmitted, is in the end of time. Before the appearance of the Dajjal, he has signs about which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us. The scholars have written about clarifying his characteristics; they have written independent books and included them in the major books. So the matter is clarified, praise be to Allah.
As for the claims, everyone who claims to be the Mahdi and that he has emerged with his group, that the Mahdi has emerged with his group, these claims are not to be believed, not to be believed. And we should not be affected by these matters.
We must be careful in matters and refer to our scholars, and not be affected by these advertisements or believe them or let them ever confuse us.
One appeared two years ago, I think in the East, claiming that he is the Mahdi, and he wrote to the governors saying, "You are finished, you are isolated, but keep working until your replacement comes." These people are crazy in their heads, I mean, there is craziness in their heads; they claim to be the Mahdi. Or do they want to deceive the people? Yes.