Sheikh Mufid was supported by Imam Mahdi to the extent that he was among the few people who received letters (tawqi‘) from the Imam. During his leadership, Sheikh Mufid pleased the Imam with his actions. Upon reading the letters, the Imam illustrated he was satisfied with Sheikh Mufid. In one of these letters, after starting the letter in the name of God, the Imam wrote:
أما بعد سلام عليك أيها الولي المخلص في الدين
Peace be with you, O’ my friend, the pure in his faith. In another letter to Sheikh Mufid, the Imam wrote:
سلام الله عليك أيها الناصر للحق الداعي إليه بكلمة الصدق
Peace be with you, O’ the supporter of the Truth and the one inviter to Him through true speech.
Tabarsi, al-‘Ihtijaj, vol. 2, pp. 597 & 600; Cf. Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi Bahrul ‘Ulum, Fawa’idur Rijaliyyah, vol. 3 & 4, pp. 317–320 and Muhammad Taqi Tustari, Qamusur Rijal, vol. 9, p. 533. Tabarsi quoted the text of Imam of Time’s (aj) blessed letter to Sheikh Mufid, as follows:
“In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful, Peace be with you, O’ my friend, [who is] devoted to religion. Indeed, we praise Allah: there is no other god but Him and we implore Him to send peace upon our master, the messenger of Allah, Muhammad and his family – May Allah give you enduring divine success – to aid the truth. We inform you that we have become permitted to honor you by corresponding with you and ordering you to carry out the obligations on our behalf regarding our friends now and before you. May Allah powerful through their obedience and suffices their important issues through supervising and preserving them. May Allah approve you by His support. Be careful about what I inform you of and about observing your duties and passing it to one about whom you are sure and God willing, I will inform you about his signs. Though, we are far from tyrants and the Almighty determines for us, what suffices us and the faithful, until the world is at oppressors’ hands; but meanwhile, we are aware of your status and conditions and there is nothing about you hidden to us. Any of you must do what makes us contented and avoids of what causes our repugnance and wrath; since our action [uprising] will be done suddenly when repentance is of no use and remorsefulness of sin do not make one free from our retribution. Allah gives you promotion and knowledge and grants you success out of His favours. Imam has written in another letter: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful. God’s blessings be upon you whom are the aid of the Truth and inviter to Him. O’ One who invites to Allah through truth and honesty. Indeed, we praise Allah who has no equal. May Allah, the Almighty, supports you by His aid; One who approved passed friends of us. We promise you that any faithful brothers of us who is wary of God and delivers the portion of the needy in his property to them, will be safe from the troubles of the misguiders and darkness shaded on peoples; and anyone who is miserly and mean towards Allah’s blessings and does not give them to those whom he should bond with them, will be wretched in this world and in the Resurrection. And if Allah makes our Shi‘as successful in His obedience and in being united and in fulfilling their commitments, the blessing of our visit would not delay because of them. And this visit is because of the truth of their knowledge and sincerity which they have about us; so nothing makes them far from us except the reprehensible actions they do and we disapprove them and we would not choose for them. والله المستعان وهو حسبنا ونعم الوكيل وصلواته على سيدنا البشير النذير محمد وآله الطاهرين و “And God is the [our] resort and Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the excellent trustee, may His blessings be upon our master, the bearer of good news and the warner: Muhammad and his pure family and…”
(About this, see also Sheikh ‘Abbas Qummi, Fawa’id al Razawiyyah, vol. 2, p. 128)
Some believe that during the thirty years of Sheikh Mufid’s leadership, he received thirty letters from Imam Mahdi. The Imam’s use of the phrase “Dear committed brother, Sheikh Mufid” conveyed the high position of the Sheikh before Imam Mahdi (aj).
Shi‘ite Authorities in the Age of Major Occultation Part 1: Sheikh Mufid