The signs of the reappearance, as presented in early Shi‘i hadith sources, go beyond mere supernatural predictions and serve as epistemic, doctrinal, and social instruments for guiding the Shi‘i community during the era of occultation. Aiming to conduct an analytical examination of these signs, this study investigates the content of hadith sources across three historical periods: the Minor Occultation, the beginning of the Major Occultation, and the post-Occultation era. The research method is a comparative qualitative content analysis, and the data are drawn from primary texts such as al-Kāfī, Tafsīr al-‘Ayyāshī, Qurb al-Isnād, al-Ghayba (al-Nu‘mānī), al-Imāma wa al-Tabṣira, Kamal al-Dīn, al-Irshād, and al-Ghayba (Shaykh Ṭūsī).



The findings indicate that in each period, the signs were reinterpreted with a distinct approach: during the Minor Occultation, they primarily carried an educative and stabilizing orientation; at the beginning of the Major Occultation, analytical and political perspectives became predominant; and in the later period, with the works of major theologians such as Shaykh Mufīd and Ṭūsī, theological rationality and systematic argumentation came to govern the interpretation of the signs. Moreover, the distinction between definite and non-definite signs and their role in managing doctrinal crises—particularly in confronting the prolonged duration of the occultation—reflects the dynamic nature of Mahdism discourse within the Shi‘i hadith tradition.