I saw the Mahdi and a group of people under one of the new bridges. I couldn't tell where it was exactly. It was an empty square under the bridge with no mosque. When the prayer was called under the bridge, the Mahdi hesitated to be the imam for that prayer, but he stepped forward and became the imam. He knew that he was the Mahdi, but he didn't tell anyone with him and kept this secret to himself.
In the first rak'ah, Al-Mahdi recited Al-Fatihah, then the last two verses of Surat Al-Baqarah: “The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers. We make no distinction between any of His messengers, and they say, ‘We hear and we obey. Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the final destination.’ (285) Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have whatever it has earned, and it will incur whatever it has committed. Our Lord, no soul shall be punished for its sins. Take us to task if we forget or make a mistake, our Lord, and do not place on us a burden like that which You placed on those before us. Our Lord, and do not burden us with that which we have no ability to bear. Pardon us and forgive us and have mercy upon us. You are our Protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people. (286)
During the Mahdi's prayer, many soldiers appeared and surrounded the Mahdi and the worshippers with him. They knew that the Mahdi was among those praying, but they did not know exactly who the Mahdi was. They wanted to know who the Mahdi was, and the Mahdi did not want to announce himself, whether to the worshippers with him or to the soldiers surrounding him and those with him.
The soldiers searched the worshippers and terrorized them. A group of worshippers were afraid of the soldiers’ actions, so they left the place during the prayer. About half of the worshippers or less remained with the Mahdi in the prayer. While the Mahdi was sitting in the first tashahhud, an officer extended his hand to shake hands with the first row of worshippers, so they shook hands. He did this so that they would know who the Mahdi was. Then he came to the Mahdi and extended his hand to shake hands with him during the first tashahhud. The Mahdi extended his hand and shook it, hesitant to shake hands with someone while praying. However, the officer did not recognize him, and the Mahdi completed his prayer. Then the officer said to the soldiers with him, “I want the names of all these worshippers after they finish praying.” The Mahdi was afraid that they would recognize him.