Universal Government of The Mahdi
Universal Government of The Mahdi
Universal Government of The Mahdi
Author(s):
G
Category:
G
Person Tags:
G
(1937 CE) (just after he finished his primary school), the Islamic Seminaries went thru a major transformation and had taken on a completely new form.
His Studies
His Eminence started his formal Islamic studies at the age of 14 in Madressah Agha Babakhan Shirazi and within a short period of time, was able to complete the introductory studies such as Sarf, Nahw, Mantiq, Bayan, and Badi`, which were all needed to advance to the next level of Islamic studies. After completing these sciences, he turned his attention towards the fields of Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and Usul al-Fiqh (Principles of Jurisprudence). Once again, due to the exceptional capabilities that he possessed, he was able to complete all courses in the introductory and intermediate levels of Islamic study in only 4 yearsa task which normally takes 12 to 15 years. During this time, a group of students from the Islamic Seminary in Shiraz were also benefiting from the classes that he himself was teaching. The positive criticisms and personal opinions of His Eminence on the classes being held in Qum, and regarding the need to include additional information in the texts currently being taught in various theological seminaries there, definitely played a role in the bright future that awaited him. While in religious gatherings in this city, his capabilities and genius, as well as meticulous and deep thought were witnessed by others; thus, no one was able to deny his God-given talents. Although this brilliant star was only a mere 18 years old, through his deep penetrating knowledge and a gift for written expression , he was able to write a commentary on the book Kifayatul Usul (one of the major books of `Ilmul Usul that must be studied in the Theological Seminary). In this commentary he was able to bring to light the ambiguous issues mentioned in this classic book. At the age of 18, he formally entered the Theological Seminary of Qum. For the next five years, he was present in the religious gatherings and classes of some of the greatest teachers of those days, such as Ayatullah al-`Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Husain Burujerdi and other great personalities (may Allah be pleased with them all). In 1369 AH (1950 CE) Ayatullah Shirazi made his ay to the Theological Seminaries of Najaf Al Ashraf. His purpose was to become better acquainted with the great scholars who were studying and teaching there, to learn more about their ideas and thoughts. . It was here that he was able to take part in the classes of some of the greatest teachers of that era such as: Ayatullah al-`Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim, Ayatullah al-`Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Abul Qasim al-Khu'i and Ayatullah al-`Uzma al-Hajj `Abdul Hadi ash-Shirazi and other great teachers (may Allah sanctify their spirits). At the age of 24, His Eminence was granted the status of having complete Ijtihad from two of the great scholars of Najaf al-Ashraf. In addition, Ayatullah al-`Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim even wrote a short, but comprehensive letter of commendation for His Eminence's notes on the lessons of Fiqh (The Book of Taharah). His thirst for acquiring and gaining more knowledge continued with the great teachers in Najaf al-Ashraf. However, since he did not have the means to survive and continue his studies in this holy city, he was forced to return to Iran in the year 1370 AH (1951 CE). He made his way back to the holy city of Qum which was now the centre of gathering religious scholars. Once again, he joined the circle of scholars who later on, had a profound impact
on his life. After returning to Iran, Ayatullah Nasir Makarim Shirazi began teaching the intermediate and higher level of studies (Kharij) in Usul al-Fiqh and Fiqh. He has been teaching these classes for several decades in the theological seminary, classes which have been warmly accepted and appreciated by a large number of students. In addition, after teaching a large number of the important books of Fiqh, he went on to write summaries and notes of these great works. At present the classes of Kharij of Usul of this great personality are one of the most popular classes in the Hawza `Ilmiyyah of the Shi`a; close to 2,000 of the most dedicated and dynamic students who take part and benefit from his lectures! From the beginning of his studies, he developed the habit of writing books in various fields of Islamic studies such as Theology, Islamic Awareness and the issue of Wilayah (of the Ahlul Bait). Moving ahead, he started to write on the Exegesis of the Qur'an, Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh and is currently known and recognized as one of the greatest writers in the Muslim world.
Political Activities
His Eminence was also very active in the early days that culminated in the Islamic Revolution of Iran and it is because of this fact that he was thrown in the despotic ruler's jail many times. In addition, he was even exiled on three separate occasions to three different cities - Chanharat, Mahabad and Anarak. However after the Revolution, he was appointed to the first Council of Representatives and played a pivotal role in writing the first constitution.
Hawza `Ilmiyyah of Qum and the financial support of well wishers, launched the magazine, Maktab-e-Islam. This magazine was definitely something which was unparalleled in the Shi`a world and maybe, compared to the various religious magazines being published at that time, from the point of view of its range of circulation was the number one magazine across the entire Muslim world. This magazine brought a fresh new path of direction to the great students and thinkers of the Hawzah. At present, this publication has been going on strong for over 39 years, offering its valuable services to the Muslim world and the Shi`a communities. The magazine has found a special spot within the hearts of the youth, university students, teachers and other noble personalities and it is through this publication that the light of Islam and Tashayya` has been spread from its focal point (Qum) to the entire world.
6. Writings
The number of publications of His Eminence currently lies at approximately 130 volumes of books which have all been printed - some of which have been reprinted more than 30 times! Some of these have even been translated into more than 10 living languages of the world and have been published in various parts of the world. The commentary of the Qur'an authored by him, Tafsir-e-Namuna (The Ideal Commentary) has been translated into many languages, including `Arabic (al-Amthal Fi Tafsir al-Qur'an), and can be found in many homes. In addition to this commentary, he has also authored a thematic commentary of the Qur'an entitled Payam-e-Qur'an (The Message of the Qur'an) which has opened up a new chapter in the field of exegesis of the Noble Qur'an. In addition, the books he has written on the theological beliefs have been a place where others can seek refuge from the assault of books written with false beliefs in them. Of the books of Fiqh that he has written, we mention a few: Anwar al-Fuqahah, al-Qawa`idul Fiqhiyyah, Anwar al-Usul and the notes and commentaries on the complete text of `Urwatul Wuthqa which has been printed many times over. His practical guide for Muslims (Tawdhihul Masail) has also been printed many times and has also been translated into `Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Azari and English. A complete list of other publications of this great scholar which have been translated into English and are available is as follows. Most of these can be read on his website at www.makaremshirazi.org [6]. 1. Ethical Discources [40 Lectures on Ethics and Morality] - volume 1, 2 & 3 translated by
Saleem Bhimji -published by the World Federation of KSIMC [www.world-federation.org [7]] 2. Khums: The Islamic Tax translated by Saleem Bhimji - published by the Islamic Humanitarian Service [www.al-haqq.com [8]] 3. Lessons in Islamic Beliefs - Tawhid, 'Adalah, Nubuwwah, Imamah, and Ma'ad translated by Laleh Bakhtiyar - published by Ansariyan Publications [www.ansariyan.org [9]] 4. Life Under the Grace of Ethics translated by Monir Shafiei - published by the Office of Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi [www.makaremshirazi.org [6]] 5. Message of the Qur'an - A Thematic Exegesis of the Noble Qur'an volume 1 of 10 translated by Saleem Bhimji - published by the World Federation of KSIMC [www.world-federation.org [7]] 6. One Hundred and Eighty Questions - volumes 1, 2 & 3 translated by Shahnawaz Mahdawi - published by the World Federation of KSIMC [www.world-federation.org [7]] 7. One Hundred and Fifty Lessons for Life translated by the office of Ayatullah al-'Uzma Shaykh Nasir Makarim Shirazi - published by Ansariyan Publications [www.ansariyan.org [9]] 8. Our Beliefs translated by the office of Ayatullah al-'Uzma Shaykh Nasir Makarim Shirazi published by the Office of Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi [www.makaremshirazi.org [6]] 9. Philosophy of Islamic Rulings written in co-operation with Ayatullah Ja'far Subhani Translated by Sayyid Athar Rizvi - published by Ansariyan Publications [www.ansariyan.org [9]] 10. Summary of the Islamic Rulings translated by 'Ali Abdul Rasheed - published by the Office of Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi [www.makaremshirazi.org [6]] 11. Tafsir of the Noble Qur'an - Suratul Jinn translated by Saleem Bhimji - published by the Islamic Humanitarian Service and the World Federation of KSIMC [www.al-haqq.com [8]] & [www.world-federation.org [7]] 12. The tradition of Ghadir - The Expressive Evidence for Imamate translated by the office of Ayatullah al-'Uzma Shaykh Nasir Makarim Shirazi - published by the Office of Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi [www.makaremshirazi.org [6]] 13. The Noble Qur'an - Translation and Commentary - volume 1 - 4 translated by Mansoor Amini - published by the Office of Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi [www.makaremshirazi.org [6]] 14. The Islamic Laws translated by the office of Ayatullah al-'Uzma Shaykh Nasir Makarim Shirazi - published by the Office of Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi [www.makaremshirazi.org [6]]
Introduction
The day that:
Dark clouds of tyranny and corruption cover the sky worldwide. The day that: The evil forces that would devour the world sink their claws even deeper into the throats of suffering people of the world. The day that: All principles are hidden from peoples minds when they weigh their thoughts, other than the principles of materialism and hedonism. The day that: Powerful waves of propaganda of the tyrants of the east and the west, present the Truth as false, and make falsehood seem to be the Truth, to secure their own illegitimate ends. And finally the day that: The lash of unkindness, narrow-mindedness, segregation, prejudice, illiberalities, envies, separations, discriminations, and oppression strike; injuring the backs of the vulnerable people of the world. Yes! At that moment, our hopeful eyes are turned toward you, great universal peacemaker. To your universal revolution and government! And ask Allah on our behalf that we may have the divinely given success to your God for our success in making ourselves competent, in development of mind and thought, in fighting and jihad and in reforming the world in all aspects, for participating in that great revolutionary program.
laws, or it isn't possible without using immaterial principles and genuine human values? 5) And again, if we accept that it is possible to make such revolution, in any way, and then what should be the characteristics of the leader of this revolution? 6) Is the result of this revolution necessarily a "universal united government"? 7) Isn't any preparation necessary in advance for such revolution? 8) Are these preparations available in the present world or not? And if they are not available then presently, is the world going toward these preparations or against them? 9) Are these matters, in any way, related to general belief of religions about the advent of a great divine peacemaker? 10) How is the general belief of Muslims about the advent of "Mahdi" and what is its relation with these future-maker issues? 11) Does believing in such advent draw us toward general reformation of the world through a multilateral revolution, or as some people assume, takes us far from that? 12) Is this general concept and belief of religions an objective reality and the result of logical reasons, or is it just an imagination for false saturation of repressed desires of humans in the general missing way which is "peace" and "justice? In this book, it is tried to answer these questions free of fanatical and extremist inclinations and free of illogical prejudices; answers which come from the depths of the soul, which are compatible with wisdom and answers which can satisfy the "wisdom", "feelings", "soul" and "spirit". It was a while that I was providing notes about the foresaid discussions, but congestion of the tasks in Qom didn't permit me to "explain", "organize" and "complete" them, and perpetual temptation which I have in writing a book prevented me to publish them in that form, and truly they were raw and incomplete. But adventures and happenings took me to the place, which I did never believe. The Port of Chabahar! ... Which means the most far-off and insalubrious place of Iran, which is approximately 2300 km far from Tehran and has very limited facilities for living and its people are unbelievably deprived. Fortunately, this forced journey happened in winter, a winter which was sometimes spring and sometimes summer with its water and ices and cooling equipments! Since maybe 90 percent of the people were Sunnis, it was an opportunity to contact some of their educated ones, remembering the time when I was in Hejaz, and gatherings were made which were mostly formed by these religious brothers; fortunately, the result of these gatherings were interesting and considerable. In this desert region, beside blue waters of Sea of Oman, under its sky full of stars, and in this corner of solitude, naturally there were more opportunities for studying; and by using this unexpected opportunity, one of the first discussions which I began to study was this discussion (and beside that, some jurisprudential studies which were not possible to be
performed in this way in Qom); and totally I concluded that according to " "( maybe you dislike a thing but it is good for you) maybe spending these times of "exile" was necessary in different aspects. I hope that the discussions of this book would be an answer to the request of educated persons who intend to study the issue of the advent of the great universal peacemaker as a research. Also, I hope that reading this book gives us new visions for the fight which we have began against "oppression and corruption" and we continue this fight until the end of domination of tyrants over our society. Albeit, certainly it is possible that the content of this book has deficiencies especially because few research books have been written in this subject. The author will appreciate any opinion, correction and criticism of dear readers and experts to be sent directly to him (to Qom seminary). Chabahar, Nasir Makarim Shirazi Safar 1398 - Bahman 1356 - February 1978
Bright Future
We see that the future of the world is bright because of some reasons: 1) Evolution of Societies 2) Coordination with Universal System 3) Social Reactions (the law of reaction) 4) Social Obligations 5) Human Nature and "Peace and Universal Justice"
1) Evolution of Societies
There is no doubt that at the first look, evidences show that the world is moving toward a "disaster"; the disaster which is the result of "leaving the affections", "increment of the distance between rich and poor societies", "intensification of conflicts between big and small governments", "fast growth of crimes", "moral, spiritual and intellectual disorders", "unfavorable and unpredicted products of mechanical life", etc. A disaster which its feature will be described by comparing today's conditions with the past and is considered as an effective factor for the growth of sprouts of pessimism in the depths of the minds of the most optimistic people. International known people say:
The amount of atomic bombs stored at the arsenals of big governments is enough for completely demolishing the entire population of the world, not only once but seven times! They didn't have built these armaments with those tremendous costs, which can be expressed by astronomical figures, without purpose, they are not plaything, they have been built for a frightening war; and finding an excuse for beginning that war is not a hard task in this world with this much of border conflicts and mutual violation of interests and detonable regions. Also, we can find enough "feeling of ambition" and "madness of power" in major rulers of today's world, for beginning such war! Therefore, it is predictable that in a not so far future "the big disaster" happens and humanity vanishes in a widespread nuclear war, or because of economical poverty as the result of monopolization of the big powers, or the end of energy resources or inhabitability of the environment! But against this much of elementary factors for pessimism, deeper studies show that bright future is coming: These dark clouds with frightening thunders will finally disappear. This pitch-black night will be followed by a bright hopeful dawn. This coldness of the winter of ignorance, corruption, oppression and injustice will be followed by the glowing spring of justice. This lethal sadness, this fatal storm and this destructive flood finally ends, and if we see clearly there are signs of the coast of rescue in faraway horizons! The first logical reason for this matter is the law of evolution of societies: From the day in which humans have found themselves, didn't have an invariable life, but they have tried to move themselves and their society forward by the inspiration of inner motive, and maybe unconsciously. About housing, someday humans were living in caves and now they have built skyscrapers; which can hold the population of a small city by having all living tools and necessary facilities of people of a city! About clothing, someday humans made their clothes from leaves, but today they have thousands of types of clothes with thousands of designs and forms and still seeking more colors, designs and materials. Someday the food was so simple and limited, but today it has become so expanded that only mentioning the names of the foods need a big book. Someday feet were the only vehicle, but today humans get in spacecrafts and move through the skies and visit other planets. About science and knowledge, someday a piece of paper could include the entire human knowledge, although it has not been invented yet, but today even millions of books cannot express the human knowledge.
That day, discovering the fire and inventing a round object like the "wheel" and a sharp tool like a "dagger" was a great discovery and invention, and he was very happy of passing a river by building a bridge over it when he has put a tree on that, but today heavy industries and astonishing inventions confuse any observer, and complicated system of electronic brains moves him into a world of imagination and dreams. And it is wonderful that humans are satisfied with none of them and still tries to reach a higher level, a pursuing and unstopped endeavor. We conclude from the whole discussion that love of perfection is an everlasting fire inside the human soul, and in fact one of great advantages of human; which separates him from animals and other living creatures, which are not progressing for millions of years and seemingly have an invariable life, is this. And again finely it can be concluded that, this great organization won't be stopped and still moving humanity in the way of perfections and uses its forces for overcoming problems, disorders and disharmonies of present life. It takes toward a society in which "moral perfections" and "material perfections" are in company. Toward a society in which there is no effect of destructive and anti-perfection wars and bloodsheds. Toward a society in which only "peace and justice" rule the destiny of humans, and in which aggression and imperialism, which are the most important obstacles of his "material and spiritual perfection", are dead. Maybe some people say that all previous perfections were in material aspects and there is no reason for evolution to include spiritualities. But, the answer of this question is clear, because: Firstly, it is also possible to find lots of principles of spirituality and humanity in previous perfections; for example, there are no few immaterial sciences among human sciences which have advanced greatly toward perfection; and for instance, the belief of primitive humans about "god", which was in the form of worshiping stones, wood and even idols made of dates, is not comparable with the understanding of a clear-minded God-believing scholar or a spiritual wise man living today about this issue. Secondly, perfection is perfection in anywhere, and the love; which we find inside our souls about that have no limit and we are searching for that in all aspects and moving toward that. Furthermore, material and spiritual principles are not separated; and for instance, the spirit of aggression and dominance is as destructive for material life of humans as a powerful atomic bomb! Even the second one won't be used without the first one! And from this point, we understand that perfection will be continues in all aspects. This is the time when the first sparkle of hope for reaching the bright future and the world full of peace and kindness, brotherhood and equality appears under "the law of evolution of societies".
they all obey laws and orders; in this case, how is it possible for human society to survive without following the rules and laws and correct and fair order? ! We want to survive and try for that, but still our social awareness has not reached the level in which we understand that continuing the current way will end in our inexistence; but gradually we will become wise and this understanding and growth will be achieved for us. We want to have our interests, but still we don't know that continuing the current conditions will destroy our interests, but gradually, we will put living and expressive figures and statistics, for example about nuclear competition, in front of our eyes and we will see that how half of intellectual and physical powers of the world and half of the assets and large properties will be wasted in this way; not only they will be wasted but even they will be used for destroying the second half! While the level of our awareness increases, we clearly find that we should join the general system of universe and we should practically be a part of the whole as we are in reality, in order to be able to reach our goals in all constructive fields. Conclusion: Universal system is another reason for the acceptance of a correct social system in the future in the world of humanity.
3) Social Reactions
It is not only in the discussions of physics that we face a law called "the Law of Reaction" that for instance, if an objects hits a wall with a specific force then it will be moved in the opposite direction with the same force, but we found this law more sensible in social issues. Historical experiences show us that changes and expanded revolutions have always been the direct reaction to the previous pressures; and maybe no expanded revolution has happened in the world unless there was a severe pressure in the opposite direction. In other words, radicalism has always been the source of changes, for example: 1) Scientific Revolution of Europe (renaissance) - which was a reaction against one thousand years of ignorance and backwardness of the Middle Ages, and the pressures which have been made by superstitious custodians of church for keeping people backward, and suddenly they remove the factors of ignorance and fired the torch of science and fluttered the flag of knowledge everywhere. 2) The Great French Revolution in 1789 - which was an extraordinary political and social lunge against autocracy, class imperialism and oppression of governing regimes, and entered the French society and then other European societies to a new era of their history and replace the oppression and autocracy with the government of law, albeit somehow. 3) Revolution against Slavery in 1848 - which first started in England and was the result of extremely harsh and antihuman behavior of slaveholders with slaves that in one side started the fire of revolution in slaves themselves and on the other side in the impassioned feelings of societies for the slaves, and destroyed the slavery system, although another form of slavery which was more mysterious and expanded than that took its place and the school of "imperialism" was founded under the title of "helping the improvement of backward countries"!
Slavery system had to be finished anyway, but behavior of slaveholders with slaves speeded up the process. 4) Revolution against Imperialism - that in our time, was the direct reaction to antihuman behavior of imperialists in colonies and still is; and has become the cause of the growth of wisdom in colonized people and started the opposition against imperialistic powers, although mostly was not resulted in complete economical, social, political and intellectual independence, but the conditions become very different from the past. 5) Communist Revolution in 1917 - which was the reaction to the oppressions of capitalists and their uncounted violations of rights of laborious and enchained people. However, as I have said in its place, this revolution was not ended in the freedom of oppressed classes either, and another autocratic system took its place called "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" which was in fact the dictatorship of some few leaders of the party. 6) Revolution against Racial Discrimination - which is currently in progress in the world, is the reaction to severe pressures of whites on blacks and their extraordinary deprivation of social rights. If we turn the pages of the history and go back to the past then we face the examples of the law of reaction everywhere. History of prophets is full of series of changes, which their backgrounds were ready before, because of severe social pressures, and prophets led and grew these revolutions with divine teachings and advanced them in the right way. Not only we find many examples for this law among real events of nations of the world in contemporary and previous history, but also the reflection of this law can clearly be seen in the myths and the legends of the nations. It is mentioned in the story of "Zahhak" and "Kave the Blacksmith" that the snakes; which had appeared on the shoulders of Zahhak had to be fed by human brain and everyday they had to take brains off the skulls and feed the snakes with them in order that they remain peaceful! The truth is that brains should feed the colorful and poisonous snake of imperialism; and intellectual imperialism is the root and the base of all imperialisms! Then we see that among these deprived society, which was under the strikes of Zahhak, a blacksmith, who had seen the pressure of fire and his powerful arms had the ability of striking the hammer of revolution, rose and made the flag of revolution out of the same apron which had resisted many times against the sparks of fire, and destroyed the system of Zahhak and the final reaction happened! There is also a discussion in today's "psychoanalysis" and "psychology" which is another reflection of this law. This discussion tells us: If human desires are not satisfied in a proper way then these repressed desires retreat from the stage of "consciousness" to "unconsciousness" and forms a "complex" in that stage, but according to some other, unconsciousness is nothing except these repressed desires! They don't stay calm inside the human self and continuously try to express themselves;
reactions of these complexes are the very difference in people but it is possible to say that they usually express themselves in one of the following forms: 1) Through making mental disorder and disordering the consciousness 2) Through escaping from the society and isolation and pessimism 3) Through unaware revenge from the society which has made him/her this 4) Through satisfactions in imaginative and imitative forms 5) Through "sublimation" and flying to more superior levels For example, assume that a boy falls in love with a girl and again assume that he couldn't have married her because of her parents strong disagreement; this firing love will be drove from the consciousness to unconsciousness and not only it won't be destroyed but it will soon express strong reactions. Maybe it makes him mad; or puts him in isolation forever; or makes him a revengeful and dangerous criminal; or diverts him to poetry and literature, and brings him to his love in the world of poetic dreams. But sometimes, maybe this material love changes to a deep divine love, and disengages himself from other than God and flies like an enlightened pious man of God; albeit, these differences are because of other mental differences and preparations and various spiritual backgrounds of people. Therefore, we see that mental pressures always face the revolutions and strong reactions, which is another feature of the law of reaction. Conclusion: This law tells us that the current condition of the world is ready for a revolution. Pressure of wars, pressure of oppressions and tyrannies, pressure of discriminations and partialities, accompanied by failures and hopelessness of humans from current laws for removing or decreasing these pressures, will finally show its strong reaction. Finally, these repressed human desires form a massive social complex, under the light of advancing knowledge of nations that exits from the inner self of societies and shows itself by a hyper speed movement and disorders the current system of human societies, and make a new plan. A plan in which there is neither the signs of unstopped nuclear competition nor the signs of this much of tiresome conflicts and bloody fights, imperialism, autocracy, oppression, injustice and suffocation. And this is another sparkle of hope for the bright future, which a universal society expects.
free and wants to have no restriction, but gradually understands that this freedom deprives him/her from many social life advantages and harms his/her genuine desires; and if he/she doesnt accept some restrictions called the Law then the society in which he/she lives will move to chaos and will be destroyed. Here, accepts the regulations, principles and laws. By the advancement of societies, restrictions are being increased day by day and still we accept them as necessities. We express a simple example for this issue: About traffic laws, when a person has a high speed vehicle wants to go anywhere he/she wants freely, parks in anywhere he/she wants, drives with any speed, passes the crossroads without stopping, but soon he/she understands that if he/she performs these acts then there is no reason also for others not to perform, and the result is chaos and various kinds of dangers. Therefore, today any child knows that it is not a correct act. Regulations should exit, although it takes hours to reach the destination; penalties and string discipline (but fair and wise) should be available, otherwise everyday hundreds of people lose their lives or their vehicle in this way. We call this social necessity or obligation. But it is important that a real need of the society appears in the way that the necessity of its existence could be accepted by everyone or at least thinkers and leaders of the society; and firstly it needs the improvement of social awareness and rationality of people of the society, and then relation with the appearance of unfavorable results of the current conditions of the society and impossibility of continuing the way. Accordingly, (for example) we see that cries against the pollution of the environment have no results, and nobody listens to accepts the regulations of cleaning the environment; but when people see that for instance, air of a city like Tehran has become so much polluted that continuous illnesses threatens its people, breathing has become hard, eyes are irritated, and according to statisticians each day ten persons become blind, saliva becomes dark, by spending some hours in the city, the signs of skin diseases and gradually the signs of cardiovascular and breath diseases have appeared, here people accept severe regulations and are happy of destroying the factories, which have been build with enormous amounts of money, removing thousands of smoker vehicles and abstaining from many of profitable economical activities which cause air pollution. By considering this example we return to the main discussion: Maybe in the 17th and 18th century, people imagined a paradise in the 20th century by observing eye-catcher industrial advancements, they thought that with this fast development of industries there will be a day that: Underground resources will be discovered one after another; The hands of science will finally control the power of atom which is the most important and the biggest energy resource;
Humans will realize the dream of flying to skies; By hitting a button, the house will be cleaned, the food will be ready, the clothes and dished will be washed, the rooms will be warm in winters and cool in summers; by hitting a button, the land will be plowed, seeds will be sown and finally equipped machineries will collect, clean and pack the crop and make it ready for being used And in that time, the man sits and enjoys this much of peace and comfort! But they didnt believe that industrial and mechanical human wont have more welfare in life, but by the advancement of technology, new disorders and the giant of new problems appear; ifrit of the World Wars will dominate the centers of industry by its terrible shadow, and demolish that in a short time in the way that it might not be seen even in dreams! Now, understands that how much their life has become dangerous! If in the past they talk about wars in which some thousands of people were died, now the discussion is about the war, which its result is the destruction of human civilization on the earth and returning to the Stone Age! Gradually, they understand that previous regulations are not enough for keeping the current conditions and great victories in industry and civilization, and should accept new regulations. Gradually, the time will come that the existence of a united universal government will be felt as a necessity and an unavoidable reality for ending the hard armament competition, for ending the increasing conflicts of big powers and for taking the world away from the chasm of war, that finally this factitious and troublesome borders should be removed and all the people of the world live under one flag and with one law! The time will come that social rationality will reach a level in the world that people see that the unfair distribution of wealth in its current form - that in one side of the world and even sometimes in one side of the city, there are so much wealthy people whose dogs and cats also have hospitals, physicians and dentists and luxurious bedrooms, but on the other side, people are falling on the ground like yellow leaves of fall because of hunger - will have a terrible future; and without a fair system of distribution of wealth, the world wont see peace; but wealthy and poor, backward and developed countries both will be in discomfort. When these issues become a necessity because of the appearance of unfavorable reactions of the current conditions and improvement of general rationality then revolution and change will be certain; as it was the same in the past. Therefore, social obligation is another effective factor that moves the people of the world toward a life mixed with peace and justice by its powerful functionality, and places the pillars of a universal government according to a new plan. It was being discussed that according to evidences, whether the future of the world is peace and justice or destruction and degeneration? Hitherto, weve found clear evidences for the first possibility through four ways, but it may be said against this expression that if it is in this way then there is no sign of going toward such destination in current conditions of the world, but contrarily, the current conditions are
more disappointing than promising! We also accept that the first look confirms this opinion; but more consideration shows that todays mankind has taken stapes and are also taking toward that great goal and there are signs of self-awareness in his thoughts and life. Although, these steps are not so much great, and even some of them are not serious, but whatever it is, there are considerable steps for intellectual preparation of the environment. Some examples of these evidences will be mentioned as follows:
And finally the last article of this Universal Declaration blocks the way of all exploiters: Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. Again, we remind that we are not dupe to believe these beautiful mottoes, which are like a sweet dream and has lots of work to become practical, as performed issues in current disordered conditions of the world, or ignore the incapability and weakness of big universal councils in solving lots of problems. But we should ignore its existence, which is the reason of entering humanity to a new era, like pessimistic people. We know that in fact, United Nations is considered as a mother organization and it has branches which one of them is Security Council. The difference of this child with that mother is that the mother doesnt have executing power and its resolutions are series of official advices to the countries of the world. Accordingly, sometimes pessimistic people name this universal council tribune, universal speed hall or without-government parliament and like that; but whatever it is, it has this benefit that all countries of the world participate in voting based of equality, and its resolutions have considerable spiritual and mental effects on public opinion of the people of the world. But its child security council has enough executing power and capability! And if it wants then it can execute its resolutions, but unfortunately, it doesnt have enough voting power; because each of the five powers (United States, USSR, China, France and United Kingdom) which are permanent and forever members of the council! can solely nullify any decision by their negative vote and this veto right, which is the memento of the age of imperialism on the forehead of this important universal center, usually cripple it in important decisions! Therefore, one of them has executing power but doesnt legislate and the other one legislates but doesnt have the power to execute! But, by having these problems, this half-complete center of United Nations and its achievement, this noisy and few-effective center, if we want to be fair, has been able to perform some works, although small; and regardless of its work, its feature is the reason for a new thinking way to be created in the world which has been started from semi-serious and even joking levels and is moving toward more serious levels; because all countries of the world, by having all differences and disagreement of schools and method, feel that they need its existence and consider its nonexistence very bad.
large part of their wealth for destructive scrap metals which has specified the most powerful brains of scientists for their advancement and development, while these assets and brains are highly needed in construction issues; and everyone is scrambling to save himself/herself from this big and dangerous trap, and may the day come when great economical and human assets are being attracted to fundamental issues and the centers of needs and pains. One of universal centers announced statistics about the costs of keeping military soldiers from each of the big governments, soldiers who are the youngest and the most living members of the society, and in other words, the costs of destroying this great power every year. And this center expressed large figures like astronomical figures that showed there are also new thinking ways beside these false plans, the thinking way which says this plan is not continual and should be revised. And this is considered as another great step toward that goal.
Still, racist government of South Africa is being confirmed by big powers; and the distance of three groups of backward, developing and developed does still exit, and even distances are becoming vaster. But, however, as we said before, development of these thoughts and their acceptance by many groups of the world, even if standing in a faraway horizon, it is considered a living reason for spiritual, cultural and social preparations for achieving universal peace and justice. Except what we have said before, there are also other signs in the sides of universal congregations, like common markets and great universal unions and any kind of desire to common life and inclination to unity, which totally show that the world is going toward the destination which we said in a long way; and promising the achievement of such goal. This plan, which has recently found several adherents and is being discussed in different places, and even some people consider the plan of international language Esperanto which is expanding effectively as the introduction of that great plan, is another effective step toward that final goal. Albeit, undoubtedly the taste of todays world are not ready for accepting such government; because still in a so-called developed society like United States, the matter of black and white races has not been solved yet and black people suffer from painful discrimination inside this society. Still, racist government of South Africa is being confirmed by big powers; and the distance of three groups of backward, developing and developed does still exit, and even distances are becoming vaster. But, however, as we said before, development of these thoughts and their acceptance by many groups of the world, even if standing in a faraway horizon, it is considered a living reason for spiritual, cultural and social preparations for achieving universal peace and justice. Except what we have said before, there are also other signs in the sides of universal congregations, like common markets and great universal unions and any kind of desire to common life and inclination to unity, which totally show that the world is going toward the destination which we said in a long way; and promising the achievement of such goal.
lives is upon these instincts. Sometimes, the reflection of the instincts is so much surprising that force the human to confess to his inability by having all advanced industrial tools and electronic accurate equipments. For example, there are lots of animals and insects, which forecast the weather conditions, maybe for one day and sometimes for one month, and even I saw in a magazine that there is a type of grasshopper that forecasts the weather conditions from one year ahead. And this is certainly wonderful that the human in space age, with all accurate equipment that has invented for the weather forecast, and by having all weather stations in all sensitive points and collecting atmosphere conditions information from these points through communication, and forming weather plans and by performing all these costly efforts, can forecast the weather conditions for 6 hours and with ambiguous expressions!: Partly cloudy Sometimes cloudy Possibility of sudden rain shower And maybe heavy rain And maybe clear and sunny! But that weather-wise insect, without contacting other insects, forecasts for 6 months, which means in the middle of the summer forecasts the conditions of the winter and prepare itself for that. Perhaps, the reason for the matter that innate knowledge of the human is limited than other living creatures is that his big share of wisdom covers his deficiencies in all fields; but anyhow, humans also use innate intuition in emergency needs and essential issues of the life and this beam can guide us through the way which we have to go. Is it possible for innate intuitions to help us in the discussed issues, which are end of the world by war and bloodshed and oppression and injustice, or the domination of peace and justice and security, or not? The answer to this question is positive; because there are two considerable signs, which can guide us toward the truth:
Or a real need that innate intuition has helped the wisdom in order to affirm that necessity more? (Attention!) Isnt always our thirst the reason for the existence of water in the nature and if water has no existence then is it possible for us to have its affection inside? We rise, we cry, we shout and demand peace and justice and this is the sign for this desire be finally realized. Essentially, false human nature has no meaning; because we know that creation and the world of nature is a united thing and is never made of a group of separated and discrete creatures. All of them are like a great tree which its expanded branches have covered the universe; maybe there are millions of light-years distance between its branches and even the particles of one cluster, but this vast distance is not the reason for their discreteness, but it is one of the characteristics of its greatness and vastness. In this great unit, each particle is a sign of the whole and each part is related to the other parts, and their reactions are related to each other, any of them are the symmetry of anothers existence and all of them are being fed from one root. Accordingly, any genuine and innate affection is the reason for the existence of a love outside and its attraction. A love which its loved one does only exist in dreams is a false love; and there is no false thing available in the world of nature. It is only deviating from the way of creation that replaces a false creature with a genuine reality. (Attention!) Anyway, human nature explicitly calls that finally peace and justice will cover the world and oppression will be removed, because it is general desire of humans.
30 and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect 2) And it is written in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12: 35 Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 are like those who are waiting for their master, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.
In the book A Preface to Leadership, while talking about the existence of waiting for the advent of a great savior among different western nations and manipulation of such general belief by some persons, the writer mentions the name of five claimants who arose from Britain: James Naylor, Joanna Southcott, Richard Brothers, John Nichols Thom and Henry James Prince; and quotes the existence of such belief, even among the North American Indians, from Bernard Barber, American sociologist, in the paper Acculturation and Messianic Movements: Among the North American Indians this belief is prevalent that one day, the Great Spirit will come and guide them to the heaven of the earth Only until 1890, about twenty types of these movements have been recorded in American history. In the discussion, which was quoted before from the book On Advent and Signs of Advent, it was affirmed, that: It is possible to find the signs of this belief among Scandinavians, Mexican aboriginals and like them.2 Totally, according to what was said, and other several matters and evidences which was not mentioned for observing the abstraction, we conclude that this waiting is has logical aspect, it is expanded, pervasive and universal, and finally it is an evidence of the innateness of this belief. In the next discussion, we will see that this belief is much expanded in Islamic beliefs under the title of the Advent of Mahdi and has been considered as a fundamental belief. Also, we will see that how noticing and believing in this innate reality, which reason and wisdom also support that, removes the dark clouds of disappointment and pessimism from the sky of human soul and prepares him for a bright future: Makes the powers more ready, The thoughts more awakened, The readiness more increased, The revolutions faster, The affections more fiery, And makes the way easier for achieving a human society with its certain meaning A society which oppressions do not burn it like fire, discriminations do not destroy it from the inside like termites, and injustices do not take it to destruction. 1. The name Jesse means powerful and is the name of the father of King David. (Quoted from Bible Dictionary) 2. In this section, the books On Advent and Signs of Advent, Blossoms of Hope and A Preface to Leadership have been used.
Universal Revolution
Revolution or Gradual Reforms
Until now, the discussion was about the matter that mankind thinks about a bright future by the command of wisdom and innate intuition, a future which is much different with today, and there is no sign of this much of darkness in that. But now, this question is asked that how should such a big change happen, by gradual reforms or in revolutionary and fundamental ways? Essentially, and generally, there is no common opinion about the way of performing social reforms among scientists. Some of them believe in gradual reforms that are called reformists; and there are revolutionists against them who consider that no essential change in society is possible without a revolution. They believe that as changes of nature happen in revolutionary and sudden ways, and gradual quantitative changes reach a level that become qualitative, but are replaced with their opposites by revolution. Adherents of this principle have made many branches for the way of revolution and social mutation in all social changes, which all of them are neither reasonable nor according to historical issues and objective evidences, but it is undeniable that this principle is acceptable in many cases. The explanation: The thing which seems to be more closer to reality is that the degree of corruption of societies are different; where corruption has not become epidemic and expanded, gradual reforms can form the basis of reformative programs. But, where corruption has covered everywhere or has penetrated in most social organizations, it is not possible to overcome the disharmonies without a fundamental revolution and mutation. And this is exactly like repairing a great building with gradual amendments and returning the beginning glory to that, but when base is being destroyed from inside and main columns are falling then they destroy it completely and construct a new building over its ruins. We have many evidences in hand for correctness of this belief: 1) Gradual reforms are always being put on the same old bases and their effects depends of the health of the bases, and in other words, patterns and regulations are same as previous patterns and regulations in reforms and it is useful when patterns have been remained healthy, otherwise there is no benefit in designing the balcony when the base of the house is destroyed (referring to a Persian proverb). Here, new patterns should be used and fundamental issues should be studied in the way of change. 2) Gradual reforms are usually being performed in peaceful ways and in most of the cases
they rely on logic, and it is useful when there are intellectual and background preparation in society, but where these backgrounds are not available, the logic of revolution which is the logic of power should be used; although, logic has also en effective role in revolutionary changes, but revolutionary forces make the last strike. Using non-revolutionary methods in societies, in which corruption has penetrated to the depths, gives opportunity to main factors of corruption to equip themselves against the reformists and take counteractive and deterrent tools for confronting their weapons; exactly the same as powerful microbes which have become immune against gradual usage of medicine and continue their job; and wont be destroyed except by a sudden attack of powerful medicines! 3) Societies in which corruption has penetrated to the root, powerful anti-reform factors have occupied all sensitive centers of society and can neutralize any gradual reform plan; except that reformists surprise them by a revolutionary attack before they organize and equip themselves, and demolish them! 4) Usually, great reformist and revolutionary powers wont remain hot, excited, ready and united for a long time, and they are not used in proper time then maybe they lose their effectiveness and sharpness by the pass of time, and anti-revolution elements penetrate their mind gradually; therefore, when expanded reforms are needed, their maximum power should be used extremely fast; and they should be used before they faint and before backward powers reduce their strength and excitement. 5) History also shows that these kinds of societies have not been formed through gradual reforms, but their corrections have been performed by mutation and revolution. Great prophets and reformist men of the world have always chosen revolutionary method when they faced such societies, and made their steps in the way of jihad and fight until the last drop of strength. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and especially prophet of Islam, peace be upon him, were all revolutionary men. Other men and women who changed the feature of the history and were turning points in the way of human life or their own societies were all revolutionary people and this is living evidence that correcting these kinds of societies are not possible without a revolution. But, about correcting general conditions of the world and removing current system, which is based upon wasting active powers, discrimination, oppression and injustice, and replacing it with a fair system free of these disharmonies, the situation is more clear; because this the most revolutionary act which should be performed in the world, and broader and more expanded than any other revolution. In this case, how is it possible for such expanded and fundamental change to happen through gradual reforms?! Here, it should explicitly be said that: If present world, which is full of impartiality, oppression and corruption, has to be taken away from the chasm of destruction and inexistence then expanded revolution should happen in that.
Revolution in all fields: In intellectual, cultural, moral, economical, political, and in the fields of laws and programs.
come on the scene one agrees and the other opposes, one of them is in the progressive wing and the other is in the constructive wing, one is coordinator of this wing and the other is coordinator of that wing, they start fake fights for deceiving the public, who arent deceived by these acts anymore; even they attack each other by closed fists and angry faces for completing this scene! This kind of government was not available in the past history, because people and even dictators were frank, and maybe they didnt think that it is possible to offer autocracy in the shape of democracy. This type of government is the phenomenon of our age, the age of concisions, duplicities and the age of changing faces! And it is bitter fruit that its kernel belongs to the past and the shell belongs to the present, and its only goal is to delay the date of freedom of nations for some days and is capable of nothing other than that. 3) Dictatorship of the Proletariat: this type of government was not available in this way in the past, and it is product of mechanical age and exclusive to communist countries, in which proletariat (workers) takes the power and achieve its desire in all aspects under the title of Marxism. Although, Marxists themselves have chosen the title Dictatorship of the Proletariat as the motto of their government, but regardless of the meanings which are hidden inside this title, it should be studied that whether proletariat governs such societies or members of the central committee of the party and its secretary general, a party which neither is comprehensive nor have free elections nor have a sign of democracy, and autocracy and tyranny of the heads of the government, and violence and depriving people from freedom in that is not hidden to everyone. While history is being written and the list of governors and rulers is being compiled, is it possible to put the names of Stalin, Khrushchev and Mao Tze Tung except in the category of the most rigorous autocrats whom their governing time remembers burdensome miseries of humanity! It is true that the leaders of these societies make effective steps in adjusting the capitals and it is true that they end the time of legendary wealthy persons, but is it possible to ignore this clear fact that they consume billions of the wealth of their countries foe strengthening the bases of their powers, and perform whatever they want unbridled, and take the right of criticism, revision and strike and any kind of questioning from their people. 4) Democracy in its main feature: this kind of government, which is considered as the best and the most complete way of government in todays world, and even pretending and claiming that is a cause of pride for many of the leaders, needless to mention its objective and external existence, is summarize in one sentence: In this system of government, all people from any group or class can seemingly go to voting boxes freely and choose their real representatives, and give their future to them for some years, under circumstances. They also seemingly legislate the laws, which consider that are useful for people, freely by consultation. And sometimes the representatives choose the chairman of this executive committee and
Defects of Democracy
But, by all the advantages and benefits which can be seen in this type of government, when we look inside it and its final product then we see that, despite its beautiful appearance, it is so scary; because: 1) Group Exploitation - The first product of this system, which is government of majorities, by considering that always minorities are limited and few people who can be ignored in group calculations, is that permits group exploitation and permits fifty-one percent of the world to impose their thoughts and goals to the other forty-nine percent, and ignore the benefits of a considerable group which is only two percent, and even sometimes one percent, fewer than them for saving the benefits of the majority. And this is a strong strike to justice and freedom in the world of humanity, which is being performed under the title of the most developed type of government. 2) Minorities in the shape of majorities- Worse than that is in this type of government minorities are often appear in the shape of majorities, and impose their beliefs to them forcefully; in the way that those who possess wealth and power brainwash the majorities and deviate the thoughts to the way of their desire by having mass media and by feeding their desired goals, purposes, programs and persons, directly and indirectly, to commercial media, radios and televisions in the way practically a government appears that moves only toward the benefits of this multiplied minority (those who excessively demand power and money). Accordingly, it is no surprise that in countries, which are governed by this system, governments are usually supporters of bourgeois and big capitalists (although seemingly free lections are performed by public participation and written participation of them in voting boxes). Albeit, if majority can firstly dethrone this group and then perform an election then maybe the real majority rules the societys destiny, but this matter will also be put in a loop and becomes impossible. And if we can justify the government of real majority over minority (assumedly) in some way then certainly, government of minority over the exploited majority is not justifiable anyway. 3) Equal, in the conditions of inequality - In this governing system, any person in any condition has the right of one vote, which means: A great scholar is completely equal to an illiterate person; an aware, experienced and nationalist politician is equal to an inexperienced person, and a virtuous reputable human is equal to a polluted infamous criminal thief And this kind of injustice is clear because one of these two can be thousand times more future-maker than the other. It is true that if we want to make differences between people then we will face unclear criterion, but whatever it is, this is a kind of deficiency, which is included in the nature of
western material democracy. 4) Following instead of leadership - In this system, governments and representatives of assemblies certainly oblige themselves to observe the demands of majorities (unconditionally), because they are counting on them for the present and the future, and without this following, their positions and powers will be in danger. Therefore, in the nature of this way of government, the issue of leadership is practically replaced with following, and social corruptions, oppressions, aberrances and pollutions, which are majorities favorites, from any kind, are followed and even resonated. By considering this fact, it is no surprise that for example we see that unfortunately, the Parliament of England enacted the law of homosexuality!, because homosexuals have representative and even representatives! By considering what was said, you will confirm that how much this material ideal government is non-ideal because: Firstly, material laws, by assuming that are useful for weak persons and spread the justice, have no execution assurance, because the matter of justice that is accompanied by ignoring lots of benefits and material facilities, doesnt have a correct and wise definition for powerful persons in an environment which all values are specified according to material criterions; therefore, in such environments, only weak people claim justice and equality not powerful persons. But, if spiritual values are considered then justice will have also a definition for them, because in execution of justice, although they lose some of their benefits, but they will reach a spiritual value and superiority. Clear example of this matter is expanded international organizations, which established after the Second World War. These organizations, which are the most important so-called centers for providing universal peace and thinker politicians of the world participate in them, have been a plaything for the influences of nig powers or a conference hall for small governments that can express some of their opinion in there, until now. Secondly, historical studies and experiments show that excessive desires of human have been never saturated through material means; it means that a person has never reached a stage that says this much is enough for me. Human desires are unlimited in this kind and material facilities, whatever they are, are still limited and these limited facilities cannot fulfill those unlimited desires and this contradiction of facilities and demands has made war the everlasting equipment of material life. But, if spiritualities and belief of God, and noticing to human and moral values and responsibilities before that great source who is above the entire material and secular world, are revived in the hearts of humans then it can restrict this instinct and utilize in a correct way and establish peace and security instead of war. And in other words, excessive demands of humans can be saturated with spiritual matters, which are unlimited, and that contradiction, which was the main reason of war and oppression, will be removed.
2) Social Preparations
The people of the world should become tired of oppression and injustice and available systems and feel the bitterness of this material and one-dimensional life, and even become disappointed of solving current problems by continuing this one-dimensional way. The people of the world should understand that what was being promised in 18th and 19th centuries in the light of mechanical developments was in fact nothing more than an imagination, or like a mirage in front of the eyes of thirsty travelers in a hot desert. Peace and welfare and security of the people of the world were not provided and even material and spiritual conflicts and insecurities expanded. Making ostensible amazing laws didnt remove oppression, discrimination, exploitation and huge class differences, even previous corruptions appeared in larger scales and more dangerous forms. Understanding present conditions of the world first makes the condition of thinking, and then hesitation and finally disappointment and readiness for a multilateral revolution based upon new values. This is the thing if is not achieved then it is not possible to reach such level, exactly the same as an abscess that should be treated when the time has come.
government and compare it with government of a small region. Essentially, the world which wants to reach such level should have expanded and public means of training in the way that executes major part of correctional programs with selfawareness and self-helps of people and reviving the soul of public self-awareness and self-helps and needs the most powerful global cultural centers and mass media and the most complete books and publications and like them, that none of them is not possible without the best and the most advanced industrial equipments. Yes! If all the acts had to be performed by miracles then existence of such system would be possible without developed industrial equipments but is it possible to manage the lives of the people of the world by miracle! Miracle is a logical exception in current system of the nature, for proving the legitimacy of a divine religion, not for governing the society forever. This act should be performed based on natural laws. Albeit, we will talk about this issue, later.
Waiting
The Definition of Waiting
Waiting and providence is the state of a person who is not satisfied with current conditions and tries to make the conditions better. For instance, an ill person who is waiting for betterment, or a father who is waiting for his son to return from the journey, they are uncomfortable because of illness and separation from the son and try to make the conditions better. Also, a businessman who is not satisfied with the disordered conditions of the market and is waiting for economical crisis to end, this one has two conditions: Unfamiliarity with present conditions and Trying for better conditions. Therefore, the issue of waiting for the government of truth and justice of Mahdi and the rise of universal peacemaker is in fact composed of two elements; the element of denial and the element of fixation. The element of denial is the same unfamiliarity with present conditions and the element of fixation is demanding better conditions.
way of wisdom and hears the promise of this advent in two tongues of nature and wisdom. And in a clearer way, belief of the advent of universal peacemaker is a part of love of awareness, love of beauty and love of goodness (three of four dimensions of human soul) that without such advent these loves will end in failure. Maybe this expression needs more explanation and that is we know love of perfection is an immortal flame that has conquered the entire human soul; he wants to know more, he wants to see more of beauties, he wants to have more benefits from the goodness and totally provide more of whatever he considers as the mean of development and superiority. Never, appearance of these motives can be related to social and mental factors. Although these factors have a big share in weakening or strengthening them, but their main existence is a part of human mind and a part of main dimensions of his soul; because no society and nation have ever been empty of these motives. Briefly, affection of human to development and perfection, to wisdom and beauty, to goodness and justice is a genuine affection, forever and immortal; and waiting for the advent of a great universal peacemaker is the ultimate of this affection. (Attention!) How it is possible that love of multilateral perfection is available inside the human soul but doesnt wait for such matter! If is it possible to achieve the perfection of human society without that! Therefore, those who had no failure and crisis in their lives have such feeling inside their souls in one side. On the other side, as limbs and parts of human body helps his perfection and development and we cannot find a limb in body which has no role in this developing movement, mental characteristics of human are also like this; which means any of them has an effective role in development of his genuine goals. For example, fear of dangerous factors which is available in any human is for saving him from the danger. Anger, when the person finds his benefits in danger, is a mean of increasing the defensive power and mobilization of all reserved physical and spiritual powers for saving his benefits from the danger. Therefore, love of perfection, love of peace and justice are also the means of reaching this great goal and is like a powerful engine, which moves the wheels of human soul forever in this way, and helps him for achieving a world full of peace and justice. On the other side, feelings and mechanisms, which are available in the body and the soul, cannot be in disharmony with the universe of existence; because the entire universe of existence is an integrated unit and our existence cannot be separated from the rest of the universe. We can conclude well from this integration that any genuine love and affection, which is available in our soul, is the reason for having its loved one and goal out there in the universe and this love is a mean for moving us toward that. It means that if we become thirsty and have the affection of water then it is the reason for
the existence of water that the universe of creation has placed its affection inside us. If we have the affection of opposite sex then it is reason for the existence of opposite sex out of us; and if we have the affection of beauty and wisdom then it is the reason for the existence of beauties and wisdoms in the universe of existence. And we easily conclude from that point that if humans are waiting for a great peacemaker, who fills the world with peace and justice and goodness, then it is the reason that such ultimate in perfection of human society is possible and it is practical that its love and affection is inside our souls. Generality of this belief in all religions is also another sign of its genuineness and reality, because a thing, which is the result of exclusive and limited conditions, cannot be this much general. It is only innate matters that have such generality; and all of these are the sign for this matter that this promise has been announced in the soul of humanity, from the tongue of affection and nature, that finally a great peacemaker will rule the world under the flag of peace and justice.
For removing any kind of misunderstanding from both sides, I think it is necessary to mention a part of the article, which I wrote some while ago about this issue:
Impulsive Judgments
However a group of orientalists insist on showing the belief of the existence of a great universal peacemaker as a reflection of disordered conditions of Muslims during dark ages of history; However a group of eastern and Islamic scholars, who are influenced by western thoughts, expand this thinking way; and even they insist on considering the belief of existence of Mahdi and universal peacemaker as an imported thought which is derived from the beliefs of the Jews and the Christians; And however some of materialist sociologists try to make a reason from the issue of waiting for the advent of Mahdi for their belief that this belief has an economical root and has been made up for stupefying the minds of exploited people; By all these discussions, it should be considered that believing such advent has an innate root in all souls, which has penetrated inside the depths of human affections and feelings, and a genuine Islamic root that can be seen in important Islamic resources. But, maybe limited researches of these researchers on the one hand, and being interested in finding material justification for any religious thought and belief on the other hand, has made these types of thoughts. It is interesting that some western researchers like Margoliouth began denying Islamic Ahadith about Mahdi(as) and says: Anyway that these Ahadith are interpreted, there is no convincing evidence that we assume that the prophet of Islam (S) has considered the advent of one Mahdi necessary and certain for reviving, completion and strengthening of Islam; but civil war among a united generation after the demise of Prophet (S) and chaos of the world of Islam that happened because of their disagreements and conflicts, caused the thought of the advent of savior to be adopted from the Jews or the Christians, who are waiting for the advent and the return of messiah. I dont know that which books of Islamic resources Margoliouth has seen about this matter and how he didnt find anything convincing in their interpretations, while there are affirmed Ahadith in important resources of Shiites and Sunnis about this advent, and sequence of these ahadith approximately reaches the source. How all Islamic scholars and researcher, approximately without any exception (except some few persons like Ibn Khaldun, who has doubted in Ahadith of Mahdi in the preface of his history), have no discussion about the issuance of these Ahadith by Prophet (S) and the discussions are all about the branches and side matters, but only Margoliouth havent convinced? This is the question, which he himself should answer. Meanwhile, others say that:
We dont consider the act and motives of this general waiting; we observe its results, which cause to bear the pains and patience against disharmonies and surrendering to oppressions, and escaping from responsibilities. We observe that, this waiting moves suffered people to a dreamy world and distracts them from what is going on around them and encourages them to idleness and escaping from social obligations. And in other word, individually, it is a factor of inaction and socially, a tool for stopping antiimperialism movements and anyway its negative effects are obvious. But in our opinion, an aware researcher, who doesnt want to judge from a far point and oblige himself/herself to observe all the issues related to motives and results closely, cannot suffice to these impulsive judgments. Now, let us study the motives and results and effects of waiting one by one impartially and find out that whether the reason of its appearance is failures or series of innate and wise realities, and are the effects of that constructive and positive or negative and unfavorable?
Imam(as) answered:
- - ) (
(He is like the person who has been with the leader of this revolution in his tent (headquarters) - then stayed silent for a while - and said he is like the one who has been with prophet of Islam (in his battles)). This meaning has been quoted in many narratives with different expressions: In some narratives
Like a swordsman in the way of God. And in some other narratives
Like the one who strikes the head of the enemy with sword beside prophet. In some others
Like the one who has been under the flag of He Who Arises. And in some other narratives
) (
Like the person who performs jihad before the Prophet (S).
Like a person who becomes martyr with the Prophet (S). These metaphors which have been mentioned in these narratives about the advent of his holiness Mahdi (as) are very meaningful and clear the fact that there is a kind of relation between the issues of waiting and jihad and fighting against the enemy, in its latest form. (Attention!) Also, in several narratives, waiting for such government has been introduced as the best form of worship. This meaning has been quoted in some Ahadith from the Prophet (S) and in some other Ahadith from Imam Ali (as); we read in a Hadith from the Prophet (S) that he said:
""
The best act of my nation is waiting for an opening from the side of God. And we read in another Hadith from the Prophet (S) that:
""
(The best act of worship is the waiting of the opening) This Hadith clears the importance of waiting about our discussion, whether we consider the meaning of opening as in general meaning or its exclusive meaning which is the advent of universal peacemaker. These expressions say that waiting for such revolution is always accompanied by an expanded and continued jihad. And if belief and waiting of universal government of the Mahdi penetrates to the roots then will be the source of two series of continued acts (because the effects of superficial beliefs may not go further than expressions and dialog but deep beliefs always have expanded practical effects); these two series of acts are: Renouncing any kind of cooperation and harmony with the factors of oppression and corruption and even fighting and conflict with them, on the one hand; and selfimprovement, self-help and attracting physical, mental, material and spiritual preparations for that universal united government to be formed, on the other hand.
And if carefully notice then we will see that both sides of that are completely constructive and the cause of motivation, awareness and awakening. By considering the main definition of waiting, the meaning of narratives about the reward and the result of the act of those who are waiting will be understood well. Now, we understand that why those who are really waiting have been considered as those who are in the tent or under the flag of his holiness the Mahdi(as), or the one who is fighting with sword in the way of god or is inside his blood or has become martyr. Arent these different levels and stages of jihad in the way of truth and justice, which is appropriate with the amount of readiness and level waiting of individuals! It means that as the amount of self-sacrifice of Mujahids in the way of God and their role are different, waiting, self-improvement and preparation have also completely different levels that each of them is similar to one of those about preliminaries and results; both of them are jihad and both of them need preparation and self-improvement. A person who is in the tent of the leader of such government means that is standing in the headquarters of a universal government; such person cannot be a negligent, uninformed and ignorant person; that place is not a pace for everyone; there is the place of those who are truthfully competent for such important situation. Also, a person, who has weapon in his hands and fights beside the leader of this revolution against the oppositions of his government of peace and justice, should have enough spiritual, mental and martial readiness.
Now think that those who are waiting for the rise of a great universal peacemaker, in fact, they are waiting for a change and revolution which is the most expanded and essential revolution of human revolution during the entire history. A revolution, which, contrary to previous corrective revolutions, is not regional and is not exclusive to one aspect of the aspect of life, but it, includes all aspects of human life adding to being general and sweeping; it is a political, cultural, economical and moral revolution. Currently, we dont discuss about the matter that what is our reason for such revolution to happen. We postpone this to another discussion, because in this discussion, our goal is only the results and the effects of such belief and waiting that is really stupefying as some of materialists have assumed or is it motion-maker and corrective. We said before that, waiting always consists of two elements of denial and fixation; dissatisfaction of present conditions and love and affection for better conditions. The first aspect of the resolution, which is the aspect of denial, is removing the factors of disorder, corruption, destruction and washing the plate of society from the opposite sketches. After this stage, it is the time for the aspect of fixation, which is placing the factors of correction and construction. The combination of two concepts of waiting and universal revolution clears what we said before; it means that, those who are waiting for such revolution, if they are truly claiming (not like the false imaginary ones) then certainly the following effects will appear in them:
1) Personal Self-Improvement
The universal government of Mahdi needs ready and human-valued individuals, before anything else, who can bear the heavy weight of such expanded corrections; and firstly, it needs the increment of intellectual, awareness and spiritual and mental readiness level for cooperation in execution of this great program. Envy, narrow-mindedness, mistrust, childish and unwise conflicts, and totally any kind of concision and separation are not proper for the position of those who are really waiting. The important point is that the one who is really waiting for such important program cannot be the spectator, and should stand in the row of real reformists. Believing in the results and the effects of such change never lets him/her to stand in the row of oppositions and standing in the row of accordant ones also needs to have pure acts and purer souls, to have enough courage and awareness. If I am impure and polluted then how can I wait for a change and revolution, which its flame captures me first! An if I am corrupted and incorrect then how can I count the days for the system in which corrupted and incorrect persons have no place, even they are outcaste and hated! Isnt this waiting enough for purification of my spirit and thoughts and washing my body
and soul from pollutions and impurities! An army which is waiting for the jihad of freedom, surely goes to the state of complete alert; gains the weapon which is proper for such battlefield; corrects the available weapons; builds the necessary forts; increases martial readiness of its soldiers; encourages its soldiers; and keeps the flame of affection and desire for such fight alive in the hearts of each its soldiers; an army which doesnt have such readiness is not in the state of waiting at all and if claims then it is lying; waiting for a universal peacemaker means complete mental, moral, material and spiritual readiness for correcting the entire world. Imagine that how much such readiness can be constructive! Correcting the entire earth and finishing all oppressions and disharmonies is not a joke! It cannot be a simple act! Readiness for such great goal should be proper to that; which means should have its width and depth. For achieving such revolution very great and serious, very powerful and undefeatable, extraordinary, pure and honorable men are needed who are completely ready and have deep knowledge and vision; and self-improvement for such goal needs the deepest moral, intellectual and social programs to be utilized; this is the meaning of real waiting! Is there anybody who can say such waiting is not constructive!
2) Social Self-Helps
Those who are really waiting have also the duty to try to correct others adding to correcting themselves; because the great and heavy program which they expect is not an individual program; it is program in which all the elements of change should participate; they should work as a team; efforts should be in harmony and the depth and width of this harmony should be as great as that universal revolutionary program which they expect. In a vast battlefield nobody can ignore others, and has the duty to correct any weakness which he sees in any place, and amends any vulnerable position, and strengthens any weak part; because execution of such program is not possible without active and coordinated participation of all those who fight. Therefore, those who are really waiting, besides trying to correct themselves, also consider it as their duty to correct others. This is another constructive effect of waiting for the rise of a universal peacemaker! And this is the philosophy of many glories and superiorities, which have been mentioned for those who are really waiting.
The only thing which can blow the soul of hope into them and encourage them to resistance and continence and dont let them to be solved in corruption of the environment is the hope of final correction; only in this case they dont give up trying for keeping their purity and even correcting others. And if we see that in Islamic orders, disappointment from being forgiven is considered as one of the greatest sins and maybe unknown people is surprised that why disappointment from the mercy of God is this much important - more important from many other sins - its philosophy is that the sinner, who is disappointed from mercy, sees no reason for compensation and at least stopping the sins, and his/her logic is that: I am drowned, whether one meter or hundred meters; Ive been disgrace in the entire world, why should I be sorry; there is no color darker than black, at last it is hell, and now I have purchased it for myself, what should I fear from! But when the light of hope shines on him/her, hope of forgiveness of god and hope of changing the present conditions, a turning point appears in his/her life and maybe encourages him/her to stop performing sins and to return to purity and correction. Accordingly, hope can be considered as an effective corrective factor in correction of corrupted people, also, righteous people, who are living in corrupted environments, cannot free themselves without hope. Therefore, waiting for the advent of a peacemaker whose appearance is more excepts as the world becomes more corrupted, has mental strengthening effects on believers and insure them against powerful waves of corruption. They wont be disappointed by the expansion of corruption of the environment; even they see the goal in front of them and try more eagerly to fight against the corruption and for continence. We conclude from previous discussions that, waiting has stupefying effect only if its meaning is distorted and transformed, as some of its oppositions have distorted that; and some of its accordant ones have transformed, but it is executed in its real meaning in society and for individuals then it will be an important factor of correction, selfimprovement, motivation and hope. One of clear evidences which confirms this matter is that it is quoted from great leaders of Islam beneath the verse:
Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, (Surah Nur24:55) That the purpose of this verse is ( Mahdi and his companions). And we read: in another hadith: ( the verse has been descended about Mahdi) while in this verse Mahdi and his companion are introduced as . (Those who believe and perform righteous acts).
Therefore, realization of this universal revolution is not possible without a fortified belief that dispels any kind of weakness, humiliation and incapability and without righteous acts which open the way for correction of the world; and those who are waiting for such program should both increase their level of awareness and knowledge and try to correct themselves and their acts. Only such people can promise themselves living in his government, not those who are in coordination with oppression and injustice! And not those who are stranger with belief and righteous acts! Not cowards and despised persons who fear from anything even their own shadow because of weakness of belief! And not inactive and lazy and useless persons, who is sitting inactive against the corruptions of their living environment and society and stayed silent and dont even try to fight against corruption. Yes the real waiting is this!
6) Seeing all aspects of life and not being restricted to material aspect 7) A great soul, which is beyond categorizations, opposing groups and shortsightedness of personal interests and beyond available habits and traditions and schools. Also, revolutionary army of such leader should be trained excellently in order to be able to execute such great plan. Unknown, shortsighted, cowards, less ambitious, polluted, undecided and non-revolutionary members have no place in this revolution! Now, we want to leave this general discussion and study the appearance of this great universal peacemaker in Islamic resources, because by all predictions which have been done in approximately all religious resources of the world about such appearance, but in no religion this issue has been discussed as much as Islam and its details have not been noticed this much. It is interesting that, what have been mentioned in Islamic resources about this matter interestingly matches what we reach to through reason and wisdom; this accordance and harmony has to effects: On the one hand, assures us more to the judgments of wisdom. On the other hand, makes us more optimistic about the genuineness of Islamic teachings.
Before this We wrote in the Psalms, after the Message (given to Moses): My servants the righteous shall inherit the earth." Verily in this (Qur'an) is a Message for people who would (truly) worship Allah. (Surah Anbiyah 21: 105-106) First, the definitions of these words should be noticed: refers to the entire earth and includes the world completely, except that it has a
specific reference. literally means a thing, which reaches a person without any transaction and business, but in some cases of holy Quran, has been mentioned in the meaning of victory of a righteous nation over the unrighteous ones and using their facilities and benefits. essentially means any kind of book and text; but usually, it refers to the book of David which has been called Psalms of David in the Old Testament; and it is a collection of sacred poems of King David; it is also possible that refers to all previous divine books (before Quran). essentially means anything which advices or reminds, but in above verse, it has been interpreted to the divine book of Moses (as) (Torah), according to the fact that it has been introduced before , and according to another interpretation refers to holy Quran because it is mentioned in the verses of Quran:
Verily this is no less than a Message to (all) the Worlds (At-Takwir 81:27) Therefore, the phrase means adding to. (Attention!) means competent and righteous and when it is mentioned in its absolute definition, it includes competence in everything; scientific competence, moral competence, competence in faith, virtue, knowledge and management. And accordingly, the meaning of the verse is this: We wrote in Psalms adding to holy Quran (of after Torah) that my competent and righteous servants will have the earth; and it is enough for the group of worshipers (and those who make their steps in the way of servitude of god) in order to reach their goals. Mentioning this matter in ( if it means all previous divine books) is the reason for this matter to be available in all divine books as a constant principle. And if the purpose of that is Psalms of David then maybe it is because David had an expanded kingdom which was in the way of truth, justice and human interests; although it was regional and not comprehensive to the entire world; but it was announced to him in Psalms that a comprehensive universal government, based on freedom, security and justice, is waiting for the people of the world. It means that when they become enough competent and become the living example of and righteous servants of God, they will inherit and gain all the heritages and gifts of the earth, both material and spiritual governments. More explicit and clearer expressions can be found in some narratives, which have been quoted in interpretation of above verses. For instance, it is quoted in famous interpretation of Majma al-Bayan from Imam Baqir (as) beneath the above verse that:
These are the companions of Mahdi (as) in End of Days. Those self-constituted persons men and women who will inherit all the heritages of the earth; and will have the competence of this great prophecy. It is interesting that, the same exact matter can be found, with different expressions, in Psalms of David, which is today included in the Old Testament: For instance, we read in psalm 37: 9 For the wicked shall be cut off; but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land. 10 Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look well at his place, he will not be there. 11 But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity. Also, in psalm 37, this matter is mentioned with different expressions: 22 for those blessed by the Lord shall possess the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. 29 The righteous shall possess the land, and dwell upon it forever. As you can see, the word ( competent ones, righteous ones) which is mentioned in Quran is a comprehensive word, which includes the meek, wise men, righteous ones and those who wait for the Lord. And we reminded, it is derived from the verse
Verily in this (Qur'an) is a Message for people who would (truly) worship Allah. (Surah Anbiyah 21:106) That government on the earth is not the final goal of righteous and competent ones, but it is a tool for reaching the final goal, which is perfection of humans in all aspects, because means a thing with which they reach their goal.
Caliphate on Earth
We read in sura an-Noor:
Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: 'They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with Me. 'If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked. (Surah Nur 24:55) In this verse, three things have been explicitly promised to those who form the group of believer and competent persons. And we know that there are three pillars in a promise: The one who promises who is God in here; and those who are being promised to who are:
That means righteous believers; and what is being promised which are the three following matters: (1 - government on the earth as the successors of God; which means the government of truth and justice. 2) Deference to religion - spiritual influence and government of divine laws on the entire life 3) Converting the fear to security; and removing all causes of fear and insecurity; and establishment of complete security and peace on earth. The purpose of deference to religion, as it can be understood from other uses of the word deference, is that the teachings of religion influence all aspects of life constantly and deeply, not in the way of the words peace, freedom and human rights which are today playthings of their false defenders and they only tear their throats for hot mottoes about this matter, and there is no external sign of that; maybe they are just dreamy expressions which cannot be achieved in other than the world of dreams. In that day, freedom-giving and life-giving teachings of Islam, not in the form of series of formalities, and not in the form of a bunch of mummified expressions, but as a school of life will expand its roots everywhere and efforts of reconstruction will be made on the roots, not on branches and leaves and designs.
That day, awareness and feeling of responsibility will be public; and its expansion and generalization will prevent some people to play with words, and transform constructive meanings; however, these kinds of acts is only possible to be performed in societies in which there is no public awareness and feeling of responsibility, or it has not reached the minimum needed amount, otherwise, no place remained for this childish games. That day, personal and individual benefits wont remove correct public judgment, not like today that when a group of removers of human rights give speeches so much exciting, on the chairs of wide and large so-called global assemblies established for defending human rights that mouths remains open wide of surprise; even they consider available declarations about human rights (which in fact they didnt have acted according to any of them) incomplete and not enough, and even leaders of human rights in the world applause for them, because they are friends of each other and their interests will be in danger without these acts. In that day, peace and security are not mixed with fear, not like the security, which appears sometimes in todays, world and it is the result of fear of terrible and horrible weapons. This is the balance of fear not the balance of peace! This peace is the result of great fear of the painful effects of war not the real peace! Therefore, anytime that balance of fear is disordered then the pillars of this security and false peace will fall. The result of these three divine promises is preparations for human making and more perfection in human definitions and pure servitude of God, and breaking all idols in all forms
.
It is better to look at the expressions of interpreters and what has been said about the cause of revelation of the above verse: Some of interpreters believe that this verse revealed when the companions of Prophet (S) had immigrated to Medina. A new movement was formed; a movement that shook the old and rotten society that was filled with superstitions and full of ignorance, oppression, and ignorant discrimination and naturally the flags of opposition was high in any place. Although, limited but devoted companions of this divine revolution was in fact controlling the situation by using the great dynamism of the new religion, but the number of oppositions was so many and the jangled so much loud that their truthful cries were lost among them. Severity of opposition of tribes was so much that revolutionary soldiers of Prophet (S) were always alert; they slept every night with weapons and woke up in the mornings with weapons and in tight and heavy clothes of war.
Continuing this condition for a long time was surely harmful. How is it possible to sleep with armor and boot beside sword and shield? An interrupted sleep accompanied by awakening! Sometimes, they wished that the time comes when they can sleep one night in peace in comfortable bed; without any threatening danger from the enemy. Neither to fear from the sudden assault of the enemy during prayer nor to fear from their camisado; worship the God freely; break the idols; and live a peaceful life under the shadow of Government of justice of Quran. Therefore, sometimes they worried about their conditions and asked each other that will such day come?! Meantime, the above verse revealed and promised them that: Yes, such day will come and this is the great promise of God; certain and inviolable promise! And we saw in the history of Islam that how that day came by complete conquers of Prophet (S) over the Arabian Peninsula. This cause of revelation seems completely natural for the verse, but as we are familiar with different verses of Quran and their causes of revelation, we know that it is never possible to restrict the vast meanings of verses to the boundaries of their causes of revelation; but always, cause of revelation is one of the examples of the verse. Specifying a verse to its cause of revelation is exactly like that we throw away a weapon which we were using in war against the enemy after the way, although it is still useful, precious and rare. Albeit, at the end of the age of Prophet (S) a part of the meaning of the verse became practical, but establishment of complete meaning of the verse and caliphate on the entire earth has not been established yet, and world is waiting for that. The verse promises all competent believers in all ages and centuries that finally, government of the world will be for the competent ones and wont be the plaything for a bunch of selfish dictator imperialist, who pas the world to each other like a ball, forever. Therefore, we read in narratives that this verse has been interpreted to the rise of promised Mahdi; for instance, Tabarsi, the precious interpreter, quotes from Imam Sajjad (as) in Majma al-Bayan that:
(This group is those followers of us who accomplish this matter with a man of our dynasty and he is Mahdi of this nation).
)( )( )
And it is narrated from Al-`Ayyaashee by his chain of narrators from `Alee bin Al-Hussayn ( ) that he read the ayah and he ( ) said: They are, by Allah, our Shias of the Ahl Al-Bayt and this act Allah for them by His hand a man from us, and he is Mahdi from this Ummah, and he is who the Messenger of Allah ( ) said: If there does not remain (even) one day from this world, Allah would make that day longer until a man from my `itra (lineage) comes. His name is my name, and he will fill the earth with justice like the amount of oppression and tyranny that filled (the earth). And it is also narrated like this from Abi Ja`far ( ) and Abi `Abd Allah Source: Al-Tabarsi, Majma` Al-Bayan, vol. 7, pg. 239 - 240 Then he quotes the same matter from Imam Baqir (as) and Imam Sadiq (as). Afterwards, he adds that the verse is absolute and includes the caliphate on the entire earth and we should wait for it because the promise has not been realized yet. And in the interpretation Burhan, several narratives have been quoted from Imam Sadiq (as) and Imam Baqir (as) beneath this verse that the verse refers to the rise of He Who Arises (as). It is also necessary to remind that by considering the word , existence of a competent, believer and righteous minority is enough who start their global revolution when the backgrounds are ready, and this sinking ship reaches the coast of rescue by their leadership. 3) It is mentioned in sura at-Tawbah:
It is He Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it). (Surah
Tawbah 9:33) For understanding the meaning of this verse, we should return to the previous verse, which says:
Enemies desire to put out the light of God by their mouths, but God intends to complete his light, although the unbelievers are averse. (Surah Tawbah 9:32) It is cleared well from this verse that the Gods will is to complete the light of Islam and its real perfection is the time when it covers the entire world. Then God says this truth more explicitly in the next verse: He is the one who sent his messenger with guidance and religion of truth, in order to prevail over all religions, although the polytheists are averse. The same promise is repeated in sura al-Fath with a little difference:
He is the one who sent His Messenger with guidance and religion of truth, in order to prevail over all religions, and God is enough as the witness (of this great promise). (Surah Fath 48:28) And finally for the third time, we see this great promise in sura as-Staff, with the same expression of sura at-Tawbah:
It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it). (Surah Saf 61:9) The importance of this divine promise can be briefly understood from these verses, which are mentioned in three suras of holy Quran.
But it is important to clear the meaning of the phrase : Firstly, does the pronoun refer to the Prophet (S) or to ? In the first case, its meaning is the victory of the Prophet (S) over all religions, and in the second case, the victory of religions of Islam. But by considering that is closer, according to the literature rules, reference of the pronoun to that seems to be more correct (although it has not much difference in the result). Moreover, victory of a religion over other religions is more proper that the victory of a person over other religions. (Attention!) Secondly, (and the important part is this) what is the purpose of in here? There is no doubt that here, doesnt mean appearance and manifestation but it means to prevail and victory; because one of the famous meanings of the word is this; in the book Qamoos which is one of the famous resources of Arabic language, it is mentioned that: . In the book Mufradat written by Raghib is also mentioned that: . This word has been used in the meaning of prevail and victory in several verses of holy Quran in suras at-Tawbah Mumin (al-Ghafir) and Kahf. For example: (1) How their pact has respect, while if they prevail over you then they dont observe the kinship and the pact! (Surah Tawbah 9:08). (2) O you my people {of Pharaoh}! Today you have victory on the earth (but) (Surah Ghafir 40:29). ... (3) If they have victory over you (companions of Kahf) then they will stone you! (Surah Kahf 18:20). But the discussion is that what kind of victory is the purpose of the victory of this religion over other religions? Interpreters have expressed three interpretations for that: 1) Logical victory; it means that by comparing Islam with other religions which are mostly mixed with superstitions, the victory of its reasonable logic over other logics is clear.
Adherents of this interpretation believe that whenever we compare the pure Islamic monotheism with monotheisms mixed with polytheism or pure polytheism then the superiority of the school of Islam over other schools will be cleared, also other discussions. This divine promise has been realized; even comparing the motto of Adhan, which is a communicative and motivating motto, with the motto of bell and other religions, which have no motto, clears this logical victory. 2) The purpose is practical victory and external conquering over other religions, but in a regional scale not global and general. This has been also realized; because Islam conquered the Arabian Peninsula in the time of Prophet (S) and after that, conquered a great flourished part of the world and followers of other religions and faiths in these regions which was from the Great Wall of China - maybe beyond the Great Wall of China - to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrendered themselves to Islam. Even when the dominance of Islamic government was removed from these regions then Islam still remained as a religion in these regions. 3) The purpose is practical and external victory and dominance over the entire world, which includes cultural, economical and political victory; and this interpretation, has been accepted by some of Sunni interpreters adding to Shiites. Certainly, this promise has not been realized yet and it only matches the government of the promised Mahdi that the government of truth and justice covers everywhere and this religion will prevail over other religions in global scale. And we have evidences, which prove the priority of the third interpretation over other interpretations, because: Firstly, dominance and victory which is derived from the word is appeared in sensible, objective and external dominance, not intellectual and mental dominance; therefore, in none of the cases which we expressed from Quran, is not mentioned in the meaning of mental dominance, but if we return to previous verses and notice then we see that in all these cases the meaning is objective and external dominance. Secondly, mentioning the word for stressing clears that the dominance is not regional and limited and it includes all religions and faiths of the world and it is not possible without comprehensiveness of Islam in the entire world. Thirdly, narratives that we have in interpretation of the above verse strengthen the third interpretation, like the following narratives: 1) Ayyaashee quotes from Abayah referring to Imran ibn Maytham that: Amir al-Mumineen Ali (as) asked his companions when he recited the verse ...:
Is this victory achieved? They said: Yes! He said: (No! I swear to the one whom my life is in his hands, this victory wont appear, except for the time when there is no village remained on the earth except is heard from that!1 2) We read in another hadith from Imam Baqir (as): 5 (This victory will be in the time of the rise of Mahdi from the dynasty of Muhammad (S), in the way that nobody remains on the world except that testifies to Muhammad (S).2 3) Miqdad ibn Aswad says: )( (No brick house and no tent (in the desert) will remain on the entire earth, except that Islam enters that).3 There are also some other narratives in interpretation of the above verse with the same meaning. This was a part of the verses of holy Quran, which affirm universal peace and justice, and belief of Islam and monotheism on the entire world.
Firstly, in fact, those who deny tradition and correct ahadith are considered as denier of Quran itself, because Quran has explicitly introduced the expressions of Prophet (S) as a reliable and binding resource and says: Accept whatever prophet has brought to you and orders you to do and act according to that, and abstain from whatever he prohibits you from (Surah Hashr 59:7) No believer man and woman have the right to disobey the order of God and his messenger! (Surah Ahzab 33:36) Anyone who obeys the prophet has obeyed God and those who ignore, you are not responsible for them (and their punishment is by god (Surah Nisa 4: 80) And other verses which all of them consider order of prophet binding as the order of God. Secondly, Quran contains general orders and essential laws of Islam; and if we ignore the tradition then it loses its practical aspect and remains as intellectual generalities which is not executable; because all the details and practical and executable regulations of those general laws have entirely expressed in the tradition. Although, some unknown people insisted that nobody writes the ahadith of Prophet (S), after his demise, lest it disturbs Quran! But after a while, everyone understood the weakness of this though that if more time passes and ahadith of Prophet (S) are forgotten then Islam loses its executable and practical aspect; therefore, that the leave that oldfashioned, fanatical and short-sighted theory and began collecting hadith books. Thirdly, it is true that forgers entered into Islamic ahadith and began disordering ahadith with different motives, but it is not in the way that there is no regulation for correct, fake and doubtful ahadith, and they are not differentiable; but this act is completely possible by considering the sciences of Rijal, hadith and Dirayah. 2) He is a revolutionary man not a materialist politician! None of the reasons which have been mentioned through wisdom or innate and genuine human nature for realization of an expanded reformist revolution in the entire world - like the verses which can be seen in Quran about this matter - talks about a specific person; and they only follow a general discussion, but undoubtedly, such revolution needs a leader like other revolutions; a powerful, knowledgeable, resistant leader having expanded and global sight. Is it possible for this leader to rise from materialist societies like todays leaders of the
world? It means like the leader whom their first goal is keeping their positions, and then whatever helps them to keep their positions; and their obedience from different political and economical schools is as much as the effect which they have in keeping their positions; and in the next level their highest goal and ambition is to make steps toward the benefits of their nation, although they take other nations to slaughterhouse! Twenty years of war in Vietnam with millions of casualties and millions of destroyed houses, and millions of handicaps, and billions of lost capitals, proved that todays capitalism is ready to fight for keeping its benefits, and even sometimes for nothing - not nothing, but a bunch of hallucinations called prestige and nothing else; and during this time some great leaders were replaced, but all of them followed their predecessors in this way and proved that this act was not personal opinion of an individual or individuals but it is an expression that they are all expressing and in this the characteristic of the countries which is being governed with those principles. They demand freedom as the greatest goal, but only for themselves; sometimes, they talk about freedom for others but when it interferes with their benefits then it is immediately removed, like a snowball in summer! They all gather and cooperate for providing their material interests and their only sacred and acceptable principle is this; maybe they have made a permanent and eternal contract about this matter. And tools like human rights and principle of freedom of humans in choosing their destiny are mostly for defeating the opponents; accordingly, when their friends are in the field, these tools are useless and they are exempt of execution of these principles because of that friendship and commonness of interest! Is it possible for these social systems and these superpowers to flutter the flag of freedom and justice in the world and is there any difference between superpowers! The condition of capitalist superpowers and their oppression, injustice and imperialism is clear without any expression and it doesnt need any discussion. But left superpowers: they have destroyed all powers and reduced to some persons - that means the leaders of their only party - for generalization of justice among the working class and building a non-stratified society. They melt down thousands of big and small feudalists in the furnace of revolution proletariat, and made some giant feudalists by them who hold the strings of all political and economical movements of the region. They have enforced so much censorship that people dont have even the right of thinking against what these leaders want or think! They have made the principles, which are produced by the mind of changed revolutionized human in the way of evolution, into the series of forever dogmatic principles, maybe they want to stop the history in the previous century and stop their wheels forever. Sometimes, one of the leaders, who have defeated other opponents, becomes so much of a dictator that it reminds us of legendary dictators like Mongolian leader and for instance like
Mr. Stalin who consider killing one million and two hundred thousand people permitted! But after the death, even they move their body from this grave to another and remove their name from anywhere, maybe he has never existed, while he was the only shelter of freedom for the working class and the only friend and supporter of exploited people of the world until yesterday! Sometimes, they fight very hard with their associates for keeping their interests and become friend with their strong enemies and make peaceful coexistence and forget their eternal principles! Is it possible for them to flutter the flag of justice in the world and call the nations beneath that? What should we expect from a materialistic school other than this? Certainly not! Whether it is Materialism Capitalism, Materialism Socialism or Materialism Marxism.4 Only a human and beyond-material school can execute such humanly program in the entire world: A school, which its leader doesnt think of his position, doesnt belong only to his nation. Dont look at the world only from the limited point of view of materialism. Have divine, high and deep thoughts, and is pure of lowliness and flounders. He is the one who can save the humanity from this dangerous passage of history and take to the land of safety, under the light of the principles, which its alphabets are different with the alphabets of the principles of materialism. Who is he? And who will it be? General belief of Muslims is that he is a man called Mahdi with the following characteristics.
Arabic text for being recorded in history and for those who want to study more.
A Living Evidence
About two years ago6 a person called Abu Muhammad from Kenya asked Muslim World League, which is one of the most effective religious centers of Mecca and Hejaz a question about the advent of the promised Mahdi. Secretary General of the league, Muhammad Salih al-Qazzaz, sent a brief treatise which was written by five presently famous scholars of Hejaz about this matter for him, in answering his question adding to affirming that Ibn Taymiyyah, the founder of Wahhabism, has also accepted the ahadith of the advent of Mahdi. We read in this treatise, after mentioning the name of his holiness Mahdi and the place of his appearance, which is Mecca, that: at the time of dominance of corruption in the world and distribution of infidelity and oppression, God fills the world with justice by him (Mahdi) as it is filled with oppression and injustice. He is the last one of twelve Rashidun Caliphs whom Prophet (S) has informed us about them is authentic ( )books. Ahadith related to the Mahdi have been quoted by many of companions of Prophet (S), including: Uthman Ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Talha ibn Ubayd-Allah, Abdur Rahman bin Awf, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Ammar ibn Yasir, Abdullah ibn Masud, Abu Said al-Khudri, Thawban, Qarat ibn Asas Mazani, Abdullah ibn Harith, Abu Hurairah, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, Jabir ibn Abdullah, Abu Umama, Jabir ibn Majed, Abdullah ibn Umar, Anas ibn Malik, Umar ibn Haseen and Umm Salama. These are twenty people of those who have quoted the narratives about Mahdi and there are also many others beside them. Also, companions have said many expressions about the advent of Mahdi which is possible to consider them in the category of narratives of Prophet (S); because this issue is not among the issue which are possible to be discussed in ijtihad (therefore, they have also heard the matter from the prophet). Then he adds: Both the above ahadith which are quoted from Prophet (S) and testimonials of companions which are considered here as hadith, have been quoted in many famous Islamic books and main hadith texts of Prophet (S) including traditions ,( )Maajim (( )pl. of Mujam) and supported books (Musnads), including: Sunan Abu Dawood, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, ibn Maja, ibn Amr al-Dani, Musnad Ahmad and ibn Yali and Bazzaz. And Sahih al-Hakim and Maajim al-Tabarani (Kabeer and Awsat) and Ruyani and al-Daraqutni and Abu Naeem in Akhbar al-Mahdi and Khatib in History of Baghdad and ibn Asakir in History of Damascus and other than them. Then he adds that:
Some of Islamic scholars have written special books in this subject, including: Abu Naeem in Akhbar al- Mahdi, Ibn Hajar al-Haythami in Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, Shawkani in al-Tawdhih fi Tawatur ma Ja'a fi al-Muntazar wa alDajjal wa al-Masih, Idris al-Iraqi al-Maghribi in al-Mahdi, Abu al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Mumin al-Maghribi in the book al-Wahm al-Maknoon fi Radd Ala ibn Khaldun. And the latest person who has written an explained discussion in this subject is the dean of Medina Islamic University who has discussed in some issues of the magazine published by the university. Some of great scholars of Islam including past and present ones have also confirmed in their writings that ahadith about Mahdi are in the limit of Tawatur (and are not deniable) including: Al-Sakhawi in the book Fath al-Mugeeth, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Safawini in Sharh alAqida, Suyuti in al-Hawi, Idris Iraqi in the book that he has written about Mahdi, Shawkani in the book al-Tawdhih fi Tawatur ma Ja'a fi al-Muntazar , Muhammad Jafar al-Kattani in Nazm al-Mutanathir, Abu al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Mumin in al-Wahm alMaknoon . He says at the end of the discussion: (Only) it is Ibn Khaldun who has tried to oppose ahadith about Mahdi with a baseless fake hadith that says ( Mahdi in nobody but Jesus!), but great leaders and scholars of Islam has denied his expression; especially Ibn Abd al-Mumin who has written a special book in denying his expression which has been published in the East and the West from 30 years ago. Memorizers of ahadith and superior scholars have also affirmed that ahadith of Mahdi contain authentic ( )and acceptable ( )ahadith which are totally Mutawatir (reach the source). Therefore, believing the advent of Mahdi is obligatory to (any Muslim) and it is considered as the beliefs of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jamaah and nobody ignores that except the ignorant persons and the heretics. According to my opinion, the above discussion is so much clear that it needs no extra explanation; accordingly, arent people who say that believing the advent of Mahdi is an imported thought making a big mistake! Now the Main Text of the Letter. Here, we mention the main test of the letter which had been sent by a man from Kenya to Muslim World League which is an official Islamic center in Mecca about the promised Mahdi and the text of the answer which has been sent for him by the Secretary General of the league under supervision of five famous scholars of Hejaz. And this is the same letter, which we mentioned the translation of its important part without the wane before. The only point which is necessary to be reminded here is that the important difference of this writing which the beliefs of Shiites is that the name of the father of his holiness Mahdi
(as) is mentioned Abdullah, while in Shiite books the name of his respected father is certainly Imam Hassan al-Askari and the source of this disagreement is that in some of (His the narratives of Ahl Sunnah this sentence has been mentioned that fathers name is the name of my father) while evidences show that this sentence was (His fathers name is the name of my son, and this change has originally happened because of a mistake in punctuation. (This possibility has been also affirmed by al-Kanji al-Shafei in the book al-Bayan fi Akhbar Sahib al-Zaman). And anyhow, that sentence is not reliable because: Firstly, this sentence is not available in most of Sunni narratives. Secondly, we read in the famous narrative of Ibn Abi Layli . Thirdly, Mutawatir narratives through Ahl al-Bayt (pbut) testify that his fathers name is Hassan. Fourthly, it is also affirmed in some of Sunni narratives that he is the son of Imam Hassan Askari. (For more explanation about this matter, refer to the book Muntakhab al-Athar pages 231 to 236, chapter 11, and the book Noor al-Absar). )(
) 21 1976( . : ) ( . ) ( ) ( . ) ( ; ; ; ; .
. ) (; ; ; . ; ; ; . ; . ; . ; ; . ; . . . . Here, it is necessary to add some other expressions of some of famous Sunni scholars about what has been said: 1) Famous scholar, Sheikh Mansour Ali Nasif, the writer of the book at-Taj7 writes in his book: - - "" . And he continues: . It means, it is famous among all past and present scholars that finally a man from the dynasty of the Prophet (S) appears who dominates over all Islamic countries, and Muslims follow him; and he establishes the justice among them, and strengthens the religion ahadith of Mahdi have been quoted but many of superiors of companions and hadith tellers and a person like Ibn Khaldun, who has considered them as weak sources, has made a mistake.8 2) Ibn Khaldun himself, who is famous of opposing ahadith of Mahdi, hasnt denied the
famousness of ahadith of Mahdi among all Islamic scholars, and he says: It was famous among all Muslims in all centuries and still is that a man from Ahl al-Bayt will appear in End of Days who stresses the religion of Islam and shows the justice and Muslims follow him.9 3) Muhammad Shablanji, famous Egyptian scholar, writes in the book Noor al-Absar: )( (Mutawatir news has reached from Prophet (S) that Mahdi is from his dynasty; he will fill the earth with justice.10 4) Sheikh Muhammad Sabban3 writes in the book Asaaf ar-Raghibeen: Mutawatir (reaches the source) news has been quoted from holy Prophet (S) that testifies that Mahdi will (finally) rise and he is from prophets dynasty and will fill the earth with justice. 5) Ibn Hajar quotes from Abul Hassan Amri in the book Sawaiq al-Muhragha: Mutawatir and several news has been quoted from Prophet (S) that finally Mahdi appears and he is from Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet (S) and will fill the earth with justice.11 6) Author of the book at-Taj says after pointing to the book of Shawkani, famous Sunni scholar, which is all about Tawatur of ahadith of Mahdi and appearance of Dajjal and return of messiah and an explained discussion about Tawatur of ahadith Mahdi (as): ! (What has been said seems to be enough for those who has a bit of faith and little fairness!)12 For more explanation about ahadith of the rise of this great revolutionary man of the world, which has been quoted through Ahl Sunnah, refer to the book al-Mahdi and Muntakhab al-Athar fi Ahwal al-Imam al-Thani Ashar.
3) This news has been abused by those who claim for Mahdaviat! 4) This news causes the society to become inactive! 5) This news is in benefit of Shiites and their beliefs!
Moreover, ahadith of Mahdi is not an integrated unit that to be accepted or denied together; in other words, the certain matter of the foresaid ahadith, which is the rise of a person from the dynasty of Prophet (S) and from the sons of Fatima (sa) and establishment of a universal reformist revolution, and filling the earth with justice, is not a matter that can be objected by wisdom, but we previously proved that this issue is according to a series rational reasons; but, if a part of ahadith about the signs of the advent and like them seem not to be able to be accepted, and are not reliable and clear about the document then we can deny that, but unacceptance of them has no relation with the other ones! Briefly, we dont know that why some people have ignored the method of studying and criticism of each of ahadith one by one and have made such mistakes! These ahadith say that material civilization doesnt correct the human; 25 years of war in Vietnam was a wonderful examination furnace; all thinkers are examining their opinions in this furnace; but I, as a religious scholar, say that it is a reason for incapability of materialistic schools, and that all material tools are the tools for making the conditions more critical, as we can see that in other parts of the world. Thirdly, if these ahadith is in benefit of Shia then is it the fault of Shiites or the fault of ahadith?! What is the problem of clearing a truth in this way?! Moreover, although the foresaid ahadith confirms the opinion of Shia but meanwhile, they dont necessitate accepting Shia by accepting them. There are lots of people who have accepted the rise of Mahdi but they are not Shiite because of any reason. And anyhow, bias shouldnt prevent the truth to be understood; it is exactly like that a person says that a physician was my enemy and gave me a healing medicine but I dont use that, because if I use that and become healthy then it is in benefit of that physician and people that he is a good physician! Fourthly, it is true that these ahadith have been abused but which truth didnt have been abused in the world?! Were the false claimants of prophecy or divinity or other spiritual dignities few in the world?! Are factitious and false religions few in the world?! Should we deny all these truths because of abuses of aberrant ones?! And absolutely deny god and prophecy of the messenger of god?! Havent material powers of the world been abused many times?! Should we remove them all! What logic is this! In the nineteenth century, about ten persons of liar messiahs appeared - and made many people to follow them - this matter had caused war and riot and many people had become the victims of the swords.13 Are these the causes of ignoring the messiah completely, because his name has been abused! Fifthly, as it was explained completely in the discussion of waiting, believing the rise of Mahdi for those who understand its truth is not the cause of inaction and idleness, but it is the cause of hope and courage against hard problems and accidents of the life; as believing God and his eternal power gives the person strength against the problem, and builds a safe and secure shelter against the factors of disappointment, believing the advent of Mahdi has
also such effect and essentially, waiting for the rise of Mahdi is a powerful motive for correction and movement of society. Now, some people didnt have understand the meaning of this rise and have gone toward idleness and escaping from responsibilities; it is their own fault for not understanding the matter as in the issue of believing in God and the influence of his eternal power in the universe of existence, some uninformed people have also made the same mistake. Briefly, it is not possible to leave a certain truth because of these weak excuses.
1) in the first chapter, it is pointed to ahadith which have been quoted from Prophet (S) and Imams (pbut) about the twelve leaders from, and 271 ahadith from famous Sunni and Shiite resources have been collected in his chapter that some of them contain the term Imam, some of them Caliph and some others Amir or other expressions like these. These ahadith have been mentioned in the most important hadith resources of Ahl Sunnah and the most important resources of Ahl al-Bayt. Justification of these kinds of narratives is clear for Shiites, but Ahl Sunnah have great difficulty in justification of these ahadith because on the one hand, they dont deny the existence of these ahadith in their genuine resources and on the other hand, they didnt have accepted the belief of Shiites about the twelve Imams; sometimes, they consider the first four caliphs as the main issue and add the next 8 caliphs to them! While, if they want to consider the caliphs one by one as those who have been promised by prophet as truthful successors then it is not possible to accept persons like Yazid and his successors from the rulers of Umayyad Caliphate among them, with as much condemnation; and if want to select some of them who were less aberrant then we have no criterion for that according to the unity of the goals of Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate; moreover, cutting the chain of these twelve successors by time makes problem itself. Sometimes, they say that four of these 12 caliphs are those first caliphs and 8 of them will come in future times and the last one of them is Mahdi! And in this way, as much we perform fanaticism, it is a big gap among the chain of truthful successors of prophet that is not according to the foresaid narratives anyway. 2) In the next chapter, narratives have been mentioned, which show that the number of the leaders after Prophet (S) is the number of superiors and grandchildren of Bani Israel that holy Quran has counted them as twelve persons; and 40 ahadith have been collected in this subject from the books of both groups, which in fact complete the previous discussion. 3) In the third chapter, narratives have been collected, which affirm that they are 12 persons and their first one is Ali (as) and the number of the narratives of this discussion is 133. 4) In the next chapter, 91 narratives have been collected from the resources of both groups, which say the fist caliph is Ali (as) and the last one if Mahdi (as). 5) In the next chapter, it talks about ahadith, which affirm that Imams are 12 persons, and 9 of them are from the sons of Hussein ibn Ali (as); 139 ahadith have been mentioned in this chapter. 6) In another chapter the discussion is about narratives in which this sentence is mentioned that ( the ninth of them will be the one who arises) adding to confirming the number 12 and the matter that 9 of them are from the sons of Hussein (as). There are 107 ahadith in this chapter. 7) In another chapter, ahadith have been mentioned that have specified them with names; some of these ahadith have been collected from Sunni resources but most of them have been collected from Shiite resources and 50 ahadith have been mentioned in this chapter. Also, several narratives about physical and spiritual characteristics of Mahdi and the signs of his advent and the conditions of his government and universal revolution and other
issues related to this great rise. It is cleared from these ahadith that the great universal peacemaker, the promised Mahdi, has the following characteristics: A) Is from the dynasty of prophet of Islam and his children. B) Is from the sons of Imam Hussein (as). C) Is the twelfth leader after the prophet. D) Is the son of Hassan ibn Ali al-Askari. E) Will fill the world with justice. F) He will have the universal government. G) Deprived and exploited ones will become free in his time and wars will end and peace and construction will take their place. As we said before, the number of these narratives is so many that it needs a separated books and we abstain from mentioning all of narratives, except those which are necessary to be mentioned in the next discussions for explaining and completing the discussion, because different books have been written about this subject that some of them have been mentioned above. The problem is that usually, scholars have only quoted the narratives and didnt have analyzed them enough; our goal in this book is to work more on rational reasons, also to analyze the reasons in quotations and narratives. 1. Majma al-Bayan, beneath the verse 9, interpretation of sura as-Saff (61). 2. Interpretation Burhan, vol. 2, page 121. 3. Majma al-Bayan, beneath the verse 33, sura at-Tawbah (9). 4. It should be considered that the master has written this text before the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran and the book End of the Age of Marxism is published from him ten years before the Collapse of the Soviet Unions. Publisher. 5. A group of great scholars of al-Azhar and Egypt have written important commentaries on this book, as it is written in its preface, it has been written for collecting a reliable collection of quintet hadith books which is one of the most important hadith books of Sunnis. 6. Consider the time of writing the book. 7. at-Taj, vol. 5, page 310. 8. Ibn Khaldun, printed in Beirut, page 311 (according to the quotation of Mahmoud Aburiya in the book Azwa ala al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiya). 9. Noor al-Absar, page 157. 10. Risalah of Sabban, commentary on Noor al-Absar, printed in Egypt, page 138. 11. Sawaiq, page 99. 12. at-Taj, vol. 5, page 327. 13. Bible Dictionary, page 818. 14. This book has been also translated to Persian.
(as the world is filled with oppression and injustice). The exact expression can be found in many ahadith, which have been mentioned in Shiite and Sunni resources. And it is understood from them entirely, that one of the clearest signs of this revolution is this matter. Here, one question is asked that do oppression ( )and injustice ( )have any difference that these two words have been emphasized repeatedly? It is understood from the root of these words that violating the right of others has two types, that there is one separated word for each of them in Arabic literature. The first one is that a person takes others right for him/her and usurps the results of others efforts; it is called Oppression The other one is to take others rights and to give it to another people and to dominate the persons adherents over the lives and honors and assets of people for strengthening the bases of the power, and to take power by unjust discriminations, it is called injustice. The antonym of oppression is fair distribution ( )and the antonym of injustice is justice .()1 Anyway, when violation of others rights, from one side, and discriminations, from the other side, fill the human society, he appears and removes all of them. What have been said above were generalities about the sweeping corruption as a factor of mutation and revolution, which is predictable in any kinds of revolution. But it is considerable that: Details of these signs and corruption have been mentioned in Islamic cabbalas in the way that maybe they are not from 13 or 14 centuries ago, but they belong to present century and maybe some years ago; and today, which we see many of them with our own eyes, we believe that they are indeed miraculous! For instance, tens of these corruption, which a part of them have social and political aspect and another part has moral aspect, have been mentioned in a narratives from Imam Sadiq(as) that studying them makes the human to think deeply about the issue. Here it is the text of the foresaid narrative with the English translation: From Humraan (bin A`yan) said, Abu `Abd Allah ( ) said:
You will see (a time) when haqq (truth) has died, and left its people And you will see that tyranny has encompassed the countries And you will see the Quran has become old, and new thing (innovations) about it when it is not there, and it (Quran) being directed by the desires
4. And you will see the religion turned upside down like water (bowl) being turned upside down 5. And you will see the people of falseness rise above the people of haqq (righteousness) 6. And you will see evil become apparent and no one prohibits it, and excuses its companions 7. And you will see fisq (immorality) become apparent and men being satisfied by men and women being (satisfied) with women 8. And you will see a believing person become silent and his words are not accepted
9. And you will see a faasiq (immoral person) lie and his lies and slander are not refuted 10. And you will see young (people) demean the older people 11. And you will see relations being severed 12. And you will see one who is praised for his fisq (immoral ways) and he laughs at it, and his saying are not refuted/rejected 13. And you will see a boy give what a women gives 14. And you will see women marry women 15. And you will see compliments become many 16. And you will see a man spend his wealth in something other than in obedience to Allah, and he is not prohibit, and his hand is not taken back 17. And you will see the onlookers seek refuge with Allah because of what they see a believer struggles to do
18. And you will see neighbors harm neighbors and no one will prevent it 19. And you will see the kaafir become happy because of what he see in the believers, and he will become happy because of the fesad (corruption) in the land 20. And you will see wine being drunk in public and gatherings about it, one who is not afraid of Allah () 21. And you will see Amr bil ma`roof (Commanding the good) become ignoble 22. And you will see a faasiq do what Allah does not love, (and is) mighty and praised .23 23. And you will see people of the signs despised, and the who like them despised 24. And you will see the path of good halted, and the path of evil adopted . 25. And you will see the House of Allah being inactive and becoming abandoned 26. And you will see a man say what he does not do 27. And you will see men (use) oil (?) for men and women for women
28. And you will see men earn a livelihood from homosexuality and women earn a livelihood from prostitution. 29. And you will see women take to gatherings like men take (to gatherings) 30. And you will see feminine in the progeny of Al-`Abbas becoming apparent, and dyeing becoming apparent and combing like the combing of women for their husbands and men are awarded money for their sexual organs, and compete with a man, and dissimilarities for men and people of money are cherished from the believers, and riba (usury) becoming apparent and it is not taunted, and zina (adultery) praised in women. 31. And you will see women do a favor to her husband upon the marriage of men (?) 32. And you will see many people and the best houses are those who help women commit fisq (immorality) 33. And you will see the believer depressed and scorned and humiliated 34. And you will see bid`ah (innovation) and zina (adultery) become apparent 35. And you will see people argue with false witnesses
36. And you will see haram turn into halal 37. And you will see halal turn into haram 38. And you will see the religion taken by ray (personal opinion) and the book and its laws become neglected 39. And you will see (people) not hide in the night from their action against Allah 40. And you will see a believer cannot deny except with his heart .41 And you will see great (amounts) of wealth being spend in what Allah ( ) gets annoyed 42. And you will see rulers become closer to the people of kufr (disbelief) and separate from the people of khayr (good) 43. And you will see rulers being bribed for a judgment 44. And you will see governing being obliged to those who are more (wealthy, status)
45. And you will relatives having marriage (with each other) and becoming satisfied by it 46. And you will see men murder for an accusation and upon dhan (conjecture) and differences with another man who gives himself and his wealth 47. And you will see a man(?) 48. And you will see a man eat from the earnings of his wife, (which she got) from immoral actions and him knowing it, and being okay with it. 49. And you will see women overcome her husband and work for what he desires and she spends for husband 50. And you will see men hire his women and slave girl and accept with worthless things from food and drinks .51 And you will see Iman (faith) in Allah (( ) be based) on many falsehoods 52. And you will see gambling become apparent 53. And you will see wine vendors become apparent and no one prevents it
54. And you will see the women give themselves to the people of kufr 55. And you will see amusements become apparent, and (people) pass by it and no one prevents it, and no one will dare to stop it 56. And you will see the Sharif (the dignified/reputable) become humbled because he fears his ruler 57. And you will see the closest people to the rulers will be praised for cursing the Ahl AlBayt () 58. And you will see whoever loves us are (called) liars and their testimonies are not accepted 59. And you will see those who compete over false words 60. And you will see the Quran will become heavy on the people to listen to, and it will be light upon the people to listen to falsehood 61. And you will see a neighbor honor another neighbor because of fear of his tongue
62. And you will see punishments become neglected and people will act according to their desires 63. And you will see the masjid (pl. masjid) being adorned / beautified 64. And you will see the truthful people from the people are the slanderers and liars 65. And you will see evil and tale bearing become apparent 66. And you will see adulteresses become rampant 67. And you will see gheebah (backbiting) become likeable and the people give it as good news to one another 68. And you will see seek for hajj and jihad for other than Allah 69. And you will see rulers humiliate the believers for the unbelievers 70. And you will see destruction pass from ages 71. And you will see men earn a livelihood from cheating in measuring and scaling
72. And you will see bloodshed being undervalued 73. And you will see a man seeking leadership for the sake of the world and to make himself famous through maligning with his tongue, and the affairs are supported by him 74. And you will see Salah being belittled / undervalued 75. And you will see men who have great wealth, and then he does not pay zakat for his country 76. And you will see the dead exhumed from his grave and being harmed and selling his kafan (clothes for the dead) 77. And you will see commotion becoming many 78. And you will see men becoming drunk and turning into a drunkard and no one from the people cares about him 79. And you will see bestiality (sex with animals) 80. And you will see animals devour one another
81. And you will see men come out from the prayer area and return, without anything from his clothes (on him) 82. And you will see the hearts of people become tough and their eyes become hard, and remembrance (of Allah) becomes heavy for them 83. And you will see (people) competing in unlawful things becoming apparent 84. And you will see someone praying and he prays so the people can see 85. And you will see a faqih (Islamic scholar) learn for other than the religion and seek the world and leadership 86. And you will see people with who overpower (others) 87. And you will see a person seeking halal being defamed and humiliated, and the person seeking haram praised and dignified 88. And you will see actions in haramayn (two mosques in Makkah and Medina) that Allah does not like and no one will prevent it and try to change anyone between them and between the ugly actions.
89. And you will see musical instruments being apparent in the haramayn 90. And you will see a man who speaks something that is haqq (the truth) and commands the good and forbids the evil and (someone) will stand up and recommend him and say: This is not your responsibility 91. And you will see people see one another and emulate the people of evil 92. And you will see the path of good and its path being empty that no one wants to pursue 93. And you will see the death being ridiculed and no one being afraid of it 94. And you will see that every year newly invented things from the evil and many bid`ah (innovation) will come 95. And you will see the creations and gatherings not following (anyone) except the wealthy 96. And you will see the poor receive (help) so that (people) can laugh at him, and have mercy on him for other than for the sake of Allah 97. And you will see signs in the earth and no one will fear
98. And you will see people have sex like animals have sex, and no one will deny this because of fear from the people 99. And you will see a man spend a lot in other than obedience to Allah and denies little in obedience of Allah 100. And you will see ungratefulness becoming apparent and belittling to the parents and they will be from the worst condition of people for the children and they will be happy defaming them (their parents) 101. And you will see the women become powerful in the land, and have power over all the affairs and does not come except what she desires 102. And you will see the son of man defame his father and curse his father, and become happy when he dies 103. And you will see a man when a day passes and he has not earned a great sin in it from tyranny, or cheating in measuring, or scale, or committing an unlawful act, or drinking wine, he becomes sad and depressed and counts that day as a day lost in his life 104. And you will see a ruler monopolize on the food 105. And you will see the assets of relatives distributed in falsehood and gambled with to
drink wine 106. And you will alcohol being used as a cure and form to heal the sick 107. And you will see the people equal in abandoning commanding the good and forbidding the evil and abandoning the religion 108. And you will see the munaafiqeen and people of hypocrisy on the rise and the people of haqq do not move 109. And you will see money asked for doing the Adhan and Salah - 110. And you will see the masjid crowded with those who do no fear Allah, they father for gheebah and they eat flesh of the people of haqq and prescribed wine and intoxicants 111. And you will see the drunkards from the people lead Salah and he has no understanding and he is not ashamed of being drunk, and when being drunk is honored and feared, and abandoning him is feared, and no punishment for being drunk. 112. And you will see whoever eats the wealth of orphans will be praised as being good 113. And you will see judge will judge against what Allah has commanded
114. And you will see the rulers trust the treacherous one for greed 115. And you will see inheritors become vilifies and rulers of the people of fisq and against the commandment of Allah who take form them and leave in them what they desire 116. And you will see the pulpits command those to act pious, but they do no act on what they command 117. And you will see the timing of Salah belittled 118. And you will see charity given through intercession and not for the sake of Allah and of the people demands and pleasures 119. And you will see the people who take care of their stomachs and their sexual organs and do not pay attention to what they eat and who they have sex with 120. And you will see the world following them 121. And you will see the flag of haqq has become old
So you must beware and request for Allah ( ) salvation, and know that Allah () is angry with the people and He delays in command for (a matter) what he wants them. Strive and remain watchful so that Allah ( ) will see you do the opposite of what they do2 As we have said before, what has been mentioned above is a part of a long hadith, which points on corruptions, which expand near the great revolution. These various corruptions can be divided into three groups: 1) Corruptions related to legal issues and governments like expansion of oppression, dominance of adherents of untruth, nonexistence of freedom of speech and action, in the way that believer people can only express their hatred from oppression and oppressors in their hearts, also spending large assets in useless, harmful or destructive consumptions, advancement of bribery, auctioning the positions, inclination of weak people who dont have constructive culture to any power which wins (anyone who it is); also spending the capitals in wars and destructive armament competitions and noticing to these issue more than construction (until the costs of war becomes more than the costs of constructions). Also, each year new ways of corruption, oppression, exploitation are invented, and nobody feels responsible for social disharmonies except a few, and even they advise each other to disregard these issues. 2) Another part of these corruptions are related to moral issues, like: expansion of adulation, emulation, choosing trite jobs (like making money through prostitution of the wife!) by men, also advancement of wine, gambling and different kinds of unhealthy entertainment, speeches without action, hypocrisy, affectation and influencing the authorities even in helping the poor, evaluation of people by their wealth and like them. 3) Another part of these corruptions are related to particularly religious aspects like imposing lust-soaked self desires to Quran and interpretation by opinion, and material and personal inclinations in religious matters, congestion of polluted and sinner persons in mosques, extraordinary notice to ornamentation of mosques and emptying their contents, reducing the value of prayer and ignoring that and like them. If we carefully notice then we see that many of these corruptions have become practical in present complexes and the other ones are also expected; so what dont we have for preparing the background of that great revolution? The answer of this question is that we have also previously mentioned; we have few knowledge, and in other words, constructive and revolutionary reaction against these corruptions. Anyway, appearance of these signs is not solely the condition of establishment of that great revolution, but it is a beginning for awakening the thoughts, lashes for awakening the sleeping souls, and it is a background for preparing social and psychological readiness. The people of the world will have to analyze the sources of these disharmonies, and their results and effects anyway, and it founds a general self-awareness and accordingly, they become certain that continuing the current conditions are not possible, but should make a revolution. A revolution in all aspects for finding a just, divine and popular system.
It is also necessary to remind that it is not necessary for these corruptions to appear all around the world and if some small environments are pure then this conditions is not fulfilled; but the criterion is the typical feature of the people of the world whether in the East or in the West; and in other words, this ruling is based on majority method like many other rulings.
Any prophet, after Noah, forewarned his nation from the conspiracy of Dajjal, I also forewarn you!4 Certainly, previous prophets didnt have warned they people about the conspiracy of Dajjal who will appear in End of Days and is thousands of year latter. Especially, because we read at the end of hadith that: Then Prophet (S) explained his characteristics for us and said maybe some of those who have seen me or have heard my expression live in his time! Maybe, hadith points to dangerous tyrants and deceivers like Umayyad caliphs and people like Muawiyah who deceived people and deviated them from the way of truth toward traditions of the age of ignorance and revived social classes and tyranny and autocracy, and brought back obsequious unrighteous persons and ruthless criminals to positions, and removed righteous, superior and competent men. Also, we read in another hadith in the same book that: Prophet (S) said about Dajjal: ...
There was no prophet except that he forewarned his nation from the conspiracy of Dajjal, but I say a sentence about him that no prophet have said to his nation, I say that his oneeyed! Maybe, mentioning the time of Noah in some of these ahadith is for pointing to the farthest time; or nonexistence of Dajjals in the times before Noah is because Noah brought the first religion, or because deceptions didnt influenced past human societies. Anyhow, explaining Dajjal as a one-eyed man has an interpretation that we will soon discuss about it. It is interesting that it is mentioned in some of ahadith that 30 Dajjals will appear before the advent of Mahdi (as)!5 The appearance of Dajjal is even mentioned in the Testaments. We read in the second epistle of John (chapter 1, sentence 6 & 7): As ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world This expression also confirms the multiplicity of Dajjals. We read in another hadith:
)( !
Prophet (S) said: resurrection wont come except that sixty liars appear and claim for prophecy!6 Although the name of Dajjal is not mentioned in this narrative, but it is totally understood from hadith that false claimants and deceivers will not exclusively one or some persons in End of Days. Anyway, the fact which is not possible to be ignored is that when the backgrounds are revolution are provided, in any society, deceiver people, who are in fact the guardians of corrupted systems, begin deceiving people for keeping the current conditions, and exploiting intellectual and social backgrounds of the people in benefit of their incorrect goals, and even they express revolutionary mottoes, and this is one of the greatest obstacles in the way of reform and real revolution. These are Dajjals from whom all the prophets have forewarned their nations and have warned about their deceptive plans. But, before the advent of Mahdi and that great and expanded and real revolution, as much as intellectual, mental and social backgrounds advance in the world, activities of these Dajjals, who come one after another, increase, in order to delay the advancement and
improvement of revolutionary backgrounds and use thousands of deceptions and tools for deviation of the thoughts. Albeit, there is no problem for a great Dajjal to be above them all, but, signs which have been expressed about him in some of narratives are like symbolic expressions, allegory and metaphors. For example, it is derived from the narrative, which has been quoted by Allame Majlesi in Bihar al-Anwar from Amir al-Mumineen Ali (as) that he has the following characteristics: 1) He has only one eye that shines at the middle of his forehead like the star of the dawn! But this eye is bloody, maybe it is mixed with blood! 2) He has a white clipper donkey (ride) which any of its steps is one mile and moves through the earth very fast! 3) He claims of being God and when he gathers his friends around him the whole world hears his voice! 4) He goes into the seas and the Sun moves with him, a mountain of smoke is in his front and a white mountain is behind him that people see it as food. 5) At the time of his appearance, people are in hunger and famine 7 Undoubtedly, we are not permitted to symbolize any religious concept which has been mentioned in Quran or hadith resources, because this act is interpretation by opinion which is strongly prohibited in Islam and wisdom and logic also deny that, but by the way, standing on the first meaning of the expressions, when rational or quoted evidences are available, is not correct either and caused the purpose and definition to be missed. And incidentally, these metaphors about the events of End of Days have records; for instance we read that Sun will rise from the west.8 And this is one of the most complicated issues related to this part that it is apparently improper with today science; because rising of the Sun from the west means that earth moves in the opposite direction; if it suddenly happens then the water of the seas, all buildings and creatures living on earth will be thrown out and everything become disordered, and no sign of life will remain on. And if it happens gradually then the length of the day and night will increase in the way that it becomes more than one month or two months and again the order of the universe will be destroyed on earth! But, there is an interesting interpretation beneath the above hadith, which is about the signs of Dajjal that shows this expression is a metaphor. Because the narrator of hadith Nazal ibn Sabra asks Sasaa bin Sohan what was the purpose of Amir al-Mumineen Ali (as) that he said: Dont ask me about the events which happen after that? Sasaa answers: 7
The one behind whom Christ performs prayer is the twelfth person prom the dynasty of Prophet (S) and the ninth person from the sons of Hussein ibn Ali(as), and he is the Sun which will rise from the place of sunset!9 Therefore, it is not interesting for Dajjal who has been explained with above characteristics to be also symbolic. Surely, you ask that how is it possible to interpret that? We answer this question that it is likely that Dajjal, with those characteristics, is pointing to deceivers and oppressor materialist leaders in mechanical world; because: Firstly, they have only one eye and that is the eye of economy and material life. They look only to one (dimension) and that is the dimension of financial benefits of their own nation. And use thousands of deceptions and exploiting politics for reaching this goal. They are deceiver Dajjals who have lost the eye of spirituality and humanity. But, this only material eye is very dazzling and shining, and they have achieved glorious victories in industries and they have also passed the diameters of the earth. Secondly, they have rides, which are extremely fast and circumambulate the earth in a short time even with ultrasonic speed! Thirdly, they practically claim of being God and consider the destiny of the people of the world in their hands, and by all their weakness and incapability, consider landing on moon as conquering the space! And consider using some of the powers of the nature as the sign of conquering the nature, while a small earthquake, a weak storm, one cancerous cell, destroys their entire system; they claim of being God like Pharaoh while being weak. Fourthly, they go under the seas by equipped submarines, their fast moving equipments moves with the Sun (and maybe pass that). There is a mountain of smoke in front of his great factories and behind him is a mountain of industrial products and food (that people think they are healthy foods, while they dont have much nutritious value and mostly all unhealthy foods). Fifthly, people are in hunger because of some reasons - like famine or exploitation and imperialism and different discriminations and huge capitalization for armaments and tremendous of wars, and destructions which are the results of war and all of them are the result of one-dimensional materialistic life - and especially a group of people die because of hunger, and Dajjal, who is the main cause of these disorders, abuses these conditions and tries to strengthen the bases of his imperialism under the title of helping hungry people and deprived societies. It is also mentioned in some narratives that any hair of the ride of Dajjal has a new and special tone that it is possible to consider that with this much of unhealthy entertainments of one-dimensional mechanical world which are available in all homes and cities and deserts and coasts. Anyway, it is important for revolutionary members who are truthful soldiers of the great peacemaker the promised Mahdi (as) not to be deceived by Dajjals like simple and fool people and dont miss any opportunity for executing their revolutionary plan bases upon belief, truth and justice.
Albeit, what has been said above was a possible interpretation for Dajjal that different evidences prove that. But, acceptance or unacceptance of this interpretation doesnt harm the main subject that the issue of Dajjal, with these characteristics, is a metaphor not to be a human with such ride and characteristics and advantages!
Appearance of Sufyani
The appearance of Sufyani has been also mentioned in many resources of hadith of Shiites and Sunnis like the appearance of Dajjal as a sign of the advent of great universal peacemaker, or as one of the events of End of Days.10 Although, it is understood from some of narratives that Sufyani is a specific person from the dynasty of Abu Sufyan and his children, but it is also understood from other narratives that Sufyani is not exclusively a person and it is pointed to specific characteristics and plans which many persons have been their examples in history. For instance, it is quoted in a narrative from Imam Ali ibn Hussein (as):
The appearance of Sufyani is one of the certain matters; and there is one Sufyani against anyone who rises!11 It is cleared from this hadith that Sufyani has descriptive aspect not individual and his characteristics is his plans and conditions and it is also understood that one (or some) Sufyani will stand against any revolutionary man and truthful peacemaker. We read in another hadith from Imam Sadiq (as):
)( )( )(
We and the dynasty of Abu Sufyan are two dynasties that dont have agreement about divine programs; we have confirmed the expressions of God and they have denied. Abu Sufyan fought against the Prophet (S); and Muawiyah against Ali ibn Abi Talib (as); and Yazid against Hussein ibn Ali (as); and Sufyani will fight against the Imam who arises.12 In previous discussion, we understand the role of Dajjals against constructive revolutions, now we should know about evil plans of Sufyani; because it is highly necessary to know all the adherents and oppositions of universal reform plan for establishing the definition of real waiting.
Abu Sufyan, who was the head of the Sufyanids, had the following characteristics: 1) He was capitalist who had collected his fortune by plunder, violation of others rights, usury and like them. 2) He was a powerful man who had gained his power through evil ways and was the leader of ignorant parties in Mecca and it surrounding regions; and all his personality was summarized into these two. He had a considerable leadership and government for himself before Islam; but after Islam, all the bases of his power became weak, because Islam was the strongest enemy of those who had the power of people like Abu Sufyan; and there is no surprise that he became the number one enemy of Islam. 3) He was considered as the symbol oppressive system of class society of Mecca and his devoted support of idols and idolatry was according to this matter; because idols were the best tool for divide and rule and fooling and stupefying exploited people and in result strengthening the bases of the government of people like Abu Sufyan.13 His strong opposition against Islam - as we said before - was because of the reason that Islam was destroying all bases upon which his evil personality was based; therefore, he didnt stop trying to suffocate the revolution of Islam. But, finally his last fort of power destroyed during the conquest of Mecca and was removed forever and became isolated; although, he didnt stop hidden motivations. He transferred all these characteristics to his son, Muawiyah, and through him to his grandson Yazid - by teaching and through the genes - and both of them followed the plans of the father - but in another way - although they finally failed. Abu Sufyan was a completely backward person who was genes afraid of revolutionary movement of Prophet (S); because Islam had a multidimensional plan for changing that backward society which was full of corruption; a plan in which there was no place for leeches like Abu Sufyan and his gang. And we can understand here that why his children and successors tried to destroy Islam and return people to the rituals of ignorance, although they have been crashed under its wheels; but anyway, they have made strong strikes to the advancement of Islam and Muslims. We return to the discussion; we read in previous ahadith that the appearance of Abu Sufyan in the way of Prophet (S) was not exclusive to Islamic revolution, there was also there is an Abu Sufyan with the characteristics of a plunderous, powerful and oppressor, backward and distributor of superstitions capitalist against anyone who arises and any peacemaker who tries to nullify the efforts of the al-Qaim and peacemaker; makes troubles for him and at least, delays the time of his revolution. There will be also Sufyani or Sufyanis against the rise of the great universal peacemaker Mahdi, who try to delay the real revolution of Mahdi by their hellish powers; return the time to the past or at least stop it; prevent the destruction of oppressive class systems in benefits of the exploiters. Maybe the difference between Dajjal and Sufyani is that Dajjal established his evil plans through deception and tricks, but Sufyani performs this act by using his expanded
destructive power; as it has been mentioned in news that he conquers some flourished regions of the earth1, that we have read similar cases in governments of Abu Sufyan, Muawiyah and Yazid. There is no problem for Sufyani of End of Days who stands against the great universal peacemaker Mahdi to be one of the grandchildren of Abu Sufyan and his genealogy reaches him, as it is mentioned in news; but it is more important than genealogy that his characteristics and efforts are all similar to Abu Sufyan and has the same method. This Sufyani, like all people like Abu Sufyan and all other Sufyani, will be defeated against the universal revolutionary movement of Mahdi (as) and his efforts and plans will all be destroyed. The most important thing is that people should know Dajjals and Sufyanis. These Sufyanis have also another sign adding to what have been mentioned before that its example can be seen clearly in the history of Islam, and that is: They remove the righteous and competent ones from society and place unrighteous people in their positions. Divide Bayt al-Mal among their adherents, as it was in the same way in the government of the dynasty of Abu Sufyan; they support different kinds of discriminations, Stupefactions and separations; and it is possible to recognize and show them by these characteristics. Dajjals form mysterious antirevolutionary rows, and Sufyanis form apparent antirevolutionary rows, and in fact, both of them are in one side but in two different features, and there is no assurance for development and existence of revolution until their rows break apart. 1. Albeit, it is for the time when these two words are mentioned together, but if they are mentioned separately then both of them, which means and , may have the same meaning. 2. Al-Kulayni, Al-Kaafi, vol. 8, pg. 36 - 42, hadeeth # 7, Mir'aat Al-`Uqool, vol. 25, pg. 82, Al-Majlisi, Bihar Al-Anwar, vol. 52, pg. 256 - 260, hadeeth # 147 3. Dajjal, from the root Dajl, means deception and lying. 4. Sahih al-Tirmidhi, chapter of what have been quoted about Dajjal, page 42. 5. Sunan Abu Dawood. 6. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 209. 7. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 194. 8. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 194. 9. Adaptation from the hadith of Sasaa bin Sohan (Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 192). 10. Refer to the book Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 53, pages 182, 190, 192, 206, 208 & 209 and other books. 11. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 182. 12. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 190. 13. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 26.
First Question
It is the famous question of longevity which has been introduced from the past that how is it possible for a human to live this much longer, while we have never seen that a persons age exceeds one hundred to one hundred and twenty years! How this old age can be proper to maximum ages, which we see around us?
Second Question
It is about the philosophy of this long occultation that why Imam and leader of Islamic society should be absent this much time, what is the secret of this matter?
Third Question
Which has close relation with the second question - although it is separated from that - is about the philosophy of existence of Imam (as) during the occultation; when the leader has no connection with his followers and the people of the world cannot see him and gain benefits of his leadership then which role can be considered for him? And in other words, during this time, his life is a personal and private life not social and in the position of a leader!
First, it is necessary here to mention the evidences of Shiites about these triple beliefs. Then we can see that how is it possible to answer the above triple questions. At the beginning, it should be considered that rational reason can never point a specific person about this matter, but the results of these reasons are always general. Narratives of Sunnis about Mahdi are usually general; they only talk about a person from the dynasty of prophet with laghab of Mahdi and the name of Muhammad (like the name of prophet of Islam); except some narratives which quote all characteristics of his father or forefathers and is compatible with Shiites belief, like the two following narratives: 1) Sheikh Suleiman al-Qunduzi, who is one of Sunni scholars, quotes in famous book of Yanabi al-Muwadda from the book Fara'id al-Simtayn from Ibn Abbas that a Jewish man went to Prophet (S) and asked many questions and after hearing the answers, the light of belief shined in his heart and became Muslim; including: Who is your successor? Because any prophet should have a successor, as our prophet Moses (as) placed Joshua as his successor. Prophet (S) answered this question: My successor is Ali ibn Abi Talib and after him my grandsons Hassan and Hussein and after Hussein, nine Imams from his generation Jewish man asked Prophet (S) to say their names; Prophet (S) said: When Hussein dies his one Ali; and when Ali dies his son Muhammad; and when Muhammad dies his son Jafar, and when Jafar dies his son Musa, and when Musa dies his son Ali, and When Ali dies his son Muhammad, and when Muhammad dies his son Ali, and when Ali dies his son Hassan and when Hassan dies his son Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Hujjah will be his successor; they are twelve persons (my successors) Then he asked from the condition of their death and martyrdom and Prophet (S) said after some explanations: ... My twelfth child will be occulted and wont be seen and the time will come for my followers that nothing remains from Islam but its name and nothing remains from Quran but its text; at this time, almighty God will give him the permission to rise and appears and renews Islam by him The Jewish man says some poems after accepting Islam that includes the names of the successors of prophet and he says about the last one of them:
1 The last one of them waters those who are thirsty (of truth and justice) and he is the expected Imam! Again in that book, it is quoted from Amir ibn Wathilah, who is the last one of the prophets companions who died, from Ali (as) that Prophet (S) said: 2. Ali you are my successor, your battle is my battle, and your peace is my peace; and you are Imam and father of eleven Imams who are all infallible and pure; and he is Mahdi from them who fills the earth with justice. But there are many narratives from Ahl al-Bayt about Mahdi(as) and the fact that he is the eleventh son of Ali(as) and the ninth son of Imam Hussein and the inseparable son of Imam Hassan Askari that mentioning all of them takes too much time and it is out of the plan of our book which is based upon briefness; therefore, we mention a list of them and refer you to the book Muntakhab al-Athar fi Ahwal al-Imam al-Thani Ashar (a translation-like version of this book called Promise of Pace and Security has been also published from the same author) for more information. Narratives about the father and forefathers of Mahdi (as) have been quoted in this book, which are mostly from Ahl al-Bayt including: 91 narratives about the fact that Imams and leaders of twelve persons and the first one of them is Ali (as) and the last of them is Mahdi (as). And 94 narratives are quoted about that the last one of Imams is Mahdi (as). And 107 narratives about that Imams are twelve persons and nine of them are from the sons of Hussein (as) and the ninth person is al-Qaim. And 50 hadith about the names of all twelve leaders that the last of them is Mahdi and in this way, followers of this school specify Mahdi (as) with all his characteristics based upon the above several evidences. But it is also necessary to mention that there are many ahadith in reliable and famous Sunni hadith resources about the twelve Imams and caliphs (generally) and as we said before, no logical interpretation can be found for these narratives except by accepting the Shiites belief. In some of these ahadith like hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih al-Tirmidhi 4( twelve emirs), and in Sahih Muslim 4( twelve caliphs) and in Sahih of Abu Dawood also 5 and in Musnad Ahmad are mentioned in tens of ways. Is it possible to deny this much of ahadith from famous books! Should we complete the twelve caliphs by adding Umayyad caliphs like Muawiyah, Yazid
and Abd al-Malik, or by adding Abbasid caliphs like Harun, Al-Ma'mun and Al-Mutawakkil to the first four caliphs! 1. Yanabi al-Muwadda, page 440. 2. The same document, page 85 (printed in Istanbul). 3. Sahih al-Bukhari, page 175 (printed in Egypt) and Sahih al-Tirmidhi, vol. 2, page 45 (printed in Delhi). 4. Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, page 191 (printed in Egypt). 5. Sahih of Abu Dawood, vol. 2, Book of Mahdi, page 207 (printed in Egypt).
Who are these twelve caliphs whom prophet has named and has praised?
This is the question that - except the follower of Ahl al-Bayt who believe in twelve Imams should find an answer for that; because no fair person can consider Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs - who deviated the Islamic government from its way and performed any kind of crime, oppression, transformation and distortion of concepts of Islam - as the successors of prophet and competent of being praised.
Does normal life have a constant limit? What does todays physiology say about that? Is there any way of increasing the lifetime? Were there exceptional people who were different with normal humans in physical, spiritual, body parts, different senses and other general characteristics? Does history really remember people with ages older than what we can see today? And above all, it should be considered that who are these criticizers and what is their understanding from different religious issues? Does Normal Life have a Constant Limit? A small batter has limited lifetime; for example it works for 24 hours continuously; then its power ends. For instance, a light bulb works for one thousand hours and then it dies. Maybe an automobile works for 20 years. Also, other human produces has approximate specific lifetime and average limit; albeit, if user uses them in good conditions then they work more and if they are used in bad conditions then they work less than the specified amount. We have also different kinds of lifetime in nature; there are particle inside atoms, which live for only one-thousandth of a second and sometimes one-hundred millionth of a second, but in change the age of the earth is estimated to five thousand million years! Now we should see that whether the lifetime of living creatures in nature is like the lifetime of our industrial products or not. For example, human lives about 80 years; a dove lives about 5 years; an insect about some months; a plain tree lives about 150 years and a flower shrub about 6 months. In the past, a group of scientist believed in a system of normal lifetime in living creatures. For example: Pavlov believed that normal lifetime of human is 100 years. Metchnikoff believed that normal lifetime of human is 150 to 160 years. Kaufland, German physician, believed that normal lifetime of human is 200 years. Pflger, famous physiologist, believed that normal lifetime of human is 600 years. And finally Bacon, English philosopher and scientist increased the number and said it is about 1000 years. But this belief has been denied by todays physiologists and the issue of constant limit of normal lifetime of human is invalidated. According to Professor Smith, Columbia University: As the sound barrier broke and moving equipments appeared with ultrasonic speed, some day the barrier of human lifetime will break and it goes beyond whatever we saw until now!
The living evidence which is possible to introduce for proving this belief is the experiments that a group of scientists have performed on different plants or animals in laboratories and they was successful in increasing the lifetime of a living creature in conditions of laboratory up to twelve times more. For example, an experiment which is performed on a plant with the lifetime of only two weeks shows that it is possible to keep it up to six months. If assumable, such increment is possible on human lifetime then there will be humans with more than hundred years of age. Another experiment has been performed on a fruit fly, which has a very short lifetime, and they were successful in increasing its lifetime up to nine-hundred times! If assumable, this amazing and extraordinary increment becomes practical on human lifetime then a person lives more than seventy thousand years! Albeit, most of us neither wish for such tiresome age nor accept it even for free, until the poet says:
-
I am tried of these two days of life, O Khizr - What do you do who live forever And if assumable we accept that, the earth is not ready for accepting this much of living humans! But our goal is studying the issue of longevity scientifically. We know that today, many biologists have seriously studied the issue of increasing human lifetime; if such thing was impossible then these researches seemed to be useless. Nutritionists believe that lifetime is closely related with the way of eating and environmental conditions; they have studied the lifetime of queen bee, which lives several times more than normal bees, and have understood that this matter is the result of royal jelly which is produced by worker bees especially for the queen that is different with normal honey; and a group of scientists thought that it is possible to increase human lifetime for several times with large amounts of this jelly. Psychologists say that human lifetime is strongly dependant on his/her thinking way and beliefs and human lifetime increases by having series of constructive and calming spiritualities and beliefs. A group of physician believes that: Oldness is a kind of illness which appears because of atherosclerosis or Metabolism Disorder; and if we can overcome these factors by correct eating and effective medicine then we can defeat the oldness and we will have a long life. All these discussions clearly proves this issue that the legend of constant normal lifetime
is nothing more than a false legend; and it is not possible to consider a specific limit for the lifetime of living creatures. Especially, by opening the way of space to humans and beginning of space travels, the issue of lifetime was considered more seriously; because it has become certain that our short lifetimes our not proper for taking long astronomical journeys. Sometimes, several thousand years of age is needed for making a small step in this expanded universe with current spaceships and tens of thousands of years is needed for farther destinations; therefore, some scientists have thought about another way of increasing the lifetime and that is using freezing system. Maybe, this matter was discovered for the first time by observing some of living creatures who had kept their normal life while being frozen; for example, some while ago a frozen fish was found inside polar ices that the condition of ice layers showed that the fish is for fivethousand years ago! At first they thought that the fish is dead, but after putting it in warm water they surprisingly saw that it began moving; it is recognized that it was alive during these fivethousand years but with a weak flame of life! At this point, they thought if it would be possible to use this method for humans and for example, if it is possible to freeze a space traveler in his/her cabin and an automatic system gradually brings his/her body to normal conditions after hundreds or thousands of years then the problem of lifetime in space travels would be solved. Now, some of physicians have thought that they use this system for the patients whom their treatment method has not been found yet, and for example, propose to those who have cancer, to go to deep sleep - or beyond sleep - by freezing method, and for example, return to normal conditions after two centuries that the treatment method of these illnesses is naturally found and treat them. All these discussion, plans and proposals show that according to todays knowledge, there is no constant limit for the lifetime of humans and other living creatures and its amount can be changed. 1. Some while ago I visited an old man who was not able of performing fasting in the holy month of Ramadan and was asking about the issue of atonement of fasting; I asked about his age and he answered 29 year old. And because he saw that I was surprised, he added that he doesnt count the hundred and I say after one hundred years which means I am 129 years old!
Some members can be seen among a specific genus of trees or animals, which apparently have specific growth or seemingly limited lifetime, that breaks all regulations and standards of their genus and appear in an extraordinary form; for instance: 1) Travelers, who have visited Scotland, talk about an amazing tree with 90 feet diameter in trunk and estimated five thousand years of age! 2) A tree has been seen in California, which are one hundred meters tall! And its lower diameter is about 10 meter and its age is estimated up to sic hundred years. 3) There is a tree from the genus dracaena or as it is called dragon tree among the trees which grow in Canary Islands, that has interested scientists; it is said about this tree that no change has been seen in its grow from the time of discovering the island (which is about five-hundred years ago)! But its seems to have a long life that through this time effects of time have not appears on its feature; therefore, some people think that perhaps, this tree was available before the creation of Adam! 4) There are trees in tropical regions, which live forever! It means that they are continuously growing roots and shoots and never die. 5) Some snails have been seen which are thousands years old; and biologists have discovered some fished which are about three million years old. 6) We can see some people with wonderful talents who are not believable even for those who see them with their own eyes. Who didnt read the news about the young person who bent metal objects like fork and spoon with the extraordinary power of his eyes without even a small touch of his hands! He performed this wonderful job before the eyes of reporters and even on TV in England that even incredulous British people accepted that there was no special trick and it is considered a special and exceptional condition. Maybe, all people have read about the young Iranian who eats light bulb and glass like candies, while ordinary people may be taken to operation room if they accidentally eat a bit of glass with their food! I read the story of a person in newspaper who subdued wild animals with his extraordinary power and approach them easily. It is written about the conditions of philosopher and famous physician Avicenna that: When I went to school, I memorized anything which students read for the master; in the age of ten, I have knowledge of sciences that people were amazed of me in Bukhara; in the age of 12 I became a jurist! And issued fatwas in Bukhara; I wrote the book "The Canon of Medicine" in medicine at the age of 16 (the same book which was being taught in European universities for some centuries); amazing stories have been quoted about his different senses including sight or hearing and like them which cannot be told in this brief chapter.1 These are all exceptional people with characteristics that scientists of natural science are incapable of explaining them and their conditions are not compatible with criterions and standards of human characteristics which are available; but this in harmony never prevent us to accept them; and accept a general law under its light that what we have seen in plants, creatures of deserts and seas and humans is not an eternal and
comprehensive law; but it is completely possible that some members are found among them with special and extraordinary characteristics, whether about the age or about spiritual and physical powers and abilities; and their exceptional condition will never be the reason for acceptance of these phenomena to be unscientific; but we should accept that the boundaries of all the laws and criterions which sciences give us are restricted to ordinary members and exceptional members are beyond the boundaries of these criterions and laws.
. Surah Ankabut 29: 14 Also, we have heard about Khizr and his loge life. It is amazing that a group of people has accepted all these matters, but when they face the belief of Shiites about the age of Mahdi, they have surprising faces and move their head as the sign of denial and have smiles, which means that how these kinds of irrational and illogical beliefs can have followers?!... This is a clear example of being in one roof and having two climates (referring to a Persian proverb)! But, as we said before, the matter of longevity is completely understandable according to the logic of natural sciences regardless of the beliefs of monotheists about the power of God and the issue of miracles; the only problem in the way is that we free ourselves from prejudices and special biases, and traditions and costumes to which we have been accustomed and only surrender ourselves to reason and logic and free discussion! We are amazed when we read in newspapers about a 140-years-old Austrian man who hadnt become ill through his lifetime, even once! Or a man was completely young at the age of 167 in Colombia! Or a mans hair was black at the age of 253 in china! Because it is against ordinary and normal people; but if the sources of this news are reliable but it is written in all newspapers as certain news then we will accept it. But why we are amazed when we read in hadith: When al-Qaim rises, he has the age of the old but the face of the young and he is also physically powerful. Shia says: How dont we laugh at those who accept the long life of Noah and Christ and write these amazing characteristics about Avicenna, or after watching a young person bending metals just by looking at them, or observing too old creatures and trees? But when it is talked about the long life of Mahdi (as), a group has objecting faces and say surprisingly that how is it possible for a man to have this age! The issue of longevity is not the issue, which can be denied or criticized, in a fair and logical judgment.
We said that another question which is asked about the belief of Shiites about Mahdi (as) is the issue of his long occultation which is asked after accepting the matter of long life and that is: Why doesnt Mahdi rise while corruption and oppression are available enough in the world? Why doesnt he move the world toward justice by his rise? How long should we sit and watch the scenes of oppression and bloodshed of a bunch of criminals? Why has his occultation lasted so long? In fact, what is he waiting for? And finally, what is the secret of this long occultation? But it should be considered that although, this question is being asked from Shiites about the issue of occultation but it is recognized by a little notice that others also have a share of that; it means that, it points to other believers of the advent of a great universal peacemaker who should rise some day and fills the earth with justice in another form, however, the dont accept the belief of Shia about longevity and occultation. Because this question could be asked that why that great universal peacemaker is not born yet and if he is born then why doesnt he rise and waters the thirsty world with justice? Therefore, it is a big mistake to only criticize Shia about this belief. And in other words, there is no doubt that the issue of longevity (previous discussion) and the issue of the philosophy of existence of imam during the occultation (next discussion) are question which are pointed only to Shiites, but the matter of delay in his advent is the issue which all those who believe in the advent of that great universal peacemaker should think about that why the great advent doesnt happen by readiness of the world? (Attention!) Anyway, this question has a short answer and an explained one; its short answer is that solely the existence of a competent revolutionary leader is not enough for establishment of a multidimensional revolution and public readiness is also necessary; and unfortunately, the world is not ready for accepting such government yet and when it becomes ready, his rise is certain! But the explanation is that: Firstly, it should be considered that - as we mentioned before - the plan of the rise of Mahdi uses natural tools and means, like the plan of the rise of all divine prophets, and it is never based upon miracles; miracles are exceptions and are not included in progress of reformist plans of divine leader, except in exceptional cases. Accordingly, all prophets used modern weapons, teaching competent persons, necessary consultations, designing effective plans, studied military tactics and totally providing any kinds of material and spiritual facilities for reaching their goals; and didnt wait for a miracle everyday to defeat the enemies or in order to encourage the friends for advancing more in the way of perfection.
Therefore, the plan of government of truth and justice in the world should be established by the use of necessary material and spiritual means, except in exceptional cases. In other words, Mahdi (as) doesnt bring new religion with him, but he executes divine plans, which are not executed. His prophecy is not only imparting, warning, teaching, training, advising and admonishing. His prophecy is executing all principles that end oppression, injustice and discrimination under the shadow of government of science and belief, and certainly execution of this plan is not possible without readiness and preparations. Secondly, it is clear according to the above essential principle that hwy we say the existence of this readiness is not proved yet; because, at least, some kinds of readiness are needed for this matter:
We answer: a part of that should be made by the pass of time and it is not possible without that, but another part depends on teaching and training; it should become practical by intellectual resurrection which is made by faithful thinkers and responsible aware persons of society. At least, they should give this knowledge and understanding with their human-maker programs to the people of the world that essential problems of the world wont be solved by available principles, laws and methods. And anyhow, it also needs time.
willing). In Islamic narratives, one of the reasons of long occultation is said to be the issue of public examination and choosing the most competent one, which maybe points to this subject. Explanation: Divine human examinations are not like the examination for measuring the abilities of the one who is being examined, but they are for training the talents and disclosing the abilities and separating the rows from each other. And in other words, their goal is training, evolution or preparing; because unlimited knowledge of God about everything removes any kind of goal of measuring from the examinations. Totally, this discussion cleared that why the occultation of Mahdi should be so long?
Now that this misunderstanding is removed, we talk about this matter that: Well, but this kind of life maybe justifiable for an ordinary person, but is it acceptable for a leader - and a great divine leader? What benefit could a student take, who doesnt know his teacher, or a patient person who doesnt know his physician and the clinic, or a thirsty person who doesnt find the water stream - although it is close to him?! It is interesting that: This question is not being asked only today; it is understood from Islamic narratives that even it was being asked before the birth of Mahdi (as) during the time of previous Imams and when they talked about Mahdi and the time of his occultation, they faced such question and answered it eagerly that we mention some of the example as follows:
The sunlight, which shines from the Sun to everywhere, is the only source of energy for moving living motors of life in plants, animals and humans: Growth of living creatures, Their feeding and reproduction, Feeling, movement and action, Watering the dead lands, Roar of sea waves, Life-giving blow of the winds, Life-Making shower of the rain and snow, The murmur of waterfalls, Singing voices of the birds, Dazzling beauty of flowers, Blood circulation inside human veins and heartbeats, Hyper speed movement of thoughts inside the curtains of the brain, And sweet smile on the lips of petals like an infant and All and all depends on sunlight directly or indirectly and all of them will faint without that, and it can be recognized with a little notice. Well, now this question is asked that arent these benefits and life-giving effects exclusive to the time of direct refulgence? The answer of this question is clear: no, many of these effects are also available in mate sunlight when the Sun is behind the clouds. For example, in countries or cities which are covered by clouds some months of the year sunlight cannot be seen, but heat, growth of plants, production of necessary energy for motors of life, ripeness of cereals and fruits and laughter of flowers and blooms are available. Therefore, refulgence of the Sun from behind the curtains of clouds has and important part of its benefits; and only a part of its effects which needs direct refulgence is not available; for example, we know that sunlight has vital effects of the skin and other parts of the body of humans and other living creatures and accordingly in countries which people are deprived of this gift, they take sunbath in sunny days; and become naked in front of this life-giving light and take each particle of this light by all of their body which is thirsty for this divine gift. Also, direct sunlight has disinfecting effect - because of ultraviolet radiation - which purifies the environment adding to more lightness and heat which is not available in indirect refulgence.
We conclude from the above discussion that although curtains of clouds take some of effects of the sunlight but an important part of it still remains. This was the condition of sunlight and now we return to the conditions of existence of divine leaders during occultation. Invisible spiritual radiation of existence of Imam (as) when it is hidden behind the clouds of occultation has different considerable effects that disclose the philosophy of his existence, regardless of removing the issue of direct education and training. These effects are as follows:
Promising Effect
In the battlefield, all the efforts of a group of experienced and self-devoted soldier is to hold the flag fluttering in the sky against the strikes of the enemy; while the enemy soldiers continuously try to upset the flag of oppositions, because when the flag remains fluttering it gives hope to soldiers and they continue their efforts. Also existence of the commander of the army in headquarter - although he is apparently quite - moves the bloods inside the veins of the soldiers and encourage them to try more that our commander is still alive and our flag is fluttering in the sky! But, when the news of death of the commander is heard a great army with extraordinary power will be suddenly demolished, maybe cold water is poured no everyones head, no, but their soul has left their bodies! While the head of a group or a country is alive, although he is in travel or is ill, but he is the cause of life, action, order and peace of his people; but news of his departure is the despair of everyone. Shiites dont consider themselves to be alone according to the belief they have about the living Imam, although they dont see him among themselves. (Attention!) Shiites always are excepting the return of him who has traveled that has the caravan of hearts with him, a constructive and effective waiting and expect his advent everyday. The mental effect of this thinking way in keeping hopes alive in the hearts and forcing people to self-improvement and preparing for that great revolution, which had been explained in the discussion of waiting, is completely comprehendible. But if this leader doesnt exist at all and the adherents of his school are waiting for his birth and growth in the future then the conditions are much different. And if we add another point to this subject then the issue will be more serious, and that is: According to general belief of Shiites which has been mentioned in many religious narratives, Imam continuously care about his followers during the occultation; and he is informed about the conditions of their acts through divine intuition and according to the narratives, the report of their acts is presented to him each week and become informed about the way of their actions and speeches.4 This thought caused all the believers to be always aware and pay attention to that superior
supervision while entering any act; training effect of this thinking way is also undeniable.
Yes, the surface of the earth will never be without the al-Qaim who has proof; whether apparent and famous or hidden and unknown, in order for divine proofs and evidences not to be invalidated and forgotten (and not to be distorted and transformed.5 Now, pay attention to the explanation of this expression: By the pass of time and mixing religious issues with personal tastes and thoughts and different inclinations to deceptive programs of aberrant schools, and when corrupted persons reach divine concepts, genuineness of some of these meanings will be lost and transformed. This pure water, which has been descended from the sky of afflatus, has gradually become polluted and dark during passing the minds of others and has lost its beginning purity and freshness. This shining light will shimmer by passing through the dark glasses of darn thoughts. And finally, narrow-minded adds and reduce so much to and from that, in the way that sometimes, it is hard to recognize the main issues! And as the poet says - albeit in the exaggerated way of the poets - talking to prophet:
They are making up your canon law They are cutting from your religion As much they have added to that You wont recognize it when you see In these conditions, isnt it necessary for a person to be among Muslims in order to keep the
eternal teachings of Islam in its main shape for the future ones? Will afflatus be revealed to another person again? Certainly not! The chapter of afflatus is closed forever after the last of prophets. Then how genuine religion should be kept safe, and distortion and transformations and superstitions be prevented for this religion to remain safe foe the next generations. Is there any method other than continuing this way by an infallible leader, whether to be apparent and famous or hidden and unknown? We know that there is an indestructible chest in every institution, which holds important documents of that institute in order to remain safe from robbery; moreover, for example they dont be destroyed in fire that reputation of the institute is closely dependent on keeping those documents. Chest of Imam an his high soul is the indestructible chest for keeping the documents of divine religion that holds all the beginning essentials and heavenly characteristics of these teachings in order for divine proofs and clear signs of the God not to be invalidated and forgotten. And this is another one of the effects of his existence - adding to other effects.
others live beneath the clouds in darkness and faint light. And it is the correct counting; I shouldnt expect that the sun comes beneath the clouds and I see its face; such expectation is a big mistake and useless imagination; it is me who should fly above the clouds in order to drink the eternal radiations of the Sun portion by portion and become sated. Anyhow, training this group is another one of the philosophies of his existence during this time.
getting close to him because of that; all of them confirms the influence of personality of Prophet (S) on different people through this way. Also, the story which is narrated about the effects of the message of Imam Hussein(as) on Zuhayr in the way of Karbala that he couldnt eat the food which was in his hand and put in on the ground and moved. Or amazing and wonderful attraction that Hurr ibn Yazid al-Riyahi felt inside him, and was shaking by having that courage; and finally this attraction took him to the row of Mujtahids of Karbala and gained the great honor of martyrdom. Or the story of a young person who was living in the neighborhood of Abu Basir and was living a corrupted life by the wealth which he has collected through serving Umayyad government and finally, changed completely by a message of Imam Sadiq (as), and changed all of his acts and return the properties, which we have collected in unlawful ways, to their owners. Or the story of coquettish beautiful singer bondwoman who was sent by Harun to prison in order to deviate the mind of Imam Kazim(as), and revolution of her thoughts in a short time, in the way that her appearance, way of talking and logic amazed and frightened Harun All and all are the examples and signs of this unaware influence that we can consider that a branch of Genetic Authority of Prophet (S) or Imam (as), because the factor of training and evolution here is not expressions, sentences and ordinary and normal ways, but spiritual attraction and influence are considered as main factors. This program - as we said before - is not exclusive to prophets and Imams; but men of truth and great persons have a halo of this unaware influence according to the amount of their personality, but the circles of the first and the second group are not comparable. Existence of Imam (as) behind the curtains of the occultation has also this effects that attracts and influence prepared hearts in near and far places though his powerful and expanded radiation of his personality influence and trains and completes them and make them complete humans. We dont see the magnetic poles of the earth, but their effect on compasses guides the ships in the sea and guides airplanes and other equipments in deserts and sky. Because of the benefit of these magnetic waves, millions of travelers find their ways to their destinations on the entire earth, or big and small vehicles become free of wandering by the order of this apparently small pointer. Is it surprising that existence of Imam (as) during the occultation guides thoughts and souls in near and far and make them free of wandering by the waves of his spiritual attraction? But, it shouldnt be forgotten and we cannot forget it that as magnetic waves of the earth dont affect any scrap metal, and only affects sensitive and fine pointers which are magnetized and has become similar to the sender of the waves, the hearts which have a way with Imam and have saved a similarity inside will be affected and influenced by that indescribable spiritual attraction. By considering what we said above, another one of the effects and philosophies of existence of Imam (as) during this time is recognized.
That day, the world will lose its peace, and sky will stop its gifts, and the earth will refuse to give benefit to humans! Prophet of Imam is the symbol of the group of righteous ones and the example of perfect human; which means the same group that forms the main goal of creation and accordingly, his existence solely or as the head of the group of righteous ones justifies the goal of creation and the cause of descending the gifts and fall of the rain of the mercy of God; whether he lives apparent among the people or occulted and unknown. It is correct that each of other righteous persons are a goal for creation, or in other words, a part of the great goal, but the perfect example of this goal are these exemplary humans and divine men, although the share of others are secured. And it is cleared here that what is mentioned in some of narratives that: People have their aliments because of his (who is the proof and representative of God) blessings and the earth and the sky are stable because of his existence! is not an exaggerated, illogical or polytheistic matter; also, the expression which has been quoted in famous books as a divine hadith to holy Prophet (S): If it wasnt for you I didnt create heavens! Is expressing a truth not exaggeration! But, he is the masterpiece goal of creation and each of other righteous ones forms a part of this great goal. We conclude from what has been said in this chapter under five titles that: Those who are far from the center and consider the existence of Imam during the occultation as a personal and socially useless existence and have attacked the belief of Shia in this subject that what would be the benefits of existence of such Imam in the position of a leader and Imam of the nation, is not in the way that they said, and his existence has also many benefits in this condition. 1. Refer to the book Hadyat al-Ahbab and other history books. 2. I wrote this part of the book in Naeen police station in which I was practically imprisoned for one day when they were transferring me from Mahabad exile place to Anarak exile place (May 30th, 1979). 3. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 93. 4. These narratives are available in the interpretation Burhan, beneath the verse Surah Tawbah 9: 105); and we have an interesting discussion about that in vol. 8 of Tafsir e- Nemoune. 5. Nahj al-Balagha, aphorisms, number 147.
be both developed and purified! For finding the answers of these questions, it is possible to get help from both hadith resources and rational reasons, because it is related and connected to both of them. Wisdom says: Returning to the past is neither possible nor logical, and it is against the nature of creation and evolution in human life; therefore, there is no reason for human society to stop developing by mutation toward truth and justice, or to retreat; return and looking behind is not compatible with this development and mutation. Therefore, the rise of a great peacemaker for establishment of justice and freedom in the entire world never causes the industrial and mechanical movement, in its positive form, to stop or to be removed. Current industries have solved many problems of human lives and, as we said in previous discussion, they are even one of the bases of the universal united government, closeness and attachment of the world in communication and social relations and it is not possible without industrial evolution. But, there is no doubt that his industrial mutation and technological evolution should necessarily pass trough a precise filter in order for its unhealthy and harmful aspects to be removed, and finally extensively be used for the benefits of humans and peace and justice; a government, which demands truth and justice, will surely perform this act. But about the weapons, it should be said that: For establishment of such government, autocratic governments should be removed from the world; and for removing them, at least in present conditions, a super-weapon is needed; as weapon which is maybe not even assumable for us today. Is this weapon something like a mysterious and unknown ray which has a power beyond all present weapons and can disable all of them and neutralize the plan of superpowers for utilizing that? Or is it a mysterious mental effect and disabling their thinking systems even from faraway that they cannot think about using present destructive weapons? Or is it something life a feeling fear and extraordinary terror that prevents any kind of decision about this matter? Or something else We dont know. And we cannot specify the kind of this weapon neither for being material or mental nor other aspects; we can only say that it will be a super-weapon. And we also know that this weapon is not a king of weapon, which destroys innocents and sinner together and places the fundamentals of future justice on todays oppression and injustice. This was rational analysis.
But, in Hadith Resources There are interesting expressions in hadith resources that imply clear answers for above questions, including: 1- It is quoted from Imam Sadiq (as):
(When our al-Qaim rises, the earth will be shined by the light of his God and servants of God wont need sunlight anymore!)1 It is understood from this expression that the matter of light and energy will be solved in the way that people take the benefits of powerful sources of light, which can replace sunlight. Should we consider this matter a miracle again while daily life program, continuously, should by based upon natural traditions not upon miracles; that miracles are exceptional matters and for the cases of exception and necessity and for proving the truthfulness of the invitation of prophet of Imam. And anyhow, normal life of people was not based upon miracles in the age of no prophet; therefore, evolution of sciences and industries will reach a point that people will find an extraordinary source of light with the leadership of that great leader, which can even replace sunlight. And in these conditions, is it possible for weapons of humans for providing peace and freedom and justice to be from the kind of the weapons of the past centuries and essentially, is there any comparison between these two? 2) It is quoted in another hadith from Abu Basir from Imam Sadiq (as) that:
(When the main owner of guardianship (Mahdi(as)) takes the responsibilities of matters, almighty God will rise up any deep place of the earth for him and lowers any high place in the way that the world will become like the palm of the hand for him! Which one of you doesnt see a hair if it is in your palm of the hand!)2
Today, they transfer pictures to different parts of the world by installing transmitters on top of the mountains and even satellites are being used for covering more expanded regions for broadcasting images, in order for all those who have receivers to use them. But, against his issue is not possible, at least by now; it means that it is possible to transmit the pictures from one point to different points of the world but it is not possible to transmit the pictures from all points of the world to one points, except by installing equipped transmitters in every city, even every house, desert, mountain and every part of the world in order to be informed from all parts of the world and such thing is not possible with current equipments. But, it is understood from above hadith that in the age of the rise of Mahdi (as) a powerful and equipped system of picture transmission will be made which maybe it is not even assumable for us today, in the way that the entire world becomes like the palm of the hand; neither high obstacles nor deep places prevent the creatures on the earth to be seen! It is certain that universal united government and peace and security and justice in multilateral and fast and serious form wont be possible without such information dominance over the entire earth; and God will give him and his government this tool. Again, I insist that these matters, which are related with daily life of the people, dont seem to be based upon miracles, but they should be performed through normal tools and naturally based upon the advancement of science and industries. It is also clear that this advanced information unit cannot be in an apparently backward society, but other parts of the life should also advance in the same direction, in all aspects and matters and even kinds of weapons. 3) It is quoted from Imam Baqir (as) that he said: !
: : ! (That indomitable equipment is reserved for your guardian and friend (Mahdi (as)).3 The narrator of hadith says: I asked what is the purpose of indomitable equipment? Imam (as) said: It is a cloud which has the roar of thunder and the speed of lightening; he will ride this equipment; beware that he will soon ride the clouds and ascends to seven heavens and earths). Certainly, the purpose of cloud is not this ordinary cloud; because ordinary clouds are the equipments for space travels; they are moving in the space close to the earth and have little distance with the surface of the earth and cannot rise upper than that; and, it is pointed to a very fast equipment with a power light thunder and lightening; and opens the sky with its extraordinary power when moving, and continues moving and can move
everywhere in the sky. And accordingly, it is a super modern equipment that with dont have its example in current equipments; only, it maybe similar to UFOs and hyper speed space equipments about which we here stories today and we dont know that how much are these stories real and scientific; but anyway, it is not a UFO. Anyhow, it can totally be understood from above hadith that the matter of industrial backwardness wont happen, but contrarily, it is talked about extraordinary advancement that completion should be achieved in all aspects parallel to that. 4) Another wonderful hadith, which is quoted by Jabir from Imam Baqir (as), says:
(He is named Mahdi (guided one) because he is guided to hidden matters, until he sends for a person whom people consider him to be innocent and kills him (because he is informed about his final sin, like murder, that causes Qisas!), until some of people fear the testification of the walls when they talk in their homes (and inform the government of Mahdi about their violations and conspiracies)!4 This hadith also confirms that during the time of his government, while good and righteous people live completely free, criminals are strictly under control in the way that maybe their voices will be recorded from their homes by advanced equipments and it is possible to know that what have they said in their homes, when it is necessary! Maybe, this expression was not acceptable except to be a miracle one-hundred years ago; but today that we see in many countries vehicle movements in road is being control by radar without the presence of police officer, or we hear that scientists were capable of reviving the voices of Egyptian potters of two-thousand years ago from the waves remained on the surface of the vases in some of the museums of Egypt, or we hear that there are equipments which can take photos of a thief from the waves that have remained in the place from where he has recently escaped by thermal waves (infrared waves) and recognize him through this method, is not so much amazing. The answer of previous question becomes clear from what have been mentioned above that in the age of universal revolution of Mahdi (as) not only the matter of backwardness is introduced but technology and industries will be advanced unexampled but only in the way of the benefits of humans and establishing the goal of truth-demanding persons, liberals and those who are thirsty of truth and justice.
Meaning of Sword
Only, this question remains that what is the meaning of these many expressions about the rise by sword about Mahdi (as)? Even we wait for the day in which we stand in the rows of
these Mujahids with bare sword in invocations, which teach the preparedness for participating in this great freedom-giving jihad. But, the truth is that the sword has always been a metaphor referring to power and military force and it is still the same as pen refers to science and culture. There is no doubt that even in traditional battlefields in the past, there were other weapons except the sword, like arrow, harpoon and dagger, but it is always said if you dont obey the matter then sword will force you or it is said that I will take my right by the power of the sword. Or it is famous from the past that the country is rules by two things, pen and sword and all of these are symbolic and its meaning is relying on force and military power. There are many proverbs available today which talk about this issue: That person has hanged the sword in front! which means, he is showing his power explicitly. The sword will judge between us! in refers that the problem wont be solved except by fighting. We wont put the swords in sheaths until we reach our goal! refers that we continue the fight until the end. That person has put his sword in the sheath! it means that he has quit fighting. He is two-bladed sword! it means that he fight in two directions. In all of these expressions the sword is a metaphor about power and fighting; we also read in Islamic narratives: (Paradise is under the shadow of swords). (Swords are the keys to paradise!) All of these point to jihad and devotion and using the power; and there are many of these symbolic expressions about sword and pen in different languages. It is cleared here that the purpose of the rise of Mahdi(as) with sword is relying of power, in order not to be assumed that this great divine peacemaker appears in the form of a teacher, preacher or a consultant of social issues and his prophecy is not only advising the people. But, he is a forethoughtful leader who firstly uses logic, and when the expression of truth has no benefit, as it is the same about many of the oppressors and tyrants, he will use his
sword; it means that he will use force and defeat the oppressors, or in case of necessity, removes their polluted existence from the way, and undoubtedly, there is no way other than this for correcting a group of people, because it has been said that: (People wont be corrected except by sword!) And in other words, his duty is not only enlightenment and showing the way but his more important duty - adding to them - is execution of divine laws and establishment of evolutional revolution of Islam and taking to the destination and achieving the goal. Although this matter has been cleared from above discussion, but it is necessary to affirm that against the thoughts of some narrow-minded ones who assume that when he rises, he will use force and weapons suddenly and based on that false legend He bloodsheds continuously until blood reaches his stirrup!, at first he starts intellectual leadership and enlightenment in all aspects. According to clear religious expression he gives ultimatum in the way that anyone, who has even a small preparedness for logically accepting the religion of truth, becomes enlightened and only those remains that are not correctible except by force. From clear evidence about this issue - regardless of the fact that its reason is inside itself is that we know his method is the method of Prophet (S); Prophet (S) was inviting people hidden and apparent in Mecca for thirteen years and those who were ready for truth gathered around him; but powerful oppressors who were mostly the leaders of ignorant people rose against him and inevitably he went to Medina and stood against them by establishing the Islamic government and providing power, and opened his way toward a public invitation. Although, many poisonings have been performed about the invitation of Islam that it is the religion of sword but the best evidence which is in hand today against them and fortunately, they couldnt hide or destroy that is Quran. If the feature of Islam was a feature relying on force and violence then this much reasoning and arguments were not available in Quran for proving the truths; this much of different reasoning were not introduced about the issue of monotheism and resurrection, two essential principles of Islam; it wouldnt invite this much of thinkers and wise persons for judgment; wouldnt talk this much about science and knowledge; a violent military system doesnt understand reasoning. And even clears its position with logical reasons as an inevitable necessity when using force. Anyway, he will act like Prophet (S) in this method; moreover, the level of public thoughts is higher in his age and using logic is more necessary as it is necessary to use force and violence against the expanding violence of turbulent oppressors. Certainly, his revolution will be a bloody revolution in some parts, and dirty bloods of the body of human society will be shed by his blade and there is no way other than this for making fundamental corrections in any corrupted society; but the meaning of this
expression is not that he will bloodshed uncounted and kills with no reason; he is exactly like a physician who takes blood from the patient very carefully! 1. 2. 3. 4. Bihar Bihar Bihar Bihar al-Anwar, al-Anwar, al-Anwar, al-Anwar, vol. vol. vol. vol. 13, old printing, page 176. 52, page 328. 12, page 182. 13.
first step toward the establishment of such goal is a cultural revolution, which moves the thoughts in to directions: In one direction, toward sciences which are needed for a flourished, free and healthy society (about materialistic and appearing aspects). And in other direction, toward the knowledge about the principles of correct human life mixed with belief for spiritual and fundamental aspects. We read in a hadith from Imam Sadiq (as):
Science and knowledge is twenty-seven words (has twenty-seven branches); all the things which have been brought by divine prophets for the people was only two words, and the people have not understood more than those two word until now, but when our al-Qaim rises, shows other twenty-five words (twenty-five branches), and distributes among the people and adds two words to that in order to complete twenty-seven words. 1 This hadith clearly shows the extraordinary scientific mutation of the age of revolution of Mahdi (as) that an evolution happens 12 times more than the entire science and knowledge which had been given to humans during the ages of all the prophets of truth! And the doors of all useful and constructive branches of science will be opened to the people and humanity goes the way which has been gone in thousands of years, 12 times more in a short time; what mutation can be faster and more important than this! Another hadith, which has been quoted from Imam Baqir (as), completes the meaning of this hadith, where it says:
When our al-Qaim rises, puts his hands on the heads of the servants of God and completes their wisdom and educates their thoughts.2 And in this way, brains begin moving toward perfection under the light of guidance of Mahdi (as) and under his hand of mercy, and all narrow-mindedness, envies and cheap thoughts, which are the source of many of oppositions, disturbances and violent social conflicts, will be removed.
Open-minded people with open thoughts and broad minds and hearts and superior ambition will be educated who solve lots of social problems in their souls and makes a world full of peace and joy. Also today, any kind of social reforms, in any scale, depends on this intellectual change and spiritual revolution.
(When our al-Qaim rises, the God will strengthen the eyes and ears of our Shiites in the way that there will be no mailman between them and He Who arises (their leader); he talks to them and they hear him, and see him while he is in his place (and they are on other parts of the world)!)6 It means that the means of transmission of sound and image will be provided extensively and easily for all of his followers in the way that something called post office is considered unnecessary and useless in the age of his government! And current issues of this government will be executed and solved without paperwork - as it is the way of todays world and maybe wastes half of the time of human resources and delays the circulation of all acts and achieving the rights of rightful persons.
All order and programs will be given and executed through the system of watch and presence. And how it is excellent to have such plan for managing human societies and removing unnecessary and time-wasting programs! Another clear hadith, which has been quoted from Imam Sadiq (as), completes this subject explicitly; where he said:
(Believer person sees his brother and sister in the West while he is in the East in the age of al-Qaim; also the one who is in the West sees his brother who is in the East!)7 Direct communication will become practically not only for the government, even for the people; and visual and physical communications strengthen spiritual communication of the hearts; in the way that the world will be like home and its people like the members of a family! And in this way, science and knowledge and industries will be used for making better conditions for the world and strengthening the bases of brotherhood - and not in the way of destruction.
(His government will cover the East and the West of the world, and treasures of the world will appear for him and no ruins will remain on earth except that he constructs!) 8 And indeed it should happen, because the ruins of the world is neither because of deficiency of human resources not financial deficiencies, but they are the result of destructions made by humans and wasting financial and human resource and nonexistence of responsibility; and when this obstacles are removed by a correct social system then construction and flourishing is certain; especially, when it has the support of new extraordinary resources. We read in another interesting hadith from Imam Sadiq (as):
( )( )... ...
When al-Qaim rises: establishes the government based upon justice. And oppression and injustice will be removed in his time. And roads become secure under the light of his existence. The earth will show its gifts. And any right will reach its owner. People like David (as) and Muhammad (S) will judge among the people. At this time the earth will disclose its treasures. And shows its blessings. And nobody finds a case for charity, giving alms and financial help, because all believers
will be needless and rich ! 9 Affirming the appearance of the gifts and disclosure of the treasures shows that agriculture will advance to its highest level; also all underground resources will be discovered and used; and income of the people increases so much in the way that there will be no poor person in society and all the people become needless. And undoubtedly, executing the principle of justice and attracting human resources to constructive ways will have such effect; because as hunger and poverty are not the results of deficiencies but they are direct and indirect results of oppressions, discriminations and injustices and wasting the resources and assets! It is quoted from Abu Said al-Khudri in another hadith, which has been mentioned in Sunni resources:
:( )
; )( ; )
Holy Prophet (S) said: I promise you the advent of Mahdi (as); he fills the earth with justice as it is filled with oppressions and injustice; habitants of heavens and the earth will be satisfied from him and divides the properties and assets in correct way. 10 Someone asked: What is the meaning of correct division of the assets? He said: Equally among the people! (Then added) And fills the hearts of the followers of Muhammad (S) with needlessness and his justice covers everyone; until he orders a person to calls with loud voice that anyone, who has financial needs, rises and nobody will rise but one.
(Then we read beneath the hadith that Imam orders to give him considerable amount but he returns soon and will be regretful of being greedy). Some points should be considered in interpretation of this hadith: 1) The purpose of satisfaction of the habitants of heavens from his government is either referring to the angels of heavens and close angels of God or referring to the expansion of his government to other inhabited planets and opening the way of space travels to faraway places of the universe. 2) The purpose of fair dividing of wealth in the form of equal division - by considering that we know in Islam that Mahdi (as) is its guardian and promoter, more assets are paid in change of more work and efforts and competence - is either refereeing to the assets of Bait al-Mal and public assets in general that everyone is equal before that in Islamic government - as it is quoted from the way of Prophet (S) and Ali (as), against what we have read about the time of some of caliphs like Usman who make all kinds of discriminations - or referring to that in equal conditions, equal rewards and wages will be given to the people; against what we see in todays world that a worker in a part of the world takes ten dollars for an hour but another worker in another part of the world may take less than one dollar for ten hours of work and it is the extreme of oppression that wage of the people are different in equal conditions. 3) Another point is that, it is clearly understood from beneath the hadith that in that day there isnt even one needy person, because that one person who rises doesnt have a rich soul and has greed and he is financially needless; and it is important that he will fill the hearts with spiritual and mental richness, and removes this evil feeling of greed from the land of the hearts by his correct leadership; the very same greed which is the source of useless efforts of brainless wealth collectors, who still try for collecting more wealth by having thousands of times of necessary assets for themselves and their children; maybe they are infected with polydipsia that how much they drink they are still thirsty. Another factor, or in more correct way another excuse of collecting the wealth, which is fear about the future, will be completely removed under the light of his social justice and nobody finds the need of collecting the wealth; because he is insured both for today and the future. Again, we read another hadith from holy Prophet (S):
! ...
Time will come in which the earth will be filled with oppression and nobody can say the name of God (explicitly) (and talks about justice and truth); then almighty God rises a man from me and my dynasty, who fills the earth will justice, as it was filled with injustice before
him and the earth exits the parts of its liver for him, and he distributes the wealth among the people without calculation (and everyone will take its benefits as the amount of his/her need).11 is plural of and means part and branch; and refers to precious things and here it refers to precious and valuable resources inside the earth. It is also possible that the above expression points that humans will be able to reach the core of the earth which is completely heat and fire and maybe they use it as an important source of energy; and maybe they extract previous resources of different kinds of metals and by considering that crust of the Earth is a comparably thin crust and there is a world of molten materials and different resources inside the Earth, having such great resource can ease the mind of the people in many aspects. Moral growth and providing the future needs in a reliable way, and abundance of sources of income, and totally, gathering spiritual and physical richness removes even the necessity of counting and calculating the assets and anyone who needs takes his/her need from Bait alMal of the government without formalities. All of these on the one hand, and on the other hand: There are points in news which show that in the age of his government, expanded and flourished cities, broad roads, large mosques but without ornaments will be constructed; and the government supervises the construction of the houses in the way that they have no disturbance for others: 1) We read in a hadith from Imam Sadiq (as):
(He builds a mosque behind Kufa, which has one thousand doors, and the houses of Kufa reach the river of Karbala and Hayrah!)12 And we know that the distance between these two cities is 70 kilometers now. 2) We read from Imam Baqir (as):
...
( )
When al-Qaim rises Mosques will have short wall without crenels in his time as it was the same in the time of Prophet (S). He expands the main roads and they reach 60 cubits! And all mosques which are in the way (and disturb the people) will be destroyed by his command! And all the gates which open to the ways (and disturb the movement of the people) will be destroyed. And (disturbing) balconies and sewages and chutes which open in the way (of the people) will be blocked!13 3) Also, it is quoted in a long hadith from Imam Sadiq (as) that said:
... ...
(He will expand Kufa 54 miles until its castles reach Karbala, and Karbala (the place of the martyrs and heroes and self-devoted persons in the way of God) will become the center of many activities 14 4) There are many narratives about the advancement of agriculture and abundance of agricultural products and waters, cattle and construction and flourish in all aspects.15
Judiciary Development
On the one hand, strengthening the bases of belief and moralities is required and on the other hand, making a correct and powerful judiciary system with complete awareness and vase dominance for fighting corruption, aggression and oppression. Certainly, complete advancement of industries gives humanity the equipments with which it is easily to control all movements of the people - in case of necessary - and observe any inharmonious act which can cause corruption and aggression and oppression; and taking images of criminals through the effects which are remained from them at crime scene; also recording their voices and recognizing them. If a righteous government has these equipments then it can be an effective factor for preventing corruption and oppression and in case of happening, giving the right to the rightful person. There is no doubt that in the age of that great universal peacemaker, moral educations will be expanded so much by using super-advanced communication tools that prepares absolute majority of the people of the world for a correct human life mixed with purity and social justice. But, as humans have been created free and dont follow determinism in their acts; maybe some humans can be found - even in minority - in any righteous society who abuse their freedom and use it for reaching evil goals. Therefore, a healthy, completely aware and dominant judiciary system should be available in order to give the rights of people and defeats the oppressor. By precise studying and consideration on social crimes and corruptions and the ways of prevention, it is cleared that: Firstly, by execution of social justice and fair division of wealth, the root of many of social corruptions, which are the results of conflicts for preserving assets and exploiting weak classes, deception, different kinds of frauds and lies and betrayals and crimes for more income in any way by any means, will be destroyed; and maybe large number of corruption and oppression in any society is because of these issues; by destroying the main root, branches and leaves will be dried our spontaneously. Secondly, correct education and training has deep effect in fighting against corruption, aggression and social and moral aberrances; and one of the important reasons of expansion of corruption in todays societies is that not only mass media isnt being used for correct education, but most of them are serving the most ugly and polluted imperialistic programs of corruption; and they serve oppression, discrimination and corruption continuously day and night through distribution of destructive movies and deviating stories and programs and even false and incorrect news which are in benefits of global imperialism. Albeit, these matters have also economical source and move for stupefying the brains and spoiling constructive concepts, and destroying active and aware forces of each society, for more exploitation of giants of economical imperialism, without facing serious obstacle. Whenever this conditions change then an important part of social corruptions will be removed in a short time; and this cannot be performed except by a righteous and healthy government which is working in benefits of the people of the world - and not for exploiters for making and flourished and free world full of peace and justice and belief.
Thirdly, existence of an aware and informed judiciary system by having advanced equipments of supervision that it is either possible for criminals to escape nor to deny the crimes, will be also an effective factor in reducing the amount of corruption, sins and violations of laws. And if these three aspects work together then the aspects of its effectiveness will be so much large. It is understood from the whole ahadith about the age of government of Mahdi(as) that he uses all of these three preventive factors during the age of his revolution, in the way the famous sentence which is considered as a proverb becomes practical; that sentence which says: Time will come when wolf and lamb drink water together! Certainly the nature of the wolves wont be changed, and there is no necessity for that, also lambs dont change their present condition; it is referring to establishment of justice in the world and changing the way of bloody wolfish persons, who were drinking the blood of the deprived people of human society for centuries, by serving the government of tyrants. They completely change their manner under the dominance of new system, because wolfishness has never been, and is not, in human nature and is from the accidentals and it is changeable, or at least they retreat and isolate themselves and takes the benefits of divine gifts accompanying others fairly instead of eating other peoples benefits, as wolf beside lamb at the river! In other than these two ways, they will be included in purification and their existence will be removed from the way! From considerable referrals about this matter is what has been quoted in a hadith from Prophet (S) about diving the assets correctly in, that people will have spiritual and physical richness that extra properties remain without demand; it means that people will be trained and educated in a correct system of government that consider properties over their needs as problem for themselves! And all conflicts and brawls on this subject will end! All the people will be provided for their living and they also have no worry for the future in order to pollute themselves and participate in the competition of wealth collecting, for securing the future. Also, we read in another hadith that in the time of his government intellectual level of the people will increase in the way that it is not comparable with today at all, and naturally, conflicts and fights, which are the results of narrow-mindedness and envies, and lowness of level of intellectuality and summarizing the personality in the amount of wealth, will be removed. According to previous narratives, even criminals are not safe in their homes because of strong supervision during the time of his government, because it is possible that they are being monitored with advanced equipments and even their sound waves can be controlled on the walls; it is another referral to the development of fighting against corruption in the age of his government. His judgment according to the law of judgment of Muhammad (S) and the judgment law of David (as) points to this precise matter that he will use both external regulations of Islamic
investigation and judgment like confession, testification and like them, and through mental and scientific ways of discovering the crime, as it is quoted from some of its examples from the age of David (as). Moreover, in his age, beside the advancement of sciences and techniques and industries, tools of discovering crime will be advanced in the way that few criminals will be able not to leave trace with which cannot be recognized. I read an article about the wonders of human brain in one of newspapers that human brain sends waves according inner beliefs that it is possible to understand the amount of truths and lies of the persons expressions! Certainly these equipments will be advanced and other equipments will be invented. And by using the advanced mental methods, criminals will be completely controlled, although essentially, there are few criminals in such society (but that few are completely important). We repeat again that: It is a mistake to think that in the age of his government all of these issues will be performed through miracles, because miracles are exceptions, and are used in necessary cases and especially for proving the truthfulness of the invitation of Prophet (S) or Imam (as), not for adjusting daily life and normal way of living, that no prophet has used miracle for this purpose. Therefore, the way of his universal government in through what we mention not through the miracles! Anyway, world become so much secure under the shadow of his government that according to a narrative a woman can travel from the East to the West alone without being disturbed! If we add the matter of simplicity of the life of Mahdi (as) to that - according to what have been mentioned in narratives - the issues become even clearer; because his acts are the patterns for those who are under the cover of his government which means all the people of the world. And by considering that an important part of crimes and social corruption are the results of luxury loving, glamorization of living, useless and costly formalities and rituals, another reason of removing corruption during the time of his government will be cleared. It is mentioned in a hadith from Ali ibn Musa al-Reza (as):
)(
(Clothing of al-Qaim is nothing more than thick cloth and his food is only simple and unimportant food!)16 Similar to this matter has been quoted from Imam Sadiq (as).
Longtime Government
Although, there are several ahadith in Islamic resources about the time of his government which mentioned from 5 or 7 years to 309 years (the time of sleep of Kahf companion in that dark cave) - which is in fact, maybe it refers to the levels and ages of that government (its establishment five or seven years and the time of its completion 40 years and it final duration more than 300 years! Attention!) - but regardless of Islamic narratives, it is certain that these narrations and preliminaries are not for a short time government and certainly they are for a longtime government that is worth this much of efforts!
, 56
has remained completely unknown among a large group of Muslims and they have kept the people far from that with different kinds of accusations. He will destroy and dispel various weeds from the garden of Islam like a skillful and capable gardener; however, they have been tied with main saplings in the way that it seems impossible to be separated. He cuts deformed branches immediately; purifies this dark and polluted water; removes the rusts of incorrect interpretations; cleans the dust of forgetfulness; and cuts the hands of abusers and aberrant persons. Briefly, renews the same truthful Islam of the time of Prophet (S) and Ali (as). One of the prophecies of Mahdi (as) is trimming Islam from these attachments and in other words, rejuvenation of the building of its glorious palace. Transfers the mosques, which were one day the most active centers of Islam and the center of any kind of political, scientific, cultural and social movement and today, they have become the place of retired and jobless persons or as a form of entertainment or in its best condition as a habit, to their beginning shape. Inaction and silence give their position to movement and action. Revives Islamic jihad in all aspects. Frees genuine Islamic monotheism from any pollution of polytheisms, and interprets the transformed and reversed meanings correctly. Removes personal tastes from Islam and removes the rust of habit and rituals from that. Exits Islam from its tribal and regional limited shapes and discloses that in its global shape. Cuts the hands of abusers and those who make religious hats (excuses) and offers its laws free of these extras. The whole rejuvenation and reconstruction is so much and changing that in some of Islamic narratives it is considered as new religion. We read in a narrative from Imam Sadiq (as), which has been quoted in the book Ithbat alHudat:
(When al-Qaim appears brings new order, new method and new judgment with him).18 It clear that the newness of these programs, methods and judgments is not because he brings new religion with him, but exits Islam from the congestion of superstitions, distortions and incorrect interpretations and false understandings in the way that it appears
like a completely new building. Also the newness of the book doesnt mean that a new divine book will be descended to him, because Imam is Qaim and guardian of religion, not prophet and the one who brings new religion and book; but, extracts the forgotten genuine Quran from the angles of spiritual distortions and incorrect interpretations in the ay that it is possible to name it a new book. The proof of this expression, adding to explicitness of Quran about the last of prophets in Ahzab sura, verse 40 and narratives which explicitly prove that the prophet of Islam (S) is the last of prophets, there are several ahadith that affirms he will rise with the same method of prophet of Islam (S) and his book and tradition: One of the companions of Imam Sadiq (as), Abdullah ibn Ata says: I asked Imam how is the method of way of Mahdi (as)? Imam answered:
)( )(
He will perform the same act which prophet of God performed; destroys previous (incorrect) programs, as prophet of God destroyed the acts of ignorance, and rejuvenates Islam. We read in the same book (Ithbat al-Hudat) that Prophet (S) said:
Al-Qaim is one of my children; his name is my name and his Kunya (honorific) is my Kunya and his face is my face; his method is my method; encourages people to follow me and my religion and invites them to the book of my God. 19 And it is mentioned in the book Muntakhab al-Athar from the Prophet of God (S):
(My twelfth son will be occulted and wont be seen; and he comes to my followers when nothing has remained from Islam but its name and nothing has remained from Quran but its shape; at this time great God permits him to exit, and appears and rejuvenates Islam by him.20 Explicitness of this news is so much that there is no need for any explanation.
Unity of Religion
There is no doubt that religious disagreements are not compatible with a monotheistic system in all aspects; because these agreements are enough for disordering any unity. Contrariwise, one of the factors of unity is unity of religion which can be beyond all disagreements, and can gather different races, languages, nationalities and cultures in it, and make a united society from them that people live in that like brothers and sisters that . Accordingly, one of the essential programs of that great peacemaker and revolutionary man is unity of the rows under the shadow of unity of religion. But, it shouldnt be doubted that this unity neither is possible to be obligatory nor if it was possible to be obligatory then it was not logical to be obligatory. Religion communicates with the heart and the soul of the human and we know that the heart and the soul are outside of the territory of force and obligation; and nobody can transgress their boundaries. Moreover, method and tradition of Prophet (S) - as Quran also confirms - was not based upon force that: Therefore, Islam has always accepted Ahl al-Kitab as a healthy minority and has supported them until they dont start motivation. By considering that in the time of he government of that great peacemaker, all the advanced equipments of communication will be used by him and his truthful followers and by considering that genuine Islam, by removing the extras, has extraordinary attraction, it is clearly predictable that Islam will be accepted by most of the people of the world through logical and continuous propagation, and unity of religions will become practical by pioneer Islam. This truth, which we understand from the above rational reason, can also be clearly seen in Islamic narratives. Mufazzal quotes in a long hadith from Imam Sadiq (as) that:
...
...
O Mufazzal! I swear to God that disagreements of religions will be removed and all become one religion; as almighty God says: religion is only Islam before God21 We previously read the same matter in interpretation of some of the verse of Quran which points to the rise of Mahdi (as). And in this way, religion of Tawhid and Islam enters all homes, all livings of all humans and in to all hearts. But, it is not possible to say that few minorities of the followers of other divine religion wont be absolutely available because humans has free-will and there is no force and obligation is such system of government; and it is possible for some person to remain on previous belief because of mistake or bias, although majority of the people will accept monotheistic system of Islam and it is natural. But anyway, if such minority will be available, will be supported by that government as a healthy minority and by observing the conditions of Ahl al-Dhimmah. 1. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 336. 2. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 328. 3. Refer to the second hadith of previous chapter. 4. Refer to the first hadith of previous chapter. 5. Refer to the third hadith of previous chapter. 6. Rawdat al-Kafi (according to the quotation of Muntakhab al-Athar, page 483). 7. Muntakhab al-Athar, page 483. 8. Asaaf ar-Raghibeen, chapter two, pages 140 & 141. 9. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 13. 10. Noor al-Absar fi Managhib Aal Bayt al-Nabi al-Mukhtar, pages 156 & 157, printed in Egypt. 11. Amali of Al-Shaykh al-Saduq (according to the quotation of Muntakhab al-Athar, page 168). 12. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 330. 13. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, page 333. 14. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 53, page 12. 15. Muntakhab al-Athar, pages 472, 473 & 474. 16. Muntakhab al-Athar, page 307. 17. It should be considered that this book has been written some months before Islamic Revolution in Iran. 18. Ithbat al-Hudat, vol. 7, page 83. 19. Ithbat al-Hudat. 20. Muntakhab al-Athar, page 98. 21. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 53, page 4.
False Claimants
Hasn't Mahdi Appeared?
In the history of Islam, approximately from the beginning, we see the names of those who had called themselves promised Mahdi, or others had called them so, and had big claims, or others had considered for them; although, none of this claimant were not successful in correcting the world and didnt fill the world full of oppression and injustice with justice, even they were not the source of a small corrective movement in their small environment. Maybe the first person who had been called with this name - although he was not satisfied with this act - was Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah son of Ali (as) albeit from a mother other than Fatima (sa), that the group of Kaysanites believed that: He is the promised Mahdi and after his death, they cried out that he has never been died; but he is concealed in mount Radwa1 guarding by lions! While we know that Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah died in the year 80 or 81 after Hijrah and was buried in Baqi (famous cemetery of Medina), and fortunately, today nothing is heard from this group. Then some of Abbasid tyrants introduced themselves as Mahdi for achieving the title of caliph and using pure beliefs of simpleminded people for reaching this goal, by considering mental readiness of Muslims about the promised Mahdi. But, time shows that not only they were not Mahdi, but also they were from the oppressors who should be destroyed by Mahdi and his sword! This matter continued and once in a while someone claimed of being Mahdi and gathered a group around him and deceived them; but these seasonal Mahdis became known soon and their plans failed. Because claim of being Mahdi is dangerous and our of the benefits of exploiters as it is useful and attractive for temporary attraction of a group of people, because Mahdi should fill the world with justice and this is what decries false claimant very soon. There were all types of people among these false claimants. In some of them, signs of mental illness, idiotism and at least simplemindedness can bee seen, while some others were ambitious and materialist and for saturation of this feeling, claimed this claim without studying its results. Some others were the tools of recognized enemies of Islam, who were being used for deviating the minds of Muslims from vital issues with which they were facing, and for separation and concision and weakening religious power, specially the power of clergies who were always their strong disturbance. Briefly, this game of being Mahdi continued until these days that they take Sayyid Muhammad Ali Baab to the scene. Although, he didnt have the courage for this claim but according to living evidences and
his own expressions which are available today in writings, he didnt claimed of being Mahdi, but it was enough for him to be considered as Baab and special representative of Mahdi. But, by the pass of time and gathering some people around him, and motivations of those who was directing the piece, he changed his claim to be al-Qaim (Mahdi).2 Evidences and proofs which have been collected from the story of his life and his followers and how good they have collected - show that his claim was from all three roots; which means, he was officially motivated, strengthened and supported by the agents of imperialistic government - like Tsarian Russia at the beginning, Britain and United Estates the heir of imperialism in the following; also special ambition which dominated his soul didnt leave him alone; and he was not free of a mental complex, too.3 Albeit, this series continued and successors have practically left him behind and made him as a second-degree person who was the preliminary of their advent and had bigger claims in mind! But, multiplicity of their branches on one side4, and distribution of living evidences proving their direct connection with imperialistic governments on the other side5, and most important of all, nonexistence of considerable contents in their invitation, which can at least saturate the commons, on the third side, and enlightenments of a group of aware Muslims which have been performed for introducing this imperialistic political party in the fourth side, cleared their conditions very soon. Albeit, our goal in this discussion is not to talk about the weaknesses; that this matter needs a separated book and fortunately, many books have been written in this subject that some of them are interesting in contents.6 Here, our goal is only expressing two matters: 1) Some says: We know that the belief of the advent of Mahdi has been abused many times and still is being abused, isnt it better to keep silence about the main matter in order not to be abused by these many abusers; essentially, why should we accept a thing which can be taken this much wrong and undesirable? 2) Another question, which is approximately the opposite point of the first question, is that: Is it really acceptable that all the claimants of being Mahdi were fake; dont you assume that one of them was real and all of them were not opportunist and abuser or motivated by imperialism? In this discussion, our only goal is answering the two above questions and analyzing them. About the first question, first this question should be asked that: which valuable reality had been available which had not been abused by a group of evil persons? History shows us this much of false claimant of prophet hood who are still claiming in the age of atom and space and we hear the murmur of their claims everywhere. Therefore, it is good to forget the invitation of prophets and like Brahmans deny the
prophecy itself in order not to be disturbed by these abuses! Do you consider this expression logical! In daily life, we hear about many people who have abused the titles of doctor and engineer and like them for taking money from people or for other purposes and maybe sometimes, they continue their way without leaving any trace behind, and were famous with this fake title. Is it possible to say, now that the title doctor has been illegitimately abused by a group of persons then we should completely deny the existence of physicians and doctors! This kinds of speech, although seems to be strongly illogical, but unfortunately, it can be seen in the writings of those who essentially deny the advent of Mahdi. Anyway, it is a general rule that always any lie puts on the clothes of truth and uses that truths validity for covering its invalidity that This lie shines by truth! No traitor, dishonest, thief and liar appear in his/her main feature, but reach his/her illegitimate goals by using the honor and reputation and trust and purity and honesty and pretending them. Is it the reason for invalidity of these superior human values! Secondly, is believing the advent of Mahdi a reality that has been abused or an imaginary matter? If we have accepted its reality - as we should accept because we have many evidences for that - then it is not possible to leave it behind because of the abuses of others, and if (assumable) it is not real then it should be left aside, whether it has been abused or not! Anyway, correct or incorrect way of using a matter cannot be the means of judging that. If someday, cruel fire-starters of the world misuse atomic energy and in an atomic attack to Hiroshima kill 300 hundred thousand persons and injure another 300 hundred thousand persons that after 30 years, terrible injuries of some of them have not been healed yet then can it be the reason for us to completely abstain from this great source of energy or completely deny its existence, because cruel imperialists has abused that; or by accepting this reality, try to use it in correct way and in benefits of human society? After this question and its answer, it is the time for the second question that is more important in some aspects that whether all of this false claimant of being Mahdi were liars and there was no reality in their claims, or not? According to our belief, reaching the answer of this question is very easy by having the signs, reflections and results of this great advent. We understood enough in previous discussions that Mahdi has a universal responsibility, and uses all gifted facilities and available equipments and those, which he will make himself for fulfilling this responsibility. His main responsibility is removing all kinds of oppression and injustice from the living environment of humans, and designing a new plan for universal government based upon justice and fighting against all kinds of discriminations, imperialisms, exploitations and oppression of the tyrants.
He mutates the minds. He greatly advances sciences and knowledge and industries. He makes movement in sleeping world in all aspects. He gathers all the followers of religions under one flag. He divined the wealth of the world fairly. He juices up the worlds economy, in the way that nobody remains needful in the world. He gives any right to its owner. He leaves no ruins in the world except that constructs it. And in his age, the world is secure in the way that a woman can travel from the East to the West alone without being disturbed. He extracts the resources of the earth. And position everyone in a multilateral monotheistic system. These are practical programs and responsibilities of that great revolutionary man of the world in the greatest revolution of human history, which has been mentioned, in different resources and we presented the evidences of them in previous chapters. Did any of these claimants fulfill one-thousandth of this program, were they successful in adjusting their place or city according to this program? We see that oppressions and injustices and aggressions are still advancing; The First and the Second Word War have left millions of casualties and tens of millions of wounded persons and filled the world with blood. Dangerous competitions of superpowers becomes more day by day, and their distance with poor countries becomes farther; each night, about one billion people of the world sleep hungry; and prisons are full of innocents. Devilish autocrats are still performing different kinds of tortures on the people. It means that still, the world is going to the congestion of oppression and injustice, where and when has been filled with justice? And this reason is the strongest and the most effective answer to all claimants of the entire history and living evidence for there lies, a short and summarized reason, but sharp and certain! Yes! That Sun is still behind the clouds, and we should still wait for that day that clouds will disappear completely and the dark world shines by his essence; and perhaps the dawn is near.
1. Radwa or Razwa is a mount near Medina; I have expressed the reason of mentioning the name of this mount in Nudba supplication in the book Answers to Religious Questions. 2. We read in the book Appearance of Truth ( ) , which is accepted by this sect (in page 173), that Baab in the middle of the year 1265, in Maku prison, wrote to Mulla Abdul Khaliq and after this, Mulla Abdul Khaliq was very upset of his claim. 3. The reason for his mental illness, regardless of the contents of his books and expressions and phrases which are completely similar to a mentally ill person, is that we read in the book Kashf al-Qita ( ) from Mirza Abul Fazl Golpayegani, who is one of his heads, that Mujtahids of Tabriz said after their inquest from Baab in that famous meeting: Your words makes your blood Mubah (neutral) for us but the reason that we dont order to execute you is the possibility of your madness. 4. Hitherto, their sects have become more than twenty sects. 5. Refer to the books written by Kinyaz Dalgurki and Prince Dalgurki and the book What else Bahais Say? ( .( 6. Refer to the books What does Bahai Say and Trial and Revision and Fine Words of Yar Gholi and Hadyat al-Namlat and Prince Dalgurki.
Source URL: http://www.al-islam.org/universal-government-mahdi-makarim-shirazi Links [1] http://www.al-islam.org/user/login?destination=node/30283%23comment-form [2] http://www.al-islam.org/user/register?destination=node/30283%23comment-form [3] http://www.al-islam.org/person/ayatullah-al-uzma-al-hajj-ash-shaykh-nasir-makarim-shirazi [4] http://www.al-islam.org/library/imam-al-mahdi [5] http://www.al-islam.org/person/imam-mahdi [6] http://www.makaremshirazi.org [7] http://www.world-federation.org [8] http://www.al-haqq.com [9] http://www.ansariyan.org