Summary Article:The Concept of Concealment in Mahdism
Written by: Sheikh Husain Al-Asady
Translated by: Mujtaba Al-Helu
Concealment is a crucial cornerstone in Mahdism. Some traditions from Ahlulbait (P.B.U.T) justify this concept as motivating individuals to look for the truth. This search for truth will finally lead to Ahlulbait in an attempt to find answers.
There is a group of inquiries that accompany the concept of concealment in Mahdism. For example, what is the reason behind hiding the exact date of the Debut? Why Imam Al-Mahdi fears his enemies? Why has he hidden from his followers and Shias? Why have the traditions veiled the detailed features of the characters, who will have positive effects on the Debut? Why was the birth of Imam Al-Mahdi (P.B.U.H) concealed from the companions and relatives of Imam Al-Askary (P.B.U.H)? These inquiries provoke us to investigate the related traditions in an attempts to find convincing answers to these and similar issues.
Accordingly, one is obliged to resort to related traditions, because only these concrete narrations could provide us with the required answers, since there is no place for foretelling or hypothesizing in this field.
This research proposes some proper answers to the above inquiries, depending upon relevant clues. However, it cannot display decisive solutions and answers, since matters of the Occult are not entirely known to us, a fact that leaves this study open to criticism.
