Summary Article: Occultation of the Imam Despite the Prosperity of Shia Governments
Nematollah Safari
Translated by: Mujtaba Al-Helu
One might encounter the question that why Imam Al-Mahdi is still in Occultation despite the prosperity of the Shias under the reign of certain Shia governments?
The current study aims at investigating the historico-political contexts of these Shia governments starting from the second half of the third century (A.H.) until the end of the fourth century. Next, it moves to analyze the real reason behind the Imam’s prolonged Occultation despite the presence of such governments.
This paper encounters the reign of the Alawites in Tabarestan (٢٥٠-٣١٦ A.H.) in the northern parts of the current Iran and the nature of their rule, and the possibility of the Debut under such a system.
Next, the research moves next to shed light on the reign of the Fatimids in Andelus (٢٩٦-٥٦٥ A. H.) and the Qaramites (٢٨٦-٤٣٩ A. H.). the paper here studies the way these two kingdoms ruled and whether it is possible to describe them as Shia governments, depending on them for the Debut.
It also studies the rule of the Hamdanis (٢٩٣-٣٩٤ A. H.) and the Buwaihis until their fall in ٤٤٧ (A.H.).
The research goes on to investigate the real ideologies upon which these kingdoms were established and the real policy adopted by their rulers. The result of the study would be that in case the Imam had debuted, he would have faced several challenges, as the following: despite the shaky position of the Abbasyd kingdom at the time, it had enough power to encounter any outside challenge, as observed in its history when defeated many opposing forces. Another challenging factor to the Imam was that some of the Shia government have rose to power only for the sake of the power, as in the case of the Qaramides and Fatimids.
Throughout the paper, the reader would find out that despite the label of Shiism, some of the rulers’ belief were of deviated ones, like Zaydism, Ismailism, and others who have claimed Imamate.
Such chaotic ideologies were a real challenge to the Debute of Imam Al-Mahdi under the reign of such governments.
