Summary Article: The History of Religious Authority and its Representation of Imam Al-Mahdi in the Time of Occultation
Sheikh Jasim Al-Wa’ely
Praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and Allah’s blessing and peace be upon the last of the prophets, Muhammad, and his honorable progeny, and the everlasting curse be upon their enemy.
One of the gifts of God bestowed upon this nation, especially during the Occultation of Imam Al-Mahdi, is that He has designated a shelter to resort to, who are the Fuqaha, or religious jurists. They are the general representatives of Imam Al-Mahdi.
Out of envy, the concept of representation of Imam Al-Mahdi through Fuqaha has been critiqued and brought out into questioning. Unfortunately, many of the simple and naïve Shias have been trapped in such subjective unrealistic questioning. Provided that they are examined carefully, one will find out that such an empty debate is loose as a spider’s web, as God has described it in Quran “And indeed, the weakest of homes is the home of spider” (٢٩: ٤١). The stability and the historical roots of this concept reveal its truth and functionality. In fact, the ideological goals of such questioning are merely to push people astray from the right path of salvation.
This study is threefold: first, it makes a perusal of the history of Religious Authority, second, the reality and truth of Religious Authority and its right to represent Imam Al-Mahdi, and finally it presents a relevant conclusion that the concept of Religious Authority is proved rationally, without even the need to go through theological narrations.
