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It is reported that Rousseau, in spite of being a great
champion of political revolution from an intellectual
and a philosophical point of view, shuddered at the very
thought of there being a France without a king, the
reason being that he was born and brought up and had
always lived under the shadow of monarchy. But the man
having a long historical background and being fully
aware of the historical factors knows perfectly well how
and when the prevailing culture and the prevailing
system came into being and developed. He knows that the
historical age of the cultures and systems, howsoever
long, is very limited.
Have you read the Surah al-Kahf (Chapter 18 of the holy
Qur'an) and have you gone through the story of the
youths who believed in Allah and were virtuous, but had
to face an idolatrous system which was dominant at that
time and which ruthlessly crushed every idea of
Monotheism? They felt greatly distressed and lost all
hope. In utter despair they took refuge in a cave, for
they were at their wits' end and did not know what to
do. They prayed to Allah to resolve their difficulty.
They thought that the then existing unjust system would
continue to prevail for ever and would liquidate all
those whose hearts throbbed for the truth. Do you know
what Allah did? He sent them to sleep in the cave for
309 years. Then He awakened them and sent them back to
the scene of life. By then the unjust regime, the power
and tyranny which had dazzled them, had completely
collapsed and become a part of past history. This
arrangement was made to enable those young men to see
themselves the downfall of falsehood, the power and
grandeur which had overawed them. The people of the cave
achieved moral uplift and sublimation through this
unique experience which extended their lives for three
hundred years. The same privilege will be enjoyed by the
Awaited Saviour through his long life which will enable
him to see the giant dwindling into a dwarf, a lofty
tree shrinking to become a mere seed leaf and a tornado
turning into a mere whiff of the wind.
Furthermore, the experience gained through the direct
and close study of so many successive cultures will
widen the mental horizon of the person designated to
lead the revolution and will prepare him better for the
accomplishment of his mission. He will have benefited by
the experience of others, knowing their strong and weak
points, and will be in a better position to assess
social developments correctly in their true historical
context.
As the revolution to be brought about by the Awaited
Saviour is to be ideological and based on the message of
Islam, the very nature of his mission requires him to be
close to the early Islamic sources and to have a
personality built independently of and detached from the
influences of the culture he is destined to fight. A
person born and brought up under the shadow of a
particular culture cannot in all probability, escape its
effects totally, even if he leads a campaign against it.
To ensure that the leader-designate is not himself
influenced by the culture he is expected to change, his
personality must be built fully at a cultural stage
closer in its general spirit to the system he wants to
establish.
(c) His training for the mission
Now we come to the third question as to how the
preparation of the Awaited Saviour for his mission was
completed, as he was only about five years old when his
father, Imam Hasan al-Askari died. This age is the time
of early childhood and the child is not old enough for
the development of the personality of a leader. Then how
did his personality develop?
The answer is that several of his forefathers also
assumed the Imamate at an early age. Imam Muhammad ibn
Ah al-Jawad assumed it when he was only eight years old
and Imam Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hadi when he was only nine.
It should be observed that the phenomenon of the early
Imamate reached its zenith in the case of the Imam Mahdi.
We call it a phenomenon, because it assumed a tangible
and practical form as in the case of Imam Mahdi's
forefathers. It was felt and experienced by the Muslims
coming into contact with the Imam concerned. Experience
of the people being the best proof of a phenomenon, we
cannot be asked to give a more tangible or a more
convincing proof of it. The following points will
elucidate what we mean:
(i) The Imamate of an Imam belonging to the Holy House
was not a centre of hereditary power and influence, nor
did it have the backing of any ruling regime, as was the
case with the Imamate of the Fatimid caliphs and the
caliphate of the Abbasid caliphs. The extensive popular
support and allegiance which the Imams enjoyed was due
only to their spiritual influence and the conviction of
their followers that they alone deserved the leadership
of Islam on spiritual and intellectual grounds.
(ii) The popular bases supporting the Imamate had
existed since the early days of the Islamic era. They
expanded further during the time of the Imam Baqir and
Imam Sadiq. The school set up by them assumed the form
of an extensive intellectual movement which included
among its ranks hundreds of legists, scholastic
theologians, exegetes and others learned in various
fields of Islamic scholarship and the humanities known
at that time. Hasan ibn Ali Washsha, when visiting the
Masjid of Kufah, found there 900 scholars all repeating
the traditions narrated to them by Imam Ja'far ibn
Muhammad al-Sadiq.
(iii) The qualifications which an Imam possessed, as
believed in by this school and the popular bases
represented by it, were very high. The Imam was judged
by the standard of these qualifications to find out
whether he was really fit to be an Imam. They believed
that the Imam must be the most learned and wise man of
his time.
(iv) The school and the popular bases had to make great
sacrifices for the sake of their belief in the Imamate
which the contemporary governments regarded as a hostile
line, at least from the ideological angle. This attitude
led the then authorities to the persecution of the
followers of the Imams. Many people were killed. Many
others were thrown into dungeons. Hundreds died while in
detention. Their belief in the Imamate of the Prophet's
House used to cost them dear. The only attraction was
their conviction of gaining the favour of Allah.
(v) The Imams, whose Imamate these popular bases
acknowledged, were not living like the kings in high
towers isolated from their followers. They never
segregated themselves, except when imprisoned, exiled or
forcibly kept aloof by the ruling juntas. This we know
for certain on the authority of a large number of
reporters who have narrated the sayings 'and deeds of
each of the first eleven Imams. Similarly, we have a
record of the correspondence exchanged between the Imams
and their contemporaries. The Imams used to make
journeys to various places and
appointed their deputies in different parts of the
Muslim world. Their supporters also, while visiting the
holy places during Hajj, made it a point to call on them
at Madina. All this meant a continuous contact between
the Imams and their followers scattered all over the
Muslim world.
(vi) The contemporary caliphs always regarded the Imams
and their spiritual leadership as a threat to themselves
and their dynasty. For this reason, they did all they
could to disrupt this leadership and in pursuance of
their nefarious ends, they resorted to many mean and
arbitrary actions. Occasionally their behaviour was too
harsh and despotic. The Imams themselves were
continuously chased and kept in detention. Such actions
were painful and disgusting to all the Muslims,
especially to the supporters of the Imams.
These six points comprise historical facts. If we take
them into consideration, we can easily come to the
conclusion that the early Imamate was a real fact and
not a fiction. It is certain that an Imam who appeared
on the scene at a very early age, who proclaimed himself
to be the spiritual and intellectual leader of the
Muslims and who was acknowledged to be so by a vast
cross-section of the people must have had great
knowledge, competence and mastery over all branches of
theology. Otherwise, the popular bases could not be
convinced of his Imamate.
We have already said that these bases had continuous
contact with the Imams and were in a position to judge
their personalities. It is not conceivable that so many
people should have accepted a boy to be their Imam and
should have made sacrifices for his sake without
ascertaining his real worth and assessing his
competence. Even if it is presumed that the people made
no immediate efforts to ascertain the position, still
the truth could not remain unknown for years in spite of
the continuous contact between the child Imam and the
people. Had he been childish in his knowledge and
thinking, he would certainly have been exposed.
Even if it is supposed that the popular bases of the
Imamate could not discover the truth, it was easy for
the government of the day to expose the child, if he had
been really childish in his thinking and cultural
attainments like all other children. It certainly would
have been in the interest of the government of the day
to bring him before his supporters and others to prove
that he was not fit to be an Imam and a spiritual and
intellectual leader. It might have been difficult to
prove the incompetence of a man of 40 to 50, but
it would have been quite easy to prove the incompetence
of an ordinary child, howsoever intelligent he might
have been. Evidently this would have been much simpler
and easier than the complex and risky policy of
suppression adopted by those in power at that time. The
only explanation for why the government kept quiet and
did not play this card is that it had realized that the
early Imamate was a real phenomenon and not a
concoction.
The fact is that the government did attempt to play that
card but did not succeed. History tells us of such
attempts and their failures, but it does not report any
occasion on which the child Imam vacillated or showed
signs of such embarrassment as could shake the
confidence of the people believing in his early Imamate.
That is what we meant when we said that the early
Imamate was really a phenomenon and not a mere
presumption. This phenomenon has deep roots, for there
exist parallel cases throughout the history of the
heavenly mission and Divine leadership. We cite just one
instance.
We commanded John; Zachariah's son, to follow the
guidance of the Lord with due steadfastness. To John We
gave knowledge and wisdom during his childhood',
(Surah Maryam, 19.12)
After it has been proved that the early Imamate had been
a real phenomenon already existing in the life of the
people of the Prophet's House, no exception can be taken
to the Imamate of the Mahdi and his succession to his
father while he was still a child.
(d) Reasons for his continued existence
Now we come to the fourth question. Even if it is
presumed that theoretically the existence of the Mahdi,
with all its implication including the long life, the
early Imamate and the complete occultation is possible,
how can we believe that he actually exists, for a mere
possibility is not enough to prove that. As the concept
of the Mahdi is unusual and extraordinary, the existence
of a few sayings of the holy Prophet, which are
enshrined in the books, is not enough to prove that the
existence of the Mahdi is a historical fact and not a
mere presumption which has seized the imagination of a
large number of people for certain psychological
reasons.
The answer to this question is this that the concept of
the Mahdi as the Awaited Saviour who is to change the
world for the better has been mentioned in the
traditions of the holy Prophet generally and in the
sayings of the Imams particularly. It has been
emphasized in so many passages that there is no reason
to doubt it. The number of the reports on this subject
found in the books of our Sunni brethren comes to 400,
and the total number of the reports found in both the
Shi'ah and the Sunni sources comes to more than 6,000.
This is a colossal figure, unparalleled in the case of
most of those Islamic issues which are not usually
doubted by any Muslim.
As for the embodiment of this concept in the person of
the twelfth Imam, there exists enough justification to
believe that. This justification can be summarized in
two arguments, one being Islamic and the other
scientific.
By the Islamic argument we prove the existence of the
Awaited Saviour and by the scientific argument we prove
that the Mahdi is not a mere myth but his existence is a
fact proved by historical experience.
As for the Islamic argument, it is represented by
hundreds of traditions which have come down from the
holy Prophet and the Imams of his House. They specify
that the Mahdi will belong to the Prophet's House,
will~be descended from his daughter Fatimah-tuz-Zehra
and will be the descendant of Imam Husayn in the ninth
generation. The traditions also say that the total
number of the caliphs will be twelve. Thus, the
traditions give a specific shape to the general idea of
the Mahdi and determine that he is none other than the
twelfth Imam of the Prophet's House. The number of these
traditions is very large in spite of the fact that the
Imams were very reserved on this subject, for fear of an
attempt on the life of the Mahdi.
It is not only because of their number that we have to
accept these traditions, but there are also other
indications of their authenticity. According to the
different versions of a tradition of the holy Prophet,
he has to be succeeded by twelve caliphs, by twelve
Imams, or by twelve commanders. The total number of
reports about this saying as counted by some writers
exceeds 270 and they are found in the most celebrated
Shi'ah and Sunni books, such as Sahih Bukhari, Sahih
Muslim, Sahih Tirmizy, Sunan Abu Dawud, Ahmad's Musnad
and Hakim's Mustadrak. It may be noted that Bukhari, who
has quoted this tradition, was a contemporary of Imam
Muhammad bin Ali al-Jawad, Imam Ali bin Muhammad al-Hadi
and Imam Hasan al-Askari. This fact has great
significance, for it proves that the tradition was
recorded before its contents could materialize. Hence,
it cannot be suspected that it is a possible reflection
on the actual number of the Imam, as believed by the
Twelver Shi 'ah to reinforce their belief in the twelve
Imams. This is because the spurious sayings attributed
to the holy Prophet refer to the events which take place
earlier and the saying comes afterwards. Such sayings do
not precede the events nor are they recorded in the
books of tradition earlier.
So long as we possess material evidence of the fact that
the tradition was recorded before the number of the
Imams was actually completed we can safely say that it
is not a reflection on an accomplished fact. It is only
an expression of a divine truth, expressed by him who
never spoke whimsically, and a prophecy which was
subsequently fulfilled by the actual number of the Imams
beginning with Imam Ali and ending with Imam Mahdi.
As for the scientific argument, we have to state that it
consists of the experience of a large number of people
for a period covering about seventy years. This period
is known as that of minor occultation. To elucidate the
point we propose to explain minor occultation briefly.
The minor occultation represents the first stage of the
Imamate of the Awaited Saviour who was destined to keep
himself physically absent from the public scene, from
the very inception of his Imamate, though he still
continues to take an intelligent interest in what
happens around him. Had this occultation come suddenly
it would have been a great shock to his supporters, for
they had been accustomed to be always in contact with
the Imam and to consult him on their divergent problems.
His sudden disappearance would have caused a big vacuum
which might have absorbed and even destroyed the whole
organisation, for his supporters would have felt that
they had been cut off from their spiritual and
intellectual leadership. In order to familiarize them
with the idea of occultation and to. enable them to
adapt themselves to the new situation it was felt
necessary that a preparatory stage should precede the
final occultation.
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