The Faith of Shia Islam

31. Doctrine of the Mahdi =========================

Many people have narrated from the Prophet concerning the reappearance, at the end of time of the Mahdi, who is a descendent of

his daughter Fatimah, and how he will spread justice and equity throughout the world, after it had been overcome by injustice and oppression. All sects of Muslims have accepted this good tiding, but with different interpretations.

It is not a new opinion or idea that has come into existence only among the Shi'a, and in which they were prompted to believe by oppression, dreaming of someone who would come to clear the world of injustice, as some malevolent sophists have suggested. On the contrary, the concept of the reappearance of the Mahdi has been well known among all Muslims, and they have believe in it. Proof of this is that some persons falsely called themselves Mahdi during the first century after the advent of Islam; such were the leaders of the Kaysaniyyah,5 the 'Abbasids and the' Alawiyyah. Only because people believed in the Mahdi could these persons have deceived them, exploited their belief and seized power. So they made their claims in order to impress the people and spread their influence.

We, the Shi'a on the one hand, believe in the truth of the Islamic religion as the last Divine religion, ad have no expectation of another religion to come and reform humanity. But on the other hand, we observe oppression and corruption spreading hay by day throughout the world, resulting in a total lack of justice and improvement anywhere in the inhabitable countries of the globe. We have also witnessed Muslims forsaking every Islamic principle, commandment and law in every single Islamic country. We know that we must wait for the reestablishment of Islam in all its power, to reform this world, drowned as it is in oppression and corruption.

Naturally, with such diversity of opinion among people pretending to be Muslim as we see today, it is impossible that the superiority of Islam should return, unless a great reformer appears to protect it, and, through Divine providence, unite people and eradicate the error, perversion and wrong which has become admixed with Islam. To be sure, this guide must possess such a great position, such general authority and such supernatural power as to fill the earth with justice and equity when it is full of evil, injustice and wrong.

In short, the observation that humanity is ni a pitiful condition, the assertion of the truth of Islam, and its position as the last religion leads to the expectation of such a great reformer (mahdi) to bring salvation to the world. All Muslims sects and the peoples of other religions believe in this expectation, the difference being that the Imamate sect believes that this reformer is a definite person, that he is the Mahdi, and that he was

born in 256 A. H. (870 A, D), that he is alive now, the son of Imam Hasan al-'Askari, and that his name is Muhammad. Many narrators have passed to us ahadith (pl. of hadith) from the Prophet and his Household concerning his birth and his absence.

The Imamate must continue uninterrupted, although the Imam nay live hidden among mankind until Allah wills that he reappear on a certain day, a Divine mystery known only to Him. The fact that he has lived for such a long time is a miracle granted to him by Allah and it is no more amazing than the miracle of the start of his Imamate for humanity at the age of five, when his father's life was taken away. Nor os it amy more surprising than the miracle whereby 'Isa talked with people from his cradle, and was appointed a prophet when still an infant. From the physiological point of view, it is quite certain that to live more than the natural span of life, or more than the imagined natural span, is not impossible, even though medical science si not yet able to prolong human life as much as possible. But while medicine is unable to do this, Allah can, for He is All powerful and Omnipotent. For the Qur'an states that Nuh lived to a very old age, and that 'Isa is alive now, and once one has accepted Islam, there can be no denying what the Qur'an says. It is incomprehensible that a Muslim should dispute the possibility of these things while at the same time calling himself a believer in the Glorious Qur'an.

We should remember at this point that the expectation of this saviour and reformer, the Mahdi, does not mean that Muslims should stand idle in their religion, or abandon their religious duties, but that they should perform all the Divine commandments and make every endeavour to seek out the way of truth, It is an obligation for them to fight for Islam, to put the principles of Islam into practice, to order others to do likewise and to prohibit them as far as possible from doing wrong. As the Prophet said: Every one of you is a shepherd, and every one is responsible for his flock.

Therefore it is wrong for a MUslim to pay no attention to his religious duties, and to abandon them because he is expecting the Mahdi, the one who brings good tidings; because such an expectation must not induce us to have no responsibility or duty, or to postpone any of our actions, and it will not leave people aimless like animals.

32. Doctrine of the Return (raj'ah)

In this question the Shi'a follow what has been said by the Household of the Prophet: that Allah will cause people to return to this world in the same form as they were before; that He will distinguish between the righteous and the wrong-doers, and between the oppressed and the oppressors; and that this will take place during the time of Mahdi. Allah will not cause anyone to return unless he has attained a high degree of faith of has sunk deep into corruption. After this they will die again, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be raised again to be rewarded or punished, for Allah has mentioned in the Qur'an the desire of these people who have come twice into this world to come yet a third time in order to repent of their sins.

They shall say:' 'Our Lord! Thou hast cause us to die two deaths, and Thou hast given us twice to live; now we confess our sins. Is there any way to go forth? (40;11)

Truly the Qur'an came to proclaim raj'ah in this world,as did many traditions from the house of Infallibility, and all the Imamites believe this, except a few who have interpreted the pronouncement on raj'ah as meaning that the government will return to the Household of the prophet together with the power to forbid and command, and that this will be when the Awaited One reappears, without involving the return of people or the giving of life to the dead.

Belief in raj'ah considered among the Sunni to be repugnant, and they deem it a heretical belief. Their collectors of ahadith considered one who had transmitted ahadith about raj'ah to be discredited, and caste of their transmission. Moreover, they considered one who believed in raj'ah to have descended to the ranks of unbelief (kufr) or polytheism (shirk) or worse. This belief was therefore one of the biggest cause for the despising of the Shi'a by the Sunni, and their slandering of them.

Undoubtedly, this was all part of the sabre-rattling engaged in by some Islamic sects in the past to damage each other and cause dissention. In fact, there is no evidence to substantiate their accusations, because belief in raj'ah cannot cause any blemish on belief in tawhid or nubuwwah; it only emphasizes the correctness of the two, because raj'ah testifies to the supreme ability of Allah to resurrect and raise from the dead, and is one of the supernatural events that will testify as a miracle

for Muhammad (A S) and his Household. It is similar to the miracle of the raising from the dead performed by' Isa, only more important, as it involves raising those bodies that have rotted away.

Says he (man): "Who will give life to the bones when they are rotten?"

Says: "He will give life to them Who brought them into existence at first, and He is cognizant of all Creation." (36; 78-9)

One who denigrates raj'ah as being a kind of transmigration of the soul, which we know to be incorrect, had not differentiated between transmigration and bodily resurrection, because the meaning of transmigration is the soul moves into another body, and this is not the same as bodily resurrection. The meaning of this latter is that the soul returns to the same body with all its individual characteristics; and raj'ah is the same as this. If raj'ah were a kind of transmigration, the restoring to life by Isa must also be transmigration, and the Resurrection (ma'ad) would be as well.

Now there remain two points to discuss concerning raj'ah: firstly, that it is impossible that it should take place; secondly, that the traditions relating to raj'ah are not true. Now, if it is worth discussing these two subjects, raj'ah cannot be as despicable a subject as the enemies of the Shi'a have suggested, How many beliefs of other sects of Islam which are either extremely improbable or else entire unsubstantiated by religious texts have led to these sects being accuse of being unbelievers or of being beyond the pale of Islam? And for this there are many example: the belief that the Prophet was liable to forget or to disobey Allah's Will: the belief that the Qur'an is eternal; the belief that when Allah said He will punish, he is obliged to do so (al-wa'-id); the belief that the Prophet did not appoint a khalifah after him.

As for our two points of discussion, and for there being no basis in truth for raj'ah due to its being impossible, we hold that it is a kind of bodily resurrection, differing only in that it takes place in this world. Therefore the same evidence that proves the possibility of resurrection will also prove the possibility of raj'ah. There is no reason for amazement, except in that it is unusual for us and we are not accustomed to such things in the life of this world. But we know of no cause or impossibility that would bring us near to an understanding or refutation of raj'ah, only that human imagination dose not find it easy to accept

what is out of the ordinary. So there is no more reason to refute it than there is to refute resurrection. Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away. (36; 78)

Say: "He will revive them Who brought them into existence at first, and He is Cognizant of all Creation." (36;79)

In such a situation, where there is no intellectual evidence either to deny or to prove raj'ah, or even if it is just our imagination that says that there is no evidence, we must have recourse to the Islamic texts which are from the source of Divine inspiration. For there is proof in the Qur'an to substantiate the occurrence of raj'ah in this world for some of the dead, as there is also for the miracle of' Isa in restoring the dead to life.

And I heal the blind and the leprous and bring the dead to life with Allah's permission. (3;49)

And Allah said:

When will Allah give it life after its death? So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him to life. (2; 259)

And also in the verse we have seen before:

They shall say: "Our Lord! thou hast caused is to die two deaths ..." (40; 11)

And the meaning of the verse will not be fulfilled unless there is a return to this world after death, although some commentators of the Qur'an have tried to give an exegesis (ta'wil) which cannot, however, satisfy us or reveal the true meaning of the verse.

Concerning the second point of discussion, which claims that the traditions referring to raj'ah are not authentic, this has no foundation in truth, because raj'ah is a necessary belief according to the Household of the prophet, and this has been narrated by many transmitters.

After this, it is rather surprising that a famous writer, Ahmad Amin, who claims to be knowledgeable, says in his book 'The Dawn of Islam' (Fajr al-Islam): Judaism makes its appearance in Shi'ism in the belief in raja'ah, as it has been mentioned in those verses of the Book which have quoted above.

And we would also tell him: there is no way in which Judaism and

Christianity cannot appear in Islam, because the Prophet came to confirm what existed of the Divine shara'i', even though he abrogated some of their laws. So the appearance of Judaism and Christianity is not a disgrace in Islam, even if, as the writer claims, raj'ah is one of the beliefs of the Jews.

Anyway, raj'ah is not one of the fundamentals of Islam, belief in which is compulsory; but our belief stems the authenticated traditions of the Household of the Prophet whom we know to be infallible. For it is not one of the unseen things which they relate, and there is nothing which suggests that it cannot take place.