 Chapter
10
|
Belief
in the Existence of the Mahdi
We now come to the fourth question:
Assuming the possibility of the hypothesis of
the Awaited Leader with all its implications pertaining to his
long life-span, the Imamah at an early age, and the period of
silent occultation, this possibility is not sufficient to convince
one that he presently exists. Therefore, how can one presently
believe in the existence of the Mahdi? Notwithstanding the
strangeness of such a hypothesis and its being contrary to the
ordinary course of nature, are a few traditions from the Prophet
('s) narrated in books of hadith sufficient for totally convincing
us about the Twelfth Imam? How is it possible to prove the
historical existence of the Mahdi, and how do we know that it is
not a mere assumption created by psychological circumstances to
establish it in the minds of a large number of people?
The answer is that the concept of the Mahdi
as an awaited leader who would change the world for the better
occurs in the traditions of the Prophet ('s) in general and the
narrations of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt in particular. It is
emphasized to-such a degree in a large number of explicit
traditions that it is not possible to doubt it. Four hundred
traditions of the Prophet (s) transmitted only through chains of
authorities belonging to our Sunni brothers have been identified,
while the total number of traditions about Imam Mahdi, including
those transmitted by Sunni and Shi`i chains, is more than six
thousand. This is a very large number and one cannot find a
similar number of traditions on any of the many Islamic matters
which are considered as evident and which no Muslim usually
doubts.
As to the Twelfth Imam ( `a) being the
embodiment of this concept, there is sufficient and clear
justification and evidence for this claim. This can be summarized
iii the form of two proofs, one of which is Islamic and the second
scientific. We prove the existence of the Awaited Leader with the
means of the Islamic proof, and by employing the scientific proof
we establish that the Mahdi is not a myth and conjecture, but a
reality whose existence has been affirmed by concrete experience
through history.
As to the Islamic proof, it is in the form of
hundreds of traditions transmitted from the Prophet (s) and the
Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt (`a), and which identify the Mahdi as
belonging to the All al-Bayt, stating that he is a descendent of
Fatimah in the lineage of Husayn and his ninth descendant. They
also state that the Prophet's successors (khulafa) are twelve in
number. These traditions define the general notion and identify
its embodiment in the person of the twelfth Imam from among the
Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt. These traditions have been narrated in a
great number and have been widely known despite the caution
observed by the Imams ( `a) in raising this issue in public for
the sake of protecting their worthy descendent (the Mahdi) from
being assassinated or put to death immediately
The number of these traditions is not the
sole criterion for their acceptance. There are in addition other
indications which prove their validity.
Thus the Prophetic tradition mentioning the Imams, khulafa or umara' succeeding him and their number, that there shall be twelve Imams, khulafa-' or umara', in accordance with the varying texts of the tradition as transmitted by different chains, occurs in the form of narrations collected by some compilers which form more than 270 narrations taken from the most famous Shi'i and Sunni compilations of hadith, including the works of Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his Musnad, and al-Hakim in his Mustadrak `ala al-Sahihayn. It should be noted here that Bukhari, who transmits this hadith, was a contemporary of Imam Jawad as well as the Imams al-Hadi and al-Askari, and this is of great significance because it proves that this hadith was recorded from the Prophet (s) before its subject had materialized and before the concept of Twelve Imams had been practically completed. This implies that there exists no ground for the doubt that the transmission of this hadith might lave been influenced by the actual situation of the Twelver (Ithnn Ashari) Imamis or was a reflection of it, because forged traditions attributed to the Prophet (s) that are either reflections or justifications of a later event do not go back, in their origin or recording in books of hadith, to a date earlier than that event. Now that we possess concrete proof that the above-mentioned tradition historically precedes the Twelve Imams and that it had been recorded in books of hadith before the completion of the Twelver Imami reality, it is possible for us to assert that this hadith is not a reflection of some event, but an expression of a Divine reality by someone who did not speak out of selfish motives. Hence he (s) said:
"Indeed
there will be twelve khulafa' after me."
And this Ithna Ashari Imami historical reality which begins with Imam Ali ('aa) and terminates in the Mahdi ('aa) is the sole rational interpretation of this noble Prophetic tradition.
As to the scientific proof, it comprises of the experience of a religious community extending for a period of nearly seventy years which is known as the period of the Lesser Occultation (al-Ghaybat al-Sughra). As a prelude to the explanation of this matter we shall give a short description of the period of Lesser Occultation.
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