Chapter 9

Victory News Magazine

A Discussion Concerning The Mahdi ( A)

How did His Personality Develop? 

We now come to the third question: How did the Awaited Leader's personality develop despite his having lived with his father, Imam Askari ('a), for just about five year, and that too during infancy, which is insufficient for his personality to mature? So what were the circumstances that were instrumental in the development of his personality?

The answer is that the Mahdi ('a) succeeded to his father's office of the Imamah of the Muslim community, and this implies that he was an Imam possessing all the intellectual and spiritual qualities associated with Imamah from a very early stage of his noble life. 

The possession of the Imamah at an early age is .a phenomenon which has precedents in a number of his forefathers ('a). Thus 

a) Imam Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad ('a) assumed the Imamah when he was 8 years old and:

b) Imam Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hadi ('a) when he was 9 years. 

c) Imam Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Askari, the father of the Awaited Imam, assumed the Imamah' when he was 28 years. 

Hence the phenomenon of assuming the Imamah at an early age reached its climax in Imam Mahdi ( `a) and Imam Jawad ( `a), and we call it a `phenomenon' as it manifested itself as a tangible and practical reality in relation to some of the Mahdi's ancestors, which for the Muslims was a kind of living experience of the Imam. It is not possible for us to find any evidence that may be clearer and stronger than the experience of the Muslim community. We mention the following points to elucidate this matter:

1) The Imamah of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt was not an office associated with worldly power and influence which passes from father to son on the basis of heredity and is supported by state power, as in the case of the imamate of the Fatimid caliphs and the caliphate of the Abbasids. Rather, it acquired its wide popular base through spiritual power and the intellectual conviction it generated among the masses concerning the worthiness of this Imamah for the leadership of Islam in accordance with spiritual and intellectual principles.

2) The foundations of this popular base were laid during the early days of Islam and it blossomed and spread during the period of Imam Baqir (`a) and Imam Sadiq (`a). The school over which these two Imams presided generated a widespread intellectual current among the masses in the Islamic world, attracting hundreds of jurists, theologians, exegetes and scholars of various Islamic disciplines and other sciences known at the time. Speaking in this regard, al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Washsha' says: 

"On entering the Mosque of Kufah I saw 900 shaykhs all of whom would say, "haddathna Jafar ibn Muhammad' " ("Ja'far ibn Muhammad narrated to us").

3) The conditions for determining the Imam and ascertaining his capacity for Imamah, to which this school and the people who formed its popular base in Islamic society subscribed and which they abided by, were very stringent, because they did not consider anyone an Imam unless he was the most teamed scholar of his time.

4) The school and the people constituting its popular base gave great sacrifices for their sustained faith in the Imamah as, from the viewpoint of the ruling caliphs, they formed a hostile front, at least in respect of its doctrinal approach. This led the authorities to launch almost continuous assaults to liquidate or torture them. As a result many were killed and many more were imprisoned, and hundreds died in the dark of prison cells. This means that they had to pay dearly for their faith in the Imamah of the Imams of the Ahl at-Bayt, and it carried with it no attraction except a believer's appeal or his commitment for the sake of nearness to God, the Exalted.

5) The Imams in whose Imamah these masses had faith did not live secluded lives in ivory towers, as was the wont of kings vis-a-vis their people. They lived in constant contact with the people so long as they were not imprisoned or exiled by the rulers. This is known from the large number of narrators and traditionists who have narrated traditions on the authority of each of the eleven Imams as well as from the correspondence which each Imam held with his contemporaries. The journeys undertook by each of the Imams, on the one hand, and the representatives which they appointed for the various regions of the Islamic world on the other, along with the practice of the Shi'`ah from every region to pay regular visits to the Imams and meet them in Madinah during their journeys to the holy land for ha" pilgrimage-all this implies a continuous and clear interaction between the Imam and his followers who were spread all over the Islamic world and included both scholars and laymen.

6) The contemporary caliphate viewed the Imams ('a) and their spiritual leadership as a great threat to its existence and authority Consequently it made every effort to weaken this leadership and endured many negative consequences arising from such measures. Occasionally, when their policies required, they manifested themselves in the form of ruthless tyranny, and the Imams themselves were repeatedly imprisoned and kept under continuous surveillance despite the shock and revulsion which it generated among the generality of Muslims and their followers in varying degrees.

If we reflect over these six points, which are all indubitable historical facts, it is possible to arrive at the conclusion that the phenomenon of assumption of Imamah at a young age was a reality and not a fantasy Because the Imam who at a young age appears before the people and proclaims himself as the spiritual and intellectual leader of Muslims and whose Imamah and leadership are believed in by such a large and widespread body of people, must have possessed, quite clearly and remarkably, vast knowledge and wisdom, an extensive learning and expertise in law, exegesis and doctrine. Because, in its absence, he would have been unable to convince the various classes of people of his Imamah, especially in view of what we have mentioned concerning the continuous interaction between the Imams and their followers and the limelight that focused on their lives and different angles of their personality.

Therefore, is it likely that a child should invite people to his own Imamah as the standard of Islam, making himself the focus of the various segments of people, who believe in him and sacrifice for his sake their precious security and life without taking the trouble to inquire about him and without being jolted by the phenomenon of a child's Imamah into making an inquiry into the authenticity of the claims of the young Imam and an evaluation of his person? Assuming that the people did not make any immediate effort to discover the facts, is it possible for such a matter to continue for days and months, or even years, without the reality being disclosed despite normally continuous intercourse between the young Imam and the people? Is it reasonable to suppose that he could be truly childish in his thinking and knowledge without its coming to light during such a long period of interaction?

Even if we suppose that the supporters of the Imamah of the Ahl al-Bayt did not have the opportunity to unearth the reality, why did the caliphate of the period remain silent on the matter and did not make any effort to expose the facts when it was in its interest to do so? How easy it would have been for the authorities to do that had the young Imam possessed childish ideas and manners, as is usual for children. It would have been the most successful way of exposing the reality of the claims of this child to his followers and others, and of demonstrating his incapacity for spiritual and intellectual Imamate and leadership. If it is somewhat difficult to prove the incapacity of a person in his forties or fifties for the office of the Imamah, considering that by that time he could become largely acquainted with the cultural heritage of his era, there is no difficulty in proving the incapacity of an ordinary child, however intelligent and clever, for assuming the office of the Imamah as understood by Imami Shi`is. That would have been the easiest and most convenient measure as compared to the complicated and hazardous methods of repression adopted by the authorities at that time.

The only explanation for the reticence of the caliphate and its reluctance to play this card was that it had learnt that the assumption of the Imamah at a young age was a real phenomenon, not a pretension. In fact it had learned this practically after it tried to play this card and failed. History tells us about the efforts of this kind and their failure, while it does not mention a single instance wherein the Imamah assumed by an Imam at an early age might have been shaken, or wherein the young Imam faced a critical situation which exceeded his ability or which led the people's faith in him to be shaken.

This is what we meant when we said that the Imamah assumed at an early age was a real phenomenon in the lives of the Ahl al-Bayt and not simply a presumption. Further, this real phenomenon has its precedents in the Divine tradition which-covers prophetic missions and divine leadership. The life of John ('a), to mention one instance from the Divine tradition, suffices as a precedent for the phenomenon of assumption of Inrainah at an early age by the Ahl al-Bayt ('a) . God, the Glorious and the Exalted, says: 

When it is established that the phenomenon of assumption of Imamah at an early age is a reality and something actual in the lives of the Ahl al-Bayt ('a), there remains no doubt in this regard in the case of Imam Mahdi ('a) and his succeeding to his father's office as a child.

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