Reviewing and Criticizing the Plurality of Religions at the Time of Appearance with an Emphasis on the Issue of Salvation

The present paper is responsible for investigating what role the presence and absence of abundance of religions in future plays on the determination of religions’ fate and the salvation of their followers. Moreover, it tries to investigate the plurality of religions and the rescuing feature of Imam Mahdi (A.S) in the Mahdism teachings. At first, this research analyzes and investigates the plurality of rightfulness from the rational point of view, and by considering the Ultimate Reality (philosophical God) and the plurality of salvation, based on the evolution in the religious pluralism of “John Hick”; then, it examines some of the verses and traditions about the salvation based on a narrative and rational point of view and based on the existential status of Imam Mahdi (A.S) and it concludes that the religious pluralism of Hick with a contradictory structure is incapable of justifying the claims of plurality of rightfulness of religions and their equal salvation.
At one side, according to the Mahdism teachings, the guidance status and the light of Imamate of Imam Mahdi (A.S) leads to the realization of complete guidance and the emergence of dominance of Islam and at the other hand, Imam proves the legitimacy of Islam by judging among the followers of other religions by denial of the plurality of religions. Also, he is the cause of all the devotees’ salvation by guiding them and this rescuing feature of Imam Mahdi (A.S) is carried out with the collective, individual, material, spiritual and cosmic functions.