The Evolutional Development of the Concept of Messianic in Persian Prose and Poetry of Belletrists of Islamic Denominations

The historical and religious idea of "Mahdism" is a valuable subject which has been widely reflected in Persian literature through different religious, historical and cultural approaches and viewpoints since the early centuries of Dari Persian literature. The present paper briefly reviews the evolution path of the issue in Persian literature and from the viewpoint of poets and some writers of Islamic denominations during different periods, up to the victory of Islamic Revolution of Iran. The findings indicate that society's attitude towards Mahdism has fluctuated due to social security or insecurity, people's satisfaction or dissatisfaction from the existing conditions, official denomination of the society, and rulers and scholars' attention to the subject in this historical path. People, however, have always waited for the justice of the Promised. The paper studies the idea of waiting for the appearance of the Promised, distinctively "Mahdi", and reflects the relevant elements and concepts such as occultation, awaiting, end of time, seditions and tyrannies, Dajjal (anti-Christ) and their signs in literature. The review of Persian poems and literary texts shows that there may have been three approaches to Mahdism as follow: historical and allusive, mystical and generic, awaiting and endeavor. The victory of Islamic Revolution in Iran and modern world's developments have greatly approximated the view about Mahdism and how to take it into consideration to what is expected.