A Jurisprudential Analysis of “Inactivity and Refraining from Political Action” at the Age of Occultation”

The existence of a government and one social system is rendered necessary in human life, because the absence of a government and a social system may result in chaos in every aspect of social life. According to the ShiÝa, the responsibility of forming a government is upon the living Infallible Imam, but, at the age of occultation, taking into account some traditions which can be found in some compilations of hadiths, it is possible that some people will form in thir minds some false beliefs that any uprising or idea for establishing a government at this age is not permissible and Muslim believers have to be in a position of inactivity and refrain from any political actions or uprising until certain  events as signs of the reappearance of al-Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance) occur. In this research work, the writer tries to establish that the traditions in question may be weak in terms of chains of narrators, that the theme or content of such traditions do not suggest such false beliefs and that they are even inconsistent with the Qur’anic verses and other authentic traditions (hadiths).