فصلنامه انتظار موعود
سال نوزدهم شماره 66 (پاییز 1398)

This article seeks to investigate the question of the foundations of “the ruling of a single religion” in the age of Appearance and to clarify how John Hick’s religious pluralism is false. At the age pf Appearance, there will be a comprehensive religion that will meet the needs of the people until the resurrection. The promise of the victory of the righteous, their inheritance over the whole earth, and the promise of God Almighty that the religion of Islam will appear and prevail over other religions implies that at the age of Appearance, only one right religion will prevail, not that all religions gain legitimacy. John Hick’s ‘religious pluralism” is widely criticized. Giving the legitimacy to all divine religions whose laws were abrogated after the advent of Islam as well as non-divine religions such as Hinduism, Bid, Mat and Sikhism, which do not believe in one God, and considering them to be right cannot intellectually get together. Thus, in the age of Appearance, instead of having multiple religions, only one religion will rule the world.

The ummah’s need to the “revealed guidance” after the decease of the holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh) is one of the most important reasons for the Shiite to appoint an Imam. After the disappearance of Imam of the Time (A.S) and lack of access of the Shiite to that Imam, some tried to question this issue completely. Ibn Taymiyyah is one of these people. He tried to question the principle of Shiite Mahdism by abusing the issue of the need for the revealed guidance to be continued after the termination of prophecy among the Shiite and its incompatibility with the absence of Imam of the Time (A.S). This paper deals with the main doubt and its answer, with an analytical approach and with reference to the written sources.
The achievement of this research is the rejection of the principle of doubt and the expression of the compatibility of the need for the continuation of revealed guidance with the absence (of the Imam) in spite of lack of access to the Imam of the Time (A.S) and the coordination of the mentioned statement with the subject of Shiite Mahdism and the non-misguidance of Shiite at the time of Occultation (of the Imam).

The discussion on Mahdi and Imam of the Time (A.S) can be presented with different approaches. In the meantime, the importance of “scientific approach” and attention to the clear angles of the debate is not hidden from the scientists and researchers. Sometimes, this approach has been neglected among the propaganda and emotional aspect. Ayatollah Khamenei, as the political-social leader, pays special attention to these two political and social aspects of Mahdism and issues such as waiting, the sovereignty of justice, and the role of having hope in Imam Mahdi (A.S) in opposing the oppressors and the enemies of Islam and Shiism. However, due to his religious leadership responsibility and scientific status, he draws the attention of the addresses to these specialized and wise points in his speeches and writings. The present paper investigates these points from his perspective. Emphasis on the authenticity of the promised and the consensus of religious connoisseurs on this issue, the lack of rigidity in the narrations about the time of Imam Mahdi’s governance and the prohibition of superstitions and weak material are some of the points that can be mentioned as the wise approach to the issue of Mahdism from the Leader’s point of view.

Muslim thinkers have offered different views on “awaiting”. The Supreme Leader is one of the thinkers who has a systematic view to the issue of awaiting and Mahdism. With the rejection of the three approaches of “prayer sufficiency”, “suddenness”, and “neutral awaiting”; he introduces the “dynamic awaiting” as the only form of waiting which can realize the great ideal of the Islamic Revolution with creating vitality and movement. The following paper- with the aim of examining the dimensions of dynamic awaiting in the thoughts of the Supreme Leader with a descriptive-analytic method- tries to investigate the revelatory origin of such an idea and draw a model of dynamic awaiting based on his intellectual system. Research findings show that dynamic awaiting has the three elements of “intellect”, “motivation”, and “behavior”. Understanding the plight of human beings in the occultation period and the confidence in the Faraj (comfort), the intellectual element and hope for the appearance of Imam of the Time (A.S), as the driving force of awaiting is its motivating element. Moreover, preparing oneself and the society to help Imam Mahdi (A.S) put Mahdavi ruling into realization is a dynamic behavior.

One of the most widely used words in the field of Mahdism is “waiting for the Promised”, which has had a direct effect on the behavior of the religious scholars throughout the history. The intellectual order in Imam Khamenei’s statements, as well as his leadership style, evokes this point that “how the nature of waiting and its components are in the thoughts of Ayatollah Khamenei”. This paper, with a descriptive-analytic method and with the use of library data from his speeches, has reached this point that the reality of waiting from his point of view is the jihadi spirit and behavior in order to prepare the individual and society for the Appearance (of Imam). The four major components of “criticism”, “belief”, “trust”, and “enthusiasm” are the fundamental framework of waiting in his thinking.

The word “Qaem” is one of the most frequent words that is reflected in the Mahdavi narrations. In the period after the eleven Imams, the only example of this word is Imam of the Time (A.S). Ahmad Ismael Basri movement seeks to apply this word on himself. By quoting and referring to some of the similar and dissimilar narrations and hermeneutics and by presenting teachings such as “the first Qaem”,” the Qaem before the Appearance” has paved the ground to appoint Ahmad Islamel instead of Imam Mahdi (A.S). They believe a huge volume of specific narrations about Imam Mahdi (A.S) is for his dignity.
The present paper is organized based on a descriptive-analytic method and a data-driven information. While explaining the word “Qaem, we criticized the documents of this movement. This movement’s deduction of similar narrations, such as thirteen Imams, is fundamentally at odds with the necessities of the religion; because, the Shiite believes in twelve Imams according to the narrative sources. Moreover, the mere existence of such narrations does not mean they apply to Ahmad Ismael.