Chapter 11
The Minds
of the People Prepare for the Advent of the Mahdi
The session began exactly on time. Dr. Jalali opened the meeting
with his question.
Dr. Jalali:
The reality of human life today reveals a diversity of opinions,
beliefs, and religions. It also reveals the factors which breed
differences among human beings in everything you can imagine.
With the existence of a plurality of every sort, how can we imagine
that the entire humanity will come under one government and one
power when the earth is directed by the government of the Mahdi?
Mr. Hoshyar:
If the general conditions of the world and the degree of human
knowledge, perceptions, and intelligence remain at the same level
as before, then it is certainly farfetched to think about a unified
world government under the Mahdi. On the other hand, just as the
degree of human reason and civilization, and the level of human
knowledge in the past centuries were not at the present level
-- having through changes and transformations that are very much
a part of human history gradually reached this higher point, it
is plausible to maintain that the present level will not remain
stagnant. Rather, it can be said with much confidence that with
the passage of time humanity will reach even higher stages, allowing
a better understanding the social good and the general interests
of society. To comprehend this fully we must understand the past
age and compare it with the present to formulate our vision of
the potential future.
It has been established with abundant evidence
that selfishness and self-interesteds are natural instincts in
human beings. These natural traits are responsible for much of
the energy that has propelled human advancement towards perfection
and the acquisition of happiness and other self-serving ends.
Every individual tries his utmost to further his own interests,
and to overcome any obstacles that might hamper this personal
gain. In this movement towards one's own interests there is very
little attention paid to the interests of others in society. However,
when an individual realizes that his advantage is better served
by preserving the interests of others, then he accepts that idea
and willingly gives up some of his own advantage for others.
It was probably this recognition of a personal
interest in the preservation of the common good that prompted
the institution of marriage to develop. Every man and woman realized
that they needed each other and that sense of need and dependency
strengthened their marital relationship. The need to balance one's
own selfishness with the advantages that are accrued through relationships
has been a key element in the development of a healthy family
and other mutually beneficial social relations. In reality each
member of a family does not have any other purpose than the realization
of their own happiness. However, since the attainment of personal
happiness was dependent on the happiness of others in the family,
the attainment of collective happiness through a sense of cooperation
and interaction quickly became the cornerstone of an ideal human
relationship.
For a long time human beings lived as an extended
family in tents. Following incidents of hostility, conflict and
skirmishes that disturbed their sense of security, the families
came together to form a society in order to consolidate their
resources to defend themselves against other families and groups.
This development led to the reformation of kinship groups into
tribes and nations. Members or evolution coalescence of these
new groups, through mutual agreement gave up some of their individual
and familial rights in order to function as a tribe with a sense
of the common good and were willing to put up a defense to protect
their common interests against any external threat. This advancement
in collective thought and recognition of a critical need to coexist,
both within the tribe and in relation to other tribes, moved the
society to create villages and cities to further and to defend
its common good.
The progression from village life to city and
national life was gradual and prompted by a pragmatic decision
to further the common good that was very much defined by the need
for security and peaceful relations with those societies that
were more numerous and powerful. The birth of a nation was the
logical outcome of the human need to provide the maximum benefit
of corporate existence within a defined territory. It was in many
ways an extension of familial structure in which citizenry provided
the new basis for social and political cooperation. More importantly,
it transcended racial and other forms of distinctions that converged
under a national culture. Ultimately, their development served
to remove causes of conflict and hostility and to demonstrate
the benefit of unity in furthering the purposes of a good society.
With the cumulative experience of hundreds of centuries of living
together, an absolute egocentric individualism and human pettiness
were to a considerable extent brought under some ethical scrutiny.
In spite of all the benefits that accrued through a mutually recognized
social contract, the need to work even harder to improve living
conditions had to be guaranteed through the creation of a social
and economic infrastructure.
The role played by technology in improving
the quality of life was underscored by the state's endeavors to
ensure that these scientific advancements were regulated through
proper institutions and human rational control. Today, we are
witness to the technicalization of societies around the world
which has led to phenomenal breakthroughs in global relations
through the technology of telecommunications. Things that had
appeared to previous generations as scientific fiction have become
a reality. Of all the things, national and cultural boundaries
that seemed to have been defined in terms of an "iron curtain"
separating the nations into eastern and western blocs have been
overshadowed by electronic super-highways of ideas. The revolution
of communication has changed the ideological configuration of
the world. No nation can afford to live in isolation. In the midst
of all this advancement, however, there remains the troubling
question of how to make an individual responsive to the ethical
and spiritual values which function as the backbone of a healthy
society. Could the democratization of the nations guarantee the
preservation of this unquestionably fundamental inner need of
humanity?
The world community has experimented with different
philosophies and ideologies to strengthen the common vision that
would guarantee harmony and justice among peoples of different
races and creeds. Nationalism, communism, socialism, capitalism,
and so on have alternatively divided the nations, united them
partially under one or another -ism, brought them to the brink
of destructive nuclear warfare, and forced them to work with each
other under international organizations like the United Nations.
The human search for harmony and peace with justice remain the
most precious prize for the global community. At the same time,
the lingering memory of two World Wars with their disastrous outcomes
have provided a grim reminder of how far humanity seems to be
from that lofty ideal of peace on earth.
International organizations are marred by the
power politics of stronger nations against the weaker ones. Different
forms of imperialism and colonization are rampant even in the
post-colonial era. In spite of all the experiences with wars and
conflicts, the world's nations are engaged in accumulating weapons
of mass destruction that could wipe out the entire human race
in a matter of seconds. The very foundation of human global community,
namely interconnectedness, is at stake.
If human history in the recent past can be
taken as indicative of the future direction of the global human
enterprise, it is not difficult to surmise that humanity is at
a crossroads marked with basically two choices: to pursue a pure
materialism its moral and social accompaniments; or, to respond
to the moral-spiritual challenge of accepting God as the sole
guide. In other words, with materialistic consumerism at its height,
and individualism and secularism functioning as the two wings
that make this kind of blind dedication to it possible, God and
God's ethical and spiritual directives have been practically trivialized
and systematically removed from the public life of a nation. At
the same time, there is this natural urge in human beings to seek
out their Creator, to worship the Merciful, Compassionate God.
Until and unless that is satisfied human beings can not find peace
and harmony. No material or secular ideology can substitute for
this simple, natural faith that provides the inner peace and a
sense of cosmic harmony and total integrity to humankind.
The Abrahamic religions have, in particular,
emphasized this natural religion of humanity founded upon an innate
disposition to worship One God and implement the Will of God on
earth by creating an ethical and spiritually-oriented society.
These revealed religions also promise that God will empower those
who respond to their innate nature by making them role models
and leaders for humanity. Moreover, all false beliefs and gods
are prone to provoke conflict and must be eliminated for God's
order to be realized. It is only when humanity acknowledges this
God-centered universe that it will be able to further the ideal
global community. Such a community will naturally respond to the
call of Islam and the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and
his progeny) whose invitation to the Peoples of the Book, that
is, the Jews and the Christians, to abandon differences and concentrate
on One Lord, the Almighty God, is enshrined in the Qur'an in Sura
Al 'Imran, verse 64 as follows:
People of the Book! Come now to a word common
between us and you, that we serve none but God, and that we associate
not aught with Him, and do not some of us take other as Lords,
apart from God. (Al 'Imran [3],64)
The Qur'an presents this revolutionary program
of creating an ethical order that will reflect the divine will
on earth through God's righteous servants who have submitted themselves
to God's will, the Muslims. The Prophet has also informed us that
the uniquely qualified person to lead humanity to become united
under One God by abandoning all forms of idolatry and concentrating
on the divine purposes for humanity will be the promised Mahdi,
a descendant of his. Imam Baqir has related: When our Qa'im arises
he will place his hands on the heads of God's servants, bringing
together disparate minds and thoughts to form a unified opinion
and will lead them to pursue a singular goal, making them excel
in their moral life.[1]
In another tradition Imam 'Ali b. Abi Talib
has conveyed the essence of al-Qa'im's role in the future of humanity.
He says:
When our Qa'im rises hostility and resentment
will be eliminated from the hearts of the people, and general
security will be established all over the world.[2]
Finally, Imam Baqir says: When our Qa'im takes
the command in his hands, all the public wealth, mines and treasures
on the earth will be at his disposal [for fair distribution among
people].[3]
The Final
Victory of the Downtrodden (mustad'afin)
Dr. Jalali:
In every part of the world there are oppressors and tyrants who
rule over the helpless downtrodden people. These oppressors hold
everything under their control and have used their power to terrorize
ordinary people. With this in mind, how shall the Mahdi take the
command into his hands and succeed in overthrowing these tyrants?
Mr. Hoshyar:
Actually the triumph of the Mahdi is the triumph of the downtrodden
people of the world over their oppressors. After all, they are
in the majority and all power in reality stems from them; whereas
the oppressors, however powerful they may be, are in the minority
and do not possess the real power. This is the sense in which
the universal victory of the twelfth Imam is conceivable. Let
me elaborate at this juncture so that what I am asserting becomes
clear.
On the basis of some passages of the Qur'an
and several hadith-reports it is correct to suggest that
in the final analysis the oppressed people of the world, as a
united bloc in a single revolution against the oppressors, to
be led by the promised Mahdi (peace be upon him), will be victorious.
They will permanently defeat the forces of tyranny and injustice
and will assume the administration of the world. God, the Exalted,
says:
Yet We desired to be gracious to those that
were abased in the land, and to make them leaders, and to make
them the inheritors, and to establish them in the land. (Qasas
[28], 5)
The passage explicitly gives the glad tidings
that the final control over the power and administration of the
world will be in the hands of those 'that were abased.' Hence,
the victory of the twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, is the same as the
victory of the downtrodden peoples of the earth. To further clarify
the matter let me emphasize the following points:
(1) What is the meaning of being 'abased' or
'downtrodden' (istid'af) and who are the 'abased' (mustad'afin).
(2) What are the characteristics of the 'tyrants'
or 'oppressors' (mustakbirin)?
(3) Why is it that the tyrants have got an
upper hand over the downtrodden?
(4) How is it possible for the downtrodden
to overpower the tyrants?
(5) Who is the leader of this world movement?
In the Qur'an the term 'downtrodden' is juxtaposed
with 'oppressor.' For this reason, it is necessary to examine
these two terms together. According to the Qur'an, 'oppressors'
have certain characteristics. In a passage where Pharaoh, an oppressor,
is mentioned the Qur'an says:
Now Pharaoh had exalted himself in the land
and divided its inhabitants into sects, abasing one party of them,
slaughtering their sons, and sparing their women; for he was of
the workers of corruption. (Qasas, 4)
Three characteristics of the oppressor are
identified in the above passage. First, exalting oneself; second,
dividing people into sects; third, working corruption.
In another verse the Qur'an says:
Pharaoh was high in the land, and he was one
of the prodigals. (Yunus [10], 83)
In this verse prodigality or wastefulness is
regarded as a characteristic of an oppressor.
In another passage the Qur'an says:
So he (i.e., Pharaoh) made his people unsteady,
and they obeyed him; surely they were an ungodly people. (Zukhruf
[43], 54)
Here the verse points to making people 'unsteady',
that is, humiliating them and then making them obey him, as another
characteristic of a tyrant.
In another passage the Qur'an says:
And Korah, and Pharaoh, and Haman; Moses came
to them with clear signs, but they waxed proud in the earth, yet
they outstripped Us not. ('Ankabut [19], 39)
In this verse, refusing to accept the truth
is regarded as a trait of oppression. In yet another verse the
Qur'an says:
Said the Council of those of his people who
waxed proud (alladhina-stakbarü) to those that were
abased (alladhina-stud'ifü), to those of them who
believed, 'Do you know that Salih is an Envoy from his Lord?'
They said, 'In the Message he has sent been with we are believers.'
Said the ones who waxed proud, 'As for us, we are unbelievers
in the thing in which you believe.' (A'raf [7]: 76)
In another place the Qur'an identifies the
tyrants as those who spread disbelief and the setting up of compeers
to God (shirk):
Those that were abased will say to those that
waxed proud, 'Had it not been for you, we would have been believers.'
. . . And those that were abased will say to those that waxed
proud, 'Nay, by devising night and day, when you were ordering
us to disbelieve in God, and to set up compeers to Him.'
Several traits of the oppressors become evident
from the above citations from the Qur'an:
1. Waxing proud, that is, regarding oneself
as superior;
2. Creating differences and conflicts among
the people in order to divide them;
3. Immoderation and extravagance;
4. Humiliation and persecution of the people;
5. Spreading corruption;
6. Refusal to accept the truth; and,
7. Propagation of disbelief and setting up
compeers to God.
Oppressors are a group of people who without
any grounds introduce themselves as superior to others. They tell
the people that they are statesmen and intelligent experts able
to manage their affairs better than they can do for themselves,
thereby implying that the people neither possess the maturity
nor the ability to realize their own good. Hence, in order to
become prosperous and happy, they should obey these so-called
'experts.' One of the most important strategies that they employ
in controlling the people is to divide and rule. Moreover, to
perpetuate their power they actively engage in spreading corruption
through disbelief and in encouraging sinful deviation and wickedness
among the masses. Through manipulation and exploitation of the
people's wealth they are able to gain complete domination of their
political and social life. In the name of the defense of the land
and people they engage in the accumulation of destructive armaments
which they ultimately use against their own subjects. All in all,
these individuals are engaged in wholesale exploitation of their
people in order to amass wealth and use it for their personal
benefit with absolutely no accountability. In reality, these individuals,
in the Qur'anic phraseology, are 'those who wax proud' through
trickery and through misappropriation of the power that stems
from the people.
The downtrodden people, in contrast to these
oppressors, are not truly the weak and disabled ones. They are
those who have suffered at the hands of the oppressors who have
denied them their human dignity and have exploited them thoroughly
to serve their own material and wicked goals. In this process
of exploitation these downtrodden people have forgotten their
own real worth and have fallen into mental slavery to those who
have colonized them. After all, everything in the form of national
wealth, good land, water, and so on belongs to the people. Natural
resources, power of labor, knowledge, industry, and discovery
of new sources of generating wealth -- all these belong to the
people. The power that comes from a laborer, an industrialist,
a soldier, an army, an administrator of justice and other organs
of government is produced by the people. As such, it is the people
who are the source of power and not the oppressors. If people
stop cooperating with the tyrants, where will their power come
from? Nevertheless, it is through false promises and fraudulent
advertising of their goals that the oppressors are able to alienate
the people from their pure and original selves and bring them
under their unjust charge. They use the people against the people.
In other words, oppressors throughout history have been a minority
who have endeavored to keep the people ignorant of their true
selves and eternally downtrodden so that they can perpetually
dominate them.
Here we come to understand the missions of
the Prophets who were sent to humanity to pull the people out
of their ignorance and enable them to realize their true worth.
The Prophets became the leaders of the downtrodden in order to
guide them to free themselves from the yoke of slavery to the
tyrants whose falsehood and arrogance they exposed openly, challenging
these tyrants to abandon their wickedness and exploitation of
the peoples. In a sense, the mission of the Prophets has been
to empower ordinary human beings to realize the divinely ordained
goal of creating a just and equitable society on the earth.
The Qur'an documents for us the history of
this struggle of the Prophets against the tyrants of their time.
Thus, Abraham arises against Nimrod, Moses stands firm against
the domination of Pharaoh, Jesus perseveres against those who
exercised authority invested in them unjustly, and the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny) rises up against
the Abu Jahls, Abu Sufyans, emperors and other rulers of his age
to engage in jihad to liberate people from the shackles
of oppression and the tyranny of the powerful in the society.
An extremely important feature which distinguishes the mission
of the Prophets from that of the tyrants is the Prophet's cardinal
attempt at awakening the people to their true nature, the state
in which God created humanity. This distinction of the Prophetic
mission is captured in the following verse of the Qur'an:
Indeed, We sent forth among every nation a
Messenger, saying: 'Serve you God, and eschew idols (taghüt).'
(Nahl [16], 36)
So whoever disbelieves in idols (taghüt)
and believes in God, has laid hold of the most firm handle, unbreaking.
The Qur'an regards warfare in the path of God
as permissible and as a Muslim's duty, because it is undertaken
to save and protect the downtrodden. Thus, it says:
How is it with you, that you do not fight in
the way of God, and for the men, women, and children who, being
abased, say, 'Our Lord, bring us forth from this city whose people
are evildoers, and appoint to us from Thee a helper'?
The believers fight in the way of God, and
the unbelievers fight in the idol's way. Fight you therefore against
the friends of Satan; surely the guile of Satan is ever feeble.
(Nisa' [4], 76)
Let us draw some conclusions from what we have
discussed so far:
(1) The oppressors who exercise power over
the people are no more than a handful. They themselves do not
posses the power; rather, they are using the power that stems
from the downtrodden whom they enslave by weakening and exploiting
them.
(2) The downtrodden are the majority who possess
the real power. They are neither as weak nor as disabled as they
appear under the impact of the brainwashing strategies of the
tyrants. These rulers have implanted these negative ideas in them
about their weakness.
(3) The most important element in the unfortunate
situation of the downtrodden peoples is the self-cultivated sense
of helplessness and weakness. Since they regard themselves weak
and the tyrants strong and powerful, they unconsciously become
the vehicle of domination, obeying orders and acquiescing to all
sorts of humiliation and deprivation, without feeling the courage
to confront their oppressors. Perhaps the most significant obstacle
to their taking any action to improve their lot, is the negligence
of their own power. In the long process of tyrannical rule, the
colonized people usually become overwhelmed by demonstrations
of the colonizer's power and are oblivious to the fact that such
demonstrations are no more than a fraud.
(4) The only way for the downtrodden to salvage
themselves from this miserable condition is to engage in self-realization.
This requires a revolution in thought and attitude to overcome
many years of brainwashing carried out by the oppressive regimes
and their supporters. It takes a revolution to free them from
the shackles of unjust domination. That such a power is within
a people's reach needs to be discovered and employed to achieve
the good of the entirety of humanity. If all sectors of society
-- the scholars, professionals, workers, soldiers, and so on --
come to this self-realization they can overcome even the most
powerful oppressive regime on earth.
However idealistic and impractical this proposal
may sound, there is little doubt that this is what the Qur'an
expects from human beings while promising its realization:
Yet We desired to be gracious to those that
were abased in the land, and to make them leaders, and to make
them the inheritors, and to establish them in the land. (Qasas
[28], 5)
Such a universal revolution to free human beings
from the shackles of tyrants and wicked powers will be launched
by the twelfth Imam, the Mahdi. His companions, followers, and
supporters will become the inheritors, as promised in the above
passage. Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) has related the following
hadith:
When our Qa'im emerges with the command, God,
the Exalted, will make him place his hand over the heads of the
people so that their consciences and their intellects will be
perfected [to accept his lead in launching his universal revolution].
[4]
From the message contained in the Qur'an and
the hadith it is evident that this revolution will be universal
and for the sake of the religion of God and the implementation
of the divinely ordained scale of justice. Its leader will be
the twelfth Imam, the promised Mahdi (peace be upon him), and
his true and worthy supporters will conduct the struggle, the
legitimate and just jihad, in the way of God. The Qur'an
says:
God has promised those of you who believe and
do righteous deeds that He will surely make you successors in
the land, even as He made those who were before them successors,
and that He will surely establish their religion for them that
He has approved for them, and will give them that He has approved
for them, and will give them in exchange, after their fear, security:
'They shall serve Me, not associating with Me anything.' (Nur
[24], 55)
In the hadith-reports it is related
that the above-cited verse refers to the twelfth Imam and his
associates and followers. It will be through them that the religion
of God, Islam (islam in the basic meaning of 'submission
to the will of One God'), will spread in every corner of the earth,
replacing all other religions. The Qur'an and the hadith
from the Imams promise a day when the downtrodden people of the
world will wake up from the deep slumber of heedlessness and ignorance
concerning their own worth and realize the emptiness of the claims
made by the arrogant, powerful tyrants about their own power.
At that time, under the leadership of the Mahdi will rally under
the flag of the Unity of God, al-tawhid, and gaining power
from their faith in God, they will confront the unjust rulers.
With a single collective blow of powerful faith they will defeat
their oppressors for ever. This will be the time when the rule
of justice and equity becomes established and forces of disbelief
and wickedness are permanently wiped out. There will be no more
fighting among the people, since the justice of God will rule
and will remove any reason for conflict and warfare. This will
be the golden age of peace and harmony, under the government of
God.
Why Does
the Mahdi Not Appear?
Dr. Jalali:
Now that injustice, oppression, disbelief and materialism have
become so widespread everywhere, why does not the promised Mahdi
appear so that he should put an end to the tumultuous conditions
of the world?
Mr. Hoshyar:
Any insurgent or revolutionary movement for a specific goal requires
certain background preparation for it to succeed. One of the important
prerequisites for its success is that the people should feel the
need to launch the revolution and they should be psychologically
prepared to endorse and support it. Otherwise the revolution could
face a defeat. The revolution of the Mahdi is not free of this
general prerequisite for it to achieve its goal. It could succeed
only when the conditions are favorable. The Mahdi's movement is
not an ordinary reform movement within a small community. It is
a comprehensive movement that will engulf the entire world. Its
mission is global and will include all humankind. By the same
token, it is extremely difficult to implement this mission without
first preparing the grounds for it. To gauge this challenging
aspect of the revolution let us recall that one of the goals of
the appearance of the Mahdi is to eliminate all kinds of discrimination
-- racial, creedal, cultural, linguistic, and so on -- that human
societies have created in their relationships with each other.
In order to create a global community based
on peace and harmony through the implementation of justice and
fairness, the Mahdi will have to correct the situation from its
origins so that all kinds of conflicts that have marred human
society should be resolved. Such a task, even today with the creation
of a world body like the United Nations, has not been easy to
achieve. As long as human beings are not brought back to their
spiritual origins, and as long as materialism and extreme forms
of selfish behavior in the name of individualism are not corrected,
it is impossible to imagine how a God-centered human society can
materialize. The God-centered human society can be erected on
the divinely ordained laws and the divine blue print provided
by the Islamic faith.
The Mahdi's revolution aspires to provide a
religious focus to the confused mental situation of humanity.
It desires to destroy all the false and beguiling gods created
by human minds, including: geographic boundaries, races, nations,
creeds, political parties, false prophets, and so on, and to replace
them with purity of thought, sincerity of action, and all those
values that contribute towards the betterment of humanity.
Of course, talking and writing about such things
is not difficult; but to implement them through a revolution is
certainly not an easy task. Such an international movement would
have to do a tremendous amount of work to prepare people in every
way to respond adequately to ensure its success. The religious
nature of the revolution demands that it should arise from the
depths of the people's souls. In particular, since Muslims have
to assume the leadership role in the revolution they need to prove
their worthiness in being entrusted to undertake such a major
responsibility. The Qur'an posits the condition of being worthy
and righteous as a prerequisite to assuming charge of the affairs
of humanity:
For We have written in the Psalms, after the
Remembrance, 'The earth shall be the inheritance of My righteous
servants.' (Anbiya' [21], 105)
Consequently, the promised Mahdi will not appear
so long as human beings have not attained the level of perfection
that is necessary to accept the government of truth. To be sure,
mental maturity is not an overnight development. It is a process
that feeds upon events and experiences in order to become perfect.
Human beings have to continue fighting over this or that piece
of land until all their energies are exhausted and the truth about
the artificiality of these human-invented national boundaries
becomes as clear as the daylight. Only then will they stop thinking
in those narrow terms and disputing over matters that do not deserve
all that bloodshed and violence. When human beings begin to think
in terms of their interconnectedness and when a brown or white
or black person begins to think in terms of the common humanity
that he or she shares with others, then it will be time for the
final revolution to occur.
This situation of desperation has to occur
in all other fields until that time when human beings are left
with no other choice but to turn to an alternative provided by
God. Even in a field like law, human experience has been one of
perpetual revision to make the laws more fair and just. Hence,
generation after generation of legal scholars are engaged in promulgating
new laws and abrogating old ones so that they can reflect the
changing times in the process of legislation. This process will
continue until people realize that man made laws serve the vested
interests of those who are in power; and that the time has come
to discover the immutable divine laws which have been sent through
the Prophets, God's representatives on earth.
Human beings today are still not ready to submit
to God's plans for them. They believe that through science and
technology they shall create means of acquiring happiness. It
is for this reason that they have put aside spiritual and moral
values and have attached themselves to godless materialism. They
will run after this materialism until such time that they realize
that these scientific and technological advancements, although
capable of carrying human beings to the farthest possible points
in space and conquering it for them, or of creating the deadliest
nuclear weapons for the preservation of their power, are utterly
helpless in solving international problems of injustice and in
removing the vestiges of imperialism and colonialism to establish
an ethical and just global society.
From the time humans founded rulers, governors,
and commanders and accepted their authority, they have also held
some expectations of them. They have always hoped that the stronger
and cleverer individuals would restrain the oppressors and would
work towards the prosperity of all. But this hope has rarely been
fulfilled and seldom have a people seen their ideal government
come to power. In every age human government has appeared in different
forms and shapes; but invariably it has fallen into the same pattern
that was described as inadequate, unjust, corrupt and that was
replaced by the new form. It seems that these forms of government
need to exhaust themselves for humans to realize that enough is
enough, and that it is time for God's government founded upon
the principle of tawhid (belief in the Unity of God) to
take over the reins. Hisham b. Salim has related a tradition from
Imam Sadiq, who said:
The Master of the Command will not assume the
government until all kinds of people [with all forms of government
in mind] have ruled. The reason is that when his government becomes
instituted no one will be able to say: 'Had we reached power we
too would have ruled with justice.'[5]
In another tradition Imam Baqir says:
Ours will be the final government. All families
with an aptitude to rule will have reached power before us. This
will be to forestall any claim after seeing our government: 'Had
we reached power, we too would have acted like the progeny of
Muhammad.' This is the meaning of the verse which declares: "The
final result is for the godfearing."[6]
In the light of the above discussion it is
evident that human nature has not sufficiently matured to become
the receptacle for the government based on the belief in the Unity
of God. However, there is no reason to despair because this condition
will not remain forever, and ultimately God's mercy and favor
will encompass humanity. In order to further the divine purposes
God will endow human beings with the necessary wisdom and faith
to fulfill the goal of creation. No human can deny the aspirations
shared by all generations, from time immemorial, that human beings
should be happy and prosperous in their life on the earth; that
there should be justice and equity in the society; that there
should be a complete sense of security from any internal or external
threat to human existence. This aspiration is part of God's creation
impressed in the nature of human beings and, therefore, God will
guide and assist them in fulfilling it. This will happen when
all human ideologies and -isms have utterly failed to further
good of human society. At such a time of despair there will be
a renewed hope in the teachings of the Prophets and in the divinely
ordained laws of justice and equity that these selfless and sacrificing
messengers of God came to promulgate. There will surely be a recognition
that human society, in order to become spiritually and morally
sound and prosperous, is in need of two things: one, a clear and
perfect blueprint from God that would set forth a program for
reform and revival; and two, a divinely protected (ma'süm)
leader who can execute the divine blue print without any error
of omission or commission. God, in His Divine Wisdom, has prepared
the Mahdi for such a highly sensitive time as that so that he
can implement the program that Islam came to teach under the Prophet
(peace be upon him and his progeny).
Another
Reason for the Delay in the Appearance of the Mahdi
Another reason mentioned in the traditions
is reported in a hadith from Imam Sadiq in which the Imam
said:
In the loins of disbelievers and hypocrites
God has deposited a seed for believing persons. It was for this
reason that Imam 'Ali b. Abi Talib refrained from killing the
fathers of disbelievers so that believing children could be born
of them. After that whenever he met them he would endeavor to
kill them. Similarly, our Qa'im will not rise until God's trust
from the loins of the disbelievers has been delivered. After that
he will appear and will eliminate disbelievers. [7]
The program that will be followed by the twelfth
Imam is that he will offer the religion of Islam to the non-believers.
Anyone who accepts that call will be saved from being killed.
All those who refuse to accept Islam will be killed. On the other
hand, we know that history is replete with cases of believing
children born of non-believing and hypocritical parents. Was it
not the case of the early Muslims who were born of non-believing
parents in the pre-Islamic age? If the Prophet had killed all
the non-believers during the conquest of Mecca, the Muslims then
born of their generation would never have come into existence.
God's grace and benevolence necessitates that human beings should
be left alone to their beliefs so that in time those believers
among their children will be born. It is necessary that the earth
should produce believing humans, in accordance with its potential
and capability, and that God grants them life. As long as a human
being procreates and brings forth a believer and worshipper of
God, he or she should remain on earth. This situation will continue
until people's understanding becomes receptive to God's unity
and worship. At that time the Imam of the Age (peace be upon him)
will appear. A large number of disbelievers will accept faith
at his hands. Those who persist in their disbelief in those circumstances
will be the people from whom there will be no believing offspring.
*******
It was late in the evening. The discussion
was very serious and demanded constant attention. It was, therefore,
decided to adjourn the meeting and set the time for the following
session at Dr. Jalali's residence.
Notes:
- Bihar al-anwar,
Vol. 52, p. 336.
- Ibid., p. 316.
- Ibid., p. 351.
- Bihar al-anwar,
Vol. 52, p. 336.
- Bihar al-anwar,
Vol. 52, p. 244.
- Ibid., p. 332.
- Ithbat al-hudat,
Vol. 7, p. 105.
