THE PRESENT PAPER
The basic assumption of this paper is that there is a crisis in the spiritual-religious lives of the contemporary society in which religion does not play a decisive role. Modern individual is searching for a way to maintain a hope in the better future without abandoning his faith.
Although I have spent my early academic years in researching about human belief in the Day of Deliverance (yawm al-khalas), a concentrated on Muslim belief in political and religious messianism (mahdawiya), I quickly realized that the only school of thought among Muslims that maintained a strong spiritual link to the future hope and constantly prayed for the deliverance (faraj) were the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt.
While all Muslims believe that one day the divinely guided (al-mahdi) leader will come to deliver humanity from corruption and tyranny to establish justice and equity, it was the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt who made it part of their active faith response to prepare themselves for that Day of Deliverance. But how exactly should that preparation take place and with what result has been a matter of religious speculation since the last Imam, al-Mahdi, went into invisible existence in 942 CE.
Two objectives have directed this religious speculation about the future coming of the Imam from his invisible existence. The reason I consider this reflection speculative is that knowledge is limited only to God.
Human beings are not privy to this knowledge about the future except what has been reported in the sayings of the Prophet. There are numerous traditions that speak about the Signs of the Hour (‘ala’im al-sa’a) and the calamity that awaits humanity before the final revolution is launched by the descendant of Imam ‘Ali and Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, to purify the religion of God and to establish justice on earth.
While there are a number of traditions that speak about the catastrophe that awaits humanity towards the End of Time, there are indeed few traditions that provide instruction about how to conduct life while awaiting the appearance of God’s Proof (hujjat allah) so that the Day of Deliverance can become a reality.
However, there is one tradition that deserves special attention in the context of this paper. It provides with an important observation about those who believe in the invisible presence of the divinely guided leader and who wish to attain certainty in the matter of the future of humanity.
This paper seeks to show that Imam ‘Ali b. al-Husayn in his description of the future generation of Muslims awaiting the divinely promised Imam’s appearance underscores the importance of intellectual engagement with one’s age as God’s special favor.
The tradition’s optimistic tone and encouragement to those who believe in the certainty of God’s promise to the downtrodden on earth raise the prospect of hope for the future generations in such a way that as long as their progression toward perfection is directed by their hope in the future coming of the ideal leader, they are already witnesses to the presence of the Imam of the Age in their own struggle. The life on earth, as the tradition points out, cannot be lived in isolation and separation from everyday engagement with other human beings and realities that human beings encounter.
It must be lived, in accord with intellectual integrity and moral and spiritual awareness so that it can serve as the preparation ground for the ultimate victory of truth over falsehood, and justice over injustice.
المرتجی
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