فصلنامه انتظار موعود
سال پانزدهم شماره 48 (بهار 1394)

In addition to have expertise in Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, and Islamic theology, Sheikh Sadūq is a unique character in the realm of interpretation. This article seeks to demonstrate the position of Sheikh Sadūq in the field of interpretation by examining the prelude of the noble book of “Kamal al-Ddin” and separating the discussions and points he extracted from the thirtieth verse of Sūrah al-Baqarah. This article, in addition to showing Sheikh Sadūq’s taste, with reference to the Qur’anic verses, raises important and essential points in the field of “Imamate” and “Mahdism” and is arranged in six general topics and the expression of the points by dividing the discussions.

The functions of “religion’s Utopia” (Mahdism) in the body of society are among the important and notable issues, which have drawn the attention of researchers and scholars because of its inevitable role in the realization of a systematic pattern which can provide the aims and the expectations of a religious society. Particularly now, that the existence of religious tendencies in the world’s societies and the influential and undeniable presence of religion is rapidly growing. The waiting society can only be an effective and modelling society with quality for other nations in tracing the state of world’s future that insists on its principles and ideals and follow the requisites of religion’s Utopia (Mahdism) on top of their activities. Explaining the functions of the religion’s Utopia (Mahdism), such as its political function with the aim to affect the future’s societies, its cultural function affected by the waiting culture, its doctrinal function, with the aim of deepening, correcting and localizing beliefs in the waiting society, can be regarded as an effective step towards planning and moving toward building a bright future and finally paving the ground for the appearance of Imam of the Time.

The idea of “Messiah” and the “Promised One” in the history of Judaism has always been with disputes and vicissitudes; however, has believing in the Messiah had any advantages and achievements for the Jews in the educational and social areas? This article, with an analytical-descriptive method answers this question and believes believing in the Messiah in Judaism is not just a faith-related issue; rather, it has had functions depending on the quality of believing it for the Jews as the followers of a Divine religion, not as a political religion and a tool in the hands of Zionism. In fact, this belief is considered as a mechanism and a lever in the achievement of some of the goals of Judaism.
In other words, believing in the Messiah has always had achievements and functions in perceptional-ideological areas like legalism and the encouragement of repenting, and in the moral and educational areas- it has functions like hope raising and modelling, and in the social-political areas, it has functions like dynamism and patience raising.

One of the common teachings of the Abrahamic religions is the belief in a “Promised Savior” who appears at the end of the time to bring peace and security, establish justice, and eradicate oppression and corruption of the human society. This belief is so important and enthusiastic among the followers of Abrahamic religions that each of the followers nourishes the desire to be alive at that time in their minds. Thus, one of the topics discussed among the followers of Abrahamic religions is the “Timing” or “determining the time of the arrival of the Promised Savior” and this issue has led to the fact that some people have specified a time for the arrival of the Savior and therefore caused a false enthusiasm among people even for a short time. Timing, especially when raised by the scholars, has had irreversible consequences for the religion and its followers. This paper investigates the principle of legitimacy of “Timing” according to the scriptures of every religion and the sayings of its scholars, then, it explains the damages the Timing makes to that religion and its followers.

The failure of “Tawwābin uprising” and “Mukhtār uprising” led Zaid ibn Ali to rise up against the increase of Umayyad’s corruption and oppression in 122 AH. Although this uprising was unsuccessful and short-lived, it paved the way for the formation of Zaidiyyah sect and the uprising of other Zaids such as Yahya ibn Zaid, Nafs-e-Zakkyeh (pure soul) and other Shiites. These uprisings failed in most cases and were temporary though some of them led to the establishment of a government like Alid dynasties of Tabaristan, Zaidiyyah of Yemen, and Idrisids of the West. Zaidiyyah has the beliefs different from Shi’as with regard to the discussion of Imamates and Mahdism, like typical Mahdism. “Typical Mahdism” is of beliefs, which is largely compatible with the teachings of Sunnis. However, there are several evidences illustrative of the presence of this belief among Zaidyyah sect as a branch of Shiite. This article intends to clarify the position of Imamates and Mahdism and the intention behind the personal and typical Mahdism.

There are differences and similarities between the views of various religions and schools in regard with the “End Times” and the “Savior”. The scholars of each religion with the reference to all accepted sources in their own religion try to explain the religious views in this regard, and sometimes in the cases of dispute, they look at the other religions in relation to the salvation at the end of the time with a faultfinding proscription. In recent years, a flow of thought is formed amongst a group of Protestant Christians, which tries to prove a severe conflict between Islam and Christianity with regard to the event of the apocalypse and the appearance of the Savior. Among the leaders of this view is “Joel Richardson”, who has given a reasonable shape to this conflict by presenting his theory of “Islamic Antichrist” and his theory is widely welcome by some religious Christians. This article for the first step reviews Richardson’s thought background and the scenes behind the proposal and consolidation of his theory, assesses and evaluates his references to the religious sources of Christianity and Islam and his claims in this regard. Among the other subjects raised in this article are presenting the methodological and substantive faults of Richardson’s remarks, mentioning the positive and negative aspects of his research and verifying and inter-and-outer religiously criticizing his opinions specially his theory of Islamic Antichrist. The method used in this article is library-software and is written with a descriptive-analytic approach.