The Role of Mahdaviyat in the Unity and Convergence of the Islamic World

Based on Quranic verses and Islamic traditions, as well as human experience throughout history, unity and convergence are two significant and effective factors to organize and to have the community achieve its purpose and objective. Along with them, progress, prosperity, dignity, authority and creativity will finally lead to sovereignty on the earth. On the contrary, lack of these two elements in the society will cause superiority complex, ethnic and sectarian prejudice, dispersion and blessing deprivation for them, and ultimately it will lead to humiliation and colonialism. Therefore, unity and solidarity in directing society towards progress and excellence have an important and crucial place. The greater the unity among the people, the faster the movement of people towards the ideal society. The alliance is justifiable in various areas and domains, because it can sometimes be built upon beliefs and occasionally it can be based on nationality and race and finally sometimes this role can be played by homeland and geography which directs people towards unity and sympathy. Therefore, the alliance has various foundations which can be justified by ideological, social, racial and geographic approach. One of those foundations is the belief in Mahdaviyat and its basic and common components, such as reappearance of Imam Mahdi, waiting for him and their certainty, the names and characteristics of Imam Mahdi, his relatives, global governance, spread of justice as well as other factors which have been accepted by all Islamic groups and it is an important issue to form an alliance between Muslims and Islamic communities. Therefore, the current study has dealt with the role of these factors for the convergence of believers in this genuine Islamic belief, through expressing and focusing on some unifying elements and it is going to answer this fundamental question "what is the role of Mahdaviyat in the convergence of Islamic world?"