The Ancient Zaydi’s Belief of Imamate and MahdismOn the Basis of Abū Sa’id Rawajinī’s “Akhbār al-Mahdī”

Despite the fundamental difference of some issues on the Imamate and Mahdism between the Imamites and Zaydites, the extant accounts demonstrate a close convergence between them. The convergence that increased in the occultation era by the composition of Hadith compilation, is accused of not being authentic by some orientalists. Indeed, the reconstruction of the lost works of the ancient Zaydite scholars and study of them is useful to find the convergence and response to the orientalists’ claims. Abū Sa’īd Rawājinī, the Zaydite scholar at the time of presence of Imams, played a vital role in the transmission of Zaydite Hadith heritage to the next generation by composing some specialized books in Imamate and Mahdism. The reconstruction of his monograph “Akhbār al-Mahdī” not only approve the existence of some Imamite beliefs on Imamate and Mahdism in the time of presence of Imams, but assert the convergence between the Imamite and Zaydite in this era. The number of the Imams as twelve men, their ancestry, the long occultation of Mahdī, and his hidden birth, are the main advantages of this reconstruction.