Investigating the Epistemological Contexts of Acceptance of the Claims of False Claimants of Mahdaviat in the Contemporary Iran

Investigating the deviational movements of Mahdaviat is one of the thought-provoking questions in the field of Mahdaviat. studies. In spite of pervasive approach towards the issue of deviations in Mahdaviat, little research has been carried out around the grounds of inclination towards these movements. The inspections of this paper are an introduction to answer this question that what the epistemological grounds of accepting the claims of false claimants of Mahdaviat are in the contemporary Iran. Recognizing these grounds and attempting to remove the existent gaps paving the ground for these movements are among the reasons of addressing this issue. Moreover, one can prevent the unlimited number of negative belief outcomes such as sectarism, squandering the capacities of the Shiite community and destruction of the liberating thought of Mahdaviat. the following paper is carried out with a descriptive-analytic method, reciting the written and unwritten sources such as voice and video files and court cases to seek the epistemological grounds. The result of data analysis and composition reveals that “citation of weak sources”, “superficiality”, “extreme Akhbarism", "comparisonism" and "superstition" are effective in creating grounds for attracting claimants.