An Inquiry into the Hadith: “… the one who adheres to his religion during it will be like one who clutches on to a thorn bush with his hands…” referring to the difficulties of religiosity during the Imam Mahdi’s occultation

The Islamic narrations about the disappearance of Imam Mahdi (pbuh) in the book al-Kāfi begin with a Hadith declaring the difficulties of religiosity during the time of Imam Mahdi’s disappearance i.e. “Certainly the rightful owner of this rule will have an occultation, such that the one who adheres to his religion during it will be like one who clutches on to a thorn bush with his hands…”2. This priority indicates the importance and necessity of paying attention to the mentioned subject. Examining the aspects used in the Hadith and explaining the way out of the harms damage the religiosity during the time of Occultation is one of the present paper. After the clarification of the narration, the text helps to compare the approach of observance of piety and referring to religion, noted in this Hadith, with the same examples from different narrations.