پژوهشنامه موعود
پیاپی 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1398)

One of the issues in the social-political debates is the issue of “legitimacy” of the political systems that has been the focus of attention of the governments for a long time. The government, which will be established in the post-appearance era by Imam of the Time (A.S), needs legitimacy like other governments. But what the basis of the legitimacy of his government is, is the subject which this paper seeks to explain. This article attempts to examine some of the foundations of the legitimacy of governments, such as divine legitimacy, the inherent superiority of the rulers, the legitimacy gained from force and dominance, the legitimacy gained from tradition as well as the basis of the social contract, and validate them with the government of Imam of the Time (A.S). This paper, with a descriptive-analytic method, concludes that the main origin of the legitimacy of the Imam of the Time’s government is “the Divine legitimacy”, and God has given him the right to rule the whole world. The other principles of the legitimacy such as inheritance or inherent superiority also play a role in the legitimacy of his government. In fact, in some way, the Divine legitimacy confirms the government of Imam of the Time (A.S).

Throughout history, the great idea of Mahdism has always been attacked by the deviant and false movements. Some of them have created a ground to mispresent themselves as the promised Mahdi (A.S) by presenting teachings such as “the first Mahdi” and “Mahdi before appearance”, and “the severalty of Mahdi(s) to the extent that they have confiscated the functions of the Appearance era and Imam Mahdi in their own name. Seyyed Muhammad ibn Fallah, the founder of the Musha'sha'iyyah sect, and Ahmad Ismail Basri, the founder of Yamani group, are among the claimants who have sought to confiscate the Mahdism teachings in their own favor by claiming the severalty of Mahdi(s) and introducing themselves as the first Mahdi.
The following article, organized in a descriptive-analytic-critical manner, has investigated the documents these two sects have presented while explaining the viewpoint of these two sects and their background. The misunderstanding of the word “Mahdi”, the use of fake narrations and invalid texts such as “al-Hedayat al-Kobra”, and “al-Fitan ibn Hemmad”, and the use of unreasonable interpretations are amongst the most important proofs of their falsity.

The current paper reflects on the belief of Mahdism in the formation of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. It is assumed that the Islamic Revolution was influenced by the idea of Mahdism and is a prominent example of the revolutions that have taken place with attention to the messianic and awaiting aspect, especially with the approach and the reading presented by Imam Khomeini about Mahdism since 1342 (Solar Year). This belief officially appeared in the political and revolutionary arena of the Iranian people as a powerful and major driving force. The research method in this regard is a descriptive-analytic one and is based on the sociological studies. The findings of this paper are categorized into four areas. The belief of Mahdism in the first place has influenced the area of perception and change in the world-view of the people, and after establishing a world-view, it is beneficial in the realm of values and in fact, it has created Mahdavi values in line with the revolution. Mahdism belief has had an impact on the Revolution in the realm of behavioral norms, that is, Mahdism created values which affected the Revolution in line with it and finally, in the realm of symbols and Mahdism symbols, it has emerged to accelerate the Iranian Revolution.

Western scholars and orientalist views in the field of Mahdism and related issues have undergone many changes in the last 150 years. According to some indicators, these views can be divided into four periods that the study of the evolution of their views in the second period (from 1946 to 1978) is the subject of the current paper. This paper is an exploratory research and is prepared by descriptive-analytical method and after categorizing and mentioning the most important views of the scholars on the Mahdism in this period, various analyzes and statistics on the type and volume of the topics of interest, sources used, and some other statistics including nationality of the Orientalists, are presented. According to the results of the current study, this period has distinctions from the earlier and subsequent periods, including more detailed views in the field of Mahdism and specialized research of some Orientalists on the subject of Shiite Mahdism.

One of the reasons that has historically led people to morass of destruction is sin. The Jewish Bible acknowledges this divine tradition which was the reason to the deprivation of people of all sorts of blessings, especially salvation, due to the sin. There, it acknowledges the fact that as long as the Israelites and the Jews worshiped God, He was by their side as their only Savior; however, when they rebelled and did not repent, God left them and afflicted them with all sorts of calamities.
This study, with a descriptive-analytic method and with the aim of explaining the status of one of the barriers of the appearance of Mashih (Messiah) which is the sin, proves this fact that sin has caused the hardship and suffering for the Israelites and the Jews, and repentance can also alleviate these hardships and prepare the preliminaries for salvation and speed up the appearance of Mashih (Messiah).

Some scholars at the Minor Occultation era, in addition to transmitting the teachings of the People of the Household in the form of narrations and works of the past people, also played the role of advocate in the so-called foundation for delegation; among them, we can mention Muhammad Ibn Homam Eskafi.
This paper, with a descriptive-analytic method, intends to investigate the position and role of Muhammad ibn Homam in the so-called foundation for delegation.
This study, by investigating and searching the historical and hadith sources, proves that Muhammad ibn Homam was one of the members of the so-called foundation for delegation during the second and third lawyer period and was in charge of the so-called foundation for delegation for short time. Moreover, by investigating his role in the so-called foundation for delegation, we mention that he had played a significant role in consolidating the delegation of Muhammad ibn Othman and Hussain ibn Noah, and in confronting the false claimants and devious attorneys, especially Shalmaghani, and has used the strategy of prevarication to conceal the name and the location of the Twelfth Imam.