نشریه جامعه مهدوی
پیاپی 1 (بهار و تابستان 1399)

The most important question of this study is the nature of waiting in the arena of Ayatollah Khamenei's political theology. In this research, with the analytical method of helping from the text, we will reach the fact that the waiting is a kind of desire and hope resulting from belief, feeling and mood, readiness, action and jihad to gain the ideal state, and a human desire to achieve a world full of justice, Truth, intimacy, humanity, spirituality, virtue, correct and transcendental human morality in the shadow of divine rule and government. Therefore, the waiting has four basic factors which are hope for the future, dissatisfaction with the status quo, striving for change and believing in the inevitable realization of reappearance (of Imam Mahdi). The truth of waiting is of the type of verbal action and action-oriented belief, which has a skeptical hierarchy. This fact, due to its structural nature, must necessarily and exclusively be examined under the managerial and executive aspects (not the natural and heavenly status) of the Imamate, which are not present during the era of occultation. In this regard, the waiting is one of the basic concepts of the period of occultation, which has both the role of the Imam's successor in the period of presence and the most important strategy of Shia to pass the world full of oppression and then to reach a world full of justice in the age of reappearance. Connecting the truth of waiting to the realization of divine rule and government of Imam Zaman (a.s) has placed its epistemological type in line with the issues of Shia political theology.

Mahdavi believers have paid special attention to the preparation of the reappearance and have asked various questions about it. For example, is it possible for human beings to prepare for the reappearance? Is it a duty for human beings? Will the reappearance be kind of prioritized through preparation? Such questions have been raised, and in order to answer them, there are two approaches of "absolute deontology" and "the deontology related to the reappearance". In the first approach, Mahdavi believers, regardless of the primacy of reappearance, are busy with their waiting duties. However, in the second approach, Mahdavi believers perform their duties considering that their good actions and righteous deeds have an effect on the primacy of the reappearance. The second approach is also divided into two attitudes, positive and negative. In the negative approach, the criterion for preparation for reappearance is the comprehensiveness of oppression and cruelty. However, the criterion of a positive approach is good actions and righteous deeds. The answer for these questions and the findings of these approaches can be achieved by using the autonomous theory of the voluntariness of the reappearance with a positive approach in the thought of the Supreme Leader of the Iran" with a rational and narrative method and through an explanatory and analytical approach.

The waiting is defined by "a great desire and constant striving to provide the grounds for the promised (Imam Mahdi) presence." In this approach, any movement and action that is in line with the Imam's thinking, is effective in accelerating the reappearance. Hence, the necessity of paving the way for the reappearance arises with this question: what should be done to approach the age of the reappearance, what are the supplies and grounds that should be provided, and finally what are the political characteristics of the waiting community? In this regard, Ayatollah Khamenei has paid serious theoretical and expressive attention and has dealt with it on various occasions. This paper has been authored with the aim of examining the viewpoints of this honorable man on the political characteristics of the waiting community. The research method is qualitative content analysis and an attempt has been made to study and explain the political characteristics of the waiting community in a coherent framework by referring to the collection of materials of the Supreme Leader of the Iran, including books, speeches, messages, conversations and letters. The findings suggest that in the view of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, the most important political characteristics of the waiting community are: "unity ", "Wilayat-following (guardianship) and denial of Taghut", "demanding perfection", "demanding development and revolutionaryism", "hope and trust in God's promise" and "justice and the fight against oppression".

Examining the foundations of the waiting in the intellectual system of Islamic thinkers, inspired by those thoughts, prepares the waiting community for the creation and realization of the promised and ideal Islamic community, which in Islamic thought is referred to as the global government of Imam Mahdi (as). Therefore, by identifying the different effects and aspects of the waiting, it can help us in policy-making and planning for the future of Islamic community in order to revive Islamic civilization. The waiting in the intellectual system of Ayatollah Khamenei is influenced by ontology, epistemology, anthropology and Islamic sociology. In the current study, the ontological foundations of the waiting in the intellectual system of Ayatollah Khamenei are examined, and this question is answered: What are the ontological foundations of the waiting based on the intellectual system of the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution? In order to answer and explain this question, it has been referred to his written and narrated works that are available on the website, and in their analysis, both rational and narrative methods have been used. In Ayatollah Khamenei's intellectual system, the ontological foundations of the waiting are based on monotheism. In this paper, the three ontological foundations of divine policy, wisdom, and grace in the universe have been examined and the relationship between the waiting and these three foundations has been explained

One of the important issues in Islamic thought is the issue of civilization and civilization making and the mission of the waiting community in this regard. Religious thinkers, due to its historical importance and its place in the future vision of the Islamic community have long considered this issue. Ayatollah Khamenei is one of the religious modern reformers who has considered this issue with a special comprehensiveness and deep thinking and has proposed the theory of "new Islamic civilization" to draw the attention of intellectual elites in Islamic community to this important issue. The present paper examines this issue from his viewpoint through analytical-descriptive method. According to Ayatollah Khamenei, the creation of a new Islamic civilization is a strategic and achievable goal, and the waiting community must make the realization of this important goal its main priority. In such a way that all the capacities of the Islamic community are used in this arena.  Ayatollah Khamenei, while explaining the process of formation of Islamic civilization, considered the most important mission of the waiting community in the contemporary era to be civilization making inspired by the ideal of Mahdavi civilization and enumerated some of the necessities of movement in this path. The most important requirements of civilization in the waiting community are: comprehensive view of the material and spiritual areas and needs of human beings, scholastic attitude towards civilization, paying attention to culture and religious institutions, institutionalization of Islamic lifestyle, inspiration from the ideal of Mahdavi civilization, universal view of the process of civilization, systematization and creation of legal structures, development of social justice, strengthening the economic foundations of society, avoiding imitation and self-destruction in the face of Western civilization, and so on.

The idea of "waiting for a savior to reappear" exists in many human societies, and this is one of the most important sources for producing culture and lifestyle for human beings. Therefore, knowing the correct waiting is very important. The present paper seeks to explain the mandatory-Qur'anic foundations and principles of the waiting from the perspective of Ayatollah Khamenei. The mandatory-Qur'anic principles of the waiting in the view of this honorable man are social monotheism, guardianship, the connection of the world and the hereafter, the comprehensiveness of Islam, the innate social man, the authority of truth and human perfectionism. In addition, based on the above principles, social justice, jihad, strengthening rationality, strengthening spirituality and morality, the formation of the Islamic government and the unity of the Islamic community are the mandatory-Qur'anic principles of the waiting in his view. According to the aforementioned principles, from Ayatollah Khamenei's point of view, the waiting is a constructive social waiting. Our method in this research is descriptive-analytical.

Spirituality today refers to an independent field of study that deals with issues related to the inner world of man and the internal relationship between the general public and God. Ayatollah Khamenei is one of the thinkers who considers spirituality in the literal sense and evaluates it as an important factor in human life and future developments in the world. Hence, the spiritual approach to the waiting is the subject of this paper. The research was conducted by qualitative content analysis method and the realm of data collection is the speeches of the Supreme Leader of Iranian Revolution about the waiting. The sampling method was purposeful and sequential. So that the search began with the keyword "waiting" and continued with commonly used and related concepts such as "justice" and "spirituality" and the statements from the speeches of the Supreme Leader that contained the most epistemological data were analyzed. The findings of the study include describing spirituality from the perspective of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, explaining the relationship between justice and spirituality, the relationship between spirituality and the waiting, and defining and analyzing the concept of the waiting into three categories: protest, religious democracy, and readiness. From the viewpoint of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, the relationship with Imam al-Zaman (as) is a heart relationship that forms a kind of spiritual experience and is a personal and living relationship during which a person understands the presence of the Imam with his heart and feelings. Rival views are categorized into two categories: old-fashioned spirituality and novel spirituality.