فصلنامه انتظار موعود
سال بیست و دوم شماره 78 (پاییز 1401)

“Muhammad ibn Othman” is the second representative and one of the pillars of the four representatives during the Minor Occultation and the mediator between Imam Mahdi (A.S) and the Shia during this period. The present research is seeking the answer to this question that how far and to what extent Muhammad ibn Othman impacted the confrontations with Imamate problems during the Minor Occultation; a period in which Imamate, on one hand, had faced the crisis of the absence of its Imam for the first time and on the other hand, encountered all types of social problems; in a way that the Imamate family has been attacked from all aspects. The present paper, with a library method, and using the analysis of historical data, investigates the life of Muhammad ibn Othman and explains this important fact that Muhammad ibn Othman behaved according to the various affairs of Imamate, one of the most important components in the field of legal representation, with his constant communication with Imam Mahdi (a.s). he acted according to Imam’s orders in receiving letters and religious taxes and delivering them to Imam or spending them, and had special role in dealing with the claimants of attorney and some disobedient lawyers.

Believing the appearance of a savior and awaiting the rise of Hazrat Mahdi (a.s) is one of the most important beliefs which all Islamic sects unanimously agree upon. Among the several Shiite sects, Zaidiyyah sect is one of the main branches which is considered noticeable and important due to its commonalities with the Imamate Shiite in the issue of Imamate and the origin of Mahdism. According to the narrations related to the name and lineage of Hazrat Mahdi (a.s) in Zaidiyyah sources, a typology is presented and propounded views in this regard are explained. In the second section, using a comparative study in the Imamate sources in this regard, we address the investigation and criticisms of these hadiths. The findings of this research show that most of Mahdavi narration in Zaidiyyah sources are related to the name and cognomen of Imam Mahdi (a.s) and the only difference in Zaidiyyah and Imamate sources is related to the lineage of Imam; although in Zaydi sources, the Fatemi lineage of Imam has been approved.

One of the precious teachings and heritages of Mahdism in the thought of Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani is the “culture of awaiting”. The most important aspect of the culture of awaiting is its “foresightedness” and “future-making” aspect, the study of which is in the scope of “Islamic Futurism”. The culture of awaiting is the comprehensive aspect of Islamic futurism in which recognizing, processing and building the future are considered simultaneously. In this paper, we address the answer to this research question that “which the aspects of Islamic futurology are in the culture of awaiting in the view of Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani”. The organization of this research is developmental and qualitative in nature. To collect data, we have used library-method (in studying sources and documents) and to analyze data, the descriptive-analytic method with structural and conceptual meaning analysis has been utilized; that is the similarity between the mental and conceptual structures, in such a way that the concepts and expressions of the culture of awaiting in the thought of Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani have been recreated based on the principles and methods of perspective creation and imaging (visualization) in the Islamic futurology. The findings of the research show that perspective creation and presenting clear images of the future are among the methods of expressing the howness of future making in the thought of Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani in the culture of awaiting.

The rate of impact of “Akhbari” thought on Shiite scholars’ thought has fluctuated since its formation. Seemingly, due to the efforts of fundamentalist scholars, the Akhbari approach has left the field of jurisprudential thought; however, in reality, this movement has had its impact both in terms of insight and action. This view, in the field of Mahdism, has had its impact and presence on the Shiite scholars in a serious way. This paper addresses the action and behavioral influence of Akhbari thought on the field of Mahdism in the contemporary era amongst the Shiites. The main finding of this paper is that the Akhbari egocentric knowledge of religion has its impact on both individual and social actions of the Shiites. Avoiding social responsibilities, expressing futile discussions, such as narration of dreams, personal status of Imam of the Time (a.s), meeting-oriented[1], seclusion, selection of the technique of silence against the arrogant movements of the West are among the action effects of Akhbari thought. Moreover, due to this view, Akhbarism is against the presence of women in the society as the social activists in relation to the preparing the ground for the appearance (of Imam). The following research measures the impact of Akhbari thought on some of the contemporary Shiites’ personal and social behavior and life style.
 
[1]. Meeting Imam of the Time (a.s) Personally

In line with the issue of Imamate is the subject of “Islamic rulership” as one of its philosophies by the Shiites, which has been addressed under the discussion of “legislative authority”. The “legislative authority after the Prophet (pbuh) has been realized in the twelve Imams and it has continued without any problems until the end of life of Imam Hadan Askari (a.s); however, with the beginning of Imamate of Imam of the Time (a.s) and his absence, the rulership of the Islamic society face a challenge. This paper, using a library method in collecting materials and descriptive-analytic method in processing the data, not only proves the possibility of the rulership during the age of Occultation, in contrary to the views of people such as Abdul Karim Soroush, but also explains the howness of its realization, and concluded that during the period of Minor Occultation, there is no such problem in terms of rulership in the sense of being in charge of affairs for the Shia; because during this period, there were few problems that their decree could not be found in the narrations. Moreover, people would dissolve their needs by communicating with special deputies, and although there is no possibility of official communication with Imam during the Major Occultation, the rulership of the ummah continues in the form of the theory of vicegerency of a faqih (Islamic jurisprudent) and this challenge is solved by a fully-qualified faqih.

In the ziarat of Al-e Yasin, the phrase « ربانی آیاته » is among the expressions which should be pondered a lot in order to get a correct and accurate understanding of it. The hypothesis of this paper is the relationship between the « ربانی آیاته » and Ahl al-Bayt (the Prophet’s Household) being the scientific authority, the formative guidance and the preacher of Allah. The present paper, with a descriptive-analytic structure and content, seeks to answer this question that what the correct and precise meaning of « ربانی آیاته » in this ziarat is. Additionally, this phrase in the ziarat contains which feature of features of the Imamate and Imam Mahdi (a.s). In this paper, considering the meaning of the terms “رباانی ” and “ آیاتاه ”, we investigate the presupposed meanings for these words according to the textual relations (the Quran and Hadith). According to the data of the research, the best explanation for this phrase “ رباانی آیاتاه ’ is “a person who is aware of the Divine verses and interprets them for the people and is the guardian of the verses”. He is the nurturer of the beings and creatures of the universe. Moreover, considering the context of the phrase “ رباانی آیاتاه ” which indicates the call for human beings to monotheism and the companions such as the molded knowledge and the translators of the book; the scientific authority, infallibility, the Divine and formative guidance are proven for the Imam of the Age (a.s).