فصلنامه مشرق موعود
پیاپی 12 (زمستان 1388)

For the purpose of understanding the personality of Mahdi in a comparative way, the shared points between Shia and Sunni can be emphasized and consequently by interpreting the attributes of Imam in shia and sunni documents and by explaining the mission of Imam, some knowledge of the aspects of his existence can be gained. One of the shared points in shia and sun ni is about the following precepts: Mahdi is a ‘household’ (descendent) of the God’s Prophet Mohammad and his mission is a ‘revival’ of the true religion. By explaining and interpreting these two precepts, this article tries to establish knowledge of Imam’s personality and emphasize that he is the promised living (saviour).

The confrontation between religion and modernity and the status of Muslim scholars and Muslim communities in response to new questions and the social and psychological reactions have been among the challenges after the period of Renaissance and the achievements of modernity. This is the position that modernity in various spheres of government, politics, anthropology, sociology, epistemology, personal and social relations,development and growth and the like has placed in front of Muslims.Muslims have had several methods, replies and reactions in some of which the elements of Mahdism culture and concepts are major components. This article aims to examine those analyses and reviews of their position in Mahdism conceived as a solution or individual and social reactions to modernity and take a critical and ‘pathological’ approach to theories that have sometimes applied Mahdism incorrectly and take an appropriateapproach to representation of Muslims in the philosophy of history.

In this article, I attempt to reply to three doubts raised by one of the contemporary Vahabi (writers) against the ideas suggested in Mahdism thought. In the first doubt, ha has tried to place the narratives regarding Imam Mahdi’s place of living as if they are conflicting with each other on the one hand. On the other hand, he has tried to relate the belief in Absence of the Imam in the cellar of Samarra to the Shiites. In the second doubt regarding the occultation of Imam Mahdi, it has been claimed that the Shiitesdetermined a timeline in their accounts for the Appearance of the Imam and that none of (Shiites claims) proved to be true and their lie is exposed! In the third scenario, it has been claimed that narratives about the name of Imam Mahdi are conflicting with each other.In response to these doubts, each of these narratives are reviewed and careful consideration of these narratives demonstrates that neither there is any conflict in narratives with each other, nor any claim is made by Shiite scholars about hiding of Imam Mahdi in a basement (!) These interpretations can not be inferred from the Shiites narratives at different times regarding Appearance.

Without doubt, change, development and growth in every society are based on a model, criterion, and resource which are in line with the belief system of that society. After World War II till now, the Western thinkers were promoting their model of political development in the world to pave the way for their influence in different regions. However, the realization of Mahdi’s society, as per God’s promise, will tip this balance and sets a different example of political development to be appeared.This writing is comparing Samuel Huntington’s political development model (as a recent western model) with the political development model in Mahdi’s society (inferred from tradition and verses) to express their specific features comparatively. Any of these models are based on three principles of anthropology, political development constituents and the method for political development with their differences explained in the article.

This article examines the comparative characteristics of a Waiting human personality with a (typically) healthy personality from the perspective of developmental psychology. After explaining the concepts such as personality, Waiting (the promised saviour), developmental psychology and the psychological components of Waiting. The role of each of these components on human personality will be reviewed and then will becompared with the criteria for mental health from the perspective of developmental psychology.

In this research, the belief in Mahdism is considered among the young Tehrani people aged 15 to 29. The method for research is descriptive and measurement-based and the statistical community samples from all the young Tehrani people aged 15 to 29. The quantity of sample is 691 participants chosen randomly and purposely from the northern, southern, western and eastern parts of Tehran. The tool for measurement, thequestionnaire, has five parts which considers 24 questions and 24 phrases. The reliability index of the questionnaire is calculated as 80 percent. For data analysis and interpretation, descriptive, frequency, and percentiles were applied using One-sample T-test. The conclusions have demonstrated that belief in Mahdi is 3.08, a little above average of 3, and waiting for the appearance is 3.42, as above the average of 3 from 4 scales. Most of the participants in groups answered 4 in terms of knowledge of the Revered Mahdi (the saviour). Most of the correct answers regarding the philosophy ofhis occultation were identified as: protecting him from early martyrdom, preservation of the faith and constancy in religiousness. Most of the correct answers for the philosophy of appearance were identified as the enlightenment of truth and decay of the falsehood, establishment of a single global government and implementation of God’s faith.

This article aims to bring different reasons for the necessity of paving the ground for the appearance of the promised saviour and thereby rejects the claim of those who state that preparation and paving the ground for the appearance of the promised saviour is not necessary. These reasons include: proving the necessity of preparation from the viewpoint of philosophy of disappearance, the essential requirement of practicing Sharia duties in line with the necessity of paving the ground, the inconclusiveness of appearancewithout paving the ground, the necessity of paving the ground in the frame of introducing the Imam to community, the application of reasons for necessity of waiting for paving the ground. The last reason has also cited examples of Shiites duties in paving the ground in the age of occultation. With all these reasons, it can be proved that Shiites responsibilities for the appearance of the saviour are so profound. This is a responsibility, and the onus is not just on the Shiite community. It is also imperative for all thepeople who seek justice and oppose oppression and think of peace for humanity to prepare the world for the appearance and the rising of the person that will spread justice like the sun.