فصلنامه مشرق موعود
پیاپی 3 (پاییز 1386)

There are two types of traditions narrated from the members of the prophet’s household and his progeny (peace be upon them, all being chaste, pure and immaculate), about the subject of “penitence” in the period of Advent (Imam Mahdi’s Arrival).Some of the traditions have introduced the Time of Absence as the time of opportunities and the Advent as the time of those opportunities to be ended. This means that with the coming of Imam Mahdi (PBuH), the respite for penitence and return will be taken away from the ill-doers.Some other traditions hold that the period after the Advent is the time for development and reformation. It is the time for: compensation of weaknesses of humanity. Therefore, the doors are open to penitence and the grounds are provided for improvement of defects.Now, in order to put the two types together, we can conclude that the second ones are looking to the first days of the Advent during which the Imam starts to guide and direct people and the first types are related to the time when the Imam draws his sword out to improve and purify the society of humans. As for the first type, we may think of those exposed to the Imam’s policy as the people who have gone astray and deny the realities knowingly. And for the second traditions we can think of those who have become misled because of their ignorance only.If the combination of two types of traditions is not accepted, the prefer ability should be given to the second type of traditions since the people of this kind are more harmonious with the general rule of accepting repentance mentioned in the Quran and they are much more in number than the first type of traditions; moreover, there are more traditions narrated about them in comparison with the traditions regarding the first group.

This article is going to investigate the subject of leadership (Imamate) and the subject of guardianship (wilayat) from the viewpoint of Mulla Sadra. On this basis, it first refers to the guardianship in genesis (the starting point of creation) and then points to the guardianship on the basis of religious law, adapting the four volumes (Asfar Arba’a) to the position of guardianship.The subject of priority of guardianship over prophethood is another part of the discussions in this article, which is the secret of priority of worshiping of the Great Prophet of Islam over his prophetic mission.The writer of this article has explained, in the second part, the leadership and the guardianship of the immaculate Imams according to the belief of Mulla Sadra (the grand theologian) under the following titles:a-Policy while Traveling: from creatures to God,b-Policy while Traveling: from God to His creatures,c-Position of Man as Successor of God on the Earth, d-Substantiation for the Existence of the Imam, the Argument of Truth, Based on the Rule for the Possibility of the Noblest Accomplishments,e-The Imam’s, or the Guardian’s Conditions,f-The First Accomplishments,g-The Second Accomplishments,h-The Religious Government in the View of Mulla Sadra,i-Political guardianship of the Imams,j-The Basis for Political Legitimacy.

There are three theories given about the Advent of Mahdi:1-unexpectedness of the Advent,2-gradual evolution and natural advancement of the Advent,3-optionality of the Imam’s Advent.The third theory is the one Shahid Sadr has propounded and dealt with.The philosophy of history of Sadr deals with the history to be rule-governed. It discovers the laws governing history. He believes that the laws are conditioned with the volition and the will-power of man. It is the man who drives the train of history. Since the Advent is a historical phenomenon, it must be conditioned by the power, volition and the choice of man.Therefore, we have to use applicable, practical plans with the help of historical laws or rules to hasten and accelerate the Advent and Arrival of Imam Mahdi (PBuH).

Musha’sha’ian (the Resplendent) formally and officially started their activities from the year 828 Hijri to 764 Hijri in the vast area of Khuzistan and established a government in the city of Huwayza. The founder of this government was Sayyed Muhammad –ibn– Fallah, one of the religious authorities in the Theological School of Hella. He claimed to be Imam Mahdi and was able to attract the attention of the most people in Khuzistan by this claim. It was, of course, after some prolonged wars that he could establish his state in 754 Hijri in the city of Huwayza, but then he was defeated by the Safavids after they attacked the city and put an end to Musha’sha’ian independent government in 914 Hijri. However, as assigned rulers, Musha’sha’ian could stay for 200 years in that vast area with their own belief.

The government of Sarbedaran was the first rising of the people against the Mongols in Khurassan, which smashed their throne of power in that vast province. In addition to their confrontation with that oppression, Sarbedaran presented two strategies. The first was to cause an approximation between Shiism and Sufism that had been promulgated for the first time, before Sayyed Haydar Amoli, by Shaykh Khalifa and after him by his disciple, Shaykh Hassan Juri, and it was used as an example afterwards, by the Safavids. The second strategy of Sarbedaran’s government was the propagation of the policy of “Awaiting” (Intizar) and encouraging the people to be waiting for the appearance of Imam of Time, Mahdi (PBuH). Such a thought was also developed by Shaykh Khalifa and his disciple, Hassan Juri, but was inclined toward exaggeration and excessiveness afterwards by Darvish Aziz resulting in the appearance of a Mahdi government in the city of Tus for six months. Even coins were minted with the name of Sultan Muhammad Mahdi in that time; but that overdoing was improved by a man called Khaja Ali Mu’ayyad, by changing the name on the coins to: Imam Mahdi (May God hasten his advent). Also, the ceremonies that were celebrated in Hella and Kashan for that kind of Intizar were much reduced with the announcement of Khaja to the people, that they should only be waiting for the arrival the real Imam Mahdi (PBuH). So, the excessiveness was thrown aside by the encouragement of Khaja Ali and so the mistake of Darvish Aziz was corrected.

One of the important discussions over which great thinkers of Islamic World and Western political scholars have deliberated since a long time ago has been the subject of “justice”. Following the discussion, political justice has also been of some essential importance among many thinkers in the world. In this article, I have tried to investigate “political justice” in Mahdism and in the political thought of Rales in an adaptive, comparative, and conceptual way. What the writer has found out is the following: There is a marked difference in grounds and principles between the two perspectives concerning political justice, because the first is based upon the teachings of Revelations and the other on physical, tangible realizations. The political justice of Mahdism is global and universal but that of John Rales is to be used for a liberal society. However, we may find a few similarities by deliberating on both discussions being concluded at the end. Some of the applied issues in the view of John Rales seem to be identical to those resulted from the thoughts in the doctrine of Mahdism.

Every important affair may be exposed to some dangers and injuries with regard to its degree of importance, in the length of time and the doctrine of Mahdism is not an exception to this rule. We are witnessing the propaganda to produce Crisis for the identity of Imam Mahdi and the fact of Intizar (Awaiting) in today’s different societies with the circulation of Superstitions by a number of profiteering individuals and some great powers led by Zionism. The necessity for the location and indication of the roots and sources of such superstitions must be found and the followers of the Imam Mahdi (PBuH) who are awaiting him must be warned of the results.Many social environments and family situations that don’t have enough knowledge about Mahdism will naturally provide the suitable places for superstions. On another side, cultural poverty, weakness in the social control and lack of appropriate models for treatments help the spread and growth of such an inclination toward superstitions.Some different results are the following:Confusion of values, lapse of confidence, disruption of social order and harmful religious education, etc.However, Islam calls everybody to think and deliberate on theoretical affairs, to abstain from blindly imitating other ones in the scope of beliefs in order to fight superstitional ideas. The clear example of such a challenger and defender was the great Prophet of Islam. Removing superstitions out of social grounds needs social agreement and promise.

Including the important things that assist us to understand completely the educational system of Imam Mahdi (PBuH) and to distinguish such a great educational school from other schools in the world is to express the educational purposes in this Islamic school which are in agreement with Islamic teachings in the Holy Quran. The main subject of this article has been to enumerate the following and discuss: Educational aims,Educational aims of man in relation with God, the Exalted,Educational aims of man in relation with himself,Educational purposes of the people in cultural relations,Educational, purposes of the people in cultural relations,Educational, economical, social and political purposes,Educational purposes of man in relation with Nature, all of which are essential points to have been discussed and clarified in this article.

Sushians or Sushiant is a common name in the religion of Zoroastrian given to the three sons of Zoroaster, who will be born of his sperm at the End of Time.These three awaited Zoroastrians: Hushidar, Hushidar Mah and Sushians, will, each, appear at the start of every millennium so that they give order to the confused world and its people. The name: Sushians is specially given to the last Savior and the Awaited, who will also be the last being created by Ahura Mazda.

Zionism and Bahaism are both the results of Imperialism and the thought of Colonialism, which have been brought about in order to suppress the Muslims and remove the Islamic culture. Zionism came into existence to produce disturbance among the great religions of the world and to destroy their structure of interdependence that could bring together all believers in humanity around the axis of monotheism by living peacefully in the shade of exaltation and prosperity. Zionism has been established in a place where the followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism have lived at each other’s side for long years in comfort and serenity.Also, they set up Bahaism in order to destroy the base of prospects for the hope in the future; the hope that all religions have publicized but have not been informed of its application. For this reason, they have aimed at Shiism in their plot with their poisoned arrows by setting up Bahaism settled on the mental sediments of a person called Ali Mohammad Bab to suppress Shiism which has always been the introducer of the real savior of humanity. Then they set up some despotic states putting them on a mission to support the colonizers. Thus, they produced some connections between Bahaism and Zionism, making Bahaism official in the center of Israel, supporting Bahai leaders, establishing commercial companies to follow their common profits or many other stimuli there.