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Imamate is the continuation of prophethood (Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi, Amuzeshe Aqaid, pg. 306.) and the imam is one who possesses all of the attributes of the prophet, albeit receiving divine revelation from its sources. So the imam has three major responsibilities, as does the prophet (Mohammad Husein Tabatabai, Shia dar Islam, pg.176.): 1- Taking measures for establishing an Islamic government and freeing the people of oppressive ones 2- Spreading divine teachings amongst the people 3- Guiding the people to the straight path The three abovementioned are the most important of their responsibilities. Nevertheless, if certain social circumstances or the weakness of the Muslims don’t allow the imamRead More →

WHAT DOES SHIA DOCTRINE SAY ABOUT THE AWAITED MAHDI?

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Since the question above is too vague and general and has not specified a certain aspect of Imam Mahdi’s (AJ) life, we have decided to take a brief glimpse at the life of the twelfth Imam, mention a few prophecies of the Quran and traditions regarding Imam Mahdi and finally conclude with listing a number of signs of his reappearance. The twelfth Imam is named the same as the Prophet (S.A.); meaning “Muhammad” (I’lam al-Wara, pg. 417.), but according to the traditions from the Imams (A.S.) it has been made forbidden to say his name. He has many titles some of which are Mahdi, Muntadhar,Read More →

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS FOR THE REEMERGENCE OF THE MASTER OF THE AGE [I.E. THE TWELFTH IMAM]?

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A discussion regarding the signs of the re-emergence is somewhat complicated, for there are numerous narrations in the corpus of Shi’a ahadith, and add to that the narrations found in the Sunni sources and even the heavenly books of previous religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Indian creeds, and all these call for a comprehensive investigation and analysis. Furthermore, the related narrations must be weighed as to the authenticity of their lines of transmission and also the soundness of their content. Based on the Shi’a narrations, it can be inferred that the signs fall under two categories. One group consists of those signs whichRead More →