This question can be studied in two parts:1. Did Muhammad bin Uthman Umari meet with the Imam of Time (‘atf) during Hajj season?2.  Muhammad bin Uthman Umari has been reported to have said that the Imam of Time (‘atf) attends the Hajj ceremony every year and that one can meet with the Imam during Hajj season. How far is this report true? We shall deal with both questions here:A) Meeting with the Imam of Time (‘atf) during the period of occultation:It is possible to meet with the Imam of Time (‘atf) during the period of occultation. Many scholars who is believed to be honest andRead More →

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE IMAM OF TIME (ATF)?

Anything that has a role to play in the reappearance of the Imam of Time (atf) and is considered to be among the factors of his reappearance are the causes of reappearance. Although the main cause of the reappearance of the Imam of Time (atf) is “God’s will”, what, in fact, humans can do to prepare the ground for the reappearance of the Imam (atf) is to create preparation in themselves. Because every revolution or movement which comes into being for a particular purpose will triumph only when there are no hurdles and when the ground is paved, otherwise it is doomed to failure. TheRead More →

One of the signs of the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (as) (Of course this sign has been counted as one of the signs of the Day of Judgement (Sunan Tirmidi, vol.4, pp.507-519; Sunan Abi-Dawud, vol.4, pg.115; Sahih Muslim, vol.18, pp.46 and 81), yet in Shia hadith sources it has been counted as one of the signs of the nearness of the Day of Judgment (Biharul-Anwar, vol.6, pg.296, chapter 1 (The signs of the hour (Day of Judgment) and the story of Ya’juj) and also the signs of the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (as). There is no problem in this sign being both the sign of the Day of Judgment andRead More →

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

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 →

“Raj’ah” literally means ‘to return’, and in Islamic terms, refers to the return of certain people from the dead. These people may consist of dedicated believers and pure mushriks (polytheists) alike. It has been narrated that after the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam (aj) and his establishment of a global Islamic government and prior to the Day of Judgment, certain individuals will be raised from their graves and brought back to this world. Belief in the raj’ah, is a principle founded in the Ahlul Bayt’s school of thought and is founded upon numerous narrations and verses of the Quran. Some of those narrations and verses will be mentionedRead More →

The ahadith have not mentioned all of the signs of the “end of time”, the time of Imam Mahdi’s Dhuhur, instead they have only made mention of some of them which we will explain: 1- The Appearance of the Sofyani: One of the signs of Imam Mahdi’s Dhuhur is the appearance of the one named Sofyani. (Al-Kafi, vol. 8, pg. 310, hadith 483.) The ahadith mention that the Sofyani is among the descendants of Utbah Ibn Abi Sofyan and that he is an evil person. ([الغیبة للشیخ الطوسی‏] رَوَى حَذْلَمُ بْنُ بَشِیرٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لِعَلِیِّ بْنِ الْحُسَیْنِ صِفْ لِی خُرُوجَ الْمَهْدِیِّ وَ عَرِّفْنِی دَلَائِلَهُ وَ عَلَامَاتِهِRead More →

AFTER THE RISE OF IMAM MAHDI (AJ), WHEN WILL HIS UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENT BE ESTABLISHED AND WILL POVERTY AND OPPRESSION CEASE TO EXIST AFTERWARDS?

Belief in the return of Imam Mahdi (aj) and the incidents that will take place afterwards is considered one of the instances of belief in the unseen that can only be obtained and learned of through authentic hadiths. (See: Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Navide Amn va Aman (Emamat va Mahdaviyyat), vol. 3, pp. 28-42.) At the same time, since many hadiths have been subject to dissimulation by the Shia themselves, who feared for their or others’ lives, or have been altered and forged by their enemies, or have just simply been forgotten and wrongly narrated, or have been lost as a result of their not being recorded and takenRead More →

HOW LONG WILL THE IMAM OF TIME, IMAM MAHDI (AS), WILL THIS WORLD RULE AFTER HE REAPPEARS?

There are two categories of narrations in this regard which are apparently varied giving differing reports:1. The first category of narrations has, for the major part, been extracted from Sunni sources. (What is available in Shia sources are cited from Sunni sources.) According to it, the period during which the Imam of Time, Imam Mahdi (AS), will rule the world has been reported differently. For instance, according to some reports, he will rule the world for twenty years while based on some other reports he will rule for thirty or forty years..A) Huzaifa narrates from the Holy Prophet (S) that he said: “Al Mahdi is a manRead More →