Summary Article: A Theological Analysis of the Occultation Narrations in Al-No’many’s Al-Gaiba
Kadim Qadi-zadeh, Ph.D
Translated by: Mujtaba Al-Helu
There has been a thesis growing among the skeptics that the idea of the concealed Imam has erupted during the time of Occultation; in other words, this idea has appeared as a result of the need of the Shias for a savior. This thesis does not only negate Mahdism, but also the whole idea of Imamate.
The bewilderment of some of the Shias after the martyrdom of Imam Al-Hasan Al-Askary (P.B.U.H) was not due to the absence of his son, or was not the consequence of their ignorance of the idea of Occultation, but because of the neglect of this group of Shias of what had been narrated from Ahlulbait during the first three centuries. Making a perusal of these narrations mentioned in Al-No’many’s Al-Gaiba, one would easily recognize how deeply rooted this idea is, and that the concept of Occultation of Imam Al-Mahdi is something for-granted in the Islamic theology.
Thus, the thesis that the idea of Occultation appeared only after the martyrdom of Imam Al-Hasan Al-Askary is entirely false.
