Summary Article: Strategic Progress of the Shias During the Major Occultation
Sayed Mahmood Al-Muqadas Al-Gurafi
This paper encounters the strategic method of progress, proposed by Imam Al-Mahdi for his Shias during the time of Major Occultation. This threefold method is as the following:
First, contacting the Imam himself, while defying any other false claim of ambassadorship on behalf of the Imam. His proposal did not leave any chance for others to claim falsely his ambassadorship. Days prior to the death of the last ambassador, he falsified any meeting claim with him. He stated: “Some of my Shias will claim that they have met me [as ambassadors]. Anyone who claims my meeting before the rise of Al-Sufiani and the Cry, he is indeed a liar”.
Second, Imam Al-Mahdi insisted on his Shias to follow their scholars and Religious Authorities. Because the Imam foresaw that there will be theological vacuum after his Major Occultation, he founded the principle of resorting to the scholars, as he mentioned: “In novel unknown incidents, go back to the narrators of our Hadiths, because they are my proof upon you, and I am God’s proof upon them”.
The third part of the strategy proposed by the Imam is ‘awaiting’ his Debut. He displayed a number of principles, founded by the previous Imams, as the necessity of the existence of the Imam, knowing him, and believing in him during the time of Occultation. These have been presented in this study in detail.
