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Our Responsibilities During the Occultation 3 - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief Our Responsibilities During the Occultation 3 2023-03-10 407 Views Imam Al-Mahdi , Minor Occultation , Occultation , Major Occultation In continuation of the article titled “Our responsibilities during the occultation, we shall highlight other related issues such as the significance and the reality of waiting for the reappearance of the Imam.

Contents Awaiting the Imam’s Victorious Appearance The Importance of awaiting The Reality of Intidhar Suggested Reading Awaiting the Imam’s Victorious Appearance The second main duty during the period of occultation is known as intidhar ; which means “waiting (for the appearance of the Imam)”. We shall study this matter from two aspects: 1. The importance of intidhar from hadith’s point of view. 2. The reality of intidhar .

The Importance of awaiting In the ahadith of the Imams, intidhar (hopefully waiting for the victorious appearance of the Imam) has been mentioned as the second main duty of the Shiahs.

Intidhar in its real sense is such a sacred deed that it has been named ‘ ibadat ” in the following ahadith : 1.“One who waits for the appearance of Imam Mahdi is like a martyr who was braided in own blood in the way of Allah.”(1) 2.“The one who dies among you while he is waiting for the appearance of Imam Mahdi, he is like the one who is in the tent of Imam Mahdi…nay, rather like the one who has fought with the Imam … rather, like the one who was martyred while fighting with the Prophet.”(2) There are many other ahadith which convey the same idea with a little difference in the expression.

But what does this “waiting” mean which has been elevated to the degree of an ‘ ibadat like jihad ? The Reality of Intidhar Does intidhar mean just to wait without doing anything to reform and improve our society? No. The intidhar which is elevated to the level of jihad and shahadat, is the intidhar which follows the love of the Imam. It is similar to the waiting of a lover for his beloved.

When someone from our family or friends goes to study or work in another country, we long to see him and we “wait” for his return. But this waiting does not mean that we do not have any connection with him during his absence. We try to do everything possible to make his stay in the foreign country happy. When we know that he is going to come back, we begin to prepare the facilities for him so that he would be happy during his stay at home.