They interpreted Raj’at to mean the return of the rule and...

They interpreted Raj’at to mean the return of the rule and government of the pure Prophet’s Household [Ahl al- Bayt] (PBUH) during the reappearance of Imam Mahdi, but not the return of the people to the world after death.

However, this interpretation is a minority viewpoint while the majority of great Shia scholars –based on several evidence from both the Qur’an and hadith traditions- believe that, apart from the return of the rule and government of the pure Prophet’s Household (PBUH) during the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (a.f.s), certain group of people [believers and unbelievers] would also return to this world based on divine decree. Is Raj’at Possible?

Returning a group of individuals to life after their death is without any doubt possible for the Omnipotent God, just as the coming to life of all humans on the Day of Judgment is entirely possible for Him. An act of surprise or rejection of such an issue is similar to the surprise or rejection exhibited by the pagan polytheists over the issue of the Resurrection.

This is because, sound reasoning does not consider the occurrence of such to be impossible for God, Almighty; for indeed, He has absolute power and control over everything and there is nothing beyond His capacity.

The late ‘Allamah Majlisi, says: “How is it possible that a person believes in the truthfulness of the words of the Imams of the (PBUH) but (at the same time) refuses to accept the ‘successively transmitted’ traditions in connection with Raj’at – explicit traditions, which are almost two hundred in number and transmitted by forty odd trustworthy transmitters and eminent scholars in more than fifty books! If these traditions are not ‘successively transmitted’, then which tradition can be such?

[2] “ Instances of Raj’at in the Qur’an Going through the verses of the Holy Qur’an, it is observed that there are several instances of Raj’at [returning to life] discussed in the Qur’an concerning the past nations, but we shall mention five instances here : One: Verses 55 and 56 of Qur’an 2 [Surah al-Baqarah] discuss the Children of Israel and the great bounties that Allah bestowed upon them. However, due to their unjust demand, a thunderbolt came down and struck the mountain.