So we are bound to believe that the event of Mahdi's...

So we are bound to believe that the event of Mahdi's Occultation is in accordance with Prudency. Otherwise, we have to deny one of the three afore- said affairs. Saduq in his book "Elalush-Sharayeh" has narrated from Abdullah-ibn-Fazl Hashami as saying: "I heard Sadeq Aal-e-Muhammad saying: "For the 'Saheb- e-Amir' (Master of the Affairs) there shall occur an occultation during which every men of vanity will fall into doubt and skepticism." I said: May I be sacrificed for you. For what reason?

He replied: For a reason, which we are not at liberty to divulge. I asked: What is the reason for Hazrat's Occultation? He replied: The reason for Hazrat's Occultation is similar to the reason for concealment of the past Divine Proofs.

The reason behind Mahdi's Occultation will not be disclosed but after his emergence just as the reason of Hazrat Khizr's actions (meaning the drilling of a hole in the boat, the killing of a lad and the repairing of the wall) was not divulged until Musa and Khizr decided to Part Company. O son of Fazl. This affair is a divine affair, this secret is a divine secret and this concealment is a divine concealment.

We must accept that all His actions are based on Wisdom, even if the reason for them is not known to us. This saying is the truth, which should be confessed and certified by every Muslim. Verily, very often a person seeks the reason and philosophy for some of the Divine Acts for the sake of gaming certainty and tranquility of his own self and not that he wishes to use his confirmation and rejection as a means for perceiving the reason of Divine actions or not.

Therefore, before mentioning the philosophy and reason for Occultation we are bound to briefly present certain preliminaries. Those interested to know its details should refer to books which have been written in this regard. The preliminaries are as follows: An invitor who invites the people towards his call is bound to take resort to the apparent and ordinary channels.

For achieving his aims it is not permissible for him to refer to the unseen and supernatural channels because doing so would destroy the essence of reward and punishment. Rather the coming of Prophets and Messengers would all come to vain. A Prophet and 'Wasi' (1£gatee) are the same as far as the afore-said matter (invitation) is concerned and this matter is in fact one of the essential conditions of an evangelist (whether he may be a Prophet or an Imam).