Peoples’ Duties During The Occultation As it has been quoted...

Peoples’ Duties During The Occultation As it has been quoted from the Imam of the age (‘a), during his occultation people are obliged to consult scholars and jurists and jurisprudents concerning their religious duties and affairs and obey their commands in every area of their lives.

It is manifest that the great jurisprudents and scholars do not invent edicts and fatwas but they draw on the Qur’an, the Prophet’s sayings, and those of the infallible Imams and present them to people and thus, consulting them is the same as consulting the Prophet and the Imams and the Qur’an and objection to them is like objection to the Qur’an and the Imam of the Age (look at lesson 30). Is It Possible That Someone Might Live Over 1000 Years?

Researchers and scientists hold that the length or span of life is not the chief cause of death but it results from the disorders that beset one or all the organs of the body and so long as that has not occurred, the person won’t die. If those disorders take place before old age and the natural length of life, the person will experience an early death, otherwise, death will typically seize us at old age.

Therefore, if someone protects himself from such disorders, the length of age won’t bring about death. And the fact that at times, we read in newspapers and magazines that scientists are trying to find a medicine through which to raise the body’s aptitude for longevity confirms the point that mankind have the potential to live long but to do so he must work hard to overcome the obstacles.

Given this, if someone enjoys healthy and robust brain, heart, nerves, lungs, and stomach and knows all the hygienic precautions and takes them and knows the benefits and harms of all the edible and the potable and utilizes them when necessary, it is not strange that he may live several times longer than typical people and even he might live thousands of years.

Of course, given the present conditions, not everyone can do so but considering the fact that the presence of such an individual (Imam) is indispensable, it is probable that God may arrange the system of creation and the chain of cause and effects in a way that he might take any precaution that is essential for longevity.