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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books An Overview of The Mahdi’s (‘atfs) Government The Wars of Imam al-Mahdi (‘afs) Since the objective behind the uprising of Hadrat al-Mahdi is the establishment of divine government throughout the world and the elimination of tyranny and tyrants, it is natural that the Imam will face many difficulties and obstacles in realizing this objective.

By conducting military operations, he has to remove those hurdles along the way and overrun one country after another so as to prevail in the east and west of the world and establish the government of divine justice on earth. In this chapter we shall draw your attention to the hadith s related to this.

The Reward for the Strugglers (mujahidin) and Martyrs (shuhada’) Since the objective behind the wars at the time of Hadrat al-Mahdi ( ‘a ) is the annihilation of corruption and tyranny for the formation of worldwide Islamic government, participation in the war on the side of Hadrat al-Qa’im ( ‘atfs ) also has multiple rewards so much so that if a combatant eliminates one person from the enemy, his reward would be that of twenty or twenty five martyrs ( shuhada’ ).

If he attained martyrdom, he will have the reward of two martyrs. Similarly, the disabled and wounded veterans will have special value in the government of the Imam of the Time in addition to their spiritual station. The families of martyrs will have also special value.

While addressing the Shi‘ah, Imam al-Baqir ( ‘a ) said: “If you would be as we have enjoined and you would not go against our commands—if in such a condition one of you would die prior to the advent of our Qa’im—he will be a martyr, and if he perceive the Imam and attained martyrdom on his side, he will have the reward of two martyrs, and if he slew one of our enemies, he would have the reward of twenty martyrs.”[^1] In this hadith , the value of eliminating an enemy is regarded as much higher than attaining martyrdom because killing the enemy brings about the pleasure of God, relief of the servants of God and honor for Islam whereas in earning the grace of martyrdom, the martyr merely attains perfection.

Therefore, combatants in the warfront have to think more about the enemy than about attaining martyrdom.