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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Shi'ite Encyclopedia (chapter 2-3) Necessity of the Existence of Imam Al-mahdi (as) This article addresses the necessity of the existence of the Representative of Allah on the earth at any time.

The opponents of Shia protest that although Shia consider the Imam necessary in order to expound the injunctions and verities of religion and to guide the people, the occultation of the Imam is the negation of this very purpose, for an Imam in occultation who cannot be reached by mankind cannot be in any way beneficial or effective.

The opponents argue that if God wills to bring forth an Imam to reform mankind, He is able to create him at the necessary moment and does not need to create him thousands of years earlier. In answer to this, it must be said that such people have not really understood the meaning of the Imam, for the duty of the Imam is not only the explanation of the religious sciences and external guidance of the people.

In the same way that he has the duty of guiding men outwardly, the Imam also bears the function of "Walayah" and the internal guidance of human. The divinely appointed Imam directs human's spiritual life and orients the inner aspect of human action toward God. Clearly, his physical presence or absence has no effect in this matter. Imam is the representative of Allah (Khalifatullah) on the earth, and is His vice- regent.

He is the connection between the heavens and the earth, and is appointed by Allah as the intermediate for the rest of creatures. His existence is always necessary even if the time has not as yet arrived for his outward appearance and the universal reconstruction that he is to bring about. Let me provide an example to clarify this delicate issue. Any human needs blood to continue his life, and the existence of blood is necessary in every single moment of life.

This need is NOT, in anyway, independent of God. He is God who has created this need for human, and He is the one who has fulfilled it. Similarly the function of Imam over the rest of creatures is NOT independent of God. He was Allah who created this need for the universe and He was Allah who has fulfilled it.

Allah (SWT) wished the inhabitants of the earth not to be able to live without the existence of His representative on the earth, the same way that Allah wished our body not to be able to survive without blood. Notice that in the above examples, both Imam and blood are no more than the creation of Allah.