In fact...

In fact, there was a group which declared Imam ‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam , as the Mahdi and described his death as his “ghaybah”! That was less than four decades after the death of the Messenger of Allah. Obviously, these various sects must have learnt that the true Mahdi would go into occultation for a period from the authentic riwayat . However, they applied the right ahadith to the wrong persons, and thereby lost their ways. But then, why would he need to hide from public view in the first place?

After all, he is the Imam. Is he not supposed to be visible and accessible to his followers across the world? What exactly is the benefit of his concealment from the rest? First and foremost, it must be noted that any human being – in ordinary circumstances – can be killed, including even prophets and messengers: ذلك بأنهم كانوا يكفرون بآيات الله ويقتلون النبيين بغير الحق That was because they used to disbelieve in the ayat of Allah, and also used to kill the…