ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam (A Historical Background) Conclusion The conclusion of the present work can be summarized as follows: i) The problem of the nature of the Ghayba of the Twelfth Imam is an old one in the history of Shi'ism and is closely connected with the question of the Imama.

From the beginning the Shiites held that the Prophet could not have left his community without a leader to supervise the interpretation of the shari’a and its implementation in society. On the contrary, he had appointed ‘Ali as his successor and stipulated that the leadership of the community should pass to al­-Hasan and al‑Husayn, and thereafter to the eldest son of each subsequent Imam from the line of al‑Husayn until the rise of al­Mahdi.

However, the Imams were unable to rule the whole community after the death of the Prophet. Since political power had been usurped by others, the Imams were forced to seek to regain it according to those methods which they felt to be sound and legal, even though the political and economic resources of their opponents were stronger than their own, especially after the martyrdom of al‑Husayn.

None of the Imams after al‑Husayn involved themselves directly in any obvious political activities or took part in direct incitement to revolt.

In fact it seems that they restricted their activities to three major areas: A) They encouraged the dissemination of Prophetic traditions amongst the people to acquaint them with the right of the People of the House of the Prophet (Ahl al‑Bayt) to lead the community and to show them that their exclusion from actual political leadership did not mean that they were content to adopt a purely spiritual stance, nor did it imply tacit support of the government of the day.

Indeed they were totally committed to their struggle to regain control, but only when circumstances indicated the probable success of their rebellion, and when they were sure of the support of a sufficient number of faithful followers to aid the revolution and to implement Islam according to the Imamite approach.

B) From the Imamate of al‑Sadiq the Imams circulated Prophetic Hadith amongst the Imamites themselves concerning the rise of an Imam from Ahl al‑Bayt who would establish the righteous state. This Imam would be al-Qa’im al‑Mahdi, who was mentioned in the Prophetic traditions. He would first go into a state of concealment from which he would continue to direct the affairs of the Imama.