In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Waiting for reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi and its true meaning
May this auspicious festivity be a blessed one for all Muslims of the world and downtrodden people of the world, and especially for our nation. What I would like to relay to you today is the different versions of the concept of expectation for reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi. I will touch on a few of them. Some people hold: that they should sit and pray in the mosque, at the husayniyyah and at home and beg God for reappearance of the Imam of the Time (may God's peace be upon him). They are righteous people as they have such a belief. In fact, among them whom I used to know was a very righteous man; he had bought a horse and a sword waiting for the Promised Mahdi (may God's peace be upon him). They used to perform their religious duties as well, enjoining what is good and forbidding what is wrong. However, this was the only thing they did. Apart from this, they did not do any other things; they did not even reflect on such an important dogma.
Another group maintains that expectation means that we should not be concerned with what befalls the world, the nations including ours. We should not be concerned with these things. We are doing our duty. For preventing these affairs, His Holiness himself would come and set them right; we have no other duty. Our duty is to pray for him to come and not to mind whatever befalls the world or our own country. They were also righteous people.
Another group contends that" the world must be filled with sin so as for His Holiness to come; we should not forbid what is evil; neither should we enjoin what is good so that the people would do whatever they wish. The more the sins, the nearer the reappearance.
Yet another group and a more extreme one believes that" Sins must be committed; people should be urged to commit sins so that the world would be filled with tyranny and oppression, and His Holiness (may God's peace be upon him) would come. This was the most misguided among others. They were narrow-minded and misguided individuals who committed those acts to attain their objectives.
The last group argues that," Any government that is established at the period of occultation is illegitimate and contrary to Islam." They were arrogant people. Those who were not actors were arrogant on account of some narrations to the effect that," Any banner hoisted prior to the reappearance of the Imam of the Time, that banner is illegitimate." They imagined any government. However, the narrations means that anyone government hoisting the banner along al-Mahdi and in the name of" Mahdism".
Now, let us assume that there is really such a tradition. Does it mean that we have no more duties to perform? That is, is it not against the expediency of Islam and the Qur'an that we have to indulge in sin in order for the Prophet and the promised savior to come? For what does the Imam who would reappear? He comes to spread justice; to consolidate the governments and to eliminate corruption. It is contrary to the noble verses of the Qur'an if we refrain from forbidding evil and enjoining good. Should we spread sins so that the Imam's reappearance would speed up? For what the Imam would come? He comes to do the same things. Now, what else is our duty? Does it mean that man has no duty but to call on people to indulge in corruption? According to the opinion of this group some of whom are actors while others ignorant, we have to sit idly and pray for Saddam. Whoever curse Saddam acts in contrast to the expectation and thus delaying the Savior's reappearance! Everybody should pray for Saddam so as to increase this corruption. We should pray for America; we should pray for Soviet Union and we should pray for their puppets such as Saddam and the like so that they would fill the world with tyranny and injustice, paving the ground for the Imam's reappearance. What would the promised Mahdi do after reappearing? He would come to eliminate tyranny and oppression, the same thing that we are doing. Do we pray for the prevalence of tyranny and oppression? The promised savior comes to eliminate the same injustice. In case we have power, we must act and eliminate all the tyrannies and oppressions in the world. It is our religious duty, but we are incapable of doing so. What is certain is that His Holiness will fill the world with justice; it is not that you have to waive your duty; it is not that you have no more duty to perform.
We do have a duty. One who says that government is not necessary means that there should be chaos. If there would be no government in a certain country for a year; if there would be no system in a country, corruption would fill that country in an unprecedented manner. One who says that there should be no government means that there should be chaos. People should kill and oppress one another so that His Holiness would come. For what would he come? In order to eliminate corruption!
This man, making such arguments is clever, if not a fool. If he is not spiteful or if he has not done it for political purpose to deceive us so that we would not mind him anymore so that he would do whatever he wished, then he must be a stupid person!
Superpowers and dissemination of erroneous concept of expectation
The question is that this dogma has been politically motivated, just as the inculcation of the idea into nations and Muslims of the world that" Politics is none of your business. Mind your own business, and entrust politics to the emperors." Well, they would like to beg God so that people would remain unaware. These unaware people would entrust politics to governments and oppressor like America, the Soviet Union and their puppets. They would then take away the possessions of Muslims and those the downtrodden. Then, we have to sit idly and say that there should be no government. This is a silly argument, which has been politically motivated. These unwary individuals attempting to deceive people argue," Do not mind politics. Government belongs to us. Go to your mosques; stand and perform prayer! What are you going to do with these political things?"
Those who argue that any banner hoisted and any government established is repugnant to expectation do not understand what they are saying. They have been induced to make these statements. They do not know what they are uttering. To have no government means letting people kill, strike and eliminate one another in contrast to the text of the divine verses. Even if we assume that their idea is substantiated by have two hundred narrations, we would throw all of them against the wall because they are contradictory to the verses of the Qur'an. If there is a narration forbidding us from proscribing evil, it should be cast aside. This kind of narration is fabricated. These ignoramuses do not know what they are saying," All governments are illegitimate!" In fact, I heard some of these people argue:" Well, with the existing condition in Iran, we should no more engage in moral purification." These arguments are wrong!" Moral purification is not necessary now. The teacher of ethics should definitely be in an environment where all the people are corrupt; where all the wine shops and, I should say, all centers of prostitution are open! If there is a decent place, moral purification is no more needed there." These arguments are made by idiots if not politically motivated. However, they know what they are saying. They want to sidetrack us.
Of course, filling the world with justice is something that we cannot do. If we can, we will do, but since we cannot do, then Imam al-Mahdi has to come. Now, the world is full of oppression. If we could stop oppression, then we would do so; it is our duty. Islam and the Qur'an require us to do so. It has been our duty to act and do everything we can. But we could not do so. Since we could not do so, the Imam has to come to do it. But we should facilitate the labor, thus expediting his reappearance. We will perform the work such that the world would be fitting for reappearance of the promised savior( may God's peace be upon him ). At any rate, the afflictions experienced by Muslims and being exacerbated by arrogant powers are all meant to plunder the Muslims and ruin their dignity. They believed it so much. Now, perhaps, some also believe that there should be no government, that government should be established at the time of the promised Mahdi, and that any government not at the time of the Imam is illegitimate. This implies encouragement of chaos. The people of the world should be at logger heads with one another so that the promised Mahdi would come and set thing right! We will set wrongs, thus paving the way for His Holiness to come.
May God help them to mend their way. May God make this day auspicious for all of you and us and curb the influence of oppressors. May God enable oppressed nations to overcome the oppressors.
May God's peace and mercy be upon you.