CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE TWELFTH IMAM: AL-MAHDÎ
The Sunnis believe that Allah will send a man, namely Al-Mahdî (Mahdi), from the Prophet's descendants who will come to support Islam. He will fill the earth with justice as it had been filled with oppression and iniquity. He will bear the name of the Prophet and his father.1 The Sunnis also believe that Al-Mahdî will come in the last days of the world, at the time of Jesus' return. The Prophet mentioned these things in the presence of many of his Companions, many of whom have passed on to us continuously recurrent narrations of what he said and done.2
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1 That is to say, his name will be Muhammad Ibn `Abdullâh [trans].
2 Mutawâtir (Continuously Recurrent) Hadîth is a hadîth reported by a large number of narrators whose agreement upon telling a lie is inconceivable (this condition must be met in the entire chain from the beginning to the end). [trans].
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Unlike the Sunnis, the Shias believe that Al-Mahdî came long ago. According to them, he was Muhammad Ibnul-Hasan Al-`Askarî, the Twelfth Imam, who, they say, was born in the second century A.H., son of the Eleventh Imam, Al-Hasan Al-`Askarî. Shias believe that at the age of five, Muhammad Ibnul-Hasan entered a cave and vanished. Though one thousand and two hundred years have passed, they are still waiting for him to reappear. We do not dispute the possibility of a man staying in a cave for thousands of years, for the Qur’ân speaks about the great age of Nûh, and about the Sleepers of Ephesus. Yet, it is enough to refute this notion to quote Shia sources which tell us that the story of that boy is baseless. There is another flaw in the tale; that is a boy of five years cannot hold the Imamate since one of the conditions made by the Shias for the Imamate is that its holder must have reached puberty.3 According to Shia scholars, the Imam must be mentally competent, prudent, just, and well versed in the Sharî`ah.
These sources say that Imam Al-Hasan Al-`Askarî, the Eleventh Imam, died childless and had no children by his wife, or by any of his slave girls. When he died in 260 A.H., his relatives waited in vain to hear that any of his wives or slave girls was pregnant. His estate was finally divided between his mother and his brother Ja`far.4 When the Sultan sent an emissary to interview his family, they confirmed officially that he died without issue.5 Al-Mufîd confirms this and says, "He had no children born to him in his lifetime, and none posthumously."6
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3 Khomeini, Al-Hukûmah Al-Islâmiyyah, pp. 45-46.
4 Al-Kâfî, Al-Hujjah, p. 505, Al-Mufîd, Al-Irshâd, p. 339, Al-Arbîlî, Kashful-Ghummah, p. 408, Al-Mashgharî, Al-Fusûl Al-Muhimmah, p. 289, Al-Majlisî, Jalâ’ Al-`Uyûn, 2:762, and At-Tubrasî, I`lâm Al-Warâ p. 377.
5 Al-Qummî, Al-Maqâlât wa Al-Firaq, p. 102 and At-Tubrasî, I`lâm Al-Warâ, p. 377.
6 Al-Mufîd, Al-Irshâd, p. 345 and At-Tubrasî, I`lâm Al-Warâ, p. 380.
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Despite this evidence, modern Shias insist that the Invisible Child7 is alive today. He has now lived even longer than Prophet Nûh.

The Last of the Imams
The death of Al-Hasan Al-`Askarî exploded the myth upon which the Shia doctrine is based: that there has been a continuous and unbroken line of Imams since the Eleventh, and Last Imam left no heirs. The death of Al-Hasan Al-`Askarî resulted in more splits and schisms among the Shias who, being left without an Imam designate, began to differ over the leadership. Some of them turned to Al-Hasan's brother, Ja`far Ibn `Alî and thus rejected the Shia doctrine that the Imamate must pass from father to son.8
Following the death of Al-Hasan Al-`Askarî, one of his supporters, `Uthmân Ibn Sa`îd, began to spread reports of the “Invisible Imam,” the hitherto unknown son of Imam Al-Hasan, called Muhammad, who was hidden in a cave. Muhammad Ibnul-Hasan Al-`Askarî, said `Uthmân Ibn Sa`id, was the rightful Imam after his father, and he, `Uthmân, had been appointed as his intermediary to the world, and had been charged with the responsibility of collecting money from the people and bringing it to him in the cave. The Shias are still waiting for him to emerge from his cave, and send a man there to call into the cave saying, "Come out, May Allah hasten your relief!" When this man dies, he is replaced with another. The cave eventually became a great source of income, since the Shias go there and throw money into it hoping to be cured of illness, protected from evil, or granted some benefit in the world.
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7 Who is in fact called by the Shias the Invisible Imam. [trans].
8 Al-Kulaynî, Usûl Al-Kâfî, 1:285.
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When asked why the Invisible Imam should have disappeared into the cave, the Shias reply that he feared for his life.9 But this contradicts the Shia belief that the Imams die only by choice and that they have knowledge of what was and what will be.10 Still, they insist that "Al-Mahdî" was in mortal danger form the Abbasid Caliphs, the Umayyads, and others. Despite this danger, he had had other opportunities to come out safely. One of such instance was when the Shia Buwayhid dynasty came to power in Iraq,11 and again when Shah Ismâ`îl As-Safawî ruled Iran causing a massacre among Sunni Muslims.12 A more recent opportunity appeared with the Iranian Revolution. But why has the Invisible Imam still not come out of this cave?

The Task of Al-Mahdî: the Meting out of Revenge
According to the Shia sources, when Al-Mahdî emerges, Allah will bring the Companions of the Prophet, who "usurped" the Imamate from the Prophet's Household, back to life again. Also, all the Imams of the Shias will be brought back at the same time. The first thing Al-Mahdî will do when he emerges is to chop off the heads of those Companions such as
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9 At-Tûsî, Al-Ghaybah, p. 199 and Al-Kulaynî, Usûl Al-Kâfî, 1:338.
10 Al-Kulaynî, Usûl Al-Kâfî, 1:258.
11 The Buwayhids ruled Persia and Iraq in the tenth and early eleventh centuries. The first Buwayhid ruler of Iraq was Mu`izzud-Dawlah Ahmad, who ruled 334/945 to 356/967. His son `Adud Ad-Dawlah united the families possessions in Iraq, southern Persia, and Oman. The dynasty was supplanted by the Seljuk occupation of Baghdad in 447/1055 and was finally deposed completely seven years later. (Bosworth, Islamic Dynasties, p. 97) [trans].
12 Ruled 907/1501 to 930/1524. Shah Ismâ`îl introduced the Twelve-Imam Shiism as the official religion of Persia which, up to then, had been predominately Sunni. (Bosworth, Islamic Dynasties, p. 173) [trans].
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Abû Bakr and `Umar. He will behead each of them with a single blow of his sword, beginning with Abû Bakr and moving from him to all of the caliphs. The Household of the Prophet will then be avenged. This belief is known among them as the doctrine of the Return.13
Those who invented this doctrine did not call it thus because Al-Mahdî would “return” filling the earth with equality, justice, and security, rather because the enemies of the Shias would “return” at the head of whom are the Rightly-guided Caliphs. Otherwise, what purpose would their return and beheading serve, when equality and justice had been achieved by the return of Al-Mahdî?
A better explanation for this doctrine is that it protects the Shia cult from disintegration and extinction. In order to invite people to embrace their cult and prevent them from leaving it, the Shias promise every new generation of Shias that Al-Mahdî will return soon, and insist upon the necessity of waiting for him, since he will avenge them.
Such promises help keep the cult from dwindling and fading away.

No One shall Bear Another's Burden
According to Tafsîr As-Sâfî, when Al-Mahdî returns, he will kill the descendants of those who killed Al-Husayn in revenge for their ancestors' deed. He will also behead five hundred of the Quraysh, strike off the heads of Mu`âwiyah and Yazîd, and whip `Â’ishah.14
These ideas clearly contradict the teaching of the Qur’ân, that assures us that no one shall bear the burdens of another. The doctrine itself resembles Christian beliefs about “original
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13 Called Ar-Raj`ah in Shia books.
14 Muhammad Murtadâ Al-Kâshânî, Tafsîr As-Sâfî, 1:172.
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sin.” According to this Christian teaching, Allah's wrath is upon all the children of Âdam (Adam) because of the error of their father.
The Doctrine of “the Return” Stands in the Way of Reconciliation and Unity How could the Shia ever hope for unity with the Sunni Muslims while they believe this doctrine of “Return?” This fills their hearts with the hope of revenge against the Companions of the Prophet, whom they say usurped the right of `Alî and wronged the Household of the Prophet with their claims upon the leadership of the community. Such thinking does widen the breach between the Shias and the Sunnis, and puts any hope of reconciliation and mutual understanding completely out of the question. As a result of such way of thinking, the Prophet's Companions are still reviled by the Shias day and night.
How could the Shia call for unity and reconciliation when every year at the festival of `Âshûrâ’ they reopen bitter wounds, and point at the Sunnis whom they accuse of killing Al-Husayn? Until the Shias release themselves from the past, hope of unity and reconciliation will only be a pipe dream. Since the cult is based upon these events, it seems highly unlikely that they will ever move toward sincere reconciliation, free from the taint of dissimulation and flattery. The Shias do not conceal their hatred for the Companions of the Prophet, who were the best of this nation. How, then, could we possibly hope that the Shias love us when we are much less than those they hate?