Designing Social Maturity and Preparing for Al-Mahdi's (as) Appearance

Faramarz Sohrabi

For the last two hundred years Shi’ahs have been encouraged to espouse belief in certain ideals and aims[1].

Without a doubt, ideals direct considerable influence over the life of the human being; they nurture man’s talents and train him. Shi’ahs continue to develop, enriching themselves in the lofty province of grand ideals. In so doing, they have shouldered vital responsibility during the brutal degradations of history, remaining consistently optimistic in pursuing their ideals: “we act under the influence of ideals.[2]”

The Shi’ahs’ training and willingness to live according to their principles has been a historical constant. With this inclination, the process of their development, progress, and social maturity has evolved, their ideals becoming infused with general apprehensions of society, the members of which are summoned to the threshold of collective readiness and realization of their sublime ideals.

Imam Sadiq (as) says:

“People become ruined by their haste in this matter. Truly, Allah does not hurry on account of the impatience of His servants. This affair has an end that must come and if people reach that end, not by one hour will it be postponed or brought forward.[3]”

Therefore, if people - Allah’s servants - do not achieve this goal and Shi’ahs remain untrained in relation to their ideals, social maturity will not come about.

 This means that it is according to intellectual training and education that the Shi’ah society reaches the sublimity of its ideals and achieves ‘this affair’ which is the establishment of Muhammad’s [saws] government and the appearance of the Mahdi (as) descended from his line. Moreover, not only are they to be occupied with that lofty perspective, they are also to diligently present it at every level of society and turn it into a prevalent contemporary dialogue.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that, at the present time, people are desirous of ‘this affair’ and the deliverance of the family of Muhammad [saws] while not yet being ready for it in the sense of being in possession of sufficient levels of personal and societal development and having the necessary organizational strength, commitment and finesse to support it were it to materialize. Allah, the Wise, in His Infinite Wisdom does not hasten nor hurry when His servants hasten and hurry; for this is an end which must be reached and until this purposeful end is achieved and fulfilled, the expectation and entreaty for the appearance of the Mahdi (as) consists only of haste and hurry and so, inevitably, without planning and maturity of the population, destruction occurs.

Ultimately, the Imam (as) says, ‘if people reach that end’ or, in other words, if they achieve this goal, once they gain social maturity, if they share the same noble goals and are not misdirected into fulfilling distracting desires, they will have arrived at the threshold of the end of ‘this affair.’ In this way, ‘not one hour will it be postponed or be brought forward’, the fulfillment of ‘this affair’ will then take place without delay; for ‘when the beast goes out, an angel comes in’ and until the beast of human ignorance and immaturity leaves, the angel of man’s salvation declines to enter, and until the maturity of ‘request’ is formed in man and he does not yet want or hasn’t made himself ready for ‘this affair’, the affair will, certainly, not yet take place. It is noteworthy that people themselves must reach this end and blossom socially in their prime and, in their completed stage of development, provide the conditions of fulfillment for ‘this affair.’

Until these conditions are met, the predetermined will not be brought into reality. Essentially, the Creator’s blessings and favors have already filled the entire world and the Maker is Generous beyond human understanding, belief and imagination. The problem is man himself. What brings settlement and solves social problems lies within the ability of people, and when social maturity is accomplished, mankind will arrive at the threshold of destiny. It must be noted that;

“He, whose stature, devotion, intellect, honor, and strength, yes! whose saintly nobility, allows him, by Allah’s Grace and permission. to tolerate, abide and accept the weightiness of the responsibility, the problematical in it, the impossible heart-wrenchingly onerous quality of it, miraculously makes it suddenly understandably bearable, even for, you. He, whose capability knows no bounds, captures it, reduces it, and for love of your devotion, with the permission of his Lord, rewards your sincerity by presenting it to you so that you are able to understand and act with it, within the character and extent of your ability.[4]”

“Attune yourself with the skills of reverberating to the very core of your essentially vibrating soul, with the melodious silvery sounds and resonances of these treasured sayings, more precious than rivulets of flowing gems, rubies, emeralds, diamonds of old, as though you were an ear, an organic radar, softer than the softest silk, an orifice belonging to a pure hearted person so tender to behold, that you will delight, ecstatic, in the priceless filigree earrings I will fashion, adorn and drape over you, decorating you, of the purest diamonds, and the highest, most magnificent saintliest quality of gold.[5]”

Thus, we must give a lot of attention to the problem and deeply understand the points of dispute and know that the most basic and principal issue in the time of occultation is social maturity and making Allah’s servants and all people competent and capable. When we pay attention to it in this way, we proceed to solve the problem and find the way to its solution. We are then able to discover how to organize the systems of social maturity and proceed to the architecture of society and the main matter of preparing the groundwork for the appearance of the Mahdi (as).

The Criterions of Social Maturity

In order to establish planning for the divinely ideal society, the socially developed need to understand the criteria on which its systemized structure can be based. We, therefore, mention the three following principles; social inclination for a generous and honorable government (I wish to be with you in the generous and honorable government), social complaint about the status quo (I make a complaint about the absence of our Prophet and our Master), and social entreaty (O God help us with a quick Divine victory)[6].

A)    Social Inclination

      The management of desire and inclination within human societies is the main pivot of arrogant strategists, so that after manipulating the original taste and aspirations of a people, they replace them with inclinations which serve their own particular aims and goals. They learn this method from their guide and master, Satan. As the holy Qur’an says:

“Thus have We appointed unto every Prophet an adversary, devils of mankind and jinn, who inspire in one another plausible discourse through guile. If thy Lord willed, they would not do so; so leave them alone with their devising; that the hearts of those who believe not in the Hereafter may incline thereto, and that they may take pleasure therein, and that they may earn what they are earning.[7]”   

They want to lead the hearts of those who have little of no faith nor love for the Hereafter to fleeting temptations and, in fact, the hearts of mankind are placed between the struggle of two sources of desire; the desire for continuity and the Hereafter and the desire towards limited temptations that exist within the seventy or so years of his life.

Prophets, divine messengers and deputies administer and manage the desire towards continuation and the devils among men and jinn handle the desire towards limited temptations. Devils always want to lead people to themselves by encouraging them to listen and empathize with their points of view. When a person listens to someone else’s words as though he agrees and sympathizes with him, this is called ‘صغو’ and ‘إصغاء’ in the Arabic language. The category ‘إصغاء’ is the software and brain tool of discussion, communication, mass media and propaganda. Thus, Imam Jawad (as) says:

“One who listens wholeheartedly to someone who speaks has, in fact, adored him. Now, if the speaker talks of divine matters and subjects on behalf of Allah, in truth, the listener has adored Allah but if he speaks on behalf of Satan, the listener has adored Satan.[8]”

After ‘إصغاء’, man then moves on to the next step which is ‘إرضاء’ (contenting) and ‘إقتراف’ or ‘إرتكاب’ (commitment, perpetration), as we read, regarding the verse that is taken into consideration:

 “That the hearts of those who believe not in the Hereafter may incline thereto, and that they may take pleasure therein, and that they may earn what they are earning.[9]”

This procedure (‘إصغاء’, ‘إرضاء’, and ‘إقتراف’) usually happens as a complete sequential process and rarely manifests as separate stages within which to slowly deliberate and ponder. It grabs humans’ hearts and inveigles them into involvement which finally mutates into behavior and obedience suitable to the intended brainwashing.