I.2 Mahdiism: A Proof from the Intellectual nderstanding
To show that an Imam must exist as a proof for the existence of those injunctions and their protection, we firstly have to establish the necessity of the general prophethood. Here we discuss briefly some rational assumptions why human being is need of the Prophets.
(1) A human being has been created in such a way that he cannot run his affairs on his own. He needs the assistance and cooperation of others. In other words, he is created civil and social by nature. Hence, he must act within a society. It is clear that self-interest and survival are the cause of conflict in a social life. Each person in the society is engaged in exerting all his efforts to benefit from limited material resources in order that sometimes, or even usually, each person end up stepping upon each other’s rights. It is the point that law is needed to regulate social relations and, finally, conflicts should be resolved without creating chaos and lawlessness.
(2) A human being has been innately endowed with the capacity to perfect himself and attain prosperity.
(3) Since a human being is on his way to perfection, attention to the true meaning of perfection has been made part of natural disposition. Thus, it should be possible for him to attain it, because God does not create anything in vain.
(4) The point that a human is made of body and spirit is well established. He is material through his body, whereas his spirit, though intimately connected with his body, is regarded as belonging to the world of incorporeal beings.
(5) Since human is made of two elements, he is bound to have two kinds of life: this worldly life, related to his body; and the spiritual and contemplative life, related to his soul.
(6) Just as between body and spirit there is a connection and relationship, so there is a perfect connection and relationship between the material and spiritual life. In other words, the quality of life in this world has a direct impact upon the spiritual life and vice versa.
(7) A human being is on the way to perfection and is attentive to the requirements of innate and natural perfection. It is incumbent upon God to provide human being the means to attain the goal so that he is able to distinguish and pursue the path of perfection.
(8) By nature a human being is self-centered and pursues his own interests. Thus, he efforts to exploit fellow human beings and take advantage of their efforts to serve his ends.
(9) Though he efforts to reach his perfection, he often fails to attain that goal. It is due to his own egosentric desires and internal emotions overcome his ability to differentiate the straight path. (Amini, 1997: 57-58)
These philosophical assumptions demonstrate that human being need for the law. The law can create order in the society when it fulfills the following conditions:
(1) It has to be comprehensive and effective to cover all spheres of individual as well as collective human entertain.
(2) It should lead to the real prosperity of human beings.
(3) It should be attentive to the well being of the entirety of humanity.
(4) It should lay the foundation of a society based on human virtues and the perfection of humanity.
(5) It should possess the efficiency to protect the people from manipulation and chaos and guarantees the rights of all individuals.
(6) It should alert to the spiritual needs of the people.
(7) It should protect the society from turning away from the right path of humanitarian existence.
(8) The lawgiver of such a system should be well informed about all the crooked and scrupulous aspects of human encounters and should be knowledgeable about all the judgments given at different times and places (ibid, 59)
The only law fulfill the abovementioned conditions is the divinely ordained legal system. It is free from every selfish human motive. It is a path toward perfection. The information on this path was revealed to the Prophets in order that they could undertake to call people towards it. In order to perfect to human, the prophets are protected from committing any errors in delivering the divine message to humankind. This is known as ‘isma (infallibility). This quality causes the prophets can call upon people to follow the divine guidance. In addition, it is a rationally derived proposition that no person can expect others to carry out moral and religious directives when he himself does not follow the same. A call to the divine path must be demonstrated by the prophet (ibid, 61-63).
So, how about the Imamate?
The same proof can be utilized for the existence of Imamate. That is, whenever the prophet dies, there must be exists in his place someone who can lead the community to those ends. Just as the prophet, this person must be infallible as well (ibid, 64-66). Shortly, the Imamate constitutes the continuation of the Prophethood. It is unwise for God if He does not left a leader to human being after demise the prophets.
I.3 Mahdiism: A Proof from the Gnostic Approach
The concept of Mahdiism can be approached by the Perfect Man theory from Ibn ‘Arabi. As we know, Ibn ‘Arabi is a well-known Sufi. In his Fusus al-hikam, he explains the Perfect Man.
Ibn ‘Arabî considers ‘man’ on two different levels. The first is the cosmic level. Here ‘man’ is treated as a cosmic entity. ‘Man’ on this level is the Imago Dei, the Image of God. Here ‘man’ himself is perfect; ‘man’ is the Perfect Man. The Perfect Man in this sense is ‘man’ viewed as a perfect epitome of the universe, the very spirit of the whole world of Being, a being summing up and gathering together in himself all the elements that are manifested in the universe. ‘Man’, in short, the Microcosm. At the second level, vice versa, ‘man’ means an individual. On this level, not all men are equally perfect. There are, from this viewpoint, a number of degrees among men. And only few of them deserve the appellation of the Perfect Man. The majority of men are far from being ‘perfect’ (Izutsu, 1983:220)
The ‘humanity’ of Man on the cosmic level lies in his ‘comprehesiveness’. Man, as Microcosmos, contains in himself all the attributes that are found in the universe. God manifests himself in Man in the most perfect way. Man is the Perfect Man because he is the most perfect self-manifestation of the God.
According to Ibn ‘Arabi, Man on the cosmic level, or the Perfect Man, is endowed with a perfect ‘comprehesiveness’. The Perfect Man shows two characteristics properties which are not shared by anything else. Firstly, he is the only being who is really and fully entitled to be a perfect ‘servant’ (‘abd) of God. All other beings do not fully reflect God, because each actualizes only a single Divine Name. The second characteristic feature of the Perfect Man consists in his being in a certain sense the Absolute itself (ibid, 227). In other words, the Absolute is the inner reality (‘ayn) of them, but not vice versa.
As for the Perfect Man on the individual level merely is placed by the special people such as the Apostle (rasûl), the Prophet (nabiy), and the Saint (walîy). In Ibn ‘Arabi’s understanding, the concept latter comprises both Prophet and Apostle. For him, the Saint is the widest concept comprising Prophet and Apostle; next is the concept of Prophet which comprises that of Apostle; and the Apostle is the narrowest of all. Al-Qashani, a disciple of Ibn ‘Arabi, says, ‘Every Apostle is a Prophet, and every Prophet is a Saint’, but not vice versa (ibid, 263).
Ibn ‘Arabi views that waliy is properly a Divine Name. The fact that waliy is one of the Names of God implies that it is an aspect of the Absolute. In this way, the Saint or waliy is radically different from the Prophet and the Apostle because the words nabiy and rasûl are not Divine Names. Since waliy is a name common to God and Man, so the walâyah never ceases to exist. As God exists everlastingly, the ‘saintship’ (walâyah) will exist forever. As long as there remains in the world even a single man of the highest spiritual power who attains to the rank of walâyah—and, in fact, such a man will certainly exist in every age—the walâyah itself will be kept intact.
In contrast to this, the prophethood and apostleship are historically conditioned, and can, thus, be intermittent or even disappear completely. For instance, the chain of prophethood has historically come to an end at Muhammad, the last of the authentic Prophets. After Muhammad, there does not exist any longer a Prophet, who is at the same time a Law-giver (musharri`). After him, we have ‘general prophethood’ (nubuwwah ‘âmmah), namely, prophethood without institution of Law, which us nothing other than ‘saintship’ (ibid, 263-264).
So, if we relate Ibn ‘Arabi’ theory to the concept of Mahdiism, his theory actually strenghtened the concept of Mahdiism. For instance, Amuli (1989:156-157), one of the comentators of Fusus al-hikam, states:
“He (the Mahdi) is the Great Caliph of Allah and the Pole around which the whole world revolves; it is also by him that wilâyah is sealed and all duties, divine codes of law, spiritual paths and religion are concluded; it is by him that the whole world returns to what is was before it was brought into existence; it is by him that the beginnings of creation are related to the Final Day and by him that the cycle of creation thus comes to an end.”
In other passage, Amuli quotes Ibn ‘Arabi’s word when he divide the subject of wilâyah into different sections:
Know that wilayah may be divided into absolute and dependent wilayah, in other words common wilayah and wilayah of the elite. If we consider wilayah with respect to itself, then it is a divine attribute in an absolute sense; if we consider it as being related to the prophets and the awliya’, then it is dependent. Moreover, the dependent is fortified and given validity by the absolute and the absolute finds manifestation in the dependent; thus wilayah of all prophets and the awliya’ is part of the absolute wilayah, just as the prophethod of the prophets is part of the absolute prophethood. Since absolute prophethood from the outset is particular to Muhammad and his reality, and this continuation of the original reality particular to the prophets and the messengers from Adam to Jesus (who are in fact different manifestations of the Muhammad reality), so absolute wilayah is particular to ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib and to his reality (by way of the essential and inherited spiritual legacy from pre-eternity) and thereafter (by way of a continuation of the original reality) to his infallible progeny. This spiritual line extends until Allah seals it with the Mahdi. (Amuli, 1989:122)
This passage shows us that Ibn ‘Arabi, according to Amuli, basically agree with the promised Mahdi from the Twelver Shia as the Seal of the Saints. That Ibn ‘Arabi has claimed himself as the Seal of Saints, it is not a part of this paper.
