Virtues of Imam Mahdi (A.S.), The Imam of the Last and Final Age
Since his occultation occurred in early childhood itself, he did not get the opportunity to express his intellectual capabilities. However, his written epistles issued from behind the curtain of occultation show that the source of his knowledge was also the same as that of the other Imams. The proof that his knowledge is divinely gifted is that all his four special deputies were unsurpassed scholars of their times. Whenever they required the solution of a difficult problem they used to refer to Imam-e-Zamana (a.s) and obtain satisfactory replies.
Whatever we have mentioned above regarding the intellectual capabilities of the Holy Imams and their level of knowledge is just by way of examples. It is just a minute fraction or we can say a drop in the ocean. If all this is written in detail it may go on to make up volumes. Rather it is my personal opinion that it is quite impossible to confine all their capabilities to writing, as they are unlimited.
It is however possible that the 'enlightened' people of the present age, who are experts in philosophy and science and well-versed in intellectual discussions may consider these too simplistic. They may not pay due attention and only cast a cursory glance over the present book in order to belittle the purpose. However, those who are aware of the exigency of the time and have in-depth knowledge of the early conditions of Islam would testify that it is necessary to publicize these very facts so that truth may overcome the propaganda of falsehood, which is continuing even in the present age.
The teachings of the Holy Imams (a.s) pertain to a time period thirteen and fourteen centuries ago. Since the 18th and 19th centuries there is unprecedented progress in science and philosophy. But all these are only recent developments. It is our belief that all the sciences and arts that have endured till date and all that shall see the light of the day till the end of the world was known to the Holy Imams. However, they did not pass on all the sciences and knowledge to the people due to the inability of the people of those times to digest and carry it. Therefore sometimes they only mentioned some things in brief. Let us understand this through some examples.
(1) Astro-physicists have developed their researches to such an extent that they conclude that the rays of different stars have different effects. Some cause the hearts of people to widen in expressiveness, while the rays of some other stars act in the opposite way. Some increase blood circulation and some are capable of destroying disease carrying germs and some help in increasing them. The rays make different things their mediums. We only mention here one medium to achieve our aim. The well known German doctor Ismat, who was a great geologist of the 19th century, writes in his book, The Precious Stone: Precious stones are formed in sandstone, because there are pores in this stone through which the heavenly bodies are able to pass on their powers into it. When the stars continue to radiate their rays upon these stones for thousands of years, various kinds of gems are produced. These gems are called their mediums. For example, Jupiter's medium is Ruby. Thus wherever a Ruby would be, the rays of Jupiter would fall according to it. And these rays would enter the body to which that stone is touching. The specialty of these rays of Jupiter is that they widen the veins of the heart facilitating breathing and this causes increase in the intake of oxygen. This in turn bestows good health and jovial mood to the recipient and this finally becomes a cause for him to excel in his profession and thus there is increase in his earnings and other achievements.
Since during the time of the Holy Imams, the sciences of astronomy and geology had not made any progress, if they had explained all these details, instead of appreciation the people of that time would have denied the Imams and opposed them openly. Thus without going into details it was briefly told that wearing a ring of ruby increased livelihood. Along with this they also emphasized the wearing of a ring on ones finger. According to the traditions one of the signs of a believer is that he wears a ring on his right hand. Now let us reflect on the above discussion and then decide whether the Holy Imams were aware of the reality that is only made clear to people through scientific researches in recent times or not.
(2) According to the experts of human anatomy, the most powerful finger in human beings is the smallest one. When one receives a shock, it is this finger that continues to vibrate the longest. Now let us see how the Holy Imams explained this. It is advised that if one wears a ring on this finger of the right hand one must ensure that the stone fixed in ring should be in such a way that it is always in contact with the body of the wearer. So that of whichever star's medium it is, its rays would directly come in contact with the body.
(3) Scientists have perfected the technique of producing different rays and through them they treat various diseases. For example the use of ultra violet and infrared rays and also x-rays and gamma rays. The Holy Imams have also been cognizant of these facts and they have also advised the use of various gemstones for assisting in the cure of various diseases. The details may be referred to books on this subject.
(4) A tradition says that you must flee from a leprosy patient like one flees on seeing a lion. Modern researches show that the shape of leprosy germs is very much like that of a lion. Since in those days no instruments were available to derive such conclusions the Holy Imams only briefly informed about the facts without going into details.
If there had not been the risk of undue prolongation of the discussion, we would have presented hundreds of such examples to illustrate our points further. However, it is sufficient to prove that the Holy Imams had the knowledge of all that is discovered by science so far and all that shall be discovered in the future. However, whatever they said was only a brief indication because the people of those times had no recourse to the scientific theories and discoveries that appeared much later in time. Thus the Imams could not provide any details. Their only aim was to leave gems of knowledge among the people so that when sciences and arts progress sufficiently their true value would be realized.
During the times of the Holy Imams, there was such a surge in the development of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Babylonian and Persian philosophies that the Muslim Community was flooded with myriad views belonging to various schools of thoughts. This confused them to a great extent and the circumstances demanded that there should be someone who would not only defend the true teachings of Islam but also protect the beliefs of Muslims from alien philosophies and schools of thoughts that were threatening to blanket the whole Islamic world. The beliefs of these schools of thoughts were all opposed to the true Islamic beliefs. It was necessary that the true beliefs of Islam be protected against these invasions. The Christian and Jewish scholars had to a great extent distorted the accounts of the previous prophets therefore it was much needed to expose their plots. It was with these aims that the Holy Imams held debates with Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian scholars, so that Muslims may be protected from their false beliefs.
The Shariah law of Muhammad (S) had been legislated only some time ago and the Muslims had deviated from it completely. Or they had misunderstood the Islamic law. Therefore the Holy Imams found it necessary to explain the correct interpretation and exegesis of Quranic verses. The Muslims were very remote from the truth about Monotheism, prophethood, Imamat and Qiyamat also. Such beliefs held sway over the people, as had no relation with the true principles of Islam. As a result the form of Islam had been altogether transformed. Thus it was must for the Holy Imams to expend their energies in this regard.
The responsibility of Islam's survival rested on the correction of beliefs. If it is not done, nothing remains. All the scientific discoveries and inventions and the new theories of philosophy were useless, because Islam has given preference to religion over the world. The Holy Imams explained this need in detail and they were attentive only towards the remedy of this disease, which was fatal to humanity and God-worship.
Most probably the readers must have understood by now why the Holy Imams laid more emphasis on providing arguments for strengthening of faith and why they kept the scope of their propagation confined to these boundaries.
We have already presented the questions of different people in this regard that were duly replied by the Holy Imams. It is possible that since we have heard about these questions many times from our scholars we may not accord them much importance. However, the point to be noted is that there is no one who could provide a better reply than that given by the Holy Imams. It is our challenge that none before the Holy Imams have given such irrefutable and concise replies to these objections. In the present age the questions may seem very simple because their replies have somehow reached us from the Imams through the religious scholars. However, in order to have a comprehensive view of the matter we must keep in mind the circumstances that existed when these questions were actually raised.
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