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Still Waiting for the Imam? the Unresolved Question of Intizar in Twelver Shi{Ism

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Still Waiting for the Imam? the Unresolved Question of Intizar in Twelver Shi{Ism PERSICA XV, 1993-1995 29 STILL WAITING FOR THE IMAM? THE UNRESOLVED QUESTION OF INTIZAR IN TWELVER SHI{ISM C.P. Turner University of Durham {Umar Ibn Hanzala says: “I have asked Imam Sadiq (upon whom be peace) whether it was permissible for two of the Shi{is who had a disagreement concerning a debt or legacy to seek the verdict of the ruler or judge. He replied: ‘Anyone who has recourse to a ruler or judge, whether his case be just or unjust, has in reality had recourse to taghut [i.e. the illegitimate ruling power]. Whatever he obtains as a result of their ver- dict, he will have obtained by forbidden means, even if he has a proven right to it, for he will have obtained it through the verdict and judgement of the taghut, that power which God almighty has commanded him to disbelieve in.’” {Umar ibn Hanzala then asked: “What should two Shi{is do then, under such circumstances?” Imam Sadiq answered: “They must seek out one of you who narrates our traditions, who is versed in what is permissible and what is forbidden, who is well acquainted with our laws and ordinances, and accept them as judge and arbiter, for I appoint him as judge over you.”1 Any flag that is raised (by a ruler) before the rise of the Mahdi will have been raised by an idol, and those who obey (this ruler) will have obeyed other than God.2 The first of the two traditions cited above is the tradition known as the maqbula of {Umar Ibn Hanzala. It is this tradition which the late Ayatullah Khumayni, in his seminal work on Islamic government, Hukumat-i Islami, interpreted as giving jurists (fuqaha) the right to exercise not only the function of judgeship but also that of government. As such, it is one of the cornerstones of the principle of wilayat al-faqih, the ‘governance of the jurisconsult’, the doctrine which has underpinned the Islamic regime of Iran since 1979. The second tradition cited above is taken from a collection of traditions pertaining to the occultation (ghayba) of the hidden Imam, Muhammad b. Îasan al-{Askari, and the excellence of ‘waiting’ (intiÂar) for his reapparance and rise to power at some unspecified 1 Quoted in: Ruh Allah Khumayni, Islam and Revolution (Berkeley, Mizan Press, 1981), pp. 92-93. 2 Muhmmad Baqir Majlisi, Bihar al-anwar 2nd edition (Beirut 1403/1982-83), vol. 52, p. 143. This will henceforth be referred to as Bihar II. 30 C.P. TURNER point in the future. Thus, like most of the traditions on intizar, would appear to be at complete variance with the aforementioned maqbula of {Umar Ibn Hanzala in that it declares unlawful all governments, Islamic or otherwise, which obtain prior to the rise of the Hidden Imam. The question of the legitimacy of the wilayat al-faqih is one which received considerable attention prior to, and immediately after, the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979, but which has not been dealt with satisfactorily since. The fact that the fuqaha have been in power for some sixteen years now may, to the minds of many, have made such a discussion redundant. Nevertheless, the issue of legitimacy remains: the Twelver Shi{ite narrations, such as the one cited above, which outlaw all governments prior to the rise of the Hidden Imam are still in circulation and have yet to be explained, or explained away. How can belief in the article of Twelver Shi{ite faith known as intizar, according to which there is no just rule save that of the Hidden Imam, be reconciled with the existence of the current Islamic regime in Iran or, for that matter, any Islamic government obtaining before the awaited return of Muhammad b. Hasan al-{Askari? It is the concept of intizar and its implications that form the subject of this article. The concept of intizar Complementary to the doctrine of the greater occultation (ghaybat-i kubra) is the notion of intizar or ‘waiting for the return of the Hidden Imam.’ By definition, intizar is a state of passive expectancy, a doctrine of hope and trust that the Hidden Imam will one day reappear and fill the world with justice and establish the kind of ideal Islamic society that Twelver Shi{ites believe existed only during the short caliphate of {Ali b. Abi Talib. The doctrine of intizar has important connotations for the personal and political lives of the Twelver Shi{ite faithful during the occultation of the Imam. Firstly, given the absence of the Imam as the religious leader and source of spiritual inspiration, what are the personal duties of the Shi{ites as believers vis-a-vis God, and upon whom is the duty of religious leadership to be devolved? Secondly, given the absence of the Imam as the political leader of the Twelver Shi{ite community, as the inheritor of {Ali and the embod- iment of the ideal Muslim khalifa, in whom the temporal and the religious are fully integrated, what is to be the attitude of the Twelver Shi{ites to the question of earthly government? Before considering these aspects, I shall review the traditions themselves; to this end I have used the most comprehensive collection of Twelver Shi{ite narrations on intizar, namely those collated by the Safavid scholar Muhammad Baqir Majlisi in his encyclopaedic work on Shi{ite traditions, Bihar al-anwar.3 3 On the life and works of Majlisi, see Karl-Heinz Pampus, Die theologische Enzyklopädie Bihar al-Anwar des Muhammad Baqir Al-Maglisi (Bonn, 1970). Also, the present writer’s unpublished doctoral thesis, The Rise of Twelver Shi{ite Externalism in Safavid Iran and its consolidation under {Allama Muhammad Baqir Majlisi (1037/1627-1110/1699), Durham University, 1990 (Chapter IV deals almost exclusively with the life and works of Majlisi). STILL WAITING FOR THE IMAM? 31 The traditions in the Bihar which deal with intizar are grouped under two main headings: the trials (imtihan) of the Twelvers during the occultation; and the ‘excellence of waiting’ for the return of the Imam (fadilat al-intizar). Other traditions pertaining to intizar in the context of events that are supposed to take place during the occultation and immediately prior to the return of the Imam can be found scattered throughout other sections of Majlisi’s work; his identification of certain apocalyptic figures mentioned in traditions with members of the Safavid dynasty, collected in a separate work entitled Kitab al-raj{a and otherwise known as Chahardah hadith, appear in volume XIII in the chapter on the signs ({alamat) of the Imam’s reappearance, but since they are germane to the question of intizar they will be reviewed here. The imtihan of the Twelver Shi{ites The disappearance of the Mahdi and his subsequent occultation are presented in the traditions as a severe test for the Shi{ite faithful. A tradition attributed to the fifth Imam, Muhammad Baqir, describes the Shi{ite faithful as being like collyrium (surma): one knows when it is applied to the eyes but one does not know when it will be washed out. A time will come when a Shi{ite will begin the day as an adherent of the correct religion (din al-haqq, i.e. Twelver Shi{ism) but by nightfall will have left it.4 The occultation will bring much hardship and many schisms. The Shi{ites will undergo a process of ‘sifting’ (ghirbal) in which the unbelievers will be rooted out from the believers.5 Some of the Shi{ites, according to a tradition attributed to Imam Ja{far Sadiq, will be like broken glass: through hardship and trials they will have been shattered but can be melted down and joined together again. Others will be like earthenware pots which, once having been smashed, cannot be reassembled.6 A substantial number of traditions prohibit the naming of the Hidden Imam and the fixing of a specific date and time for his return; others freely allude to the number of years which is supposed to elapse before the return of the Imam and the termination of Shi{ite suffering. It is clear from both kinds of tradition that during the lifetime of the Imams, their followers anticipated the reappearance and rise of the Mahdi in the near future. One tradition, narrated on the authority of Imam Muhammad Baqir by one Abu Hamza Thamali, has the latter asking the Imam why {Ali’s prophecy, namely that the Mahdi would appear after 70 years, had remained unfulfilled. Muhammad Baqir replies that after the martyrdom of Husayn b. {Ali, God decided to prolong the trial of the Shi{ites until the year 140/757-8. When this date had passed and nothing had happened it became clear that God had decided to postpone the relief (faraj) from suffering indefinitely.7 The doctrine used to explain this apparent change of Divine will is known as bada{ or ‘Divine alteration’, a concept formulated by the early Shi{ites to justify their 4 ibid., vol. 52, p. 101. 5 ibid., vol. 52, p. 114. 6 ibid., vol. 52, pp. 101-2. 7 ibid., vol. 52, p. 105. 32 C.P. TURNER political failures.8 That the traditions often run at variance with each other, namely in the sense that some specify a date for the Hidden Imam’s reappearance while others expressly prohibit it, reveals clearly that the concept of a Mahdi or hidden saviour was still in the process of modification and was far from unambiguous. A tradition discourages the fixing of any particular time for the reappearance of the Imam in the near future on the one hand, yet on the other refers to conflict and discord — a true reflection of the political situation at the time of the Imams — and assures the Twelver faithful that the return of the Mahdi is close at hand.
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