Hawzah News Agency- Esteemed and trustworthy individuals, in numerous accounts that have even gone beyond the level of tawatur (mass-transmission), have reported attaining the honor of visiting Imam al-Mahdi (pbuh). These visits have been recorded and preserved with reliable chains of narration in well-known books.
Even in our own era, some individuals have been granted this great honor. Yet, Imam Mahdi (pbuh), in a tawqi' (signed letter) addressed to Ali ibn Muḥammad al-Samori — the fourth deputy among the “Four Special Deputies” during the Minor Occultation — declared:
«... فَاجْمَعْ أَمْرَکَ وَ لا تُوصِ إِلَی أَحَدٍ فَیَقُومَ مَقَامَکَ بَعْدَ وَفاتِکَ فَقَدْ وَقَعَتِ اَلْغَیْبَه. إِلاَّ بَعْدَ إِذْنِ اَللَّهِ تَعالَی ذِکْرُهُ وَ ذَلِکَ بَعْدَ طُولِ اَلْأَمَدِ وَ قَسْوَةِ. اَلْقُلُوبِ وَ اِمْتِلاَءِ اَلْأَرْضِ جَوْراً و سَیَأْتِی شییعَتی مَنْ یَدَّعِی اَلْمُشَاهَدَةَ قَبْلَ خُرُوجِ اَلسُّفْیَانِیِّ وَ اَلصَّیْحَةِ فَهُوَ کَذَّابٌ مُفْتَرٍ ...»
“…So settle your affairs, and do not appoint anyone to succeed me in your place after my death, for the Major Occultation has indeed occurred. It will not end except by Allah’s permission, and that will be after a long period, when hearts have hardened and the earth has become filled with injustice. During this time, there will come forth among my Shi’a those who will claim to have seen me before the rise of the Sufyani and the Sayha(Loud call); they are liars and fabricators…”(Al-Ghaybah, Tusi, vol. 1, p. 395)
Question:
Since the accounts of visiting the Imam are beyond dispute, how should this tawqi’ be understood?
Answer:
This tawqi' announces the end of the Minor Occultation (ghaybat al-ṣughra) and the beginning of the Major Occultation (ghaybat al-kubra). In it, Imam Mahdi (pbuh) instructs Ali ibn Muḥammad al-Samori not to designate anyone after him as a deputy or special representative.
It also explicitly invalidates the claims of anyone during the Major Occultation who might assert a special niyabah (deputyship) or mediation between the Imam and the people.
Therefore, as great scholars have stated, the “claimants of visiting” who are labeled liars and fabricators are those who seek to present themselves as special deputies — intermediaries between the Imam and the community. On the other hand, the numerous and reliable reports of people being blessed with visiting are themselves proof that this tawqi’ does not negate all possibility of seeing the Imam. Rather, what is negated is the claim of official deputation through such claimants of visiting.
Another interpretation is that the tawqi’ might reject the idea of voluntary, on-demand access. In other words, if someone claims that they can meet with the Imam whenever they wish, or maintain constant communication at will, then such a claim is false and rejected and has no exceptions.
In summary, This tawqi’ cannot be taken as a denial of the well-attested reports of people who have met the Imam. Rather, it makes two points clear: first, that meeting the Imam is indeed possible; and second, that any claim of holding a special deputyship or acting as an intermediary between the Imam and the people during the Major Occultation is false and invalid.
This discussion continues...
Adapted from “Answers to Ten Questions About Imamate; by Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani" with slight modifications.
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