Foundations and Purposes of Imam Mahdi’s (a) Global Governmen

Allah, the Glorious, also prohibited Isti'jal in Quran in many verses. For instance:

"Man is a creature of haste. I shall soon show you My signs. So hasten not! (21:37)"

In another famous and very recommended supplication, which is narrated from the first special deputy of Imam Mahdi (AS), both types of action (hastening vs. praying that Allah may hasten) has been mentioned with clear distinction:

"... O Allah! Make me firm on the obedience of the master of Your command whom You have concealed from Your creation and waits for Your command. You know—without being taught—the time that is right for the kingdom of Your master and for giving him permission to manifest his command and to disclose his secret. Thus, grant me patience on it so that I do not like to hasten what You have postponed, nor to delay what You have hastened, nor to disclose what You have concealed, nor to discuss what You have kept secret, nor to argue with You in Your planning, and (so that) I do not say why the master of the affairs does not appear while the earth has been filled out with tyranny, and until I relinquish all my affairs to You. O Allah! I ask You to show me the master of the affairs while has appeared and manifested his command... O Allah! Hasten his relief..."^[64]

Imploring Allah for a hasty relief of the Imam (AS)

Ahl al-Bait (AS) have emphasized that during the time of occultation we should make much supplication to Allah that He would hasten the relief. In his letter to his special deputy, Imam al-Mahdi (AS) wrote:

"As for the manifestation of relief, it depends on Allah and those who specify time for it are liars... Increase your Du'aa for hastening the Relief (al-Faraj), for this is indeed your relief..."^[65]

There are two meanings for the above tradition. The first meaning is that the relief of Imam al-Mahdi (AS) would result in relief from our sufferings. The other meaning is that the very act of praying for the relief of Imam al-Mahdi (AS) would be recompensed with personal relief from our problems even before the advent of Imam al-Mahdi (AS) (i.e., before the time for general/universal relief).

There is a famous supplication from Imam al-Sadiq (AS), known as "The Supplication of the Covenant (Du'aa al-Ahd)", which is to be recited in every morning. The Imam (AS) said that the one who recites and calls upon Allah by this covenant for forty mornings, will be of the soldiers of al-Qa'im (AS), and if he dies before his rising, Allah will resurrect him from his grave during his advent, and will also give him the reward of 1000 good deeds and removes 1000 of his sins for each word of this supplication. The last sentences of this precious supplication are as follows:

"O Allah! Show me the rightly guided face (of Imam al-Mahdi (AS)), the praiseworthy brightness (of his face), and enlighten my vision by looking at him. Hasten his reappearance, make his arrival smooth, widen and clear his path, and make me tread on his way. Implement his kingdom and strengthen his back. O Allah! Give life to Your cities by him and revive Your servants through him, for surely You have said—and Your word is truth—"Corruption prevailed on the land and the sea because of what men's hand have earned (30:41)" Thus, O Allah, manifest for us Your friend and the son of Your Prophet's daughter, whose name is the same as that of Your Apostle, so that he does not prevail anything from falsehood except that he tears it to pieces, establishes the truth, and makes it real. O Allah! Appoint him as a refuge for Your oppressed servants and a helper for the one who does not find any helper for himself except You. Make him the one who renews what has been suspended/abolished of the laws of Your book, and the one who re-erects the science of Your religion and the customs of Your Prophet, Allah's blessings be upon him and his family. O Allah! Make him among those whom you have protected from the evils of the aggressors. O Allah! Delight Your Prophet Mohammed, Allah's blessings be upon him and his family, by making him visible and (delight) the one who follows him on his call, and have mercy on our poverty after his (disappearance). O Allah! Remove this sorrow (of occultation) from this nation by his presence, and hasten for us his reappearance. Certainly, they [i.e., the disbelievers] consider it far-fetched while we consider it near. By Your mercy O the most merciful!" Then you say, "Hasten! Hasten! O my master, O the master of the era!"^[66]