Past eventOther · The Lantern of the Path · Session 45

The Living Promise: Between Prophecy and Presence

Wednesday, 26 November 2025

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Mahdawiyyah, Part 1 · Introduction to Mahdawiyyah, Part 1 of 3 Every major religion is waiting for a saviour who has not yet been born. This one already was. Zoroastrians await their Saoshyant, Jews their Mashiach, Christians the return of Christ, Hindus the avatar Kalki, and Sunni Muslims a reformer at the end of time. It is, on the surface, a shared human hope. But the claim explored this evening is far more specific than hope: the saviour is not a role waiting to be cast but a named man already born — Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Askari, son of the eleventh Imam, born on the fifteenth of Sha'ban, 255 AH, in the garrison city of Samarra. This is where the doctrine of ghaybah — occultation — is redefined. It does not mean absence. Using the Qur'anic account of Joseph — recognised by no one though he stood before his own brothers — the tradition holds that the Imam walks in the same markets we do, prays in the same rows, and stands, unrecognised, among the crowds at Hajj. He is not gone. He is unrecognised. And, the tradition adds, he is watching: every deed we do is said to be presented to him. What does it mean to spend your whole life within sight of someone you will never recognise? What the evening covers The list of saviours. The saviour figures of five world religions — and the one point where this tradition departs from all of them. A name, not a hope. The birth date, the city, and the lineage that turn a prophecy into a person. The Joseph paradigm. The Qur'anic story used to explain how presence and anonymity can coexist. Occultation redefined. Why "hidden" has been mistranslated as "gone" for centuries.

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السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَا أَوْلِيَاءَ اللَّهِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَا حُجَجَ اللَّهِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَا نُورَ اللَّهِ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الْأَرْضِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ صَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَ عَلَى آلِ بَيْتِكُمْ الطَّيِّبِينَ الطَّاهِرِينَ بِأَبِي أَنْتُمْ وَ أُمِّي لَقَدْ عَبَدْتُمُ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ وَ جَاهَدْتُمْ فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ حَتَّى أَتَاكُمُ الْيَقِينُ فَلَعَنَ اللَّهُ أَعْدَاءَكُمْ مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَ الْإِنْسِ أَجْمَعِينَ وَ أَنَا أَبْرَأُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَ إِلَيْكُمْ مِنْهُمْ يَا مَوْلايَ يَا أَبَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ مُوسَى بْنَ جَعْفَرٍ يَا مَوْلايَ يَا أَبَا الْحَسَنِ عَلِيَّ بْنَ مُوسَى يَا مَوْلايَ يَا أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ عَلِيٍّ يَا مَوْلايَ يَا أَبَا الْحَسَنِ عَلِيَّ بْنَ مُحَمَّدٍ أَنَا مَوْلًى لَكُمْ مُؤْمِنٌ بِسِرِّكُمْ وَ جَهْرِكُمْ مُتَضَيِّفٌ بِكُمْ فِي يَوْمِكُمْ هَذَا وَ هُوَ يَوْمُ الْأَرْبِعَاءِ وَ مُسْتَجِيرٌ بِكُمْ فَأَضِيفُونِي وَ أَجِيرُونِي بِآلِ بَيْتِكُمُ الطَّيِّبِينَ الطَّاهِرِينَ.

Peace be upon you, O friends of Allah. Peace be upon you, O proofs of Allah. Peace be upon you, O light of Allah in the darknesses of the earth. Peace be upon you; may the blessings of Allah be upon you and upon your pure and purified household. May my father and mother be sacrificed for you. Truly, you worshipped Allah with sincerity and strove in the way of Allah as was befitting, until death overtook you. May the curse of Allah be upon your enemies from among all the jinn and mankind. I seek refuge with Allah and with you, and I declare my disavowal of your enemies. O my master, O Abu Ibrahim, Musa ibn Ja'far! O my master, O Abu al-Hasan, Ali ibn Musa! O my master, O Abu Ja'far, Muhammad ibn Ali! O my master, O Abu al-Hasan, Ali ibn Muhammad! I am devoted to you, and I believe in your hidden and manifest [affairs]. On this day of yours, which is Wednesday, I ask you for your hospitality, and I seek shelter in your sanctuary. So accept me and grant me refuge, by the right of your pure and purified household.

Mafatih al-Jinan, Supplications (Duas), Ziyarat of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, Imam al-Ridha, Imam al-Jawad, and Imam al-Hadi (AS) on Wednesday, Line 1