Development in Reading of the Notion of Waiting for the Faraj of the ‎Occulted Imam in the Period of the Greater Occultation

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student of Quran and Hadith Sciences, the University of Ferdosi in Mashhad.

2 professor, in Quran and Hadith Sciences, the University of Ferdosi in Mashhad

3 Associate professor, in Quran and Hadith Sciences, the University of Ferdosi in Mashhad.

Abstract

Waiting for the occulted Imam is a key concept related to the issue of the ‎occultation of the twelfth Imam. Studying Shiite hadith works which ‎involve a reading of this notion, one perceives development in the ‎reading of that notion. This paper aims at firstly introducing the ‎developments occurred during the pass of time, and secondly ‎suggesting an explanation for it. It has been recognized two ‎developments during the 10th and 11th century AH, and two in the post-‎mashrutah period in Iran.
It seems that the prosperity of the Shiite ‎community under Safavid dynasty during the 10th and 11th century AH, ‎and the evolution of Shiite political thought after Mashrutah in Iran, may ‎be considered as major contributing factors in shaping the dominant ‎discourses of interpretation of this hadith

Keywords