By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
      
“And We desired to show favour to those who were abased in the land, and to make them Imams, and to make them the Heirs;” (Holy Qur’an 28:5)
God’s promise is true. Whatever the arrogant and the ignorant do, with all their material and military power, they cannot belie it. 
Today, the Pharaohs, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Achaemenians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Omayyads, the Abbasids, the Ottomans, the British and all other empire-builders have long vanished from the world scene. 
Tomorrow, it will be the turn of the United States of America – so far the most satanic of world powers – which is all poised to fall into the dustbin of history, despite its arsenal of doomsday weapon and its monopolization of global economy.
According to Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the Gateway of the City of Wisdom and Knowledge, the above Ayah refers to the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA). Though deprived of their right of political leadership, the day will come when the 12th and Last Infallible Heir of the Seal of Messengers, will appear to establish the global government of peace, prosperity and justice.
He is the namesake of the Prophet of Islam and was born on Sha’ban 15 in the year 255 AH. Raised in secrecy from the prying eyes of the agents of the usurper Abbasid regime, at the tender age of five years he lost his father Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS) to a fatal dose of poison given by Mo’tamed the self-styled caliph.
The head of the superpower of those days then launched a manhunt in vain for the son of his victim, on learning that the Prophet’s 12th Heir, the Promised Mahdi al-Qa’em, who would rid Planet Earth of corruption and oppression and whose birth he had tried to prevent, was already born. 
Unable to find any trace of the orphan and deeming him too weak to pose any danger to their rule, since his mother had predeceased his father and his uncle Ja’far was also against him, the Abbasids continued their misrule of sins, corruption and oppression for a few more centuries, until the Mongol marauder Hulaku Khan, ended their dynasty.
As for the Boy-Imam, God Almighty Who had given wisdom to Yayha (John the Baptist) while still a mere child and entrusted prophethood and the scripture to the infant Jesus with the miraculous power to speak from the cradle when the ever rebellious Israelis tried to slander his virgin mother, Mary, ensured the safety of Imam Mahdi (AS).
It was Divine Providence that throughout the seven decades of Minor Occultation (Ghaybat as-Sughra) followed by the lengthy period of the Major Occultation (Ghaybat al-Kubra) the 12th Imam continues to guide the faithful all the time, like the resplendent sun on cloudy days.  
Over a century before the birth of Imam Mahdi (AS), Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), was expounding to a group of faithful the hadith “the earth has not been devoid of a representative of God, since God created Adam; a representative that was either visible and well-known or invisible and concealed. (Likewise) The earth will not remain devoid of such a representative of God till the occurrence of the Hour (Doomsday), for if it were to remain without God’s representative, then God would not be worshipped!”
When a person asked him to explain the benefit to the people of a hidden representative of God, Imam Sadeq (AS) replied, “Just as they benefit from the sun when the clouds hide it!”
For the past millennium and two lunar centuries, the devotees of the Ahl al-Bayt have continued to benefit from the presence of the Imam of the Age, while eagerly awaiting his reappearance for materialization of God’s promise to establish the global government of peace, prosperity and justice.
So firm is their faith that they have not just weathered the storms of seditions generated by the enemies of Islam and humanity, but have spread the liberating ideology of God’s promise to make the weak inheritors of the earth ready when the promised Redeemer of mankind reappears.
No wonder, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) said to his Divinely Designated vicegerent:  
“O Ali, know that the strangest of the people of faith and the greatest of them in certainty are those people who will be in end times. They will not meet the Prophet. Their Imam will be hidden from them, but they will believe (only) due to black upon white.”
Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) explaining this hadith has said: 
“The ‘black upon white’ means the writings on paper. It means that these people will believe in the Qur’an and the sunnah as recorded in the books, even though they may not see their Imam.”
The 6th Imam has also said: 
“When the Qa’em shall arise, he will rule with justice, the tyrants of his time shall fear him, the righteous will be safe, the earth shall reveal its treasures, all the truth-seekers will seek his company and no follower of any religion would remain except that they see Islam and declare their faith in it.”