Question:

Does his honor Mansoor believe that Mahdi currently exists and is alive?! If it is so, then what is his reason for this belief?

Answer:

His honor Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani, regardless of Islamic sects and religions, and only by referring to the original and certain sources of Islam, believes that the earth at no time is empty of the “Caliph of God”, and his reason for this belief, on one hand, is the rational necessity of presence of God’s Caliph in the earth for teaching the whole of Islam and implementing it in pure and complete way, given that such teaching and implementation is necessary and is impossible without existence of such Caliph, and on the other hand, is the word of God who has clearly said: «إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً» (Al-Baqarah/ 30); “Undoubtedly, I set a Caliph on the earth” and this is like a promise of His which will never be violated, as He has said: «لَا يُخْلِفُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ» (Ar-Rum/ 6); “This is God’s promise and He will never violate His promise” and this is like a tradition of His which will never change; as He has said: «فَلَنْ تَجِدَ لِسُنَّتِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا» (Fatir/ 43); “Therefore, you will never find any substitute for God’s tradition” . This is while, the only Caliph of God in the apocalypse, based on mutawatir narrations of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi wa ‘Alihi wa Sallam, is Mahdi, and hence, getting certainty about caliphate of anyone other than him after the predecessors is impossible, while nothing is sufficient in Islam but certainty, and this means the impossibility of caliphate of anyone other than Mahdi at the present time. Accordingly, it is possible to believe in the existence of Mahdi and his being alive at the present time, and this belief is not considered contrary to Islam or contrary to intellect, although it requires believing in his long lifespan; because long lifespan of the Caliph of God on the earth is possible, and has a history; Just as God has said about Noah Alaihi as-Salam: «فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا» (Ankabut/ 14); “And he stayed among them a thousand years minus fifty years” and it is clear that God is capable of everything; as He has said: «إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ» (Al-Baqarah/ 20).

Nevertheless, it should be noted that his honor Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani has not based his invitation toward preparing grounds for Mahdi’s appearance on the belief in the existence and life of his Excellency, but he has stated in his book that preparing grounds for his Excellency’s appearance is necessary, even based on disbelief in his existence and life at the present time; considering that on this basis, his existence and life, although depends on God as the creator in the sense of His genesis, it still depends on the ability of people which means their acceptance and readiness, and God will create him at the time when He is able to emerge him for the people. Therefore, if he is not present and alive at the moment, preparing grounds for his existence and life is necessary just like preparing grounds for his appearance, and this is based on the words of God, which says: «إنَّ اللهَ لا یُغیِّرُ مَا بِقَومٍ حَتَّی یُغیِّروا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِم» (Ar-Ra’d/ 11); “Undoubtedly, God will not transform anything for a nation, until they transform something within themselves!”.

As the result, whether Mahdi is present and alive at this time or not, preparing grounds for his appearance is obligatory upon all Muslims, and the purpose of doing that is reaching necessary preparations for his security and fulfillment of his sovereignty, which his honor Mansoor has described the details in the honorable book “Return to Islam” (page 294).