What is the extent of the relation between Imam Mahdi and Islamic sects?
Those who have made the Mahdi two: the Mahdi of Shias and the Mahdi of Sunnis, have gone astray; because the Mahdi is one, and he is a man from the offspring of the Prophet from the children of Fatimah, who will come in the end time to fill the earth with justice and equity as it has been filled with oppression and cruelty, and helping him is obligatory for every Muslim. There is no disagreement over this matter between the two groups. Their disagreement is only over the name of his father and the time of his birth. One group believes that he is the son of Hasan and was born before, and the other group believes that he is the son of Abdullah and it is not known whether he was born or not. However, this disagreement does not affect preparing the ground for his advent; because preparing the ground for his advent is obligatory in both cases, whether his father’s name is Abdullah or Hasan, and whether he was born before or will be born later; as explained by Allamah Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani
in the book Geometry of Justice, where he has said:
Those who insist that Mahdi has not been born yet and do not consider themselves to have any role in his creation and are waiting for it to happen by chance, do not notice that Mahdi’s creation is not a coincidental issue and does not follow the law of probabilities, rather it is a divine plan and follows Allah’s irreversible traditions, which is accomplished within the proper time, and the proper time for it is when people have the necessary readiness and acceptance for his sovereignty and the realization of absolute global justice, otherwise the existence of Mahdi would be equal to his non-existence for them. Undoubtedly, the birth of Mahdi, even though is based on the efficacy of Allah, it is contingent on the capability of people; because without the capability of people, the birth of Mahdi would be in vain and would defeat the purpose and would not lead to the realization of his sovereignty and absolute global justice; because certainly for the realization of Mahdi’s sovereignty and the absolute global justice, the existence of Mahdi is not sufficient alone and people’s full obedience to him is a condition as well. Therefore, unless people are prepared for complete obedience to him, it is not possible that Allah will create him, and if He supposedly creates him, it is not possible that He will make him appear to people; because in this case they will probably kill him. As when people are prepared for complete obedience to him, it is also not possible that Allah will not create him or, if He has created him, not make him appear; because this also will defeat the purpose, rather will be contrary to justice of Allah, and Allah is not unjust toward the servants. It is hereby understood that people are responsible for existence or non-existence of Mahdi, and are obliged to provide the suitable grounds for his creation and advent, and consequently, his non-existence is the result of their failure to fulfill this obligation.[1]
Based on this, the Mahdi is the Imam of all Muslims and does not belong to any of their sects. It is obligatory for all of them to prepare the ground for his advent and help him, regardless of their disagreement over some of his attributes.