(6) WHY HAS THE LEADER NOT APPEARED YET?
Why has the leader not appeared during all this long
period? If he were really prepared to assume his social
work? What prevented him from emerging during the period
of the minor occultation or after, instead of extending
it into a greater one, when the conditions for any social
and transformative work were much simpler and easier and
when the leader's relation with the people, owing to the
minor occultation organizations, could have made it
possible for him to organize the ranks and start the work
with strength. Also the authorities that existed then did
not have that tremendous level of strength and power
which humanity has achieved thanks to its technical and
scientific evolution?
The answer is:
That the success of any
operation of social change is bound by certain conditions
and objective circumstances without which it cannot
achieve its aims.
However all the operations of social change that are
sent to earth from heaven are marked by the fact that the
contents of their message are not bound by any objective
circumstance. Since the message on which the whole
operation depends is of the Lord's making and is not
created by these objective circumstances, but rather
relies on them on its executive side as well as for its
timing, heaven waited five centuries of ignorance (al-jahiliyyah)
before sending its last message into the hands the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him
and his progeny), since the connection that should exist
between the objective circumstances and the execution
required its postponement although the world had been
waiting for it for a long time
Among the objective circumstances that have an effect
on the executive part in the operation of change, are
those that create the right climate and the general
atmosphere for the intended change, while others form
some details required by the movement of change in its
elaboration. For example, in the case of the operation of
change led by Lenin in Russia, this operation was
connected to an important factor manifested in the first
world war and the decline of the Tsar, which played a
major part in creating the appropriate climate for the
operation of change. It was also linked to partial and
limited factors such Lenin's health, during his trip and
when he entered Russia and led the revolution For had he
met with an incident while on his way, he would have been
delayed and the revolution would have lost its ability
for that swift move.
However, the unchangeable custom of Allah in every
Divine operation of change proceeded, in its executive
side, in accordance with the objective circumstances that
created the appropriate climate and the general
atmosphere for its success.
Hence Islam came only after a great gap and long
period which lasted for centuries after the messengers.
Although Allah, the Exalted, could have overcome all
the obstacles and difficulties that were on the way of
the Divine message and created the appropriate climate by
way of miracles, He prefered not to use such a style,
since the tests, trials and the afflictions that make the
human being perfect required that this Divine task be
natural and objective.
However, this did not prevent Allah, the Exalted, from
interfering from time to time with some details that did
not shape the appropriate climate but which were
sometimes needed for the movement within such a climate,
such as the support that Allah, the Exalted, bestows on
his saints during some of their difficult moments, so as
to protect the message So suddenly Numrud's fire becomes
cool and a peace for Ibrahim. When the traitor's hand
which was bearing the sword to strike the Prophet's hand
was suddenly paralysed and lost its ability to strike,
also when suddenly the storm swept away the unbelievers
and the polytheists' camps, when they were encircling
Medina, on the Day of the Ditch (yawmu'l-Khandaq),
thus terrorizing them. However, all of these events did
not go beyond certain details and the provision of
assistance during some decisive moments after the
appropriate atmosphere had been already formed for the
operation of change in a natural way and in accordance
with the objective circumstances.
In this light we can examine al-Mahdi's position to
find that the operation of change, for which he had been
prepared, is linked, on the executive side, as is the
case with any other operation of social change to certain
objective circumstances that participate in securing the
convenient climate under which it will occur.
We must bear in mind that al-Mahdi has not been
prepared for a limited social task nor for an operation
of change limited to a particular part of the world or
another. Since the message which Allah decreed for him
has been a comprehensive change of the whole world and
the leadership of humanity away from the darkness of
transgression to the light of justice. However, it is not
enough for this great operation that its message and its
leader be made available, for otherwise its conditions
would have been fulfilled in the time of the Prophet
(peace be upon him and his progeny) Rather, an operation
of such a scale requires a world-wide climate and a
universal atmosphere which will fulfil the required
objective circumstances for its realization.
From a human perspective we should consider the
feeling that the man of civilization experiences of
exhaustion as an essential factor for the creation of
that appropriate ~ climate, which paves the way for the
acceptance of the new message of justice This feeling is
established and implanted through the various experiments
of civilization, out of which man comes overloaded with
negativism regarding what has been built, and realizes
his need for help, thereupon turning with his natural
disposition to the unseen or the unknown.
From a material angle, it is possible that modern
conditions of life are better equipped to realize the
aims of the message world- wide than the conditions that
existed in the previous periods - such as the period of
the minor occultation - owing to what has been achieved
in terms of shorter distances and a greater ease of
interaction between the different nations of the world,
as well as the availability of instruments and means that
a central organization needs in order to carry out its
programme for the awareness of the different nations of
the world and their education on the bases of the new
message.
Yet what I hinted at here, which is a fact, is the
growth of military strength and equipment that faces the
leader of the appointed day whenever his appearance is
delayed But to what avail can the growth of the material
aspect be, when they already exists a psychological
defeat for it from within and the spiritual collapse of
that man who possesses all these equipment and power?
Indeed many were the occasions, in history, when the
gigantic structure of a whole civilization collapsed only
with the smallest conquering gesture. That was because it
has been already falling apart and loosing confidence in
its existence and trust in its reality