Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution met this morning with experts on Mahdaviat [faith in the re-appearance of the last Shia Imam, Imam Mahdi (a.s.)]. At the meeting, His Eminence highlighted the importance of Mahdaviat and described waiting for the re-appearance of Imam Mahdi (a.s.) as an integral part of Mahdaviat.Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that Mahdaviat is among the main religious teachings of Islam and added that the main goal of sending prophets was to establish a world based on monotheism, justice and all capacities that human beings enjoy. "The era of Imam Mahdi's (a.s.) re-appearance is the era of establishing genuine rule of monotheism, spirituality, religion and justice over different individual and social aspects of the life of human beings."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed: "If Mahdaviat did not exist, all efforts and struggles of divine prophets would be fruitless and futile."
Ayatollah Khamenei discussed the issue of Mahdaviat in divine religions and added: "In all divine religions general points have been mentioned about the essence of Mahdaviat, but in Islam this issue is among undeniable realities. And among Islamic denominations Shia Islam discusses the issue of Mahdaviat with clear examples and details about Imam Mahdi's (a.s.) family and personality, details which have been extracted from valid Shia and non-Shia narrations."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described waiting for the re-appearance of Imam Mahdi (a.s.) as an integral part of Mahdaviat and reiterated: "Waiting means expecting a living person and an indisputable truth, and in this sense waiting has certain requirements, including spiritual and social preparation for the expected era with its particular conditions."
Ayatollah Khamenei added: "The person who is waiting should always preserve and strengthen the characteristics that are necessary for the expected era and it is necessary to avoid considering this period of waiting as very long or very short."
His Eminence referred to the characteristics of the era of Imam Mahdi's (a.s.) re-appearance and stressed: "The era of his re-appearance is the era of the rule of monotheism, justice, truth, purity and worship. Therefore, those who are waiting should constantly try to get closer to these characteristics and avoid being satisfied with the status quo."
Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated: "One of the great dangers regarding the issue of Mahdaviat is unscholarly, ignorant and undocumented activities based on fantasies and illusions, which will prepare the way for false claimants and will cause people to drift away from the genuine essence of waiting."
His Eminence referred to the appearance of false claimants throughout history and added: "All these claims are wrong and misguided because certain things that have been said about the signs of re-appearance are invalid and weak, and it is not easy to apply the narrations that are valid."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution reiterated: "Such wrong and misguided things cause the main essence of Mahdaviat and waiting to be sidelined. Therefore, it is necessary to seriously avoid all unscholarly activities and rumors."
Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated: "Of course the responsibility for scholarly and well-documented work regarding the issue of Mahdaviat and waiting lies on the shoulders of experts who have extensive knowledge of hadith and Rijal and are perfectly familiar with philosophical issues and ideas."
Elsewhere in his statements, Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the importance of getting closer to the Imam of the Age (a.s.) and stated: "Proper and scholarly familiarity with the issue of Mahdaviat will prepare the way for further closeness to Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his re-appearance) and more accelerated movement towards the lofty goals."
His Eminence said that closeness to Imam Mahdi (a.s.) means spiritual closeness and added that certain claims about physical contact with Imam Mahdi (a.s.) are mostly lies and illusions.