DefinePK

Abstract

Waiting is a psychological state that generates anticipation for what one awaits, in contrast to despair. The more intense the waiting, the stronger the anticipation. Consider, for example, if you have a traveler whose arrival you expect; your anticipation for their coming increases as the time approaches, and perhaps your sleep is replaced by sleeplessness due to the intensity of the wait. Waiting has its own etiquette: the believer who awaits his master, the more intense his waiting, the greater his effort in preparing himself through piety, diligence, self-discipline, avoiding immoral behavior, and adopting virtuous traits, so that he may be rewarded with the visitation of his master and behold his beauty during the time of his occultation, as has happened with many righteous individuals. In the Quranic context, waiting does not imply stagnation or cold, false, lifeless expectation. Rather, it means vigilance, maneuvering against the enemy, taking action through various means, exploiting moments of weakness, and not wasting opportunities. This is the vigilance that the Quran advocates as true waiting. The Quran narrates the events of human history since the beginning of the caliphate as an ongoing struggle between the forces of truth and falsehood, between groups such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them) and their faithful followers, and another group that awaited the prophets, including the story of the prophet Job, the experience of the prophet Joseph, and the waiting of the prophet Jacob, Moses, and others like them. The issue of "awaiting relief" (Intizar al-Faraj), which we aim to address in this study, is a religious Islamic matter rooted in the Quran, in addition to its psychological, faith-related, and social dimensions. In this field, we study research concerning the preparation of the self for the appearance of the Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance), so that when the master of the era emerges, we are ready to fulfill our role before him. The one who waits must also be aware of his duties and perform his functions properly to gain the satisfaction of the Imam of his time, to know the Imam, and to maintain constant preparedness during the time of occultation.