Our Duties in the Period of Occultation: Insights from Sayyid al-Sistani

February 12, 2025

His Eminence’s (may he be preserved) advice to the believers in the era of the occultation of Imam Mahdi (p)

In the name of God, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful

Office of His Eminence, the Supreme Religious Authority, Sayyid Ali al-Sistani 

Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

In response to a question from a group of believers seeking the advice of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid al-Sistani concerning the duties of believers during the period of occultation of Imam al-Mahdi (p).

In the name of God Almighty

The believers (may God Almighty bless them) should always remember that Imam al-Mahdi (p) is the appointed imam upon them by God Almighty in this era. However, divine wisdom necessitated his absence from view until he is authorized to appear.

Therefore, in addition to the duty of knowing him, submitting to and loving him, they should continuously pray for him in private and in public. Moreover, believers must pay attention to the rituals that revive his remembrance and the remembrance of his forefathers (p) and what happened to them at the hands of the oppressors.

Let the believers recall his suffering over what he sees of injustices and corruptions everywhere while he is in occultation, and his longing to appear and repair what has become deviated from the religion of God and establish justice among His servants.

And let them know that they are all the subject of his attention and care, and he is kinder to them than their fathers and mothers. Their affairs and conditions are important to him, and he prays and cares for them. They should beseech God by the intercession of his status to meet their needs and solve their problems.

Let them await and constantly anticipate his arrival. Let them call for his relief and for the relief of the ummah by his appearance, preparing for him with greater insight, certainty, and sincere obedience.

Let them pay great attention to obeying him and obtaining his approval, and avoid disobeying and angering him; because obeying him is obedience to God Almighty and the Imam’s satisfaction is from God’s pleasure, just as disobeying and angering the Imam is akin to disobeying and angering God.

Rather, obedience to him (p) is achieved by maintaining true faith and belief. Believers must strive to learn, put into action, and preserve the commands of God Almighty, His Messenger (pbuh&hp), and the pure Imams (p) from his forefathers. A believer must purify and discipline their soul according to their traditions, follow the wisdom of their admonitions, and be guided by their guidance.

Each believer must strive to be an adornment for them, rather than a dishonor to them, through their behavior, morals, and wisdom. A believer should abide by the teachings of the noble Shariah by performing their obligations, avoiding sins and immoralities, and showing noble morals such as honesty, good character, abstaining from harming others, chastity in speech, appearance, and behavior, helping the weak, the poor, orphans, and the needy, and benevolence towards one’s parents and upholding the ties of kinship because in doing so is the pleasure of God Almighty and His Messenger (pbuh&hp) and the pleasure of the Imam (p). In this is the best of this world and the hereafter.

Let the believers cooperate during the time of occultation, as required by loyalty among themselves, in righteousness and piety. Let them communicate with each other with truth and patience, and beware of disunity, division, and hatred.

The rich, whom God Almighty has blessed, should take care of the poor, the needy, the weak, and the distressed by discharging their religious obligations and fulfilling all that is needed in dire situations and required according to the principles of charity. Surely, whoever helps a supporter of the Imam, it is as if they are helping the Imam directly because they are all his family; but God Almighty has willed his occultation until now.

Let the believers beware of falling into misleading suspicions and deadly temptations that occur during his occultation. The most severe of which is what harms belief, such that one strays from religion or from loyalty to the Ahl al-Bayt (p).

Among these things is the trap of those who claim special representation or private communication with him (p). These are bandits of Shia beliefs, cutting off their connection to the Ahl al-Bayt (p). Rather, the obligation for which there is no doubt when it comes to this doctrine, as has been the tradition of twelve centuries of believers during his occultation, is what he (p) instructed his followers, which is to return to the most excellent, just, and pious jurists, who follow the guidance and footsteps of the Ahl al-Bayt. These men are the Imam’s proof on the believers, and he is the proof of God upon all people.

Another deadly innovation is the call to accept everything that is attributed to the Imams (p) without knowledge, specialization, or revision and scrutiny so that those who are ignorant of the narrations and the principles of scrutinizing and authenticating them may take the place of legitimate scholars who specialize in that matter.

In addition, among the destructive innovations is denying the constants and principles of religion, regardless of the doubt that causes it. If someone finds it difficult to act upon any of the teachings, then let them not be driven by that to deny or cast doubt on it, for the sinner bears one sin, and the denier and doubter bear two.

Let the believers beware of the claims about the time of reappearance or anything similar to such contentions, whoever might claim it, because of the confirmed prohibition of such a thing and the denial of whoever claims it. Repeated experiences testify to this falsehood as many claims were made in history, then their lie and delusion were revealed.

Let the believers know that whoever truly awaits him (p) by observing what was mentioned above, it is evidence of their sincerity in what they wish to attain by reaching the Imam (p), obeying his command, and supporting him. Whoever sincerely wishes for that, then if God Almighty does not decree for them to attain it, then they will be gathered on the Day of Judgment with those who actually reached, obeyed, and supported him, and they will be rewarded with the same reward, and that is a great victory.

O’ God, we ask You for a noble state through which You honor Islam and its people, and through which You humiliate hypocrisy and its people, and make us among those who call to Your obedience and guide to Your path, and provide us with the dignity of this world and the hereafter.

O’ God, send blessings upon Your vicegerent, the Hujjah ibn al-Hasan, with a perfect, complete, and pure blessing, the best of which You have sent upon any of Your vicegerents. 

O’ God, be his guardian, guide, protector, and supporter until You make him dwell in Your land willingly and endure pleasingly in it for a long time. 

O God, grant us his compassion, mercy, supplication, and goodness, through which we may attain a portion of Your mercy and success with You, for You are capable of all things.

The Office of Sayyid al-Sistani 

The Holy City of Najaf