Question No. 3351 2 November 2023 Official answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) verified Content level: Intermediate

How Can We Answer the Call Before the Advent?

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Dear questioner, Master Ali Saei

Tracking code: #Q-3351

Thank you for all your efforts.

Dear teacher, it seems to me that answering the call before the advent does not mean praying, reading the Qur’an, and fasting, since these are our religious obligations. Nor does it mean reciting supplications and prayers, or the like!

I imagine that answering the call before the advent involves actions and practical steps beyond these, but I cannot quite work out what they are. Could you please explain how we can answer the call before the advent, so that we may wake from heedlessness before it is too late and say, “At your service, O Mahdi,” in the hope that we may be among those who bear witness before him?

With endless gratitude.

Subject category: Ethics and Spirituality Mahdism Mahdism

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Answering the call before the advent means being prepared and attentive with conscious, loving devotion. It is realized by performing our religious obligations with excellence—for example, offering our prayers and fasting with wholehearted devotion and spiritual awareness. True adherence to the Two Weighty Things and developing practical expertise in their teachings are also essential aspects of answering the call before the advent.

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

Teacher and researcher in the intellectual tradition of wisdom and the Ahl al-Bayt | Soroush Bamdadān Cultural Center

A response of *labbayk* before the advent is proof of readiness and a sign of conscious, loving attentiveness.
A response of *labbayk* before the advent means fulfilling one’s religious duties with excellence, in the best possible way.
Devoted, discerning, and loving prayer and fasting are the embodied and unmistakable response of every true seeker awaiting the Imam.
A response of *labbayk* before the advent means holding fast to the Two Weighty Things and acquiring practical expertise in their teachings.
Diligently drawing nourishment from the tables of the Two Weighty Things;
and living by the charter for those who await the Imam, set out in *The Wayfaring of Those Who Await Him*.

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How Can We Answer the Call Before the Advent?

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

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