The Mahdi: The Master of Our Time

The Cup of the Soul, [20.02.25 21:05]
🌻🔆Mahdi, the Lord of the Age
🌼🔆🌼Mahdi: Ever-Flowing and Everlasting Wisdom🌼🔆🌼

🔹 The birth of His Eminence the Qa’im (may God hasten his reappearance) and the celebration of mid-Sha‘ban
📅 Date: 1403/11/25 – 14 Sha‘ban 1446
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei

📝 Some of the topics discussed in the session:

The Night of Mid-Sha‘ban 🌙

The night of all that is most beautiful, the night of nights; the night of mid-Sha‘ban, the night when the most beautiful star in the heavens of wilaya rises; the night of the Lord of the Age, the axis of time, the guardian of the age, the night of the Perfect Word of God, the purifier of the earth, the spreader of justice.
Congratulations to the celestial realm, accompanied by the melodious invocation of blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.

God’s Promise on the Night of Mid-Sha‘ban 🌟

Mid-Sha‘ban—the night of mid-Sha‘ban—is the night of God’s promise, the night of light and the vision of the radiant ones, the night of prophethood’s reward, the Ark of Salvation, the Fountain of Life, the moon, radiant and manifest.
The night of springtime and all creation, the successor to the Book of God, the light of the believers, the vanquisher of the unbelievers.
Congratulations to the sacred ones, to all the inhabitants of the celestial realm, accompanied by blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.

The Imam of the Age, King of Time 👑

The Imam of the Age, King of Time: the Imam is time itself—both the Lord of the Age and the very breath of time. The Imam is the Lord of space, space itself, and the cause of space: time and space in all their dimensions.
We are within time; that is, we are in the very heart of the world of the Imam of the Age. How can we describe our Imam? Through time—for he is time itself and the King of Time.
Who is the Imam of the Age? The most secret and mysterious secret of creation, the sovereign of time and space—and himself the adornment and substance of the Imam’s time and place. The sweetness and joy of the ages.

The Imam of the Age, God’s only remembrance on earth 🌍

The Imam of the Age, God’s only remembrance on earth, the only being wholly belonging to God. His sacred being belongs to God alone. He is what remains of God, reserved for God—the only one left for God in the realm of time, God’s only captive, the captive of God on earth.
None but God possesses that exalted station. The Imam of the Age is the secret of comfort and peace.

God’s precious jewel on earth 💎

God’s precious jewel on earth, His one and only servant. Who is our Imam of the Age? The reality to which all creatures remain incomplete until they attain that exalted stature, that supreme exemplar.
We must bring the stature of perfect servitude to fruition within ourselves, until it reaches the very stature of our Imam of the Age.

The Imam of the Age and the purpose of creation 🌱

So that the purposes of creation may be fulfilled through us. Our Imam of the Age is not merely the worshipper of his time; he is worship itself—the very worship through which the earth breathes, lives, endures, and moves.
To be unaware of this Imam is the ultimate ingratitude for blessings in this created world. The worst ignorance in existence is ignorance of the Imam of the Age.
To be unaware of the mother of all is to be ungrateful for tenderness and love, the ultimate betrayal of tenderness and love. To be unaware of the light is to do injustice to the radiance.
It is to honour sight and honour blindness, and to welcome darkness. What ingratitude it is to be heedless of God’s light! The Imam is the root and essence of servitude to God—indeed, the totality of that servitude.

The Imam, the reality of all existence 🌌

The Imam is that reality in whose blessed soul the knowledge of the entire universe is recorded and gathered. All the knowledge of the universe resides in the soul of our Imam of the Age, the Mahdi: the constitution of servitude to God. By God, it is the complete and pure constitution of humanity.
Our Imam of the Age is God’s written book of laws on earth—the living book of law. All the laws of this universe are held in the Imam’s soul. The Imam is the special line of connection between earth and the higher realm.
He is the vantage point from which God is seen. If your heart yearns for God, if you turn towards the Face, the Proof and the Wali of God, then you have turned towards God.

The Imam of the Age: Conqueror and Herald of Guidance 🌿

He is the master of the day, the conqueror and bearer of the banner of guidance.

Losing the Imam means losing the way 🚶‍♂️

Whoever loses the Imam of their time loses the way to their provision and sustenance. The path to knowledge and wisdom opens through the Imam of the Age.
Without the Imam of the Age, we have no way to heaven. Our heavenly sustenance comes from this very Imam. The Imam is the link that joins earth to heaven.
Without our Imam of the Age, a person’s sustenance is left adrift.

The Imam of the Age: the secret of heaven and earth’s blessings 🌍

By God, our Imam of the Age is the very secret of the blessings of heaven and earth. Why, then, are they withheld and overlooked?
Because the gateways of piety in our souls are shut. When the flame of faith blazes within us and piety comes to the fore, this key to blessings begins to work.
Earth and heaven open their arms to those who belong to them.

Jām-e Jān, [20.02.25 21:05]

God’s Greatest Name and the Imam of the Age ✨

What is that Greatest, Most Noble Name by which, if we call upon God, the gates of heaven and the gates of God’s mercy are opened?
It is the Imam of the Age himself: God’s sacred, dear and most noble Name.
How should I call upon God through my Imam? I need only call upon Him once through my Imam of the Age, by that mighty and greatest Name, and see what a tumult it will set stirring in heaven and earth.
Our Imam of the Age is the very soul and world that leads to all worlds. He is time’s shortcut.
Time’s shortcut unfolds through the Master of Time. The shortcut is the way to reach and pass into…

The Imam of the Age: beyond time and space ⏳

This Master of Time is beyond time; he is the very essence of time, time itself and space itself—indeed, he is beyond time and space altogether.

The secret of goodness and blessings: the Imam of the Age 🌿

The Imam of the Age is a soul who, alongside all souls and worlds, opens a passage from the unseen into the soul of hidden realities.
This is the Imam of the Age: the secret of goodness and blessings, the wonder of revelation, the gift of the Night of Decree.
Without the Imam of Decree, the Night of Decree would have no worth; its worth rests with the Imam of Decree, the Imam of the Age. Without the Night of Decree, there would be no…
Humanity and the world would lose their way. He is the very processor of creation, its system, the central processing unit of this universe.
In this universe, whoever is connected to this Master of Time and Space is, in the truest sense, set upon the path of servitude.
The Imam is God’s road and path, the map of God’s love, the land of our hopes.

The Imam of the Age: the salt and sweetness of creation 🍯

He is the abode of all aspirations. Our Imam of the Age is the salt and sweetness of creation.

The Imam of the Age as described by the Messenger of God 🌟

How can I describe the Imam of Our Time? How?
The Messenger of God, the noble grandfather of the Greatest Remnant of God, Muhammad al-Mustafa (PBUH), introduces him thus:
“He bears my name and my kunya. He is God’s proof upon the earth, God’s legacy, and God’s entire share among His servants.”
Ibn al-Hasan—may God open to him the east and west of the earth.
The sacred presence of the Imam is hidden from his Shia and his friends, in a period of occultation.
No one will remain steadfast in believing in his Imamate except one whose heart has been tested through faith.
Jabir asks whether the Shia benefit from him during his occultation. The Prophet replies:
“Yes, by God, by Him who sent me as a prophet in truth: the Shia receive light from his radiance, and, by God, they benefit from his guardianship, just as people benefit from the sun when clouds cover it.
That is, if this sun were not there, then, by God, the clouds would not be concealing it; only its faint outline would be hidden from our sight.”

The Light of the Imam of Our Time and Its Effect 🌞

Rays stream from the heart of the sun. This side of the earth is filled with rays that no veil can keep from shining upon it. How much more so the Sun and Light of God.
Hearts soften; it is only those few visible rays that are hidden from sight.
If his sacred light did not shine, if it did not reach the mind, minds would lose their way.
If it did not reach hearts, hearts would die.
They would become harder than the hardest stone.
No mother would feel any tenderness in her heart.
By God, if that light did not reach us, eyes would go blind, ears would go deaf; if it did not reach the tongue, the tongue would fall silent; if it did not reach the spirit, the spirit would perish.
The intellect would die, its life would ebb away.
If it did not reach the earth, the earth would be destroyed.
If that light did not shine, dimensions would fall apart. The paths would be lost.
Even electrons and protons would no longer be able to find their way.

The Imam of Our Time, God’s Greatest Name ✨

“We are immersed in him.” Is he not God’s Greatest Name? The Most Beautiful Name that embraces all things.
The Greatest Name embraces even the embrace itself.
This is our Imam of Our Time: a hidden mystery.

The Secret of the Mahdi and the Wisdom That Must Remain Concealed 🔒

Strangely, the Prophet goes on to say to Jabir:
“This mystery I have told you about the Mahdi is among God’s hidden secrets and His treasured knowledge. Keep it concealed, except from those worthy of it. This is God’s secret; it must not be understood by the unworthy. If they learn of it, they will seek out each of the Imams in turn to find the Mahdi and martyr him.”
And now that this secret has been revealed, everyone is looking for the Mahdi: some claim to be the Mahdi, while others want to martyr him. This only adds to the burden on the Imam.

Why Is the Imam of Our Time in Occultation? 🌙

Why is our Imam of Our Time here, yet hidden behind the veil of occultation? So that I may become worthy of kissing the dust beneath his feet.
I have brought hardship upon the Imam. His station is the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, yet I have bound him to the earth.

Jām-e Jān, [20.02.25 21:05]

Knowledge and Wisdom Await the Imam of Our Time 📖

My sins have distanced me from the Imam. Knowledge of God awaits the Mahdi.
He himself is the meaning of wisdom, and wisdom awaits its own source, its own beloved, so that it may find rest. In these times, all wisdom is captive and wandering.
How long must it suffer in hearts filled with hypocrisy? It seeks its beloved, its repository and its source, so that it may find rest there. Until it finds them, it will know neither peace nor repose.
Our Imam of Our Time is that very wisdom: the reality of wisdom, its source. He is wisdom in its flowing, revolving form.
Were he not here, by God, utter darkness would prevail. There would be no light or illumination in this age.
He is the ever-travelling physician. He is the ever-travelling physician.
The means of that ever-travelling physician, the Messenger of God, our master Muhammad al-Mustafa, rest upon the Imam’s shoulders, as he travels in search of those seeking healing, so that he may heal them by God’s leave.

A World Without the Imam and Wisdom 🌍

It is the ever-turning wisdom. A world without an Imam is a world without wisdom.
Knowledge is light, but without wisdom it is blind. It is black light.
Wisdom is what makes knowledge wholesome; it is the taste of knowledge. Wisdom is the color of knowledge. Without it, knowledge becomes a source of suffering.
The wellspring of wisdom lies veiled in occultation, yet its blessed light embraces every heart. It is the wellspring of wisdom.

Ever-turning wisdom and its relationship to knowledge and divine unity 💡

This exalted wellspring calls for worthy hearts. A pure vessel seeks out pure vessels to hold what is pure.
This is ever-turning wisdom. Wisdom is the art of knowledge, the craft behind knowledge’s wonders, its beauty.
Wisdom is the blessing of knowledge, veiled in occultation. When knowledge is infused with divine unity, it gives rise to wisdom.
If we wish to reach that wellspring of wisdom, its secret lies in divine unity. Knowledge imbued with the fragrance of divine unity is wisdom.
Knowledge flows from the heart of our Imam of the Age. Its manifestation is wisdom. Wisdom is where true knowledge finds its expression.
The knowledge that flows from the very soul of the Imam of the Age is wisdom. Everything else is a source of pain.

Wisdom: the honey of knowledge that sweetens the world 🍯

Wisdom is the honey of knowledge, sweetening the taste of all the world through his blessed soul.
Who is our Imam of the Age? When will his sacred appearance take place? Is he truly absent? He is not absent!
If he were absent, all the faculties of the world would cease to function. Intellect and understanding in this world…

The Imam of the Age and nearness to God 🙏

«اللهم عرفني حجتك»—this reveals the secret: we must understand that our Imam of the Age is not absent from us. Can God’s proof be far from us?
He is not far. Our Imam of the Age is near to God, and he is God’s closest blessing to our souls.
It is we who must strive to establish a complete connection with our Imam of the Age.
If all the information in existence is held within the Imam, then each one of us, too, is known within the Imam of the Age. Is that not a profound secret?
If you long to be transformed, if you love enough to change yourself, you are within the soul of the Imam of the Age.

Establishing a connection with the Imam of the Age 🔑

All you need is to connect with your Imam of the Age, and you will attain the best form of your own being.
Resolve to transform your soul and body. By God, it is possible.
This is the secret of completion through the Imamate of the Imam.
If I attain completion through the Imamate, accept the Imam of the Age wholeheartedly, and become joined to him, then the Imam of the Age’s soul will become my home.
I will reach God.

If we are within the Imam’s soul, what is our responsibility? ⚖️

If I am within the Imam’s soul, then every thing reaches its finest form in the Manifest Imam.
If I am within the Imam’s soul, I may be a source of suffering and trouble for him.
If the Imam falls ill, I am the cause. If His Eminence treats the illness, I am its cause.
The Imam is the key to our ascension, our ascent and elevation. He is our launchpad.
The Imam is there to lift us up and bring us to the highest realm.
What have I done? What ingratitude have I fallen into?
I should have been a source of joy and delight for the Imam, yet I have become a cause of pain and suffering for him.
Whether we accept it or not, we are within the soul of the Imam of the Age, the world’s time-tunnel, its bridge through time, its passage beyond time.
The very mystery before which all have stood bewildered and helpless.

How did God create this time and space? All its secrets are hidden within the soul of our Imam of the Age.

The secret of time and the path to truth 🔑

It is the shortcut through existence, the secret of arriving without passing through time.
It is the secret of Asif ibn Barkhiya, the secret of Moses and Jesus, of the Prophet David and Solomon the Wise, and of Muhammad al-Mustafa.

The Imam of the Age: the mystery of divine will 🌟

It is the same mystery as that of ʿAli (peace be upon him) and of every one of the Imams.
What a profound mystery our Imam of the Age holds: the mystery of God’s devotion, the mystery of God’s will, the mystery of God’s knowledge—the mystery behind every mystery.
Our Imam of the Age is the interpretation and exposition of the Muhammadan world; he is the City of Prophetic Knowledge.

Jam-e Jan, [20.02.25 21:05]

The Imam of the Age: the mystery of hearts and innate nature 💖

Our hearts find meaning in the horizons opened up by our Imam of the Age.
To be without the Imam of the Age is to exist without innate nature, without conscience, without the spirit of faith.
To be without the Imam of the Age is to have a heart narrower than all narrowness.
Our Imam of the Age is the mystery by which breasts are opened; he is the mystery of passing beyond every constriction.
Whether people understand it or not, all are connected to the vast network of the Imam of the Age. There is a universal connection, and there is a particular connection reserved for his devoted Shiʿa.
Without His Eminence, no one can achieve anything in this world of existence.
This is the mystery: the Imam is feeling, longing, and appetite.
What a mystery I have revealed! Are we ready and worthy to be in His presence, or are we among those turned away?
Let us prepare ourselves. With a single breath, we are to learn by heart, read, and understand this entire world of existence alongside our Imam of the Age. That is the goal:
The All-Knowing God opened this book so that we might read it. How are we to read it? Through His Proof!
If we do not read it, we will remain illiterate and blind.

Prayer and supplication before the Imam of the Age 🙏

Whatever you desire, recite this prayer from the depths of your heart:
اللهم عرفنی نفسک. Recite it hundreds of times!
اللهم عرفنی نبیک.
Recite the complete prayer from the depths of your heart.
Why should we not be transformed within the soul of our Imam of the Age into the best of forms and brought to our final perfection?
We must be transformed within the heart of our Imam of the Age.
Transform us and ordain for us the finest state within his blessed soul.
O God, make us worthy to be in his presence. We know, O God, that if we become worthy, we will increase the joy of our Imam of the Age.
By Your divinity, the joy of our Imam of the Age will be increased.

The Occultation and the mission of the Imam of the Age 🕰

Our Imam of the Age has been entrusted with the longest mission in all existence. Its duration and scope testify to its importance.
One affair is to come to an end, and a new one is to begin.
What must come to a close, and what must begin.
The Occultation is not a time of inactivity; it is a time of learning, a time to become worthy of that momentous affair.
The trumpet of that advent may be sounded. The blood of God is flowing.
Through this blood, God gives life, even though it is hidden.
Let knowledge of God’s Proof be the foundation of self-knowledge. We come to know our own selves when we recognise their lowliness.
When I understand how small I am, then I will behold the lofty stature of servitude.
This is the mystery of “اللهم عرفنی حجتک”: the Imam is God’s mighty means of attaining the great ends of servitude, of perfecting this world and reaching fulfilment in loving worship.
We must know the Imam fully and set out with him, so that we may achieve the greatest of victories on the path of servitude to God.
If I do not reach him, I am a loser.

Waiting and the reality of the Imam of the Age ⏳

I am not waiting for the Imam of the Age because I am dead; but I am devoted to him.
Neither earth nor sky knows any boundaries. Those whom we think are dead are alive, and they are waiting for the Imam of the Age.

A worldwide search for the Imam of the Age 🌍

People of the East and the West are searching for the Imam of the Age. All eyes are fixed on the earth, hoping to find a trace of His Eminence, to catch a fragrance of him.
What great event is about to take place? By God, our Imam of the Age knows no boundaries, and his advent will cross every border.
The blessing of his advent will heal every illness and pain.

The advent of the Imam of the Age and its effects 🌠

The Imam of Our Time and his appearance have dimensions of the intermediary realm and the celestial realm. Their effects and blessings reach beyond the earth.
Why do I look? Everyone’s gaze is fixed on the earth.
A momentous event will take place.
Imam Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (peace be upon him) says:
“When the Imam appears, no dead person will remain untouched by joy and delight. Their soul will rejoice within them, and the joy of his appearance will become sweet to them—even if they are in the grave.”
It is not the one in the grave—it is me!
Even decayed bones will rejoice.
The joy of the Imam’s appearance will embrace the dead.
The dead will go to visit the Imam and congratulate one another, sharing the glad tidings.
These are the glad tidings of the uprising of the Qa’im (peace be upon him).