A Critique and Analysis of Reasons for Illegitimacy of the Religious Government during the Occultation Era

Abstract

Some believe that a religious government during the Occultation Era does not have the necessary legitimacy. The proponents of the idea have presented reasons most of which refer to the absence of the twelfth Imam per se and the existence of narrations that have pictured any uprisings or restorative movements as useless, inefficient and even illegitimate. The present study is aimed at indicating that the absence of the twelfth Imam per se may not be a reason for the illegitimacy of the religious government but a religious government can set the stage for the messianic culture. It will also show that despite the existence of narrations that reject the legitimacy of an uprising during the Occultation Era, there are genuine narrations in the narrative reference books that refer to the legitimacy of the movement. By drawing a comparison between the two categories of narrations, it may be concluded that some of those uprisings, including Imam Khomeini’s uprising that led to an Islamic government, were legitimate in case of having the conditions of an uprising.

Keywords

• legitimacy
•  religious government
•  occultation era