Connected with the notion of deliverance is, among the Imamis, the idea that al-Qaim ["Revolted One" the title given to the Twelfth Imam as the one who rises and defends the wretched on earth], when he arrives on earth, will complete the task of Husayn in Karbala and this is why he is also referred to as the "Avenger of the Blood of Allah [Imam Husayn]". Hence, according to many traditions, he shall appear on the day of Ashura, i.e. the 10th of the Muslim month of Muharram , on which Husayn was slain by men in the service of the Damascene Caliph Yazid Ibn Muawyah. And although his first appearance will be in Mecca, he will make his headquarters in Kufa. There, nearby the site of Karbala and on the spot where Imam Ali was martyred and buried, the Mahdi will have his seat. To pious Shia Muslims, such symbolic representations were, however, insufficient for the deep-felt passion of revenge and redemption. Thus, many accounts predict not only the return of Husayn to revenge his own blood, but also the karrat al-Husayn together with the Prophet, Ali and Hasan as well. But in spite of the shifting between roles of an avenger and that of establishing, on the command of God, equity and justice on earth, together with the return of the above mentioned historical persons, the Mahdi of the Imamis is all the same necessary, because through him, the beginning and the following events with the “ misunderstandings” , to use a Gnostic phrase, will come to an end. For the future can only be secured if history is corrected, and then controlled.
Lord of Time, Hidden Imam and Shia Esoteric Vision of Cosmos
