The Length of al-Mahdi's Life

We believe that the lengthening of a man's life is not an impossibility, because it is explicitly said in the Qur"an that:

﴾We sent Nuh to his people, as he tarried among them a thousand years, all but fifty.﴿ (XXIX; 14)

What is more, research undertaken in the biological sciences has corroborated the possibility of lengthening the human life-span. Even great scientists are of the opinion that food and drugs may be prepared which can prolong man's life. The late Ayatullah Sadr (A learned scholar of Qom (1882-1953), father of the well-known Imam Musa-Sadr of the Lebanon.) in his book "al-Mahdi", quoted from a scientific article written in 1959 which stands as a witness to what we have said above. Here we shall give a summary of it. "Authoritative scientists say that all the basic tissues of the animal body can live forever, and it is possible for man to live for a thousand years, provided that it doesn"t happen that the thread of his life is severed.

These scientists do not speak on the basis of guesswork or surmise, for they have arrived at their conclusion through scientific experiment.

The miracles of the prophets, the cooling of the fire for Ibrahim al-Khalil, the turning into a serpent of Hazrat Musa's staff, the bringing to life of the dead through Hazrat "Isa, and so forth, are all against the usual flow of things, but God brought another order into existence by His own power and a miracle occurred; all Muslims, Jews and Christians, believe in miracles. Similarly for the length of the life of the Imam of the Age there remains no place for any kind of objection, because if someone says that such a length of life is impossible, his claim cannot be at all accepted after the stipulation of the Qur"an concerning the length of Hazrat Nuh's life, and also after the latest revelations of biology. If it is said that it is possible, but against the normal natural order of things, it can be retorted that the length of life of the Imam of the Age is against the natural order just as the miracles of the prophets, and is carried out according to the will of God. Someone who believes in the power of God and the occurrance of the miracles of the prophets cannot have the slightest objection to the length of the Imam's life.