The community of believers which make up the body of believers in the call of the Mahdi (PBUH) see themselves as not only members of one faith, but members of one family, for the Qur’an said, “The believers are but siblings.”28 The community of believers also view themselves as God’s chosen people, for the chosen people of God are but the people whom God has a standing covenant with, and that is us, for the Jews, Christians, and Muslims all broke their covenants with God. The community of believers see themselves as the true children of Israel. The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said, “I am the servant of God, my name is Ahmad, and I am the servant of God, my name is Israel, so whatever he commanded him, he commanded me, and whatever he meant for Israel, he meant for me.”29 Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH) also said about the interpretation of the verse in the Qur’an ‘O Children of Israel’, "It is specific to the Family of Mohammed.”30 So now we know and realize that the promise of the return to the promised land mentioned in the Torah, the promise of the gathering of the lost tribes of Israel mentioned in the Bible, and the promise of God’s everlasting blessings and hand over the nation of Israel is actually speaking about Mohammed and his successors (PBUT). The ones who will inherit the land are them and their followers. In the Bible it says, “They were from the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve thousand from each tribe: Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd—no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”31 As such, the tribes of Israel (Mohammed’s family and Shia) gather to the Qa’im in the narrations, “When our Qa’im (PBUH) will establish himself, Allah will gather the people of the East and West. These people will come together in one place in the same manner as the leaves gather in one place in autumn.”32 The companions whom gather around the Qa’im are the future citizens of the Divine Just State. God is gathering them as he gathered the Israelites before in the time of Moses (PBUH). First, the Israelites took Moses as a leader, then they entered into a covenant with God by obedience to him, and the believers then left Egypt and their old lives of slavery to follow Moses (PBUH) as he leads them out of the clutch of Pharaoh and through the sea. As such, the believers in this day and age are commanded to travel to the Qa’im, even if it were on ice, or through the clouds, or even if it were at great risk to their own selves, in order that they may form a community around him and be part of the promised nation that he will lead out of slavery and into the promised land. This task requires great patience as it did before with previous prophets and messengers. The narrations state that Noah (PBUH) preached to his people for 950 years before the flood came and the believers inherited the Earth. The narrations also state that Moses (PBUH) first appeared amongst his people attempting to save them at the age of forty and led them out of Egypt at the age of eighty. As such, the call of the Qa’im requires people whom understand the sunnah of the previous prophets and messengers, and are willing to dedicate their lives, time, efforts and resources to establishing a state. Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan the Yamani said, “I do not want anyone who gets tired or gets bored,” and he said, “Work and work and work until your breath is cut out,” and he also said, “in order to pass this, one needs patience, and then patience, and then patience, and then submission.” He also said, “The Divine Just State will never be established until it is established amongst you first, O believers.” So we believe that during this time where the believing community goes from being a diaspora or dispersed nation that was exiled by the tyrants from their land to a strong community gathered around the Qa’im, justice must be established amongst the community. The community should live by God’s rules and by being an example of, “You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them.”33 We must become a true embodiment of the values and teachings of the Prophets and Messengers and Imams, and an example for all nations of what a true Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Hindu, etc. should be. Through the divine example which the community sets for the world, they will not only gain God’s favor even more, but they will gain the admiration and respect of all nations. As they demonstrate themselves to be the ideal nation and the ideal people, the ideal state and the ideal religion, they are propagating the faith in every and all ways. When people see the example of the community, they compare it to their families, their friends, their states, their countries, and they envy our nation and our people, and wish to be like us and with us. This will eventually result in the manifestation of an actual Divine Just State for the believers, where we have an actual country with actual borders. As the body is a physical manifestation of the soul which comes before it. As such, the gathering of the community serves as the archetype, prototype, and soul of the physical state and country which comes after. This great gathering will cost money, for those who migrate to the Qa’im will be many, and they will marry and they will fulfill the Adamic covenant and be fruitful and multiply, and more resources will be needed to sustain the nation. The community must emulate the previous communities and nations of the prophets and messengers. Every new member must adhere to the stipulation that Jesus (PBUH) put forth to anyone who wished to follow him. Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”34 And the poor are those poor who emigrate to the Qa’im, those believers who are the oppressed on the Earth, those who believe in the Supremacy of God. The community must live as the apostles of Christ lived, rather even more so than them if they wish to be the nation that Jesus (PBUH) returns to, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”35 Those members of the community whom arrive must also be prepared to work serving the community in one way, shape or form. A gigantic platform should be built to spread the call, a media machine, so to speak. This will require men and women whom are dedicated to spreading the call of God and serve as writers, television presenters, editors, debaters, missionaries, etc. and it requires a system to support them. There must be believers whom are willing to cook and feed the community of saints, prophets and messengers. There must be drivers willing to take the believers wherever they need to go, cleaners willing to clean after them and maintain their properties, builders willing to build homes and offices and temples, doctors willing to heal and medicine the sick, teachers and tutors willing to teach and help the children, until there remains no job in an actual state that is not fulfilled by believers in our community. They would be the plumbers, mechanics, doctors, engineers, teachers, workers, and leaders that are needed for our divine just state. There should be no currency exchanged between the believers. All needs of any member of the community should be fulfilled for free. The value of each community member would not be determined by how much they accumulated in material wealth like the rest of the nations, but rather by how much they served God through their service to the community and fellow man. That is their worth, as the Prophet said, “Creation is the children of God, the best of you is the best to the children of God.”36 The community of believers should work to never have any differences between them, but if they ever did, they would all recognize the authority and judgement of their leader and they would accept it. The community of believers would be like a bee hive working for a common cause, with each member willing to sacrifice himself or herself for the survival of the hive. The community members are like one family, like siblings born from the same parents, and they fulfill their rights to one another as such. They give up their physical parents and take the divinely appointed leader as their father, and they give up their physical friends, brothers, sisters, and take the believers in their place. So much so that the believer inherits from his brother in the community and in the soul world, and does not leave his inheritance for his physical family. The community serves as an ideal example of love, peace and prosperity, seeking to guide all mankind, and without causing any trouble for the country which hosts them while they are still a nationless people. They respect all the laws of the land that they are in, they show appreciation to the nation and people that hosted them, allowing them to practice their faith freely in the same way that Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) and the Muslims showed love and respect to the Ethiopian Christian King who allowed them freedom to live as a community of Muslims in his land.
28 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 49 (Al-Hujarat), verse 10
29 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 24, p. 397
30 Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 24, p. 397
31 The Holy Bible, The Book of Revelation, Chapter 7, verses 4-9
32 Moajam Ahadith Al-Imam Al-Mahdi, Ali Al-Korani, Vol. 3, p. 100
33 The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 3 (Aal Imran), verse 110
34 The Holy Bible, The Book of Matthew, Chapter 19 verse 21
35 The Holy Bible, The Book of Acts, Chapter 4, verses 32-35
36 Wasa’il Al-Shia, Al-Hurr Al-Amili, Vol. 16, p. 345