Following the previous two responsibilities, another obligation upon the believers is for them to gather together and agree to help Imam al-Zaman (ajtf).
Indeed, there is a great spiritual effect in gathering together and agreeing (to help the Imam), which is not present when one does this act on his own in private.
In a verse of the Qur`an, we read that:
تَعَاوَنُوا عَلى الْبِرِّ وَ التَّقْوى
“Help one another towards good deeds and God consciousness.”1
This verse proves that it is obligatory to gather together and help each other.
In a tradition from the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (as) it has been mentioned that:
أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ! لَوْ لَـمْ تَتَخَاذَلُوا عَنْ نَصْرِ الْحَقِّ وَ لَمْ تَهِنُوا عَنْ تَوْهِينِ الْبَاطِلِ لَمْ يَطْمَعْ فِيكُمْ مَنْ لَيْسَ مِثْلَكُمْ وَ لَمْ يَقْوَ مَنْ قَوِيَ عَلَيْكُمْ
“O’people! Had you not failed to support the right and undermine the wrong, he who is not from you would not have overcome you and he who is now ruling over you would not have had the opportunity to do so.”2
In addition, it has been stated by Imam al-Mahdi (ajtf) in one of the letters he wrote that:
وَ لَوْ أَنَّ أَشْيَاعَنَا وَفَّقَهُمُ اللٌّهُ لِطَاعَتِهِ عَلـى اجْتِمَاعٍ مِنَ الْقُلُوبِ فِي الوَفَاءِ بِالْعَهْدِ عَلَيْهِمْ لَمَا تَأَخَّرَ عَنْهُمُ الْيُمْنُ بِلِقَائِنَا
“And if our followers, May Allah make them successful in obeying Him, were united with their hearts in fulfilling the promise that is upon them, there would be no delay for them from the good fortune of meeting us.”3
- 1.Suratul Ma’idah (5), Verse 2
- 2.Nahj al-Balagha, sermon 165, pg. 542
- 3.Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 53, pg. 177, sec. 31, no. 8