This article addresses the necessity of the existence of the Representative of Allah on the earth at any time. The opponents of Shia protest that although Shia consider the Imam necessary in order to expound the injunctions and verities of religion and to guide the people, the occultation of the Imam is the negation of this very purpose, for an Imam in occultation who cannot be reached by mankind cannot be in any way beneficial or effective.

On the commands of Allah, Hazrat Vali-e-Asr is in occultation right from the commencement of his Imamat. Hence as opposed to his forefathers (a.s.), Imam's meetings with his Shias have been few and far between. By and large, the problems of the people have been presented before his esteemed self in the form of letters and "Areeza" ("Areeza" is a letter of requests written by the Shias to the Imam of their time).

Thus Quran and traditions alike, exhort the Muslims to secure some arbitrator in order to gain proximity with Allah, and achieve eternal deliverance. Why seek mediation of Imam Mahdi (a.t.f.s.)? Any Shia is bound to think, 'What is the rationale for us to seek mediation of our Imam?' There are several facets to this question.

The real worth of human being is hidden in his intellectual dimension and specialized nature and his source of perceptions, motives, and exalted tendencies take him towards perfection and make him distinguishable from other (materialistic) creatures.

The Sunnite state that the Mahdism deals with a theology of the hope, is totally rejected, then regard it as a myth of the hope, even, an utopist idea. They also claim that the Mahdism historically adopted from the Jewish messianic idea which was composed and designed as a common episteme by Shiites in the era of social and political captivity.

Islam - with its own concrete culture and reality – can no longer be disregarded. It does represent a pivotal moment. No doubt, it is a key-factor on the stage of history. The sentence “the world is a global village” is a well-known cliché. But this global village is pluralistic in a religious and cultural sense as well, and within this global village Islamic civilisation has forged its own order and dimension.

It is hard to believe that science, technology, politics and economics can effectively offer a unifying vision of the complexity of our world today and find the solutions to our everyday increasing problems. Our world is in a state of imbalance created by man´s misuse. The appearance of the Mahdi (Pbuh) or Saviour will restore and balance the earth.

Religions also function as a bridge if the common elements among them such as spirituality, moral principles and a notion of Judgment Day are more emphasized. This function was illustrated by la convivencia (‘coexistence’ or ‘living together’) put into practice in Toledo in particular during the Moorish rule of Spain. As a microcosm of the atmosphere of religious tolerance then prevalent in the city, Jews, Christians and Muslims were working together in the city’s libraries, translating books from Arabic into Castilian Spanish and then into Latin.

Islamic reformism was a modern movement, which came into being in the wake of European supremacy and expansion. It first emerged in the nineteenth century, and gave life to various schools of thought and religious thinking. Neo-reformism is emerging at the dawn of this present new age, the response to foreign challenges, to the integration of the Islamic order into the Western secular/economic system.