The title al-Qāʾim Āl Muḥammad (Arabic: قائم آل محمد, "the one who arises of the family of Muḥammad"), also al-Qāʾim bi ʾl-sayf ("the one who arises with the sword") or al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh ("the one who carries out the order of God"), is given to a messiah-like figure in the eschatology of Shia Islam, sometimes equated with the Mahdi. The term first came into use in the eighth century to refer to a future member of the family of Muḥammad who would rise up and defeat the wicked rulers of the age and restore justice.[1]
According to Nasir Khusraw, a senior dignitary of the Fatimid Ismaili Imams, the line of Imams from among Imam ‘Ali’s descendants though Imam Husayn will eventually culminate in the arrival of the Lord of the Resurrection (Qāʾim al-Qiyāma). This individual is believed to be the perfect being and the purpose of creation, and through him the world will come out of darkness and ignorance and “into the light of her Lord” (Quran 39:69). His era, unlike that of the enunciators of divine revelation (nāṭiqs) who came before him, is not one where God prescribes the people to work, rather, his is an era of reward for those “who laboured in fulfilment of (the Prophets') command and with knowledge”. Preceding the Lord of the Resurrection is his proof (ḥujjat). The Qur’anic verse stating that “the night of power (laylat al-qadr) is better than a thousand months” (Quran 97:3) is said to refer to him, whose knowledge is superior to that of a thousand Imams, though their rank, collectively, is one. Nasir Khusraw also recognizes the successors of the Lord of the Resurrection to be his deputies (khulafāʾ).[2]
According to some Imāmī ḥadīths, every imām is the qāʾim of his age (al-qāʾim ahl zamānihi). The twelfth and last imām, who is in occultation and will return, is commonly known as Muḥammad al-Qāʾim.[1]
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