How does the savior Imam Mahdi live among us and have a long life of more than 1200 years?
First, we should talk about the power of God, who is capable of everything, that is, he can do whatever he wants. He says in the Holy Qur’an:
تَبارَكَ الَّذي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ وَ هُوَ عَلى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَديرٌ [1]:
Blessed and imperishable is He in whose hands is all sovereignty, and He has power over all things.
The next point is in verse 259 of Surah Al-Baqarah which says:
أَوْ كَالَّذي مَرَّ عَلى قَرْيَةٍ وَ هِيَ خاوِيَةٌ عَلى عُرُوشِها قالَ أَنَّى يُحْيي هذِهِ أللهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِها فَأَماتَهُ أللهُ مِائَةَ عامٍ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُ قالَ كَمْ لَبِثْتَ قالَ لَبِثْتُ يَوْماً أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ قالَ بَلْ لَبِثْتَ مِائَةَ عامٍ فَانْظُرْ إِلى طَعامِكَ وَ شَرابِكَ لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ وَ انْظُرْ إِلى حِمارِكَ وَ لِنَجْعَلَكَ آيَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَ انْظُرْ إِلَى الْعِظامِ كَيْفَ نُنْشِزُها ثُمَّ نَكْسُوها لَحْماً فَلَمَّا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ قالَ أَعْلَمُ أَنَّ أللهَ عَلى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَديرٌ [259]:
Or him who came upon a township as it lay fallen on its trellises. He said, ‘How will Allah revive this after its death?!’ So Allah made him die for a hundred years, then He resurrected him. He said, ‘How long did you remain?’ Said he, ‘I have remained a day or part of a day.’ He said, ‘No, you have remained a hundred years. Now look at your food and drink which have not rotted! Then look at your ass! [This was done] that We may make you a sign for mankind. And now look at its bones, how We raise them up and clothe them with flesh!’ When it became evident to him, he said, ‘I know that Allah has power over all things.’
The above verse points out that your food and drink has not changed after 100 years with the power of God, while the food and drink will spoil after a little time.
Carefully considering the above verse, we realize that our body wears out after say 70 years, so do food and drink. Since God has the ability to keep the food that spoils in a few short days healthy for 100 years, he has the ability to preserve the human body healthy and alive for thousands of years.
To prove the above; this example is also found in humans. If we look at ourselves carefully, we will realize that our eyelash hair and head hair is actually the same thing, that is, both eyelash hair and head hair are of the same type of hair, but after 70 years, eyelash hair grows 5 to 10 mm, but head hair grows for example 1 to 2 meters.
Hence, a question arises here; though both are the same type of hair, why does one grow 1 centimeter and the other several meters in many years?
The answer is that God, with His power, gives this amount of growth to the hairs of the eyelashes and the hairs of the head, and He wanted this in creation.
If we pay attention to the speed of hair growth on the head, we will realize that the speed of our life is the same, but the speed of Imam Mahdi’s life is slow and dozy like the speed of eyelash growth.
Just as both hairs are of the same kind, we and Imam Mahdi are also of the same kind, namely human beings.
In this way, God slows down the speed of erosion of Imam Mahdi’s body, so that by keeping him alive and appearing, he will bring justice and life to mankind.
Of course, other reasons are also effective during life, such as healthy eating, etc.
Since Imam Mahdi has been bestowed all the first and last sciences, he also has this knowledge and the ability to extend life.
- Surah Mulk, verse 1.
- Surah Baqarah, verse 259.
