waghifiyah

the rise of different sects among muslims and the formation of their creeds have been the effect of various religious and non religious factors. one religious belief that has been of particular importance in the creed of numerous muslim sects, especially of the shi'i ones, has been mahdawiyah, or the belief in mahdi. in its shi'i from, the belief in mahdi has been closely intertwined with the issue of ghaybah (occultation) and raj'ah (return)' becoming a pretext for a number of leaders and followers of muslim sects to base their sreed upon. one such sect is the waghifiyah. believing in mahdi's ghayban and raj'ah is a major principle of the various waghifi creeds. in its general sense, waghifi creeds have a long history in islam. numerous islamic sects have resorted to the belief in mahdi to uphold the principle of waghf (ending the imamah with a prticular imam). in its particular sence, however, the waghifiyah refers to those who upheld the belief that the shi'ah imamah ended with the 7th imam assuming him to be the promised mahdi and thus restricting the phenomena of ghaybah and raj'ah to him as well. this paper while discussing the waghifiyah and their beliefs, also deals with the reasons and factors for their appearnce.