His Eminence’s answer to the question of Coronavirus indicating the return of the 12th Imam

With warm greetings and respect to His Eminence Ayatullah Fazel Lankarani (May he live long)

Since currently there are rumors and hypotheses about religion and religious beliefs in cyber space, and taking into account that you are an expert on the subject of Mahdaviyyat, what is your opinion about this disease being connected with the End Time and the reappearance of the Imam?

In the Name of God

The signs of the Imam’s reappearance are to be sought in authentic narrations from religious sources. According to religious sources the current events are not among the signs of his reappearance. Thus, counting the disease as a sign of the Imam’s return is a baseless claim, rather it is tempering with religion.

Such incidents, blights and diseases have occurred many times in history with different levels of gravity. We cannot claim that the current pandemic is a sign signifying the return of the Imam or that his reappearance is close.

Of the signs of truly awaiting the Imam is to keep the religion safe from alteration and not engage the minds of people and the youth with baseless claims. We cannot consider every strange event, though very overwhelming, a sign of the Imam’s reappearance.

Muhammad Javad Fazel Lankarani