-The Prplonged life span of last Shia Imam has been a theological debate and shia scholars has revoked to different evidences to prove the possibilty of his long life. In this articel we are going to review the subject from the religon and science prespective.
It is frequently quoted many reports from Shia Imams about the longevity of Imam Mahdi life span. These narrations show that the subject of prolonged life span of Imam was always in question. For example, it is quoted from Imam Sajad that Imam Mahdi inherited different features from different prophets and his prolonged life span is inherited from Adam and Noah. (1) In another report, Imam Hassan al Mojtaba said that Allah would make his life so long and he would reappear as a youth that looks less than forty years old.(2)
Even though majority of Sunni Muslims do not consider the son of Imam Hassan al Askari to be the promised Mahdi nor to be in occultation but some of them like Ibn Jozi confirm the Shia belief in the longevity of Imam Mahdi's life referring to the long life of the prophet Naoh and Khizr.(3) Abdol wahab Sharini says: he is alive until the Jesus will descend from the heaven and visit him. Now he is 706 years old at our time.(4)
The medial breakthrough has shown that the longevity is possible and there has emerged a research interest regarding the biological manipulations to reduce the speed aging in human cell. Even the well-off investors of the world are funding programs and scientists that work on this issue. Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon has invested on a firm called Altos labs. The firm is recruiting academic researchers in order to pursue biological reprograming. Even Google co-founder, Larry page launched a longevity company called calico labs. Calico hired elite scientific figures and gave them generous budgets. (5)
Shinva Yamanaka is a scientist who shared a 2012 Nobel Prize for the discovery of reprogramming. His breakthrough discovery was that with the addition of just four proteins, now known as Yamanaka factors, cells can be instructed to revert to a primitive state with the properties of embryonic stem cells. As a result, even scientists do not consider the longevity of human life a far-fetched matter.
History also witnessed ordinary people who live long even though they were not prophets. But we have verses in the Holy Quran that indicate the longevity of some prophet's life span. For example:
Certainly We sent Noah to his people, and he remained with them for a thousand-less-fifty years. Then the flood overtook them while they were wrongdoers. (Ankabut, 14)
shi’i scholars also have used the story of the Cave mentioned in the Holy Quran to prove the possibility of the longevity of Imam Mahdi’s life.
In convolution, it is not far-fetched for ordinary human to live a very long life, let alone the humans who are appointed and blessed by Allah.
1. Bihar al Anvar, vol51, page217
2. Kamal al Din va Tamam al Nema, vol1, page316.
3. Al Bavaghit va Javahir, page 65.
4. Al Bavaghit va Javahir, page 65.
5. https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/04/1034364/altos-labs-silicon-v...