In Twelver Shia eschatology, the asceticism (zuhd) of the Mahdi’s 313 companions is not treated merely as a personal spiritual choice—it is a strict administrative requirement.Because these 313 individuals are destined to become the global governors, judges, and military commanders of the post-reappearance world, they must be completely immune to the corrupting influences of power, wealth, and status.According to foundational Shia Hadith collections (such as Ibn Tawus’s Al-Malahim wal-Fitan and traditions traced back to Imam Ali), when the 313 gather at the Kaaba, the Mahdi will place a rigorous, binding covenant upon them.
The Rules of the Covenant
The terms of the pledge explicitly demand a life of radical humility, physical austerity, and absolute detachment from luxury. The specific ascetic requirements include:
- Diet and Attire: The companions swear to wear only coarse, simple garments (explicitly rejecting luxury materials like silk) and to never wear gold jewelry or bands. Their diet is characterized by total simplicity—frequently described in texts as subsisting on basic barley bread.
- Renunciation of Material Wealth: They pledge never to amass gold, silver, or treasures, and they are strictly forbidden from hoarding essential goods like wheat and barley. They cannot accumulate private real estate or build ostentatious palaces.
- Physical Humility: The texts emphasize that they must choose to “prostrate on the bare earth” and ride simple mounts. They swear never to shut their doors to the public or surround themselves with elite bodyguards, ensuring they remain entirely accessible to the poorest citizens.
- Moral Purity: Alongside material asceticism, the covenant demands absolute ethical uprightness. They swear never to usurp the property of orphans, never to engage in deceit or intrigue, never to shed blood unjustly, and never to break a promise.
The Divine Duality: “Monks by Night, Lions by Day”
Shia traditions use a famous phrase to describe the daily rhythm resulting from this intense ascetic discipline: “They are monks by night and lions by day.”
- By Night (The Monks): Despite their staggering physical strength (traditions state each companion possesses the strength of 40 regular men), they spend their nights weeping in prayer. Hadiths describe them as “buzzing like honeybees” in their night vigils, entirely consumed by spiritual devotion and fear of God. Their foreheads bear permanent physical marks from prolonged prostration on the ground.
- By Day (The Lions): The moment dawn breaks, their spiritual ecstasy transforms into fierce, unyielding justice. They mount their horses or take their stations as incorruptible executors of the Mahdi’s global reforms.
Why the Mahdi Demands Radical Asceticism
The strategic and theological reasons for enforcing such an intense lifestyle on his elite inner circle are highly practical:
Absolute Incorruptibility: A governor who does not care about gold, fancy clothes, or fine dining cannot be bribed, blackmailed, or swayed by the temptations of high office. Their absolute detachment makes them perfectly objective executioners of justice.Eliminating the Ruler-Subject Divide: Throughout human history, revolutions fail when the new rulers adopt the luxurious lifestyles of the tyrants they overthrew. By forcing his governors to live at the lowest economic standard of the population, the Mahdi ensures that his administration possesses total, empathetic solidarity with the common people.Total Submission to the Leader: The asceticism completely empties the companions of their egos (Nafs). Without personal ambition, pride, or fear of losing material comforts, they become perfectly transparent instruments of the Mahdi’s will.