Everyone is waiting for the Savior. But what if, when he comes, he is nothing like what they expected? Here are five unexpected qualities of the Mahdi that may determine whether people recognize him—or reject him.

Religion taught us the names of God. But what if the names are only the doorway?

What if the prison the prophets warned of was not made of walls? Beginning with Muhammad’s enigmatic description of the world as “a prison for the believer,” this article explores an ancient idea of captivity—and a contemporary promise of liberation centered on the Riser, Aba Al-Sadiq.

“If God exists, and if He is a Good God, then why is there so much suffering in the world?” Nearly everyone has encountered this question at some point in their life. The answer is simpler than it may seem.

God manifests in creation through a threefold structure, often referred to as the Manifestation Trinity: the Maana (Meaning), the Ism (Name), and the Bab (Door). The Maana represents the hidden divine reality, the Ism is its expressed identity in creation (such as the Prophet or Imam), and the Bab is the gateway through which people access and recognize the Name.

Abdullah ibn Saba is a figure in Islamic history whose name has been weaponized for over a thousand years. But here is the question we must ask: Is there more to his story than the general understanding?