One way to line up Shiʿi Islam, Christianity, and ultra-Orthodox Judaism is to say they’re all waiting, for the Mahdi, for Christ to return, for the Messiah to come. But while at a distance the comparison seems apt, upon closer inspection it falls apart. The main issue is not just that they’re waiting but what kind of absence they posit and what kind of absence means for the question of authority in the here and now. That’s where they diverge greatly. In Twelver Shiʿi Islam, the tension is this: The Mahdi is not only a figure to come; he is believed to be alive, but hidden. The problem this poses is that authority hasn’t vanished, it is present in full force, it is just inaccessible. So who can act on its behalf? Many Shiʿi scholars have answered: no one, not fully, and that is why authority must be limited and exercised with caution. Ruhollah Khomeini, however, answered differently: Qualified jurists should rule in the Imam’s stead. Then the question becomes not one of restraint, but of how to make authority work.

Once you take this route,........

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