Imam Al-sadiq

Them Imamate

Muslims have unanimously agreed on the necessity of the Imamate. But they have different beliefs about it, because the Imam leads the Muslim community, guards it against misguidance, enforces the Islamic law, and spreads the teachings of Islam.

A part of the policy of the Owner of the religious law and the marvelous things of his rule is that he ordered (Muslims) to know the Imam, so he said:” Whoever dies and does not know the Imam of his time dies for jâhiliya (pre Islamic paganism age).”[1] Namely, he dies as if he did not adopt Islam.

If the Muslims act according to this religious duty and carry out what this obligation ordains, to know the Imam and listen to his words after they have known him, they will be one army and their leader is the Imam. Then no Muslim ignores the commandments of the religion or he knows them but he does not act according to them. Moreover, the flags of Islam will wage all over the world.

The caliphate and Imamate was a race course, no one takes its reins but the person who wins the race even if with blood shed and violating the forbidden, rather even if the caliph himse!f, after taking the reins of authority, is impudent and dissolute paying no attention to what he does.

But the Imâmi Shia, since the first era, have not attached importance to such an Imamate and not acknowledged such an Imamate. Rather they think that the caliph or the Imam should have all the qualities of perfection, free from all the traits of defect, carrying out the commandments of the Islamic Law secretly and openly, refraining from the outside and the inside forbidden things, and prevent people from doing them. He should be appointed according to the textual nomination by the Owner of the Islamic Law or by the Imam before him, to carry out the order of Allah, the Glorified because He, the Exalted, is more than his servants in choosing the most righteous person for this sensitive position.

The ‘main is not he who leads people, rather the main is the person whom the evidences support, even if people do not follow him or prevent him from carrying out the obligations of his Imamate and the duties of his leadership.

The resistance and apposition of people against the main does not decrease his ability to assume the obligations of the Imainate, rather they miss their chance and lose a way of guidance.

1  In this manner the tradition has been mentioned in the origin of the book. We have not found it in the available books. What we have found is this text:” Whoever dies without an Imaxn dies the death ofjlhiliya.” Kanz Al- ‘UmIl: 1/103.

So, the main, according to the Imâmi viewpoint, is the person who is responsible for the obligations of the Imainate whether he rises or not, pronounces it or keeps silence, and advances for the race or falls behind, because his Imaniate is not achieved through the borrowed clothing. Namely he become an Imam when he takes this clothing from the others and is out of the Imaniate when the others take this clothing from him.

The Imam is the serious evidence, so he should inform people about his Imainate and provide evidences for it when there is a necessary need. Also people should know him and obey him when they know him.

As for providing evidences for the Imamate of the main, he should declare or hint it.

Enough for evidences that he should state his outstanding merits and miracles and show the knowledge which people are not able to show, except, when the swords prevent him from showing that; yet his acts and habits denote his position even if his tongue is silent.

The Imamate has been one of the researches which raise argument and dispute among Muslims since the first day of the Owner of the mission (the Prophet).

The argument and the disputes have taken place through the pen, the tongue, the sword, and the spearhead.

Today, the foundations of the Imamate is built on the ruins of the . Also today and tomorrow it is the difference among the sects as it was yesterday, though the Muslim have agreed on the Prophet, the Book, and the qibla (the Ka’bah). Today and yesterday, among the sects are the owners of preferable intellect and correct ideas, who have the ability to unify these sects under one banner, tell them about the reasons which have led the Imamate to BACKwardness and disunity, inform them about the advantages of unity, warn them against the evil of disunity, and make them feel the disasters, the destruction, and the discord from which Islam has suffered because of that dispute and argument. As the Imamate is the crossways, so this disunity should gather at it.

If people knew today the reality of the Imamate and who the main is, they, even if some of them, would move quickly to form a unity to include all the sects at this critical hour when anarchy and discord prevailes.

I (the anuthor) will try to point to some qualities the Imam should have, even if my word is in vain, to attract the attention of the heedless person and move the mindful one. This does not irritate me as long as the intention is right and the purpose is valuable, and it is to seek the pleasure of Allah, the Glorified.

I (the author) say: Indeed, the regime which the Last of the prophets has brought brings two maimers together; the manner of the person with the Creator and his manner with the created, and whoever brings such a regime should be able to enforce and carry it out to spread his law all over the

world. So, when the Prophet enforced and carried out his law, he had two temporal and spiritual powers. When he passed away, the community led eventually to the necessity which summoned him to conclude the Imamate during his lifetime.

The community thought that it was obligatory to carry out the functions of the owner of the mission, and no one would assume them but an main who had a general leadership over all the Muslim nation, and he had to have the two powers which the truthful Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, had; otherwise the regime which ensured the two happy places (in this world and the hereafter) would be without execution. In the meantime all those efforts from which the Owner of the mission suffered would be useless.

As the Imamate is incumbent on the Muslim community on the account of necessity, then who is the worthiest of this great function? I wonder: Is the worthiest one who was like the Owner of the mission in knowledge and act, guided in himself and guides others, provided evidence for his ideas and no weakness comes upon his evidence? If people asked him for a miracle, acts in words and he would bring it easily and without hesitation, convinced easily the stubborn; knew all that which the Owner of the mission brought and acted upon it, knew the revelation and interpretation of the Koran, full of good qualities, rather the best of all men in every quality, had no bad quality, generally speaking the model of the Prophet in all his outstanding merits?

Or is the worthiest of it he who does not know the above- mentioned qualities and they do not know him or has some of them and empty of the others? Without doubt, you will say: the first person is worthier of the Imamate than the second person is.

But I (the author) think that you will say: Indeed, all the importance is to prove two matters in this respect: the first matter it is obligatory to appoint an Iinam aécording to the above- mentioned qualities. The second matter is that he is in the Muslim community and he has all these qualities. If it is proved that the main should have these qualities and he is in the Muslim Community, then to refuse his Imainate and orders is stubbornness which the possessor of religion and intellect does not accept.

I will prove these two matters for you hoping that you will hear and understand.

As for the first evidence, it maybe summarized as follows: Surely, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, was aware of what he declared. He was not ignorant of what he was asked. His law is one. There is no disunity in it. It is immortal till the Day of Judgment. The law of Mohammed is lawful till the Day of Resurrection and what he declared unlawful is unlawful till the Day of Resurrection. If he had given a free hand to the Muslim community to choose the Imain to carry out his

obligations, we would have found the Muslim community ignorant about the commandments of the law, and not distinguish between the lawful and the unlawful, because the Muslim community had no sound judgment about the science of law to refer to it, nor did it have a just ruler who had the ability to enforce the punishments to obey him. For this reason, the Muslims divided into schools and sects. Each sect provided evidence for their ideas and beliefs. Then the people chose one among themselves as a caliph and main for themselves. They chose the caliphs who did not know all what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, brought, and had no knowledge of what they were asked about. As those caliphs became, after they had been elected, the just ruler, and as people did not find their purpose concerning the government and the commandments, every sect began showing its beliefs and ideas. But no sect had assorted arguments and clear evidence to refute the suspicions of those schools and the doubts of those ideas. The sects opposed each other. Each sect attributed their beliefs to the Islamic Law and religion though the lawful and the unlawful are unchangeable till the last hour of this existence and the islamic law is one and immortal throughout history. Nevertheless, after the Prophet of Islam, legislators, laws, beliefs, and schools have entered Islam.

This change and deviation was created by men because they had elected those who had little knowledge of the Islamic Law to be the scholar and ruler. At the same time they refuted sometimes the proofs of men with evidence and sometimes with the sword to force people to obey him and his beliefs. So it is incumbent upon the Muslim community to choose the main who is knowledgeable of what has come in the Prophetic Law, follows the acts of the Prophet, has knowledge of what he is asked, and has the evidence to remove doubts, falsehood, ignorance and misguidance so that the Islamic Law will last forever according to the orders of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, and the lawful and the unlawful of the Prophet are unchangeable throughout life, otherwise, there will be no laws, no legislators, no schools, and no beliefs.

But how can the Muslim community choose such a ruler? From where can it know him?

If they knew him, how would they agree on him because people have different trends and purposes?

So, it is incumbent on Allah, the Exalted, to appoint an main for the Muslim community and nominate that just successor and model scholar through the Prophet because Allah, the Glorified, knows the advantage of his servants and knows the person who is worthy of this sensitive function and great position.

Therefore, if the nomination of the main is incumbent on Allah, the Exalted, then it is impossible, according to the wise men, for Him, the Glorified, to neglect the incumbent that sets right his servants and guides

his creation. It is also impossible for the Prophet to neglect Allah’s nomination concerning this main. Then if it was possible for the Prophet to neglect such as an incumbent, it was possible for him to neglect other than that incumbent.

Consequently, as the Prophet is an incumbent, the Imam is an incumbent, too. As Allah sends a prophet, He appoints an main. So, there is no Prophet without an Imam and no law without explanation and execution.

As for the evidence for the second; which is the existence of this Imam, it is easy to prove it after what we have mentioned above, because if we believe that the appointment of the ‘maui according to the outstanding merits is obligatory, and that Allah, the Exalted, appoints him for His creation, we will believe that Allah does not make the name and ancestry of the main unknown, and that it difficult for the Muslim nation to know him. We know that there is no Imam in the Muslim Community for whom that incumbent is attributed and who claimed such an incumbent is attributed but ‘Au and his sons, peace be on them. If they themselves were not the Imarns, the Imamate and that incumbent would be nonsense.

Therefore, we have to know that they were scholars who had no ignorance, the just persons who did not wrong people. As for justice, no one of them had the opportunity to apply it but the Commander of the Faithful .(ArnTr al- Mu’minln), and his-matter is in no need of explanation. And as for their knowledge, their sayings and traditions denote it. So, study their knowledge and you will find that what has been reported about them is true. And this book, which is between your hands, is an extract of that abundant a ‘wledge.’[1]

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If you want to know much more about the Imainate, then see our printed study ‘Al-ShT’a wa Al- Imania.’