The Role of Holy Imams in Revival of Religion

Alteration and Its Dimensions in Past Nations

In a short, analogic, comparatory discussion we will study the ways of alteration, replacement and concealment in previous nations so that with greater clarity we will come to know the final Divine law and its fate. We will consult the only accurate unaltered record in our possession of the history of divine religions, The Holy Quran to see how previous divine religions were destroyed:

1) On Concealment:

«And (remember) when Allah laid a charge on those who had received the Scripture (He said): You are to expound it to mankind and not to hide it. But they flung it behind their backs and bought thereby a little gain.» 38

«Those who hide the proofs and the guidance which We revealed, after We had made it clear in the Scripture: such are accursed of Allah and accursed of those who have the power to curse» 39

«o! those who hide aught of the scripture which Allah hath revealed, and purchase a small gain therewith, they eat into their bellies nothing but fire. Allah will not speak to them on the day of Resurrection, nor will Me make them grow. Theres' will be a painful doom.» 40

2) On mixing the truth with falsities:

«O people of the scripture! Why confound ye truth with falsehood and knowingly conceal the truth» 41 «Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth» 42

3) Alteration

«Have you any hope that they will be true to you when a party of them used to listen to the word of Allah, then used to change it, after they had understood it, knowingly?» 43

«....and of the Jews: listeners for the sake of falsehood, listeners on behalf of other folk who come not unto thee, changing words from their context....» 44

«Some of those who are Jews change words from their context and say: "We hear and disobey; hear thou as one who heareth not" and "listen to us" distorting with their tongues and slandering religion.....» 45

From a careful study of the proceeding verses we discover that different nations used different methods to plunder heavenly truths and divine religions. A group of them hide or concealed these truths, another mixed the truth with falsehood creating suspicion and the third group only changed directions to alter meaning or intention, having nothing to do with its outer appearance and literality. In short, by using these methods they would alter the Scriptures or Testaments and progressed to the point where it became impossible to recognize the truth from falsehood.

Of course the primary motive for these treacherous acts and plundering was that Heavenly truths were always and in every place at war and in conflict with a part of mans' sensual passions and desires. The validity and value of these types of realities closed the way to the enactment and practice of sensual desires for the powerful and pleasure seeking. Either these pleasures and countless conveniences must be refuted; those realities removed from their valid, recognized position; or changed in essence and nature. The powerful persons of nearly all nations chose the third method. This was because they were not willing to accept the first method which meant forsaking their pleasures and the second method was not feasible because refuting religious truths in their entirety would damage their position making life difficult for them. As such, the best method was to alter and plunder all of its meanings and realities under the pretense of religion. This was the fate of all Divine religions and past religious laws, they were altered in this fashion. The Holy Quran groups these crimes and malicious acts under the word revolt, injustice. 46

Previously we learned that the exigency of Divine Lordship is that his laws---being the only laws that ring true for mankind---be sent to the prophets in the form of revelations which are then taught to us by them. We also learned that because they are messengers, Divine messengers have no responsibility except that of propagation. In addition to that however, every prophet before being Gods messenger is also a Muslim. That which is required of us with regard to our being Muslim is also required of him. Being a Muslim he must pray, fast, perform the rites of Hajj, perform Holy War (Jehad) and establish a just government. All of these are Islamic responsibilities, not those of prophetic mission. In the sense that the prophet is a messenger of God and an apostle he has no other responsibility but that of propagation.

Now, with the preliminary information we have acquired we will proceed to the main topic of this series of lectures, being the role and responsibilities of the Holy Imams (a.s) in Islamic society.

Imamate and Caliphate

In Islam there exists two schools of thought and insight: The Imamate school and the Caliphate schools.

In the Imamate school, the Imam possesses certain particularities, Among them that he must be infallible of all sin and error ("Masum" = infallible). Another is that he may only be appointed by God, the Prophet having no role in his appointment except for the propagation and proclamation of Gods command. 'The Almighty God" chooses, and the prophet relays the news of this divine appointment to the people.

Of these Imams, the first being Amirul Mu'meneen Ali (a.s) and the last being Hujjat ibn al-Hassan Mahdi (a.s), that which we know and recognize in relation to Ali is the same for Hujjat ibn al-Hassan. That which is proved for Ali; infallibility, divine appointment, divine inspiration, and knowledge of all the aspects of eternal Islam, exists for all of the Imams and is proved.

But in the Caliphate school, the people choose the Caliph and he comes to hold the position of Caliph by the peoples choice. Here, what is confirmed for Abu Bakr has been confirmed until the end of the Ottoman Caliphate. The Caliphate is determined by a vote and an oath of allegiance and this never differs.

This discussion was only a very small introduction. We will now see that in the Imamate school and based on its views, how Imam Ali (a.s) is seen and what the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) said on his behalf.

A study of the Prophets life will clearly show that the propagation of divine law by him was not unrelated to the events of time and place. For instance, when something happened and the Prophet was consulted concerning it, Gabriel would reveal the related judgement by way of revelation. In domestic or social matters, conflicts would arise, someone would ask a question, or an issue would be brought up by friend or foe with the Prophet (s.a.w). Following these situations a revelation would be revealed that solved the disagreement or answered the question.

We will refer to a very important event in Islamic history and learn from it. In the eighth year of the Hejrat, the Prophet conquered Mecca and returned to Medina.

Now the Muslims possess the mightiest power in Arabia. However other scattered forces exist in Arabia which have not come under the banner of Islam, and a group of the pagan Arab tribes still loyal to the customs of the ignorant Arabs come to Mecca. These pagans circumambulate the "House of God" in Mecca and perform all of the other rites customary just as the Muslims.

After Islam gained power and Mecca was conquered, all of these rites were performed by the Muslims. The Muslim and pagan both performed Abrahams great rite and each went in his own way having nothing to do with the other.

The Chapter of Bara'ah in the Holy Quran, was revealed as a strong command to end the mixing of Muslim and Pagan. In these verses God explicitly informs the pagans that:

"(This is a declaration of) immunity by Allah and his Apostle towards those the idolaters with whom you made an agreement. So go about in the land for four months and know that Allah will bring disgrace to the unbelievers. And an announcement from Allah and His Apostle to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah and His Apostle are free from liability to the idolaters;.... 47

So it was thus that the proclamation for combat with all of the Arab polytheists was given. This was Allahs command and judgement and must be communicated as such to the Arab pagans and polytheists. The Prophet is the one delegated for the duty of propagation. The initial proclamation of the Quran and each of Gods laws to its audience is the particular concern of the ("Masum") infallible. Those bound by, or the audience intended for a particular divine law must initially hear it, from one of the infallible.

The Holy Quran stipulates that; our invisible officers (Angels) look after those possessed of prophetic mission in all aspects and ways during the propagation of divine law, so that the message will be given without encountering the danger of mistakes or errors. As a result Heavenly truths reach the people in their true entirety. 48 This is the very principle we mentioned as the purity of first hand propagation which consists of this divine practice:

«The initial propagation must be undertaken by an infallible (Masum)»

Here a point is necessary to make because without it this subject will not be correctly understood. The ideas that must be relayed to the people may be divided into two parts: first are those of which both the terminology and their meanings or intent are from God such as the Quran and other divinely inspired scriptures, second are those whose ideas and meanings are Heavenly but its terminology coming from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) and those are the traditions.

The Holy Quran was revealed to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) by God, both the very terminology, the words and all of their meanings and intent are from Him. Of course the Quran only contains the major and main topics of Islamic matters and doesn't usually deal with specific matters. But there also exists a series of Islamic laws and learnings and other specifics such as how many "Rakats" (units or sections) make up one prayer, what is recited in "Rukoo" (genuflection) and "Sujud" (prostration) during prayer, how do we say the "Tashahud" (testimony) in the rite of Hajj how many times must we circumambulate the Kaaba, where is "Meeghat" (a certain place for beginning Hajj rites), how do we put on the pilgrims clothing, when are alms necessary and all other secondary details. These are not in the Holy Quran. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w) with reliance on revelation but with his own terminology and words explained them. In this series of religious laws the meanings and ideas are from God but the speech from the Prophet.

That which in word and meaning was from God; the Holy Quran and its propagation to the duty bound, was finished by the last year of the Holy Prophets (s.a.w) life, and the Prophet proclaimed it to all of the people. However, the ideas and truths which must be explained in prophetic traditions are of two types. One type included those which the Muslims of that time needed and wanted. The Prophet informed everyone of these. The other type were those which would not be enacted during the Prophets time and would be enacted in later times, there as such being no urgent need for their proclamation in the Prophets time. For example; if the leader of the Muslims is not infallible,(the prophet or Imam the rightful one) what is the duty of the Muslims, and how should they act towards him? This verdict was not needed during the Prophets time. Also, if between two groups of Muslims war should break out, how should the oppressive side be treated and the property taken from them holds what verdict in Islamic law? These laws and their like had no opportunity for enactment during the Prophets day and age. Later however, during the age of Imam Ali (a.s) it became reality and its practical verdict was enacted by the Imam. Also, if the Muslims should go to war against the rightful leader what must be done with their captives and how should the spoils of war be taken possession of? All of these were matters brought up later and there was no need for their verdicts during the Prophets time so they weren't explained.

It was all of these events and hundreds and thousands of other events that had laws, rules, and verdicts, and God related and explained them to His prophet by way of revelation. In these sorts of maters the Prophet left their verdicts as a trust with Amirul Mo'meneen Ali (a.s),49 and it was he who had the responsibility of their communication after the Prophet (s.a.w)!

Another division of the matters necessary to be propagated could be into those being proclaimed for the first time without an intermediary, and those proclaimed by an intermediary.

The laws necessary for their duty-bound must initially be proclaimed by a person completely infallible and free of sin, error and prejudice. Prayer, the Fast, Zakat and Jehad and every other Divine Law must initially be taught by a missionary who is infallible (Masum) to the duty bound. This must be done by one who is appointed by God, and infallible of errors and mistakes and if not Gods law may become subject to subtraction and additions, mistakes and forgetfulness. Of course, after correctly learning religious law every Muslim may and must proclaim it to others. One Muslim may say to the other: the Prophet (s.a.w) taught me to pray like this, he taught the particulars of a certain law like this or he performed some particular action like this. An ordinary Muslim, one who is not infallible ("Masum") may not say the following without mentioning an intermediary; God requires you to pray in this manner. No, in principle the right to say such does not exists for those other than the infallible. This is the precise, important point here.

According to this principle the Islamic laws which were not proclaimed during the Prophets lifetime must have been proclaimed by what person? While we answer this question we will draw closer to the role and deed of the Holy Imams (a.s).

49. In creditable Shi'ite Traditions it is said that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) informed Ali (a.s) of all of the matters needed by man and he (Ali) collected and put these down in a book called « «'''» =collection», which was kept by Ahlu'l bait as a scientific legacy. We have also seen much of this book in Sunni Traditions. We will discuss this book further in the future. If God wills.