Imamate

Founded on their interpretation of those Quranic verses that pertain to kinship and succes­sion to the prophets,⁶ Shi'ites strongly held that leadership of the Muslim community after the Prophet belonged to ahl al-bayt, the House of the Prophet, which consisted of a very limited group of Muhammad’s close relatives.

Shi'i theology does not deviate from the general definition of Imamate in Islamic juris­prudence and has characterized it as ‘riyasatun ‘amma fi ‘umur al-dunya wa-l-dTn li-shakhsin min al-ashkhas niyabatan min al-NabT or universal authority in both spiritual and temporal affairs which is bestowed to someone who is delegated by the Prophet.⁷ Two concepts need elabo­ration in this regard.

1.1 Divine grace

According to Tabataba’i (d. 1981), the creation of man by God is designed to conform to those general rules of nature that spur evolution towards perfection and felicity, and man is guided through his divinely devised fifra, an instinct that motivates seeking reality of the Divine and His creation.⁸ The Divine provides guidance through revelation, which includes commandment of duties; duties should be performed by man; man is endowed with rational faculty; in search for benefit or loss in acts employs practical reason and seeks approval and finds guidance in the revelation; Divine guidance entails His luff (grace) in assisting humanity to achieve highest virtues informed and advised through revelation;⁹ and the Imams are educators who provide correct interpretation of the revelation (Qur’an) the prophetic teachings as well as correct rules of Shari'ah. Divine grace is also independently needed when human intellect, overshadowed by human desires and instincts or lack of in­dicators, is unable to determine every benefit or loss in the acts whose nature is not readily recognizable.

Maintaining the intricate core of the God-man relation, the following supporting argu­ment is quite illuminating. Completely comporting with human patterns such as taaddub (act of courtesy), Shi'i theologians argued that,

The divine’s lutf is, among other reasons, mandatory because God finds out that a mu- kallaf would not perform a duty unless by being courteously invited to do so, absence of which would defy the intended benefit in the mandated act. It is similar to when you invite someone to dinner and know that your guest will not accept it unless you extend your invitation with civility. You do so because grace is required to achieve your goal.¹⁰

This type of argument was not intended to diminish the immense significance ofperforming Divine commandments; it was offered to emphasize all the rational consequences of what is known as human will: its necessity, existence and importance, which establish liability or reward for man in performance or non-performance of a mandatory duty; and amounts to belief in the ultimate justice in Divine judgments on Reckoning Day.

In a more technical level, lutf is defined as ‘anything with which one gets closer to obe­dience and distances him from sin, wherein neither enablement nor coercion is included’.¹¹ Absence of enablement is required because lutf should be devoid of merely enabling some­one to get closer to obedience or push him back from disobedience.¹² Nor should it be unyielding and coercive because coercion in performing mandatory duties yields no choice for one to incline towards or refrain from performing them. Therefore, when it is prac­tically impossible for one to commit a sin, prohibiting an impossible act should not be counted as lutf.¹³ Through a purely rational argument, Shi'i theologians argued that grace is mandatory not upon God, but for God, subsequent to His Guidance: a means of ob­taining the intended benefit of performing mandatory duties. Appointing Messengers is a mandatory grace because not only revelatory declaration of duties indicates the Divine guidance, but will it also help rational people to discover congruity between revealed com­mandments and acts that they find rationally mandatory to perform.

1.2 Agency from the Prophet

Agency from the Prophet in the Shi'i thought was exclusively tailored for the 12 Imams who by the Divine intervention possessed characteristics of ‘isma (infallibility) and ‘ilm (knowl­edge). Infallibility or immunity from sin and error was fundamentally a unique attribute of the Imams, whose esoteric essence could be verified by well-established rational arguments. A designated infallible Imam was to be the most learned of the Prophet’s descendents. The Imam was in charge of delivering correct interpretations of the Book, educating and render­ing final decisions on anything halal (permissible) or haram (forbidden), determining right from wrong, and guarding Shari ‘ah from distortions and innovations as well as preserving its authenticity.

Coupled with their infallibility, the Imams’ determinations were binding and mandatory. Mufid argued that

the twelve Shi'i Imams were the vicegerents of the Prophet, responsible for verification of the applicable Shari 'ah rules; had to put in operation the divine rights (HtidUid Allah); defend the rules of Shardyi' (every monotheistic Law); and guide human beings.¹⁵

The 'Allamah summed up the previous jurists’ arguments and concluded that a fallible person could not be the protector of Shari 'ah; his agency from the Prophet would have been futile; and his rulings, inherently predisposed to error, would not induce acceptance and consent from the faithful.¹⁶ The existence of the Imam, whose necessary presence was proven by both textual and rational evidence, was viewed as an incumbent graceful act of Allah and any lapse thereof would have been similar to forsaking the Muslim community and depriving it of a spiritual guide who would lead in accordance to His Law.

After the passing of the Eleventh Imam, the majority of Shi'i theologians held that right­ful succession belonged to Mahdi, his son, and that Mahdi, also known as Qa 'im (one who rises), is not only the last Imam, but also the promised one who would remain in occultation (starting 261/874) as long as his rise and ascent to the final leadership of the umma is decided by the Divine. Accordingly, Shi'i theologians conclude that congruence between the con­tinued grace of God in His Guidance and the permanent existence of a guide (Imam) leads to two major results: 1) the Imam is the Divine’s apparent exoteric proof for Muslims¹⁷ — 'aql (human intellect) being the Divine’s hidden esoteric proof;¹⁸ 2) the Imam, present or hidden from the eyes of onlookers, is the ultimate source of legitimacy whose leadership and rulings are approved by Allah — at no time can ultimate leadership and guidance be bestowed on others and, notwithstanding one’s acceptance or pursuit, performance of his rulings is man- datorily incumbent on Muslims.¹⁹

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