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Newsletter for June 2012
The Imamate as a Rational Necessity
(excerpted from the book: Imamate and Leadership written by
Sayed Mujtaba Musavi Lari
In accordance with the sound disposition and the pure nature
that are innate in him, man is ceaselessly engaged in the
struggle to develop and advance towards perfection.
Consciously or unconsciously, with a love that quickens his
spirit, he moves forward in the direction of the utmost dignity
and nobility man can attain. This is a reality that is always
manifest in humans; spiritual need impels them to advance ever
further along their path in order to approach higher degrees and
more exalted values. This evolutionary process passes through
various degrees which are firmly and profoundly interlinked.
It is of course true that within man unbridled and unholy
desires exist that are hostile to this enterprise, and
throughout the course of his forward motion man must constantly
battle against the destructive inner forces that threaten to rob
him of his powers and sacrifice him to forces of evil.
As long as man exists on the plane of being, this struggle
towards perfection will also exist. Its aim and culmination must
be clear, and there must exist also in human society an
exceptional individual who thanks to his spiritual qualities has
penetrated to the inner meaning of all laws, a personage who
while fully engaged in the struggle has never once fallen prey
to deviation.
Such an individual or personage is what is intended by the term
Imam. He is the truly liberated man, the chosen herald of
monotheism; in his exalted person all conceivable have been
realized and rendered active.
As the vanguard of the humanity, he is the divinely appointed
link and intermediary between the world of the unseen and the
human race. Without himself needing any intermediary, he is
guided directly by God. Like a lamp burning in the heart of the
darkness, through the teachings that have come to him from
heaven, he enables everyone to rise and ascend to the degree
permitted by his spiritual ability and capacity. He employs his
intelligence, his faith and his will in order to impel them
forward to the most exalted degrees and to guide them to the
superabundant source of unity, justice and purity.
Were human society to lack such a divinely chosen person, man
would be unable by the efforts of his intellect alone to find
his directions, no link would exist between the human race and
the world of the unseen, and man's efforts to attain perfection
would falter and fail.
It is inconceivable that after equipping man with the urge to
attain perfection and bestowing on him the potentiality of
ascent to lofty degree, God would not lay before him the path
leading there or deprive him of the guide that he needs.
On the contrary, God's infinite grace necessitates that He
should demonstrate to man the path for attaining the truths of
religion and assist him by placing before him a comprehensive
scheme ensuring his welfare in this world and his eternal bliss
in the hereafter. This comprehensive scheme, embracing all
dimensions of human existence, is precisely what God has
conveyed to mankind by means of His chosen messengers.
According to the creed of monotheism, none but God can rule over
the created universe. In the world of man, which is but a part
of the universe, sovereignty must similarly belong to God. It is
true that within the sphere of his acts man has freedom of
choice, based on the free will that has been allotted to him,
but in order for him to harmonize himself with the universe of
which he is a part, he must act in accordance with God's
commands and refrain from encroaching on His sovereignty. If he
fails to respect the laws brought by the prophets, a disharmony
and lack of concordance between mall and the universe will
arise, and he will inevitably find himself deviating from his
intended course.
In just the same way that obedience to revealed law and to the
Prophet who may be regarded as the quintessence of all the
monotheistic movements in history is the same as obedience to
God, the one who wishes to rule monotheistic society as the
successor of the Prophet must possess the same inner attributes
of communication with God; only then will obedience to him
accord with man's purposive advance.
From the time that the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be
upon him and his family, founded the government of the righteous
and prepared the way for the creation of a pure and luminous
society, he undertook also the educative programs he had
elaborated. However, since the life of the Prophet was
transitory like that of other men, it was necessary that as soon
as that great educator had departed, a successor should come to
the fore, a righteous and worthy man possessing all the
attributes needed to lead the Muslims, who would continue the
directive and educative role exercised by the Prophet, in the
most desirable or even ideal form.
Embodying all the qualities of a perfect human being, he
nurtures the spirits of his followers by means of his
superabundant spirituality, and he shows them the way of
advancing along God's path towards God, obeying God's commands
and turning away from all other than God. Only thus will the
straight path remain open, enabling everyone to embark on the
road to felicity.
We will understand all of this better once we realize that there
is no line of demarcation between this world and the hereafter,
and that regulations pertaining to man's bodily life cannot be
separated from laws relating to his spiritual existence; a
specific guardian has been chosen for both. For this reason the
pure and inerrant one chosen by God must gather in his hands the
reins of the affairs of both this world and the hereafter, and
guard the general and universal interest of Islam against other
peoples and nations.
Through the blessed existence of this true leader, this
representative of God upon earth, the sole path that exists for
attaining true happiness remain open before men. With his
spiritual richness and wisdom of conduct, he guides them on the
road at the end of which they will find, in the presence of God,
all the pure and noble qualities for which they yearn.
It is true that among the Twelve Imams it was only 'Ali b. Abi
Talib who exercised rule, and that for a limited period. The
other Imams never possessed governmental powers, and they were
not permitted to use the position of leadership that was
rightfully theirs to strengthen the position of the Qur'an, to
expand the culture of Islam, or to develop the identity of the
ummah. But this was the fault of the people, who failed
to make it possible for them to assume power and as a result
were deprived of the benefits that might have accrued to them
from these unparalleled exemplars of mankind. For in appointing
the Imams, God had established His proof before men; He had
presented them with these righteous and exceptional men, chosen
ones whose existence was a source of benefit not only for all
Muslims but for all of mankind.
In addition to this, it is important to remember that the
beneficial effects of the existence of the Imams were not
limited to their exercise of political power; they fulfilled
their appointed mission in a variety of other ways. The Imam was
responsible for preserving the very truth of religion and for
keeping God's religion unsullied by distortion and manipulation.
Both God and the Messenger had given him the task of instructing
people in the verities of the Qur'an and the teachings of
religion, thus giving proper direction to their lives.
Moreover, the Imam is a channel for God's grace, so that even if
people were deprived of the government of justice and equity
that the inerrant Imams would have created thanks to their own
incapacity and lethargy they did benefit from the other
dimensions of the Imams' existence and activity. They were the
channels of God's grace irrespective of whether or not they were
permitted to rule and lead Islamic society. Superabundant virtue
flowed forth from their beings, bringing men's potentialities to
fruition.
The preservation of the very foundations of religion was
intimately connected with the attention paid to the subject by
the Imams, for awareness of their presence among the ummah
was able to prevent many basic deviations from taking place.
Like an alert and careful observer, 'Ali b. Abi Talib, peace be
upon him, followed all that was taking place in his time.
Whenever an incorrect verdict was issued, a law was distorted,
or an incorrect penalty was about to be applied, 'Ali looked
into the matter and gave the necessary instructions, He was
stringent and honest in protecting the principles and laws of
Islam.
He exercised leadership at all stages of his life. Thus he was
always prepared to answer the scholars of other religions who
came flocked to Madinah in order to put their queries before the
legatee of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his
family.
It was thanks to the blessed existence of the Imam that Islamic
learning - the legal, educational, and social teachings of the
faith were disseminated among the Muslims and the vital commands
and ordinances of the Qur'an became widely known. Even in lands
ruled by harsh and savage rulers, at a time when the caliphs
were sunk in corruption and transgression and strove to prevent
society from imbibing Islamic knowledge, the numerous utterances
and traditions of the Imams, rich in learning and wisdom and
pertaining to all aspects of the faith, served to preserve
religion and give the necessary guidance to society.
Some of the caliphs like al-Ma'mun sought to destroy the
scholarly credentials of the Imams by arranging debates and
disputations among the scholars of different religions and
sects, but the performance of the Imams in these gatherings
served only to reinforce their scholarly prestige.
The Imams, as heirs to the teachings of the Messenger,
bequeathed thousands of hadith to the scholars of Islam,
hadith that originated on various occasions and had the
purpose of enlightening society on religious matters and
clarifying the credal bases of the faith. They pertained to all
the different concerns of jurisprudence, to ethics and moral
conduct, and to esoteric knowledge. It was by drawing on these
resources that scholars were able to disseminate the Islamic
sciences widely in society and to elaborate an authentic
jurisprudence as opposed to the various legal currents then in
existence.
We will be better able to appreciate the incomparable struggle
waged by the Imams in the service of Islamic culture in all of
its branches if we compare the hadith of the Sunnis with
the traditions narrated from the inerrant Imams. This comparison
will demonstrate the profundity of vision, the originality of
thought, and the varied knowledge of the headers of Shi'ism. The
Sunni scholars themselves have benefited to some degree from the
knowledge and learning of the Shi'i Imams, for consciously or
unconsciously they have borrowed a great deal from them in this
respect. The Imams thus vindicated fully their function as the
true guardians of Islam.
It was Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, who introduced
philosophy, theology, mathematics and chemistry for the first
time. Among his companions, al-Mufaddah b. 'Umar, Mu'min al-Taq,
Hisham b. Hakam, and Hisham b. Salim were specialists in
philosophy and theology. Jabir b. Hayyan specialized in
mathematics and chemistry, and Zararah, Muhammad b. Muslim,
Jamil b. Darraj, Hamran b. A'yan, Abu Basir, and 'Abdullah b.
Sinan, in jurisprudence (fiqh), principhes of
jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) and Qur'anic exegesis.
[190]
Ibn Shahrashub writes:
"From no one have so many traditions been narrated as from Imam
Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be Upon him. As many as four thousand
students derived their knowledge from him, and some of the
founders of the Sunni schools of law also drew on that
storehouse of learning."
[191]
Among his students were the founders of law schools (madhahib)
such as Malik b. Anas, Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibn 'Uyaynah, and Abu
Hanifah; jurists (fuqaha') such as Muhammad b. Hasan
al-Shaybani and Yahya b. Sa'id; and traditionists (muhaddithin)
such as Ayyub al-Sijistani, Shu'bah b. al-Hajjaj, and Abd
al-Malik b. Jurayh.
[192]
Ibn Abi 'l-Hadid, who is regarded as a great scholar among the
Sunnis, writes the following concerning the genial character of
'Ali b. Abi Talib, peace be upon him:
"What can I say of a person to whom all human virtues have been
attributed? Every group counts him as one of their own; every
virtue arises from his being; and every science and branch of
learning goes back to him. Theosophy, the most noble of all
forms of knowledge, is derived from his utterances. The teacher
of Wasil b. 'Ata' who was the leader of the Mu'tazilah,
benefited from the instruction of 'Ali by two intermediate
generations. Likewise, whatever learning the Ash'arites have,
they also owe to 'Ali.
"Without any doubt, the philosophy and theology of the Shi'is
and the Zaydis also go back to 'Ali. He is the supreme teacher
of all jurists, for Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi
school, was a pupil of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him,
who had imbibed the learning of 'Ali through transmission by his
father and ancestors. Malik b. Anas, the founder of Maliki
jurisprudence, had a master who was the pupil of 'Ikrimah, who
in turn had been a pupil of Ibn Abbas, who had derived his
learnirng directly from 'Ali.
"'Umar b. al-Khattab would always turn to 'Ali for help in
solving difficult questions, and he would often say: 'Were it
not for 'Ali, 'Umar would be lost.'
"As for the jurisprudence of the Shi'ah, it goes without saying
that it goes back to their first leader. In addition, 'Ali was
the master teacher of all exegetes of the Qur'an. This can be
easily ascertained by referring to the books of exegesis and
seeing how most of their material springs from him. Even that
which is narrated from Ibn 'Abbas ultimately goes back to 'Ali.
Ibn Abbas was once asked: 'How would you compare your knowledge
with that of your cousin?' He replied: 'Mine is like a drop, and
his like an ocean.'
"All the great gnostics ('urafa') attach themselves to
'Ali, and he is in addition the one who founded the science of
grammar, having taught its fundamental principles for the first
time to Abu 'l-Aswad."
[193]
[190]
Asad Haydar, al-Imam al-Sadiq wa al-Madhahib al-Arba'
[191]
Ibn Shahrashub, al-Manaqib, Vol. IV, p.247.
[192]
Asad Haydar, Imam Sadiq wa Madhahib-i Chaharganeh,
(Persian translation), Vol. III, 27-28,46.
[193]
Ibn Abi 'l-Hadid, Sharh, Vol. I, p.6.
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