Imamate and Leadership [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

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.

Ibn Shahrashub writes:

"From no One have so manly 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."

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.

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."

Notes:

Asad Haydar,
al-Imam al-Sadiq wa al-Madhahib al-Arba'

Ibn
Shahrashub, al-Manaqib, Vol. IV, p.247.

Asad Haydar,
Imam Sadiq wa Madhahib-i Chaharganeh, (Persian translation), Vol. III, 27-28,46.

Ibn Abi
'l-Hadid, Sharh, Vol. I, p.6.