لطفا منتظر باشید ...
In The Name of the All Mighty Allah?
Role of the Shiah Imams in the Reconstruction of Islamic Society
Common Role of the Imams
Imams Devotion to the Ummah
Were the Imams desirous of power?
Devotion of the Shia to Imamate
Allah who brought prophethood to an end with
Prophet Muhammed (SAWS), decreed that he should be followed
by his vicegerents who would carry out the task of leadership
and succesion after the termination of Prophethood.
These are the tweleve Imams, whose number was textually
fixed by the Messenger of Allah in a number of authentic
traditions* which are unanimously accepted by the Muslims.
Their names are in the following order:
Imam Ali bin AbiTalib- al-Murtaza
Imam Hassan bin Ali- al-Mujtaba
Imam Hussain bin Ali- al-Shaheed
Imam Ali bin Hussain- al-Sajjad
Imam Muhammed bin Ali- al-Baqir
Imam Jaffer bin Muhammed- al-Sadiq
Imam Musa bin Jaffer- al-Kazim
Imam Ali bin Musa- al-Riza
Imam Muhammed bin Ali- al-Naqi
Imam Ali bin Muhammed- al-Taqi
Imam Hassan bin Ali- al-Askari
Imam Muhammed bin Hassan- al-Mahdi
(May peace be upon Muhammed SAWS and His Vicegerents A.S)
* Sahih Bukhari p173 Egypt - Sahih Muslim vol 2, p191 Egypt - Sahih Abi Dawud vol 2 p207 Egypt
- Sahih Trimizi vol 2 p45 Dehli - Masnad Ahmad bin Hanbal vol 2 p106 Egypt.
It appears to be quite natrual that we should, with
earnest spirit and clear thinking, try to deepen our spiritual
relation with the leaders of the mission of Islam and make
studies in order to discover more and more about these
illustrious leaders of history. With a view to illuminate
our way to development we must acquire light from the brilliant
history of this great House.
It is for the above reason that we take this opportunity
to give some brief account of the life of the imams of the
Shiah(i.e.May peace be upon them!).
As within the limited space available to us it is not
possible to give an account of the life, the movement and
the program of each imam seprately. We propose to draw the
attention of our readers only to the salient features common
to the life of all the Imams.
Accordingly in the forthcoming account we shall discuss
the general march of events and only those aspects of the
movement of the Imams in which all of them took part.Instead
of giving the details of the life of each of the Imams,
a study will be made of their general attitude and the
impression which their lives give on the whole.
This discussion has been so arranged that the life of
the imams may be observed and studied as a composite and
coherent phenomenon. We are going to discuss the characteristics
of this phenomenon in order to find out its common aims
and its true nature and to understand the circumstances in which
it worked. Lastly , we will give a brief account of the
main features of the movement of the Imams and the role
they played in human society.
Of course, this does not mean that we think it improper
to study the life of each Imam seprately. Infact
the independant study of the distinguishing features
of each Imam is as necessary as to acquire an
overall knowledge of of the life of each individual
Imam and learn the distinctive features of his
aims and activities so that this knowledge may become
a prelude to the study at which we are aiming at present.
We should make an independant study of the life of each
Imam to prepare our way to an overall and proper
study of the life of all the Imams as a coherent
and compsite phenomena.
When we undertake the study of the Imams' life
at these two levels, in the first instance we notice that
apparently there is a wide difference in the ways how they
conducted themselves in various situations. Imam Hassan (A.S)
concluded a peace treaty with Mu'awiya. Whereas Imam Hussain (A.S)
rose to fight a battle against Yazid and laid down his life. We find
that Imam Sajjad (A.S> passed his life enclusively in prayer
and adoration, whereas Imam Baqir(A.S) devoted all his time
to the dissemination of the knowledge of prophetic traditions
and theology.
But if we look at the life of the Imams and its characteristics
in a co-ordinated manner, we will find that their life
consistede in one single movement, which prevaded their
history and had no contradiction or inconsistency. A study such as we are
going to undertake reveals one single truth, though its
various aspects are capable of being described differently and
hence may give divergent impressions.
The reason why apparently there exists so much difference
in the actions of various Imams is attributable to the
difference of time, the social conditions and the diffculties which
each Imam had to face. Each Imam during his time
was continued with the problems and the diffculties entirely
different from those with which other Imams were faced.
But if we take a general and total view of the life of our
Imams, we may draw results far more outstanding than
the effects which may be produced by the study of the individual
life of each Imam, for in the course of this general
study we will find a deep harmony between all the actions
of the Imams. To elucidate this point we give an example:
We see that the Commander of the Faithful', Imam Ali (A.S)
during his outward caliphate assemble the companions of the Holy Prophet (SAWS)
and asked them to give evidence as to what they had heard the Prophet
say on Imamate. A large number of them said:"Yes, we heard
the Holy Prophet (SAWS)say expressly that you were the Imam".
Again we read in the life account of Imam Hussain (A.S) that
once on the day of pilgrimage he gathered together the
surviving sahabah (Companions) of the Holy Prophet (SAWS)
along with a large number of the tabi'in (followers) and asked them
to narrate what they had heard the Prophet (SAWS) say about Ali (A.S) and the
Holy Family.
Again we see that Imam Baqir (A.S) also repeated this action, and asked the
tabi'in and tabi'in al-tabi'in (followers of the followers) to give evidence
as to what the Holy Prophet (SAWS) had said concerning the Imamate of Ali (A.S)
and his descendants.
When we study the life of the Imams and co-ordinate their actions. We observe this
kind of activity throughout. These three actions taken consectively by three generations
represents a precalculated and coherent plan, and are complementary of each other. The idea
of this consective actions was to admonish various generations and at the same time to preserve
a tradition from oblivion and alteration.
To our belief the existence of a common policy pursued by our Imams is not a hypothetical
question. Therefore it is not neccesary to try to look for its reason or to discuss as to what
historical events led the Imams to pursue such a common policy. Their common role is the
natural consequence of the very belief in their Imamate, which is an assignment common to all
of them. Its responsibilities and conditions being the same, the natural consequnence of this common
assignment should be coherent movement, each part of which in the course of history should complement
its other parts. It is only because of the difference of time that the actions taken by the
various Imams appear to be different.
Article taken from Book published by the Islamic Seminary. Author
LateAyatullah
Baqir al-Sadr.Transalated by M.A.Ansari.
Reload to see changes
Dated:23-7-97
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