To demonstrate the necessity of Imamate Based on the “Argument of Purpose”
Putting aside the authentic narrations written in the books of traditions, there are some intellectual arguments that prove the necessity of Imamate one of which is called the Argument of Purpose.
We know that there is a purpose behind whatever Allah does; and Allah Who is All-Wise never creates something that is useless in which there is no clear purpose or reason behind it. Some Sunni theologians who are called Ashˈarites believe that it is not a must that there should be a goal behind what Allah does since it forces Allah to just follow a purpose while no one can oblige Allah to do anything.
Contrary to this wrong belief, the Shia and another sect of Sunni theologians who are called Mu'tazilites believe that if Allah does not intend to follow a purpose in His creation it leads to futility and pointlessness, while Allah clearly rejects it in the Quran by saying,
﴿أَ فَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّما خَلَقْناكُمْ عَبَثا﴾[1]
“Did you think that We created you in vain?”
To give answer to the misconception of Ashˈarites, we can say that,
Firstly, we do not impel Allah to do something, rather Allah Who describes Himself in the Quran tells us that His attributes require that He just should follow a purpose since doing something in vain is not suitable for the magnificent position of Allah the Great.
Secondly, the benefit of whatever Allah intends as purpose does not go back to Himself, rather it just reaches His creatures.
Now back to the Argument of Purpose, we ask, why Allah created this vast and splendid world with all of these glory, beauty, and exact order. This vast universe that our galaxy is just a small spot in it, could not cause any perfection in fierce animals since they have no intellect. Of course, it should cause perfection in mankind and the world should be created for him.
On the other hand, we witness that not all the people can receive this perfection since some of them are totally brutal, usurper, violator, and barbarian. Can we say that Hitler, who killed many people, was the goal behind this creation?
There is no way but to confess that this world is created for a Perfect Man who possesses all of the required merits and good moralities; a man who can sense every details of this scientific world and the far-reaching methods applied in the universe.
We, the human, also do the same and are more willing to bestow our favor to the man whom we respect more. For instance, if we invite some people in our house for a dinner, when we want to provide food for them, we are more willing to put the best of it in front of the one whom we love more. Our natural inclination and our basic instinct lead us to pay attention more to the one who is more beloved or more important. Even sometimes we hold the whole ceremony just for that special guest and because of him, we invite others.
Allah also does the same and although He loves all of His creatures, His most important purpose is to create this world for a Perfect Man whom He loves more and because of that Perfect Man, others also receive a portion of Allah’s mercy.
In addition, perfection has various levels. Beside the Perfect Man who possesses the utmost spiritual level, other pious and virtuous individuals also can have a share of it. Because of this, these people also could be the purpose behind the creation of this world.
Here, we have to consider an important point which is that if the most Perfect Man did not exist, others would not be able to obtain a high level of piety, were not able to worship Allah properly and would lead a barbarian life since they could not directly get connected to Allah to receive their rulings and their worldly and ritual obligations. Without the Perfect Man people would just consider their life in this world as the only possible phase of existence and would not believe in the next world. Therefore, people would want to gain as much as possible of this world since they do not believe in the Day of Judgment and consider their death the final level of existence. Then, would we be worthy enough to be the purpose of Allah’s creation of this world?
This is why we read in many authentic narrations that if the Prophet or Imam (who is the Perfect Man) was not among people, the earth would swallow its inhabitants.[2] It means that only the Infallibles are the purpose of the creation of this world and if they were not among people, Allah would not let others to enjoy life on the earth.
Moreover, we read in a similar supplication, that is named al-‘Adīlah, after naming the Prophet and naming his successors from Imam Ali bin Abī Tālib up to Imam al-Hassan al-‘Askarī (the eleventh Imam),
«ثُمَّ الْحُجَّةُ الْخَلَفُ الصَّالِحُ الْقَائِمُ الْمُنْتَظَرُ الْمَهْدِيُّ الْمُرْجَى الَّذِي بِبَقَائِهِ بَقِيَتِ الدُّنْيَا وَ بِيُمْنِهِ رُزِقَ الْوَرَى وَ بِوُجُودِهِ ثَبَتَتِ الْأَرْضُ وَ السَّمَاء...»[3]
“After him, the Proof of Allah, the righteous offspring, the Upriser who is the awaited al-Mahdi, the expected that because of him the earth is existent and due to his blessing, people will receive their sustenance and because of his existence the earth and the heaven are stable.”
Source: The Final Hope, January 2016, issue no. 13
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