How can we demonstrate the necessity of Imamate Based on Intellectual and Theological Reasoning?

In every period of time, there should be an Imam among people. This Imam must be spiritually a perfect human who knows everything and is able to guide people. This prefect man is connected to the world of unseen and is the deliverer of Allah’s words to people. This man should not let people to unanimously go astray and if the majority of people adapt the wrong path, he should oppose them. This is an idea that we must prove it.

One of the ways to certify this claim is that we see, our ancestors from the beginning of the creation of mankind up to the demise of Prophet Muhammad, had access to a Perfect man. This prefect man was a prophet or his successor.

The Jews believe that by the demise of Moses, their connection to heaven was cut and there was no one to directly mediate between people and Allah. Christians also believe that this divine grace continued till the end of Jesus’ life and then, the line between people and Allah was broken. (Of course by Christians, we mean Protestant not Catholic who believe Jesus is God.) Muslims also believe that people had access to this divinely prefect man till the Prophet was alive. After the demise of the Prophet, Sunni believe that people had no access to the Upper World and there was no one to connect them to the world of unseen.

Here a question comes to mind that why people in the past were privileged by being in contact with such a divinely appointed man, but we who live in the current world, should be deprived. Are we worse than those or they were more important than us? Why did Allah grant them such bounty, but has prevented us from having it?

One may say that the religion was completed by the Prophet and there was no need for a Perfect man to exist among people.

The answer is that after the demise of the Prophet till now, many misconceptions have risen among people, many verses of the Quran need to be clarified and many forms of disagreement with regard to the true religion exist among people. In each period of time, a new religious, social, and economic issue appears that its ruling should be made clear. Some people, under the name of Islam, kill others and some people gradually lose hope and become impious. Why in our time that people are more in population and have more flourishing thought should solve their problems by themselves, while people in the past could easily refer to the Perfect man and ask him to solve their unanswered questions? Of course the religion of the Prophet was completed, but did Moslems know everything about their religion and the interpretation of the Quran after the demise of the Prophet?

With no doubt the Prophet told everything that people needed, but to whom did the Prophet tell that; to ordinary people or to the next Perfect man who was his successor? Certainly, the Prophet did not introduce the complete religion to ordinary people; otherwise, after the Prophet people should not refer to the Prophet’s successors to ask many of their problems. Even ‘Umar, whom the Sunni regard as the successor of the Prophet, could not give a correct answer to many of people’s questions nor could he solve their disputes. There is a famous quotation from ‘Umar to have said in many occasions that people should refer to Imam Ali, or “If Ali was not present ‘Umar would be perished.”^[1]

Add to it, that although science has progressed in our time, still people have taken many regressive steps with regard to their religion. Most of people in the world have become materialistic and consider the world the only place to live; therefore, they regard pleasure the most important thing in their life. This has led them to exploiting the weaker people. Then people now are in more dire need of a Perfect man than those in the past. But, unfortunately, we see that Allah has done extremely conversely! Those who were less dependent to the Perfect man had access to him, but we who are needier are deprived of!

… The Shia, clearly has solved this problem. They believe that after the demise of the Prophet, his real successor was Ali bin Abī Ṭālib whose knowledge was equal to the knowledge of the Prophet. He was connected to the world of unseen and he knew everything. There is not even a single record about the Imam to offer his unawareness about solving a problem.

In the same way, in our age the twelfth successor of the Prophet who is Imam Mahdi exists among people. He is the Perfect man, and despite he is hidden, he is mindful of people’s affairs and solves many of their problems.

Based on this intellectual reasoning, we, like the people in the past, have access to a Perfect man, but those who do not regard Imam Ali and his progeny as real successors of the Prophet, could not answer the mentioned question that why Allah has differentiated between people in the past and us in having access to a Perfect man while we need such a man more than our ancestors.

It is a must that a man, who is spiritually perfect, exists among people. This prefect man sometimes is a prophet and sometimes is an Imam. One of the reasons that such a man should exist among people is that obviously, people cannot directly talk to Allah, ask Him their questions and get answers from Him. There should be a man who is prefect and sublime enough to mediate between people and Allah. This man is connected to the world of unseen and knows everything that people need.

After the demise of Prophet Muhammad, Islam was still nascent and many of its rulings were not delivered from the Prophet to people. Those rulings and principles were just bestowed to the successor of the Prophet. The real successor of the Prophet was the one whose knowledge was equal to the knowledge of the Prophet. He was no one, but Imam Ali bin Abī Tālib who never failed to give a proper answer to any inquiry and never remained unable to offer a solution to any predicament.  After passing away of Imam Ali, his eleven sons one by one were the next Imam and, in our time, Imam Mahdi who is the eleventh son of Imam Ali possesses this position.

That an Imam must be present among people can be proved through some intellectual and theological reasoning, one of which is called “the Principle of Grace” or “the Argument of Grace”.

The explanation is that, as theologians have stated, “We are sure that if people have access to a perfect man who undertakes the responsibility of leading people, settling down their worldly and spiritual dispute; a perfect man who is able to take the right of the oppressed from the oppressors, and prevent people from oppressing, then if people follow him, they would be closer to the right path and distance from corruption and degeneration.”

Then the theologians add that, this Grace is obligatory to Allah^[2] since Allah has not created us in vain as He says,

﴿أَ فَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّما خَلَقْناكُمْ عَبَثاً وَ أَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنا لا تُرْجَعُونَ﴾^[3]

"Did you think that We created you in vain and you would not be returned to Us?"

Therefore, there is a great purpose behind this magnitude and vast creation. It requires that there should be an Imam to make the ground prepared from people to easily walk on the right path, otherwise, people would lose the right path and go astray. This is what “the Principle of Grace” implies.

Also, we know that Allah made us dutiful about many detailed religious acts that by acting upon them we can worship Him truly. Acting upon these religious responsibilities requires that someone from Allah makes us aware of them, otherwise, we could not worship Allah as He demands. Therefore, there should be a Perfect Man like a prophet or an Imam to teach us our duties and show us the path of getting close to Allah.

On the other hand, we are certain that Allah possesses three qualifications,

1. Allah is Wise and whatever He does is based on wisdom;
2. Allah is not stingy and never withholds any possible mercy;
3. Allah is able to do whatever He desires.

The result is this: The existence of a divine guide, who is an Imam, among people is indispensable because it is based on wisdom, is mercy and Allah is able to appoint such man among people.

“The Argument of Grace” postulates that the Imam who is among people prevents them from unanimous agreement on accepting an error that is related to religion. This Imam should not be indifferent about what people do and behave. If people, without dissent, decide not to worship Allah, this perfect man should oppose them and should not let them unanimously go astray.

This is why in many Sunni narrations we read from the Prophet to have said,

«لا تجتمع‏ أمّتي‏ على‏ الضلالة»^[4]

“My Ummah (nation) do not agree on a (religious) aberration.”

If this narration is true, it means that if all people accept something that is religiously incorrect, an Imam should exist among people to oppose, do not accept it and make people aware of the reality. Therefore, a consensus among the Ummah on accepting that wrong action would not take place because the Imam who is one of the Ummah does not agree with others. Otherwise, if an Imam does not exist among people to oppose them and all the people accept an error, then, the mentioned narration from the Prophet would not be true.

It is unavoidable that a man, who is spiritually perfect and we name him the “Perfect Man”, exists among people. This Prefect man sometimes is a prophet and sometimes is his successor. It is obvious that people cannot directly take their religious obligations from Allah and there should be a mediator like a prophet.

During the life of the Prophet, the religion was completed and everything that should be said to people was delivered to the prophet, but the Prophet did not express all of them to people since, firstly, some of those pieces of knowledge were so high that people at that time could not digest them, and secondly, people at the time of the Prophet did not need some of them since those points were about some special issues which people yet, were not involved with; just as we see that people, after the demise of the Prophet, every time they got engaged with an issue that its law was unknown to them, they referred to the successor of the Prophet and asked him their questions. As a result, the Prophet should bestow those detailed and comprehensive knowledge to a Perfect Man who, like the Prophet could gradually deliver them to people and he was no one but Imam Ali bin Abī Tālib whose knowledge was equal to the knowledge of the Prophet.

This is why Shia believe that Imamate, which is a title given to the successors of the Prophet, is a must and it just should be granted to those whom the Prophet had appointed in his life since just the Prophet knew to whom he bestowed the entire of his knowledge.

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 Ash‘arites 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﴾^[5]

“Did you think that We created you in vain?”

To give answer to the misconception of Ash‘arites, 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.^[6] 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...»^[7]

“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.”

The Argument of Instinct

The other intellectual proof of the necessity of Imamate is called the Argument of instinct. People with different religions have an instinctive tendency towards a Perfect Man as the Savior who knows everything, can solve every problem, and is able to bring about peace, security, and unity in the world. When all people in the world without a single example are like this, it means that Allah has created this feeling as an instinct within us.

Add to it, that to create a feeling in someone without fulfilling it makes the creation of the feeling to be without a purpose. It would be like the creation of thirst without the creation of water, or like the creation of ability to see without the creation of light to let us see something.

Let me explain it more, one of the reasons proving the existence of the next world and that pious people will enter heaven is that one of the created fillings in our inner body is an insatiable demand of good things. For instance, if someone is after wealth, would he says that, that amount of wealth is sufficient for him and will no longer add any penny to it and that he does not want to become wealthier? Even those who are after knowledge like the scholars, scientists, discoverers, and inventors would they suffice themselves to a limited part of knowledge and then say we are saturated and never want to add anything to our learning? Of course not. This non-stop feeling tells us that Allah should saturate it and it is done in the heaven as many verses of the Quran point to by telling that people in Heaven will have whatever they want and still the available kinds of mercy are more than what they could imagine. In addition, because of the feelling to be alive forever and never die, people in Heaven will stay alive forever.

Back to our discussion, when all people in this world strongly need that there should be a mighty and powerful man to fulfill their need of security and safety in this world, this feeling should be saturated in this world and there should exist a Perfect Man to fulfill this feeling.

Source: The Final Hope, November 2015, issue no. 11-13

Smtavakol@gmail.com

http://Mahdism.net