Shia Reasoning [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

.

Now in explaining the mentioned answer we say: belief in the
supernatural power of God's friends can be imagined in two ways:

Belief
in the supernatural power of a person by accepting him as an independent
and original source for that power such that a Godly work is independently
attributed to him.

It is inevitable that belief in
such a power independent of Gods power causes polytheism, because in this case
we have considered other than God as an independent and original power and have
attributed a Godly work to him, while the source for all powers is only the
lord of the worlds

Belief
in a supernatural power of some upright slaves of God, with the belief
that this power has originated from the everlasting power of God, and
Gods friends, with Gods permission, are only the means for the
manifestations and appearance of that eternal power, and have no
independence for themselves. Moreover, these slaves are dependant on the
Exalted God in their presence and also in exercising the supernatural
authority.

It is evident that such a belief is not the considering of
Gods friends as God, or attributing Godly works to them because in this case
it would mean that the pious slaves are demonstrating their supernatural God
given authority by Gods permission and non-violated will.

The holy Quran states in this
regard:

And it is not in the power
of an apostle to heave a sigh except by Allahs permission1

With this explanation, it becomes clearly evident that such
a belief does not cause polytheism, however, has
perfect concordance with the principle of unification.

Super natural authority of Gods friends from the Quranic
view:

Islams heavenly book mentions with perfect explicitness
that a group of Gods upright slaves whom by Gods permission had such a great
power. Some examples in this field are the following:

Super natural power of his
holiness Moses: the Exalted God commanded prophet
Moses to strike his stick in a stony rock so that springs of sweet water gush
out, how?

And when
Musa prayed for a drink for his people, we said strike the rock with your
staff. So there gushed from it twelve springs,2

Supernatural power of his holiness Jesus: the superior
authority of Jesus is mentioned in various parts of the Quran
that we shall refer to some:

that I determine for you out of dust the form of a bird,
then I breathed unto it and it becomes a bird with the permission of Allah and
I heal the blind and lepers, and bring the dead to life with Allahs permission3

The
Supernatural power of prophet Solomon:

The Holy Quran
regarding to the supernatural powers of Solomon states the following:

And
Suleiman was the heir of Dawood and he said: O people, we have been taught the
language of the birds, and we have been given all things; most surely this is a
manifestation of His grace4

It is inevitable that these works such as causing the flow of the
springs of limpid water from robust rocks due to the striking of Moses stick
on the rock, creating a real bird from mere clay, healing of incurable
diseases, to raise the dead and make them alive by Jesus, or the perception of
the speech of the birds by Solomon, are all examples of supernatural powers and
these are beyond the natural reach of the natural propensities and are only
exercised by a supernatural authority.

Thus, if the Holy Quran itself
mentions the supernatural authorities of the pious slaves of God accordingly to
the mentioned verses among many other verses, then do our belief in the clear
content of these verses that clearly dictate about the supernatural power of
Gods friends, cause polytheism and is it regarded as an innovation in the
Religion?!

Hence, it becomes clearly evident
that the belief in supernatural power of the pious slaves is not in the least
considering them as God or attributing Godly works to them. If such divinity as
that of Moses, Jesus, Solomon etc. were considered to as the power attained by
themselves, then they too would be considered as Gods according to the
viewpoint of Quran, whilst all the Muslims are aware of the fact that the Holy
Quran considers the friends of God as His pious and righteous servants.

It therefore becomes clear that the supernatural
power of the beloved of God is based on divine and eternal power that was
gifted to him and declares them as the means for Gods power, and this does not
cause polytheism but rather, has perfect concordance with the real principle of
unification considering the criterion for unification being that all the powers
in the universe are only attributed to the one and only Lord who is the sole
authority and source for all the actions of mankind towards the road of
perfection.

1.
(Rad: 38)

2.
(Baqarah: 60)

3.
(Ale-Imran: 49)

4.
(Naml: 16)

question 35:

Why is the position of Imamate considered higher that
that of Messengership?

ANSWER:

In order to give an answer to this question, we shall first
start by elaborating the exact meaning of three phrases i.e., Prophethood,
messenger ship and imamate which are all mentioned in both the Quran and
the tradition that makes the fact clear as to why the position of imamate is
higher than the other two positions.

Position
of prophethood

The phrase, Nabi-prophet comes
from the rood word, Naba meaning important news. Therefore, the meaning of nabi is the one
carrying the important news or the one who informs it. The word, Nabi1
in the dictionary of the Quran is used for the person who receives the divine
revelation of the Exalted Allah in different ways and is in other words a
reporter from God, without any intermediate of a human being.2

Thus the duty of the prophet is
only limited to receiving and reporting the divine revelation to the people.

The Holy Quran says in this
regard that,

So Allah raised the prophets as the bearers of glad
tidings and warners against hell fire.3

Position
of messenger ship.

The phrase messenger is used
for the prophets who in addition to receiving the revelation and report form
God, have the responsibility of communicating the divine message and the
mission of its propagation.

The Holy Quran says in this
regard,

Then know that only
a clear deliverance of the message is (incumbent) on our Apostle.4

Thus, the position of messenger ship is different from that given to the
Prophet. In other words, each of the two
concepts of prophethood and messenger ship are referring to the certain properties
of the prophets and the way of revelation of the message by God such that the
prophets who are receivers of the revelation and the harbingers of news are
called prophets and when they have the duty of communicating the message,
then they are called messengers of Allah.

Form all that has been mentioned
so far about the prophet and messengers, we come to the following result that
the prophets up to the moment that that they are in the domain of prophecy and
messenger ship, are only guides who declare the lawful and the unlawful, show
the people the ways of happiness and salvation, and have no duty other than
getting the information from God or propagating it to the mankind.

Position
of Imamate:

This divine position is different from the two previously
mentioned positions according to the Quranic point of view accompanied with
various other responsibilities and wider domains in the way of administering
the people and the societys leadership.

Let us present the bright evidences based in the light of the luminous
Quranic verses in this regard:

1. The Holy Quran mentions the position of imamate of prophet Ibrahim in
the following way:

And when His lord tried Ibrahim with
certain words, he fulfilled them and said, surely I
will make you an imam for the men. Ibrahim said; and what about that of my
offspring?5

In the light of this Quranic
speech, two realities become clear to us i.e.,

the
difference between the concept of imamate and the concepts of prophecy and
messenger ship, because Abraham many years ago before these divine tests among
which being his decision to sacrifice his own son Ismail, had attained the
position of prophethood, the proof of which is the following.

We all know that the Exalted God,
granted Ibrahim his two sons Ismael and Ishaac at old age, because The Holy
Quran speaking for him says,

praise be to Allah
who has given me in old age Ismail and Ishaaq, 6

Thus Abraham attained the
position of imamate by the Exalted God after difficult test, which included the
decision to sacrifice Ismael, and this was in the last days of his holy life.
He attained the position of leadership over the people in the last period of
his life, while years before that he had the position of prophethood, because
before attaining offsprings, the divine revelation of prophethood was sent
upon him.. 7

Also, from this verse,

and when his Lord tried Ibrahim with certain words.

One can benefit from the fact
that the position of divine imamate, and leadership of the society and mankind
as a whole, is in a level higher then the level of prophethood and
messengership, because
according to the Quranic speech, at the same time that his
holiness Abraham had attained the position of prophecy and messenger ship, he
had to go through unendurable examinations and it is only after passing these
tests that the position of imamate was granted to him. The reason for this is
clear because the position of divine imamate, in addition to the mission of
receiving the revelation and communicating the message includes the leadership
of the society and nation, and the correct management of the affairs of the
people in the way of taking them to the peak of perfection and happiness.

It is natural that such a
position has a special sensitivity and greatness and to attain it is impossible
without succeeding in toilsome and successive trials.

2. Considering the previous verse, it becomes clear that the Exalted Lord
granted Ibrahim the position of Imamate and the societys leadership after
passing through great trials and after that, Ibrahim asked God to bestow this
position to his offsprings as well.

In the light of other Quranic
verses, it becomes evident that Ibrahims request was granted by God and the
fact that after the position of prophet hood, the leadership of the society
and ruler ship over the nation was granted to his pious and virtuous
offsprings. The Holy Quran in this
regard, relates the following:

.
But indeed we have given to Ibrahim and his children the book and wisdom, and
we have granted to them a grand kingdom.8

One can thus benefit form the
aforementioned verse that imamate and the societys leadership is a position
other than that of prophet hood which the Lord granted to His Prophet Ibrahim
after succeeding in great ordeals such that when Ibrahim requested His lord to
grant the same leadership to his offsprings, Allah accepted his request for
his just and righteous children and granted that to them in addition to the
heavenly book and wisdom which is the sign of prophecy and messenger ship, a
grand kingdom (which is the leadership and ruler ship over the people),
thereby fulfilling Ibrahims request, consequently, some of the offsprings of
Ibrahim for instance, Joseph, David and Solomon were not only chosen as
prophets but in addition to that, allocated for the running of the government
and the leadership of the society.

Therefore, it becomes evident
that the position of imamate is different from the other two positions of
prophethood and messenger ship and because of the broadness of the domain
of its authorities and responsibilities hold a higher value and a more superior
position.

Why The Position Of Imamate Is regarded More
Superior:

From all that was previously
mentioned it becomes apparent as to why the domain of the actions of the
prophets and the messenger who have their respective missions of prophecy and
messenger ship is only the reminding and the clarifying of the path, and
whenever a prophet or a messenger reached to the position of imamate, a more
important responsibility is assigned to him. Then again, they are also
responsible for the enhancing of divine programmes and the execution of the
sacred commandments of the religion, for a prosperous and model society until
they direct the nation ensuring prosperity for both the worlds.

It is clear that the bearing of such important
responsibilities need the persistence of a special kind of spiritual
requirement and competence. The accomplishment of such a supreme status that is
continuously accompanied with the difficulties and struggles of life, demanding
more forbearance in the way of God and it cannot be achieved without the love
for God and the annihilation of oneself towards attaining Gods pleasure.

Thus, the Glorious and Exalted
Allah granted Ibrahim the position of imamate after a succession of harsh
trials and during the last days of his lifetime, the most pious of the servants
of Allah such as the honorable prophet of Islam was granted the honor with the
position of imamate and leadership of the nation together with the
responsibility of leadership and rulership over the society.

Is it necessary that there should be any interrelation between
prophethood and imamate?

There arises yet another question
that follows the previously mentioned questions and that is, should every
prophet who achieved the position of prophethood necessarily achieve the status
of the Imam too, i.e., should the one who is an imam be a prophet too?

The answer to both these
questions is not in the affirmative. Let
us now try to explain this in the light of the logic of revelation referring to
the divine book of God.

It is evident that the verses
that talk about Saul and his combat against the oppressors Golaith saying
that after the death of prophet Moses, Allah granted the position of
prophethood to one whose name seemed to be Eshmoel, whereas the position of
imamate and leadership and government was assigned to Saul, the narrative
began when after the death of Moses, a group of people from the tribe of Bani
Israel said to the prophet of their time to choose a ruler for them in order
for them to struggle in the way of God under his commandment. Finally their
prophet said:

Surely, Allah has raised Talut to be a king
over you.

They said:

How can he hold kingship over us while we
have a greater right to the position than he, regarding the fact that he has
not been granted an abundance of wealth?

He replied:

Surely, Allah has chosen him in preference to
you, and he has increased him abundantly in knowledge and physique, and Allah
grants His kingdom to whomsoever he pleases, and Allah is Ample-giving,
knowing.9

From the above-mentioned verses,
the following points can be extracted:

1. Some peculiarities make it necessary that prophecy be separate from
ruler ship and imamate that at one time the prophethood belongs to one person
and the rulership to another, and each one of them have a particular
qualification and competence for the position allocated to them. Due to the
possibility of the separation between the two positions, the people of
Bani-Israel never objected to the fact that, O prophet, you are more competent
than him, rather in objection said: We are more competent than him.

2. The position attained by Saul was directly from God and it was God
alone who granted him with this status where he refers to this as:

Allah
has raised Talut to be a king,

and also:

Allah has chosen him in preference to
you.

3. The divine position to Saul was not only the commandment of the army,
but also he was the ruler over the tribe of Bani-Israel, as the verse states: (a king-a ruler and a governor) Although the
goal of that leadership on that day was the leadership of Bani-Israel in the
struggle in the way of God, however, his divine position permitted him to
undergo other works which all concern the affairs of rulership as was referred
to at the end of the verse

And
Allah grants his kingdom to whosoever
he pleases.

4. The most important condition of all is that of the societys leadership,
the leadership of the nation and imamate in the broadness of its context, not
to mention the necessary physical and spiritual abilities, especially for the
rulers during that time who had to strive and move along with the army.10

Thus, it becomes clear that there is no necessary
interrelation between prophethood and imamate, however, it is quite possible
that a human may reach the position of prophethood without being the nations
leader (imam), who are supposed to take the responsibility of the commandment
over them, on the other hand, a person can be assigned to the guardianship and
ruler ship of a society but not be a prophet; yet at other times, both these
positions can be granted to one person who is competent for both. As mentioned in the Holy Quran that: