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Doctrine of Imamat and Super Exaggeration

SHAFAQNA-

As the writer takes rest he enjoys the relief which is in his conclusion that the fundamental of Imamate and its doctrine is at congruity with the birth of Shiasm of Imamia then its growth into a belief full of exaggeration, and from a belief to a roll of a redeemer taking a form and shape of a leader and that leader is the Imam, qualified in divinity or divinity giving him quality. What a perfect plan it is and how nicely designed and delicately determined! This can not be but the result of efforts abortive and vain, which Shiasm had undergone to find the ALAWI caliphate and which deservedly crushed and brought a political defeat for them. But their defeat in the political arena took their Shiasm to higher and writer plains of expansion in spite of the hindrances that impeded their way from the Sunni side. Such is his rumination.

Firstly, he should know that the fundamental of Imamate is among the original fundamentals of Islam. It is a spring of faith and a fountain wherefrom flows the faith. The Quranic verses and the repeated conversations of the Prophet further establish this faith. The passage of time has no part in it. The victories neither added there on nor did the defeats reduced there from. It is solid; it is pure; it is real; it is original.

Secondly, the belief in Imamate has no relation with exaggeration. It is an evil design to administer a relation with exaggeration. The qualities of an Imam are described by the specifications given by the Prophet (SAW). The constant traditions are there in this respect. What the Prophet (SAW) says is authentic and the authority incontrovertible and irrefragable. The tributes of the Imams are fixed, are told, indicated, shown and proved. The Imam is a creature of God like others; He is dependent upon God like others. “He does not possess for his self any gain or any loss unless it should be from God.

” The Imam is not a prophet. In other words, no religion is revealed to him nor is any Divine Decree communicated to him nor does descend upon him any Revelation. Unlike an apostle or a prophet he is not in contact with the Angel who constantly used to descend with God’s commandments. Since the Imam succeeds the prophet he is the guardian of the religion brought down by the Prophet (SAW). The divine communication through angels or revelations terminates at the prophet upon who descends a mission or a religion to be delivered to people. Therefore, there remains no necessity for this communication with the Imam because of his care taking office for that religion or mission introduced by his predecessor the prophet.

It is quite likely that the pens of animosity misinterpreted the office of the Imam and his status while it is quite a plain and simple thing within the frame of reason.

It is obligatory and incumbent upon one to recognize the Imam of his time and acknowledge his authority. By the Imam we mean him who is installed by a Divine Decree through the Prophet. Such an Imam has absolute worldly and religious authorities. He represents the qualities of those possessed by the Prophet (SAW), except the prophet hood. He is immune of sin. He is the rightful successor of the Prophet and a legitimate occupant of his seat. The writer has obfuscated the things, which are plain and easy. Mahdism and the absence of the present time Imam too is made complicated, as he seems to have been confused. Mahdism is a thing foretold by the Prophet Sunni scholars have acknowledged this thing. There exists an Imam in our time whether present or absent, visible or invisible. The traditions have established it. So why the argument? Why so much confusion? To believe the Prophet but not to believe his words is a deplorable act. We can not believe in some and reject others. Partly we believe in the Prophet’ sayings and partly we deny them. What kind of Muslims are we? Religion is wholesome. Belief too should be wholesome, total, full, consummate and complete.

The writer exaggerates. If he himself is a believer he should not tell such things. Belief is an exaggeration not to a believer but to him who sees only matter and investigates matter alone. A believer no matter in what faith he believes, Christianity, Judism, Islam, he has taken for granted what is invisible to him, remote to him, not tangible to him. A divine and a divinity; is it an exaggeration? For a materialist the very religion itself is an exaggeration. What to a believer is a tangible fact, although out of vision, although invisible, although remote to touch; to a materialist is an exaggeration. Well, the miracles of Moses, Abraham, Jesus and the other apostles or Imams are only exaggeration to one who has no belief in the other world which for the present is unseen to us. If we deny the Prophet as a partner in divinity; yet, it is contrary to faith and tantamount to pagan hood. But when we do not trespass the boundaries and believe within the frame fixed by God and His Prophet (SAW) where is the falsehood? An Imam is not a prophet or a prophet God. Stations are known; positions are prescribed; status stated; ambit is put there to avoid the ambition; so how can deception creep in?

Adapted from: “A Reply To Belief Of Mahdism In Shia Imamate” by: “Ayatollah Lutfollah Saafi Golpayegani”

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