The Imamate as a Rational Necessity

The Imamate as a Rational Necessity
Imamate & Caliphate

The preservation of the very foundations of religion was intimately connected with the attention paid to the subject by the Imams, for awareness of their presence among the ummah was able to prevent many basic deviations from taking place.

Like an alert and careful observer, 'Ali b. Abi Talib, peace be upon him, followed all that was taking place in his time.

Whenever an incorrect verdict was issued, a law was distorted, or an incorrect penalty was about to be applied, 'Ali looked into the matter and gave the necessary instructions, He was stringent and honest in protecting the principles and laws of Islam.

He exercised leadership at all stages of his life. Thus he was always prepared to answer the scholars of other religions who came flocked to Madinah in order to put their queries before the legatee of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family.

It was thanks to the blessed existence of the Imam that Islamic learning - the legal, educational, and social teachings of the faith were disseminated among the Muslims and the vital commands and ordinances of the Quran became widely known. Even in lands ruled by harsh and savage rulers, at a time when the caliphs were sunk in corruption and transgression and strove to prevent society from imbibing Islamic knowledge, the numerous utterances and traditions of the Imams, rich in learning and wisdom and pertaining to all aspects of the faith, served to preserve religion and give the necessary guidance to society.

Some of the caliphs like al-Ma'mun sought to destroy the scholarly credentials of the Imams by arranging debates and disputations among the scholars of different religions and sects, but the performance of the Imams in these gatherings served only to reinforce their scholarly prestige.

The Imams, as heirs to the teachings of the Messenger, bequeathed thousands of hadith to the scholars of Islam, hadith that originated on various occasions and had the purpose of enlightening society on religious matters and clarifying the credal bases of the faith. They pertained to all the different concerns of jurisprudence, to ethics and moral conduct, and to esoteric knowledge. It was by drawing on these resources that scholars were able to disseminate the Islamic sciences widely in society and to elaborate an authentic jurisprudence as opposed to the various legal currents then in existence.

We will be better able to appreciate the incomparable struggle waged by the Imams in the service of Islamic culture in all of its branches if we compare the hadith of the Sunnis with the traditions narrated from the inerrant Imams. This comparison will demonstrate the profundity of vision, the originality of thought, and the varied knowledge of the headers of Shi'ism. The Sunni scholars themselves have benefited to some degree from the knowledge and learning of the Shi'a Imams, for consciously or unconsciously they have borrowed a great deal from them in this respect. The Imams thus vindicated fully their function as the true guardians of Islam.

It was Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, who introduced philosophy, theology, mathematics and chemistry for the first time. Among his companions, al-Mufaddal b. 'Umar, Mu'min al-Taq, Hisham b. Hakam, and Hisham b. Salim were specialists in philosophy and theology. Jabir b. Hayyan specialized in mathematics and chemistry, and Zararah, Muhammad b. Muslim, Jamil b. Darraj, Hamran b. A'yan, Abu Basir, and 'Abdullah b. Sinan, in jurisprudence (fiqh), principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) and Qur'anic exegesis1.

Ibn Shahrashub writes:

"From no one has so many traditions been narrated as from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be Upon him. As many as four thousand students derived their knowledge from him, and some of the founders of the Sunni schools of law also drew on that storehouse of learning.2"

Among his students were the founders of law schools (madhahib) such as Malik b. Anas, Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibn 'Uyaynah, and Abu Hanifah; jurists (fuqaha') such as Muhammad b. Hasan al-Shaybani and Yahya b. Sa'id; and traditionalists (muhaddithin) such as Ayyub al-Sijistani, Shu'bah b. al-Hajjaj, and Abd al-Malik b. Jurayh3.

Ibn Abi 'l-Hadid, who is regarded as a great scholar among the Sunnis, writes the following concerning the genial character of 'Ali b. Abi Talib, peace be upon him:

"What can I say of a person to whom all human virtues have been attributed? Every group counts him as one of their own; every virtue arises from his being; and every science and branch of learning goes back to him. Theosophy, the most noble of all forms of knowledge, is derived from his utterances. The teacher of Wasil b. 'Ata' who was the leader of the Mu'tazilah, benefited from the instruction of 'Ali by two intermediate generations. Likewise, whatever learning the Ash'arites have, they also owe to 'Ali.

"Without any doubt, the philosophy and theology of the Shi'is and the Zaydis also go back to 'Ali. He is the supreme teacher of all jurists, for Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi school, was a pupil of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, who had imbibed the learning of 'Ali through transmission by his father and ancestors. Malik b. Anas, the founder of Maliki jurisprudence, had a master who was the pupil of 'Ikrimah, who in turn had been a pupil of Ibn Abbas, who had derived his learning directly from 'Ali.

"'Umar b. al-Khattab would always turn to 'Ali for help in solving difficult questions, and he would often say: 'Were it not for 'Ali, 'Umar would be lost.'

"As for the jurisprudence of the Shi'ah, it goes without saying that it goes back to their first leader. In addition, 'Ali was the master teacher of all exegesis of the Quran. This can be easily ascertained by referring to the books of exegesis and seeing how most of their material springs from him. Even that which is narrated from Ibn 'Abbas ultimately goes back to 'Ali. Ibn Abbas was once asked: 'How would you compare your knowledge with that of your cousin?' He replied: 'Mine is like a drop, and he's like an ocean.'

"All the great gnostics ('urafa') attach themselves to 'Ali, and he is in addition the one who founded the science of grammar, having taught its fundamental principles for the first time to Abu 'l-Aswad.4"

* Imamate and Leadership, Lesson Fifteen "The Imamate as a Rational Necessity". Lessons on Islamic Doctrine. Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari. Translated by: Hamid Algar. Published by: Islamic Education Center, 7917 Montrose Road, Potomac, MD 20854. Reproduced with permission by the Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project team.

^{1- Asad Haydar, al-Imam al-Sadiq wa al-Madhahib al-Arba'
2-Ibn Shahrashub, al-Manaqib, Vol. IV, p.247.
3- Asad Haydar, Imam Sadiq wa Madhahib-i Chaharganeh, (Persian translation), Vol. III, 27-28,46.
4- Ibn Abi 'l-Hadid, Sharh, Vol. I, p.6.}