Imamate as per the Holy Qur’an (1)

Imamate or the divinely-decreed leadership of mankind, has been specified by God Almighty in the holy Qur’an. Like Prophethood, it is bestowed by the Allah on the deserving, and is not something left to the whims of fallible minds to elect, select, nominate, designate, or remove. For instance in ayah 124 of Surah Baqarah, we read:

 “And when his Lord tested Abraham with certain words, and he fulfilled them, He said, ‘I am making you the Imam of mankind.’ Said he, ‘And from among my descendants?’ He said, ‘My pledge does not extend to the unjust.’”

The long chain of prophethood, starting from Father Adam, ended with the departure from the mortal world of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). The universal message of Islam had reached its perfection with the Seal of the Divine Messengers, who as per the express commandment of God Almighty, proclaimed to a huge gathering of 120,000 Muslims at Ghadeer Khom, while returning from his farewell Hajj pilgrimage, the leadership of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). The Prophet of Islam declared “Man kunto Mowla fa haza Aliyun Mowla. It means that “For whomsoever I am Master, this Ali is Master.” This marks the specific start of Imamate in Islam, because it is against Divine Justice to leave the Ummah in the dark. Those who adhered to the path of the Prophet and Imam Ali (AS), followed by his eleven divinely-decreed successors, are called Shi’ite Muslims. Those who differed with the command of God and the declaration of the Prophet by alleging that the Prophet did not appoint any successor, and then went on to elect one of them as caliph or political ruler, on the assumption that this is the Sunnah of the Prophet, are called Sunni Muslims. Stay with us for the first part of series titled “Imamate as per the Holy Qur’an”

It was the habit of the Prophet of Islam to leave someone behind in charge of affairs, whenever he travelled abroad. Even in the expeditions he sent for defence of the dignity, honour, and property of Muslims from the attacks of the disbelievers, the Prophet used to appoint commanders. Sometime he specified the persons who should take charge of the Islamic forces, in case the commander was martyred. For instance, when an Islamic army was sent to check the incursion of the Byzantine forces and their Arab allies in Muta in what is now Jordan, the Prophet appointed Zaid bin Haretha as leader, and then specified that in case of his martyrdom, Ja’far bin Abi Taleb should take the command, and if he was martyred, Abdullah bin Rawaha should assume the command. In another expedition, when the Prophet personally led the Islamic forces, he left behind in Medina, his cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali (AS) as his vicegerent, and said the famous statement: O Ali your position to me is like that Aaron to Moses.” He thus made it clear that the issue of leadership is of prime importance in Islam, and cannot be left to the whims of fallible minds. This disproves the allegations that the Prophet did not leave behind any successor while departing from the mortal world. In view of these facts, the event of Saqifa Bani Sa’dah in Medina, in which a group of Muslims hijacked the caliphate, while the Prophet still lay unburied, is indeed a scandalous event and the greatest discord in the history of Islam.

Regarding the rank of imamate, the Prophet’s 8^th Infallible Heir, Imam Reza (AS) says: Allah gave Prophet Abraham imamate after having bestowed prophethood and the rank of Khalil or the Intimate of God. This means imamate is of paramount importance and cannot be the right of any wayward person.