Religious Studies of Prophethood and Imamate
Year:2024 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:10

According to religious texts, the mediation of grace is one of the matters of the esoteric guardianship of the Prophets and Imams. In order to have a close understanding of the mediation of the grace of the Prophet and the Imam and to avoid excesses, one must know what it is and its foundations. In this article, relying on religious texts and referring to the sayings of theologians, divine sages and especially Islamic mystics, we have given an interpretation of what and some important principles through the grace of the Prophet and the Imam. The mediation of grace of the Prophet and the Imam has a natural reality. The saints hold this position due to their abstract and enlightened truth. This position becomes relevant for them in the life of the world by reaching the highest actuality of guardianship. The Prophet and the Imam are the ultimate goal of creation, and the emergence of things, the attainment of existential perfections, and their return to the truth are accomplished through their existence. The unity and subtlety of the existence of God Almighty, the necessity of mediation for the manifestation of God Almighty in the order of names and action, the comprehensiveness of the perfect man and the capability for guardianship and proximity to God Almighty are among its important foundations.

“Prophetic ijtihad” is a challenging issue among Sunni thinkers that has its roots in the early history of Islam. The ijtihad of the Prophet means that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) ruled in some cases based on his personal opinion and ijtihad. Due to the opposition of a large number of scholars to this issue, the main question of this article is whether the Holy Prophet inferred the rules of Sharia based on his ijtihad or not? Our hypothesis is that according to the explicit verses of the Holy Qur'an, any ruling and word of the Holy Prophet is based on divine revelation and he never ruled on the basis of opinion and ijtihad. The finding of this article is that based on the convincing Quranic reasons and the narration of the issue of ijtihad of the Prophet, it is considered a rejected thing. This is because a mujtahid is not infallible and may make mistakes. However, finding error in the ijtihads of the Holy Prophet contradicts his absolute infallibility.

The knowledge and infallibility of the Prophet (PBUH) are among the important issues that Muslim theologians have presented different views according to its importance, and the result is better knowledge of the Prophet (PBUH) and reciprocal better practical behavior for his followers. This article intends to measure and compare the knowledge and infallibility of the Prophet from the point of view of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Mutahar. This selection can be considered due to the time proximity of these two theologians as well as Ibn Taymiyyah's specific criticisms of Allamah Hilli's point of view, a question that has been answered in this article. This is: whether knowledge and infallibility are current in all aspects of the life of the Prophet (PBUH) from the perspective of these two thinkers or not? Considering that the Prophet is a role model, it should be said that infallibility cannot be accepted only in some aspects of his prophethood.The present article has been done by descriptive-analytical method and software and library search, and its purpose is to explain the views of Ibn Taymiyyah and Allamah Hilli on this issue.

The scope of the law of the Ulul Azmi Prophets is one of the important issues of the principle of prophethood. To what extent does the universality or non-universality of the prophethood of these prophets interfere with their determination? Ustadh Subhani is one of the thinkers who, contrary to popular belief, has accepted only the universality of the Shari'ah of the Holy Prophet and considers the prophethood of other Ulul Azmi Prophets as regional and specific to a particular nation. For this reason, analyzing and examining their point of view is of particular importance. The method of this research is descriptive-analytical and critical and the main question of this research is that according to what arguments did Ustadh Subhani try to prove the regionality of the prophethood of some of the Ulul Azmi Prophets and to what extent did he consider these arguments acceptable? To prove his theory (attributing the prophethood of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus to their own people and the non-universality of those narrations), Ustadh Subhani presented narrative and rational arguments. And in rational arguments, the emphasis is on the inadequacy of the necessary infrastructure to make the invitation of these Prophets public. However, in the interpretation of the narrations, there is no difference between the original core of the invitation and the final audience of the invitation, and if such a distinction is made, the universality of their prophethood is certain and undeniable. Rational arguments can also be answered by sharing the prophetic propagation and raising people's level of understanding.

In verses 105 and 106 of Surah Nisa, the Prophet is assigned to seek forgiveness. The problem of the upcoming article is the primitive contradiction between forgiveness and Prophet's infallibility in these two verses. The efforts of Shia and Sunni commentators in solving this apparent contradiction were studied and investigated in a comparative manner from three perspectives: the cause of descent, the concept of forgiveness, and the audience. Most of the Shia commentators have explained the issue of forgiveness and its belonging with an approach taken from the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt regarding the revelation of the Qur'an, and by recognizing the principle of the Prophet's infallibility as Islam, and some of them, by providing a new meaning of the word forgiveness, have considered it a form of rosary and worship. On the other hand, Sunni commentators have expressed their opinions in two general approaches. Some have interpreted the verse without pointing out the contradiction due to the theological basis of "the permission to issue a minor sin" from the Prophet, And some others, like the Imami commentators, have taken a new approach to the meaning of asking for forgiveness in maintaining the Prophet's infallibility, or considered the verse to be addressed to the Prophet's Ummah.

The history of the Holy Qur'an has a complete connection with the phenomenon of “revelation.” Why so is that the revelation of the verses of the noble Qur'an was only in this way, and receiving the heavenly message which is a kind of connection between the chosen and distinguished man with the unseen world, was fulfilled with “revelation.” Therefore, research is important in understanding revelation, recognizing and analyzing its meaning and nature accurately. The fact that revelation has different meanings in the Qur'an, it may lead to confusion of concepts and some may even doubt its nature and reduce revelation to the level of prophetic experience and consider the relationship between the two as the same. The premise of this article is that revelation is God's word to mankind, not prophetic experience. The word “revelation” in the Qur'an has distinctions and commonalities, the study and understanding of which can be of great help in proving this hypothesis. This article has been able to measure the understanding of the meanings of the word “revelation” in the Qur'an with the help of library tools and by analyzing different verses in the meaning of revelation. Then it is proven with narrative and rational reasons that the idea that [scriptural] revelation is similar to religious experience is fundamentally false. Hence, it is concluded that the empiricist view of revelation is a hypothesis of error.

One of the challenges of today's society is radical Shiism, which is emerging in the form of currents such as English Shiism. The problem is that the wrong understanding of the concept of Wilāyatand love has caused some Ahl al-Bayt lovers to ignore and indulge in their behavior and speech and perform their religious duties.In such a way that sometimes it has led to exaggeration and exaggeration and sometimes to immorality and justifying the commission of sin by thinking that the sin can be removed with the love of Ahl al-Bayt.On the other hand, the wrong view of hatred of the enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt also leads to extreme confrontations and divisive and sometimes violent behavior. In order to solve this problem, we must answer the question, who is the desired Shia of Imam Sadiq and what are his expectations from the true Shia?The life of the Prophet and the Ahl al-Bayt is based on reason and logic, observing Islamic ethics, the principle of Muslim brotherhood and unity, and avoiding excesses. Data collection in this research is library and software and the research method is descriptive and analytical; For this purpose, the behavioral indicators of extremism and examples of the traditions of the infallible imams were investigated and analyzed with the aim of explaining their true Shia, and we found that the expectations of the infallible imam from the ideal Shia are mostly based on the behavioral characteristics of the Shiites, and the salvation of man depends on faith and action. Shi'ism is all about love and kindness of the Ahl al-Bayt. Simply claiming to love God, the Prophet and the Ahl al-Bayt does not lead to salvation, nor is it a license for extremism, violence, and excommunication of the opponents and the desirable Shi'a.

The common denominator of the definitions of different sects is that exaggeration means exceeding the shari'ah limit in praise or vilification, and through this definition, the Shi’ah are called transgressors by the Salafis for believing in the infallibility of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS). However, in this article, a descriptive-analytical method based on library data tries to prove that the Qur'an and Sunnah indicate the legitimacy of such a belief. As an example, the verse of purification and the famous verse known as the Ulul Amr verse, and the hadiths that are mentioned below these verses in the authentic sources of Sunni narration and books trusted by the Salafis, indicate this issue. Therefore, the principle of Shi’ah belief in the discussion of infallibility is based on the sources of the holy shari'ah of Islam and the subject is removed from the title of exaggeration, but in the discussion of infallible example, the arguments of the deniers and the affirmers in this regard should be examined. This issue cannot be the basis of making the Shi’ah exaggerators.

Dr. Farhad Daftary is one of the researchers in the field of Shi’i studies in the West who has written many works in this field for many years. His most famous work is the book ‘The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines’ which presented most of his important notions. His viewpoints and styles are accompanied by strong and weak points in this book. The most important vital points of his work are the appropriateness in form and structure, and the use of analytical history in the field of Islamic studies which is a novelty in its kind. At the same time, his book is critically acclaimed both in terms of method and content. The most important methodological critiques of this book are the absolute focus on historiography and non-Shiite sources and texts, the disregard for Shiite sources, and the use of unproven presuppositions. In terms of content, belief in the historiography of Imami Shi’ah, compilation of some original Shi’ah beliefs by Keysaniyah, incorrect analysis of the time of Shi’ah formation and the role of exaggerations in the formation of a distinct Shi’ah identity are among the issues that are weak in terms of definite history as well as Shi’ah hadiths and are criticizable. The style of work in this aspect is to express the vital points as well as criticizing Dr. Farhad's Shi’ah ideas based on gathering numerous evidences from his famous book in this field, namely ‘The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines’, and a brief analysis of each and their conclusions based on the two platform of method and content.

Considering the special place of encyclopedias in injecting information, and awareness in general and even at the level of the general public or even researchers, review and critique, the articles compiled in this encyclopedia and determining the validity and accuracy of the content presented in those articles is necessary and certain. The Encyclopaedia Americana, the world's oldest English-language encyclopedia and well-known among the world's public encyclopedias, is a reference encyclopedia written by more than 6,500 researchers on a variety of topics.The incomplete and erroneous picture of the Shi’ah and Shi’ah Imams presented in this encyclopedia, with the help of library tools and referring to historical and hadith sources, led the author of this article to critique and review the article “Ali” in this encyclopedia. The brevity of the article on the most important figure in the Islamic world after the noble Prophet [PBUH], incorrect and one-sided analyzes, as well as fanatical attitudes resulting from incorrect and incomplete information and limited references in this article written by Orientalist William Montgomery Watt are among the criticisms of this entry in the American Encyclopedia.