Shiism: Imamate and Wilayat Origin of Shiism, self-censorship in Muslim history, Ghadir Khumm and the Orientalists, appointment of Imam Ali (a) explicit or implicit?, concept of Ahlul Bayt, Wilayat, and the knowledge of the Ahlul Bayt (a). Author(s): Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi The Meaning of Imamate In the same speech, the learned scholar further explains the meaning of Imamate by saying: The belief system says anybody who had any right to claim obedience after the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) is Ali bin Abi Talib. That is the meaning of Imamate; it is nothing more than that. You open any book of kalam, you will find theologians describing Imam Ali as having the right to become muta, obeyed, one should be obeyed by the people. Why should he be obeyed? Because he is exactly sitting in the place of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.)... Imam Ali was the Imam from the day the Prophet Muhammad closed his eyes. Regardless whether he became a khalifa or not. How can he become an Imam without becoming a khalifa, without sitting on the throne? That was not the requirement. Because the obedience was to the position of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). In order to defend his writing in the Bio Ethics Encyclopaedia, the learned scholar has divided imamate and khilafat into two different realms: imamate becomes a spiritual position while khilafat becomes a political position. He says, Imamate is nothing more than that, and even boldly asks the audience to open any book of kalam [theology]... Well, we opened the books of kalam from different eras and found the statement of the learned scholar to be against the mainstream Shia belief on the meaning and scope of imamate. Shaykh Mufid (d. 413 A.H./1022 C.E.) defines an Imam as follows: The Imam is the person who has the comprehensive leadership in religious as well as worldly matters as the successor of the Prophet (a.s.).23 Allama Hilli (d. 726 A.H./1325 C.E.) defines Imamate as follows: The Imamate is a universal authority (riyasa) in the things of religion and of the world belonging to some person and derived from (niyaba) the Prophet.24 Abdu r-Razzaq Lahíji (d. 1072 A.H.) defines Imamate as follows: Know that Imamate is an authority over all those who are of legal age in worldly as well as religious matter based on successorship of the Prophet.25 Allamah Tabatabaí (d. 1401 A.H. / 1981) writes, Thus the imamate and religious leadership in Islam may be studied from three different perspectives: from the perspective of Islamic government, of Islamic sciences and injunctions, and of leadership and innovative guidance in the spiritual life. Shíism believes that since Islamic society is in dire need of guidance in each of these three aspects, the person who occupies the function of giving that guidance and is the leader of the community in these areas of religious concern must be appointed by God and the Prophet.26 Even Murtaza Mutahhari states that when the Shías use the term Imam, it does not only reflect the spiritual guidance and leadership, it includes the social and political leadership also.27 As you can see, all these theologians and prominent scholars of the Shía faith unanimously define Imamate as a position that combines the spiritual/religious leadership as well as the socio-political/wordly leadership. For a Shía, Ali is the first Imam as well as the first khalifa of the Prophet. A Shía would never say that Ali is the first Imam but not the khalifa bila fasl (immediate successor) of the Prophet. The difference between Shías and the Sunnis is not about the spiritual leadership; it is on the socio-political leadership immediately after the Prophet. As mentioned earlier, the view that the Ahlul Bayt were spiritual guides only but not political leaders is a belief found among the Sunnis in general and the Sufis in particular.28 (b) Political Also Then in the 6th speech of Muharram 1419, the learned scholar, in a way, contradicts his above statement. He says: ...The fact remains that the Quràn conceived the Prophet to be the leader of an ummah, an ummah that was religious, social and political. In other words, it was civil, moral community that was being guided by a person, who had some kind of comprehensive authority, which was not conceivable at that time even, by the Arab tribes. That was also the difficulty during Ghadir. When Ghadir happened, one of the challenging dimensions of Ghadir was an introduction of the Quranic concept of leadership. Wilayah means that kind of leadership, which combines the civil and moral authority in one person. That means there is no separation of power. This is no church and state as such, rather the civil and moral authority combines in the person who holds the office of the wilayah. What was new about it? The new thing about it was this that in the Arab culture, the Arabs were never used to see a young person assuming the leadership. In Arab culture it was impossible for a thirty year old young man to become a leader because the Arabs believed that an older person has to become a leader...29 the 8th speech, the learned scholar says: The whole question is Is Islam a political system or its a religious system? There are two opinions about it. Many scholars are fighting the battle, including Ayatullah Khui, Ayatullah Mutahhari, Ayatullah Khumayni, in Egypt, al-Ashmaawi, al-Jaabiri in Morocco... For me there is a very important issue involved here. If we say that Islam is not a political system, and Islam is simply a religion that is concerned with moving humanity towards self-perfection and prepare humanity for the hereafter, then we are denying a very major role played by the Prophet in the establishment of the ummah itself... Nine-tenth of Islam is muamalat, how you deal with each other, how you conduct your affairs in this world because whatever you do in this world has an implication for the aakhirat. Now in that kind of religion, to say that Islam is simply a religion without any social system is to deny the fact of wilayah. By the way, if you remember my lecture on the fifth night because wilayah means moral, civil authority that can lead you to your ultimate goal of creation, and ultimate goal of creation is not only knowing what is five times a day prayers, fasting, but knowing how to live as human beings in a society. Otherwise there would not be civil authority, the Prophet could just be what we call an-nabi ar-ruhi...30 This is indeed true. Why then did the learned scholar say in the 2nd speech, The Prophet was never recognized as the political leader? It is good that he made it clear that the Prophet was not only a religious leader, he was also a political leader. After WWI, there was an intense debate in Egypt on Westernization versus Islam, and some intellectuals, influenced by Western ideas, tried to secularize Islam by restricting khilafat to spiritual issues and separting it from the ummahs political system. Ali Abdu r-Raziq wrote al-Islam wa Usulu l-Hukm (1925) proposing the complete separation of religion and state in Islam.31 Similar ideas are resurfacing lately in the writings of some Muslim intellectuals influenced by the liberal/secular ideas of the West. Footnote : 24.Al-Hilli, al-Babu l-Hadi Ashar [Qum: Nashr Nawid, 1368 AH solar] p. 184; also see its English translation A Treatise on the Principles of Shíite Thought, tr. William Miller (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1958) p. 62. 25.Lahíji, Sarmaya-e Iman (Qum: Intisharat-e az-Zahra, 1372 AH solar) p. 107. 26.Tabatabaí, Shía Islam, tr. Nasr (Qum: Ansariyan, 1989) p. 173. 27.Mutahhari, Wilaya, p. 72. 28.See p. 90-91. 29.In the 6th speech in Muharram 1419 at Toronto. 30.In the 8th speech in Muharram 1419 at Toronto. 31.On Abdu r-Raziqs book and al-Bakhits reponse to it, see Hourani, Arabic Thought, pp. 184-192; on Rashid Radhas response, see Kerr, Islamic Reform, pp. 179-185. al-islam.org/shiism-imamate-and-wilayat-sayyid-muhammad-rizvi
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 06:35:32 +0000