“Imamate”: The most radical face of caliphate for Shi’ites

Ali Rajab

Fundamental concepts

The “imamate” for the Shi’ites is the other side of the caliphate for the Sunnis, but this “imamate” has its conditions that may be more than the conditions of the caliphate among the Sunnis. The caliphate is the general authority in dealing with the establishment of religion by reviving the religious sciences and consolidating the pillars of Islam as well as carrying out the jihad and all that is related to arranging armies, giving them a cover, implementing the judiciary, establishing punishment, lifting grievances, calling for doing good and forbidding evil, on behalf of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

It is clear that what is intended from it especially for the public is the virtual caliphate and the presidency of the government and the emirate.

As for the “Imamate” for the Shi’ites, it is the divine caliphate that is complementary to the functions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) and their sustainability except revelation. The Shi’ites give the position of the imamate a greater religious role that the Sunnis give to the caliphate. The main task of the imam is to deputize the Prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) in his functions of guiding people and guiding them to their goodness and happiness in this world and the Hereafter. It is the imam who explains the Qur’an to them, shows them the knowledge and the rulings, explains the purposes of the Shari’a, protects the religion from distortions, and has the general mandate over the people to manage their affairs and interests.

For Shi’ites, the Imamate is considered a general rule in matters of religion and the world by a certain person on behalf of the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him). Hence, when people have a president that is fair, deters the oppressors and stands by those who have faced injustice, things become smoother and the sedition settles. With having such person in power, people become closer to goodness, and the corruption is farther away. When such a person is not in power, people are closer to corruption.

Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (148-203 AH – 765-818 AD), the eighth imam of the Twelve Shi’ites, said that the Imam is regulating the rules of the religion, the system of Muslims, the goodness of the world, and the faithful of the believers. The Imamate is the basis for a developing Islam, and its lofty branch. With having the imam, alms are provided and religious rules and regulations are implemented. The imam allows anything halal (religiously permissible), forbids the haram (religiously impermissible), establishes the limits of God, and calls for the path of his Lord with wisdom and good exhortation.

Conditions of Imamate:

Since the start of Islam, the Shi’ites have agreed that the Imamate originated from the fundamentals of religion, and the belief in the imamiyyah (Twelver) after the Messenger of Allah (Prophet Muhammed) is one of the requirements of faith in Islam. The Noble Prophet (PBUH) wrote in the days of his life about the successor after him.

In this regard, Abu Jaafar Muhammad ibn Ya`qub al-Kalini says in his book «Usool al-Kafi»: “For Shi’ites, the Imamate was confined to the sons of Maulana al-Imam al-Husayn Ibn, Ali ibn Abi Talib, and it is fixed in the aftermath, and it does not apply to an uncle or a brother, nor in other closures after Hassanein.”

The Sunnis did not require the imam to be disciplined and a role model. Rather, they permitted that the imam be a deviant. According to the hadith, the imam shall not be overthrown because of his misdeeds and wrongdoing, stealing money, beating humans, wasting rights and obstructing religious rules.

The Twelver set conditions for who should be an imam. The first and most important condition is that it be stipulated by God and His Messenger, and this means not requiring a particular age. The imam is the one whom the religious text mentioned, whether young or old.

The second condition is to be infallible, and the third condition is to have the qualities of science, jurisprudence and courage. The fourth condition is to be the best in the nation in everything that is considered a psychological perfection while the fifth condition is to be free of any defects in his look, family, origin, or in his practical life, such as low-class trades like sowing. The sixth condition is that he should have divine qualities that God has bestowed upon him in order to make other people believe him.

The usurped government:

Despite the establishment of several Shi’ite states since the third century AH (ninth century AD), and the fact that the imam was present in them such as «Zayyud» in Trabstan and Yemen, and «Fatimids» in Morocco, Egypt and Syria, the majority of the Shi’ites was committed to another vision telling of the absence of the imam. This vision connects between the religious vision of the imam who hails from the blood of Prophet Muhammed and el-Mahdi el-Montazar, who comes at the end of time.

The Shi’ite scholars considered that the governments that were established were religiously usurped and that religious scholars or religious people should not participate in them or cooperate with them, although the matter on the ground was contrary to this. That led to the withdrawal of the Imamiyyah from the political scene, out of the belief in the absence of the imam.

The mandate of the jurist:

This was the case with the Shi’ites until the Shi’ite scholar Muhammad ibn Makki, known as the “First Martyr” (1333-1384), saw that in the absence of the infallible imam, the jurist should deputize him in all religious and social affairs, including the tasks of the judiciary, the establishment of religious rules, and Friday prayers.

With the establishment of the Safavid state (1501-1736), the rulers of that country used the scholars of Jabal Amel in Lebanon to spread the imamate doctrine, including Nur al-Din Ali ibn al-Hassan (1466-1534) 1514-1576). With the son of Shah Ismail Safavi (the founder of the Safavid state) taking office, he gave al-Hassan the title of “deputy of the absent Imam” and issued an order to obey the al-Hassan in order to support his state with religious legitimacy.

Khomeini and the Islamic Government:

With the dichotomy of the “al-Hassan-Tahmasib I”, the idea of “Deputy Imam” began to develop in the Shi’ite thought until the Shi’ite authority and the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran were influenced by theory of the “Muslim Brotherhood” in the reign and the establishment of the Islamic state. Dissident Brotherhood leader, Tharwat Kharabawi, says in his book “The Imam of Evil: Brotherhood and Shi’ites Play a Secret Role”, “The researcher will find that Khomeini in his idea about the mandate of the jurist, and in his book (the Islamic government) was influenced by the idea of governance as Sayed Qutb {the view of the Brotherhood (October 9, 1906 – August 29, 1966)}.

The term of the mandate of the jurist in the jurisprudential term is the purview of the jurist, which is the entirety of the conditions of tradition and the religious reference of Imam Mahdi. This comes in terms of the prerogatives and choices delegated to him by God through the Prophet Muhammad in administering the affairs of the nation and performing the functions of the Islamic government.

According to the text of Articles 1 and 2 of the Iranian Constitution, which Khomeini put after the victory of the Islamic Revolution (1979), “The mandate of the nation in the absence of the Imam Mahdi – may Allah hasten his release – is for the just jurist.” Thus, the vision of the mandate of the jurist, formulated by Khomeini, is the evolving vision of the “Deputy Imam'” theory and the other side of the “caliphate” for the Sunnis.