Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Chapter 2 - The Doctrine

The relation between doctrine and authority is interdependent. The existence of an authority is fundamentally actual whenever there is a doctrine. Contemporaneity and reciprocal perfection between doctrine and authority are necessarily existent. For focusing thorough light on the meaning of authority, it is important to study the signification of doctrine since it is infeasible to understand one without having an adequate intimacy with the other.

What is the sense of doctrine? Generally, a doctrine implies the mass of correlate and perfect ideas, rules, principals and values that are contributing in providing a picture of the past, present and expected or sought future of the being, disregarding genuineness, comprehensiveness and perfection of this picture. A definite group of people will be unquestionably attracted to that doctrine as they have been convinced of the picture provided. Pursuant to criteria of that doctrine, the group involved determine their concepts, goals and ways taken for attaining these goals. From this cause, the doctrine is being the leader, director and source of the advantage and legislation of that group's life.

Any doctrine, in this aspect, naturally claims of its aptitude to administrate the followers' life, render convalescent solutions for their problems, and promote to a bright morrow. In addition, such a doctrine claims of owning means of meting out prosperity among the embracers. Such claims can make considerable mental and physical vibrations in the embracers’ spirits until they advance the doctrine as a political school ready for evidencing claims through influential individuals taking the charge of authority and planning policies of that group in respect of concepts of the doctrine. The political school is same as the perfect political schedule produced by the doctrine. It is a declaration of that doctrine's facilitative ideology, philosophy and principals so that they can be readily applied and experienced. Besides, the political schedule provided by a doctrine highlights on the goals and their achieving means. All the above is practically connected with the existence of a governmental or ruling authority whose main task is applying this schedule on actuality. In this regard, we can look upon the emancipating Capitalism and the Communist Marxism as doctrines.

Two Categories of Doctrines

Mankind knew only two categories of doctrines:

1. Divine doctrines created by God.

2. Positive doctrines counted, or accumulated, by one or more individuals.

Creating Doctrines and their Essences

A deep view in the subject of doctrines makes us discover the fact that it is possible for any human to conceive any doctrine whether good or evil. But it is impractical for him to create or even found an ideal doctrine. As a nature, humans are unqualified to establishing such an ideal doctrine. Moreover, it is quite moderate to admit the fact that it is unattainable for the entire human beings to create a single convictional ideal doctrine even if they were proceeding in the same level. Yet; it is fictitious and impossible to propose that people will be on practicing on the same level one day. This takes us to the certitude that instituting an ideal doctrine is a matter exceeding ordinary levels and capacities of this life. This is because that such a concern requires, as a pillar part, a dogmatic knowledge of mankind's past and their detailed experiences. Besides, it requires a categorical knowledge of man's nature, exigencies, motives, trends and future. Future, as a factor of time, is the singular element that shows the fruition or the abortion of any doctrine. Finally, instituting an ideal doctrine requires a conservative knowledge of the universe surrounding mankind. These sorts of knowledge, as a conclusion, are impossibly attained by any individual, group or even the entire mankind.

Sooner or later, positive doctrines shall be, beyond any dispute, collapsed. This is for the elementary reason that humankind are naturally unqualified enough to institute a doctrine. The dogmatic doctrine that is appropriate to be perpetual ground of authority is the one created by Allah, the Creator. This is the Islamic doctrine which was actually representing premise of the state governed by Mohammed the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Characteristics of the Islamic Doctrine

1. Practically; Islam stands for perfect compliance to Allah, the Elevated, in every mundane or celestial affair. This can be achieved by submitting and directing conducts of the Islamic state, including individuals and groups on the entire levels, to the criteria of the divine commands defined by the persuasive divine message (the doctrine), which is Islam, towards carrying through the doctrinal goals. Conducts, in this regard, consents to the practices bowed to the doctrinal ideal and intendment.

2. Hypothetically; the Islamic doctrine betokens group of rulings, judgments, principals and matters to be enjoined and others to be avoided in addition to the general and detailed instructions revealed by God, the Exalted, to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). He (peace be upon him and his family) did explain and call for those things hypothetically through his solicitation or the government he founded. Eventually, those matters were put into application by the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) himself through the solicitation and the government.

Hence, the doctrine comprises God’s revealed matters and the Prophet’s deeds, words and signature. This role of the doctrine, as a perfected body, is answering wonderments regarding existence, incentives, termination, its way and the outcome of life. It also regulates the relations between the creatures themselves and the relations between their Creator and them and the universe and them. This universe is essential for the existence of those creatures and, in the same time, submitted for serving them. Other roles of the doctrine are showing ways of the termination of the whole permanence and that of each individual's life. It reveals the being of another life which is as same as a court evaluating deeds of all of those who passed through circle of the world. In other words, it is the end result due to which each shall be rewarded or penalized so fairly.

This doctrine is a fully occupied record of the entire creatures’ history, especially mankind. In this record, the total experiments are banked so genuinely and objectively that an artistic depiction showing absolute audible, visual, mobile, outward and clandestine views and scenes.

The doctrine, likewise, is the system of individuals, societies, authorities and mankind in general. It rectifies the life of each individual solitarily, relations between individuals, their relations with their Creator and their relations with the world encompassing them. Those individuals is supported by advocacy of that doctrine. The advocacy is supported by establishing a government. The government is supported by goals and supreme ideality.

This doctrine is purposeful. It has the capacity of determining its goals. There is a purpose for each rulings decided. This ruling is originally decided and issued for that very purpose. Similarly, there are goals beyond the existence of individuals, societies, authorities and mankind as a whole. All of these goals are moving to the same place, which is the exact general goal of Islam. Goals involved are circumscribed and standardized in such a way that they deliberately reflect the scope of energies, without redundancy or blemish, latent in substances of individuals, societies, authorities and mankind as a whole. In a like fashion, the goals reflect the energies of beings enclosing the mankind and submitted to their ministration. Things do not possess but their energies. Besides goals determined by the Islamic doctrine, means, methods and ways of achieving and clarifying these goals are devised so patently that any mystification is unmistakably removed.

The Dogmatic Depiction

Islam, as a doctrine, provides an unequivocal, complete and comprehensive depiction based upon concluding and certitude. This dogmatic depiction covers the entire area of goals and general and specific means in the total fields of life and on the total individual, social, political, economical and international levels…etc. It is the accurate general and detailed outlines of factuality of the present and the expected and sought future, which is anticipated to be an actual fact, of events. These outlines are anticipated to leading individuals gradually to the doctrinal purpose using the shortest, the cheapest and the broadest way. Only then, the doctrine becomes the leader and the director besides its becoming the source of legality that is resolved as a perfect ideological structure. Self­contentment and satisfaction, when attained by conviction and certitude, are the sustainers of such a structure. Positive beliefs, on the other hand, are attained on grounds of conjecture and surmise; therefore, they, sooner or later, shall be collapsing.

The Divine Jurisprudential Formulation

The Islamic doctrine betokens the group of rulings, judgments, principals, matters to be enjoined and those to be avoided in addition to the general and detailed instructions revealed by God, the Exalted, to his Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did explain and call for those things hypothetically through his solicitation or the government he founded. The Revealer is Allah, and the Explainer is God's messenger. The media of explanation were the Prophet's words, deeds and signature. Revelation and explanation are forming the divine jurisprudential formulation which stands as the law effective and valid in every time. The doctrinal authority is the director and the tutor of the followers of this doctrine after the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Chapter 3 - The Competent Practitioner of Nominating the Authority

As we have previously mentioned, it is necessary that each doctrine has a legitimate authority being coherent and perfecting that doctrine. It is unrealizable to find a divine doctrine without an authority in charge of explicating it. Indispensably, this authority must be the most knowledgeable, familiar and sincere to the doctrine. In the same manner, the authority must be the most favorable and the fittest for the position. These qualifications should be realized by conviction and certitude, apart from conjecture and surmise. These matters, in fact, can be comprehended by Allah exclusively considering Him as the Knowing of the hiddens as well as the appearances. This is the base on which God is the only One Who is in charge of selecting and nominating the authority. This is an indisputable truth.

The Divine Custody declared availability of these qualifications in the prophets whom were elected by God alone all over the mankind history, disregarding any objection such like those who said: (Why was not this Quran revealed to a man of importance in the two towns?) or those who objected and described the prophet as (This fellow, who is contemptible, and who can hardly speak distinctly.) Since such a sort of objection is originated from conjecture and surmise, while the divine selection of prophets is arisen from conviction and absolute certitude of their being the most knowledgeable, familiar, sincere, favorable, honorable and fittest for explicating the divine doctrine and leading the ship and the followers of Islam, these objections were neglected.

Briefly, Allah, the Exalted, is the only Competent to decide the authorities whose mission is conveying the divine doctrine all over the mankind history. He, exclusively, does realize the most eligible for conveying such beliefs. It has never happened that God left choice for people in the matter of electing the prophets.

Missions and Functions of the Authority Nominated By God

It is an indisputable that the entire honorable prophets are authorities assigned by Allah Who informed us of this election. We are, here, to show the missions and functions those authorities were to practice.

1. Explication: A perfect hypothetical and practical explication and clarification of the divine doctrines is one of the most important missions of prophets. This is proceeded by a solicitation leading to establishing a government, such as what was achieved by Islam and his Prophet, Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family). For many prophets, their solicitation did not lead to establishing a government. The authority's mission is a hypothetical explication of the divine doctrine as exactly as he has received from God. This step is followed by applying that doctrine in the society. Thus, the explication should be hypothetically and practically perfect. Adopting the very divine means of application, the prophet applies the doctrinal texts on the events. This assures the materialization of goals of the divine texts in every occurrence involved.

2. Defining the circle of legality: the authority - the prophet - is enjoying an exclusive competency of defining limits of the circle of legality. For every prophet, these limits are:

a. A divine doctrine forming the center of circle of legality. This doctrine is the divine manifestations whether in a form of enunciation and meaning, such as the Torah and the Bible, or meaning such as the divine denotations.

b. The prophet's explaining the divine doctrine hypothetically and practically.

c. Interdependence of the doctrine and the authority's explanations. It is inapplicable to separate one from the other. In other words, the divine doctrine and the authority's explanations are two faces of the same coin. It is impossible to understand the doctrine without referring to the authority's explanations, and it is also impossible to comprehend the authority's explanations without referring to the basic texts. The base, here, is God's revelation and structure of guidance. Explanations are the doors to this structure.

3. Responsibility for the followers: The prophet's being custodian and leader of the doctrine followers is one of his missions. He is to direct the followers' affairs and escort them with respect to the divine doctrine. Practically, this side was obviously noticed. Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family), the doctrinal authority, was the custodian and the leader of his followers during his lifetime. Intellectually and jurisdictionally, custody of the authority is religiously implementable and timed mission. It was the same person who led the solicitation and the government established on that solicitation. It was the same person who explained and applied the doctrine.

4. Standing against conditions of deviation: With the expedience of the two following pillars, guidance to the right path and disappearance of deviation are achieved in the reign of the authoritative prophet:

a. A creedal and jurisprudential pillar, which is following rulings of the divine doctrine (the divine jurisprudential formulation) and the prophet's explanations of that doctrine.

b. A personal pillar, which is custody and leadership of the prophet selected for authority. This is applied by the prophet's politicizing his followers and applying the doctrine to them in the exact understanding and figure he has received from Allah. For assuring the predominance of legality and guidance - to the right path, it is essential to retain the unification of these two pillars. Deviation shall be the inevitable result if any practical error occurs in both or one of these. The personal pillar is of the same value of the creedal. Both form a unique characteristic. It is unfeasible to believe in the divine doctrine and reject Mohammed's leadership, since it is regarded as an inseparable part of that doctrine. Deviation is engaged whenever an endeavor of segregating the personal pillar from the creedal is practiced. Size of deviation is determined according to the size of the endeavor of segregation.

5. The ship of safety: The Prophet, the authority, is the only ship of safety. they shall be certainly winning those whoever board on that ship; while deviation and drowning shall be the fate of those who eschew or take any other one.

6. The Prophet, the authority is the door to God's forgiveness: God shall forgive those who take that door; while those who neglect shall be shouldering their sins.

7. The Prophet, the authority leads his followers to the right path: Compliance and ensuing the Prophet is as same as compliance and ensuing Allah. Obedience to the Prophet is an obedience to Allah. Obedience to Allah is the right path. Disobeying the Prophet is disobeying Allah. Disobeying Allah is the grievous deviation.

8. The Prophet, the authority is the safety of the faithful nation and the obstacle against discrepancies: The safe way is taken only by following the Prophet, the authority. It is the single way the Prophet had understood and led to before he took. Indisputably, a path taken by the Prophet is completely safe and even. With the absence of this authority, discrepancies will be engaged, safe will be vanished and people will be following any noise and swerving any breath of wind.

The existence of a single authority that ideally recognizes the divine regulations, is decided as a shelter against discrepancies and a source of perpetual safe to the nation.

9. The authority is seen as a weight for the followers that, by adhering to, protects them against collapsing and devastation.

10. The authority is the exemplar in knowledgeability, god­fearing, commitment and judging: He is the mobile model of a godly individual who clings to the divine doctrine.

11. Condensing efforts and coordinating faithful activities for the sake of generalizing guidance to the right path all over mankind.

The Authority in the Prophet's Reign

Obedience to God is well attained by complying to the matters He ordered of and avoiding the matters He forbade. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is the most familiar with the essentialities of matters to be pursued and those neglected. Practically, obedience to the Prophet is obedience to God and defiance to the Prophet is defiance to God. This fact is repeated nine times in the Holy Quran. The Prophet is the custodian of this religion. He is the well knowledgeable of its hiddens and secrets. He is the only one who has the capability of outlining the general rulings of the doctrine and explicating the exact intended signification in case there are numerous messages of a certain text. In brief words, the Prophet, in his reign, was the only one to whom the doctrinal authority is restricted. He is the one selected for this mission and granted the perfection by Allah. None can recognize God's mandates and orders so excellently like the Prophet who is unique and, hence, must be the most knowledgeable, the most familiar and the most honorable so that his followers should hold to thoroughly. None can contrast the doctrinal and intellectual fact that, during his lifetime, the Prophet had been the authority specialized in explicating Islam and leading Muslims.

The Authority After the Prophet

A Preliminary Review To The Actuality

An undeniable fact is that just before the Prophet's being taken to the Elevated Associate, the religion was perfected and the grace was completed. Besides, creeds were grounded, rulings were applied and the government established and headed by the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was dominant for ten years.

As to the Islam's being the final religion, the peculiarities of its rulings that are radically general and comprehensive, and the nature of the task to be shouldered by the Muslims, which is reducing the area of atheism and guiding mankind to the right path, there must be originally an authority after the Prophet's decease. This is a matter too intrinsic to require an evidence if there was no existence to partisan imitation, submission to actuality and most people's nature of compliance to the dominant.

Some, including the Arab religious parties, would claim that the Muslims' scholars are the authorities according to the meaning we are referring to. The caliph, consequently, will be the supreme authority. As an answer, we provide the following:

The earlier saying is impracticable. We ask what should the situation be if the entire Muslim scholars, assuming they are gathered in the same place, were involved in various numerous parties each of whom is acceptably supporting and insisting on their own viewpoints that are relying upon a seemingly legitimate argument? Which party should we follow, and which viewpoint should we consider? The Arab religious parties may answer that the ruler must adopt the viewpoint that he regards as the fittest. So, they do admit that the most supreme authority is the ruler as considered as the Prophet's successor! Nevertheless, it is well known that a many men did come to power in different ways. Some, like Ali and Abu­Bakr, were god­fearing. Others, like Marwan­bn­Al­Hakam, Muawiya­bn­Abi­Sufian and Yazeed, his son, were not. Some came to power in legitimate way; while others were the rulers as they became the most prevalent, and people, compulsorily, submitted to their rule. Marwan, for example, was not knowledgeable and he was illegible to opt for the most becoming judgment.

The Need Of An Authority After The Prophet

As it has been previously proved, every prophet is necessarily an authority on whose shoulders many responsibilities and functions are settled by God, the Elevated. The ultimate divine solicitation undertaken by Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family), the master and seal of prophets, was so successful that it resulted in the establishment of a government that completely and flawlessly applied the hypothetical and practical rules of the divine doctrine. Hence, God declared that the Muslims' religion was completed and the grace was thoroughly perfected. As he was granted the choice, the Prophet opted for God's contiguity. He was not surprised by decease. He was sickened and taken to His Lord's vicinity leaving behind him the divine advocacy straight and represented by an ideal government and an exalted religion. It was indeed an explication of everything at all.

Who should be the successive authority? Who should undertake the missions he had been in charge of? Who should clarify rules of the divine doctrine after him? Who should have authorization of defining circle of legality? Who should be the leader of the nation and the representative pillar of their glory? Who should be the ship of safety? Who should be the door to forgiveness? Who should be the trustee savior of this nation? Who should be people's weighty thing? Who should be the supreme epitome after the Prophet? Who should be the leader of the believers' march towards manumitting and taking mankind from darkness into illumination?

Wonderments in Need of Answers

Supposing the Muslims claimed that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) had not nominated the successive authority whose assignment would be undertaking missions, explaining rules of the doctrine and defining circle of legality, the new leader of the nation, the representative pillar of the nation's glory, the weighty thing, the supreme epitome and the commander of battle of manumitting and saving mankind. If the Muslims claimed so, then this would be contrary to the fact of perfecting the religion and supplementing the divine grace. This is by the reason that the previous affairs are pillar parts of the religion and the divine grace that are impossibly suspended. In case the Muslims insist on this claim, they would certainly see that the divine doctrine challenge, denounce and rebuff their allegations contrary to logic, intellect and bases of life in addition to rules of the divine doctrine.