Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Chapter 8: The Wilāyah: The Spiritual and Temporal Authority of the Imāms

If we focus on the term wilāyah [primacy, guide, lordship] and words related to spiritual authority and temporal power, as Ayātullāh Mutahharī did in a formidable and authoritative synthesis, we note that this terminological repertoire has a very precise meaning in Shī'ite thought which is related to the idea of a unified government.1 Wilā', walāyah, wilāyah, walī, mawlā, are nominal forms of the verbal substantive of the trilateral root walla (waw-lam-alif maksurah) which has the primary meaning of “being close,” from which is derived “to be at the front of,” from which is derived the meanings of “government” and “governor” in the temporal and political sense of the words and “leader” and “chosen” in the spiritual sense. The same root gives place to a series of words which denote power and authority, that is, being close to the center [wasat] of sovereignty. And the Arabic word wasat [center] gives a gamut of terms which indicate “mediation” or “intercession” [tawassut].

Other unfamiliar terms derived from the same trilateral root waw-lam-ya are walī and mawlā. Walī means “friend,” “intimate,” “close,” and with the respect to the Imāms “holiness” and by extension spiritual “closeness” to the divine center. The passive participle mawlā means, among other things, “one who deserves a clientele,” and more frequently “boss,” “lord,” “protector,” “tutor,” “master,” “owner” and so forth. In Shī'ism, mawlānā [our lord / our master] is used to address the Prophet and the Imāms and, in Sūfism, it is used to refer to the great spiritual masters like Rūmī2 or Ibn al-'Arabī.

We have listed the various forms and verbal nouns because with the auxiliary one can better understand everything which is implied by the idea of Imāmate or Caliphate and how it is conceived in Shī'ite thought in relation to spiritual authority and temporal power. In the time of the Prophet, the title mawlā [master] had the connotation of spiritual authority and universal temporal power. The basis of any Caliphate or true government is the transcendence of its foundation, the very basis of its sovereignty, authority, and legitimacy.

However, with the downfall of effective power in the succession of the Caliphate, starting with Abū Bakr, the title khalīfah also suffered from the same process of depreciation. After the four khulafā' al-rāshidīn [rightly-guided Caliphs], the Caliphate ceased to have the connotation of sovereignty and, in fact, to admit the sense of effective authority. This can be seen clearly with Mu'āwiyyah, the founder of the Ummayad dynasty, who considered himself the “first king [malik]” of Islām.3

He is responsible for losing the effective [spiritual] authority of the Caliphate and diminishing the meaning of many titles which, in the early days, were exclusive Caliphal prerogatives. This includes the very term khalīf which, upon entering the common language, became so diluted that any governor of Islām could claim to be the Caliph of his own dominion.

Among some Sunnī commentators and misinformed Orientalists, there are those who believe that when 'Alī became the Fourth Caliph, according to the temporal and political precedence more than the spiritual, he was implicitly accepting the authority and the method of election of the previous Caliphs in that they accomplished similar political and social functions as governors and elders of the Islāmic community.4 From a Shī'ite perspective, it is clear that 'Alī never accepted the Caliphate in the sense that the three Caliphs who preceded him did.

On the contrary, as Imām-in the Shī'ite sense of spiritual and political regency as well as ta'ālīm, the esoteric faculty of perfectly interpreting the intertexual mysteries of the Qur'ān and the sharī'ah-'Alī was the legitimate spiritual heir and political successor of the Prophet, something which he and his successors always insisted upon.

As he explains explicitly in his letters and sermons, 'Alī accepted the function of Caliph-in the Sunnī sense of governor and legal administrator-to avoid schism while preserving the function of wilāyah for himself. As Nasr says, this is how 'Alī can simultaneously be seeing as Caliph and Imām, by both Sunnis and Shī'ites, in accord with the different perspectives on the issue (see Nasr's preface to Tabātabā'ī's Shī'ite Islām 10-12).

The wilāyah inherently implies certain legal and political faculties. The Imām, as we have said, exercises the spiritual magistrate and the esoteric guidance of the wilāyah. He also performs the function of administrator of the sharī'ah, fully interpreting its legal code and legitimately dispensing justice through his role as perfect monarch, by the fact that he embodies spiritual authority and temporal power.

The monarch [from the Greek monos, “the sole one” and arjé, “rule,” “principle”] is the “supreme sovereign,” unique and universal,” and not merely a “king” [malik] since a king only administers the temporal functions of government while the monarch is the one who rules according to the monarchy of divine right, established from above, by the mandate of God and not by human choice.

As Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” As human history has shown us, human lust for power can become exacerbated by its very existence. It can make man dream of limitless power, causing him to rebel against his plight, his powerless limited being. Justice and peace are then viewed as unacceptable unless they can help increase and maintain power and wealth.

They are soon placed on the backburner due to innate egocentrism and worldly ambitions. This is why the Gospel refers to heads of nations as tyrants who rule like absolute sovereigns while the powerful ones oppress them with their power (Matthew 20:25; Mark 10: 42). In a divine monarchy, based on balance, harmony, justice and peace, quite the opposite is true.

On the basis of the above, it can now be understood why in Shī'ism, the sovereign authority of Imām al-Mahdī has an eminently regulating and restorative function which is proper and non-transferable. In other words, he is worthy, by divine design, of the “central” position he occupies.

As an “intercessor” between heaven and earth, he is beyond the distinction between the spiritual and worldly realms of existence. The very nature of “intercessor” in the true sense of the word is quintessential to the Seal of the Cycle of Initiation. It is for this reason that he is referred to as the “center” [wasat].5

The “center” in question is the fixed point around which the world rotates. It is designated symbolically by all religious traditions as the “pole” [qutb] and is generally represented by a “wheel.” The most obvious sense of this symbol is the absolute dominion over the worldly order. This is why Imām al-Mahdī receives the majestic titles of sāhib al-zamān [Lord of the Age], al-arkān [The Pillars], al-qā'im [The Restorer], al-muntazar [The Awaited One], al-hujjah [The Proof] as well as al-qutb or the Spiritual Pole of the Age.

The title of sāhib al-zamān, in its most sublime sense, applies exclusively to the Mahdī. He is granted this title in virtue of his role as the primordial universal legislator who formulates the most appropriate laws in accordance with the conditions during our cycle of existence. He directs the movement of our cycle without participating in it in a visible fashion. He maintains himself simultaneously present and hidden in the world, the same as in Aristotle's notion of the “unmoving motor.”

In light of these considerations, it is understood why Imām al-Mahdī has the fundamental attributes of “Justice” and “Peace.” He shares these attributes with çakravarti, [from the Sanskrit: “he who makes the wheel turn”], the “Universal Monarch” of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions; with wang, the “Pontiff King” of Taoism and with melki-tsedeq, the “King of Justice and Peace” of the Jewish tradition.6

The Invisible Imām's attributes of justice and peace are veiled forms of his spiritual functions which, by an effort of cosmic unity, are identified with earthly equilibrium and harmony. In light of these concepts, we can affirm that the Shī'ite concept of wilāyah, the spiritual and temporal authority of the Imām, is the Islāmic equivalent of all of these traditional notions from both East and West, including the Hellenist and Hellenist-Christian concept of the panbasileus or “Absolute King,” who was the lord of a unique and universal empire.

Imām al-Mahdī is particularly revered for his role as Executor of Prophetic Knowledge or First Intellect. At the same time, he is the Archetype of Man, the Visible and the Invisible, the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega. As Henry Corbin perceived from the development of Shī'ite Prophetology, this human form in its pre-eternal glory is called Original Adam [Ādam al-haqīqī], the Perfect Man [insān kāmil], the Supreme Spirit and Scribe, the Absolute Caliph, and the Pole of the Poles [qutb al-aqtāb].7 Imām al-Mahdī is also the Eternal Muhammadan Reality [haqīqah muhammadiyyah], the Light of His Glory, His Sanctifying Virtue, His Primordial Logos or Divine Word and his Perfect Epiphany.

In light of the above, we can say that in the beginning of Islām, Shī'ism, like Sūfism, was a latent and nameless reality profoundly rooted in the esoteric dimension of the Qur'ānic revelation.8 In the Islāmic world, the function of Shī'ism, like that of Sūfism, is similar to the human heart in the sense that the heart is the vital center of the human body as well as being, in reality, the intellectual “center” of a reality that transcends any formal determination.9

This “central” role of Shī'ism at the heart of the Islāmic world has always, and continues to be, hidden from outside observers, who insist upon its non-Islāmic origin. They insist on this theory because Shī'ite doctrine does not appear in the first centuries, particularly during the life of the Prophet, with all of the metaphysical development that would manifest itself later on.10

From a historical perspective, Shī'ism surfaced immediately after the death of the Prophet and can be defined as “Alī's Islām” or the “Islām of Ahlul Bayt.” The emergence of Shī'ism was not merely the consequence of a political conflict related to the succession of the Prophet, although this certainly helped to precipitate the events. What is important, above all, is the “central” role that Shī'ism played in the Islāmic world after the demise of the founder of Islām.11

As a continuation and a doctrinal complement to the nubuwwah, it was imperative for the wilāyah to manifest itself in the world upon the completion of the prophetic mission. Since wilāyah implies the same possibility of prolonging the spiritual leadership and the esoteric guidance of the Prophet, it cannot be superimposed on the nubuwwah as long as the Prophet was alive.12

In other words, Shī'ite Islām, which was supposed to serve as a support for the wilāyah, the spiritual and esoteric dimension of the nubuwwah must manifest itself upon the death of the Prophet. This moment, both cosmologically and metaphysically, signals the start of the wilāyah, the beginning of its temporal and exoteric manifestation. It is at that point when the wilāyah [guardianship] ceases to be a latent, nameless reality, and transforms itself into a manifest and named reality.

Due to its cosmological and metaphysical nature, the historical apparition of Shī'ism was meant to coincide with the Cycle of wilāyah, the start of 'Alī ibn Abī Tālib's earthly mission. The esoteric function of the first Imām, hidden until the moment of the Prophet's death, was meant to manifest itself in a partial opening of the Muhammadan wilāyah and the seal of the universal wilāyah. We can thus fully appreciate the importance of the designation [nass] of 'Alī as successor [khalīfah] and executor [wasī] of the Prophet.13

'Alī, the first link in the spiritual chain of the Imāmate and the rukn or pillar of Islāmic Gnosticism, represents the complementary dimension of the Prophethood; his path, Shī'ism, is a dimension of the depth found at the core of the Qur'ānic message.

Notes

1. Author's Note: Concerning the various implicit meanings of the technical term wilāyah and other related terms derived from the trilateral Arabic root W-L-Y, see M. Mutahharī Wala'ha wa Wilāyat ha (Qum 1976). There is an English version by Yayha Cooper, Wilāyah: The Station of the Master (Tehran 1982), 21-48. Concerning the levels of wilāyah, see D. Martin “The Return to 'The One' in the Philosophy of Najm al-Din al-Kubra” in P. Morewedge (ed.) 216-222.

2. Editor's Note: Jalāl al-Dīn al-Rūmī, author of the Masnavi was a famous Sūfī poet and founder of the whirling dervishes. He is the most widely read poet in the United States.

3. Editor's Note: As a result of “the usurpation of rule by Mu'āwiyyah from 'Alī… caused the system of rule to lose its Islāmic character entirely and to be replaced by a monarchical regime” (Khumaynī Islām and Revolution 200).

4. Editor's Note: As Ja'fariyan explains,

[W]hen 'Abd al-Rahmān ibn 'Awf laid down the condition that he would deliver the office of the Caliphate to the candidate who would follow the practice [sīrah] of the Shaykhayn [i.e. Abū Bakr and 'Umar] … Imām 'Alī insisted that he would base his policy only on the Qur'ān, the sīrah of the Prophet and his own judgments [ijtihād].

5. Editor's Note: The existence of divinely determined intercession for believers is unquestionably Qur'ānic:

Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? (2:255)

Verily your Lord is Allāh, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is firmly established on the throne [of authority], regulating and governing all things. No intercessor [can plead with Him] except after His leave [hath been obtained]. (10:3)

None shall have the power of intercession, but such a one as has received permission [or promise] from [Allāh] Most Gracious (19:87)

On that Day shall no intercession avail except for those for whom permission has been granted by [Allāh] Most Gracious and whose word is acceptable to Him. (20:109)

He knows what is before them, and what is behind them, and they offer no intercession except for those who are acceptable, and they stand in awe and reverence of His [Glory].(21:28)

No intercession can avail in His Presence, except for those for whom He has granted permission. (34:23)

Say: To Allāh belongs exclusively [the right to grant] intercession. (39:44)

How many-so-ever be the angels in the heavens, their intercession will avail nothing except after Allāh has given leave for whom He pleases and that he is acceptable to Him. (53:26)

Intercession, however, is not available to unbelievers, as is clearly stated in the Qur'ān (6:51; 2:123; 2:254; 6:70; 6:94; 7:53; 10:18; 19:87; 26:100; 30:30; 32:4; 36:23; 39:43; 40:18; 43:86; 74:48). Intercession is not available to those who are guilty of kufr or shirk. Almighty Allāh addresses the polytheists, warning them that their partners will be unable to intercede with them on the Day of Judgment.

According to Shaykh Sadūq:

The right to intercession belongs to the prophets [anbiyyā'] and awliyyā'. And among the believers [mu'minīn] also there are some who can intercede on behalf of people equal in number to the tribes of Rabī'ah and Mudar. Even the least of the believers will be liable to intercede on behalf of 30,000. (122)

It is narrated in Sadūq's Risālatu al-i'tiqādāt, Fakhruddīn b. Ahmad al-Najafī's Majma' al- bahrayn and Hasan b. Yūsuf b. 'Alī Ibnu'l Mutahar al-Hillī's al-Bābu al-hādī 'ashar, that the Prophet said: “May Allāh not grant my intercession to him who does not believe in my (power of) intercession.”

All of the various orthodox manifestations of Islām believe in the intercession of the Prophet and the awliyā'. See Kabbānī's Encyclopedia of Islāmic Doctrines:http://www.sunnah. org/ibadaat/ twsl.html.

The belief in intercession does not mean that there is an intermediary between human beings and God. It is merely an extra means of attaining His mercy.

6. Editor's Note: The Hidden Imām is also the Philosopher King of the Greeks.

7. Author's Note: In general, Corbin deals with this theme in his diverse works dedicated to some of the internal or esoteric currents of Shī'ism, although with slight variations. See “La filosofia islámica desde sus orígenes hasta la muerte de Averroes” in collaboration with S.H. Nasr and O. Iahia, in B. Parain, Del mundo romano al Islām medieval: Historia de la filosofía (Mexico 1972), III, 253-259; 265-266; Terre céleste et corps de résurrection: De l'Iran Mazdéen à l'Iran shī'ite (Correa 1960); 106-107; 112-115; Temples et contemplation: Essais sur l'Islām iranien (Paris 1980), 75-76; 192-193; 220; 244-249; and Shaykh al-Mufīd's Kitāb al-irshād.

8. Editor's Note: The mystical dimension of the Holy Qur'ān and teachings of the Prophet were present from the very beginning, even though they were not labeled tasawwuf, Sūfism or 'irfān. To borrow Sausurrian terms, the signified exists before the signifier. Imām 'Alī was criticized by some Companions of the Prophet for speaking of things which had never been spoken before by the Prophet. The Imām responded with a reference to the Qur'ān that “Prophets speak to the people in the language of the people.”

It was the obligation of the Prophet to teach the fundamentals of faith and the outer dimensions of the religion. It was the obligation of the Imāms to expound upon in their inner dimensions. As the Messenger of Allāh said: “There is among you a person who will fight for the interpretation of the Qur'ān just as I fought for its revelation.” He then indicated that it was 'Alī (Ahmad, Hākim, Bayhaqī, Abū Nu'aym, Muttaqī).

It is unfortunate that Sayed 'Alī Reza, the English translator of Nahj al-balāghah, would engage in the wholesale takfīr of the Sūfī, claiming that “According to Shī'ah 'ulamā' all these sects are on the wrong path and out of the fold of Islām” (422), an intolerant attitude which tarnishes his otherwise informative commentary.

It is equally regrettable that a scholar of the caliber of Ayātullāh al-Uzmā Shaykh Fazel Lankarānī would reject mysticism ruling that “Sūfism, in the eyes of Shī'ism, in general, [as well as] Islāmically, has no religious basis, and there is no sign of it in the teachings of the Prophet” (http://www.lankarani.net/ English/faq/en.htm). This was the very attitude addressed by Imām Khumaynī in Islām and Revolution where he laments that:

We find some scholars…denying the validity of mysticism and thus depriving themselves of a form of knowledge. It is regrettable… Those who wear cloaks and turbans and denounce the mystics as unbelievers do not understand what they are saying; if they did, they would not denounce them” (423-424).

Merely because the words sūfī and 'ārif are not found in the Islāmic texts of the first century Hijrah does not signify that mysticism and Gnosis did not exist. They did in fact exist under the general umbrella of 'ilm [knowledge]. As official institutionalized Islām became increasingly legalistic and focused on the exoteric foundations of the faith, the adherents of its mystical and esoteric dimension needed to distinguish themselves by calling their science 'irfān and by designating themselves as Sūfis (Awānī 169).

All prophets were mystics as were their faithful followers. The first paragons of Sūfism were the ashāb al-sūfah, the Companions of the Ledge, about whom Sūrah 18:28 was revealed (170). They included such distinguished companions as Salmān, Abū Dharr and 'Ammār al-Yāsir (170). The early Sūfis were called zuhhad or ascetics, many of whom were associated with Shī'ite Imāms (170). Among the companions of 'Alī were found spiritual figures and ascetics like Kumayl and Maytham al-Tammār (170).

In his Essay on the Origins of the Technical Language of Islāmic Mysticism, Massignon shows that Islāmic mystics or rūhāniyyah have existed since the dawn of Islām. Islāmic mysticism is clearly based on the practice of the Prophet, the Imāms and their Companions and is directly derived from the Qur'ān and the Sunnah, both of which are oceans of mystical manifestations. As Awānī observes:

The hadīth literature in Shī'ism and the anthologies of the hadīths handed down from the Imāms are the veritable mines of Islāmic gnosis. The Usūl al-kāfī of Kulaynī and the other compendia of Shī'ī hadīth are real treasures of 'irfān… Moreover, the Shī'ī prayers and litanies found in al-Sahīfah al-sajadiyyah of the fourth Imām…is the best exposition and representation of Islāmic gnosis. Some Shī'ī prayers, like Du'ā' Sha'bāniyyah, Du'ā' 'Arafah, and Du'ā' Kumayl highlight the highest themes of Islāmic gnosis.

Shī'ī prayer books are replete with ritual formulae for acts of supererogation [nawāfil] also much emphasized in Sūfism and sometimes with identical formulations. The ritual invocation of the Beautiful Divine Names is the focus of emphasis in both Shī'ism and Sūfism. For example, Du'ā' Jawshan kabīr, found in Shī'ī prayer books contains one thousand divine names and is recited by pious Shī'ī on many occasions and a least once a week.

Some identical formulae based directly and indirectly on the verses of the Qur'ān are reiterated in both. The Shī'ī canonical books of hadīth are filled with themes which can be made the object of meditation and contemplation and which can find their true explanation in real 'irfān. (174)

As Ayātullāh Muhammad Taqī Misbāh Yazdī explains,

The points which can be found among the narrations attributed to the Noble Prophet and Pure Imāms, may Allāh bless all of them, and in their supplications and intimate devotions related to the above topics ['irfān, Sūfism, hikmah] are uncountable.

A religion without mysticism would not be a religion. As Ayātullāh Misbāh Yazdī explains, gnosis is not only a part of Islām, but the kernel and spirit of it which comes from the Qur'ān and prophetic Sunnah, just as the other parts of Islām. It would be a dry carcass and an empty shell.

As Awanī explains, “esoterism in each religion, which constitutes its core and kernel, is an integral part of that religion without which it cannot be a religion to start with;” “esoterism is the sine qua non of every religion, without which the religion would lose its vertical dimension and would be reduced to a horizontal and mundane level” (172). Sūfism is not an extraneous accretion super added to Islām … it is its esoteric or inward aspect [bātin] as distinguished from the exoteric or external aspect [zāhir]” (171-72). It is safe to say that “Sūfism is totally based upon the Holy Qur'ān, the sunnah of the Prophet, and the Household ['itrah]” (172).

Besides Ayātullāhs Muhammad Taqī al-Behjat, 'Izz al-Dīn Husaynī Zanjanī, Sayyid Mīrzā 'Alī Tabātaba'ī, JawādīAmulī, Lutfullāh al-Sāfī al-Gulpaygānī, Mīrzā Muhammad 'Alī Shahabadī, Muhammad Husayn al-Burujerdī, Abū al-Qāsim al-Khu'ī, Muhammad Sādiq al-Sadr, among many others, the mystical dimensions of Islām have also been fully appreciated by Ayātullāhs Khumaynī, Tabātaba'ī and Mutahharī who left us their interiorized insights in Light Within Me which is also available in an excellent Spanish translation titled Luz interior.

'Allāmah Tabātaba'ī was a specialist in exegesis, mysticism and philosophy while Ayātullāh Mutahharī was an expert in both Eastern and Western thought. Imām Khumaynī has also left us his Forty Hadīth: An Exposition of Ethical and Mystical Traditions, which has been partly translated into English, as well as a beautiful body of mystical poetry. The greatness of Imām Khumaynī was that, like the Prophet, he established equilibrium between the exoteric and the esoteric, between the worldly and the spiritual, and between religion and politics. He was able to function on various levels.

Scholars like Khumaynī, who are jurists, exegetes, mystics, philosophers, sociologists and poets, are few and hard to find. As Murata observes, ”[o]ne of the most unfortunate signs of the contemporary malaise of the Islāmic world is that the intellectual authorities have all but disappeared from the scene, while the jurists have a free hand to say what they want” (3).

9. Editor's Note: For the Arabs, Aztecs and Incas, the heart is the center of human intellect and spirituality. For them, reasoning is related to feelings and emotions. In the Western world, the intellect resides in the mind

10. Editor's Note: The Imāms inherited and enriched Islām. As Fyzee observes, “it is not possible to dismiss contemptuously the possibility of the personal religious tradition of the Prophet, at least in some important matters, being carefully handed down to the Imāms of the House of the Prophet, the people who undoubtedly had the best opportunity of knowing the true interpretation of many a principle of Islām” (4).

As Nasr explains, “The sayings of the Imāms are in many ways not only a continuation but also a kind of commentary and elucidation of the prophetic hadīth, often with the aim of bringing out the esoteric teachings of Islām” (A Shī'ite Anthology 7). As Algar observes, “the Imāms inherited from the Prophet a certain body of teaching concerning the interpretation of the Qur'ān, which they enriched as they transmitted it” (Khumaynī Islāmic Revolution 427 note 7).

11. Editor's Note: Islām teaches that God sent 124,000 prophets since the time of Adam. Every tribe and nation received a prophet. The fundamental teachings of these prophets were the same: belief in One God, belief in the prophets and messengers of God, belief in the Day of Judgment, belief in the Hereafter, promote the good and forbid the wrong. Islām accepts all past prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. In Islāmic thought, Judaism was the one true religion, followed by Christianity and finally followed by Islām.

In essence, Islām embraces all revealed religions, all of which taught islām or “submission” to God's will. When the author says that Muhammad was the founder of the Islāmic religion, he expresses a limited truth. In the universal order of things, all revealed religions were “Islām” and the Islāmic religion is merely its final and complete manifestation.

12. Editor's Note: It is related in al-Kāfī that Imām al-Sādiq was asked whether there could be two Imāms [at one time] to which he responded: “No, except in the case of one [of them] being silent” (Kulaynī 35: hadīth 447)

13. Editor's Note: The appointment of 'Alī as Imām was co-dependent on the appointment of Muhammad as Messenger and an intrinsic aspect of the divine message. After receiving the revelation, the Prophet gathered the Banū 'Abd al-Muttālib in order to make the following solemn pledge: “Whoever helps me in this matter will be my brother, my testamentary trustee [wasī], my helper [wazīr], my heir and my successor after me.” 'Alī stood before the gathering and he said: “O Messenger of Alláh, I will help you.” Then the Prophet said: “Sit down, you are my brother, my trustee, my helper, my inheritor, and successor after me” (Sadūq, Mufīd, Kulaynī).

This event is recorded in Guillaume's rendition of Sīrat Rasūl Allāh by Ibn Ishāq, the oldest extant biography on the life of the Prophet, where we read that the Messenger of Allāh laid his hand on the back of 'Alī 's neck and said: “This is my brother, my executor, and my successor among you. Hearken to him and obey him” [Inna hadhā akhī wa wasiyyī wa khalīfatī fīkum, fasma' ū lahu wa atī'ūhu]. It is also recorded by Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abū Hātim, Ibn Marduwayh, Abū Nu'aym, Imām Bayhaqī, Tha'labī and Tabarī (Mūsawī 152).

It appears in Ibn 'Asākir, Sūyūtī, 'Alā'uddīn al-Shāfi'ī, al-Hasakānī, al-Muttaqī al-Hindī; Abū al-Fida, and Haykal. It is related in somewhat different words by Ibn 'Athīr, Imām Abū Ja'far al-Iskāfī Mu'tazalī, Halabī, Tahāwī, al-Maqdasī, Sa'īd ibn Mansūr, Ahmad, Nasā'ī, Hākim, Dhahabī and many others (Mūsawī 152-54). It is also recorded by many orientalists including T. Carlyle, E. Gibbon, J. Davenport and W. Irving. This event is conveniently suppressed from some Sunnī biographies of the Prophet.

While the second line of the Prophet appeared in the first Arabic edition of Hasan Haykal's Life of Muhammad, it has been deleted in the second editions and those which have followed. Apparently, the author was pressured by al-Azhar to remove the reference. For more on Haykal's censorship, see Chapter 2 of Rizvi's Shī'ism: Imāmate and Wilāyah. There are a multitude of other traditions in which the Messenger of Allāh explicitly appoints 'Alī as his heir and successor.

Chapter 9: The Imāmate: The Esoteric Inheritance or the Bātin of the Prophet

To sum up the political aspects of Islāmic history, it is clear that the Caliphate is transmitted by way of nass through which the Prophet or the Imām designates who will succeed him in the Imāmate.1 The Imām is the sole expert of the inner sense of the Scripture and the Sunnah. This exclusive knowledge was passed directly from the Prophet to 'Alī and through him to his descendants.2 The Imām is thus the definitive authority on religion obligations [wājibāt/furūd] and the esoteric interpretation [tafsīr/ta'wīl] of the sharī'ah [Islāmic law]. Furthermore, the Imām possesses the quality of 'ismah, infallibility and impeccability.3

The controversial and contentious issue of the succession of the Prophet, disputed by Sunnis and Shī'ites for over a millennium, can never be understood if the essentially esoteric function of the Imāmate, as a prolongation and complement to the Prophethood, is overlooked. The issue of the Imāmate is more than an abstract question. It is the legitimate expression of Muhammadan spiritual authority and temporal power.

It is a concrete existential reality which needed to manifest itself in the world to continue expounding the bātin [esoteric aspect] of the Prophethood.

For Shī'ites, the completion of the “Cycle of Prophethood” [dā'irat al-nubuwwah] marks the beginning of the “Cycle of Initiation” [dā'irat al-wilāyah]. For metaphysical and cosmological reasons, the Cycle of wilāyah was to be opened through its own “door” [al-bāb], 'Alī ibn Abī Tālib, due to his role as “spiritual successor” [khalīfah rūhānī] and “executer” [wasī] of the Prophet's bātin [secrets] or initiator into the Muhammadan mysteries.

This is why the Imāmate is not merely a question of blood ties to the Prophet.4 The issue is not the degree of relation with him, be it wives, daughters, grandchildren, sons-in-law or parents-in-law. On the contrary, the worldly family union is the result of the pleromatic unity of the nubuwwah [Prophethood] and the wilāyah [guardianship].

As Corbin senses, the concept of the Imāms can only be understood if one considers them as divine luminaries and pre-cosmic entities.5 They themselves affirmed so during the course of their worldly existence. Many traditions to this effect were gathered by al-Kulaynī in his voluminous compilation al-Kāfī.6

They stress the fact that the Prophet and the Imām are from the same essence and the same light7 and what is said of one is applicable to any one of the twelve.8

Shī'ite gnosis enables us to understand the importance of the situation and exactly what was on the line with the Caliphate.9 By the political substitution of Abū Bakr for 'Alī, the organic link between the zāhir [exoteric] and the bātin [esoteric] was temporarily broken. In Sunnism, this led to the development of a legalistic religion, based on a purely juristic interpretation of Islām.10 It was thus left to Sūfī and Shī'ite Islām to preserve, in their exoteric practices and doctrines, the lost esoteric equilibrium.

Notes

1. Editor's Note: The nass or appointment of 'Alī and the succeeding Imāms is one of the issues stressed by Shaykh Mufīd in Kitāb al-irshād.

2. Editor's Note: As Imām al-Sādiq explains, ”'Alī was a man of knowledge, and knowledge is inherited. And a man of knowledge never dies unless another one remains after him who knows his knowledge” (al-Kāfī, 156: hadīth 590). Imām al-Ridā wrote in a letter that “Muhammad was Allāh's custodian over His creatures. When he was taken, we, the Household, were his inheritors” (160, hadīth 598).

3. Editor's Note: 'Ismah may also be translated as “a state of sinlessness.”

4. Editor's Note: There can be no monarchy in Islām as can be seen in Imām Khumaynī's “The Incompatibility of Monarchy with Islām,” Islām and Revolution (Berkely: Mizan P, 1981): 200-208. The Imāmate was given to those appointed by Allāh, and was not necessarily from father to eldest son. As Imām al-Sādiq explains “Do you think that he who appoints a successor from among us, appoints anyone he wishes?

No, by Allāh, indeed it is a covenant from the Messenger of Allāh to one man after another, until it comes down to the one who is entrusted with it” (Kulaynī 1:2, IV, 320: hadīth 739). In another hadīth he explains that “The Imāmate is a covenant from Allāh, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, which is entrusted to men who are named” (320: hadīth 738).

5. Editor's Note: As Nasr explains, “Shī'ism believes that there is a 'Primordial Light' passed from one prophet to another and after the Prophet of Islām to the Imāms. This light protects the prophets and Imāms from sin, making them inerrant [ma'sūm], and bestows upon them the knowledge of divine mysteries” (Sūfī Essays 111).

'Allāmah Muhammad Bāqir al-Majlisī lists numerous traditions concerning this “Primordial Light” and how it was passed down from the prophets, to Muhammad and then to the Imāms (see chapters 1 and 2 of Hayāt al-qulūb). According to Imām Khumaynī:

[T]he Most Noble Messenger and the Imāms existed before the creation of the world in the form of lights situated beneath the divine throne; they were superior even in the sperm from which they grew and in their physical composition. Their exalted station is limited only by the divine will, as indicated by the saying of Jibra'īl recorded in the traditions on the mi'rāj: “Were I to draw closer by as much as the breadth of a finger, surely I would burn.” The Prophet himself said: “We have states with God that are beyond the reach of the cherubim and the prophets.” It is part of our belief that the Imāms too enjoy similar states… (Islām and Revolution 64-65)

Concerning these attributes of the Imāms, see Henry Corbin, Histoire de la philosophie Islāmique (Paris, 1964): 77 ff.

It is recorded in al-Kāfī that Imām al-Sādiq was asked about the verse: “Therefore, believe in Allāh and His Messenger and in the Light which we have sent down” to which he responded:

The Light, by Allāh, is the Light of the Imāms from the Household of Muhammad till the Day of Resurrection. They, by Allāh, are the Light which Allāh has sent down, and they, by Allāh, are the Light of Allāh in the heavens and on the earth.” (Kulaynī l80: hadīth 514)

In Lantern of the Path, Imām al-Sādiq relates a fascinating tradition on the authority of Salmān al-Fārisī in which the Messenger of Allāh explains that:

Allāh created me from the quintessence of light, and called me, so I obeyed Him. Then he created 'Alī from my light, and called him, and he obeyed. From my light and the light of 'Alī He created Fātimah. He called her and she obeyed. From me, 'Alī and Fātimah, He created al-Hasan and al-Husayn. He called them and they obeyed Him. Allāh has named us with five of His names: Allāh is al-Mahmūd [the Praised] and I am Muhammad [praisworthy]; Allāh is al-'Alī [the High], and this is 'Alī [the one of high rank]; Allāh is al-Fātir [Creator out of nothing], and this is Fātimah; Allāh is the One with Ihsān [beneficence], and this is Hasan; Allāh is Muhassin [the Beautiful] and this is Husayn [the beautiful one]. He created nine Imāms from the light of al-Husayn and called them and they obeyed Him, before Allāh created either Heaven on high, the out-stretched earth, the air, the angels or man. We were lights who glorified Him, listened to Him and obeyed Him.

In The Origins and Development of Shī'ah Islām, Jafrī questions the authenticity of the traditions describing the Imāms as supernatural human beings and the miracles attributed to them (300, 303). Miracles and mysticism are clearly incompatible with his training as a historian. He holds that “a great many traditions ascribing supernatural and superhuman characteristics to the Imāms, propounded by semi-ghulāt circles in Kufah, crept into Shī'ī literature” (303).

He therefore dismisses the traditions concerning the light of Allāh in 'Alī and the description of the Imāms as the “shadows of light” and “luminous bodies” (302). Shī'ite scholars, however, have always shown the greatest aversion towards ghuluw [extremism] and would not have accepted traditions from ghulāt or even semi-ghulāt sources. Shī'ite fuqahā' [jurists] are unanimous in their takfīr [declaration of infidelity] of the ghulāt (Khu'ī 28; Gulpāygānī 30 et al.). As Shaykh Sadūq says:

Our belief concerning those who exceed the bounds of belief [ghāl, pl. ghulāt] and those who believe in delegation [al-mufawwidah] is that they are deniers [kuffār] of Allāh, Glory be to His name. They are more wicked than the Jews, the Christians, the Fire-Worshippers, the Qadarites or the Kharijites, or any of the heretics [ahl al-bid'ah] or those who holds views which lead astray [al-ahwā' al-mudillah]. (141-142)

While Jafrī may believe that excessively zealous Shī'ites exaggerated the status of the Imāms, turning them into divine luminaries, what accounts for the presence of similar traditions in Sunnī and Sūfī sources? In 'Abd al-Rahmān Sulamī's (d. 1021) famous compilation of the Qur'ān titled Haqā'iq al-tafsīr, we find an exegesis of Sūrah 2:37 which is startling for a Sunnī source. In interpreting the verse “and Allāh taught Adam the names,”

Sulamī quotes a tradition from Imām Ja'far to the effect that: “Allāh existed before His creation existed. He created five creatures from the light of His Glory and gave each one a name from among His Names: Being the Praised One [mahmūd], He called His Prophet, Muhammad; being the Most High ['alī], He called the Leader of the Believers, 'Alī; being the Creator [fātir] of the heavens and the earth, he forged the name Fātimah; and since he has the most beautiful names [husnā], He forged two names for Hasan and Husayn. He then placed them to the right of His Throne…”The traditions in question are numerous and widely recorded. We are not dealing with isolated traditions with weak chains of narrations [sanad] which can easily be dismissed.

6. Author's Note: See al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī (Karachi 1965). There is also a more recent edition (Tehran 1400/1980).

Editor's Note: al-Kāfī fī 'ilm al-dīn [The Sufficient in the Knowledge of Religion] is one of the “Four (Fundamental) Books” of the Shī'ites. The others include Man lā yahduruhu al-faqīh [For Him not in the Presence of a Jurist] by Shaykh al-Sadūq Muhammad ibn Bābawayh al-Qummī (d. 381/991), Tahdhīb al-ahkām (Rectification of the Statutes) by Shaykh Muhammad al-Tūsī (d. 460/1068) and al-Istibsār fī mā ukhtulifa fīhi min al-akhbār (Reflection upon the Disputed Traditions) also by al-Tūsī.

7. Editor's Note: It is related that Imām Muhammad al-Bāqir said that “The first beings that Allāh created were Muhammad and his family, the rightly guided ones and the guides; they were the phantoms of light before Allāh” (Kulaynī 1: 279).

8. Editor's Note: The Messenger of Allāh said of his Holy Household: “We are exactly the same as regards command, understanding, and what is lawful and what is unlawful” (Kulaynī 314: hadīth 728). As Nasr explains,

The Imāms are like a chain of light issuing forth from the “Sun of Prophecy” which is their origin, and yet they are never separated from that Sun. Whatever is said by them emanates from the same inviolable treasure of inspired wisdom. Since they are an extension of the inner reality of the Blessed Prophet, their words really go back to him.

That is why their sayings are seen in the Shī'ite perspective as an extension of the prophetic hadīth, just as the light of their being is seen as a continuation of the prophetic light. In Shī'ite eyes, the temporal separation of the Imāms from the Blessed Prophet does not at all affect their essential and inner bond with him or the continuity of the “prophetic light” which is the source of him as well as their inspired knowledge. (A Shī'ite Anthology 6-7)

9. Editor's Note: The office of the Imāmate and Caliphate was meant, by divine design, to function as the Government of God on earth. The Prophet has said that: “He, who denies 'Alī his Imāmate after me, verily denies my Prophethood [nubuwwah]. And he who denies my Prophethood has denied Allāh His divinity” (Sadūq 107).

He also stated that “The Imāms after me are twelve, the first of them is the Prince of Believers 'Alī ibn Abī Tālib, and the last of them is the Mahdī [rightly-guided], the Qā'im [the upholder of the true religion]; obedience to them is obedience to me and disobedience to them is disobedience to me; and who denies one of them has verily denied me” (108). Imām al-Sādiq has said that: “He who denies the last among us is like him who denies the first among us” (108). The following tradition from Imām al-Sādiq illustrates what is at stake when the authority of Ahlul Baytis forsaken:

We are those obedience to whom Allāh has made an obligation. Nothing is proper for the people except to know, nor are the people absolved from being ignorant about us. He who knows us is a believer, and he who denies us is an unbeliever. He who neither knows us nor denies us is misguided, till he returns to the path of guidance, which Allāh has made an obligation for him as a binding obligation to us. If he dies in misguidance, Allāh will do with him whatever he pleases. (Kulaynī 60 hadīth 489)

The Imām has also issued the following firm warning: “Whoever dies without having known and acknowledged the Imām of his Age dies as an infidel” (Kulaynī I 318). Recognition of the Imām is an absolute duty of every believer. Loving the Household of the Prophet is mandatory. As we read in the Holy Qur'ān:

“No reward do I ask of you for this except the love of those near of kin” (42:23)

This is not to imply that failure to recognize the Imāms is an act of disbelief. As Ayātullāh Mutahharī clarifies in Islām and Religious Pluralism:

The verses and traditions that indicate that the actions of those who deny Prophethood or Imāmate are not acceptable are with a view to denial out of obstinacy and bias; however, denial that is merely a lack of confession out of incapacity (qusūr)-rather than out ofculpability (taqsīr)-is not what the verses and traditions are about.In the view of the Qur'ān, such deniers are considered musta'af (powerless) and murjawn li'amr illah (those whose affair is referred to God's command).

10. Editor's Note: Sunnism is primarily ritualistic while Sūfism is primarily spiritualistic. Shī'ism presents a balance between the ritual and the spiritual. As Nasr explains, “Sūfism does not possess a sharī'ah; it is only a spiritual way [tarīqah] attached to a particular Sharī'ite rite such as the Mālikī or Shāfi'ī. Shī'ism possesses both a sharī'ah and a tarīqah” (Sūfī Essays 107).