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Draft:Acquired Infallibility

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This page is about Acquired Infallibility. For the concept of Isma (Infallibility) in general, see Isma.

Acquired Infallibility or Voluntary Infallibility denotes a classification of Isma characterized by a human agent's voluntary abstention from sin and error, achieved through rigorous spiritual effort and the struggle against the carnal soul.[1] This stands in contradistinction to bestowed or innate infallibility, wherein the infallible abstains from sin by virtue of a specific power instilled by God, or is inherently rendered incapable of transgression.[2] According to some theologians, innate or bestowed infallibility is granted to select individuals only after they have demonstrated effort and attained acquired infallibility.[3] Conversely, the Ash'arites, rejecting the concept of acquired infallibility, maintain that due to human compulsion (jabr), God has removed the capacity to commit sin from the infallibles.[4]

According to one school of thought, acquired infallibility is not the exclusive prerogative of the Ma'sum;[5] rather, it is possible for certain scholars and mystics to ascend to this station.[6] Some scholars have also equated acquired infallibility with justice ('adala).[7] In this view, acquired infallibility signifies the lifelong avoidance of sin, which constitutes the ultimate definition of justice.[8]

Shi'a theologians posit that prophets and infallibles possess both acquired and bestowed infallibility.[9] According to Khwaja Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, infallibles retain the capacity to commit sins but voluntarily refrain from doing so.[10] Furthermore, some scholars argue that the infallibles attained acquired infallibility through the purification of the soul combined with God's special grace.[11] Regarding the infallibility of Lady Fatima (a), certain researchers categorize it as comprising both acquired and bestowed elements.[12]

The relationship between infallibility and free will has long been a subject of theological inquiry.[13] The perceived difficulty in reconciling Isma with free will has led some to either deny the infallibility of prophets or attribute it to compulsion (jabr).[14] Proponents of the compulsion view argue that prophetic infallibility is externally imposed, asserting that humans are naturally prone to error and sin. Citing Quranic expressions such as the term akhlasnahum in Qur'an 38:46 and the phrase Yurid Allah liyudh-hiba 'ankum al-rijs Ahl al-Bayt in the Qur'an 33:33, they contend that God has purified and rendered sincere only specific individuals, thereby elevating them to the station of infallibility.[15]

In contrast, other scholars maintain that infallibility and free will are compatible, arguing that the infallibility of prophets is achieved not through compulsion, but through spiritual exertion and the struggle against carnal desires.[16] From this perspective, a prophet's awareness of sin is analogous to one's knowledge of poisonous food; the individual avoids it with certainty, yet their free will remains intact.[17] This view finds support in verses such as Qur'an 6:88 and the Qur'an 5:67.[18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Fikr al-khālid, 1425 AH, vol. 1, pp. 227-237; Riḍvānī, Shīʿa-shināsī va pāsukh bih shubuhāt, 1384 Sh, vol. 1, pp. 530-538.
  2. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Fikr al-khālid, 1425 AH, vol. 1, pp. 227-237; Riḍvānī, Shīʿa-shināsī va pāsukh bih shubuhāt, 1384 Sh, vol. 1, pp. 530-538.
  3. ↑ Dayyānatī-pūr, Niʿmatī, "ʿIṣmat-i Ḥaḍrat-i Zahrā (s) ilāhī yā iktisābī", p. 108.
  4. ↑ Ījī, Sharḥ al-mawāqif, 1325 Sh, p. 280; Subḥānī, al-Fikr al-khālid, 1425 AH, vol. 1, pp. 227-237; Riḍvānī, Shīʿa-shināsī va pāsukh bih shubuhāt, 1384 Sh, vol. 1, pp. 530-538.
  5. ↑ Dayyānatī-pūr, Niʿmatī, "ʿIṣmat-i Ḥaḍrat-i Zahrā (s) ilāhī yā iktisābī", p. 108.
  6. ↑ Nāṣirī, "Mawhibat-i ʿiṣmat az manẓar-i āyāt", p. 149.
  7. ↑ al-Sanad, al-Wirātha al-iṣṭifāʾiyya, 1431 AH, p. 36.
  8. ↑ al-Sanad, al-Wirātha al-iṣṭifāʾiyya, 1431 AH, p. 36.
  9. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Fikr al-khālid, 1425 AH, vol. 1, pp. 227-237; Riḍvānī, Shīʿa-shināsī va pāsukh bih shubuhāt, 1384 Sh, vol. 1, pp. 530-538.
  10. ↑ Khwāja Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, Talkhīṣ al-muḥaṣṣal, 1405 AH, vol. 1, p. 430.
  11. ↑ al-Ḥusaynī, Laqad shayyaʿanī al-Ḥusayn (a), 1415 AH, p. 375.
  12. ↑ Dayyānatī-pūr, Niʿmatī, "ʿIṣmat-i Ḥaḍrat-i Zahrā (s) ilāhī yā iktisābī", p. 108.
  13. ↑ Yūsufiyān, Sharīfī, Pazhūhishī dar ʿiṣmat-i maʿṣūmān (a), 1388 Sh, p. 39.
  14. ↑ Yūsufiyān, Sharīfī, Pazhūhishī dar ʿiṣmat-i maʿṣūmān (a), 1388 Sh, p. 39.
  15. ↑ Yūsufiyān, Sharīfī, Pazhūhishī dar ʿiṣmat-i maʿṣūmān (a), 1388 Sh, pp. 39-41.
  16. ↑ Subḥānī, ʿIṣmat al-anbiyāʾ fī l-Qurʾān al-karīm, 1420 AH, p. 29; Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Āmūzish-i ʿaqāʾid, 1367 Sh, vol. 2, p. 161.
  17. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 5, p. 354.
  18. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1390 AH, vol. 11, p. 163; Subḥānī, Manshūr-i jāvīd, 1382 Sh, vol. 5, p. 29.

References

  • Ījī, Mīr Sayyid Sharīf, Sharḥ al-mawāqif, Qom, Sharīf Raḍī, 1325 Sh.
  • al-Sanad, Shaykh Muḥammad, al-Wirātha al-iṣṭifāʾiyya li-Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (s), Qom, Bāqiyāt, 1431 AH.
  • al-Ḥusaynī al-Maghribī, Idrīs, Laqad shayyaʿanī al-Ḥusayn (a), n.p., Anwār al-Hudā, 1415 AH.
  • Dayyānatī-pūr, Zahrā, Dil-ārā Niʿmatī, "ʿIṣmat-i Ḥaḍrat-i Zahrā (s) ilāhī yā iktisābī", in Bānuvān-i Shīʿa journal, Qom, Muʾassisa-yi Shīʿa-shināsī, Summer 1386 Sh.
  • Riḍvānī, ʿAlī Aṣghar, Shīʿa-shināsī va pāsukh bih shubuhāt, Tehran, Mashʿar, 1384 Sh.
  • Subḥānī, Jaʿfar, al-Fikr al-khālid fī bayān al-ʿaqāʾid, Qom, Muʾassisa-yi Imām Ṣādiq (a), 1st ed., 1425 AH.
  • Khwāja Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad, Talkhīṣ al-muḥaṣṣal, Beirut, Dār al-Aḍwāʾ, 2nd ed., 1405 AH.
  • Muṭahharī, Murtāḍā, Majmūʿa-yi Āthār, Sadrā Publications, 1389 Sh.
  • Nāṣirī, Muḥammad, "Mawhibat-i ʿiṣmat az manẓar-i āyāt", in Maʿrifat journal, Qom, Muʾassisa-yi Imām Khumaynī (re), 1370 Sh.
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