Infallibility of Imams: Difference between revisions

The Imam's infallibility and the evidence for it are among the major Quranic and theological issues.<ref>Subḥānī, ''Manshūr-i jāwīd'', vol. 4, p. 239.</ref> According to [[Twelver Shias]], [[infallibility]] is a requirement and attribute of [[Imamate]], and the infallibility of the Shiite Imams (a) is one of their fundamental beliefs.<ref>See: Ṭūsī, ''al-Iqtiṣād fīmā yataʿallaqu bi l-iʿtiqād'', p. 305; Ḥillī, ''Kashf al-murād'', p. 184; Fayyāḍ Lāhījī, ''Sarmāya-yi imān'', p. 114; Subḥānī, ''al-Ilāhīyāt'', vol. 4, p. 116.</ref> [['Allama al-Majlisi]] states that the Imamiyya have consensus over the infallibility of the Imams (a) from all [[Grave Sins|major]] and minor sins, whether intentional or unintentional, and from any errors or mistakes.<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 25, p. 209, 350, 351.</ref> It is said that [[Ismailis]] also require infallibility for Imamate.<ref>Ḥillī, ''Kashf al-murād'', p. 184; Jurjānī, ''Sharḥ al-mawāqif'', vol. 8, p. 351.</ref> In contrast, [[Sunni Muslims]] do not require infallibility for Imamate,<ref>Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār, ''al-Mughnī'', vol. 15, p. 251, 255, 256, vol. 20, p. 26, 84, 95, 98, 215, 323; Jurjānī, ''Sharḥ al-mawāqif'', vol. 8, p. 351; Taftāzānī, ''Sharḥ al-maqāṣid'', vol. 5, p. 249.</ref> as they have consensus that the [[first three caliphs]] were Imams without being infallible.<ref>Jurjānī, ''Sharḥ al-mawāqif'', vol. 8, p. 351; Taftāzānī, ''Sharḥ al-maqāṣid'', vol. 5, p. 249.</ref> Instead of infallibility, they require [[Justice (fiqh)|justice]].<ref>Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār, ''al-Mughnī'', vol. 20, p. 201; Jurjānī, ''Sharḥ al-mawāqif'', vol. 8, p. 350; Taftāzānī, ''Sharḥ al-maqāṣid'', vol. 5, p. 243-246.</ref> However, Sibt b. al-Jawzi, a Sunni scholar of the seventh/thirteenth century, accepts the infallibility of the Imams.<ref>Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, ''Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ'', vol. 2, p. 519.</ref> [[Wahhabis]] reject the infallibility of the Shiite Imams (a), restricting it to [[prophets (a)]].<ref>See: Ibn Taymīyya, ''Minhāj al-sunna al-nabawīyya'', vol. 2, p. 429, vol. 3, p. 381; Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, ''Risāla fī l-radd ʿalā l-rāfiḍa'', p. 28; Qifārī, ''Uṣūl madhhab al-Shīʿa al-imāmīyya'', vol. 2, p. 775.</ref> As [[Ibn Abi al-Hadid al-Mu'tazili]] reports, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan b. Ahmad b. Mattawayh, a Mu'tazilite theologian of the fifth/eleventh century, while not requiring infallibility for Imamate, believed in the infallibility of [[Ali (a)]] and attributed this view to the [[Mu'tazila|Mu'tazilite school]].<ref>Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, ''Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha'', vol. 6, p. 376, 377.</ref>

Some opponents of the infallibility of Imams argue that this belief did not exist in the early Islamic era and emerged only later. For example, [[Ibn Taymiyya]] claims that the belief in the infallibility of Imams (a) originated with [['Abd Allah b. Saba']] and was his [[Bid'a|invention]]. [[Nasir al-Qafari]] asserts that it was [[Hisham b. al-Hakam]] who first introduced this belief. In his book ''Risis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shi'ite Islam'', Sayyid Husayn Mudarrisi Tabataba'i, a Shiite Iranian scholar of Islamic studies, also attributes the origin of the idea of [[infallibility]] to Hisham b. al-Hakam.

Nasir al-Qafari, a [[Wahhabi]] scholar who is critical of Shiism, rejects the attribution of the idea of infallibility to 'Abd Allah b. Saba' in historical terms, noting that his own research found no such statements from him. Furthermore, the concept of the infallibility of Imams (a) and the term 'isma was not an invention of Hisham b. al-Hakam. Many hadiths transmitted from the Prophet and the Imams highlight infallibility ('isma). For instance, a hadith from [[Imam Ali (a)]] describes 'isma as a distinguishing feature of the Imam. [[Imam al-Sajjad (a)]] cites a hadith from his father, [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]], in which the Prophet (s) is reported to have characterized the Imams (a) as infallible. Additionally, in Sunni sources, [['Abd Allah b. 'Abbas]] quotes the Prophet (s) as stating that he, Ali, al-Hasan, al-Husayn, and the nine descendants of al-Husayn (a) are pure and infallible.

[[Nasir al-Qifari]], a Wahhabi researcher in Saudi Arabia, and some others suggest that the belief in the infallibility of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) is an example of [[ghuluww]] (exaggeration about their status). [[Shias]], however, define ghuluww as going beyond moderation in describing the virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt (a), elevating them above their true position of servitude, and attributing divine qualities to them. Shias do not hold such beliefs about the Ahl al-Bayt (a). They believe that infallibility, like any other perfection, fundamentally belongs to God, but that God has granted this attribute to certain of His servants who serve as guides. Thus, the exclusivity of infallibility to God is compatible with its being granted to some of His servants, similar to the belief in the Prophet's (s) infallibility among all [[Muslims]].

* Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. ''Taṣḥīḥ al-'iʿtiqād''. Edited by Ḥusayn Dargāhī. Qom: al-Muʾtamar al-ʿĀlamīyya li-alfīya al-Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1414 AH.

* Qifārī, Nāṣir b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. ''Uṣūl madhhab al-Shīʿa al-imāmīyya al-ithnā ʿasharīyya''. Giza: Dār al-Riḍā, 1431/2010.