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Imamah

The major distinction between the school of Ahlul Bayt and the other Islamic schools of thought revolves around the issue of Imamah, or the early succession to Prophet Muhammad. The school of Ahlul Bayt maintains that the office of the imamah is a divine office – meaning, the imam or khalifah (leadership) has to be appointed and given directly by Allah, for this office holds the same significance as that of prophethood. People are thus commanded by Allah to follow specific successors (imams) after the demise of the Prophet.

Other schools of thought say that the imamah is determined by shura (election) and that this method was used to determine the successor of the Prophet Muhammad. However, the Shi‘a school of thought considers that the concept of shura was never fully enacted after the death of the Prophet because ibn Qutaybah asserts that the first caliph was nominated mainly by two people;[1]

Ibn Kathir says that he had confined the candidacy for the khilafah to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab and Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, both of whom declined and nominated him, a nomination that was seconded by Ma΄adh, ‘Usayd, Bashir, and Zayd ibn Thabit.[2] Tabari narrates that the Ansar refused to submit to his allegiance in al-Saqifah (the place where the matter of immediate succession to the Prophet was discussed) and declared that they would only pay allegiance to ‘Ali (because he was the one appointed by the Prophet to be his successor).[3]

The first caliph has been recorded to have said in his inaugural ceremony, “O people! I was appointed over you, but I am not the best one among you.”[4] Historian ibn Abi al-Hadid al-Mu΄tazili records that the second caliph admitted his role in orchestrating the meeting at al-Saqifah when he later declared that paying allegiance to the first caliph had been a mistake (faltah) but that Allah had averted the disaster of it from the Muslims.[5]

The concept of shura however was not implemented during the second caliph’s ascension to the caliphate since the first caliph appointed him before his death. It was not even enacted during the ascension of the third caliph to power, since he was also selected nominally by five people, but in essence by one—namely, the second caliph, who also appointed two governors to remain in power after his death namely: Sa΄d ibn Abi Waqqass and Abu Musa al-Ash΄ari.[6]

Qur’anic Evidence for the Divine Ordination of the Imam

Numerous verses in the Noble Qur’an refer to the fact that throughout history Allah alone has the right to ordain an imam (leader) or khalifah for mankind – some of them are as follows:

And remember when your Lord said to the angels,

‘Verily, I am going to place [for mankind] a successor (khalifah) on the earth.’[7]

O David! Verily We have placed you as a successor (khalifah) on the earth, so judge between men with truth and justice, and follow not your desires, for they will mislead you from the path of Allah.[8]

And remember when the Lord of Abraham tried him with certain commands which he fulfilled. Allah said to him, ‘Verily I am going to make you a leader (imam) for mankind.’ Abraham said, ‘And (what about) my offspring?’ Allah said, ‘My providence (does not) includes the wrongdoers.’[9]

And We made from among them leaders (imams), giving guidance under Our command, when they were patient and believed with certainty in Our proofs and evidence.[10]

These verses clarify that not just anyone is entitled to assume the office of leadership or the imamah and one who qualifies for this is the one who Allah examines and he fulfills Allah’s test. In particular, the Noble Qur’an in the above verse of (2:124) stresses very clearly that the wrongdoers (dhalimeen) are forbidden from assuming the leadership of the believers.

Yet, does Islamic history show this command to have been carried out? How many caliphs and sultans during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods were corrupt and did not practice Islam properly, yet they were leaders of the Muslim nation?

Succession—khilafah or imamah—is appointed solely by Allah whenever it is mentioned in the Noble Qur’an. In the school of Ahlul Bayt, the khilafah refers not only to temporal power and political authority over the people but more importantly, it indicates the authority to do so. This authority must be from Allah since Allah attributes governing and judgment to Himself.

Seven Categories of Verses of Allah’s Government in the Qur’an

(1) The Verses of Kingdom:

Say, ‘O Allah! Possessor of the Kingdom! You give the Kingdom to whom You will, and You take the Kingdom from whom You will.’[11]

Say, ‘I seek refuge with Allah, the Lord of Mankind, the King of Mankind, the God of Mankind….’[12]

To Allah belongs the domain of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and to Him will all return.[13]

(2) The Verses of Government:

The decision (hukm) is only for Allah. He declares the truth, and He is the best of judges.[14]

Surely, His is the judgment, and He is the swiftest in taking account.[15]

And in whatsoever you differ, the decision thereof is with Allah. He is the ruling judge.[16]

(3) The Verses of Command:

Say, ‘Indeed, the command (’amr) belongs entirely to Allah.’[17]

Surely, His is the creation and the command. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of Mankind.[18]

But the decision of all things is certainly with Allah.[19]

It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any opinion in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in plain error.[20]

(4) The Verses of Guardianship:

Verily, your guardian (wali) is Allah, His Messenger, and the believers—those who perform the prayers and give zakat (alms) while bowing down (ruku).[21]

Commentators unanimously agree that this particular verse refers to Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib who gave his ring to a beggar while in the state of bowing (ruku) in the course of his prayer.

The only saying of the faithful believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them, is that they say, ‘We hear and we obey,’ and such are the prosperous ones.[22]

We sent no messenger but to be obeyed by Allah’s leave.[23]

By your Lord, they can have no faith until they make you (Prophet Muhammad) a judge in all disputes between them and find in themselves no resistance against your decision and accept it with full submission.[24]

(5) The Verses of Following:

Say (Prophet Muhammad) to mankind, ‘If you really love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, and Allah is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’[25]

Say (Prophet Muhammad), ‘Follow that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and follow not any guardian other than that.’[26]

(6) The Verse of Choosing:

And your Lord creates whatsoever He wills and chooses. No choice have they in any matter. Glorified be Allah, and Exalted above all that they associate as partners with Him.[27]

(7) The Verse of Judgment:

And Allah judges with truth, while those whom they invoke besides Him cannot judge anything. Certainly Allah is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.[28]

These examples from the Noble Qur’an show the characteristics of government which are only for Allah, the Exalted. The commonly repeated phrase “a la lahu al-’amr wal-hukm” (is not the command and the judgment His?) also illustrates this point.

The most important characteristics of the leadership of Allah are the guardianship and the command, and He bestows this virtue on whomever He wills. The nature of the khilafah gives the khalifah the privilege to be a guardian over the people and obliges them to obey him. Since the absolute obedience and surrender is only for Allah, then only Allah the Almighty has the right to transfer this power and authority to whomever He wills.Allah says:

“O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority over you (’ul ul-’amr minkum). And if you quarrel about something, refer it to Allah and the Messenger.”[29]

But if a person assumes leadership and becomes a caliph or imam by power and intimidation then he will not necessarily be entitled to be a legitimate Muslim leader. Logic dictates that the imam or caliph who succeeds the prophet should be appointed by Allah. Since Allah puts their obedience at the same level as obedience to Him and His Messenger, therefore not anyone is entitled to become the caliph of the prophet.

Islamic history shows that some corrupt people assumed even the office of leadership and the khilafah during the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties—then could this verse of obedience still apply to them? Would the believing Muslims have to follow these leaders blindly? Would Allah tell the Muslims to follow a corrupt leader and an oppressor?

In some of the hadith books, justification is found for such rulers to rule and a command for the Muslims to listen to them. Imam Bukhari narrates from the Prophet, “After me, there will be rulers (wilat), and you will find good ones and corrupt ones. You Muslims have to listen to both of them. Whoever breaks the unity of the whole (the jama΄ah) will be considered outside of the religion of Islam.”[30] Such a hadith is not compatible with the Noble Qur’an, which says:

“And incline not towards those who do wrong (dhalamu) lest the Fire touch you and you have no protector other than Allah, nor will you be helped.”[31]

The Noble Qur’an clearly emphasizes that those who believe should neither support nor incline towards an oppressor at all. There is no way to justify paying allegiance to or endorsing an oppressor to be the caliph or leader of the Muslim nation (ummah); doing so, would be in gross violation of the Qur’anic injunctions. Verse (4:59) not only commands the faithful to obey the ’Ul ul-’amr or their legitimate guardians (who are the infallible imams) but it also rectifies their infallibility since no corrupt or wrongdoing person could be entitled by Allah to assume this trust.

Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib

The Noble Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad specifically refer to the leadership of Imam ‘Ali after the Prophet in several incidents.

Ghadir Khum

This incident took place on the 18th of Dhul Hijjah, the twelfth month of theu Islamic calendar, and has been narrated by 110 companions of the Prophet, 84 members of the following generation (the tabi΄in), and 360 Muslim scholars from all schools of thought. Prophet Muhammad and approximately 114,000 of his companions had performed the farewell Hajj (pilgrimage) and were returning home.

That year, during the Hajj, the weather was very hot with the blazing sun taking its toll on the pilgrims. When the Prophet arrived at Ghadir Khum, a marshland crossroads from which all the Muslims from different lands would part on their own ways, the Prophet stopped the caravan at noontime, and waited for those who were behind to arrive and called upon those who had gone ahead to return, for he had received a revelation from Allah which he had to deliver to the people. The revelation read,

“O Messenger! Declare what has been revealed to you from Your Lord, and if you do not, then your mission will not have been fully declared, and Allah will protect you from the harm of the people.”[32]

Then the Prophet spoke a bit before asking the assembly whether he truly had authority over them or not. The people replied, “Yes, O Prophet, of course you are our leader (mawla).” He repeated this question three times, and the people responded in the same way each time, acknowledging his leadership. The Prophet then called for ‘Ali, held up his arm so that their two arms formed one shape pointing upwards, and said to the people, “He whose leader (mawla) I am, ‘Ali is his leader.”

At that time, ‘Ali was 33 years old. The people received this news with a variety of responses—some with happiness and some with resentment. The foremost to congratulate ‘Ali were the future first and second caliphs; the second caliph said, “Congratulations, congratulations to you, O ‘Ali; you have become my leader (mawla) and the leader of every faithful Muslim.”[33]

After declaring the mentioned revelation another verse was revealed to Prophet Muhammad. Allah said,

“Today I have completed for you the religion, and favored you with My bounty, and accepted Islam for you as the religion.”[34]

With this verse, the religion of Islam was completed by the appointment of Imam ‘Ali to succeed the Prophet, and had he not been appointed as the successor, the religion of Islam would have been incomplete as is specifically mentioned in these verses.

The Verse of Warning (Indhar)

Three years after the advent of Islam, Allah commanded the Prophet to proclaim his invitation to Islam to his immediate family in Makkah by commanding,

“And warn your tribe who are of near kindred.”[35]

The Prophet gathered forty members of his tribe, Bani Hashim and held a feast inside the house of his uncle Abu Talib by preparing food for them. After they had finished eating, the Prophet said to them, “O children of ‘Abd al-Mutallib! By Allah, I don’t know any young person from among the Arabs who has brought his people something better than that which I am bringing you. I have brought you the best of this world and the next, and Allah has commanded me to invite you to it. So who will be my supporter in this endeavor, to be my brother, my successor (khalifah), and legatee?” No one stood up to accept this invitation except ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was only about 13 years old at the time, said, “I will be your supporter in this endeavor.”

The Prophet requested him to sit down and then repeated his question a second time. Again, only ‘Ali stood up, and again the Prophet asked him to sit. When even the third time the Prophet heard no answer from the other family members, ‘Ali stood up again and repeated his support. The Prophet then put his hand on his leg and said to the forty men from his immediate family, “This is my brother, my legatee, and my successor (khalifah) over you, so listen to him and obey him.” The men stood and while laughing told the father of ‘Ali, “Your nephew has ordered you to listen to your son and obey him.”[36]

The Verse of Bowing (Ruku)

Verily, your guardian (wali) is Allah, His messenger, and the believers; those who perform the prayers and give zakat (alms) while bowing down (in ruku).[37]

Numerous commentators of the Qur’an from all schools of thought identify the one referred to in this verse is ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib. The famous commentator, Zamakhshari says about this verse, “It was revealed in favor of ‘Ali (may Allah enlighten his face). When a beggar asked him for alms in the masjid and ‘Ali was in the position of ruku during the prayers, he gave away his ring while in that position.

It seems it was loose on the little finger, for he did not exert any effort in taking it off, which would have nullified his prayer. If you ask how it could be in favor of ‘Ali since the wording is in the plural form, I would say that the form is plural although its instigator is a single man to encourage people to follow his example and earn a similar reward; and also to draw attention to the fact that the believers must be extremely mindful and benevolent towards the poor such that if a situation can not be postponed until after the prayer, then it should not be delayed until having finished it.”[38]

Similarly, al-Wahidi in his book on the commentary of the Qur’an entitled, Asbab al-Nuzul, cites Kalbi’s narration, that the cause of this revelation was Imam ‘Ali. Kalbi says, “The later part of this verse is in favor of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be gracious to him) because he gave his ring to a beggar while in the state of ruku during the prayers.”[39]

Many other commentaries also hold that this verse refers to Imam ‘Ali including: Sunan al-Nisa΄i, Tafsir al-Kabir by Tha΄alibi, Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal,[40] Musnad ibn Marduwayh, and Kanz al-‘Ummal.[41]

The Verse of Guardianship

O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority over you (’Ul ul-’amr minkum). And if you quarrel about something, then refer it to Allah and the Messenger.[42]

By the explanation from the Prophet Muhammad, this verse is also one of the Qur’anic references to the leadership of Imam ‘Ali after the Prophet, and it necessitates the obedience of the faithful to Allah, the Prophet, and those vested with authority over them. When this verse was revealed to the Prophet, one of his great companions, Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah al-Ansari asked:

O Prophet of Allah! We know Allah and His Messenger, but who are ‘those vested with authority over you’ (’Ul ul-’amr) whose obedience Allah considers equal to that of Allah and the Prophet? The Prophet replied that those are my successors and the leaders of the Muslims after me. The first of them is ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, then al-Hassan and al-Husayn, then ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn, then Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, who is known as al-Baqir. You, Jabir will see him and when you see him, give him my salam.[43] Then al-Sadiq Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, then Musa ibn Ja‘far, then ‘Ali ibn Musa, then Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, then ‘Ali ibn Muhammad, then al-Hassan ibn ‘Ali, then the one who bears my name, Muhammad. And he will be the proof (hujjah) of Allah on the earth.

Prophetic Narrations Appointing Imam ‘Ali as Successor

Prophet Muhammad told the Muslims both about the succession of the designated members of his family (Ahlul Bayt), which will be dealt with in the next section, as well as the specific succession of Imam ‘Ali. The Messenger of Allah has been recorded to have said in regards to Imam ‘Ali:

You are in the same position with relation to me as Aaron was with Moses, except that there will be no prophet after me.[44]

He who wishes to live as I have lived and to die as I will die, and enter the Garden of Eternal Bliss which Allah has promised me—let him take ‘Ali as his leader (wali), because ‘Ali will never lead you away from the Path of Truth, nor will he take you into error.[45]

‘Ali is the authority (wali) over every believer (mu΄min) after me.[46]

‘Ali is the doorway to my knowledge, and after me he will explain to my followers what has been sent to me. Love for ‘Ali is faith, and spite towards him is hypocrisy.[47]

I am the city of knowledge, and ‘Ali is its gate. He who wishes to reach this city should enter through its gate.[48]

‘Ali is from me, and I am from ‘Ali, and none delivers except me and ‘Ali.[49]

He who obeys me will have obeyed Allah, and he who disobeys me will have disobeyed Allah. And he who obeys ‘Ali will have obeyed me, and he who disobeys ‘Ali will have disobeyed me.[50]

At the Battle of Khaybar the Muslims were struggling to conquer the castle. The two companions, Abu Bakr and Umar had previously failed in their attempts to defeat the enemies, at which the Messenger of Allah said, I will certainly give this standard (i.e. flag) to a man whom Allah and His Messenger love.” Other narrations say that the Prophet said, “Allah will grant victory through the one who loves Allah and His Messenger.” In either case, the Prophet Muhammad gave the standard to ‘Ali, and Allah granted victory through his hand.[51]

Twelve Leaders to Succeed the Prophet

In addition to the specific narrations emphatically identifying Imam ‘Ali as the successor of the Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet was also recorded to have said on numerous occasions that after him he would be succeeded by twelve leaders from his tribe of Quraysh. Some of these narrations are:

The caliphate will remain among the Quraysh even if only two people are left (on the earth).[52]

I joined the company of the Prophet with my father and heard him say, “This caliphate will not end until there have come the twelve caliphs among them.” The narrator said, “Then he (the Prophet) said something which I could not follow.” I said to my father, “What did he say?” He said, “He has said, ‘all of them will be from Quraysh.”’[53]

Nevertheless, extensive research show that the accurate version of the Prophet’s narration is that ‘all of them will be from Bani Hashim,’ which is exclusive to the imams of Ahlul Bayt.

Who are the Twelve Leaders?

The Prophet said:

I and ‘Ali are the fathers of this nation. He who recognizes us as such believes in Allah, the Mighty and Glorious. And from ‘Ali are my two grandchildren, Hassan and Husayn, each of whom is a prince over the youth in Heaven; and among the descendants of Husayn are nine. Obedience to them is obedience to me, and disobedience to them is disobedience to me. The ninth of them is the Qa΄im (the firmly established) and Mahdi—the executor and the one divinely trained for right guidance.[54]

Stated to his grandson Husayn when he was only a few years old, the Prophet said to him:

You are a sayyid (master) and the son of a sayyid. You are an imam and the son of an imam, the brother of an imam and the father of imams. You are Allah’s proof and confirmation and the son of His proof. You are the father of nine of Allah’s proofs in your line of descendants. The ninth of them is the Qa΄im (the firmly established, the executor).[55]

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