Imamat
The fourth principle of religion is imamat. Imamate means leading the religious and worldly affairs of the people as the successor of the great prophet of Islam, His Grace Muhammad bin Abdullah.
The presence of an imam after the prophet is necessary from two points of view:
1- The life of society is impossible without a leader, whose speeches and decrees must be heartfelt. As long as the great prophet was alive, the leadership and power of the Muslims was in his hands. It should be noted that the prophet, although he is the chosen one and messenger of the Lord, nevertheless represents the ruler of the Muslims as well.
That is why, so that after the death of the prophet the work of leading and governing Muslims would not stop or temporarily stop its activities, it was necessary that the successor of the prophet get down to business as soon as possible and continue the work begun by the prophet, which included expanding the sphere of monotheism throughout the world. , and directed people towards the desired perfection. Otherwise, all the works of the prophet would have been in vain and Muslims would not have been able to achieve happiness.
2- The Great Prophet of Islam (DBAR), in addition to being the ruler and ruler of Muslims, was also the educator of the Lord and the messenger of heaven, expressing the truth to people.
If there is no person to teach truths and religious concepts and express those laws that the prophet did not have time to explain during his life, that is, if there is no imam or spiritual leader, then his absence among the people will harm Islam. Therefore, it seems very important that the imam, the successor of the prophet, constantly lead the affairs of the people in order to eliminate all their needs, both in religious and ideological matters. Also, when it is said that the prophet fully expressed all the laws of Islam, this means that he brought to the people the general provisions of Islam, and the explanation of these general provisions and the elimination of the questions arising in this connection and the teaching of people in the highest principles of the Koran requires an imam or other the words of a great teacher whose level of erudition would be like that of a great prophet.
And now we want to bring to your attention a dispute between one of the students of Imam Sadiq and one of the Sunni religious scholars about the need for an imam and a spiritual leader after. prophet.
One of the young and prominent scholars and students of Imam Sadiq, Hisham, says: “One Sunday I came to Basra and went to the mosque. Amru bin Ubayd Mutazili was there and a large crowd of people were sitting around him asking him questions. everyone asked their own question and received an answer. I turned to Amr and said: "O learned man! I am not a resident of this city and came from afar. Will you let me ask you a question? Amru said: -Ask any question. I said: -Do you have eyes? He said: - Don't you see what I have, why are you asking about it? I said: - All my questions are of this kind. He said: - Ask, although your questions are meaningless.
-Do you have eyes?
-Yes.
-What are you doing with your eyes?
-I see the visible, distinguish the color and type of the visible.
-Do you have a language?
-Yes.
-What are you doing to them?
- I distinguish the taste of dinner with them.
-Do you have a sense of charm?
-Yes.
-What are you doing to them?
- I smell, I distinguish good smell from bad.
-Do you have ears?
-Yes.
-What are you doing to them?
- I hear sounds and distinguish them from each other.
- Do you have a heart (mind) besides all this?
-Yes.
-What are you doing to them?
“If other senses doubt, then thanks to him I will eliminate this doubt. For, it is quite clear to everyone that sometimes the five senses of a person make mistakes, so I turn to the mind to eliminate their mistakes.
Hisham said: - As soon as Amru bin Ubayd said this, I confirmed the correctness of his words and said: “Yes, the Lord Almighty created the mind to control the senses and eliminate their errors. O scholar! Will it be true if we say that the Lord who did not leave the eyes and ears and other organs of a person without a guide, could he leave the Muslims after the prophet without a guide and leader, so that as a result of this people would be in doubt and conflicts, fall into error? Can common sense agree with this?
Hisham said: - When I came to this conclusion from those simple questions, Amru bin Ubayd realized that I was a Shia and a student of Imam Sadiq, so he calmed down and could not answer my question and only an exchange of courtesies was able to end this dispute.
Hisham, by this dispute, comes to the conclusion that the Almighty God after the prophet necessarily appointed his successors, who, one after the other, will be imams and spiritual leaders of Muslims.
Yes, as the great Muslim philosopher Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) says: "Is it conceivable that the wise Allah, who created eyelashes and eyebrows for a person and eliminated his needs to such an extent, is it possible that such a good Allah could forget about such the greatest need of the people (to appoint a guide), leave people without a guide, leader and educator and leave them to themselves?