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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islam and the Contemporary Man Chapter 6: Divine Knowledge Possessed By the Prophet and the Imams Imam Al-Husain’s Foreknowledge that he would be Killed Question When Imam al-Husayn left Medina on his last and fateful journey, did he know that it would end in his martyrdom? In other words, did he set out on this journey with the intention to be killed or with the intention to establish a just Islamic state?

Answer According to Shi‘ah doctrine, the Master of Martyrs, Imam al-Husayn, was the third Imam and the Prophet’s successor to Universal Authority [ al-wilayah al-kulliyyah ]. It is an article of Shi‘ah faith—supported by doctrinal and rational reasoning—that the Imam possesses divine knowledge, which God reveals to him. Below I will examine how this knowledge affects the Imam’s actions, especially with respect to Imam al-Husayn. The Imam possesses knowledge of all that takes place in the world.

This knowledge is granted by God to the Imam as His vicegerent. This knowledge transcends time and the sensible: the Imam knows the supersensible as well as the sensible, past and future as well as present. Numerous hadith s in the Shi‘ah corpus support this doctrine, and so from a doctrinal point of view, it is indubitable. One may object that a number of Qur’anic verses affirm that knowledge of the Unseen is exclusively God’s.

But the Qur’an also furnishes the answer to this question: عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ فَلَا يُظْهِرُ عَلَىٰ غَيْبِهِ أَحَدًا إِلَّا مَنِ ارْتَضَىٰ مِنْ رَسُولٍ....

“[God] is the Knower of the Unseen; He does not disclose His Unseen to anyone, except to an apostle He approves of…” [^1] This verse indicates that the other verses in question mean that God has this knowledge by His Essence and without the mediation of any other agent, whereas the Prophet, the Imams, and whoever else may possess this knowledge do so by God’s command.[^2] God bestowed it to the Prophet and thereafter to his rightful successors, the Imams.

There are a number of hadith s to the effect that the Prophet conveyed this knowledge to Imam ‘Ali, and Imam ‘Ali in turn conveyed it to his successors. But this is a truth that rational reasoning also corroborates. The Imam, as the most perfect creature, is the highest manifestation of all Divine Names and Attributes. This means that, like God, he possesses an all-inclusive knowledge. By his elemental essence [ al-wujud al-‘unsuri ], he can know whatever he wishes.