They also believe that human beings are free and responsible for their acts.

They also believe that human beings are free and responsible for their acts. Of course, the Mu’tazilites believe in tafwid, i.e. that God has handed over His authority over human voluntary acts to them and they have complete control over their acts. But the Shi’a believe that although determinism (jabr) is wrong and against Divine justice, and that human beings are free, their freedom and power is limited, and God has an overall authority upon their acts.

This fact is expressed in the well-known formulation of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq: “There is no compulsion (jabr), nor is there absolute delegation of power (tafwid), but the real position is between the two extremes.” Due to the ultimate importance of this subject for any value system, the Shi’a have always stressed on the issue of Divine justice and have frequently introduced it along with tawhid (Divine unity), prophethood, Imamate (Divine leadership) and Resurrection as one of the five Principles of the Faith (Usul al-Madhhab) in contrast to tawhid, prophethood and resurrection which count as the three Principles of the Religion (Usul al-Din), which are shared by all Muslims.

This emphasis on the issue of Divine justice has not just had its role in the theoretical aspect of Shi’ism. Indeed, the Shi’a see the issue of justice such as a fundamental aspect of Islam that they have always called for implementation of the principle of justice on a social scale as well. Shi’a movements that have taken place have always been calling for justice.

(2) Prophethood God has created mankind wisely and purposefully (51:56) He has given man reason and free-will to find his way towards his perfection and happiness. He has also supplemented the human reason with Divine revelation. Through His wisdom and justice, He has not left any people or corner of the world without guidance; He has sent prophets to all nations to instruct and guide them. (10:47 and 16:36) The first prophet was Adam and the last was Muhammad, the Seal of prophets (33:40).

The Qur’an mentions twenty- five of the prophets and states that there were many more (40:78). Through the indications of hadiths, Muslims believe that there have been 124,000 prophets. Amongst those mentioned in the Qur’an are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, Ezekiel, David, Solomon, Jonah, Zachariah, John the Baptist, Jesus and Muhammad. Among them, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad had universal mission and brought new codes of law.