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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Lessons From Qur'an Imamate Is Imamate Included in the Fundamentals of Faith? Raghib Isfahani in his book Mufradatul Qur'an has given the meaning of Imam as leader, that is the one who should be followed and obeyed. That one may be a book or a man, whether it or he is right or wrong. Now that we have understood the meaning of the word Imam we venture to answer the above quoted question.

It will be better to quote the verses of the Holy Qur'an as well as the traditions of the Holy Prophet and leave the matter to the readers to decide for themselves. On the occasion of Ghadir-i Khum the Holy Qur'an addresses the Holy Prophet and says: O Messenger, declare what is revealed to you from your Lord. If you will not declare, it would be as though you have not conveyed My Message. Allah protects you from men. He does not guide the unbelieving people.

(Surah al-Ma'idah, 5:67) This should be borne in mind that al-Ma'idah is the last surah that was revealed upon the Holy Prophet in his last days. It should also be borne in mind that the Holy Prophet had been preaching monotheism, prophethood, Day of Judgment, prayers and matters relating to polytheism, iconoclasm, etc. For a long time and further that the injunctions regarding Jihad, Fasting, khums and zakat were enforced in 2 A.H.

and at the time when Surah al-Ma'idah was revealed it was 10 A.H. in which this particular verse was revealed with so much emphasis. It should again be remembered that the Holy Prophet was not a person who could be daunted or intimidated, else he would have become scared during the early days of his prophethood, when he was all by himself, and not in the last days of his life when he had hundreds and thousands of his followers. This Qur'anic verse tells the Holy Prophet, "Do not be frightened!

Allah Protects you ! " We should also bear in mind that the place where this verse was revealed was the place where the caravans were going to be dispersed towards their respective destinations in different directions. The wind was hot. Those were last days of the life of the Holy Prophet. From this it is proved that the message that he was going to give to the people related to a very important matter and that the Holy Prophet had become aware of the disruptive activities of the hypocrites.