ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theological Instructions LESSON TWENTY-FOUR: INFALLIBILITY OF THE PROPHETS The necessity of the immunity of Revelation After proving that there is a need for revelation as an alternative way to acquiring knowledge, and compensating for the deficiency of man’s senses and wisdom, another question arises: If we recognise that ordinary people do not have any direct access to revelation, nor possess the capability of receiving it, and instead rely on specific people (prophets) as bearers of such news, what then guarantees the accuracy of such a message?

How can one be assured that the Prophet has received and transmitted the message to the people in a perfect manner? And if there has been a mediator between the Prophet and the people, how can one be sure that that person has performed his duty accurately?

These questions have to be asked because revelation is only effective in dispelling man’s ignorance if it is immune from all intentional and/or unintentional alterations from the time of being issued to the time of being delivered to the people. If such a revelation contained intentional or unintentional alterations, the doubt about such a message would spread and people would lose confidence in it.

We therefore need to establish the means whereby one can conclude that the message received by the people is as it was re-laid to the messenger. When a people have no knowledge about revelation and its content is unknown to them, there is no way to control or observe the mediator’s accuracy in performing his duty. Any deficiency in the revelation would thus lie undetected, unless of course it stood against wisdom or reason.

For example, if an individual claims that he has received a revelation from God stating the necessity or acceptability of two contradictory phenomena co-existing together, or if he claims that there is (may I seek God’s protection) plurality, combination, or decline in God’s nature, it is possible to use wisdom’s commandments (common sense) to falsify such statements.

However, the fundamental need for revelation comes in situations where the role of wisdom plays no part in their verification or falsification, and it is impossible to use the content of the message for its evaluation. In such cases, how can one verify the accuracy of the content of revelation and its immunity against the mediator’s intentional or unintentional alterations?