ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Shiite Islam: Orthodoxy or Heterodoxy? Chapter 9: The Imāmate: The Esoteric Inheritance or the Bātin of the Prophet To sum up the political aspects of Islāmic history, it is clear that the Caliphate is transmitted by way of nass through which the Prophet or the Imām designates who will succeed him in the Imāmate.[^1]The Imām is the sole expert of the inner sense of the Scripture and the Sunnah.

This exclusive knowledge was passed directly from the Prophet to 'Alī and through him to his descendants.[^2]The Imām is thus the definitive authority on religion obligations [ wājibāt/furūd ] and the esoteric interpretation [ tafsīr/ta'wīl ] of the sharī'ah [Islāmic law].

Furthermore, the Imām possesses the quality of ' ismah , infallibility and impeccability.[^3] The controversial and contentious issue of the succession of the Prophet, disputed by Sunnis and Shī'ites for over a millennium, can never be understood if the essentially esoteric function of the Imāmate, as a prolongation and complement to the Prophethood, is overlooked. The issue of the Imāmate is more than an abstract question.

It is the legitimate expression of Muhammadan spiritual authority and temporal power. It is a concrete existential reality which needed to manifest itself in the world to continue expounding the bātin [esoteric aspect] of the Prophethood. For Shī'ites, the completion of the “Cycle of Prophethood” [ dā'irat al-nubuwwah ] marks the beginning of the “Cycle of Initiation” [ dā'irat al-wilāyah ].

For metaphysical and cosmological reasons, the Cycle of wilāyah was to be opened through its own “door” [ al - bāb ], 'Alī ibn Abī Tālib, due to his role as “spiritual successor” [ khalīfah rūhānī ] and “executer” [ wasī ] of the Prophet's bātin [secrets] or initiator into the Muhammadan mysteries.

This is why the Imāmate is not merely a question of blood ties to the Prophet.[^4] The issue is not the degree of relation with him, be it wives, daughters, grandchildren, sons-in-law or parents-in-law. On the contrary, the worldly family union is the result of the pleromatic unity of the nubuwwah [Prophethood] and the wilāyah [guardianship].

As Corbin senses, the concept of the Imāms can only be understood if one considers them as divine luminaries and pre-cosmic entities.[^5]They themselves affirmed so during the course of their worldly existence.