Vouchsafe us comfort of our wives and of our offspring...

Vouchsafe us comfort of our wives and of our offspring, and make us patterns for (all) those who ward off (evil).” (25:72-74) Besides, the Holy Qur’ān has used the word Imāmah to point to the oppressive leaders and rulers, who misguide their followers and nations, leading them toward corruption and torment in the world and Hereafter. Talking about Faraoh and his troops, the Almighty Allah said in His noble Scripture: “Therefore We seized him and his hosts, and abandoned them unto the sea.

Behold the nature of the consequence for evil-doers! And We made them patterns that invite unto the Fire, and on the Day of Resurrection they will not be helped.

And We made a curse to follow them in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be among the hateful.” (28:40-42) On this basis, the Shi‘ah’s claim is nearer to what the Holy Qur’ān has ordained, since Allah — the Glorified and the Mighty — has explicitly expounded with no doubt, that the Imamate being a Divine appointment Allah imparts upon whomever He wills, and it is the covenant of Allah of which He deprived the oppressors.

And since the Prophet’s other than ‘Ali (‘a) have ascribed partners unto Allah during the pre-Islamic era, thus they turn to be among the wrong-doers, being incompetent for Allah’s covenant encharging them with Imamate and caliphate.

While the Shi‘ah’s claim stands firm that al-’Imām ‘Ali ibn Abi Tālib was the only one, from among all other , having the right to Allah’s covenant of Imamah, due to the fact that he has never worshipped other than Allah, and never prostrated to any idol, the reason why Allah has granted him honour, out of the .

If it is said that Islam exonerates whatever is past before it, we never object, but there is a great difference between that who was a polytheist and repented afterwards, and that who used to be immaculate and pure, knowing none but Allah. Imamate in the Prophetic Sunnah The Messenger of Allah (may God’s peace and benediction be upon him and his Household) has disclosed several utterances regarding Imamate, narrated by both the Shi‘ah and Sunnah, in their books and Masānid (Musnads).

Once he referred to it with using the expression Imamah, and another time with the word successorship, and once again with the word ‘ wilāyah’ (guardianship) or imārah (princedom).