ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Role of the in Building the Virtuous Community Book Two: General Rules and Fundamentals Chapter 1: Ideology And Creed The Holy Imams of the (‘a) have taken a special interest in ideology and faith, because these two matters represent the basis of any human society.

When the ideology and faith of any community is strong, clear, compatible and comprehensive, the community will be powerful and capable of facing the difficulties, problems, and various conditions that stem from the natural progress of history. The Holy Qur’an has paid the greatest attention to this aspect and has prioritized the issue of creed and thought over all other issues, to implant it firmly in the Muslim community.

The following features are visible in the ’s procedure of building a virtuous community inside Muslim society through ideology and faith: The Holy Qur’an and Sunnah; the Sources of Faith The Holy Imams (‘a) strictly abided by the ideas that can easily be inferred from the Holy Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah; therefore, they cited texts from the Holy Qur’an and Prophetic traditions as accurate proofs of the ideas they discussed.

In addition, they always presented beliefs that were compatible with human nature. This fact is visible in their verbal demonstration of these beliefs and also in their style of providing arguments and discussing other ideas.[^1] The Holy Imams of the (‘a), realizing that conjecture is not sufficient, paid special attention to reason in understanding faith, in realizing facts and creating conviction and confidence in the doctrinal notions.

Nevertheless, they never failed to confirm the point that the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah carried the accurate faith that can be certified by sound human intellect. Integration between Faith and Sect The (‘a) have integrated doctrinal and sectarian fundaments of faith and the nature of the universe, life, the seen and unseen worlds on the one hand and the branches that ramify from these doctrines on the other.

In other words, they have considered the necessity of perfect alliance between theory and application, faith and behavior, fundamental and secondary issues. The sect of the Imamiyyah Shi’ah rests upon the belief that the (‘a) play a role fundamental to faith with regard to the universal view of Islam. Imamate enjoys a divine nature similar to the nature of Messengership and its responsibilities, with the exception of receiving divine revelation.