However guidance in accordance with divine command is a...

However guidance in accordance with divine command is a station that can be attained only through divine appointment and is possible only for the one who when confronted with irksome events and occurrences passes the divine test implicit in them by displaying exemplary powers of endurance; who consistently resists the pollution of sin and struggles against all forms of lowliness and triviality.

Equipped with such virtues he attains the lofty rank of the certain knowledge of God's signs and the station of Imamate which is also the station of inner guidance.

The Qur'an says: "We have appointed them Imams in order that they might guide in accordance with Our command" (21:73) and in another verse "A day on which We shall call forth each group with its Imam." (17:71) When Ibrahim had completed all the tasks with which God had tested him God addressed him as follows: "I appoint you to the station of Imamate and the leadership of man.

Ibrahim then asked: 'Will you also grant this station to my progeny?' God said: 'The covenant of My Imamate will not be granted to wrongdoers."' (2:123) Several points can be derived from this verse. First the Imamate of Ibrahim was connected directly to the manner in which he had confronted the tests and trials of prophethood.

After he had displayed his strength by passing through all those stages God revealed to him that he was to be further honored with the lofty office of Imamate with ( 159 ) responsibility for the inner guidance of mankind, the refinement of their souls, the maturing of their spiritual capacities, and, in general, the preservation of the truth.

Second, Ibrahim was addressed by God in this manner when he was approaching the final part of his life and at a time when he was fully established in the rank of prophet and already had responsibilty for the guidance of his ummah in matters of belief and conduct.

God nonetheless promised him an additional station, which proves that the office of Imamate, with the abillity to exercise inner influence on the ummah in order to advance on the inner path, was a higher and more exalted office than his prophethood. Third, immunity from the pollution of sin (ismah) is one of the conditions of Imamate.

For the verse proclaims that wrongdoers who transgress the bounds of piety and inerrancy, whether they wrong others or their own selves, will be denied the rank of imamate.