Obedience to Ahlul-Bayt (AS) – Al-Shia The al-Shia Scientific, Cultural, and Doctrinal Website Sat, 02 Sep 2023 07:34:45 +0000 en-US Obedience to Ahlul-Bayt (AS) – Al-Shia 32 32 Prophethood And Imamate in Shia Islam 2 In this part of the article titled “Prophethood and Imamate in Shia Islam”, we shall examine the appearance of Imam Mahdi and other related issues. The Appearance of Imam Mahdi (PBUH) Shia Muslims and Sunnis have narrated in their authentic books that when Imam Mahdi (PBUH) comes, Jesus Christ (PBUH) will descend and will pray behind him. This clearly shows that the rank of Imam Mahdi (PBUH) is higher than that of Jesus Christ who was one of the five greatest Messengers of Allah. It is narrated in Sahih Muslim that: Jabir Ibn Abdillah al-Ansari said: I heard the Messenger of Allah saying: “A group of my Ummah will fight for the truth until near the day of judgment when Jesus, the son of Mary, will descend, and the leader of them will ask him to lead the prayer, but Jesus declines, saying: “No, Verily, among you Allah has made leaders for others and He has bestowed his bounty upon them.” (1) Musnad, by Abu Ya’ala, provides another version of the tradition with more clear words on the authority of Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (PBUHH) said: “A group among my Ummah will continue to fight for the truth until Jesus, the son of Marry, will descend, and the Imam of them will ask him to lead the prayer, but Jesus replies: “You have more right to it and verily Allah has honoured some of you over others in this Ummah.” Ibn Abu Shaybah, another Sunni traditionist, and the mentor of al-Bukhari and Muslim has reported several traditions about Imam al-Mahdi (PBUH). He has also reported that the Imam of the Muslims who will lead Prophet Jesus in prayer is Imam al-Mahdi himself. Jalaluddin al-Suyuti mentioned that: “I have heard some of the deniers of (truth) deny what has been conveyed about Jesus that when he descends will pray the Fajr prayer behind al-Mahdi. They say Jesus has a higher status than to pray behind a non-Prophet. This is a bizarre opinion since the issue of prayer of Jesus behind al-Mahdi has been proven strongly via numerous authentic traditions from the Messenger of Allah, who is the most truthful.” And then al-Suyuti goes on narrating some of the traditions in this regard. (2) Also, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani mentioned that: “The Mahdi is of this Ummah, and that Jesus (PBUH&HF) will come down and pray behind him.” (3) This is also mentioned by another scholar, Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, who wrote: “The Ahlul-Bayt are like the stars through whom we are guided in the right direction, and if the starts are taken away (or hidden) we would come face to face with the signs of the Almighty as promised (i.e., the Day of Resurrection). This will happen when the Mahdi will come, as mentioned in the traditions, and the Prophet Jesus will say his prayers behind him, the Dajjal will be slain, and then the signs of the Almighty will appear one after another.” (4) All these clearly show that the rank of Imam Mahdi (PBUH) is higher than that of Prophet Jesus (PBUH) who was one of the five greatest messengers of Allah. Are the Imams Inspired? There is no doubt that when the verse: “Today I have perfected your religion and completed my bounty upon you, and I was satisfied that Islam be your religion” (5), the religion is completed. Allah revealed Qur’an as well as the Shari’ah (Divine law) ONLY to the Prophet (PBUHH), and none of such things was revealed to Imam Ali (PBUH). If Imam Ali was inspired (ILHAM), it has nothing to do with religious commandments; it was rather about what happened and what will happen. There are many methods through which Allah may inform His servants of something. One way is a revelation (WAHY). The other way is inspiration (ILHAM). By inspiration, Allah induces knowledge into the heart of His servant. This is unanimously held by all the Islamic Schools. But do you really think revelation (WAHY) is only for the Prophets and the Messengers? If yes, then you have contradicted Qur’an, for Qur’an confirms that Allah sent revelation (WAHY) to the mother of Moses. The mother of Moses was neither a Prophet nor a Messenger. Agreed? Allah revealed to her to leave her son in the river so that Pharaoh’s soldier could take it to the Palace: And We REVEALED to the mother of Moses: Suckle (thy child) but when thou hast fears about him cast him into the river but fear not nor grieve: for We shall restore him to thee and We shall make him one of Our apostles. (6) Notice that Qur’an straightforwardly uses the word WAHY (revelation). Here, Yusuf Ali has translated the word WAHY into inspiration. But Qur’an uses WAHY (revelation), and not ILHAM (inspiration). WAHY and ILHAM are two different things. However, one thing which is clear is that the revelations to those who were neither Prophet nor Messenger did not have anything to do with Shari’ah (divine law). It did not have anything to do with religious practices etc. Rather, it was an order to what way to choose at the time of confusion and/or informing what has happened or what will happen. So we can conclude that even revelation has different types. Only the revelation to the Prophets and Messengers is related to Shari’ah (divine law) and new religious practices, while others do not receive this type of revelation. Remark: Qur’an also uses the word WAHY for non-human beings, but I am not concerned about that. I was focusing on different types of WAHY for human beings only. About our Imams There are twelve Imams (Leaders) after (PBUHH). The Prophet mentioned that the number of his successors is twelve, and al-Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ahmad, … recorded that. The first of them, Imam Ali, got his knowledge of religion and the Divine Laws from DIRECTLY. Later Imams got it from the preceding Imams. There was no revelation of Divine Law (concerning oneself or people) after (PBUHH). Allah may inform something to his appointed Imam, but the information is not anyhow related to Divine Law since the religion is complete. The information is only related to what happened and what will happen. Do Imams Meet Angels Also, according to the Qur’an, talking to angels is not exclusive to the Prophets and Messengers. Allah mentioned in the Qur’an that Mary (the mother of Jesus) talked to angels, and angels talked to her. Look at the Qur’an, to see the conversation between Mary and the angels: “Behold! the angels said “O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus the son of Mary held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah. (7) There is a whole conversation between Mary and the angel. See a couple of verses before and after the above verse. Mary (PBUH) was neither a prophet nor a messenger, yet she talked to angels. However, the communication of Mary with angels had nothing to do with Shari’ah (Divine Law). It did not have anything to do with religious practices. Rather it was news of what is about to happen, and instructions on what to do. In this connection, also see verses (11:69-73) where angels talked to the wife of Abraham and gave her the glad tiding that she is pregnant of prophet Isaac (PBUH). Even Sunnis claim that Imran Ibn al-Husayn al-Khuza’i (d. 52/672) who was on