|
... the science of peace |
|
|
Opinions on Infallibility
Q: Some people say you have an
independent viewpoint, different from what is widely spread, with
regard to the subject of infallibility. Could you elucidate this
opinion for us?
* Taken from: www.bayynat.org
A: Actually, I do not have a negative opinion on
the subject of infallibility. It is just that I lead a method that is
safer and more accurate than that adopted by others in perceiving or
inferring the existence of infallibility. When we examine the evidence
that used to prove infallibility in ancient times, we find that a
fallible person was the one who loses the trust of people in a way
that they stop listening to him. On this basis, the role of Prophets
or Imams would certainly have been canceled if they did not enjoy
infallibility. So, infallibility is there to embrace the reality of
people because the latter follow whomever they believe in and forsake
whomever they distrust. Consequently, if Allah, the most Exalted, had
sent fallible Prophets or if the Prophet (p), ordered by Allah, the
most Exalted, had appointed fallible Imams, people, then, wouldn’t
have had confidence in them and accordingly the legacy and influence
of the Prophet (p) and Imams (a.s) would have been lost.
I think that this question is not to be left for the assessment of
logical thinking and critical analysis. In fact, the judgment of
reason would be helpful in confirming infallibility if we look at the
issue from the angle of proclaiming God’s message. Indeed, it is
meaningless that Allah, the most Exalted, would send a prophet or
appoint an Imam who cannot be relied upon to preserve the path of
honesty, to stay aware of the message he is conveying about Allah, the
most Exalted, and His Messenger (p) because once people loose their
confidence in the words of the leader under the presumption that he
might be forgetting, missing, omitting something, twisting the speech
he is transmitting, etc, people will no more believe that his words
are Allah ’s revelation. Like so, the mission of Islam would lose its
firmness and strength in people’s minds and souls losing subsequently
its meaning in the process of faith and guidance.
Looking at infallibility from another perspective like assuming that
the Prophet or Imam commits unintentional mistakes in ordinary and
regular matters of life such as showing distractedness during prayers;
the judgment of reason does not say that it is impossible to err, to
forget or to be distracted in this respect. As a matter of fact, we
see that some Shiite jurists such as Al-Sheikh Al-Sadouk, his father
or his master (May Allah be pleased with them) say that the first sign
of exaggeration is to deny the Imams’ occasional distractedness or
inattentiveness. Some of our scholars such as Al-Sayyid Al-Khou’i (May
the mercy of Allah be upon him) say that Imams are not forbidden from
making careless mistakes or omissions provided that they won’t be
during the act of proclaiming the words of Allah , because they are
not allowed to do so during such important stages.
In the light of what have been just said, the sound mind does not say
that infallibility must include all other affairs because the Prophet
or the Imam does not lose the trust of people just because he had
committed some mistake in a certain domain that has nothing to do with
the vital and essential cases that harm the path of honesty, faith,
Islam and so on and so forth. As we remark, when it comes to
political, religious and social issues, people tend to be intensely
drawn to some people knowing that the latter make mistakes in their
ordinary lives and if they erred in this particular field they are
following them in, their wrongdoing would be unintentional because
once they discover it, they take serious actions to correct it. And as
we see people do not lose their confidence in their leaders for this
particular reason.
On this basis, we said that in confirming infallibility, the method of
adopting the judgment of reason cannot be our basis, especially if we
want to comprehensively speak about infallibility in that it includes
the act of conveying God’s message or any other matter.
Therefore, we tried , and we do not know how true this try would prove
to be , to study the nature of the prophethood from an intellectual
perspective. The mission of prophecy is not the same as the mission of
a postman whose job is restricted to delivering mails or messages to
people; indeed, in His saying, we read: {It
is He Who has sent amongst the Unlettered an apostle from among
themselves, to rehearse to them His Signs, to sanctify them, and to
instruct them in Scripture and Wisdom, - although they had been,
before, in manifest error} (62: 2); {O
Prophet! Truly We have sent thee as a Witness, a Bearer of Glad
Tidings, and Warner *And as one who invites to Allah’s (grace) by His
leave, and as a lamp spreading light.} (33: 45
46). So, in addition to the fact that he is a Bearer of Glad Tidings
and Warner, the Prophet (p) represents for people a witness as well as
a lamp spreading light, meaning that he is a source of enlightenment
and inspiration exhorting people to lead the path of righteousness.
Thus, the role of the Prophet was to set the scale of justice between
people and to establish right in life. And it goes without doubt that
not in any way a person who, from his position, is destined to change
the world based on the principles of righteousness will carry faces of
evil in his mind, heart, or movement. Verily, the human being who came
to be the enlightening lamp can never embrace darkness in his
thoughts, feelings and behavior. Hence, the question of prophethood is
a question of illuminating people’s minds, souls and lives especially
that Allah had made from the Book, held by the Prophet (p), a source
of enlightenment and considered the Prophet (p) an embodiment of this
Book. Truthfully, they are a speaking Qur’an .
We believe that our understanding to the role of prophethood which is
the role of the mission intended to change the world on the basis of
righteousness necessitates that the Prophet be, in every way, a real
embodiment of righteousness where no room for darkness is left, and
that the Imamate be an extension of prophethood without a prophecy:
Ali; you are like Haroun after Moses; except that no Prophet is to
come after me. Therefore, since the role of an Imam is to guard
the Shri’a and to be the person who resumes the work of prophethood in
people’s lives, aiming at establishing righteousness in peoples’
minds, thoughts, words and deeds as well as in the movement of real
life as a whole; in light of all of this, an Imam has to be infallible
exactly as the Prophet (p) is in this respect.
Another point is to be raised with regard to the question of the
comprehensiveness of infallibility, whether in the aspect of
transmitting God’s word or in other aspects. That is, it is not
possible that a personality leads a life of dualism in the reality of
the human being. The human being who does not forget things as
conveying God’s message will not forget things in other issues. And
the human being who arms himself with righteousness in legislating and
proclaiming must be righteous in all other aspects of life because he
won’t be able to do so unless righteousness was a fundamental
character in his personality.
Moreover, when we speak about infallibility in this extraordinary and
supernatural way, we find ourselves wondering whether a human being
can possess such infallibility. Actually, he cannot. He cannot, at
least not by his own efforts and through his own experiences, prevent
himself from making mistakes or from deviating. Indeed, the soul of
this Prophet or Imam must be inundated with strength from Allah, the
most Exalted, to keep him safe from deviating and committing
wrongdoings. That’s what others might take negatively considering that
it might indicate fatalism. In reality, we try to scientifically and
objectively discuss this negativity that some people tend to adopt:
First, according to those people, the question of determinism might
cancel the effect of reward because when you embark upon carrying out
good deeds urged by your infallibility; in this deed you are canceled
for you have exerted no effort. Consequently, on which basis you are
granted reward? For this reason, we find that those people claiming
that by being deterministic, infallibility cancels reward.
Our answer for this claim is that the scholars of Islamic Legal
Discourse see that the believer who implements good deeds does not
deserve reward for his deeds because the action he carried out belongs
to Allah, the most Exalted, his mind that helped him thinking properly
and finding the right path is created by Allah, the most Exalted, ,
and his organs that he used to worship Allah, the most Exalted, and to
proceed with his doing are also the composition of Allah, the most
Exalted . Accordingly, none of the human being’s actions is
individualistic or independent of Allah, the most Exalted, for which
he can claim or merit reward. And since his actions, thoughts and
movements are from and to Allah, the most Exalted, believers are said
to earn reward out of Allah ’s graciousness where Allah, the most
Exalted, accords His worshippers reward for their good deeds out of
his kindness and generosity.
You might say: what prevents Allah, the most Exalted, from cutting
short this whole issue and graciously bestow reward on believers
without making it dependent on the practical effort of picking up this
or that human being for reasons having to do with selection and the
benefits of the Divine Mission; in fact this is not hard or impossible
for Allah, the most Exalted, to do.
Second, some people might have other considerations with regard to
this point of view: if some people are deterministically endowed with
infallibility, what would be the grace of Allah, the most Exalted,
then on the rest of people? In this case, ordinary people might be
better than those who are infallible. On this basis, an infallible
person takes no precedence over other people because Allah, the most
Exalted, had chosen him over others to be infallible and thus the
credit is not to be given to him.
We say that Allah, the most Exalted, is the one who furnishes people
with grace, preference and value. Indeed, He is the One Who chooses
His messengers from people and angels. The value of an infallible
person lies in that Allah, the most Exalted, had preferred him to
others and selected him to be infallible. Verily, there is wisdom in
this choice and this preference. As to what this wisdom is about and
why He had made this choice and not that, we say: {He
cannot be questioned for His acts, but they will be questioned (for
theirs)} (21: 23). So, there must be wisdom in
this selection even if this wisdom was that Allah, the most Exalted,
had created him in an exceptional way so to be a light illuminating
people’s life exactly as He had created the sun to be the shining
source that provides people with light. As a matter of fact, the sun
is the star at the center of our solar system around which the Earth
and the eight other planets orbit which means that the sun precedes
the moon as well as lots of other cosmic phenomena; but it is to be
remembered that the sun extracts its importance from Allah, the most
Exalted, . Why, then, don’t we credit the human being for the fact
that Allah, the most Exalted, had chosen him to be infallible?
Actually, it is not always necessary to look at the question of value
and merit as emanating from the depth of our souls or personalities
because values and merits originate from Allah, the most Exalted, who
places secrets in souls, mysteriously bequeathing them with values.
Likewise, beauty is one of Allah ’s graces where a handsome,
good-looking person knows nothing about how or why he is beautiful.
All the more so, God had created the human being in a better shape
then animals; isn’t it a preference of human beings over animals? Back
to the main point, enjoying precedence or more importance in this
respect is not decided by the human being’s choice and will; truly, it
is the choice and will of Allah, the most Exalted .
Third, another opinion says that when looking at infallibility as
God’s bestowment on some selected persons, the imitation of infallible
people becomes worthless and meaningless because when people see that
this or that person was born infallible, they would despair and lose
any hope of any possibility to reach the infallible person’s level of
nobleness; and consequently, they become discouraged to tread in his
steps.
In reality, when trying to use somebody as a model to pattern after,
it is enough to carry out the good deeds that one can manage to
achieve. It is never an obligation to reach the same level of the
example one is following because people’s models could, sometimes, be
scientists or scholars and those enjoy a very high level of knowledge
and virtue. If by imitating good figures a person is required to
achieve the same destiny; people would have never treaded in the steps
of each other. When a Prophet performs a miracle beyond our powers, we
say we cannot do the same because the Prophet is endowed with certain
powers and abilities we are not endowed with and that’s why he is able
to perform miracles while we are not.
Nevertheless, there is an important point that has to be taken into
account in this respect; that is, the infallible person chooses the
obedience of Allah, the most Exalted, by his own free will. However,
when he finds himself dragged by the surrounding circumstances into
disobedience, Allah, the most Exalted, makes sure to hinder his way
towards obedience. So, the inevitability of infallibility does not
mean that a person cannot make his own choice; it is just when he
faces his human weakness that Allah, the most Exalted, interferes; as
in His saying : {And (with
passion) did she desire him, and he would have desired her, but that
he saw the evidence of his Lord} (12: 24) or in
the saying of Joseph (a.s.): {He
said: "O my Lord! The prison is more to my liking than that to which
they invite me: Unless Thou turn away their snare from me, I should
(in my youthful folly) feel inclined towards them and join the ranks
of the ignorant."} (12: 33) Indeed, Allah, the
most Exalted, might turn away from him all evil and shameful deeds,
making him infallible from inside as well as from outside. Hence, the
deterministic factor of infallibility does not divest the infallible
person of his ability to choose because this determinism appears only
in vulnerable moments. The infallible person obeys Allah, the most
Exalted, out of his of his faith in Him, his knowledge of Him and out
of his own free will. However, when the infallible person’s human
weakness points reveal themselves, Allah, the most Exalted, protects
him against them either through the preventive way of introducing in
him what strengthens his infallibility or by putting in his way
obstacles keeping him from erring. In this way the infallible remains
voluntarily infallible by the help and guardianship of Allah, the most
Exalted.
Actually, this opinion might be in harmony with the widely known
belief amongst Shiites saying that a Prophet is born as Prophet and he
is infallible before and after he is sent to spread his mission, and
that an Imam is infallible before and after he handles the Imamate.
You might ask the following question: If infallibility sets from an
individual and optional decision; then how can a person choose to be
infallible in the beginning of his childhood? Some people say that
Allah, the most Exalted, endows the infallible person with a certain
degree of knowledge that allows him to abstain from committing any
wrongdoing. Take for example the person who is able to identify the
evilness of some misdeeds in that he prevents himself from carrying
them out such as turning away from pursuing sexual activities with
those who are unlawful to him as the mother, the sister, the aunt.
Actually, the knowledge of the latter of the immorality of this act
prohibits him from undertaking it. Similarly, we say that Allah, the
most Exalted, had imparted knowledge to the infallible person; the
kind of knowledge that shines in his mind, heart, soul and feelings
keeping him from going astray or disobeying Allah . Being
deterministic, what is the difference if infallibility was given
directly or through providing the chosen person with something, denied
to others, that prevents him from doing wrong? This also means that
infallibility is deterministic only that it is given by furnishing the
person with what makes him abstain from transgressing whether with or
without his own choice or decision. Once again, we reach the same
result. We are not dealing with an optional matter considering that
when Allah had chosen this particular person to endow him with the
knowledge, that he had prevented others from having, he made him
infallible unable to sin or misbehave in this respect.
Nevertheless, as trying not to confirm this issue, another point comes
to our minds to be recognized. Believing in the doctrine of the
Shiites that authenticates the infallibility of the Prophet and the
Imams, we find that this aspect of the infallibility’s essentiality,
which represents determinism, proves to be in disharmony with the
human being’s individual choice. Indeed, if some people differentiate
between the individual ability and fatalism; I think that the issue is
no different in this sense. If through my individual abilities I can
manage to keep my self from erring while I am not fated to be
infallible in all the cases of life, but it was possible for me to
realize it through one limited state of being able to choose; well,
even looking at the issue from this perspective, I do not see
differences between the individual ability and fatalism because if a
person was not fated to be infallible, his personal ability would be
valueless because it turns out to be a simple state of abstraction
having nothing to do with the world of choice which is a realistic
state in the human being’s life.
Therefore, we consider deciding on the deterministic or optional
aspect of infallibility is not one of the important issues in the
doctrine of Shiites regardless of whether we approve or disapprove it,
because the Shiites’ doctrine of infallibility imposes on us to
believe in the infallibility of the Prophet and the infallibility of
the Imams (a.s.) and nothing more.
As for how they became infallible? ... What’s this Divine kindness or
graciousness that some people speak about? What’s the influence of
knowledge imparted by Allah, the most Exalted, to the infallible?
All of this is irrelevant.
Based on these facts, by understanding the role of Prophethood and the
role of the Imamate, we believe that the Prophet or the Imam must be
infallible in all the issues of life whether in proclaiming God’s
message; or in any other cases related to the movement of thought in
the reality of life.
| with Christians and Jews |