Imam Mahdi (May Allah hasten his reappearance) based on the Shia belief is the twelfth Imam of the Muslim nations (as prophesized by the Messenger of Allah). This present article, which was a discussion between two scholars aims to establish the existence and necessity of the Imam.
Dr. Fahimi: I don’t know why you Shi’a insist that you should prove the existence of the Imam. You are so unrelenting in your belief that if the Imam does not exist physically, you say he is in concealment. Since the Prophets have already delivered the injunctions from God, why would there be a need for the existence of an Imam?
Mr. Hoshyar: All those proofs that are advanced to prove the necessity of the general prophethood and require God to communicate His injunctions to humankind, also necessitate that an Imam should exist as proof for the existence of those injunctions and their protection. In order to elaborate on what we have said, it is necessary, however briefly, to present first the proofs that require the existence of the general prophethood and then proceed to prove the existence of the Imam. If you keep in mind the preliminaries that have been already established and which we will briefly touch upon here, the matter concerning the necessity of the general prophethood will become clear to you.
(1) A human being has been created in such a way that he cannot run his affairs on his own. He needs the assistance and cooperation of others. In other words, he is created civil and social by nature. Hence, he must act within a society. It is obvious that self-interest and survival are the cause of conflict in social life. Each person in society is engaged in exerting all his endeavours to benefit from limited material resources. In reaching this goal he has to overcome numerous obstacles and compete with other individuals who are equally engaged in attaining the same goal. Under those circumstances, individuals become obstacles to each other’s goals and, hence, end up stepping upon each other’s rights.
It is at this point that law is needed to regulate social relations so that people’s rights should be protected from being infringed upon, and conflicts should be resolved without creating chaos and lawlessness. It is possible to surmise that laws are a precious treasure that has been discovered by human beings. Furthermore, it is probable that from the early days of organizing their society human beings have had access to laws and have always respected them for their own good.
(2) A human being has been innately endowed with the capacity to perfect himself and attain prosperity. In his ongoing struggle, a human being has no other purpose than to become truly perfect. All his endeavours are geared towards attaining that lofty goal of perfection.
(3) Since a human being is on his way to perfection, attention to the true meaning of perfection has been made part of his natural disposition. Hence, it should be possible for him to attain it, because God does not create anything in futility.
(4) The point that a human being is made of body and spirit is well established. He is material through his body; whereas his spirit, although intimately connected with his body is regarded as belonging to the world of incorporeal beings.
(5) Since the human being is made of two elements, namely, body and spirit, he is bound to have two kinds of life: this worldly life, related to his body; and the spiritual and contemplative life, related to his soul. Consequently, in relation to each one of them, he will have a life of prosperity and damnation.
(6) Just as between body and spirit there is connection and relationship, with ensuing unity, so is there a perfect connection and relationship between the material and spiritual life. In other words, the quality of life in this world has a direct impact on spiritual life. Likewise, psychic conditions and other spiritual characteristics have an impact on the way human acts surface.
(7) A human being is on the way to perfection and is attentive to the requirements of innate and natural perfection. Moreover, God has not created life without a purpose. It is incumbent upon God to provide the means to attain the goal and to acquire the perfection intended for humanity so that it is able to distinguish and pursue the path that leads to the attainment of prosperity and avoid that which leads to sinful deviation.
(8) By nature a human being is self-centred and pursues his own interests. He is not interested in any other thing than serving his own good and interests. In fact, he endeavours to exploit fellow human beings and take advantage of their endeavours to serve his ends.
(9) Although a human being is engrossed in pursuing his own real perfection and is engaged in an intense search for that truth which he believes would lead him to its acquisition, more than often he fails to reach that goal. The reason is that his own egocentric desires and internal emotions overcome his ability to distinguish the straight path. These traits actually obscure the ability of practical reason to lead humans to that desired perfection, and instead mislead one toward the path of damnation and self-destruction.
What System Can Make Human Beings Prosperous?
Since human beings must live in a society, and since obstacles to preserving one’s interest and the exploitation of fellow humans are a necessary part of social life, there is a need for the law to control such self-serving interests that could lead to chaos among the people. Such a law can create order in society only when the following conditions are fulfilled:
(1) Such a law has to be comprehensive and effective to cover and administer all spheres of the individual as well as a collective human activity. It should provide for all human exigencies without neglecting any aspect of social life. Such a legal system should promulgate laws that would be in conformity with the natural and actual needs of individuals, reflecting both the internal reality as well as external conditions of human beings.
(2) Such a law should lead to the real prosperity of human beings and not merely their imaginary and speculative perfection.
(3) Such a law should be attentive to the well-being of the entirety of humanity, not just a particular group of people or a specific individual.
(4) Such a law should lay the foundation of a society based on human virtues and the perfection of humanity. It should lead it to the attainment of that lofty goal by putting a high value on earthly life as a means of procuring those virtues and that human perfection, and not as independent of it.
(5) Such a law should possess the efficiency to protect the people from manipulation and chaos, and guarantee the rights of all individuals without discrimination.
(6) In its promulgation, this law should be alert to the spiritual needs of the people in such a way that none of its laws should be a cause of harm to the meaningful existence of the people. Nor should it lead to deviation from the path of perfection.
(7) Such a law should protect society from turning away from the right path of humanitarian existence and from choosing the path of destruction.
(8) The lawgiver of such a system should be well-informed about all the crooked and scrupulous aspects of human encounters and should be knowledgeable about all the judgements given at different times and places. Undoubtedly, a human being is in need of this kind of law and it is regarded as a necessity of his life. Without such a system in place, human life will be in danger. In light of this indispensable need, it is relevant to raise the question of whether human-made law is capable of administering human society justly. We believe that human-legislated law, influenced by short-sighted human intelligence, is imperfect and does not possess the ability to administer human society with justice. Some examples would clarify this statement:
(1) Human knowledge and information is both limited and deficient. The average human being is unaware of all human needs and the laws of nature. He also does not possess sufficient knowledge about good and evil and all aspects of competing interests among various laws and their impact upon the formulation of final judgements in different places and times.
(2) If it is hypothetically admitted that it is possible for human legislators to promulgate such laws, it is undoubtedly impossible to concede that these legislators are aware of the ways in which the worldly and the spiritual life interact with each other to produce actions that suggest their deep roots in human nature. And, even if they are in possession of such an awareness, it is very negligible. Evidently, taking care of that spiritual life is beyond their legislative program. Hence, human prosperity is viewed only from a material perspective. On the contrary, these two aspects of human existence are intimately related, and their division is inconceivable.
(3) Since human beings are self-centred, manipulation and exploitation of a fellow human is part of his nature. Every person gives preference to his own interests above the good of others. Hence, conflict resolution and the prevention of exploitation are beyond his competence. The reason is that the self-serving goals of the human legislators will never allow them to disregard their own and their supporters’ interests and work towards the common good of humanity.
(4) Human legislators always promulgate laws shortsightedly. Moreover, they are influenced by their prejudices, habits and defective thought. Consequently, the laws are enacted to protect the interests of the few, without due attention to the benefit and harm that could accrue to others. In these laws, the general welfare of humanity has not been the source of legislation.
Indeed, it is only the divinely ordained legal system that is in conformity with the laws of nature and has been promulgated with the purpose of advancing human prosperity in this and the next world. Hence, it is free from every selfish human motive. It is, certainly, enacted to further universal human prosperity. Thus, it is clear that humanity needs the divinely ordained law and God’s benevolence makes it necessary that He provide a complete and perfect system through His messengers.
Continue in the next article: ( Imam Mahdi an Imam for all Times (2) )
