Why Islam Stresses So Much On Imamat -Divine Guide

[Waiting for HIM]

Shia Muslims are often wrongly accused of stressing a whole lot about the divine guidance, the Imamat or the Wilayat. Perhaps the Shia Muslims are trying to tell you something that you are choosing to ignore, at your own peril and here's why

To understand the Islamic concept of Imamat, first you will need to understand the purpose of creation. Everything that Allah (swt) has created in this universe is on the level of "ismat-e-sughra" meaning everything is sinless because everything is doing Allah's bidding , the complete obedience, the total robotic submission, the pure Adalah, the perfect balance - meaning doing exactly what Allah has intended.

Among all the creations, you will find transgressors only among the 'free willed' Jinns and Humans. Incidentally the whole purpose of Jins and humans existence is to bring this complete Adalah in their full lives, all the while being bestowed with free will. The most critical purpose of Iamamt is to bring and keep 'free willed' Jinns and Humans on this perfect Adalah - the perfect tasleem of Allah. The whole reason of coming of Mahdi (as) is to bring this Adlaha and to prove it in action that Islam or total obedience can and does work for free willed creatures as well. Ever wonder why Allah was so proud when HE made humans and told to angels that this is my Khalifa on earth. Imamat (willaya) is THE most critical, almost pivotal part of the "system of Tawheed"; believing in this is which makes the righteous different from the non-righteous.

Interestingly Ibless is more believer in Tawheed than you and I. But he doesn't believe in Nabuwat and Imamat. Why else was he stopping Ibrahim to pass the test of sacrifice. Becuase Ibrahim the prophet was supposed to be made Ibrahim the Imam after passing the test of sacrifice. Hence Allah made Muslims to hit Shaitan three times during Hajj, because these were the places where he tried to stop Ibrahim from being an Imam.

Same goes for Christian and Jews. They believe in Tawheed and Nabuawat but not the last of the Prophets. Christians talking more about Jesus does not make them a better believer of Jesus. Muslims are better believers of Jesus than Christians are. It's part of basic Islam.

Same goes for Sunnis, they believe in Tawheed and the last Nabuwat, but not the Imamat. Sunnis talking all day about Quran and Sunnah does not make them better believer than anybody. Becuase the Sunnah (hadith and why and when the Ayat of Quran were revealed) they got is distorted and comes from people who did not spend more than a few months with prophet throughout their lives.

They all are LOST due to their lack of concept of divine guidance (Imamat, Wilayat, and in the physical absence of Imam, the wilayat of an Aadil Jurist).

It's only the Shia who believe in the Tawheed as it should be and Nabuwat as it should be because they believe in Imamat as it should be, and by default Quran and Sunnah as it should be believed in.

[Logical Islam]

i believe in divine imamat, but how did the people who were with the prophet pbuh get on without any divine imamat ?

also, in this day and age, we have an imam, but he is not open to taking any questions, or guiding us the way the other imams have done

and we seem to be getting on okay.

+ i respect imamat, but in our mosques, we talk too much about the Imams, and too little about lessons we can learn, the Quran and how we can apply anything to our lives

[Ethics]

i believe in divine imamat, but how did the people who were with the prophet pbuh get on without any divine imamat ?

also, in this day and age, we have an imam, but he is not open to taking any questions, or guiding us the way the other imams have done

and we seem to be getting on okay.

+ i respect imamat, but in our mosques, we talk too much about the Imams, and too little about lessons we can learn, the Quran and how we can apply anything to our lives

First of all, if we dont have imams who should we see, we dont have lots of information on many of the prophets

second prophet muhammad only preached about 5-10 years after all the wars, there isnt many we could learn

third you cannot just read the quran, you need tafsir, the imams are/were walking talking qurans. Everything they did was an example from the quran and prophet muhammad. By talking about imams we get closer to Allah-Prophet-quran

[:Ruffles]

i believe in divine imamat, but how did the people who were with the prophet pbuh get on without any divine imamat ?

also, in this day and age, we have an imam, but he is not open to taking any questions, or guiding us the way the other imams have done

and we seem to be getting on okay.

+ i respect imamat, but in our mosques, we talk too much about the Imams, and too little about lessons we can learn, the Quran and how we can apply anything to our lives

To address your first question, they had a Prophet, so they obviously didn't need another divine guider because the Prophet (saw) gave them guidance

[Logical Islam]

First of all, if we dont have imams who should we see, we dont have lots of information on many of the prophets

second prophet muhammad only preached about 5-10 years after all the wars, there isnt many we could learn

third you cannot just read the quran, you need tafsir, the imams are/were walking talking qurans. Everything they did was an example from the quran and prophet muhammad. By talking about imams we get closer to Allah-Prophet-quran

this is the 21st century, and so much has changed. the world has evolved SO much. it makes sense for an active prophet or imam to be reveleased to us in this day and age.

people seemed to be ok with the prophet pbuh.

and even today, you can argue the first 11 imams gave some tasfeer and guidance, but the 12th Imam is giving us nothing in the way of guidance for a VERY different world to the on the prophet had

we rely on mutahids who DISAGREE on many things.

i think God should have made Imam after Imam, for each nation.

not fair we have an imam who answers no questions, provides no solutions, shows no miracles.

my honest view

i believe in it though. the exams do exist and are rightly there

Edited December 1, 2012 by Logical Islam

[Ethics]

this is the 21st century, and so much has changed. the world has evolved SO much. it makes sense for an active prophet or imam to be reveleased to us in thi day and age.

only materialistically the world has changed, piety, morality, ethics, faith still the same since day one......

Edited December 1, 2012 by pureethics

[Logical Islam]

well we don't need imams to lecture us on spirituality. the prophet pbuh and Quran gave us the guidance for that.

we need imams to give us advise on changing worlds, new fatwahs

otherwise there is no real point of them

are you saying after each imam, people become more spiritual ?

[Waiting for HIM]

well we don't need imams to lecture us on spirituality. the prophet pbuh and Quran gave us the guidance for that.

we need imams to give us advise on changing worlds, new fatwahs

otherwise there is no real point of them

are you saying after each imam, people become more spiritual ?

Glad you said this...

Nabuwat (prophethood, messenger) has only one purpose. Bring the message from Allah to the humanity. Anything extra that prophets do as far as showing the message in action, is just extra rahma.

Prophets' job is to bring the "constitution book" to you. Imam's job is to guide you in how perfectly you could follow that "constitution book" neither lagging behind nor making your over zealous. Goal of both is same, but they both complement each other. You can not replace one for the other. Neither can you leave and pick the other. They both are equally important for the goal of humanity that Allah has prescribed.

To make it easy for you, messenger brings Allah to you. Imam takes you to Allah. Knowing all well Allah cannot be taken or brought, this is just a way of making you understand.

Hence you see the Hadith of Thaqlain; hence the most critical ayaat of Quran about Ghadeer-e-Khum; hence the ayat that Imamat completes the Islam, the total submission; hence you see Muslims who follow Imamat fully, to be very balanced in their approach to life here and hereafter.

Muslims who refuse to follow the Imamat are extreme in this way or that way, hence are in perpetual chaos and disarray for past 1,400 years.

As far as your other concern of last Imam not actively leading ummah, who says he doesn't. We just need to look harder. He already is, many of us just seem to look the other way. Had he not been, this world would have already nuked it a billion times already. He is a counter balance of Iblees. Exactly the way Iblees is bent on destroying humanity without showing himself, the last Imam (atf) is bent on preserving humanity for Allah (swt) without showing himself. The only thing the last Imam has not done yet is, established it right in front of our eyes, for which he is waiting for the command of Allah (swt).

[Logical Islam]

Glad you said this...

Nabuwat (prophethood, messenger) has only one purpose. Bring the message from Allah to the humanity. Anything extra that prophets do as far as showing the message in action, is just extra rahma.

Prophets' job is to bring the "constitution book" to you. Imam's job is to guide you in how perfectly you could follow that "constitution book" neither lagging behind nor making your over zealous. Goal of both is same, but they both complement each other. You can not replace one for the other. Neither can you leave and pick the other. They both are equally important for the goal of humanity that Allah has prescribed.

To make it easy for you, messenger brings Allah to you. Imam takes you to Allah. Knowing all well Allah cannot be taken or brought, this is just a way of making you understand.

Hence you see the Hadith of Thaqlain; hence the most critical ayaat of Quran about Ghadeer-e-Khum; hence the ayat that Imamat completes the Islam, the total submission; hence you see Muslims who follow Imamat fully, to be very balanced in their approach to life here and hereafter.

Muslims who refuse to follow the Imamat are extreme in this way or that way, hence are in perpetual chaos and disarray for past 1,400 years.

As far as your other concern of last Imam not actively leading ummah, who says he doesn't. We just need to look harder. He already is, many of us just seem to look the other way. Had he not been, this world would have already nuked it a billion times already. He is a counter balance of Iblees. Exactly the way Iblees is bent on destroying humanity without showing himself, the last Imam (atf) is bent on preserving humanity for Allah (swt) without showing himself. The only thing the last Imam has not done yet is, established it right in front of our eyes, for which he is waiting for the command of Allah (swt).

good answer, but not 100% right

there are ulul azm prophets , and there are prophets who bring no message but just carry on with the other one

[JHK]

If any of the Imams spent their days in a prison cell, while you say they did nothing, they will not want you to be with them in Heaven, Guaranteed. And the Entire Imamate will support it, Guaranteed.

In fact, if a Muslim Homeless does not like you, All the Imamat will not allow you into Heaven. And even if they didn't know, Allah will know, and He will not allow it.

[Logical Islam]

If any of the Imams spent their days in a prison cell, while you say they did nothing, they will not want you to be with them in Heaven, Guaranteed. And the Entire Imamate will support it, Guaranteed.

In fact, if a Muslim Homeless does not like you, All the Imamat will not allow you into Heaven. And even if they didn't know, Allah will know, and He will not allow it.

brother not to suspect anything but it seems you are posting on threads talking random warble to confuse people? please tell me i am wrong

[89jghur32]

also, in this day and age, we have an imam, but he is not open to taking any questions, or guiding us the way the other imams have done

and we seem to be getting on okay.

That's because he (as) exists.

[JHK]

brother not to suspect anything but it seems you are posting on threads talking random warble to confuse people? please tell me i am wrong

I only say it because its exactly how I think it myself, to the point I am certain that it is how Imam Ali thinks about it, and therefore Muhammad, and the entire Imamate. Do unto others is Universal. So that's how I say it to my Bros.

[Logical Islam]

I only say it because its exactly how I think it myself, to the point I am certain that it is how Imam Ali thinks about it, and therefore Muhammad, and the entire Imamate. Do unto others is Universal. So that's how I say it to my Bros.

apologies then.

[JHK]

Bros don't need to apologize.