Ismah

All you want to know about Ismah


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See also: The Fourteen Infallibles

Ismah (also esmat, in Arabic: عِصْمَة ) is the concept of infallibility or "divinely bestowed freedom from error and sin" in Islam.[1] The word literally means "protection." Muslims believe that Muhammad and other prophets in Islam possessed ismah. Twelver and Ismaili Shi'a Muslims also attribute the quality to Shi'a Imams as well as to Fatima Zahra, daughter of Muhammad, in contrast to the Zaidi, who do not attribute ismah to imams.

According to Twelver Shi'a Islam the Fourteen Infallibles (Ma'asumin - معصومين) are historical figures who are infallible which means "divinely bestowed freedom from error and sin" in Islam. The Twelver Shi'a believe that Muhammad, his daughter Fatima Zahra, and the Twelve Imams are infallible. The quality of infallibility is known as Ismah (also Esmat).[2]

According to Shia theologians, infallibility is considered a rational necessary precondition for spiritual and religious guidance. They argue that since God has commanded absolute obedience from these figures they must only order that which is right. The state of infallibility is based on the Shia interpretation of verse of purification.[Qur'an 33:33][3] Thus they are, the fourteen most pure ones, the only immaculate ones preserved from, and immune to, all uncleanness.[4] It doesn't mean that supernatural powers prevent them from committing a sin, but it is due to the fact that they have absolute belief in God so that they find themselves in presence of God.[2] They have also complete knowledge about God's will. They are in possession of all the knowledge brought by the angels to the prophets(Nabi) and the messengers(Rasul). Their knowledge encompasses the totality of all times. Thus they act without fault in religious matters.[5]

The ascription of infallibility to the Imams is encountered as early as the first half of the 8th century, second century of Islamic calendar, and it was soon extended to the prophets. The doctrine came to exclude the commission on their part of any sin or inadvertence, either before or after their assumption of office. As for Fatimah, her infallibility derives from her being a link between prophethood and imamat, the two institutions characterized by infallibility, as well as by her association with the imams and their attributes in numerous traditions. There is general agreement among Shia authorities that all fourteen are superior to the rest of creation, including even the major prophets.[6]


Contents

Khomeini's interpretation

A more recent and very influential Shia interpretation of Ismah by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini goes beyond the prophets and the Fourteen Infallibles of Twelver Shi'asm. Khomeini believed ismah was not the exclusive property of the prophets and imams, since it could be created by "nothing other than perfect faith"[7] and thus possessed by truly faithful and pious Muslims. He preached that

infallibility is borne by faith. If one has faith in God, and if one sees God with the eyes of his heart, like sun, it would be impossible for him to commit a sin. .... In front of an armed powerful [master], infallibility is attained.[8]

Scholar Hamid Dabashi argues Khomeini's theory of Esmat from faith was connected to his theory of Islamic government by guardianship of the jurist. If the truly faithful possessed Ismah, and if Khomeini and the most learned and pious Islamic jurists were truly faithful, than this would reassure Shia hesitant about granting the same ruling authority to Khomeini and his successors, that Shia traditionally believed was reserved for the 12th Imam (Mahdi) on his return. According to Dabashi, Khomeini's theory helped "to secure the all-important attribute of infallibility for himself as a member of the awlia' [friends of God] by eliminating the simultaneous theological and Imamological problems of violating the immanent expectation of the Mahdi." [9][10]

See also

Sources

Notes

  1. ^ Dabashi, Theology of Discontent, p.463
  2. ^ a b Dabashi (2006), p.463
  3. ^ Momen (1985), p.155
  4. ^ Corbin (1993), pp.48 and 49
  5. ^ Corbin (1993), p.48
  6. ^ Algar, Hamid "Chahardah M'asum". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved on 2008-07-18. 
  7. ^ Dabashi, Theology of Discontent, p.463 quoting Khomeini, Jehad-e Akbar (Greater Jihad), pp.44
  8. ^ Khomeini, Jehad-e Akbar (Greater Jihad), pp.44; Islam and Revolution, p.353
  9. ^ Dabashi, Theology of Discontent, p.465
  10. ^ Ayatollah Khomeini's Gems of Islamism, Lectures on the Supreme Jihad, (1972)


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