Imamat is of Allah's Grace
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From the Shi'ite point of view, Imamat (God-assigned leadership) is an Allah's bounty upon mankind by which the religion was perfected. Allah, to whom belong Might and Majesty, said:
الْيوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ(المائدة/3)
"Today I have perfected your religion and completed my bounty upon you, and I was satisfied that Islam be your religion." (Quran 5:3)
See the articles on "Ghadir Khum" in Chapter 3 which provides the list of Sunni commentators of Quran who confirmed the revelation of the above verse in Ghadir Khum after the Prophet (PBUH&HF) announced Ali (AS) as the master of all believers.
Imamat is the Grace (Lutf) of Allah which attracts mankind towards His obedience and keeps them away from His disobedience, without compelling them in any way. When Allah orders mankind to do something yet He is aware that either they can not do it, or it is very difficult for them to do it without His assistance, then if Allah does not provide His assistance, He would be contradicting His own aim. Obviously, such negligence is evil according to reason. As such, Grace (Lutf) is one of Allah's character, and He is purified/exalted from inadequacy of lacking such attribute. In fact, the holy Quran states that: "Allah is Gracious to His servants..." (Quran 42:19). And, there are many other places that Almighty uses the word Grace (Lutf) in His book. See for instance, 6:103, 12:100, 22:63, 31:16, 33:34, 42:19, 67:14, etc.
The messengers of God were entrusted the responsibility of bringing new commandments from Allah to the people. They were warners as Quran testifies. However, some of the messengers were Also Imams/Guides. The successors of the last Messenger of God were not messengers/prophets, and as such, they did not bring any new massage nor did they cancel any of the regulations set by the Prophet (PBUH&HF). They just served as guides and guardians of religion. Their mission is to explain, elaborate Shari'a (Divine law) for the people. They clear up confusing things and events which may happen in each era. Also they are the only individuals who have the full knowledge of Quran and the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HF) after him, and as such, they are the only qualified people who can properly interpret the verses of the holy Quran and explain its meaning, as mentioned in Quran itself (See 3:7 and 21:7).
Imamat is a great bounty of Allah, because when people have a righteous leader who guides them, they can get closer to righteousness and depart from corruption and deviations in the matter of religion. A divinely appointed Imam is also the most liable person to rule as the head of the community who can maintain justice and remove oppression. Of course, people have been given free will and can refrain from accepting the Imam, but they will be held responsible for that, as was for the case of the prophets. Nonetheless, the Imam would remain as a Proof of God on the earth and as spiritual leader for the believers among people who benefit his guidance.
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Superiority of the Imam
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The Shi'a believe that, like the prophets, a divinely appointed Imam should excel the community in all virtues, such as knowledge, bravery, piety, and should possess complete knowledge of divine law. If he does not, and Allah entrusts this high position to a less perfect person when a more perfect person is available, the inferior has been given preference over the superior, which is wrong rationally, and is against divine justice. Therefore no inferior person may receive Imamat from Allah when there exists a person superior to him.
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Infallibility of the Imam
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If a divinely appointed leader is not infallible (Ma'sum), he would be liable to errors and to deceive others as well. In such a case, no implicit confidence may be placed in his sayings/commands/actions. A divinely appointed Imam is the most liable person to rule as the head of the community, and people are supposed to follow him in every matter. Now if he commits a sin, people would be bound to follow him in that sin as well, because of their ignorance of whether that action is sin or not (Keep in mind the assumption that Imam is the MOST knowledgeable person in his community). Such a situation is not acceptable by the Grace of Allah since obedience in sin is evil, unlawful, and forbidden. Moreover it would mean that leader should be obeyed and disobeyed at the same time, that is obedience to him is obligatory yet forbidden which is clearly a contradiction and is not commendable.
Besides, if it would be possible for an Imam to commit sin, it would be the duty of other people to prevent him from doing so. (Because every Muslim is obliged to forbid other people from unlawful acts.) In such a case, Imam will be held in contempt, and instead of being the leader of community, he will become their followers, and his leadership will be of no use as far as religion is concerned.
Imam is the defender of divine law, and this work can not be entrusted to fallible hands, nor can any such person maintain this task properly. Thus infallibility is an indispensable condition for a divinely appointed Imam or Caliph who is the protector and interpreter of the religious law.
Allah, Exalted, stated in Quran that:
يا أَيهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ
"O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority (Ulul-Amr) from among you." (Quran 4:59).
This verse obliges the Muslims to obey two things: First, to obey Allah; second, to obey Messenger and those vested with authority (Ulul-Amr). The arrangement of the words shows that the obedience of Ulul-Amr is as much obligatory as is the obedience of the Messenger because Quran uses just one verb for both of them without repeating the verb again. Naturally, it means that Ulul-Amr should be of the same importance as the Messenger; otherwise Allah would not have joined them together in this verse (Waw of Atf) under one verb. Interesting to note that Allah employs a separate verb for Himself before mentioning the Messenger and Ulul-Amr which shows that Allah has higher authority than that of the Messenger and Ulul-Amr.
It is also clear from the above verse that Ulul-Amr are not restricted to messengers otherwise Allah would only have said: "Obey Allah, and Obey Messenger only." But He added Ulul-Amr (those who are given authority by Allah). This is one of the places where the concept of Imams and the necessity of obedience to them come from.
In the previous article titled "Infallibility of the Prophets," we quoted many verses of Quran to prove the infallibility of the Prophet (PBUH&HF). All those verses proved the following two points:
1. The authority of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) upon the believers was unlimited and all-comprehensive. Any order given by him, under any condition, in any place, at any time, was to be obeyed unconditionally.
2. Supreme authority was given to him because he was sinless (Ma'sum) and free from all types of errors and sins. Otherwise, Allah would not have ordered us to obey him with no questioning or doubt.
In that Article, we also gave reference to a tradition in Sahih al-Bukhari which proves that both prophet and divinely appointed Caliphs are infallible (Ma'sum).
Also from the verse 4:59 we concluded that Ulul-Amr have been given exactly the same authority over Muslims as of Messenger, and that the obedience of Ulul-Amr has the same standing as the obedience of the Messenger.
It naturally follows that Ulul-Amr must also be sinless (Ma'sum) and free from any type of error, otherwise, their obedience would not have been joined with the obedience of the Prophet and WITHOUT any condition. The Commander of Believers, Imam Ali (AS), said:
The one who disobeys Allah is not to be obeyed; and "verily obedience is for Allah and of His Messenger and those vested with authority." Verily, Allah ordered (people) to obey the Messenger because he was sinless and clean (pure), who would not tell people to disobey Allah; and verily He ordered (people) to obey those vested with authority because they are sinless and clean (pure), and would not tell people to disobey Allah." (Ilal al-Sharaye', by Shaikh al-Saduq, v1, p123).
