1. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims
  2. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

98 Questions

What are the similarities and differences between the Imamah of Prophet Ibrahim (as) and the 12 Imams (as)?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

Imamah (Divine leadership) is a position granted by Allah to the best of His creatures to lead all human beings to the Way of Allah. Allah tested Ibrahim through many tests and when Ibrahim (AS) completed all the tests successfully, Allah told him: I Am making you an Imam for all people. This Imamah was granted to Ibrahim after he was already a prophet and a messenger. The Imamah of Ahlul Bayt (AS) is the continuity of the divine leadership of the greatest and best and final Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) although none of the 12 Imams was a prophet because there is no prophet after Muhammad (SAWA). The status of the 12 successors of the greatest Prophet Muhammad is from his status and their Imamah is binding all humans as the Imamah of Ibrahim was on all humans. The twelve Infallible Imams are not prophets but their divine leadership is must on all humans.

Wassalam.
In the Quran Allah calls Prophet Mohammed last of Prophets. Why doesn’t He also say last of Messengers? If we assume this by default because he was a Messenger too then wasn’t he also an Imam, while the Imamate did not end?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

Last of the Prophets ia the proper word for the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) not last of messengers because all the messengers were Prophets as well, and no Prophet will be sent after Muhammad (SAWA). If he was called last of the messengers, that will leave a chance to liars to claim prophet hood after him. Every messenger is a Prophet but not every Prophet is a messenger, that is why, no Prophet means no Prophet or messenger will come after Muhammad (SAWA).

He was the leader of all the human beings including the Prophets and messengers.Imamate after him is for his successors who are not Prophets as he said: No Prophet after me.

Wassalam.
Is it true that the Shia believe that all the non-Shia are Kafir because they reject the 12 Imams and have love for the people who oppressed the Ahlulbayt AS?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

It is untrue. It is one of the many false accusations against us fabricated by our enemies.

We believe that followers of any Muslim sect being Sunni (Hanafi, Shafi'ee, Maliki, Hanbali, Barelwi, Deobandi or Zaidi or Abaadhi or Ash'ari or Salafi or Wahabi etc are Muslims like us.

Even those who claim that we Shia are Kafirs are misguided Muslims and we never consider them as Kafirs.

Wassalam.
What were the sources of knowledge of the 12 Imams? Was it obtained through seeing, hearing, through revelation, or any other source?
Amina Inloes

According to Twelver Shi'i narrations, the knowledge of the Imams is received through divine sources. It is available throughout their lives but culminates to a new level after the departure of the previous Imam (or, in the case of Imam Ali, the Prophet). They have access to anything they need or want to know. This knowledge is available to them at any time; however, at certain times, certain specific information is presented to them (such as the deeds of their followers).

It is considered to be a step lower than the type of wahy given to the messengers. For instance, some narrations say that the Imams can hear the angel Jibra'il but not see him. Similarly, the Imams provide guidance, but not a revealed scripture like the Qur'an which is a Book in the word of Allah.

The mechanics of how this knowledge is acquired in mentioned in some narrations, although these narrations tend to be somewhat obscure and may or may not be accurate. In any case, it is said that the Imams have access to something resembling a column of light or a lamp between themselves and Allah through which they can attain knowledge of anything or to see any place. In other places, it is simply said that the Imams were created with certain types of knowledge, such as knowledge of the explanation of the Qur'an and other fundamentals regarding the nature of this world and the worlds before and afterwards. There are also some texts the Imams possessed such as Mushaf Fatima and Kitab Ali, although it is not said that they required these texts to know what was in them.

Insofar as knowledge is potentially infinite, all of these things could be accepted altogether without contradiction .

In any case, this is a large and complex subject, so to learn more about it, one could read hadith collections such as Basa'ir al-Darajat and al-Kafi.