proof of the Imamate.

Then let us turn to the Quran first for proof, before we turn to the ahadeeth (narrations) and tareekh (history):

Translation of the Glorious Quran (by Shakir): [4:59] O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Rasul) and those in authority (Ulil-Amr) from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the last day; this is better and very good in the end.

The obedience to Rasulullaah ("the Messenger (of God)") is equal to the obedienc e to Ulil-Amr ("the people of authority") as can be seen by the wording. "ateeAAoo Allaha waateeAAoo arrasoola waolee al-amri minkum" = "obey the Messeng er (Rasul) and those in authority (Ulil-Amr) from among you": Notice how the sam e "obey" that is used for Rasulullaah is also used for Ulil-Amr. This means that the Ulil-Amr must have the same authority as a leader and commander as the Rasu lulllaah or they wouldn't have the same level of obedience in this verse.

One of the reasons why we trust Rasulullah and we have to obey him is because hi s words are not his own; they are the words of God (69:40-47). He receives commu nications from the Lord Almighty. He is infallible. The same must apply to UlilAmr because they must be obeyed without condition. Since the verse equates the o bedience to the Prophet to the obedience to the Ulil-Amr, one cannot disobey the Ulil-Amr.

Notice that the verse says "if you quarrel about anything, refer to Allah and th e Messenger"; since we cannot disobey the Ulil-Amr, even when we quarrel with Ul il-Amr, they cannot be in the wrong. So what does the Quran say about quarrelling with them? "refer to Allah and the Messenger". Why? The Ulil-Amr are right, but if a person does not believe in the m, he or she refer to Allah and His "postman" - Rasulullaah. Why? Allah and Rasu lullaah are the bringers of law and truth. The Ulil-Amr do not have this role. T hey do not reveal/bring/establish the law and truth. Anyway, since Rasulullaah i s equated with Ulil-Amr, disputing with the Ulil-Amr is disputing with Rasululla ah. But they must be obeyed, just like one obeys Rasulullaah; and they cannot be in the wrong. Thus, they only speak what Allah and Rasulullaah have brought. The Ul il-Amr only say what Allah and Rasulullaah say. This can only be true all the ti me if Ulil-Amr have all the knowledge of Rasulullaah. Otherwise, if they were as ked a question and they were deficient in their knowledge, they would speak from their own opinion, and the verse would no longer be true! What happens if Rasul ullaah dies and the Ulil-Amr remain? The Ulil-Amr are still present, and since t hey only speak what Allah and Ulil-Amr say, they must still be obeyed and follow ed. Therefore it would be a great wrong to even consider obeying and learning Is lam from any other human being when the Ulil-Amr are present! How could we follo w any other, regardless of whether they were a sahabi (companion of the Prophet) who was with the Prophet for decades or a scholar who studied for decades, when they, perfect sources, are present?

Look everywhere in the Quran where Allah asks they you to obey; He puts the cond ition that if they disobey Him, then this is what you do. For example, God tells us to obey our parents; but then He says if they disobey Him, then disobey them . The only obedience in the Quran where Allah does not warn you of disobedience is to Ulil-Amr. This indicates that Allah's opinion of them is that they would n ever disobey Him; which means they can never go against His commands. By not war ning us of any disobedience from them, He is making it clear that they would nev er be disobedient in the face of the doubt and disbelief (in them) of many. Why does Allah command us to obey Muhammed, peace and blessings be upon him and his Ahlulbayt? It's because he was chosen as Rasulullaah. Why was he chosen? Bec ause he is the pure and because he is the greatest of men. Obedience to Rasulull ah = obedience to Ulil-Amr, so that "waw" ("and") next to the word "Rasulullaah" means that all those qualities apply to Ulil-Amr. Allah has chosen those who ar e Ulil-Amr for their great qualities and for being the greatest of men.

In one verse, the Ulil-Amr are given nass (designation), authority, isma (infall ibility), and ilm (knowledge). Let's give the Ulil-Amr a nickname. How about "Im ams"? Oh wait, that sounds suspiciously like the Shia concept of Imamate. Plagia rism perhaps lol? Or maybe the same Author is behind this all.

Do you want Imamate to be clearly written out in clear, simple terms with what t he role of Imamate is and the qualities that an Imam will possess? Too bad; it s eems the Quran does not work like that. Want an example? Let's look at Salaat. A rguably one of the most important things in the whole religion of Islam. Even th ough it is mentioned all over the Quran, nowhere do the Majestic Words of the Cr eator give a passage that acts as a manual to Salaat. Instead in one chapter, we find just one verse that mentions the timings. When it comes to the number of r akaat per Salaat, not even a single verse! In-fact, ar-Rahmaan, subhanahu wa tal a, does not give a clear method of how to perform Salaat! But, I thought Salaat was supposed to be important? Of course it is. It's very important. That's why i t's mentioned in the Quran, Sunnah, and ahadeeth. Imamate is also a very importa nt concept. It's mentioned a few times in the Quran with different words, such a s walaya. But it's mentioned and that's enough.

"I asked Abu 'AbdAllaah (as-Sadiq) ( ) about the words of Allaah ( ) senger, and your leaders (who possess Divine Authority). . . .' (4:59) "The Imam said, 'This was sent from the heavens about `Ali ibn Abi Taalib, Al-Hasan and A l-Hussain ( ).' I then said, 'People say, "Why did He not specify Ali and his fam eir names in the Book of Allaah ( )?' "The Imam said, 'Say to them, "The comma came to the Messenger of Allah but He has not specified (the number of the Rak' ats) for them as being three or four. It, in fact, was the Messenger of Allah wh o explained to them this matter. The command for Zakat (a form of income tax) ca me to the Messenger of Allah and there was no specific taxable number such as on e Dirham on every forty Dirham. It was the Messenger of Allah who explained it f or them. The command for Hajj came to the Messenger of Allah. It did not say wal k seven times around the Ka'ba. It was the Messenger of Allah who explained it f

or them...." Source: al-Kulayni in his al-Kafi, volume 1, pages 286288, hadeeth #1 Grading: al-Majlisi said this hadeeth is SaHeeH (authentic) in his Mir'aat Al-`U qool, volume 3, page 213 Some thoughts to conclude Now before anyone replies saying "Tabatabaa'ee's arguments/commentary are weak/u ntrue", please think about why they are weak. I've seen quite a few people say t his, yet they provided no reason as to why they think this. There are Sunni scho lars who have agreed with various aspects of what has been written above. One ex ample is ar-Razi who agreed that 4:59 makes Ulil-Amr infallible; (however he tri ed to make it out that the Ulil-Amr are the whole Ummah...which for a variety of reasons is a poor explanation. A simple example: the verse says the "those in a uthority _amongst you_" (ulil-amri minkum). I.e. there are certain people in the Ummah who are so-and-so. Not the whole Ummah. Razi's explanation contradicts th e wording of the verse). On another subject, if anyone were to bring something, such as a set of ahadeeth , which claim that the Ulil-Amr taught or behaved differently to the Prophet the n either the Quran is wrong for equating the Prophet and Ulil-Amr in many ways, or this set of ahadeeth is. The answer is obvious. And vice versa. It does not m atter how "authentic" a set of ahadeeth may be according to the science of rijaa l or a set of scholars; if it contradicts the Quran, it is false. For example, i f the Ulil-Amr say you cannot wipe on leather socks, and a set of ahadeeth say t hat various people said you can, then the latter is false because it has disagre ed with the Ulil-Amr. Allahumma salle alah Muhammedin wa Aale Muhammed. "All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has guided us to this, never could w e have found guidance, were it not that Allah had guided us!" Quran, 007:043.

This note is mostly based on a lecture delivered by Ammar Nakshawani Those interested in reading more on this should refer to the scholar Tabatabai's commentary on this verse (4:59) in his tafseer of the Quran called 'al-Mizan'.