The infallibility of the Imams

According to the Ahl al-Bayt school of thought an Imam is not an ordinary leader who simply has to rule a country and protect its borders; rather, in addition to this duty, he has other weighty responsibilities. The fulfilment of these tasks ¬such as commenting on the Qur'an, explaining religious rulings, replying to theological questions, and forestalling all forms of doctrinal deviation and legal confusion-all of this presupposes a comprehensive and inerrant knowledge; for an ordinary person trying to carry out such responsibilities would not be immune from sin and error.
Of course, 'isma (inerrancy) is not to be identified exclusively with prophethood, for a person may be ma'sum; protected against sin and error, while not having the rank of a Prophet. A shining example of this is the Virgin Mary, [1]. In addition to the intellectual arguments given for the necessity of the 'isma of the Imam, there are other reasons, some of which we mention below.

According to the Ahl al-Bayt school of thought an Imam is not an ordinary leader who simply has to rule a country and protect its borders; rather, in addition to this duty, he has other weighty responsibilities; such as commenting on the Qur'an, explaining religious rulings, replying to theological questions, and forestalling all forms of doctrinal deviation and legal confusion...

1. The explicit and definite desire, on the part of God, to purify and cleanse the ahl al-bayt of all defilement, as the Qur'an says:

Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the [Prophet's] household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification. (Sura al-Ahzab, 33:33)

This verse indicates that the 'isma of the ahl al-bayt and this special divine will to purify the ahl al-bayt of all impurity is tantamount to their being protected against the commission of all sin. The meaning of impurity ( rijs) in this verse might be understood as pertaining to all forms of mental, moral and spiritual impurity, for sin flows forth as a result of these impurities. Also, since this divine will is specifically related to these people and not to all members of the umma, it follows that God's universal desire for all people to be pure must be distinguished from this particular mode of the expression of this will. The universal divine will for the purification of all Muslims is a religious (tashri'i) will [2] [that is, one that operates through the religion itself], and it is possible that through disobedience certain people will not accept this [divine will that they be purified]. On the other hand, the will to purify the ahl al-bayt is a creative or existentiating ( takwini) will, and this kind of will or desire on the part of God is inseparable from the object desired-purity from all sins. It should be noted that this creative will to establish the 'isma of the ahl al-bayt does not deprive them of their free will, any more than the 'isma of the Prophets deprives them of theirs.

2. Hadith: al-Thaqalayn (The Two Precious Things'): This hadith is one of those classified in Islam as mutawatir, and is found in many books written by scholars of both branches of Islam. In this hadith, the Prophet is preaching to the whole community:

'Verily, I am leaving with you two precious things, the Book of God and my progeny, my ahl al-bayt, for as long as you cling to these two, you will never go astray; and truly they will not be parted from each other until they join me at the Hawd, [a pool of Paradise, identified with al-Kawthar] .'[3]

According to the hadith of Thaqalayn, which says 'I verily am leaving with you two precious things, the Book of God and my progeny,' the Imams of the ahl al-bayt are ranged alongside the Qur'an; this means that, just as the Qur'an is immune against all types of error, so are the Imams immune from all mental and volitional sin. This can be seen more clearly in the light of the rest of this hadith: (a) ' ... for as long as you cling to these two, you will never go astray'; (b) ' ... and truly they will not be parted from each other until they join me at the Pool.' It is perfectly clear then, that, to which one must hold fast for guidance, dispelling all error, and which will not be separated from the Qur'an, must definitely be protected against all type of sin.

According to the hadith of Thaqalayn, which says 'I verily am leaving with you two precious things, the Book of God and my progeny,' the Imams of the ahl al-bayt are ranged alongside the Qur'an; this means that, just as the Qur'an is immune against all types of error, so are the Imams immune from all mental and volitional sin. This can be seen more clearly in the light of the rest of this hadith: (a) ' ... for as long as you cling to these two, you will never go astray'; (b) ' ... and truly they will not be parted from each other until they join me at the Pool.' It is perfectly clear then, that to which one must hold fast for guidance, dispelling all error, and which will not be separated from the Qur'an, must definitely be protected against all type of sin.

3. The Holy Prophet likened his ahl al-bayt to Noah's ark:

'Truly the People of my House ( ahl bayti) in my community ( ummati) is like Noah's ark: whoever takes refuge therein is saved and whoever opposes it is drowned.' [4]

Taking into account these reasons -which we have presented here in summarized form- the 'isma of the ahl al-bayt is a clear and proven reality; needless to say, the traditional grounds for upholding this principle are by no means exhausted by what we have mentioned here.

1. Ja'far Sobhani, al-Ilahiyyat, (Qom, 1417/1995) vol. 2, pp. 146- 98.
2. . See Sura al-Ma'ida, v:6: ' ... but He wills to purify you'. This comes after mention of the ritual ablution.
3. Muslim, ,sahih,, vol: 7, p. 122; al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, vol. 2,,p,. 307; 'Abd Allah al-Darimi, Sunan {Beirut, 1978), vol. 2, p. 432; lbn Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 3, pp. 14, 17, 26, 59; vol.4, pp. 366; 371,; vol. 5, pp. 182, 189; Ahmad b. Shu'ayb al-Nisa'i, khasa'is al-imam 'Ali (Qom,. 1983) p. 20; Hakim,.Mustadrak, vol. 3, pp. 109, 148, 533;and other books. In this connection, one can also refer to treatises on this hadith in the publica¬tions of the Dar al-taqrib bayn al-madhahib al-islamiyya (Office ofReconciliation between the Legal Schools of lslam), under the imprint of Mukhaymir.
4. " Hakim, Mustadrak, vol. 2, p. 151; al-Suyuti, al-Khasa'is al-kubra vol. 2, p. 266.