Ismah

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Part of a series on Shi'a Islam
Ahl al-Kisa
Ahl al-Kisa Muhammad Ali · Fatimah Hasan · Husayn
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The Four Companions Salman al-Farsi Miqdad ibn Aswad Abu Dharr al-Ghifari Ammar ibn Yasir
Beliefs & Practices
Succession of Ali Imamate of the Family Mourning of Muharram Light of Aql · Ismah Tawassul · Clergy The Occultation
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The Qur'an · Sahaba Mu'awiya I Abu Bakr · Umar
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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.

Contents 1 Khomeini's interpretation 2 See also 3 Sources 4 Notes

[edit] 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"^[2] 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.^[3]

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." ^[4][5]

[edit] See also

• The Fourteen Infallibles

[edit] Sources

• Dabashi, Hamid; Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, 2006, Publisher:Transaction Publishers, ISBN 1412805163
• Momen, Moojan. An introduction to Shi‘i Islam : the history and doctrines of Twelver Shi‘ism / by Moojan Momen, New Haven : Yale University Press, c1985.

[edit] Notes