Imam

A Imam is a person who directs the joint prayer. It is preferably the person who is informed in knowledge of the rites of the Islam.

For the Shiite , holding of a clerical tradition of Islam, the Imam is the spiritual and temporal guide of the Islamic community.

Within the framework of the Sunnisme , one can compare the function of Imam with that of Protestant Pasteur. Indeed the Imam does not form part of a hierarchical structure. It is indicated by the community itself and does not claim with any bond privileged with God. He can be laid off if he does not achieve his mission.

When the faithful ones want to request together, they indicate an Imam among them to direct the prayer and, a Hadith mentions the criteria to be taken into account: the first criterion must be that which knows the most Coran and the last criterion to be taken into account is the age, it is not always oldest which directs the prayer. In general, in each Mosque, there is a permanent Imam which officiates and which gives the sermons (Khutba) of Friday, or else a simple Moslem can become Imam the time of a prayer.

Imams sunnites

A certain number of eminent characters carry the title of Imam in the sunnism:
  • four founders of large the legal schools ( madhhab ).
  • large experts of the religious jurisprudence ( fiqh );
  • principal the author of collections of Hadith S;
  • the people in service ( Ahl Al-Bayt );

For this reason `Alî as well carries the title of Imam for the Shiites as for the sunnites, however the contents of this title are not the same one.

Ibn Khaldûn considers that at the beginning the concept of Califat and imâmat merged: The caliph is the substitute of the Legislator for the guard of the religion and the government of the businesses of ici-bas on a religious base. This is why one calls this function “caliphate” or “imamat”. He insists then on the need for the existence of an Imam. He rests on the sahîh of Muslim and manages to conclude that the Imam must satisfy four conditions plus a fifth which according to him is discussed:

  1. To have the knowledge;
  2. To be just;
  3. To have required competences, for example boldness to apply the sorrows necessary or to make the war;
  4. To be free from any physical defect or disease affecting its directions;
  5. To be of descent Quraych ite;

According to the Sahîh of Muslim, there cannot be two Imams/caliphs simultaneously. Ibn Khaldûn quotes the case of “rear-Rahmān Abd III year-Nāsir, Omeyyade de Cordoue proclaimed caliph at the same time as the Abbasside Al-Muqtadir in 929, and justifies this situation as follows: When there are long distances, or that the Imam cannot control remote areas, it is allowed to name another Imam in these areas to take care of the public interests.

Some characters carrying the title of Imam

Shiite Imamology

The original Shiism was composed of the companions who estimated that Imâm “Ali, son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, had been chosen, by him, to succeed to him. As of second half of the first century of the Hégire, this preeminence of Imâm `Alî became an basic element of the Shiism and it is in the middle of their principle of faith. For the Shiites, this designation is explicit ( nass-jalî ): Imâm `Alî is the Devisee ( Wasî ) to the Prophète. The prophetic mission transmitted a religious pedagogy for whole humanity according to the divine intention but it cannot be carried out entirely during its human life. Prophecy as a revealed Message ( Risâla ) took the shape of a book, the Coran, but the bond ( Imamat ) which binds the human beings to God continues and will continue until the end of times. With this intention, humanity needs a spiritual Guide ( Imâm ) to transmit the spiritual interpretation of Coran and to bring up to date the prophetic message according to the conditions of the time. The Shiites will put importance on the bivalence of the Coran: the exotérique one ( to zâhir ) and the ésotérique one ( bâtin ). Exoteric knowledge is given to all the people without exception whereas the ésotérique one is granted only to the initiates. Imâm is the continuator of prophetic pedagogy. Imâm holds its knowledge ( `Ilm ) directly by divine illumination. So for the sunnites the Imâmat , as a pure political succession, is only one business of legal detail, for the Shiites it is the angular stone of the religion. Without Imâm, the religion would be like a body without spinal column, or better, a body without heart. A business of this importance could not be left with the deliberation of the Moslems. The explicit designation of Imâm is much more important than the totality of the ritual. The Shiites regard that the Prophet, after the conquest of the Mecque, explicitly indicated `Alî, close to the brook of Khumm, as its successor and his executor ( Wasî ). The large companions, like Abou Bakr, Omar ibn Al-Khattab and `Uthman Ben Affan (the three first well guided Caliph S) could not be unaware of this will. They have enfreint thus the prophetic order. For the Shiites, the line must pass imperatively through the children of Fâtima, only holders of this Light ( Nûr ) divine inherited the Mahomet Prophet. A major point in Imâmologie, it is the infallibility ( `Isma ) of Imâm which will only appear much later in the literature Shiite. For the Shiites the spiritual “guidance” of Imâm could not be assured without the direct link with Allah. Imâm holds the knowledge esoteric ( bâtin ), the absolute Truth. It would not know to be mistaken and it is infallible just like the Prophet. Thus the maxims of Imâm have precepts to follow: they supplement and comment on Coran and the Sunna of the Prophet, while confirming what is licit and illicit. Imâms do not teach anything which would be contrary with the spirit of Coran or Sunna. Moreover the differences between the four Madhhab of the Fiqh sunnite and that of the Ahl Al-Bayt are often tiny. It should be believed that the Shiites found in these apparent divergences a great richness. They saw an imperative reason there not to enclose the door of the Ijtihad contrary to the sunnites (860-893) │ │ │ Zaydites of Yemen ( Rassidites ) │ │ │ └──Al-Husayn (893-911) │ │ │ └──Yahya Al-Hadî Al-Haqq (911-914) │ │ ├── Idriss I {{er}} (? -791) │ │ │ └── Idrissides │ │ └──Sulayman │ │ └── Emirs de Tlemcen │ └──Zayd ibn Al-Hassan │ └──Al-Hassan │ └──Muhammad │ └──Zayd │ └──Al-Hassan ibn Zayd
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