Imamah and the Quran - An Objective Perspective

Usul-e-Deen and Imāmah

In Shiaism, the matters of religion are divided into Usul-e-Deen and Furoo-e-Deen. The Usool-e-Deen are the principles of belief in the religion, analogous to the Pillars of Faith in Sunnism. The Furoo-e-Deen relates to the practices in the religion, such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and so on.

To introduce the reader to what constitutes the Usul-e-Deen in Shiaism, I will quote the following tract from Allamah² Muhammad Husayn Al kashifu'l Ghita's book “The Origin Of Shi’ite Islam and its Principles” (Asl ash-Shi'ah wa usuluha):

Those matters which concern knowledge or wisdom, are called "Usul ad-din" (fundamentals of religion) and they are five: (1) tawhid (monotheism), (2) nubuwah (Prophethood), (3) the Imāmate (Vicegerency), (4) 'adl (Justice) and (5) ma'ad (the Day of Judgement).³

In similar fashion, the Shia scholar Muhammad Ridha Muzaffar states:

We believe that the Imamate is one of the fundamentals of Islam (usul ad-din), and that man's faith can never be complete without belief in it.⁴

It should be noted that Sunnis and Shias do share three tenets of belief, namely in the concepts of Tawhid, Nubuwah, and Ma’ad (stated as the belief in Qiyāmah in Sunni Aqeedah). While the concept of ‘Adl is not mentioned as such in Sunni beliefs as a cardinal point of belief, yet it can be compared to the Belief in Qadha and Qadr.

The real issue of contention is with respect to Imāmah. As Allamah Al kashifu'l Ghita mentions:

“It is the question of the Imamate which distinguishes the Shi'a sect from all other sects. Other differences are not fundamental; they are "furu'i"”. ⁵

The statement that Imāmah is one of the essential tenets and pillars of Islamic faith is of tremendous significance for the researcher. For if the importance of Imāmah were to be equated with that of Tawhid, Nubuwwah, or Qiyammah, then any subsequent search and analysis would be carried out with this relationship in mind.