Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Twelve Imams (Rough Draft)


The Twelve Imams
           
            To understand the context of the twelve imams, one must know what this translates to. The Twelve Imams in Arabic translated to the Twelve Leaders who generally lead others in prayer. The Imam of a community is known to enforce the laws of the Shariah. The Shariah is the religious laws and the basic fundamentals of principle set to Islam. The two primary sources of Shariah law derive from the Quran and the Islamic prophet Muhammad. (Explain 12 Imams)

“The twelfth imam lived in hiding under the protection and tutelage of his father until the latter’s death. Then he went into “occultation”. In other words, he became hidden from the eyes of ordinary men and appeared only to his Deputies. In the year 329/939 his “greater occultation” began. It will continue as long as God wills, but when he does appear once again, he will erase evil and injustice from the world. (http://www.najaf.org/english/book/7/appendix.htm)

(Incorporate Notes)
“Twelver Shi’ism – the form of Shi’ism dominant in Iran – holds that the leadership of the community passed from the prophet Muhammad to a serried of infallible imams, the twlfth of whom, the Mahdi, removed himself from this world in the ninth century. The Hidden Imam (or the Lord of Age) will return in fullness of time to establish the government of truth and justice. Shi’I jurists also held that during the absence of the hidden Imam, the vice-regency of the Imam and therefore the mantle of leadership  of the community fell to to the jurists, or mujtahids, themselves” (American Historical Review 1480).

Key Words
Imam, Shariah, Muhammad, Quran, Prophet, Leader, Justice, Shi’ites, Sunnis, Divine Wisdom. 

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