Abstract

Almost all Islamic sects believe that one of the necessary conditions for assuming the position of Imamate and succeeding the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) is that the Imam, like the Holy Prophet, must have abundant knowledge and awareness to guide and direct people and to interpret and explain correctly the religion and the administration and planning of the government and society. But what is the truth and quality of this knowledge and how is it? And from what source and origin does it originate? And what dimensions and scope does it have? The contents and views are different and there is a difference between Islamic theologians. Mu'tazilite theologians believe that the philosophy of the obligation of Imamate is the establishment of divine limits; because, the implementation of divine limits is obligatory, and on the other hand, its obligation is not directed at all Muslims or each of them, but is the responsibility of the Imam. Therefore, the existence of the Imam is necessary to realize this divine decree and law. If the meaning of the Imam's knowledge of the unseen is the knowledge of the unseen itself and intrinsically, none of the followers of both schools considered the Imam to possess it, and no narration or argument has mentioned the Imam's possession of intrinsic knowledge; but if the meaning of the Imam's knowledge is the knowledge of the unseen that is not intrinsically, none of the followers of these two schools would deny it. Therefore, there was no disagreement among the prominent theologians and traditionists of these two schools that the source of the Imam's knowledge is inspiration and inheritance.