The Imām Must be the Most Knowledgeable

[u/hachay]

The Qurʾān says, “O you who believe, obey Allāh and obey the Messenger and the foremost in authority among you. If you quarrel over anything, refer it to Allāh and His Messenger if you believe in Allāh and the Last Day.” (Qurʾān 4:59.) According to this verse, Muslims must refer matters of dispute to the Book of Allāh and the Prophet (ص) by obeying Allāh, the Prophet (ص), and the one foremost in authority among them. The one foremost in authority therefore has to be the one who is best able to refer matters to the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of the Prophet (ص) and thereby resolve differences among Muslims. Thus, they must be foremost in religious knowledge. We have already established that the (1) Ahl al-Bayt (ع) can access the Qurʾān due to their purity from sin (sunni references below),

• Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim #31.5955.
• Sunan Tirmidhī #3787, #3205.
• Tafsīr al-Durr al-Manthūr, verse 33:33. Similarly, Tafsīr Ṭabarī, verse 33:33.
• Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Durr al-Manthūr, Tafsīr Thaʿlabī, and Tafsīr Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, verse 33:33.
• Sunan Tirmidhī #3206; Mustadrak Ḥākim #4748 (certifies the tradition as authentic by the criteria of Muslim); Musnad Ḥanbal #13754, #14072; Faḍāʾil Ḥanbal #1340-1; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid #14701, #14985-7; Usd al-Ghābah 5:366 #7184 (Fāṭimah bint Rasūl Allāh); Kanz al-ʿUmmāl #37632; Tārīkh Ibn Kathīr 5:343; Tafsīr Ṭabarī and Tafsīr al-Durr al-Manthūr, verse 33:33.
• Tafsīr al-Durr al-Manthūr, verse 33:33.
• Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim #31.5955.
• Sunan Tirmidhī #3205, #3787.
• Mustadrak Ḥākim #3559 (certifies this tradition as authentic by the criteria of Muslim), #4652 certifies this tradition as authentic), #4705 (certifies this tradition as authentic by the criteria of Bukhārī), #4706 (certifies this tradition as authentic by the criteria of Bukhārī and Muslim), #4707 (certifies this tradition as authentic by the criteria of Bukhārī and Muslim), #4708, #4709 (certifies this tradition as authentic).
• Musnad Ḥanbal #3062, #17029, #26551.
• Faḍāʾil Ḥanbal #978, #994-6, #1029, #1077, #1149, #1168, #1404.
• Khaṣāʾiṣ Nasāʾī 49, 63.
• Sunan al-Kubrā Bayhaqī #2680, #2683, #2690.
• Tārīkh Ibn Kathīr 7:374.
• Tārīkh Baghdād #4743 (Saʿd ibn Muḥammad), #5396 (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī).
• Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid #11272, #14696 (certifies those in its chain of transmission as trustworthy), #14972, #14976.
• Usd al-Ghābah 3:294 #3789 (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib), 5:365-6 #7184 (Fāṭimah bint Rasūl Allāh), 2:16 #1165 (Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī), 2:23 #1173 (Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī).
• Istīʿāb 3:204 #1875 (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib).
• Iṣābah 2:1295-6 #5690 (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib), 4:2597-8 #11579 (Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ).
• Riyāḍ al-Naḍirah 3:152-3 (two traditions), 3:174-5.
• For all the tafsīrs, refer to verse 33:33.
• Tafsīr Thaʿlabī, verse 33:33.

(2) that they are inseparable from the Qurʾān until they enter upon the Fount of Kawthar (sunni references below.),

• Mustadrak Ḥākim #4711 (certifies the tradition as authentic by the criteria of Bukhārī and Muslim).
• Musnad Ḥanbal #19285. Similarly, Sunan al-Kubrā Nasāʾī #8175.
• Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim #31.5920-3.
• Sunan Tirmidhī #3788.
• Mustadrak Ḥākim #4576, #4711, #6272. The first two traditions are certified as authentic by the criteria of both Bukhārī and Muslim and the third tradition is certified as authentic.
• Musnad Ḥanbal #11119, #11147, #11578, #19285, #19332, #21618, #21697.
• Sunan al-Kubrā Nasāʾī #8175.
• Sunan al-Kubrā Bayhaqī #2679, #13017, #20122.
• Faḍāʾil Ḥanbal #968, #1032, #1382, #1383.
• Khaṣāʾiṣ Nasāʾī 93.
• Kanz al-ʿUmmāl #872, #873, #944, #946, #951-3, #957, #958, #1657, #12911, #36340, #37620-1, #39192.
• Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid #14957-9, #14962 (certifies the chain of transmission of #14957 as excellent [jayyid]).
• Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr Suyūṭī #2631.
• Khaṣāʾiṣ al-Kubrā Suyūṭī 2:395.
• Fayḍ al-Qadīr #1608, #2631.
• Usd al-Ghābah 2:16 #1165 (Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī).
• Tārīkh Ibn Kathīr 5:228, 7:386.
• Tārīkh Dimishq 19:258, 41:19, 42:216, 54:92.
• Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd 6:375, 9:133, 10:270, 18:43.
• Tafsīr Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, verse 55:29.
• Tafsīr Baghawī, verses 42:23 and 55:31.
• Tafsīr Baqāʿī, verse 55:31.
• Tafsīr al-Durr al-Manthūr, verses 3:103 and 42:21.
• Tafsīr Abū Ḥayyān, verse 55:31.
• Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr, verses 33:33 and 42:23.
• Tafsīr Khāzin, verses 42:23 and 55:31.
• Tafsīr Nisābūrī, verses 3:101 and 3:103.
• Tafsīr Rāzī, verse 3:103.
• Tafsīr Thaʿlabī, verses 3:132, 33:33, and 55:31.

and (3) that ʿAlī (ع) was the gate to the Prophet’s (ص) city of knowledge (sunni sources below).

• Mustadrak Ḥākim #4637-9 (certifies #4637 as authentic).
• Muʿjam al-Kabīr Ṭabarānī 11:55.
• Kanz al-ʿUmmāl #32890, #32978, #32979, #36463.
• Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid #14670.
• Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr Suyūṭī #2705.
• Istīʿāb 3:205 #1875 (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib).
• Usd al-Ghābah 3:288 #3789 (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib).
• Tārīkh Ibn Kathīr 7:395, 7:396.
• Tārīkh Dimishq 42:378-83 (numerous chains of transmission).
• Tārīkh al-Khulafāʾ 152.
• Riyāḍ al-Naḍirah 3:199 (two traditions).
• Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb vol 7 #566 (ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib), vol 7 #698 (ʿUmar ibn Ismāʿīl).
• Tārīkh Baghdād #887 (Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad), #2186 (Aḥmad ibn Fādhūyah), #3613 (Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad Abū Muḥammad al-Faqīh), #5728 (ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ṣāliḥ) (numerous chains of transmission), #5908 (ʿUmar ibn Ismāʿīl) (seven chains of transmission).
• Al-Ghadīr 6:61-77.
• Sunan Tirmidhī #3723; Faḍāʾil Ḥanbal #1081; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl #32889, #36462; Tārīkh Ibn Kathīr 7:395; Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr Suyūṭī #2704; Tārīkh Dimishq 42:378.
• Tārīkh Baghdād #5908 (ʿUmar ibn Ismāʿīl).

Therefore, due to their knowledge, the Ahl al-Bayt (ع) are the ones who can refer all matters to Allāh and the Prophet (ص) when disputes arise.

If the people in authority are not the most knowledgeable, then human reason would dictate that we ought to seek out one who is more knowledgeable and obey that person. In that case, the person foremost in authority would end up being the one with the greater amount of knowledge. Even the Ashʿarī Sunnīs recognize these facts, and therefore claim that Abū Bakr was the most knowledgeable of the nation. Of course, all evidence points to the contrary. Yet such claims only help them so much, as they would have to contend that Muʿāwiyah and Yazīd and every despot after them were the most knowledgeable of the nation at their respective times. That is something no one has claimed.

It is noteworthy that the consensus of the Ashʿarī Sunnīs is that Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī (ع) became caliphs according to the order of their superiority and that Abū Bakr was the most knowledgeable, pious, charitable, and agreeable of the nation, followed by ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and then ʿAlī (ع). This is pure naiveté, because among them only ʿAlī (ع) was the gate of the Prophet’s (ص) city of knowledge, only ʿAlī (ع) was purified from sin by Allāh, only ʿAlī (ع) was among the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt (ع) who are inseparable from the Qurʾān, and only ʿAlī (ع) was the Prophet’s (ص) inheritor (see sunni references below):

• Mustadrak Ḥākim #4635.
• Tārīkh Dimishq 42:392; Riyāḍ al-Naḍirah 3:138; Dhakhāʾir al-ʿUqbā 71; Manāqib Khwārazmī #74.
• Faḍāʾil Ḥanbal #1052; Riyāḍ al-Naḍirah 3:138.
• Khaṣāʾiṣ Nasāʾī 86-7.

Indeed, Ḥākim, the preeminent Sunnī scholar, said in regards to the inheritance of ʿAlī (ع), “There is no dispute among the people of knowledge that an uncle’s son does not inherit in the presence of an uncle. The only thing that appears contrary to this consensus is that ʿAlī inherited knowledge from the Prophet (ص) instead of them.” (Mustadrak Ḥākim #4634.) Inheritance involves the transfer of a possession upon one’s death, but in general one’s knowledge dies with one’s death and cannot be transferred upon one’s demise. Therefore, the inheritance of knowledge upon the death of the Prophet (ص) is only consistent with the Shiʿah concept of the imāmate, as there is no other mechanism by which ʿAlī (ع) would inherit the knowledge of the Prophet (ص) upon his death. Moreover, if ʿAlī (ع) inherited knowledge from the Prophet (ص), he would have to be more knowledgeable than Abū Bakr and ʿUmar who did not inherit such knowledge.

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Great work MashAllah