A Critical Examination of the Theological Foundations of the “Ulama al-Abrar” View of Imamate
Abstract:
This article examines and critiques the theological foundations of the theory of Ulama al-Abrar in the doctrine of Imamate. This theory reduces Imamate to the religious and scholarly authority of the Imams and excludes such elements as intrinsic infallibility, divinely bestowed knowledge, and explicit divine designation from its essential components. Using a foundational critical method within a theological-historical approach, the study evaluates this view on the basis of three criteria: internal coherence, consistency with Qurʾanic and hadith evidence, and philosophical soundness. The data were collected through library research and analyzed by means of both internal and external criticism. The findings show that this theory faces major difficulties, including confusion between human nature and the denial of higher ontological ranks, an unwarranted expansion of the concept of ghuluw, inconsistency between accepting divinely bestowed knowledge and denying ontological infallibility, and conflation of juridical and theological levels of analysis. The study concludes that, in Imami theology, the Imam’s infallibility is not a marginal moral virtue but a foundational condition for binding religious authority and the continuity of divine guidance after prophethood; therefore, denying it undermines the internal basis of Imamate.
Keywords:
Ulama al-Abrar; Imamate in Imami Shiʿism; Infallibility of the Imam; Divinely Bestowed Knowledge; Divine Designation; Ghuluw.