Imamate is a Divine station which no human is able to know its essence and understand it. Some people, however, have some suspicions since they have not correctly known the idea of Imamate in Shi’i thinking. Such suspicions originate from wrong understanding of hadiths and verses on the one hand and the fact that they have compared this Divine station with human positions. One of such suspicions concerns function and the role played by democracy and counsel in appointing Imam. Proponents of these two theories have claimed that Imamate and democracy are not consistent- since they have confused the meaning of Imamate and government and adopted the same meaning for the two. For Imamate and government have been always manifestation of intervention and participation of people in political power. In the present article, the author will at first discuss democracy and counsel and their kinds; then analyzing the two, he will criticize them.
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