Exploring the proposition لاتجتمع اُمتی علی الضلاله  (my nation will not unite on misguidance /error) and its place on Imamate principle

Tavakkolizadeh, Saeed; Shaker, Mohammad Taghi

doi:10.22034/jep.2017.88398

Exploring the proposition لاتجتمع اُمتی علی الضلاله (my nation will not unite on misguidance /error) and its place on Imamate principle

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ PhD candidate for Imamie Rhetoric , University of Quran and Hadith, Qom, Iran.

² PhD in Imamie Rhetoric from university of Quran and hadith. Member of faculty at Imam Sadiq research center for Islamic studies.

10.22034/jep.2017.88398

Abstract

he issue of Imamate has been a controversial issue among Muslim think
tanks. This issue is the root of multiple propositions. Also there is lack of
accordance between religious teachings and specific instances. Meanwhile,
in ensuing circumsatnces some terms have been formed paving the ground to
legitimize a certain viewpoint. There is a weak line of reasoning that people
of Medina reached a concensus to appoint a specific person as the caliph after
the demise of prophet. This proposition requires a religious ground as proof.
The text of لاتجتمع اُمتی علی الضلاله is cited as the proof of the above proposition.
Yet the other account لاتجتمع اُمتی علی الخطا lacks citation in any hadith resources
or circles of both Sunnis and Shias. The current paper adopts a descriptive –
analytical approach. It seeks to define the implications of the essence of above
hadiths. The current paper concludes that the authenticity of the above text is
under question in both general and private resources. When authenticity of
a document is under question, one cannot compensate for it by frequency of
citation since this remedy has its own pitfalls namely it is too far away and runs
counter to quantity of narratives that corroborate authenticity of consensus. In
addition to investigating the proof, this paper takes two further criteria for investigation namely reasoning and other narratives. The criteria are tapped
on hereby to investigate the implications of the above texts. The possibility
of text-friendly readings of the Imamate texts renders the interpretations
that are not in accordance with logic and hadith impossible. The conclusion
drawn from investigating the weaknesses in the proofs and implications of
hadith is that absence of an Infallible Imam was the solution to be redeemed
from wronghood. It is concluded that the existance of an Infallible Imam was
the cure for wronghood and consensus without Infallible Imam is itself an
instance of Wronghood.

Keywords