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'''Chahardah Maʿsum''', the fourteen inerrant or immaculate personages venerated by Twelver Shiʿites include the Prophet [[Muhammad]], his daughter [[Fatima]], and the twelve [[imam]]s. Under the theological concept of [[Isma|'isma]], all are considered to be infallible. ʿIsma is commonly defined as a kindness (lutf) bestowed by God which does not cause incapacity to commit acts of disobedience. | '''Chahardah Maʿsum''', the fourteen inerrant or immaculate personages venerated by Twelver Shiʿites include the Prophet [[Muhammad]], his daughter [[Fatima]], and the twelve [[imam]]s. Under the theological concept of [[Isma|'isma]], all are considered to be infallible. ʿIsma is commonly defined as a kindness (lutf) bestowed by God which does not cause incapacity to commit acts of disobedience. | ||
==‘Isma== | ==‘Isma == | ||
The ascription of inerrancy ([[Isma|ʿisma]]) to the imams is encountered as early as the first half of the 2nd/18th century, and it was soon extended to the prophets. Ebn Babuya (d. 381/992), Shaykh Mofid (d. 413/1022), and Sharif Mortaza (d. 436/1049) successively defined the inerrancy of the Prophet Muhammad and the imams in increasingly stringent form, until the doctrine came to exclude the commission on their part of any sin or inadvertence, either before or after their assumption of office. As for Fatima, her inerrancy derives from her being a link between prophethood and [[imamate]], the two institutions characterized by inerrancy (she is sometimes termed the confluence of two lights [majmaʿ al-nurayn]), as well as by her association with the imams and their attributes in numerous traditions. The chief Quranic proofs of the inerrancy of the Chahardah Maʿsum are taken to be 33:33 (the verse of purification—ayat al-tathir and 2:124 (“My covenant does not embrace the wrongdoers”). | The ascription of inerrancy ([[Isma|ʿisma]]) to the imams is encountered as early as the first half of the 2nd/18th century, and it was soon extended to the prophets. Ebn Babuya (d. 381/992), Shaykh Mofid (d. 413/1022), and Sharif Mortaza (d. 436/1049) successively defined the inerrancy of the Prophet Muhammad and the imams in increasingly stringent form, until the doctrine came to exclude the commission on their part of any sin or inadvertence, either before or after their assumption of office. As for Fatima, her inerrancy derives from her being a link between prophethood and [[imamate]], the two institutions characterized by inerrancy (she is sometimes termed the confluence of two lights [majmaʿ al-nurayn]), as well as by her association with the imams and their attributes in numerous traditions. The chief Quranic proofs of the inerrancy of the Chahardah Maʿsum are taken to be 33:33 (the verse of purification—ayat al-tathir and 2:124 (“My covenant does not embrace the wrongdoers”). | ||
{{The Fourteen Infallible}} | |||
==The Number of Fourteen== | ==The Number of Fourteen== | ||
It might be thought that the numbering of the inerrant ones as fourteen was retrospective and subsequent to the occultation of the Twelfth Imam, and it is certainly true that some time elapsed between the death of the eleventh Imam, [[Hasan al-ʿAskari]], in 260/873 and the emergence of a consensus that the [[Imamite]] line had been completed with the occultation of his infant son, the Twelfth Imam.<ref>Sachedina, pp. 42ff</ref> However, materials already existed in Shiʿite tradition that spoke of Twelve Imam only, so that the crystallization of belief in a line of twelve was not excessively problematic.<ref>Kohlberg, pp. 529-33</ref> | It might be thought that the numbering of the inerrant ones as fourteen was retrospective and subsequent to the occultation of the Twelfth Imam, and it is certainly true that some time elapsed between the death of the eleventh Imam, [[Hasan al-ʿAskari]], in 260/873 and the emergence of a consensus that the [[Imamite]] line had been completed with the occultation of his infant son, the Twelfth Imam.<ref>Sachedina, pp. 42ff</ref> However, materials already existed in Shiʿite tradition that spoke of Twelve Imam only, so that the crystallization of belief in a line of twelve was not excessively problematic.<ref>Kohlberg, pp. 529-33</ref> | ||